Market-driven Organizations Research Articles

The state-of-practice in requirements elicitation: an extended interview study at 12 companies

Context. Requirements engineering remains a discipline that is faced with a large number of challenges, including the implementation of a requirements elicitation process in industry. Although several proposals have been suggested by researchers and academics, little is known of the practices that are actually followed in industry. Objective. We investigate the SoTA with respect to requirements elicitation, examining practitioners' practices. We focus on the techniques, the roles involved, and the challenges associated to the process. Method. We conducted an interview-based survey study involving 24 practitioners from 12 different Swedish IT companies. Results. We found that group interaction techniques, including meetings and workshops, are the most popular type of elicitation techniques that are employed by the practitioners, except in the case of small projects. We noted that customers are frequently involved in the elicitation process, except in the case of market-driven organizations. Technical staff (for example, developers and architects) are more frequently involved in the elicitation process compared to the involvement of business- or strategic staff. Finally, we identified a number of challenges with respect to stakeholders. These challenges include difficulties in understanding and prioritizing their needs. Further, it was noted that requirements instability (i.e., caused by changing needs or priorities) was a predominant challenge. These observations need to be interpreted in the context of the study. Conclusion. The relevant observations regarding the survey participants' experiences should be of interest to the industry; experiences that should be analyzed in the practitioners' context. Researchers may find evidence for the use of academic results in practice, thereby inspiring future theoretical work, as well as further empirical studies in the same area.

Label wars: Competition among NGOs as sustainability standard setters

This paper examines competition among non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that act as standard-setting organizations when firms selling labeled products have market power in the product market. We consider a double duopoly model in which NGOs compete to offer firms labels for sustainability quality and firms compete to sell vertically differentiated products. We assume that NGO preferences for standard quality levels differ, with some being quality-driven organizations and others being market-driven organizations. We find that these two NGO types must have very different preferences to be present in the label market. Moreover, competition between these two types of NGOs leads to a decrease in standards provided by the quality-driven NGO, an increase in standards provided by the market-driven NGO, and an increase in overall weighted sustainability quality.

КОМПЛЕМЕНТАРНІСТЬ СТРАТЕГІЙ МАРКЕТИНГУ ТА ЛОГІСТИКИ В ЛАНЦЮГУ ПОСТАВОК ТОВАРІВ ПОВСЯКДЕННОГО ПОПИТУ

КОМПЛЕМЕНТАРНІСТЬ СТРАТЕГІЙ МАРКЕТИНГУ ТА ЛОГІСТИКИ В ЛАНЦЮГУ ПОСТАВОК ТОВАРІВ ПОВСЯКДЕННОГО ПОПИТУ

The Chinese Standardization System

A standardization system is an organism, composed of a set of interacting elements in the process of standardization activity, to serve intended functions during a period of time in a country. After addressing the notion and connotations of standardization, this article proposes the elements and connotations of the Chinese standardization system and depicts the status quo of these elements. This system has introduced a new element, market-driven social organization standards, while preserving the legacy system of national, industry, provincial, and enterprise standards. This article describes its status quo too.

From Water Engineers to Financial Engineering: Water Provision in Australia’s East Coast Capital Cities, 1945-2015

This article analyzes the provision of urban water in Australia’s three east coast capital cities—Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne—from the big dams of the post–World War II years to recently completed desalination plants. We trace how major statutory authorities and their engineers built up both their organizations and their water storage and distribution assets in the Fordist 1950s and 1960s, before these bodies were restructured under the guise of neoliberal notions of accountability and profitability. In their quest to break apart the key institutional pillars of the mid-twentieth-century city, some Leftist critics of the Fordist state may have inadvertently sown the seeds of the neoliberal city of the early twenty-first century. We conclude that the new market-driven organizations are just as interested in their own survival as were their predecessors, and demonstrate even less trust in the general public’s knowledge and practice around water use and conservation.

N-REL: A comprehensive framework of social media marketing strategic actions for marketing organizations

Despite the increasing and ubiquitous use of social media for business activities, scholar research on social media marketing strategy is scant and companies deploy their social media marketing strategies guided by intuition or trial and error. This study proposes a comprehensive framework that identifies and classifies social media marketing strategic actions. The conceptual framework covers actions that support both transactional and relationship marketing. This research also positions social media marketing strategy and strategic actions in the context of the marketing organization theory, and discusses the impact of the incorporation of social media on the concept of marketing organization. The study offers valuable theoretical insight on social media marketing actions and the deployment of social media marketing strategies in companies. The investigation also provides hints about how to maximize the benefits from social media marketing for customer-oriented, market-driven organizations.

Business performance measurement: Does size matter?

Risk reduction remains a management challenge. Research shows that business performance measurement is a popular tool to reduce risk, although applied differently across organizations. This study aimed to assess the influence of organizational size on performance measurement of market-driven organizations. A web-based survey was conducted whereby managers indicated their satisfaction with performance measurement practices, the regularity with which performance measurements were collected and the importance attached to performance measures collected. Respondents were fairly satisfied with existing performance measures, irrespective of organization size. No significant difference between organization size and respondents perception about the value placed by top management with regards to performance measurement was found. The study concludes that managers can make decisions that could ultimately reduce risk when they utilize proper performance measures.

Assessing Knowledge Transfer in a Thai Multinational Corporation

Effective sharing of market-related intelligence is a key determinant of competitive advantage for multinational corporations (MNCs). Drawing on research on transnational management and market-driven organizations, a qualitative case-based analysis centered on a Thai telecom firm examines the key drivers of knowledge transfer from international affiliates in host countries to headquarters during various stages of internationalization. Interviews with a dozen executives who manage 18 offices in the Asia-Pacific region highlight three key factors that affect knowledge transfer in MNCs: the market-driven capability of the firm, the functional diversification of international affiliates in host countries, and the individual functional orientation among key personnel working in the affiliate locations. Exploring the impact of these factors as the leaders of the MNC strive to accomplish their organizational goals during various phases of international expansion, the study also points to the need for further research to fully assess the effects of distance—in terms of culture, geography, and language—on knowledge transfer. ©2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Engaging Science with Commercial Partners

Engaging with commercial partners is increasingly required by public science funding agencies and encouraged by government officials. Reasons for this shift include alleviating the strain on government science budgets and opening up possibilities for scientists to secure jobs in private companies. Universities have also begun to advocate for strategies and policies that facilitate commercial collaborations. Similarly, there is interest—although still scattered in Portugal—among the business sector to look for “something different” in order to prepare for the complex problems that await in an uncertain future. This essay addresses the process of gaining entrée to a major Portuguese food retailer by making use of the metaphors of flirting and dating. The slow process of engagement with this retailer is described, in particular a two-day “backstage” visit of its food retail operations. During these interactions the challenges of commercial–science collaborations with regard to differing expectations and objectives—in areas such as trust issues; confidentiality agreements; integrity of scientific objectives versus the pressures of market-driven organizations; the different nature and uses of information—are unveiled. The disparate conceptions of time and output delivery, together with the different rhythms of making business and making science, are discussed. To conclude, the “dating” and “flirting” stages of the relationship between social researchers and food retailers reflect a slow process that involves diplomatic skills, open minds, and the constant juggling of “familiar” and “unfamiliar” ways of thinking and doing.

Geographical indication as a market orientation strategy: An analysis of producers of high-quality wines in Southern Brazil

To meet the current and future demands of both domestic and foreign markets, organizations have to be market driven. The aim of this study is to assess the economic performance of wineries specialized in high-quality wines from the Vineyard Valley in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, using geographical indication (GI) as a market orientation strategy. Wines with the ‘Vineyard Valley’ designation of origin, as market orientation, improved economic performance as a result of increased land values; increase of the planted area; improvement of technological standards; rise in tourist flow; acknowledgment through the ‘Vineyard Valley’ designation of origin; increase in consumption; product differentiation and value added; boost in exports; and internationalization. This way, by implementing GI, market-driven organizations can gain access to export markets, increase their export revenues and improve the quality of life of all agents in the agribusiness sector, resulting in greater satisfaction and helping obtain differentiated performance.

Model Perancangan Organisasi Berdasarkan Dorongan Pasar

Designing Market-Driven Organizations reflects the needs of the customer in the design, roles, and organizational activities. This paper has objectives to review the definitions, concepts, and models relating to the organization based on market needs. The research method used is based on the study of literature references are used as discussion material. The main theories used are the marketing concept, customer value, and design organizations. Conclusion the results of the analysis indicate that the philosophy or concept of marketing is used as the basic design of the organization based on market forces are still relevant to today's conditions.

Global Entrepreneurship and Market-Driven Management

Global entrepreneurship defines the orientation of the firms in the direction of growing interdependence and integration. On the contrary international entrepreneurship is just a combination of innovative, proactive, and risk seeking behaviour that crosses national borders and is intended to create value in organizations. In global markets, the strategic leverage of the firms moves from goods to knowledge. Information systems and inter-firm collaboration become fundamental ways to access to knowledge and to exploit its potential. Market-driven organizations possess superior capabilities in anticipating and exploiting trends and market changes as well as competitors’ moves. Firms, in order to be successful, must combine market-driven management with an entrepreneurial attitude.

Market orientation, knowledge-related resources and firm performance

Based upon new perspectives to explain superior business performance, an integrative conceptual model that links these different explanations of superior performance is presented, highlighting the role of knowledge-related resources as key antecedents of the continuous creation of competitive advantages (Day 1994, Day George S. The capabilities of market-driven organizations. J Mark 1994a, 58 [October]: 37–52., Day George S. Continuous learning about markets. Calif Manage Rev 1994b, 36 [Summer]: 9–31., Hunt and Morgan, 1995, Hunt Shelby D., Morgan Robert M. The comparative advantage theory of competition. J Mark 1995; 59 [April]: 1–15). An empirical test of this conceptual model is conducted with a Chilean sample of publicly traded firms, using structural equations modeling. The results show a significant impact of: market orientation, market sensing and innovativeness (among other knowledge-related resources) on superior performance, thus providing support for the original ideas of Drucker (1954) [Drucker Peter F. The practice of management. New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1954.] and Schumpeter (1934), and for the dynamic evolutionary approaches to strategy (Dickson, 1992, Dickson Peter R. Toward a theory of competitive rationality. J Mark 1992; 56: 69–83., Dicskson, 1996, Dickson Peter R. The static and dynamic mechanics of competition: a comment on Hunt and Morgan's comparative advantage theory. J Mark 1996; 60: 102–106.; Hill and Deeds, 1996, Hill C.W., Deeds D.L. The importance of industry structure for the determination of firm profitability: a Neo-Austrian perspective. J Manag Stud 1996; 33: 429–451.).

The positioning of Serbia

The need to attract tourists, companies (foreign direct investment) and talented people and to find markets for their exports requires that countries adopt strategic marketing management tools and conscious positioning. Serbia?s successful economic development requires radical reforms on multiple fronts simultaneously. The whole basis of Serbia?s national competitiveness must be transformed. This requires changing organizations? marketing strategies as well as new requirements for the Serbia?s business environment. Improving marketing activities of our enterprises require: the demise of marketing intuition and the rise of marketing science, the rise of holistic marketing the rise of partner relationship marketing and customer relationship marketing, discovering new points of differentiation and positioning on the base of consumption chain analysis, customer-centered brand management creating and sustaining a market-driven organization through a successful change program.

Mindset Challenges at Aluminum India Limited: Privatization of a State-Owned Enterprise

The Central Government of India sold 49% equity and gave management control of Aluminum India Limited (AIL), an aluminum manufacturing state-owned enterprise (SOE), to the AlBright Group in 2002, as a move to attract capital investments for AIL and to make its operations financially viable. When Noorani, Chairperson of AlBright — a private company — took over AIL, she had to deal with a 30-year old manufacturing plant, an aged workforce, decreasing market share, and a 57-day employee strike against the sale of AIL shares to a private company. Together with a new management team, Noorani undertook some measures and was contemplating on others to transform AIL into a market-driven organization. She was facing high employee resistance. At this juncture Noorani was pondering on what to do next. She was concerned about the possibility of transforming AIL and proceeding with the expansion plans on schedule.

Organizational Change for Enterprise Growth

OVERVIEW:This is the second of two articles describing how IBM tackled the enormous challenge of renewing its mainframe product line for transactions processing during the mid-1990s. To achieve this renewal, IBM had to revisit all the fundamental aspects of its business: how it segmented markets and prioritized user needs, the design of its computers, its branding strategies, the organization of product development, and even its business models. The company had to move from a traditional functional organization to a platform centric one based on common subsystems and a common product line architecture. It also had to change itself from an insular technology culture to a market-driven organization whose best minds were devoted to enterprise growth.

Spin-out management: theory and practice

The structure of a firm, an important element of the business model, plays a key role in building an innovative and market-driven organization. Due to failures in the structure of companies, growth opportunities are sometimes not fully realized. Spin-out management is a process by which a new or existing part of the organization (start-up or going concern) is diversified from the parent company. The goal is to develop independently related activities that enhance the firm's innovative capabilities while profiting at the same time from the assets of the parent company, thereby improving the staying power of both.

Network 21: Impact on rail freight traffic

Following the rail reform in Germany, Deutsche Bahn remained in the ownership of the German State but the company was divided into a number of subsidiaries, including long-distance and regional operators and DB Netz AG, the infrastructure manager. This market-driven organization is obliged to recover completely the costs of infrastructure provision by levying utilization charges (principle of full cost coverage). Hence, the market conditions of railway undertakings, such as those providing rail freight services, are at least partially determined by the level of costs of providing the infrastructure. The current high level of costs at DB Netz AG must be significantly reduced if the railways are to hold their own against intense competitive pressure from road and waterways. It will not be possible to achieve this goal purely by continuing with on-going rationalization measures and additional investment in the track infrastructure (new and upgraded lines). Both the rail reform goal of switching more traffic to rail and the purely commercial interests of DB Netz AG necessitate a comprehensive increase in productivity and enhancement of product at realistic market prices. In order to achieve these objectives, DB Netz AG chose a novel form of network management which relies strongly on the separation of traffic flows of different types. This was defined as the Network 21 strategy. The Network 21 strategy will also enhance the ability of operators to deliver both passenger and freight services in a more timely manner.

Competences and Human Resources Empowerment in a Market-Driven Company. The Unilever Case

The organization of modern economy is struggling with its structural complexity. The intention of this article is to focus on the role assumed by the ‘competencies method’ in reference to development of human resources and its management in Market-Driven organizations. The application of such objective will be discussed afterwards by analyzing ‘the competencies method’ in multinational companies. In the Unilever case, ‘the competencies method’ is supposed to delineate operative solutions concerning co-evolutionary relation between strategies and management development practices.

Aligning Organizational Structure to the Market

As part of the overall configuration of the firm, structure plays a powerful role in creating a market‐driven organization. The wrong structure can doom all other market‐driven initiatives in the organization to failure. This article analyses the trade‐offs between different organizational structures and highlights the ways in which many firms are adopting hybrid structures based around horizontal business processes backed up with deep functional strengths. In today’s context, this hybrid form involves fast decentralized decision‐making using widely dispersed and shared information. The article also describes some of the ways in which information technology can enable firms to achieve greater market effectiveness without losing economic efficiency. The implications of the analysis for the role of the marketing function are considered in an Appendix.