Strategic planning and product innovation—Some systematic approaches

Companies interact with society. The desires and needs of society change. If an enterprise wants to continue to function, then it must adapt its course to the changes. Such a process of adaptation occurs in two stages. In the first, the strategy of the enterprise must be formulated. This strategy forms the dynamic framework for the second phase—product innovation. In this second phase future strategy is made concrete by launching new or improved products on the market. This whole adaptation process has organizational consequences for the relationship between the enterprise and society, for the internal organizational structure and for the human beings involved in the process. These consequences are discussed briefly in this paper. The paper concludes with an example taken from practice, which shows clearly that the transformation of theory into practice is very definitely not free from problems.     

In—Credible Government: Legitimacy, Democracy, and Non-Governmental Organizations

This article analyses emerging trans-global networks of governance that are coming to light within a post-democratic form of governance that relies upon specific technologies of credibility building, as opposed to universalistic mechanisms of representation. Using the NGO sector as a model, and using examples from fieldwork conducted in the unraveled contexts of Bosnia and Croatia, and the unraveling context of Ecuador over the past decade, we show how intervention within the global south and post conflict realms, although often couched using such master terms as democracy, development and freedom, are in fact geared towards the generation of political legitimacy and influence through relationships based upon the exchange of credibility.

Government publications— A course outline

Most librarians do not have an extensive knowledge of government publications. There are no generally accepted standards by which goals and objectives of a course in government publications may be measured. This outline represents an attempt to construct a viable one semester course in U.S. Government publications. Emphasis is placed on bibliographic control of publications, sources of ready reference, and serial publications. Within this framework, there may be variations as based on the differences in goals and objectives of individual library schools and their student bodies. The teacher must have more than a minimal knowledge of the organizational structure and history of the federal government if the functions of the various agencies are to be adequately explained. Careful attention should always be given to explanations, definitions and terminology. The value and usefulness of U.S. Government publications can be made more apparent by use of current items in the news and the identification of the sources of those items with their agency and appropriate publications.     

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.     

Medicare private contracting: increasing patient choice and access?

Congress modified the Medicare program through the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to expand patient choices for payment to physicians and certain other practitioners by allowing private contracting. This represents a shift in policy that has broad consequences for health care financing and program integrity. The effect of private contracting on quality and access to care remains unknown. Quality and access should be the most important measures of its success or failure. Out of pocket costs to seniors and vulnerable patients must also be watched closely.     

Corporate long-range planning groups—Some different approaches

This paper investigates several atypical roles of formal long-range planning groups and some reasons for their appearance. The study is based on three separate surveys covering 115 companies in eight industries located in both England and the United States. The authors first identify functions based on their own research and the literature which appear to make up a typical planning group role. Twenty-four of the 115 planning groups surveyed very considerable as well as sytematically from the norm. They are classified into three major categories described as (1) capital budgeting groups, (2) project development groups, and (3) think tank groups.     

Urban management—Some models for policy making

Urban management has been the subject of much ‘integrative’ discussion and analysis, both in this country and abroad. Indeed, as the author suggests in this paper ‘the feeling is that there is a danger that planners might take on too broad a field and try to do too much’. This paper examines the notions of the planner's role within a ‘political’ decision-making process and examines a number of different models indicating their relevance, complexity and feasibility. By concentrating upon the relationship of the theories of planning with the political decision-making environment within which they are enacted, the author draws usefully upon the relevant literature and provides a comprehensive, persuasive, intelligent and, comprehensive view of the relevance of some theories and the irrelevance of others. This paper walks the narrow tight rope between the fallacious separation of policy formulation from policy implementation, whilst at the same time recognizing the distinction between these two aspects of the decision-making process. The author postulates a number of propositions relevant to a planning process of an optimal nature and, although treating some of the theory in a somewhat superficial manner, the analysis provides a useful addition to the body of planning knowledge. This paper pieces together a number of existing elements of planning theory within a theoretical and conceptual framework. This is an important contribution to planning theory, since it does not suggest that the planning process is merely a collection of techniques, but that it is a complex system for recognizing, regulating and ultimately reconciling human values.     

Accounting,economics and management—Some comments on accounting as an economic yardstick for management

Accounting, economics and management have an important role in business education but the theories have a poor standing in the business world.Researchers often cannot test theories in real life. Instead, however, they can look at management at all levels as an experimenting change agent in urgent need of scientifically valid and reliable predictions and feedback. Accounting as the measurement technique for economic transactions has to adapt to that need.Many conflicts on analytical techniques and evaluations for management purposes are still to be solved. The measurements must not only cover the consequences of decisions at large but also explain the consequences with regard to multi-goal attainment, survival risks, revenue effects, managerial incentives and responsibility etc.     

Predicting corporate failure— Some results for the UK corporate sector

A large number of authors have developed statistical models, which are based solely on conventional financial ratios constructed from published accounting data, with the aim of predicting corporate failure as evidenced by the event of ‘bankruptcy’. The purpose of this paper is to report some empirical results for a study of the UK corporate sector in which corporate failure is predicted employing a statistical model which incorporates both conventional accounting ratios and a number of new variables which are not derived from profit and loss accounts and balance sheet items, but which are computed from annual company reports and accounts. The empirical results suggesting that our new variables enhance the predictive power of models which employ conventional financial ratios only.     

Public Multichannel Management – an Integrated Framework of Off- and Online Multichannel Government Services

Government institutions have introduced multichannel environments over time following trends and technological innovations. These public multichannel environments often neglect specific channel characteristics and potentials and thus miss the opportunity to make full use of a strategic channel integration and combination with a focus on customer value creation. This study offers a systematic approach to establish an integrated public multichannel system not only taking into account user preferences, habits and their environment, but also the respective channel issuer and the characteristics of channels and public interfaces. Against this background, the study presents a systematic approach to expand services and channels according to their capacities, and provides academics and practitioners with a framework on public multichannel strategies.     

Strategic planning as an organizational change process—Some guidelines from practice

Learning to cope with the problems and uncertainties created by today's changing business environment is a task which faces ever company. Coping with the challenge of change is not just a question of adapting or reacting to the changes, it may also involve taking new initiatives in relation to the environment itself in order to exploit the opportunities which exist.A company may need to make fundamental adjustments to its philosophy, strategies, organization and practices in order to meet the newer demands of the environment. A prime difficulty is that companies are rarely in a position to start from scratch, they have existing organizational arrangements, power distributions, well established strategies and vested interests all of which tend to resist any kind of change which is likely to upset the ‘status quo’. They also have to overcome outdated beliefs and norms if they are to progress.This article considers the use of a modified approach to strategic planning as a mechanism for helping a company to acquire the norms, organization and strategies needed to cope with today's business environment. It is based on experience gained in helping to re-organize business enterprises engaged in textiles, steel tube manufacture, light engineering, distribution (world wide) and vehicle sales and servicing and also the Government of Jersey, Channel Islands.     

How Does Government Size and Structure Respond Empirically to Changes in its Organisational Environment?

Does government size and structure adapt to changes in government’s organisational environment (particularly to uncertainty and complexity) as predicted by organisational theory? We find – using a range of statistical analyses – support for each of the major theories of organisation adaptation (the contingency-based view, resource-based view, and the rational choice view). We find that both government size and structure change – holding other factors constant – for changes in the uncertainty and complexity of governments’ organisational environments. We find seven clusters of governments which adapt their organisational sizes differently in response to changes in the uncertainty and complexity of their organisational environments – and four clusters of governments with differing preferences for the way they adapt governmental structures. We also use the available data to divide governments according to the extent to which they adapt their organisational size and structure reactively (after changes occur in their organisational environment), contemporaneously or strategically (before these changes in their organisational environment occur).     

Public–private versus public ownership and economic performance: evidence from Italian local utilities

In the last century local public services have often been reformed. The declared outcome of the most recent reforms is the privatization and liberalization of the sector. However, in almost all European countries, the privatization of local public services has been only partial, because local governments have sought to privatise a minority stake in the public owned-companies, while remaining committed to retaining public ownership and control over the longer-term as a means of protecting public interest. The phenomenon of mixed public–private companies emerged as a result of this process. In this context, the article investigates whether differences in financial performance can be found between public–private companies and totally public-owned enterprises. Empirical quantitative studies on this particular topic are quite lacking at the moment. The present study tries to fill this gap through an empirical analysis on a sample of 623 Italian local utilities. The results of the study suggest that there are differences in economic performance between local utility companies with varying degrees of public ownership. In particular, public–private utilities show better economic performance than publicly owned firms, especially in terms of profitability. The results also seem to suggest that the majority private ownership is not necessary for better performance. In other terms, public–private partnership—and not private majority ownership—seems to be the key point for good performance.     

Leadership and Overload Stress Orientations of German and Russian Working Adults: Does Government Work Experience Make a Difference?

This paper examines task, relationship, and overload stress orientations of people in the high-context cultures of Russia and in the low-context cultures of Germany based on their government work experience. A Two-way ANOVA methodology is used for hypotheses testing in this research. As a result of the comparative, cross-national analysis of 462 responses, some significant differences were found between the two samples. Russians have higher scores on task and relationship orientations than German respondents. There is a marginally significant difference in the task scores between respondents who have government experience and those who do not. Respondents who have government experience are more task-oriented and experience more stress than those who do not have government experience. Finding reveals significant interaction between government experience and country in the task scores. Literature on German and Russian cultures is presented along with practical applications, suggestions, and implications for future studies.     

Management and 1992 — Illusions and reality

Dr Butt Philip takes a refreshingly unsycophantic view of ‘1992’, pointing out that, away from the hype, a good deal of the Single European Market (SEM) programme has been in place for some time. Although the European Commission's timing and tactics over the SEM programme were shrewd, in Britain at least, the national campaign has been confusing.It is a company's business development and positioning in relation to 1992 that matters, and this involves both an internal ‘1992 audit’ as well as making sure it is well represented in Brussels.Although giving us cautionary good advice, the author feels a sense of Zeitgeist about the SEM programme and the federal Europe that it implies. Attitudes and institutions in business must be developed to achieve the destiny of European integration.     

The Management Skills of Russians: Do Work,Management, and Government Experiences Matter?

This study examines the impacts of different types of experience on management skills of working adults in Russia. The study is based on a sample of 527 MBA students, line and middle managers covering 32 regions in 13 different industries in Russia. This study proves that work experience, management experience, and government experience are significant factors in their technical, human, and conceptual skills. Human skills scores are significantly higher for all groups than group with no management experience. Score for human skills increased with years of government experience only, but not with working or management years of experience.     

How to manage corporate reputation? The effect of enterprise risk management systems and audit committees on corporate reputation

Research on corporate reputation has generally argued that reputational risk, or risk of reputation loss, stems from all company risks. As companies use enterprise risk management (ERM) systems to manage all their risks, we analyse the effect of ERM system quality on corporate reputation. Furthermore, as audit committees are in charge of supervising ERM systems, we analyse the effect of audit committee characteristics (i.e. independence and independent members' knowledge and diligence) on corporate reputation through their effect on ERM system quality. Our results for a sample of listed Spanish firms support consultants’ arguments that ERM system is a useful tool for managing corporate reputation. Our results also show that audit committee independence improves corporate reputation through the ERM system. Finally, our findings also reveal a positive relationship between the average educational level of independent directors of the audit committee and ERM system quality. These results provide evidence that ERM systems are platforms to manage corporate reputations and suggest the importance of the audit committee as a supervisor of ERM system and as guarantor of corporate reputation.     

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.