To be or not to be corporate heritage oriented? A study of managers’ corporate heritage mindsets

Corporate heritage is a research topic in branding with managerial relevance to achieve competitive advantages. Research has mainly focussed on companies with a formal corporate heritage orientation, neglecting other companies. In this study, a novel framework has been developed for analysing managers' corporate heritage mindsets as a precondition for a corporate heritage orientation in a non-heritage-oriented company. Individual managers’ corporate image heritage depicts how managers perceive their company over time, hence revealing their corporate heritage mindset. This article proposes that two managerial mindset dimensions matter – corporate heritage recognition and stance. This abductive study combines theory and empirical findings from an industrial company with a long history, but no corporate heritage orientation. The proposed framework offers companies with a history a way to analyse whether corporate heritage could be recognised and employed. This article contributes to corporate heritage research by broadening the applicability of corporate heritage issues.     

A managerial interfaces perspective for competitive action research

Current theory acknowledges the central role of top managers in shaping the firm's overall pattern of competitive activity. But it gives short shrift to the multifaceted processes by which diverse participants affect the strategic work of analyzing, formulating, and implementing competitive actions. We propose managerial interfaces as a complementary perspective – one where interfaces among top managers, relevant stakeholders, and other strategic contributors both enable and constrain that strategic work. We advance propositions regarding how different properties of managerial interfaces give rise to specific competitive action patterns. We conclude with a range of implications for theory and directions for future research.     

Identifying the business value of superior environmental performance: Current deliberations from the aspen institute

The growing connection between the environment and economic growth has created many challenges for business. In response, a set of recent dialogues, convened by the Aspen Institute, focused on the business opportunities inherent in environmental leadership. The conclusion? In a nutshell, businesses that integrate their environmental planning with their strategic business planning can improve their corporate performance and gain a competitive edge. Investors and analysts who understand these connections will be better positioned to identify companies with superior stock appreciation in the newly emerging sustainability-driven marketplace of the 21st century.     

Approaches to Manufacturing Regeneration: Some Empirical Data1

The study examined the efforts of 11 manufacturing companies to regenerate competitiveness through implementing improvement programmes. Data were collected about the activities seen to constitute improvement programmes as well as the reasons and intentions given for their implementation. Companies were found to have shared a common set of strategic intentions whilst having used differently constituted improvement programmes to achieve them. This similarity in strategic intent was seen as evidence of companies using improvement programmes to facilitate movement from mass to lean production paradigms. AU of the 11 companies studied exhibited widespread use of improvement activities. However, significant differences in individual company choice was interpreted as contra-evidence of improvements being driven solely by manufacturing fashions. This together with their similarities in strategic intent was seen as evidence that companies tailored their regenerative efforts to suit individual circumstances in pursuit of a generic strategic recipe. Some companies had discovered they had developed new capabilities through their regenerative efforts and these were seen as providing a distinctive competitive advantage. All of the companies set out with strategic intentions which centred on catching up with or imitating the best of their competitors – over a half discovered en route a means for changing the rules of the game.     

A Study of Industry Evolution in the Face of Major Environmental Disturbances: Group and Firm Strategic Behaviour of Spanish Banks, 1983–1997*

This paper examines the story of the evolution of a specific industry through the application of dynamic strategic group analysis. In particular, we analyse the relationship between major environmental disturbances and changes that have occurred over time in the competitive structure of the industry regarding two closely related central questions. First, the way in which these environmental transformations have influenced group patterns and stability, and second, the way in which such environmental disturbances has affected the strategic positioning of individual firms. We resort to alternative theoretical perspectives in an attempt to answer both questions. The empirical setting is the population of Spanish banks over the period 1983–1997. We make use of a new grouping algorithm – the Model‐based Clustering or MCLUST – which may be enormously fruitful in future empirical works on strategic groups. This method allows researchers to obtain the optimal number of groupings over time in a much more objective way than the cluster techniques used until now. Compared to previous dynamic studies that only consider the largest firms, our research illustrates how a richer analysis of an industry dynamics can be obtained by using a dynamic analysis of strategic groups. Our results show that while there have been no industry‐wide identical groupings year to year, there is an important strategic stability at group and firm‐level punctuated by a high degree of strategic instability at times of major environmental disturbances.     

Global innovation performance: Strategic challenges for multinational corporations

In the emerging knowledge economy many companies are forced to access globally dispersed technological and market knowledge to maintain their competitive advantage. A conceptual model is presented to analyze the relationship between the globalization of the innovation function and firm performance. Longitudinal data from 10 multinational companies are used to support the proposed model. The analysis concludes that the relationship between global innovation reach and firm performance is concave and time lagged. The results suggest the strategic importance of globalization decisions. The managerial implications are structured in five distinctive strategic challenges to successfully manage global innovation.     

Managerial Responses to Online Reviews: A Text Analytics Approach

This study tests the effects of online managerial responses and returning customers’ future satisfaction (measured as review ratings) by performing social media text analytics on a hotel sample. Essentially, this paper provides insight into meaningful differences in future ratings between responding and non‐responding hotels, as well as differences in response styles between ratings improvement and non‐improvement. The results indicate that: (1) subsequent ratings are higher if customers receive responses to their previous online reviews; (2) increase in ratings is more significant among low‐satisfaction customers, and a decrease in ratings is mitigated if responses are provided; (3) responding to loyal customers – those who have visited and rated the same hotel more than three times – has a limited impact on ratings; (4) responses are longer and sentiment is slightly lower in scenarios where subsequent ratings are improved, but there is no significant difference in the effect of response speed between the two groups; (5) changes in ratings also affect styles of responding to current reviews – if customer satisfaction has improved, response length tends to be shorter and sentiment level tends to be higher. The findings offer both theoretical and managerial implications by demonstrating the utility of social media text analytics.     

Does it pay to be eco? The mediating role of competitive benefits and the effect of ISO14001

Eco-innovation has become an important instrument to help companies reduce their environmental impact and gain a competitive advantage in increasingly competitive environments. Despite recent research conducted in this field, findings concerning the relationship between eco-innovation and firm performance remain conflicting, inconclusive and incomplete. This study aimed to clarify this relationship by incorporating competitive benefits as a mediator between eco-innovation and firm performance. Three core questions are examined: How does eco-innovation influence competitive benefits and firm performance? Do competitive benefits mediate the relationship between eco-innovation and firm performance? How does ISO14001 influence competitive benefits and firm performance? The study finds that competitive benefits mediate and strengthen the relationship between eco-innovation and firm performance. In addition, the results reveal that ISO14001 positively affects competitive benefits and thus leads to greater competitive benefits, while the association between ISO14001 and firm performance is not found to be statistically significant. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for policy makers and companies, limitations, and future research directions.     

Japanese marketing strategies in the United Kingdom

This article is based on a study which examined hypotheses about Japanese marketing using a matched sample of British companies and their major Japanese competitors. Japanese subsidiaries in Britain were shown to be much more marketing-oriented, more responsive to strategic opportunities, and more single-minded in their pursuit of market share. Organizationally, there were few differences between the two groups. The Japanese subsidiaries, however, were more inclined to use product or market-based divisions and continuous, informal planning and control procedures. The result is that managerial focus and responsibility are centred upon overall product-market rather than financial or production performance, with continuous feedback facilitating rapid adaptation and implementation of marketing plans and strategy.     

Response strategy to environment context factors using a lean and agile approach: Implications for firm performance

Based on the environment-strategy performance perspective and dynamic capabilities framework, we develop a theoretical model and hypotheses specifying how supply chain collaboration as a response to environment context factors – competitive intensity, supply uncertainty, technological turbulence and market turbulence, using a lean and agile strategy may influence firm performance. We test the model using partial least square structural equation modelling on data collected from a field survey with responses from 152 manufacturing firms representing a variety of industries. Empirical findings generally support the relationship between collaboration and firm performance using a lean and agile strategy. Also, for firms in industries that face environments characterised by high supply uncertainty and competitive intensity with, technological turbulence, the study finds evidence of a direct relationship between these environmental factors and supply chain collaboration. The findings provide an initial strategic response framework for appropriately aligning a lean and agile supply chain strategy through collaboration with environment context factors to achieve firm performance improvements.     

Environmental Performance as a Basis for Competitive Strategy: Opportunities and Threats

Increasingly, companies are considering environmental differentiation as a basis for their competitive strategy. As they formulate and implement their strategy, these companies must decide upon an appropriate device to signal a superior environmental performance to consumers and other stakeholders. This article examines three of these devices: Corporate environmental reports (CER), eco-labeling programs, and the ISO 14001 environmental management systems (EMS) standard. Specific challenges and limits associated with their use are discussed and insight into ways to overcome potential barriers are offered. One of these challenges relates to skepticisms, whereas another resides with the risk of imitation from competitors. Hence, companies must both build trusting relationships, and continuously maintain and develop resources and competencies that will enable them to sustain their competitive advantage over competitors.     

The Impact of Competitive Strategy and Supply Chain Strategy on Business Performance: The Role of Environmental Uncertainty*

This article investigates the relationships among competitive strategy, supply chain strategy, and business performance while examining the moderating effect of environmental uncertainty. A total of 604 questionnaires were collected from three cities in China, and the statistical results show significant moderating effects of external environment on the relationships among competitive strategy, supply chain strategy, and business performance. Firms that primarily focus on a differentiation strategy emphasize an agile supply chain strategy. Cost leaders are inclined to implement both lean and agile supply chain strategies, but their emphasis on agile strategy is significantly greater in a volatile environment than in a stable environment. The choice of supply chain strategy does not appear to be an “either‐or” decision and firms could adopt either a lean or an agile strategy, or both, depending on the environment. This article provides significant managerial implications for supply chain practitioners to co‐align supply chain strategy and competitive strategy with the environment to improve performance.     

Environmental improvement initiatives in the coal mining industry: maximisation of the triple bottom line

Abstract

Mining is an economically important industry, which faces several environmental and social challenges. Other than operational improvement activities, mining companies are increasingly paying attention to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and maximise social welfare to satisfy multiple stakeholders and the rise of corporate social responsible initiatives. Based on a case study analysis of coal mining companies we develop a triple bottom line (TBL) initiatives framework that provides a starting point for mining companies to develop a strategic approach to environmental improvement initiatives that can positively impact all elements of the TBL. We highlight four types of process and offset-based initiatives that are available to mining companies to reduce their GHGs, each having differential effects on elements of the TBL. Our findings suggest the importance of company-wide strategies of looking at initiatives through all rather than individual elements of the TBL. Such a strategy would provide an appropriate estimate of the costs and benefits of the initiatives and results in a balanced approach that takes care of operational improvement, reduces GHGs and improves the social welfare of people engaged in mining operations and wider society.     

Physician-centered management guidelines.

The "Fortune 500 Most Admired" companies fully understand the irreverent premise "the customer comes second" and that there is a direct correlation between a satisfied work force and productivity, service quality, and, ultimately, organizational success. If health care organizations hope to recruit and retain the quality workforce upon which their core competency depends, they must develop a vision strategic plan, organizational structure, and managerial style that acknowledges the vital and central role of physicians in the delivery of care. This article outlines a conceptual framework for effective physician management, a "critical pathway," that will enable health care organizations to add their name to the list of "most admired." The nine principles described in this article are based on a more respectful and solicitous treatment of physicians and their more central directing role in organizational change. They would permit the transformation of health care into a system that both preserves the virtues of the physician-patient relationship and meets the demand for quality and cost-effectiveness.     

Environmental Factors,Managerial Processes,and Information Technology Investment Strategies

Although significant research attention has been directed at understanding the value of information technology (IT) investments for firms, very little attention has been paid to understand the IT investment behavior of firms. This article seeks to fill this void. We introduce the concept of IT investment strategy, defined by dimensions of intensity and proactiveness, to characterize the IT investment behavior of firms. Synthesizing the environmental deterministic and strategic choice perspectives of a firm's strategic decision making, we examine the effects of environmental factors, managerial processes, and the interplay between them on IT investment strategy. Specifically, we examine the impact of environmental factors such as industry clockspeed and information intensity on IT investment strategy. We also incorporate the strategic choice perspective to argue that managerial processes such as frequent chief executive officer—chief information officer communications and collective information systems planning play a critical role in shaping the firm's IT investment strategy. The empirical results show that the environmental variables are related to IT investment strategy. Besides, managerial processes serve as a means to understand the environment and thus moderate the relationships between the environmental variables and the various facets of IT investment strategy. The conceptualization of IT investment strategy and the focus on both environmental determinism and strategic choice should enrich our understanding of firms’ IT investing behavior.     

Lean Six Sigma applied to process performance and improvement model for the development of electric scooter water-cooling green motor assembly

Abstract

In response to the environmental issues triggered by global warming, worldwide companies gradually put the factor of carbon emission into the process of product lifecycle, developing green technology or adopting cleaner production aimed at sustainable development. Lean Six Sigma has advantages of cutting waste and facilitating process improvements as well as system analysis, helping enterprises create the overall business benefits in the value chain. Used in the renewable energy industry, it can promote the triple bottom line (TBL), the performance of sustainable production for corporate profit, social responsibility and environmental responsibility. Therefore, this work took the process performance of the electric scooter water-cooling green motor manufactured in Taiwan with the world’s highest density of scooters as a case study. The developed performance evaluation and improvement model for manufacturing scheduling and process quality achieved the goal of economic benefits of enhancing process quality performance by shortening manufacturing scheduling and reducing process variations with Lean Six Sigma. Besides, they could respond to the policy of energy saving and carbon reduction – replacing the traditional scooters of high-carbon emissions with the electric scooters of low emissions. Furthermore, they could bring enterprises into harmony with economic benefits, ecological benefits and social benefits.     

基于战略角色的制造企业竞争优先权选择研究

在全球制造网络的背景下,从不同战略角色的角度研究了制造企业的竞争优先权选择问题。在对企业战略角色和竞争优先权理论文献分析的基础上,提出了研究命题:对处于不同战略角色的制造企业来说,其选择的竞争优先权也不尽相同。在2009年国际制造业战略调查数据的支持下对上述命题进行实证,数据分析结果显示,质量、服务、创新、环保、社会责任要素对3类战略角色企业赢得订单的重要程度有明显差异。在此基础上,提出了基于战略角色的制造企业竞争优先权图谱,以供制造企业的竞争优先权选择参考。     

关系成员企业管理者社会资本水平其机会主义行为间关系的实证研究——以中外合资企业为例

本文以中外合资企业为主要研究对象,就关系成员企业管理者社会资本水平与其在特定关系中的机会主义行为水平的联系及其对关系绩效的影响进行了实证研究。研究结果首次证实了企业管理者社会资本会提高其在特定关系中的机会主义倾向这一潜在关系的存在,但这种机会主义行为主要体现在对关系程序控制权的获取上,并不会降低社会资本在提升关系收益水平方面的价值,同时也不会影响关系成果分配的公平性。本研究的相关结论对于进一步的研究与企业管理实践均有一定价值。