Environmental scanning— the state of the art

In recent years increasing attention has been devoted to amplifying individual elements of corporate planning systems—among them the environmental scanning element. Moreover, the unprecendented intensification of corporate environmental complexity has led to a proliferation of approaches to scanning the general environment. However, a recent survey of a dozen U.S. companies has questioned whether such scanning practices have, in fact, been established in an ongoing manner. The author provides evidence here, based on publicly available information, of at least nine leading organizations where the practice of scanning for planning appears to have taken firm root. A discussion of the many facets of the resulting composite picture of sophisticated wide angle scanning leads to the anticipation that it is, in fact, on the threshold of rapid diffusion in the corporate world.     

The future of the bicycle —Its problems and its potentialities

In this article the author argues that the bicycle will undoubtedly be improved upon, but it is not likely to be supplanted. It will continue to provide the most energy-efficient short-distance form of individual ground transportation.Whether or not its share of the number of person-trips made in urban areas will increase dramatically depends partly on the improvements which are made to the vehicle, partly on the increasing costs and restraints on motor-vehicle use, but to a greater extent on the success with which planners solve the highway-intersection problem.     

Transformations and Legitimacy in Nonprofit Organizations—The Case of Amnesty International and the Brutalization Thesis

This paper looks at organizational change in voluntary nonprofit organizations. Their 'purposive' nature makes voluntary organizations difficult to change while their tendency to oligarchic control results in this change often being imposed from the top. Amnesty International's death penalty work demonstrates the complexity of organizational change, as well as the accountability for and the legitimacy of change in nonprofits. Legitimacy should not be equated with organizational strength, and will remain subject to shifting, contested social norms concerning standards of behavior.     

Are state mindfulness and state work engagement related during the workday?

Given the growing interest in mindfulness in the workplace and the established importance of work engagement for work-related health and well-being, we explore the relationships between these 2 positive psychological states as they vary naturalistically over the workday. Utilising data from 3 measurement occasions per day (before work, mid-workday, and end-workday), we track natural variations in state mindfulness and state work engagement to create a fine-grained picture about their reciprocal relationships within the workday. A sample of 94 university employees completed multiple diary entries per day, for 10 working days. Data were analysed using multilevel structural equation modelling in MPlus, testing within-person pathways between mindfulness and work engagement across the day. Although state work engagement was a predictor of subsequent state mindfulness, state mindfulness did not predict subsequent state work engagement when controlling for earlier within-day work engagement. Overall, the within-day associations between mindfulness and work engagement were weak. We note the high within-day stabilities of state mindfulness and state work engagement, and discuss whether job and personal resources as well as task features might be moderators in the relationships between these constructs.     

The use of a model in long term planning—A case history

Long term planning in companies can range from the partial simplistic approach to a structured time-consuming ritual. Either extreme can bring planning into disrepute, and both reflect the lack of the proper tools of the trade. Models, by themselves, are no panacea, but properly conceived, constructed, and developed they can transform the planning process. The key to effective and practical models is use, and this can be achieved through direct management involvement on the model's development, and by making sure the model is basically simple and flexible. This article describes how such a model was constructed using a modular approach, and how it was used effectively in long term planning.     

Paths,Punctuations and Policy Learning—Comparing Patterns of European use of Scientific Expertise during the Covid-19 Crisis

Public Organization Review - The article examines changes in the role and position of experts in policy making in the EU member states and four additional West European mature democracies during...     

Planning problems of state road transport—India

This article focuses on some of the Planning Problems of State Road Transport Undertakings in India. It seeks to examine the environment in which the State Road Transport Undertakings are called upon to operate. It seeks to clarify the nature of the product and services rendered and also identify the constraints under which the State Road Transport Undertakings are called upon to operate. Finally the article seeks to examine certain strategic planning problems involved, such as nationalization of private operations, consolidation and expansion, traffic and route surveys and scheduling aspects. It is concluded that what ultimately matters is what the passenger gets and not what the undertaking plans and hence the article emphasises the importance of Operational Planning to meet the needs of the passenger as the basis of Corporate Planning for State Road Transport Undertakings. The issues examined in this article will be of relevance to State Road Transport Undertakings in other developing countries.     

The management of offshore resources—Some implications of the 200-mile limit

This article examines in depth the strategic implications for those States who have recently declared 200 mile off-shore resource management zones. The authors, in a comprehensive and stimulating paper, examine the implications of so-calling a nation's offshore limit. It is an appropriate name for a nation's offshore limit since the primary reason for many nations declaring a 200 mile limit has been the abundance of resources which have often been found within those limits either in the sea or the sea bed itself. This paper reviews the current background of off-shore resource management and outlines suitable roles for adoption by the coastal States in the management of their off-shore renewable and non-renewable resources. Furthermore, it examines the contentious but nonetheless central issue of the benefits and costs which accrue through coastal state jurisdiction. The authors also examine an appropriate resource management process and the implications of resource use conflicts within the off shore limit as well as defining these conflicts on the basis of ‘stakeholder’ interests and introduces a new concept of the maximization of economic equity amongst competing stakeholders. The problem remains that the measurement of economic equity perhaps leaves the States concerned within a situation of only having defined the problem; the political process has then to deal with any reallocation measures that may be deemed appropriate.     

The Wages of Sin? Illegal Drug Use and the Labour Market

We use data from the British Crime Survey (BCS) to analyse the relationship between illicit drug use and labour market outcomes for a sample of men and women aged 16–25. In using these data we highlight a serious design flaw in the BCS questionnaire structure that presents a serious barrier to statistical modelling of drug use at the individual level. We propose a simple way of overcoming this problem and proceed to estimate a model of occupational attainment jointly determined with unemployment and current drug use, conditional on past drug use. Separating the commonly abused drugs into a ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ category, we find that past hard drug use has a significant positive association with current unemployment, but find no significant association between past hard or soft drug use and occupational attainment. We also find no significant association between current drug use and attainment, although we observe that current drug use is associated with current unemployment.     

Whose company is it? The concept of the corporation in Japan and the west

This article examines the differences in the concept of the corporation and their possible implications for corporate performance, between Japan on the one hand and the United States and Europe (Germany, UK and France) on the other. The Japanese concept is used as the standard against which the other models are compared. The concept of the corporation is defined here as the answer to the question: ‘In whose interest should the firm be managed?’¹ This is the foundation on which corporate governance and the monitoring system for the CEO is built. The analysis is focused on large publicly-held corporations with widely diffused ownership.     

Adopting and Refining e-services — the Role of Organization Size

Information and communication technology (ICT) has become increasingly important in public service provision (e-services). Although most studies conclude that large organizations have higher quality e-service systems, few have studied if the effect of size persist over time. Empirically, this article reports how organizational size affects adoption and development of e-services in all Norwegian municipalities over a 13 year period (2001–2013). Seven different studies, conducted by four independent institutions, mapped the existence and quality of municipal web-sites. Controlling for several system characteristics, the study indicates that size has ambiguous effects concerning adoption, but a strong and positive effect on the quality of e-services.     

British official publications — III. Accessibility and use

The problems of availability and access to British official publications in the country of origin are examined by means of case studies of the acquisitions policies and systems of bibliographic control in various types of libraries in Britain: parliamentary, governmental, university and public.     

EDLP versus Hi–Lo pricing strategies in retailing—a state of the art article

The pricing strategy is seen as one of the five most important priorities in retail management. Over the past years, price wars have emerged and price has become an even more focal point of retailers’ agendas. Especially grocery retailers operate on very low margins and have fallen into a price-promotion trap, pressured both by competition and consumers. In times of intensive competition it is getting even more important for retailers to focus on profitable and successful pricing strategies. Furthermore, retailers act under complex circumstances, especially because of broad assortments, and should therefore define a clear framework for their pricing strategy. There are several studies which have been published on pricing strategy in retailing during the last years, but no comprehensive literature review of this topic with its determinants and outcomes exists. Based on the theoretical and conceptual foundations of pricing strategy in retailing, all relevant conceptual and empirical studies are analyzed. First, the different definitions of pricing strategy in retailing are examined and systemized. Furthermore, a division into studies on determinants and outcomes of pricing strategy in retailing is included followed by a discussion of main and further results. Based on this analysis of the existing literature, avenues for further research are identified and prioritized.     

Dimensions of work–home culture and their relations with the use of work–home arrangements and work–home interaction

Abstract

This study examined the associations of work–home culture with (a) demographic and organizational characteristics, (b) the use of work–home arrangements, and (c) negative and positive work–home interaction, among 1,179 employees from one public and two private organizations. Substantial support was found for a 2-factor structure of a work–home culture measure differentiating between “support” (employees’ perceptions of organization's, supervisors’, and colleagues’ responsiveness to work–family issues and to the use of work–home arrangements) and “hindrance” (employees’ perceptions of career consequences and time demands that may prevent them from using work–home arrangements). This 2-factor structure appeared to be invariant across organizations, gender, and parental status. Significant relationships with organizational characteristics, the use of work–home arrangements, and work–home interaction supported the validity of these two cultural dimensions. It is concluded that if employers want to minimize work–home interference, to optimize positive work–home interaction, and to boost the use of work–home arrangements, they should create a work–home culture that is characterized by high support and low hindrance.     

The Norwegian state railways—Profit-motivated enterprise or a community service?

In Norway there is increasing realization among politicians and the general public that it will be to the advantage of the community to make better use of the transport facilities offered by the railways. There is extensive agreement, across party lines, that the railways should not be operated on purely business principles and that railway policy must be formulated to contribute to the overall aims of social policy.However, general views and political claims of this kind are far removed from the problems encountered in putting theory into practice. Where is the boundary line between the proper extent of railway facilities to be provided for the community and the facilities to be provided by other forms of transport?Assuming that we were able to draw such a line, what measures would we have to take in our endeavour to approach the proper economic balance of transport work between the railways and other forms of transport?The political parties are sharply divided in their views as to what measures are acceptable. Controversial measures include economic sanctions or support and regulatory legislation. There is no reason to suppose that these problems are peculiar to Norway. They are no doubt shared by many other countries.     

The impact of family owners’ monitoring on CEO turnover decisions and the role of trust

Even though there is clear evidence that large shareholders play an effective monitoring role over poorly-performing CEOs, the monitoring of family owners is yet quite unexplored. This study investigates the impact of family ownership on the CEO turnover-performance sensitivity, examining two potential factors that can affect the ability of the family owners in ensuring a prompt replacement of an underperforming CEO. First, we examine whether the monitoring of family owners is weakened by the existence of family ties with CEO. Second, we investigate whether the monitoring of family owners over professional CEOs is affected by the cultural propensity to trust or distrust a stranger. Our findings show that family owners are able to ensure a prompt replacement of an underperforming CEO only when the CEO is not a family member but rather an outside professional. Moreover, we find that the effectiveness of the family’s monitoring over professional CEO is weaker in environments characterized by the cultural propensity to distrust a stranger, rather than in contexts characterized by the cultural feeling to trust an outsider.     

Process matters—The relevance of the decision making process for divestiture outcomes

We apply strategic decision making and organizational change theory to corporate divestitures and argue that key characteristics of the divestiture decision making process can contribute to explaining the variation in divestiture outcomes. We test our hypotheses in an empirical multi-source quantitative study and find evidence that analytical comprehensiveness in the evaluation of divestiture effects on the corporate portfolio has a positive impact on the effectiveness of divestiture choices, but analytical comprehensiveness at the focal business unit (BU) level does not enhance decision effectiveness. Our results further indicate that involvement of the affected BU management has a varying impact during the decision making process, with negative effects during the early phase and positive effects in the later phase.     

The influence of psychopathic traits on the acceptance of white-collar crime: do corporate psychopaths cook the books and misuse the news?

Due to several empirical shortcomings in the research of personality characteristics in ethical decision making, we address in this paper the concept of corporate psychopathy in the organizational context. Corporate psychopaths are individuals successfully working in organizations, but are selfish, manipulative, and exhibit a lack of empathy, remorse, and conscience; therefore, they may be viewed as risk factors for organizations. While there is abundant literature on the connection between clinical psychopathy and criminal behavior, such research is scarce in the business context where successful psychopaths operate. Thus, we examine if the malevolent traits of corporate psychopaths predict the acceptance of different forms of white-collar crime. In doing so, we conduct two survey studies in which we first measure participants’ psychopathic tendencies and then assess their acceptance of either an accounting fraud or an insider-trading situation. Consistent with our hypotheses and across both studies, we find a highly significant relationship between personality traits that are associated with corporate psychopathy and the acceptance of white-collar crime. This paper discusses the implications of these findings and identifies some potentially useful approaches for excluding corporate psychopaths from organizations.     

Leadership — The essential of engineering management

What is the difference between a manager and a leader? Is this distinction an important one to the field of engineering management? If so, do engineering managers face different or more difficult problems in practicing effective leadership than other managers? And finally, what is the most effective way for an engineering manager to improve his or her leadership skills? These are the basic questions which this paper addresses. The author's experience indicates that the lack of effective leadership (that important segment of management that has to do with influencing the behavior of other people by means of the manager's own behavior), is or should be of major concern to engineering managers, that engineering professionals are extremely sensitive to their manager's leadership style, and that they tend to be significantly demotivated by unskillful or insensitive leaders. To this extent, an awareness of his or her own leadership patterns might be viewed as more critical to a technical manager than to many other types of manager because of the heavy impact of his or her interpersonal actions on both the rational/logical and the emotional/sensitive sides of an engineer's consciousness. The author reviews several current leadership models as potential tools for leadership training and concludes that to be fully effective, the learning process must include a role-model (master-and-apprentice) relationship between a junior and a senior manager, such as exists in many Japanese firms.