Entrepreneurial leadership vision in nonprofit vs. for-profit organizations

This paper explores the role that entrepreneurial leadership vision plays in the entrepreneurial process of nonprofit and for-profit ventures. The results indicate significant differences in the meaning of vision articulated for each type of venture. Differences between ventures were also found with regard to the relationship that vision has with the ventures' strategies and performance. In the nonprofit organizations vision was associated with a wide-range strategy as well as the ventures' performance and growth. In addition, wide-range strategy partially mediated the relationship between the ventures' vision and its performance and growth. In business enterprises, vision directly predicted only a differentiation strategy, which also mediated the relationship between vision and the ventures' performance and growth. In contrast, a wide-range strategy in these organizations actually reduced growth. These findings contribute both to the literature on vision as well as to the literature on entrepreneurship.     

On Strategy and Management Control: The Importance of Classifying the Strategy of the Business

The point of departure for this paper is a number of contingency-theory studies on the relationship between business strategy and the design and use of management control. In these studies strategy has been operationalized in different ways – a major reason why the findings are ambiguous and difficult to integrate. Thus there is a strong need for a common frame of reference for classifying business strategy. In view of the multifaceted nature of the concept of strategy, however, it is neither desirable nor possible to arrive at a single method of classification that would be appropriate in all situations. Rather, the task is to integrate different strategic variables such as strategic pattern, strategic position and strategic mission. In this paper we show how these three variables may be assumed to influence, and be influenced by, what characterizes changes in strategy and how business units manage their product offerings. Unlike most previous studies in the field, this paper discusses how the strategic variables taken together may be assumed to influence the classification of strategy and thus the design and use of the management-control system. Our deductive analysis, and the hypotheses used in connection with it, show that studies which consider only one strategic variable may lead to erroneous conclusions about the relationship between strategy and management control.     

Internationalization, innovation and entrepreneurship: business models for new technology-based firms

New technology-based firms, particularly those that develop their business around a new technological platform, are likely to be impacted by globalization, in terms of both pace of innovation and pressure of competition. For these firms, strategic decisions and growth processes are characterized by a deep inter-relationship amongst the processes of internationalization, innovation and entrepreneurship; processes which have tended to be examined independently in distinct bodies of literature. In practice strategic decisions concern each of these processes and address issues such as organizational boundaries, location of the operational activities, what activities to focus on and selection of value partners. The business model by which firms operate needs also to accommodate the spatial dimensions indicated by globalization; and the emergence of global technology markets. Little is known to date about the extent to which business models accommodate or are adapted to internationalization, innovation and entrepreneurship. This paper presents a review of the business model literature from which a generic business model framework is derived, identifying and introducing the main elements of these processes as the firms?? focus, modus and locus. This contribution makes a clear distinction between the business model and the strategy concepts and highlights the relevance of location decisions??not considered by extant business model literature to date. While our discussion draws on the high technology new venture as our primary example, we believe our business model conceptualization has general applicability.     

Developing subsidiary contribution to the MNC—Subsidiary entrepreneurship and strategy creativity

Despite its theoretical and managerial significance, subsidiary entrepreneurship and its effects on subsidiary contribution remain underexplored in the literature. We propose that subsidiary entrepreneurship encourages more creative strategic responses to escalating environmental change. We explore the direct and mediating effects of subsidiary entrepreneurship on subsidiary contribution to the MNC, particularly subsidiary strategy creativity. We use structural equation modelling to test our propositions on data generated from surveying the population of Irish subsidiaries of foreign MNCs, and find strong support for our theoretical predictions. The managerial implications of subsidiary entrepreneurship in generating creative strategy, prompting strategic initiatives and improving performance are discussed.     

Leadership of highly creative people in highly creative fields: A historiometric study of scientific leaders

In recent years there has been a marked increase in the study of the influence of leadership on creativity, and the effects of this relationship on organizational performance. While a number of explanations have been broached with regard to the positive effects of leadership on creativity, many of these studies propose different, and often contradictory, methods for leaders to achieve these positive effects on creativity within their organizations and work groups. Additionally, little work has been done examining the effects of leadership on highly creative people in fields requiring creativity. The purpose of this study is to examine two existing leadership theories with regard to their viability as models to explain creative performance of eminent scientists. Eminent scientists represent a population of leaders of highly creative individuals in a field that values the production of innovative ideas and products as a marker of performance. Ninety-three excerpts from the biographies of scientists were content coded for leader behaviors and performance criteria. The results of this analysis indicate that a model based on strategic planning and product championing may serve to explain the positive effects of leadership on creativity in a highly creative population.     

Insights from a Management Prophet: Mary Parker Follett on Social Entrepreneurship

Current‐day management leaders such as Peter Drucker and Rosabeth Moss Kanter have cited Mary Parker Follett as guru and prophet given her foreknowledge of systems theory, action research and leadership. She viewed business as a social institution and work itself as a community service, concepts particularly relevant in the context of understanding social entrepreneurship. Referencing two of her works, “The Individual in Society” and “Business in Society”, this paper introduces Follett, defines social entrepreneurship and presents her ideas as timely insights on the meaning of work, ethics and the role of business in society.     

市场导向对组织创造力的非线性作用机理——组织二元结构文化与创业导向的影响研究

在我国加快实施创新驱动发展战略中,如何提升企业组织创造力以促使企业创新变得至关重要。企业战略是影响组织创造力和创新的重要情境因素。市场导向和创业导向是新兴经济体国家的企业发展的战略核心。然而,现有研究对市场导向与企业创造性产出之间关系的观点却不一致。创业导向如何影响市场导向对组织创造力的作用也尚未得到关注和研究。本研究以145家企业的979份高层管理人员与核心员工的套问卷数据为样本,研究发现：市场导向对组织创造力产生倒U型影响,且倒U型影响通过二元结构文化（一致性文化与适应性文化）的不同传导机制而产生,即：一致性文化在市场导向与组织创造力之间正向中介效应随市场导向的增强而减弱,并在高度市场导向时转变为负向中介效应,而适应性文化在市场导向和组织创造力之间发挥部分中介效应。研究还发现：市场导向对组织创造力的倒U型影响受创业导向的调节作用,即：当创业导向较高时,市场导向对组织创造力的积极影响随市场导向的增强而逐渐增强,反之,则逐渐减弱。研究结论为提升企业组织创造力提供新的思路和理论参考。     

What’s in a face? Facial appearance associated with emergence but not success in entrepreneurship

Facial appearance has been associated with leader selection in domains where effective leadership is considered crucial, such as politics, business and the military. Few studies, however, have so far explored associations between facial appearance and entrepreneurship, despite the growing expectation that societies project on entrepreneurs for providing exemplary leadership in activities leading to the creation of disruptive start-ups. By using computer vision tools and a large-scale sample of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs from Crunchbase, we investigate whether three geometrically based facial characteristics - facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR), cheekbone prominence, and facial symmetry - as well as advanced statistical models of whole facial appearance, are associated with a) the likelihood of an individual to emerge as an entrepreneur and b) the performance of the company founded by that individual. We find that cheekbone prominence, facial symmetry and two whole facial appearance statistical models are associated with the likelihood of an individual to emerge as an entrepreneur. In contrast to entrepreneurship emergence, none of the examined facial characteristics are associated with performance. Overall, our results suggest that facial appearance is associated with the emergence of leaders in the entrepreneurial endeavor, however, it is not informative about their subsequent performance.     

Creative entrepreneurs’ creativity,opportunity recognition,and career success: Is resource availability a double-edged sword?

At the heart of the entrepreneurial process in creative industries are entrepreneurial creativity and opportunity recognition, which influence entrepreneurs’ ability to create new ventures or significantly improve the position of an existing business. Recent entrepreneurship research has suggested that resource availability represents a double-edged sword, simultaneously facilitating and impeding new venture outcomes, while little research has explored how entrepreneurial creativity, opportunity recognition, and resource availability jointly affect entrepreneurial career success. To address the theoretical gap, this paper examines the moderating role of resource availability in the relationship between entrepreneurial creativity, opportunity recognition and career success of creative entrepreneurs.To reflect the career success perceived by business founders in creative industries, five indicators of entrepreneurial success are examined, including career achievement, social reputation, entrepreneurial happiness, capability enhancement, and financial satisfaction. Hierarchical regression analysis empirically examines a sample of 296 entrepreneurs in creative industries. Results suggest that entrepreneurial creativity and opportunity recognition are positively related to entrepreneurial career success. We also find that resource availability generally strengthens the effect of entrepreneurial creativity and opportunity recognition on entrepreneur-perceived career success. Nevertheless, the relationship between opportunity recognition and financial satisfaction is found to be weakened by entrepreneurs’ resource availability. Integrating the theory of entrepreneurial effectuation and resource dependence theory, our findings indicate that entrepreneurial bricolage is crucial for creative entrepreneurship.     

Real Options in Management and Organizational Strategy: A Review of Decision‐making and Performance Implications

This paper contributes to the debate on the role of real options theory in business strategy and organizational decision‐making. It analyses and critiques the decision‐making and performance implications of real options within the management theories of the (multinational) firm, reviews and categorizes the organizational, strategic and operational facets of real options management in large business settings. It also presents the views of scholars and practitioners regarding the incorporation and validity of real options in strategy, international management and business processes 1 . The focus is particularly on the decision‐making and performance attributes of the real options logic concerning strategic investments, governance modes and multinational operations management. These attributes are examined from both strategic and operating perspectives of decision‐making in organizations, also with an overview of the empirical evidence on real options decision‐making and performance.     

Beyond the “silo view” of strategic management and corporate governance: evidence from Fiat,Telecom Italia and Unicredit

While corporate governance and strategic management have for a long time suffered from artificial separation and, therefore, generally been tackled in a secluded manner, their combined organizational impact makes them stringently related to one another in the firms’ evolution. In this paper, we argue that, transcending the “silo view” of corporate governance and strategic management, time has come to acknowledge that, depending on circumstances and time periods, within a firm is possible to detect the relative dominance of corporate governance over strategic management, rather than the leadership of strategic management over corporate governance. Drawing on a contingency approach, we dissect the relationships (and the mechanisms that control it) between the strategic function (i.e., which defines the firms’ strategy and supervisions its implementation) and the governance function (i.e., the congruence assessment between the firm strategy selected and the interests of the ownership and of other relevant stakeholders represented in the board of directors and the effectiveness appraisal of the entrepreneurial action). Then, by performing a thorough retrospective qualitative analysis of three relevant case-histories of Italian firms (Fiat, Telecom Italia and Unicredit) operating in three different industries (automobile, banking and telecommunications), we surmise that, either in corporate governance (board) oriented or in strategic management (CEO) oriented companies, the ‘real’ problems arise when the quality of corporate governance or strategic management is poor. Interestingly, we eventually suggest to adopt a value-based approach to the relationship between corporate governance and strategy that may fruitfully complement the contingency perspective taken at the onset of the work.     

董事会对公司战略过程评价:逻辑架构与指标体系

公司的战略管理是所有管理活动的重中之重.它包括战略判断、计划与预算活动、战略执行以及适威Adaptive)与交互(Interactive)性的战略控制体系.而现代公司治理原则要求董事会应关注和评价公司的战略管理活动.本文进一步认为,在资本市场不够发达的情况下,董事会应关注公司战略管理的奎过程为此,我们提出了一个针对公司战略管理体系有效性评价的基本框架和评价指标体系,目的在于使公司治理有效地作月于管理过程,最终为企业创造价值.     

Charisma and rhetoric: Communicative techniques of international business leaders

Although powerful rhetoric is often associated with charismatic leadership, little explanation is available of why leader rhetoric is related to charisma. One of the first studies to explicitly address this topic focused on speech content (Shamir. Arthur & House, 1994). Other elements contributing to the strong motivational and emotive effects of charismatic rhetoric are construction of the message, style and delivery. CEOs play an important part in creating and dispersing organizational values and visions to organization members and the external environment. Their speeches within and outside the company are important to motivate others and gain support for their vision. The CEOs in this study are from companies seeking different degrees and types of international involvement. Their corporate visions reflect different international business mentalities. This study explores how these charismatic CEOs rhetorically construct message content in their speeches, focusing on how their attitude towards internationalization and international business strategy is reflected. First, international strategy and attitudes towards internationalization as well as vision, charisma and rhetoric are discussed. Discourse analysis is described and examples of rhetorical devices are given from the analyzed speeches of the CEO's. Finally, part of a more extensive analysis of examples from speeches showing the rhetorical construction of messages reflecting their international strategy and management mentality are presented.     

服务供应链管理、顾客满意与企业绩效

本研究构建了服务供应链管理活动同顾客满意及企业绩效间的结构方程模型,并以来自中国民航服务业的数据进行了实证分析。结果显示服务企业的领导力不仅对服务供应链的战略管理和运作管理活动有正影响效应,还对企业服务信息系统的构建有积极影响;企业文化对企业战略层面的服务供应链管理计划、协作关系的构建、整合服务资源等服务供应链战略管理活动有显著影响;服务供应链战略管理活动、运作管理活动和顾客信息系统的构建通过有效提升顾客满意感、可以增加企业绩效。     

Sustainability in the Construction Business — A Case Study

Skanska is among the world's five largest construction companies, with construction-related activities and project development operations in some 60 countries. A strategic approach to environment was adopted in 1995. In 1998 a decision was made to introduce certified environmental management systems. The drivers behind these steps were pressures from the market, future legislation and public opinion.By the end of 2000, all business units of Skanska had environmental management systems certified according to ISO 14001. Newly acquired companies are required to have certified systems within two years after acquisition. While environmental management systems provide the necessary framework, more technical tools are also needed. Some examples of such tools are presented in this article.ISO 14001 is an important element in focusing the attention of the organization on environmental issues, but for leadership in environment, a number of guiding principles are also presented and discussed.Finally, corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be seen as a framework for all types of issues where a company is regarded as having certain obligations toward society at large, because of direct or indirect effects from its business operations. It is only logical that Skanska, following its work with ISO 14001 and the move toward leadership in environment, now has decided to develop a CSR platform.     

Not running out of steam after 30 years: The enduring relevance of Central and Eastern Europe for international management scholarship

Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is a crucial geopolitical area that has played an important role in the advancement of globalization and the nurturing of international management (IM) scholarship. This article serves as an introduction to a special issue on the topic and argues that CEE remains important for IM scholarship as it provides a critical research context for increasing understanding of IM-related phenomena at various levels of analysis. We discuss the topics most relevant for advancing IM scholarship and group them into three broad themes: macro - state, institutions, and populism; inter-firm - entrepreneurship, internationalization, and business networks; and intra-firm - management practices, leadership, and people management.     

多层次导向的真实型领导对员工与团队创新的影响机制研究

"德才兼备"是中国评价领导者的重要内容,学者多关注团队领导者的"才"对创新的影响,鲜有研究探讨领导者的"德"与创新的关系。真实型领导与德才兼备中的"德"有着较好契合,本研究以113个研发团队的领导者及其574名员工为被试,运用多层次研究方法,探究真实型领导对创新的作用及机制。结果表明,个体导向的真实型领导透过上级支持对员工创新结果具有显著促进作用;团队导向的真实型领导透过团队协力对员工个体创新行为和团队整体的创新均有显著促进作用。本文提供了在中国情境下真实型领导对创新的多层次影响机制。     

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。     

A Study of the Role Played by Manufacturing Strategic Objectives and Capabilities in Understanding the Relationship between Porter's Generic Strategies and Business Performance

An appropriate alignment between business strategy, manufacturing strategic objectives and manufacturing capabilities reportedly influences business performance positively. However, few papers empirically analyse this proposition for the case of Porter's generic strategies of cost leadership and differentiation, and none jointly considers all four elements. This paper integrates strategies, capabilities and performance in a single model and proposes that both manufacturing competitive priorities and capabilities, articulated in terms of cost and flexibility, are essential for explaining the link between generic business strategies and business commercial and financial performance. Within this analytic framework, we test whether companies that emphasize one business strategy rather than another achieve a better alignment and superior performance. The analyses conducted with a sample of 148 Spanish manufacturers provide general support for these propositions and contribute to a deeper understanding of the role played by functional strategies in understanding the outcomes of business strategy.     

Was müssen Führungskräfte können?

Ethics Education complements business administration only if it teaches strategic competencies that help managers to become better leaders. To this end, this article sketches an ordonomic approach to an economic ethics for competitive markets, to a business ethics for firms (corporate citizens), and to a process ethics for new governance. The core idea of this ordonomic approach is the win-win concept of mutually beneficial value creation. Thus, ordonomics is compatible with the market economy and at the same time supplements the management education in business schools: This approach systematically identifies strategic competencies that enable managers to display the kind of entrepreneurial leadership that is necessary for firms to fulfill their social function of value creation—by making use of moral commitments as a factor of production.