Global Management Strategy Research Articles

Impact of Asthma Education Program on Asthma Knowledge of General Practitioners

Impact of Asthma Education Program on Asthma Knowledge of General Practitioners

The Alignment of Global Management Strategies, International Communication Approaches, and Individual Rhetorical Choices

The international strategies of an organization—ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric, heterarchic—are reflected in its international communication. The discussion presented here, based on Hedlund's application of Perlmutter's categorization of management strategies, focuses on the alignment of an organization's goals and market positions with its international communication approaches. The categorization implies that an organization's global management strategies should be aligned with its international communication practices. As such, an organization that seeks a larger role in the international market yet takes an ethnocentric stance in its communication strategies may be less successful than one with a more polycentric, geocentric, or heterarchic approach to international communication. Thinking about international communication within such a framework enhances not only consulting practice but teaching as well.

Factors affecting the quality of software project management: an empirical study based on the Capability Maturity Model

Rigorous project management can help raise a software product development process from an initial, immature stage that is unstable and unrepeatable to an optimized maturity level characterized by continuous improvement and innovation. Goals and actions related to a repeatable project management process have been outlined in the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) developed by the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. The CMM provides good guidelines for initiating software process improvement particularly in the project management area; however, the successful implementation of the CMM guidelines is often not accomplished without significant organizational change involving increased emphasis on change management, teams and employee empowerment. This paper is empirically based on observations, surveys, and interviews of project team managers and project team members in a large, multinational organiplanning, change management, quality management, team work, and process control. Findings presented in this paper are correlated with the CMM guidelines as well as organizational factors that were found to enable or impede the successful deployment of various aspects of a project management improvement plan. The role of education and training in process and quality techniques as well as project management tools that support group work is also examined. This paper provides some insight into the issues faced by organizations based on traditional hierarchy or matrix management as they attempt to move into a more process-driven, quality-oriented development environment. As organizations move towards global markets they need increased emphasis on quality, value, teams, standards and global project management strategies based on structured guidelines to handle process flow within and between projects, departments, organizations, and national boundaries.

Information strategy stands the test of time

The decentralised information strategy upon which the International Nuclear Information System (INIS) was established has stood the test of time. INIS celebrated its 25th anniversary during 1995. One of the world's early international computerised systems, INIS was born in 1970 with its mission to produce and disseminate a database containing records of the world's literature on the peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology, and full text of non‐conventional (grey) literature. Since that time, the INIS Database has grown to over 1.8 million bibliographic records and abstracts. It continues to increase by approximately 85 000 records each year. Additionally, INIS generates full‐text microfiche of approximately 20 000 non‐conventional literature documents each year as well as a number of other information products and services. As of 1976, INIS could be considered the world's most comprehensive abstracting and indexing service in the field of atomic energy. Ninety‐four Member States (countries) and 17 cooperating international organisations currently participate in INIS. A decentralised operational philosophy is at the core of the information strategies of the organisation. INIS is, in effect, an international information cooperative made up of members who are the contributors as well as the benefactors of the system. Participants get a return on their information investment: member countries who publish and therefore contribute a few records have access to the collective 85 000 records submitted annually by all members, as well as to the full database. One of the major advantages of decentralisation is that it tends to stimulate the establishment and improvement of an international information infrastructure, as well as the transfer of modern information technology. Systems such as INIS, which capitalise on information technology transfer, information skills development and the use of standards for information management and exchange, have contributed to paving the way for the global information highway envisioned today. The INIS decentralised global information management strategy has stood the test of time and will be critical in the future information industry. INIS will embrace the changes necessary to remain in the forefront of the information society.

Multinational corporation management strategies and international human resources practices: bringing IHRM to the bottom line

This paper examined the relationship between multinational corporations' global management strategies and the resulting international human resource practices. Four global strategies, which vary in their extent of global integration and local responsiveness, were examined (ethnocentric, regiocentric, polycentric and geocentric). Data from international human resource professionals in forty-six companies generally supported the hypothesis that HR practices (recruitment, selection, socialization) varied by global strategy. In particular, strategies varied especially between the ethnocentric and geocentric companies. These strategies were further found to be related to a composite Multinational Corporation Success Index of economic variables (return on capital, sales growth, return on equity, profit margin). Companies which had ethnocentric strategies were found to be less successful than companies operating under any of the other three strategies. Findings suggested that local responsiveness should be incor...

The Use of a Stress Audit

Results of a stress audit conducted among personnel working in the offshore oil and gas industry indicated that sources of stress varied as a function of employment, including the type of installation, the rig size and location, and the actual status of the employee. Suggests that the introduction of a global stress management strategy is not the most effective way of dealing with work‐related stress; a programme which seeks to eliminate sources of stress through change to the organization is required, in addition to stress management training, which helps the individual cope with the pressures of a job which can be changed or eliminated.