The physician glut: a different view. Interview by Donna Vavala

An interview with nationally known futurist Leland Kaiser, PhD, on the changes physician executives are likely to face as a result of the coming dislocation in the health professions. Or will there be a shrinking career pie at all? The real question is: What new mental models are we going to use and as a result of the new models, what new jobs are going to be created that will ameliorate some of the surplus we've created in the old model? Dr. Kaiser predicts a model will soon emerge that will open a myriad of new career opportunities for physicians. The new model he foresees is community-based medicine.     

New Media and Strategy Research: Towards a Relational Agency Approach

A rapidly growing body of literature focuses on the relationship between new media and strategy, and offers recommendations regarding appropriate strategic actions in relation to new media. This paper systematically reviews 130 articles with a focus on the diagnoses they provide and the directions they offer strategists regarding the role of new media in strategy. The analysis identifies four main ways of conceptualizing new media in the literature: as forces in an increasingly turbulent strategic environment; as changing the role of strategists; as tools for strategically engaging stakeholders; and as both increasing and decreasing the control necessary for strategy making. These conceptualizations are based on often‐implicit assumptions about ‘agency’ in strategy: new media are seen either as forces influencing strategy or as tools in the hands of humans, who are portrayed as the agents of strategy. In both cases, new media are black‐boxed, such that their specific properties and ways of becoming embedded in particular contexts are rarely examined. After discussing these assumptions and a limited number of studies that challenge them, the paper develops an approach to strategy and new media based on a relational understanding of agency, an attention to technological affordances and a methodological sensitivity to tracing strategy‐making assemblages of human and non‐human elements. We argue that future research based on this approach will advance our knowledge of strategy making in ways that do not take new media for granted and ways that are attentive to different kinds of agency.     

Cognitive approaches to new venture creation

Cognitive processes play a critical role in the formation of new ventures. Moreover, the effects of managerial cognition are likely to be more direct and immediate in new venture settings than in the context of larger, more established organizations. For these reasons, the theories and methods of managerial and organizational cognition can provide insight into the process of new venture creation. This paper reviews recent studies that take a cognitive approach to new venture creation and categorizes them according to the stage of new venture creation with which they are concerned. Key issues discussed include the formation of entrepreneurial intentions, the sensemaking processes of scanning, interpretation and action, the use of schema and heuristics in decision-making and the phenomenon of entrepreneurial alertness. Several preliminary research conclusions are drawn, and the implications of these findings for the practice of entrepreneurship are considered. Finally, several promising avenues for future research are explored.     

Screening new products for potential winners

New product success is predictable. This paper highlights the findings of an extensive study into new product success and failure, and pinpoints what separates winners from losers. The key success factors are: product superiority—delivering unique benefits to customers, upfront homework—before development gets underway, sharp and early product definition, a strong market orientation with constant customer contact and input, and quality of execution of key activities in new product process. Sadly many firms and new product efforts are lacking on these success factors. This points to the need for a more disciplined approach to product development. One solution proposed is the implementation of a stage-gate or formal new product process—a blueprint for the process from idea to launch. A generic stage-gate is outlined in the article. The experiences of managers in firms which have implemented such processes are investigated, and the performance results are positive: improved teamwork, less recycle, higher success rates and shorter cycle times.     

Adaptation in new technology‐based ventures: Insights at the company level

Recent research shows that, owing to the presence of uncertainty and ambiguity, new ventures have great difficulties in defining a viable business model from the outset and that minor or major adaptations to this initial business model are needed as the venture evolves. Technology‐based companies are confronted with particularly high degrees of uncertainty and ambiguity. This paper therefore focuses on new technology‐based ventures as a special case worth investigating. Most of the entrepreneurship literature studies adaptation at the individual level. However, many new technology‐based firms are founded by a team of entrepreneurs. This paper therefore looks at how existing literature at the company level can inform us about adaptation in new technology‐based companies. It starts by relating the concept of adaptation in new technology‐based ventures to the existing literature on organizational adaptation at the firm level. Based on an overview of existing literature at the firm level, a propositional model is then put forward, describing (1) the process of adaptation and (2) the factors enabling adaptation in new technology‐based ventures.     

Success through culture change in a Japanese brewery

The birth, growth and subsequent decline of Asahi Brewery is described up to the appointment of a new president of the company and the introduction of a new management concept. This brought a change in strategic direction and the development of new products. Changes in corporate culture at the top and middle level of management encouraged change in employee culture. Improvements of organizational structure and programmes are described and principles for change in corporate culture are extrapolated.     

战略聚焦视角下的文化特性与新产品创造力研究

 基于竞争价值框架和战略理论,在新产品开发过程中,企业文化特性与战略聚焦因素的有效适应或协同对新产品创造力有积极的影响作用。企业文化特性是指一组企业成员所共享的价值观、规范、信仰和群体性认知,能够影响并塑造组织成员的认知、动机和能力,因而在新产品研发阶段对企业产生新想法和解决创造性问题的能力均有重要影响。目前相关研究已开始探讨员工所处的企业文化环境对其新颖而有用想法的产生能力(即创造力)的影响。但鲜有研究在企业层面分析企业文化特性与企业战略的交互对新产品创造力的作用机理。        从竞争价值框架和战略聚焦视角出发,深入分析企业不同文化特性与新产品创造力之间的作用关系,建立基于战略聚焦视角的文化特性-创造力匹配模型,并实证检验新产品开发过程中两类企业文化特性对新产品创造力的影响以及战略聚焦变量在这一过程中的调节机理。为了揭示企业文化特性影响新产品创造力的作用机理,在直接检验柔性导向文化和控制导向文化与新产品创造力关系的基础上,深入分析并检验组织内外部战略聚焦变量(长期导向和企业家导向）对上述关系的调节作用。        以209家中国企业为研究对象进行实证研究,结果表明柔性导向文化和控制导向文化均正向促进新产品创造力;企业家导向正向调节柔性导向文化和控制导向文化与新产品创造力之间的关系;而长期导向对柔性导向文化和控制导向文化与新产品创造力之间关系的调节作用是非线性、倒U形的,即在新产品开发过程中,中等强度的长期导向对企业两种类型文化与新产品创造力的促进作用最强。        研究结论为探讨企业文化特性的激励效能提供了新的理论视角,并对企业在新产品开发过程中的战略聚焦规划和创造力管理有重要的实践指导意义。     

新创企业：大企业的“小版本”?

许多人把新创企业当成“大企业的小版本”,认为大企业具备初创企业的一切重要特征,和新创企业有关的问题是实践的灵活性和适应性的问题,而不是理论的问题。本文认为,在新创企业如此重要的今天,沿用针对经营相对成熟稳定的大企业理论,来解决新创企业的经营问题和制定政府相应的创业支持政策,会造成严重的后果。本文从构成企业动态的四个维度——知识和技能、辅助性资产、企业内部过程以及企业的文化价值观——分别对比分析新创企业和已有企业的基本差异性,以有助于人们对新创企业形成更准确的认识。     

Optimal Policies for Selling New and Remanufactured Products

Because of environmental and economic reasons, an increasing number of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) nowadays sell both new and remanufactured products. When both products are available, customers will buy the one that gives them a higher (and non‐negative) utility. Thus, if the firm does not price the products properly, then product cannibalization may arise and its revenue may be adversely impacted. In this paper, we study the pricing problem of a firm that sells both new and remanufactured products over a finite planning horizon. Customer demand processes for both new and remanufactured products are random and price‐sensitive, and product returns (also called cores) are random and remanufactured upon receipt. We characterize the optimal pricing and manufacturing policies that maximize the expected total discounted profit. If new products are made‐to‐order (MTO), we show that when the inventory level of remanufactured product increases, the optimal price of remanufactured product decreases while the price difference between new and remanufactured products increases; however, the optimal selling price of new product may increase or decrease. If new products are made to stock (MTS), then the optimal manufacturing policy is of a base‐stock policy with the base‐stock level decreasing in the remanufactured product inventory level. To understand the potential benefit in implementing an MTO system, we study the difference between the value functions of the MTO and MTS systems, and develop lower and upper bounds for it. Finally, we study several extensions of the base model and show that most of our results extend to those more general settings.     

Get real: what will draw physicians to the Web?

What are physicians waiting for? What will it take to stimulate widespread adoption of Internet medical systems? How can health care leaders and physicians help the technology innovators and the executives of technology firms understand the components necessary to assure physician acceptance and utilization of new tools? (1) Don't underestimate the personal nature of a physician's practice. It really isn't a "business." (2) Most physicians are not Luddites; they are just extremely pragmatic and practical. (3) For the majority of physicians to adopt a new technology in their private office practice, it must address three major issues: money, hassle, and patient care. There are many obstacles to adopting the new technologies that are the result of physician training and expectations and the current models of payment and revenue generation. Some technological innovations are presented to physicians without sufficient respect for their knowledge of how medical practices really work. The benefits promised often don't match with the needs structure of the physicians. As a consequence, the cycle of diffusion of these new systems is extended and delayed.     

Strategizing in a digital world: Overcoming cognitive barriers,reconfiguring routines and introducing new organizational forms

As digital technologies such as cloud and edge computing, machine learning, advanced artificial intelligence (AI), and the internet of things (IoT) unfold, traditional industries such as telecoms, media, entertainment, and financial services are being reconfigured and new sectors are emerging. In this new competitive landscape we observe new organizational forms and new business models, including the emergence of platforms and multi-sided markets. This emergence has required a strategic response from incumbent firms, including both well-established firms and some first-generation digital enterprises. With these advances in digital technology, the very nature of strategy is changing. Fundamentally, the use of digital technologies may provide new opportunities for efficiency gains, customer intimacy, and innovation. However, without the right mindset for change, appropriate digital routines, and structural changes, digital transformation efforts will fail. We therefore present a framework for strategizing in this new digital competitive landscape that underscores the importance of the interplay between (1) the cognitive barriers faced by managers when trying to understand this new digital world and envision new digital business models, (2) a need to reconfigure and extend digital routines, and (3) new organizational forms that are better equipped to creating value and gaining competitive advantage. From this framework of essential pillars, we derive four journeys of digital transformation for companies that were formed in the pre-digital economy. We also describe the management roles required by top, middle, and frontline managers, depending on whether the digital migration is evolutionary or transformative and whether the firm is responding to or attempting to shape the ecosystem. Although digital transformation is technically all about technology, the more important issue is how companies make their way through this strange new digital world in which they find themselves. Ultimately digital transformation is as much about strategizing as it is about technology.     

不同新能源汽车补贴政策对市场稳定性的影响

目前,加快产业结构升级、形成新的经济增长点的需求,催生各国政府推出各种优化补贴政策以支持新能源汽车产业发展。针对新能源汽车补贴政策优化的问题,本文基于动力系统分支理论构建动态博弈模型,讨论了三种新能源汽车补贴,包括：1）研发补贴;2）市场补贴;3）混合补贴对市场稳定性的影响。结果表明：首先,新能源汽车研发补贴能刺激企业研发投入,但补贴的增加会降低市场稳定性;其次,新能源汽车市场补贴对企业研发投入的刺激效果弱于研发补贴,过度补贴会降低市场稳定性;最后,新能源汽车混合补贴下,研发补贴对企业研发投入的刺激效果优于市场补贴,对企业利润的刺激效果劣于市场补贴,对新能源汽车市场稳定性的提升优于市场补贴。基于此,本文认为增加对其他技术路线以及高端产品的市场补贴,未来对应企业的研发投入进行"研发投入间隔梯度补贴",降低企业研发投入调整速度,以维护市场稳定,促进新能源汽车产业发展。     

顾客依赖及其对顾客参与新产品开发的影响

为了降低新产品开发的风险,企业越来越强调让顾客参与到新产品开发的过程中.以B2B市场为背景,基于企业的视角,以制度经济学中的依赖理论为基础,探讨组织市场中顾客参与新产品开发的动因,通过问卷调查法初步研究顾客依赖的影响因素及其对顾客参与新产品开发的影响.研究结果表明,在B2B市场中,环境的不确定性和交易专项投资对顾客依赖产生正向的影响,顾客依赖对顾客参与新产品开发具有正向影响,信任对顾客依赖与顾客参与新产品开发的关系有正向调节作用.最后,提出相关的营销建议.     

On the location of new facilities for chain expansion under delivered pricing

We study the problem of locating new facilities for one expanding chain which competes for demand in spatially separated markets where all competing chains use delivered pricing. A new network location model is formulated for profit maximization of the expanding chain assuming that equilibrium prices are set in each market. The cannibalization effect caused by the entrance of the new facilities is integrated in the objective function as a cost to be paid by the expanding chain to the cannibalized facilities. It is shown that the profit of the chain is maximized by locating the new facilities in a set of points which are nodes or iso-marginal delivered cost points (points on the network from which the marginal delivered cost equals the minimum marginal delivered cost from the existing facilities owned by the expanding chain). Then the location problem is reduced to a discrete optimization problem which is formulated as a mixed integer linear program. A sensitivity analysis respect to both the number of new facilities and the cannibalization cost is shown by using an illustrative example with data of the region of Murcia (Spain). Some conclusions are presented.     

New technology and developments in management organization

New technology can provide the means to institute considerable changes in management organization, both through its application to operations and through its direct use in managerial work. These changes are expected to lead to smaller more cohesive management structures on the basis of the advantages offered by new technology for control and integration. However, a number of organizational design choices are involved with the introduction of new technology. These may present uncertainties, and it is not expected that the changes discussed will be appropriate to all kinds of organization. In Britain, there are also particular institutional and cultural barriers to the full realization of new technology's managerial potential.     

Rationalizing branch banking

Large organizations and particularly organizations with the complex structure of branch banking, require time to change. The author does not suggest that there are any clear answers to the strategic planning problems facing branch banking. Today's advanced technology provides new tools to respond to change and progress. To do this accurate assessment of market segments, an effective internal management structure, efficient management and a level and quality of staff to use the new technology are required. This, in turn, will demand new recruitment and training methods.     

A new method for order release

A new method for determining when to release jobs into a probabilistic manufacturing line is described. This new heuristic releases jobs only if their predicted waiting times are sufficiently estimated using simulation. Moreover, we use simulation to examine the performance of this heuristic and others CONWIP, Starvation Avoidance for a manufacturing flow line with exponential machine processing, failure, and repair times. The reasons why it is appropriate to compare order release mechanisms using tradeoff curves of lead time versus customer service are described. The simulation experiments show that the new 'waiting time heuristic' is superior to other order release mechanisms in situations where low lead time is required. small. Waiting times are     

New Service Development Competence and Performance: An Empirical Investigation in Retail Banking

What can service firms do to improve their ability to offer new services? In this paper we argue that new service development success results from building a competence in the management of service development resources and routines. We conceptualize new service development competence as a multidimensional, second‐order latent construct that is represented by a system of four interrelated and complementary dimensions: (1) formalized new service development processes, (2) market acuity, (3) new service development strategy, and (4) information technology use and experience. We hypothesize that the growth of new service development competence is related to improved new service development performance. Using structural equations modeling, we analyze survey data from 166 retail banks and report three key empirical findings. First, we show that the four hypothesized dimensions are statistically significant in defining new service development competence. Second, contrary to conventional wisdom in new product development, we find that formalized processes play a lesser role in the success of new service development compared with the other three dimensions. Instead, market acuity—which captures the firm's ability to see the competitive environment clearly and to anticipate and respond to customers' evolving needs and wants—was the most important new service development competence indicator. Finally, we demonstrate the positive effect of new service development competence on new service development performance and show that new service development competence is also significantly related to business‐level performance. Together, our empirical results suggest that complementary benefits arise from the adoption of a more holistic approach to the management of new service development at the program level.     

Weber's social history and Etzioni's structural theory of charisma in organizations: Implications for thinking about charismatic leadership

The article argues that the new theories of leadership which give primary attention to the concept of charisma have insufficiently used insights from the work of Max Weber and Amitai Etzioni. Three points are made: (1) the concepts of charisma most referenced in the work of Weber, Etzioni, and the new leadership theories address different levels of analysis which should be considered together; (2) for both Weber and Etzioni, charisma is about wisdom, but this conception is missing in the new theories of leadership; and (3) both Weber and Etzioni gave primary attention to the tensions in the emergence and development of charisma, whereas this is not a concern discussed in the new leadership theories. Each of these points are important for a fuller understanding of charismatic leadership in organizations.     

The New Story of Business: Towards a More Responsible Capitalism

Business is undergoing a conceptual revolution. Since the Global Financial Crisis there are many new ideas and proposals to make capitalism more responsible. The purpose of this paper is to identify key flaws in the “old story” of capitalism. Six principles are explained that taken together form the basis for a new story of business, one of responsible capitalism.