Implementing a quality assessment program

It is difficult to imagine a more stressed organization than today's hospital. If the scope of change is not a sufficient challenge, the rate of the change is staggering, especially in quality assessment. Now we are poised for continuous quality improvement, whereby outcomes identified by quality assessment become the focus for system and process review and modification. It is imperative that a good quality assessment program be in place before implementing and integrating a continuous quality improvement process. The purpose of this article is to show how a quality assessment system can be implemented in a community hospital, regardless of size or scope of services. Key to the process is making all staff members part of the system's development and operation.     

Mobilizing organizational alignment through strategic human resource development

This study examines the pivotal role of strategic human resource development (SHRD) in mobilizing organizational alignment. Using case study methodology, I trace the implementation of core competency development as a companywide SHRD initiative. The rationale for introducing core competency development as an organization-wide strategy was to enhance talent acquisition, development and retention. The operating environment (global market, industry space) and firm-specific factors (e.g. demographics and new leadership) accelerated the adoption of SHRD. Internal stakeholder orientation towards SHRD and the role of human resource development (HRD) in facilitating the implementation were also identified as critical factors. Organizational alignment emerged as an implicit consequence, while patterns of misalignment created barriers towards achieving the full benefits of SHRD. Furthermore, HRD displayed a high level of resourcefulness to become a strategic asset in the organization. I argue that the relevance and power of HRD lie in its ability to engage and respond to stakeholder expectations and involvement in organization change efforts.     

A Model for Implementing a Sustainability Strategy through HRM Practices

There is a rapidly growing interest in the topic of sustainability as it relates to long‐term business performance that optimizes the “triple bottom line”: economic, environmental, and social outcomes. This article articulates a multilevel conceptual model for executing a business strategy for sustainability primarily through the design and implementation of human resource management practices. The model builds on open systems theory, the resource based view of the firm, and the concept of line of sight to identify certain key organizational capabilities, group competencies, and individual abilities and other characteristics that combine to drive organizational performance when pursuing a sustainability strategy. The article concludes with a discussion of implications of the model for theory, research, and practice.     

Integrating strategic issues into strategic management

The notion of a ‘strategic issues’ is rather pervasive in the field of planning in both conceptual [5, 19] and practical contexts. For instance, sometime ago the Wall Street Journal [41] reported that at least 50 large firms have created positions of ‘issues management director’; a dramatic increase in the number of such positions. ‘True’ strategic issues have a readily apparent importance to any organization; yet the process of identifying such issues and of integrating them into strategic planning and management is not well developed. Most treatments of strategic issues deal only with specific segments of the overall process through which relevant issues may be initially identified and finally translated into appropriate strategy [e.g. 5, 17]. This paper demonstrates that it is practical to develop a comprehensive process of ‘strategic issue management’ (SIM) that will facilitate the systematic identification, assessment and analysis of such issues. Such a process can ensure that issue-related factors are fully integrated into the formulation and implementation of strategy and plans. As such, SIM is a process whereby strategic issues may become an integral element of strategic management.     

策划缔造世界级品牌

公共关系在现代企业发展中日益起着不可替代的作用。青岛海尔集团公司,就是运用公共关系,获得巨大成功的一家企业。1984年以前,海尔集团还是一家濒临海尔蝉联中国最有价值品牌第一名。2004年1月31日,世界五大品牌价值评估机构之一的世界品牌实验室编制的《世界最具影响力的100个品牌》报告揭晓,中国海尔唯一入选,排在第95位。自1985年与联邦德国利勃海尔公司合作生产出中国第一代四星级电冰箱"青岛一利勃海尔"以来,目前已开发出12个系列、百余种规格的"青岛海尔"牌电冰箱、电脑程控式微波炉、微电脑电磁炉等高科技、高附加值系列产品。现在它已成为年产冰箱60万台、固定资产近3亿元、年销售收入25亿元的全国十佳优秀企业之一,正向"中国的松下"目标奋进。海尔集团不仅在经济管理和现代化生产方面为我国企业的现代化发展开辟了新的前景,而且在企业公共关系实践方面,也做出了新的尝试。     

Promoting business model innovation through social media strategic capability: A moderated mediation model

The rapid development of social media has significantly affected organizational innovation activities. However, scant research has investigated how social media, as an important innovative tool within the corporate landscape, influences firm business model innovation (BMI). This paper provides an initial investigation into whether, and how, social media can be used to promote firm BMI. Drawing on the strategic capability literature, the study examines the relationship between social media strategic capability (SMSC) and BMI by focusing on the mediating role of strategic flexibility and the moderating effects of top management team (TMT) heterogeneity and environmental dynamism. Empirical results from a sample of 283 Chinese firms with two key informants each show a significant and positive association between SMSC and BMI, which is mediated by strategic flexibility. In addition, moderated path analyses indicate that TMT heterogeneity positively moderates the SMSC–strategic flexibility path, while environmental dynamism positively moderates the strategic flexibility–BMI path in the mediated relationship. Theoretical and practical implications of this study for both social media and BMI research are discussed.     

Using strategic planning to drive strategic change

This article describes a case history of strategic planning, learning and change within a major division of Dowty plc. At Dowty CASE, a telecommunications company, the management team used strategic planning as a structured learning process to generate strategic change. There are many lessons which academics and practitioners alike can learn from this case of strategic planning and change in action.     

Monitoring long-range plans

Are long-range plans monitored? How accurate is corporate long-range planning? These are important questions for both the long-range planner and top management. The results of a recent survey of U.S. utility firms by the author provides some insights into a number of facets of the monitoring phase of long-range planning.     

Business innovation through strategic community creation: a case study of multimedia business field in Japan

For the last few years, the video conferencing system market represented by multimedia technology has enjoyed strong growth in Japan. Behind the recent upturn in this market was the strategic alliance of NTT, Japan’s largest telecommunications carrier, and PictureTel of the US, followed by the birth of business communities centered around or outside NTT, thus intensively creating and boosting a new market referred to as interactive video communication. This case study reviews the challenges that faced NTT, one of the big businesses in Japan, followed by PictureTel and other players within and outside NTT, all of which were lined up to create various strategic business communities. The article gives careful consideration to the measures taken by these players who achieved success in such a way as to alter employee consciousness, vitalize organizational morale, entrench the new NTT “Phoenix” brand (video conferencing system) in the Japanese market, and create an emergent new video conferencing market.     

Introducing strategic management

This is a report on the International Conference on Strategic Management, held at Vanderbilt Graduate School of Management (14–18 May 1973). At the conference, senior academics, businessmen and consultants from fifteen countries met to discuss the problems of implementing strategic planning.     

Developing strategic thinking

This paper looks at the problem of getting managers to contribute effectively to strategic planning, and focuses on the role of management development approaches in ensuring that this happens. A number of formal, and less formal, management development techniques are discussed in the light of their relevance for developing strategic awareness. The importance of providing exposure to strategic issues at an early stage in managers' careers is stressed, and also the need to encourage managers to take initiatives in obtaining their own development. Some of the most fruitful techniques involve taking full advantage of the ‘natural learning’ that takes place on the job, and those which provide a close integration between management development and the planning process—such as projects and ‘task forces’. Finally the role of senior managers in helping to create and maintain a climate in which strategic abilities can develop is discussed.     

Re-engineering strategic management

To co-ordinate the activities of all participants in their business system, Benetton and Toyota explicitly separated entrepreneurial from professional activities. Managing flows of information, cash and goods became the distinctive competence of sinior entrepreneurs. This created two independently co-ordinated and distinct organizations: The social and the professional organization. The author discusses ways of creating these organizations.     

How French industry plans

This paper presents briefly the results of an empirical study on long-range forecasting conducted in large French corporations. It demonstrates that forecasting differs quite widely according to its technical, economic or social nature.     

Successfully implementing strategic decisions

Ninety-three company presidents completed a questionnaire evaluating the implementation of one strategic decision each in their respective firms. Ten strategy implementation problems were experienced during implementation by over 50 per cent of the sample group. Firms experiencing high success in implementation, according to an index of implementation success, were compared with the low-success firms to determine which problems were rated at significantly different levels. In 11 instances, the mean rating for the high-success implementation firms was significantly lower in terms of problem intensity. Follow-up interviews with 21 presidents (plus 25 governmental agency heads later on) identified five factors which help promote successful implementation.     

Using strategic issue analysis

Strategic issue analysis is proposed as a method for resolving the strategic issues that are an important part of strategic management. The SIA process is one in which a strategic issue information model is developed using a joint manager-analyst teamwork approach. The issue models and supporting data then provide the basis for strategic decision making. The approach has numerous advantages over other approaches— both more and less formal—for resolving the strategic questions that must be addressed in any comprehensive planning process.     

Introducing strategic quality management

This paper introduces strategic total quality management (STQM) as an extension of total quality management (TQM). STQM is defined as a quality management philosophy that views quality from the overall performance of a firm. It defines quality as being driven by customer and environmental needs and looks to identify critical factors that will determine the survivability and competitiveness of a firm in the near future. A contrast between total quality assurance, total quality management and strategic total quality management is presented using ten principles of quality. The dimensions of STQM are also identified and defined and STQM transformation frameworks are presented to show the process of implementing STQM. The strategic cycle presented here is linked to the popular PDCA or Deming cycle. Furthermore, top management strategies and reasoning for this new focus and strategic targets are identified, grouped and discussed.