Strategy and the “business portfolio”

In this article the author goes on to develop the conclusion reached in his previous article which appeared in the December edition of Long Range Planning. These conclusions concerned the requirements for strategic success for an individual business, here they are developed into their implications for strategy development in the typical multibusiness company.It is argued that relative competitive position and growth are the two fundamental parameters which must be considered in determining the strategy that an individual business should follow when viewed within the context of the company's overall ‘business portfolio’. The likely patterns of business strategy which will lead to overall corporate success are discussed and contrasted with those which can lead to disaster.The key is that strategies should be made to differ widely from business to business, as a function of the growth and relative competitive position of each business and the company's overall resource position particularly with respect to cash. The ‘across the board’ defensive measures which many companies have adopted in recent years as their response to the pressures of inflation and recession are therefore argued to be singularly inappropriate for the long term. The ‘business portfolio’ concept provides a superior approach for developing the differentiated strategic business objectives which are necessary for any company to make the most of its opportunities.     

Changing Strategy Processes and Strategy Content in Public Sector Organizations? A Longitudinal Case Study of NPM Reforms’ Influence on Strategic Management

New Public Management reforms have been argued to intensify the use of strategic management in public organizations, but there is a need to understand how reforms influence specific aspects such as strategy processes and strategy content. The NPM reforms are expected to formalize and professionalize strategy processes and strategy content towards greater competitiveness, but this may counter cooperation between organizations, which is essential in many areas for overall service provision. Research has provided little empirical knowledge about the simultaneous competition and cooperation in the public sector. This study offers such knowledge via a panel case study of five Danish upper secondary schools over a ten‐year period during a large NPM reform. The study includes three rounds of interviews with school principals before, during and after the reform, combined with secondary data. The study shows that, during reform implementation, strategy processes become more formalized and professionalized, and that teachers, in particular, lose influence. Regarding strategy content, the authors find an increase in external focus and competition, though schools maintain a focus on cooperation. The results suggest that NPM reforms can significantly change strategic management in public organizations, and that this is not necessarily at the expense of cooperation, at least in the short run.     

Production Competence and Business Strategy: Do They Affect Business Performance?

The purpose of this article is threefold. First, a comprehensive measure of production competence that assesses the level of support that manufacturing provides for the strategic objectives of a firm is developed. Second, hypotheses relating production competence to several financial measures of business performance are tested using data from a large sample of firms (n=65) in the furniture industry. Third, the impact of business strategy both directly on performance and as a moderating variable in relation to production competence is analyzed. The results of the study suggest that production competence may have more of an effect on business performance for certain strategies than for others.     

Optimal Software Free Trial Strategy: Limited Version,Time‐locked,or Hybrid?

Limited version, time‐locked, and hybrid are three software free trial strategies employed by software firms to exploit increased installed base and/or reduction of consumers' uncertainty about software quality. We develop an analytical model to examine these three software free trial strategies. We find that the hybrid strategy weakly dominates the limited and time‐locked versions, and the intensity of the network effects is a key factor determining which strategy is optimal.     

Coopetition Strategy – When is it Successful? Empirical Evidence on Innovation and Market Performance

Coopetition (collaboration between competing firms) has been viewed as a potentially beneficial but also a risky relationship for a firm. Earlier literature provides inconclusive evidence in terms of the effects of a firm's coopetition strategy on innovation and market performance, suggesting both positive and negative implications. Some of this variation could be attributed to the fact that coopetition is successful only in certain types of business environment. In order to take the research further, this study examines the effect of a coopetition strategy on the firm's innovation and market performance, focusing on the moderating effects of market uncertainty, network externalities and competitive intensity. The results from a cross‐industry survey of 209 Finnish firms provide novel evidence on the conditions under which coopetition is successful and when it is not.     

Should Acquiring Firms Pursue More Than One Value Creation Strategy? An Empirical Test of Acquisition Performance

Drawing on the configuration literature, we argue that the deployment of different value creation strategies requires different and specific organizational structures, processes and implementation capabilities, and therefore corporate acquirers may be more successful if they adhere to a single value creation strategy. We test our argument within a sample of 130 horizontal European acquisitions and find that those which employed a single value creating strategy of either reconfiguration or leverage performed significantly better than those which sought to implement both reconfiguration and leverage simultaneously. In addition to lending empirical support to the configuration argument our results provide implications for both acquiring firm executives and future researchers.     

Off to Plan or Out to Lunch? Relationships between Design Characteristics and Outcomes of Strategy Workshops

Strategy workshops, also known as away days, strategy retreats and strategic ‘off‐sites’, have become widespread in organizations. However, there is a shortage of theory and evidence concerning the outcomes of these events and the factors that contribute to their effectiveness. Adopting a design science approach, in this paper we propose and test a multidimensional model that differentiates the effects of strategy workshops in terms of organizational, interpersonal and cognitive outcomes. Analysing survey data on over 650 workshops, we demonstrate that varying combinations of four basic design characteristics – clarity of goals and purpose, routinization, stakeholder involvement and cognitive effort – predict differentially these three distinct types of outcomes. Calling into question conventional wisdom on the design of workshops, we discuss the implications of our findings for integrating further the strategy process, strategy‐as‐practice and strategic cognition literatures, to enrich understanding of the factors that shape the nature and influence of contemporary strategic planning activities more generally.     

Ghosts of Policing Strategies Past: Is the New Zealand Police ‘Prevention First’ Strategy Historic,Contemporary or the Future?

Since the 1990s the New Zealand Police have introduced three extensive change management programs to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their core services; Policing 2000, Policing Excellence and Prevention First. Each program has been fundamentally different, with the more modern programs influencing the way that New Zealand Police deliver services. Policing 2000 evolved from implementation of the first strategic plan, while Policing Excellence and Prevention First were introduced in response to the 2007 fiscal crisis. The programs are compared to identify the differences, and whether these later programs can increase service delivery efficiency and effectiveness.