The need to improve communication about scope changes: frustration as an indicator of operational inefficiencies

Early and timely sharing of information can provide a sustainable competitive advantage. However, even if lean information management aims to improve this information flow, it has mainly been investigated in ‘operations-based’ companies. This paper fills this gap, drawing upon the experience of the authors working within a large project-based company engaged in the ‘engineer and manufacture to order’ of a complex piece of equipment costing millions of dollars, for its strategic long-term client, both working in the same industrial field, i.e. nuclear decommissioning. This research investigates the information flow regarding scope changes between the project-based company and the long-term client adapting and applying a five-step framework to highlight operational inefficiencies, reduce the corresponding transaction costs and increase the overall company’s competitiveness. This is exemplified through a particular case, but can be applied to other project-based companies dealing with strategic clients involved in long-term relationships.     

Examining the Rhetoric: The Strategic Implications of Climate Change Policy

Many companies today are taking proactive steps on climate change by reducing or even sequestering their greenhouse gas emissions. But one cannot, as many now do, generalize from these examples the proposition that all companies can benefit from greenhouse gas reductions. Climate change controls represent a market shift; the formation of new markets in pollution, pollution credits, money and emission abatement technology. And in any such transition, there will be winners and losers, those that embrace the shift and those that resist it. The difference between these two postures lies in strategic factors such as capital asset management, market competencies, global competitiveness and managing institutional change. The paper discusses each in turn and concludes with commentary on how present US policy towards the Kyoto Protocol is actually contrary to business interests.     

Defining and Dimensionalising Diversity:: Evidence from Corporate Websites across Europe

The corporate ‘diversity statement’ is a new tool increasingly used by large companies to promote diversity management policies on their websites. Through an examination of these on-line texts, we identify how companies construct the meaning of ‘diversity’ through its dimensions. Few companies actually define diversity. However, dimensions of diversity cover a wide-ranging set of individual differences, not just gender and race but other visible and less visible differences that might lead to discrimination in the workplace. By comparing statements from 241 top companies in eight countries (Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK), we reveal how the definition of ‘diversity’ and its dimensions as used on websites varies across Europe.     

Modeling IS Planning Benefits Using ACE

This paper addresses the dearth of research on the determinants of IS planning benefits. Data were collected using a questionnaire survey of top IS executives from 450 companies in Singapore. Of the 103 responses (representing a response rate of 23%), 65 companies undertook IS planning. To test the hypothesis that the determinant-benefit relationships are likely to be nonlinear, the Alternating Conditional Expectations (ACE) algorithm was used. This appears to be the first use of ACE in IS planning research. IS sophistication, communications culture, technology forecasting, top management support, and firm size were found to be nonlinearly related to IS planning benefits (e.g., improved competitiveness, operations, and resource management). For example, IS sophistication affects improved competitiveness positively, and improved resource management negatively. It seems that IS sophistication is directed more at improving competitiveness, even though this may result in less efficient resource management due to bureaucratic procedures. However, at higher levels of IS sophistication, competitiveness stagnates and may even decrease, possibly due to bureaucratic bottlenecks. Implications of our results are discussed.     

The determinants of top management pay

Agency theory argues that companies need to structure their top management pay so as to attract, retain, motivate, and reward senior executives. It is implicit in this literature that managers should be rewarded for performance and that company size should not be a significant determinant of compensation. Empirical evidence in many countries has concluded, however, that size is a major determinant of management remuneration and the pay-for-performance link is very weak. This study examines the determinants of senior executives’ remuneration and bonus payments in Hong Kong companies using recently available data. We examine both the level of pay and changes in pay. Corporate size is found to be a major explanator of remuneration levels and of changes in the pay of the CEO and executive directors. Accounting profitability is also a significant explanator of compensation. Performance, as measured by stock returns, has little or no statistically significant relationship with pay; in fact, some of the results show negative relationships. Some share ownership characteristics have influences on the levels of remuneration. In particular, share ownership by directors and share ownership by institutional investors moderate the compensation levels. In contrast, corporate governance variables have little association with change in pay. Overall, the results imply agency arguments that advocate pay-for-performance compensation schemes are not major factors in setting top management remuneration in Hong Kong.     

产品责任预防方法与体系研究

产品责任是我国企业在加入WTO后面临的一个重要课题。由于我国在产品责任方面的立法水平较低,企业管理层尚未对产品责任问题有充分的认识。本文就造成产品责任的三种缺陷提出了产品责任预防的策略与方法。提出了将产品责任预防体系与ISO9000质量管理体系融合,达到预防产品责任,提高产品质量和企业竞争力的目的。     

The magic matrix as a smart machine evaluator: Machine performance measurement,level of competitiveness

Today's competitive environment compels companies to be the best at the work they do. Machining efficiency establishes the plant level of performance and thus the ability to compete in the market. However, as product mix changes, and new machines possessing more and better capabilities are introduced, machining efficiency varies over time. Therefore, continuous evaluation of machine fitness for product mix has to be made. This is a huge task and is seldom done due to a lack of efficient tools to perform such an evaluation. This paper presents a computerized method that may be used to perform the evaluation task and establish the company level of competitiveness in an honest, and just way, free from improper influence. Conclusions drawn, and actions and decisions made as a result of the evaluation, are the prerogative of management. The evaluation method employs a matrix concept, which is fully described in this paper.     

The database management system for Sakarya automotive suppliers and supply chain

This paper describes a database management system which was the result of a study carried out by Sakarya University and Adapazari Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The aim of the study was to increase the competitiveness of automotive companies in national and global markets by providing financial, economical and technological information regarding product design, supply chain, quality and job satisfaction. The results indicated that it is of vital importance to generate a supply-chain database management system for better selection of suppliers. Due to the huge number of data to be considered in decision-making, computer support seems to be inevitable.     

The ‘ART' of knowledge:: Systems to capitalize on market knowledge

The authors argue that current knowledge management practice, which focuses on managing explicit data and information technology, is not enough. Tacit knowledge, such as subjective insights or emotions must also be considered.Converting between these forms of knowledge is important, and the concept of ART (action–reflex–trigger) systems is introduced to enable this to take place. ART systems enable companies to implement a multi-dynamic approach to knowledge management.The complex concept of ‘ba' is introduced—a shared mental space for knowledge creation—which provides a foundation for knowledge creation. The authors explore the nature, context and enabling conditions for ART systems and show how ba can be employed in ART systems.A case study—of the Seven-Eleven Japan corporation is presented, whose outstanding success is based on the capitalization of market knowledge, striking a balance between supportive IT and human insight, to achieve a multi-dynamic approach to knowledge management. The company integrates several interlinked ba and ART systems.     

Assurance of security in maritime supply chains: Conceptual issues of vulnerability and crisis management

Security assurance across maritime trading systems is a critical factor for international business managers and in the evolution of international trade generally. A number of initiatives are underway focusing on security issues in ports and ships (International Ship & Port Security Code), customs inspections in international ports (Container Security Initiative) and whole-of-supply chain outcomes (Customs & Trade Partnership against Terrorism). The main purpose of the above initiatives is to reduce the likelihood of maritime-vectored terrorism; however inappropriate implementation of these programs could affect competitiveness.This paper suggests that the complexity of interaction between ports, maritime operations and supply chains create vulnerabilities that require analysis that extends beyond the structured requirements of these initiatives and creates significant management challenges. Also the paper highlights the need for enhanced crisis management capabilities within ports as part of a standard management repertoire and suggests a new classification scheme for mapping vulnerability within ports and across supply networks. The paper concludes that there is a need to examine the goodness-of-fit of these security initiatives against business efficiency and competitiveness, and to consider the training needs for crisis management capabilities that will allow private and public sector groups involved in global trade to effectively mitigate the threat of maritime terrorism and loss of competitiveness.     

The effects of macroeconomic developments on individual companies' flows of funds

A system of models is described which traces the impact on individual companies' finances of changing the macroeconomic environment. This system comprises models of individual firms integrated with Cambridge's large-scale disaggregated model of the UK economy. Illustrative projections are provided for the period 1980–1988 for three companies under alternative exchange rate and interest rate assumptions; a balance sheet, income appropriation account and funds flow statement is generated for each company-year and each assumption. These case studies illustrate how sensitive companies' finances can be to changes in the macroeconomic environment and also how dissimilar can be the response of different companies' flows of funds to the same macroeconomic change.     

Future of European human resource management: A contingent approach

The ability to cope with an increasingly open European Market, enhanced mobility between nation states and the threat of competition from the Far East will be highly prized organisational skills in the third millenium. Many commentators have argued that ‘Europeanisation’ (broadly defined) is an irreversible process and companies will have to cope proactively with this or perish. However, in this article we argue that many of these predictions are based on an uncritical acceptance of the ‘internationalisation’ thesis, and on subjective assessments of possible future trends — rather than on sound empirical research within strong theoretical frameworks. Accordingly, this article takes a critical look at some widely-held assumptions about internationalisation, Europeanisation and the (potential) development of European Human Resource Management (EHRM). It then goes on to suggest a framework of research which will be more able to capture future developments in EHRM and thereby facilitate more robust exchanges on strategic HRM with those companies operating in a European setting.     

Planning and control of purchasing performance: A new concept

The slowdown in sales growth experienced by many companies in Western Europe during the 1970s has led to an increasing awareness of the importance of measuring a company's operating performance relative to that of its competitors, and to a resurgence of interest in the production function. Production managers have traditionally enjoyed a very low status within the management hierarchy and this is particularly true of purchasing managers, yet many industrial companies with high manufacturing costs find that material costs constitute a major element in total factory cost, and any improvement in purchasing costs has an immediate and beneficial impact on company profitability. In this paper, the authors suggest three ways in which management can better measure, plan and control their company's purchasing performance: they emphasize the importance of concentrating on each product rather than each commodity; they outline a simple and practical way in which to measure and monitor a product's material costs over time so as to enable realistic purchasing objectives to be set; finally, they suggest a way of separating the effects of commodity price fluctuations from the performance of the purchasing manager so that the latter can be properly judged.     

Competitive analysis of online machine rental and online parallel machine scheduling problems with workload fence

In this paper, we introduce the concept of “workload fence" into online machine rental and machine scheduling problems. With the knowledge of workload fence, online algorithms acquire the information of a finite number of first released jobs in advance. The concept originates from the frozen time fence in the domain of master scheduling in materials management. The total processing time of the jobs foreseen, corresponding to a finite number of jobs, is called workload fence, which is irrelevant to the job sequence. The remaining jobs in the sequence, however, can only become known on their arrival. This work aims to reveal whether the knowledge of workload fence helps to boost the competitive performance of deterministic online algorithms. For the online machine rental problem, we prove that the competitiveness of online algorithms can be improved with a sufficiently large workload fence. We further propose a best online algorithm for the corresponding scenario. For online parallel machine scheduling with workload fence, we give a positive answer to the above question for the case where the workload fence is equal to the length of the longest job. We also show that the competitiveness of online algorithms may not be improved even with a workload fence strictly larger than the largest length of a job. The results help one manager to make a better decision regarding the tradeoff between the performance improvement of online algorithms and the cost caused to acquire the knowledge of workload fence.

     

中国制造企业供应链整合与企业绩效的关系研究

本文旨在研究探讨供应链整合、企业运作绩效及财务绩效之间的关系,揭示供应链整合通过供应商运作绩效及客户服务绩效影响财务绩效的作用机理。利用139份制造企业的样本,本文采用多元线性回归及中介效应检验方法对假设进行验证。实证研究结果表明:供应商整合对供应商运作绩效有显著的正向影响,内部整合及客户整合对客户服务绩效的提升有显著的推动作用;企业财务绩效的提升主要基于客户服务绩效的提升。同时,供应商整合、内部整合及客户整合对财务绩效的影响皆通过供应商运作绩效及客户服务绩效的提升来实现,其中,供应商运作绩效为部分中介变量,而客户服务绩效为完全中介变量。     

Reflections on customers’ primary role in markets

Technology developments have transformed the business landscape by accelerating connectivity, transparency and unpredictability. We argue that the most dramatic consequence is not the possibilities created for companies but rather the challenges that emerge as a result of customer behaviour undergoing fundamental changes. Technology transformation has paved the way for empowered customers who are increasingly influencing businesses and markets, and the challenge for practitioners and researchers alike is to make sense of the role of these customers in such business environments. These developments have yielded a need to revise companies’ business models and to innovate new offerings. In scholarly research on marketing, this need has become evident and, beyond suggesting new concepts, completely new marketing management perspectives have been proposed, and each has its own core assumptions and focus. Broader views have emerged, and these stress the applicability of these perspectives not only to the top-level management of businesses but also to any non-commercial organisation.In this article, we reflect on the customer-dominant logic (CDL) of marketing, which stresses the customer's primary role in business. As such, CDL differs from approaches that focus on the provider's perspective. The CDL approach is an expression of the research ideals and goals that are based on the Nordic School of Service Management. We argue that CDL is well aligned with emerging challenges in most markets, both established and nascent, and that it is more managerially relevant than many other perspectives. This is also in line with the recent calls for a soul of relevance for European management research (Chia, 2014; Hernes, 2014).     

Extending the pursuit of flow (lean) management to encompass sales,general and administrative functions

Abstract

Operations management tends to be treated independent of other business functions—the silo syndrome. In this article, we call for operations management (OM) to broaden its perspective by strengthening linkages with other functions of the business, thereby to realize competitive advantages and strategic integration, as well as to avoid resource misallocation. The issues involved are presented and tested by examining the effects of intermeshing sales, general and administrative (SG&A) expenditures with customer-centred flow manufacturing, the latter being measured by system inventory as surrogate for customer lead time. In doing so, we designate trends in total inventory as the independent variable—representative of a dominant target of flow/lean management—and trends in SG&A expenditures as the output variable. The research tasks are enabled by inventory and SG&A data being widely available in companies’ audited financial statements. Such hard data offers methodological and validation advantages over, say, opinion-based survey research. The research adds bulk to existing flow/lean management theory and can be helpful in inducing primary business functions (e.g. OM, finance, sales and marketing) and sub-functions (such as SG&A and management accounting) to engage in cross-functional efforts in the cause of flow-oriented process improvement and company competitiveness.     

The multinationalization of developing country MNEs: The case of multilatinas

I study the multinationalization — the decision to establish foreign direct investment (FDI) — of developing country firms, in particular Latin American ones or “Multilatinas”. Despite a long exporting tradition, many firms in Latin America have only recently become multinational enterprises (MNEs). The analysis of case studies reveals three insights. First, Multilatinas take a long time to become MNEs, reflecting the additional challenges and need for sophisticated advantages for establishing FDI. Second, Multilatinas are induced to become MNEs after changes in the home country that follow structural reform induce them to upgrade their competitiveness to international levels. As a result, they can overcome the difficulties of establishing FDI and become MNEs. Third, Multilatinas follow four strategies in their selection of the country where to establish FDI first depending on the interplay between difficulties and advantages of operating abroad. These three arguments build on and link the notion of advantages of internationalization put forward by the eclectic paradigm of international production and the idea of difficulties in internationalization presented by the incremental internationalization model. The strategies are explained by the balancing of the ease of overcoming difficulties and the advantages derived from foreign operations.     

The leadership of emergence: A complex systems leadership theory of emergence at successive organizational levels

Complexity science reframes leadership by focusing on the dynamic interactions between all individuals, explaining how those interactions can, under certain conditions, produce emergent outcomes. We develop a Leadership of Emergence using this approach, through an analysis of three empirical studies which document emergence in distinct contexts. Each of these studies identifies the same four “conditions” for emergence: the presence of a Dis-equilibrium state, Amplifying actions, Recombination/“Self-organization”, and Stabilizing feedback. From these studies we also show how these conditions can be generated through nine specific behaviors which leaders can enact, including: Disrupt existing patterns through embracing uncertainty and creating controversy, Encourage novelty by allowing experiments and supporting collective action, Provide sensemaking and sensegiving through the artful use of language and symbols, and Stabilize the system by Integrating local constraints. Finally, we suggest ways for advancing a meso-model of leadership, and show how our findings can improve complexity science applications in management.     

The managerial implications of networking

Recent years have shown a proliferation of publications about interaction and networks. All in all, these articles and books tend to focus on the formulation of theory and hypotheses. Despite the relevance of further development of theoretical thought, managers display more interest in scientifically-based recommendations with direct practical relevance. Wim Biemans presents the findings of an in-depth analysis of seventeen cases of new product development in the Dutch medical equipment industry by discussing eight critical success factors related to networking. He maintains that, while the existence of networks offers great opportunities to management, the practice of networking involves some serious potential pitfalls and problems as well. The conclusions are summarized by The Five C's of Innovation Management.“Marketing can be seen as relationship management: creating, developing, and maintaining a network in which the firm thrives”(Gummesson).