Operationalization Of Strategy Research Articles

Implementing Zero Impact Factories in Volkswagen’s Global Automotive Manufacturing System: A Discussion of Opportunities and Challenges from Integrating Current Science into Strategic Management

The current exceeding of six out of nine planetary boundaries requires a significant transition of human societies towards absolute sustainability. Industrial manufacturing systems were and still are an important motor for socio-economic development but at the cost of a significant negative impact on the biosphere. Current concepts in absolute sustainability and sustainable manufacturing provide solutions for sustainability transitions in industry, but various methodological, technical and procedural challenges arise during their adaptation in industrial practice. The development and operationalization of a “zero impact factory” strategy by Volkswagen Group has identified various implementational challenges, which are discussed in this article. First, an overview of motivations for “zero impact” transformations in industry are pointed out. Second, relevant aspects for the strategic management of sustainability transitions in manufacturing companies are highlighted based on a literature analysis. Third, the strategy development process is explained based on a systematic structure, which includes design-thinking principles for sustainability transitions of large technical systems such as factories in global manufacturing systems. Fourth, the developed strategy content is presented, including (1) the strategy vision, (2) the defined quantified “zero impact” goals, (3) a system model and a prototype of a zero impact factory, (4) the developed “Impact Points” and the “Site Checklist” methods (for evaluating the environmental transformation of a factory) and (5) the definition of processes for strategic management during strategy operationalization. Finally, various organizational challenges and opportunities are pointed out, which are considered novel insights from industrial practice and relevant for the science-based strategic management within automotive companies and other global industrial manufacturing organizations, as well for advancing sustainability concepts in applied industrial science.

Understanding the Impact of Mpox on Sexual Health Clinical Services: A National Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Survey-United States, 2022.

During the 2022 mpox outbreak, most cases were associated with sexual contact, and many people with mpox sought care from sexual health clinics and programs. The National Network of STD Clinical Prevention Training Centers, in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, conducted a survey of US sexual health clinics and programs to assess knowledge, practices, and experiences around mpox to inform a future public health response. Between August 31 and September 13, 2022, the National Network of STD Clinical Prevention Training Centers facilitated a web-based survey. Descriptive statistics were generated in R. Among 168 responses by clinicians (n = 131, 78%) and program staff (n = 37, 22%), more than half (51%) reported at least somewhat significant mpox-related clinical disruptions including burdensome paperwork requirements for mpox testing (40%) and tecovirimat use (88%). Long clinic visits (51%) added additional burden, and the median mpox-related visit lasted 1 hour. Few clinicians felt comfortable with advanced pain management, and clinicians felt most uninformed about preexposure (19%) and postexposure (24%) prophylaxis. Of 89 respondents involved in vaccination, 61% reported using equity strategies; however, accounts of these strategies revealed a focus on guideline or risk factor-based screenings instead of equity activities. These findings highlight the substantial impact of the 2022 mpox outbreak on sexual health care in the United States. Critical gaps and barriers were identified that may inform additional mpox training and technical assistance, including challenges with testing, diagnosis, and management as well as a disconnect between programs' stated goal of equity and operationalization of strategies to achieve equity.

Collaboration to develop modular facility proof-of-concept for multi-modal bioprocessing activities

Watch the video or read the poster to learn about:Why modular, multimodal bioprocessing is an important future trendThe specific design and timelines for the proof-of-concept facility designHow this modular facility approach can be leveraged for your specific requirementsA roadmap for the future, including improved sustainability and greater automationJerome Dalin, Senior Consultant– EMEA Traditional Modalities, Bioprocessing Strategy Operationalization, Merck. Jerome started his career at Sanofi Pasteur 20 years ago in vaccine process development in France before joining Merck in 2013 to manage bioprocessing sales with vaccine project coordination at a global level. In his current role, Jerome is leading strategic initiatives and supporting go-to-market strategies with a special focus on traditional modalities.Thomas Hauser, Business Development Manager, EMEA, G-CON. Thomas is working for G-CON Manufacturing in the EMEA region in a drive to bring forward the pharmaceutical facility of the future concept. He is also supporting companies in the life science segment in expansion strategies, strategic facility implementation, start-up support, and pharmaceutical packaging supply and technologies. Before 2020, Thomas worked in business development, strategic implementation, and sales in the pharmaceutical packaging field. He has more than 25 years of experience working with the global life science industry.

Shear ignorance? Think again: breaking the perception of shear within viral vector manufacturing

Charlotte Barker,  Editor, BioInsights, speaks to MilliporeSigma’s Ratish Krishnan, Senior Strategy Consultant, Bioprocessing Strategy Operationalization (pictured left) and Akshat Gupta, Associate Director, Global Biopharma Center of Excellence (pictured right).The tangential flow filtration (TFF) unit operation in viral vector manufacturing is a critical step on the path to commercialization. In this episode, Ratish Krishnan and Akshat Gupta discuss best practices – and common misconceptions – when establishing process conditions and utilizing different TFF device formats.

Thinking about Kindergarten thinking: A mixed methods study.

Metacognition, otherwise known as ‘thinking about one’s thinking,’ leads to greater academic success and is foundational. Given this importance, metacognitive behaviors need to be developed within early years contexts to provide young children the opportunity to practice these behaviors and receive feedback. However, literature continues to focus on the development of metacognition in later grades. This mixed methods study explored metacognition in eight Kindergarten classrooms. Participants included eight Kindergarten teachers, six early childhood educators (ECEs), and 80 students. Data collection was conducted at two time periods separated by 12 weeks. Data collection included the Children’s Independent Learning Development (CHILD) measure, semi-structured interviews, and classroom observations. The quantitative data from the CHILD were analyzed using a paired samples t-test in SPSS. All qualitative data were analyzed thematically. Qualitatively, three themes were identified: (1) Conceptualization of metacognition, (2) Barriers to developing metacognition, and (3) Operationalization of strategies to facilitate metacognitive development. Evidence demonstrated that participants had incomplete conceptualizations of metacognition. Some articulated simple understandings by reporting the literal translation and were unable to articulate more fulsome conceptions. However, some teachers had more developed conceptions of metacognition that included different facets such as planning and reflective thinking. All participants were forthcoming with identifying ways in which they struggled with implementing metacognitive practices or encouraging the development of metacognition. These barriers included large classroom sizes, developmental readiness, and wide student ability. Despite having an incomplete understanding of metacognition, early years educators were trying a variety of different strategies to help promote metacognitive thinking within their Kindergarten classrooms. Surprisingly, teacher ratings using the CHILD did not change significantly from Time 1 (M = 1.88, SD = 0.744) to Time 2 (M = 1.85, SD = 0.66), t (72) = 0.72, p > 0.05. A similar trend was observed for ECE ratings using the CHILD as they did not change significantly from Time 1 (M = 1.89, SD = 0.70) to Time 2 (M = 1.80, SD = 0.79), t (52) = 1.36, p > 0.05. This research highlights empirical practices that Kindergarten educators can use to help facilitate metacognitive thinking. Furthermore, it identifies a need to better support Kindergarten educators by integrating practices aimed at developing metacognitive thinking in their students through explicit examples of strategies.

Operationalizing stakeholder engagement for gene drive research in malaria elimination in Africa—translating guidance into practice

Gene drive mosquitoes are increasingly considered a potential transformational tool for vector control of malaria mosquitoes. As part of efforts to promote responsible research in this field, a number of guidance documents have been published by the World Health Organization, National Academies and expert groups. While virtually all recent guidance documents on gene drive research stress the importance of stakeholder engagement activities, no specific guidelines on implementing them have been established. Target Malaria, a not-for-profit research consortium developing a vector-control gene drive approach to eliminate malaria, has reflected on how its stakeholder engagement strategy translates engagement guidance documents into practice. The project analysed and addressed the tension between the context specificities and the international recommendations. The engagement strategy combines published recommendations for responsible gene drive research, information collected from the local context where the project operates and a set of principles guiding the choices made. This strategy was first developed during the early phases of the project’s research, years ahead of any activities with gene drive mosquitoes in those countries of operations. These earlier activities, and their related engagement, allow the project to develop and adapt an engagement strategy appropriate for potential gene drive research in its field site countries. This paper offers a description of a stakeholder engagement strategy operationalization based on (1) adaptation to stakeholder preferences, (2) inclusiveness and (3) empowerment and accountability. The authors hope to offer concrete examples to support other projects with the development and implementation of their engagement strategies with particular attention to the co-development principle.

Drivers of household demand for cooking energy: A case of Central Uganda

In Uganda, the total primary household energy consumption is mainly biomass. Lack of empirical information remains a daunting challenge to operationalization of strategies and policies aimed at reducing unsustainable energy use. This study specifically determined household demand for different cooking energy sources (briquettes, charcoal and firewood). Data were collected from a sample of 235 households with the help of pretested structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR). From the econometric analysis, results revealed that briquettes demand was significantly influenced by fuel expenditure, briquette price, gender of household head, main occupation and source of fuel. Further, charcoal demand was influenced by fuel expenditure, household size, charcoal price, district and fuel restriction. On the other hand, demand for firewood was influenced by household income, firewood price, fuel expenditure, household size and source of the fuel. From our findings, it is recommended that tailored trainings on sustainable exploitation of biomass resources for energy supply should be conducted across the country. In addition, there is need for such trainings to target women, who are the decision makers with respect to household energy supply. Lastly the study recommends the need for low-cost briquetting technologies that would reduce its price to levels that are competitive to charcoal and firewood.

Governance challenges in temporary organizations: a case of evolution and representations

According to the literature, formal project governance often stops at the steering committee, which is also identified as the main link between the permanent and temporary organizations. Generally, top managers play an active role as sponsors in this committee until the project is approved and launched. Afterwards, the project execution is usually delegated, enabling middle managers to participate in strategy operationalization. As such, they are likely to take part in the project governance and its operationalization. In this study, we are especially interested in the governance zone reporting to the steering committee. Within this zone, formal and informal governance is intertwined, and there is likely to be considerable overlap with the permanent organization. Our study focuses on a specific liaison device within this zone: the Project Coordination Committee, which has rarely been studied. We explore how project governance evolves and is represented by project participants. Our results show a surprising diversity in participants’ representations. This allows us to identify a number of conclusions that go beyond the governance form issues and relate to the complexity of this governance zone and its influence on the disruptions between permanent and temporary governance structures within a large organization.

STRATEGIC RISK OF HYPERREALITY IN GLOBAL MARKETS. CASE OF BALANCED SCORECARD RISK ADJUSTING

Enterprises operate in the modern era of growing competition and rapid changes in running a business and are forced to search for effective tools supporting the implementation of the strategy. System of strategic risk, in order to be effective, must comprehensively integrate all issues that may be essential to the economic results of the company. That is why risk should be considered in strategic plans and there shall be created effective instruments for strategic risk reaction. Therefore, the risk area should be considered in the BSC. Operationalization of the strategy completed by risk and described by appropriate indicators, will correctly orient the concentration of managers on issues relevant to the success of the company. Correctly coordinated actions regarding the reaction to strategic risk should allow them flexibly adapt to the dynamics of changes in the business environment. In the article, the author indicates that enterprises shall increase the focus on strategic risks that may threaten the future existence of the enterprise and attempted to determine the direction of risk response in perspectives of Balanced Scorecard used in the strategy operationalization.

Technological Strategies and Quality of Invention: The Role of Knowledge Base and Technical Applications

In this article, we define four technological strategies by analyzing two dimensions in the exploitation versus exploration choice: knowledge base and technical application. The relationships of technological strategies with the quality of invention are investigated. The operationalization of strategies through patent data is provided, using knowledge field combinations as the unit of analysis. Patents filed by worldwide top R&D spending technology hardware and equipment companies are analyzed. A 2 × 2 matrix is suggested, defining four strategies: strengthening, enrichment, resettlement, and venturing. Mixed effects regression models are used to investigate the effects of such strategies on invention quality, providing positive relationships in relation to the first two strategies.

Strategy, tax planning and liquidity constraints in investment funds

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of the interaction between liquidity constraints and tax planning on the performance of Brazilian investment funds, since liquidity constraints reduce precipitated withdrawals, allowing tax planning operationalization.Design/methodology/approachThe sample of this study is comprised of 8,008 Brazilian multimarket funds, considering the period from January 2004 to September 2017. The authors considered tax planning, lockup periods and minimum balance of investment as independent variables, and the authors used the Sharpe ratio as a proxy for performance. To test the study hypothesis, the authors employed regression models with panel data.FindingsThe main findings indicate some evidences that investment funds which implement, at the same time, liquidity constraints with tax planning have an extra risk-adjusted return index. This result can represent a premium registered by investment funds with have enough resources to achieve competitive advantage. Nevertheless, the result for the main hypothesis was not robust to different forms of performance measurement.Originality/valueThis study promotes an interaction between finance and organizational strategy, since it employs aspects of strategy theories to support the implications that the internal resources of investment funds, such as their liquidity constraints and tax planning, may exert on their performance. In addition, this study advances by providing new evidences about liquidity constraints in investments funds, which have the potential to contribute with the operationalization of strategy and tax planning of funds’ managers.

Circular Innovation Framework: Verifying Conceptual to Practical Decisions in Sustainability-Oriented Product-Service System Cases

Product–service systems (PSSs) have significant sustainability potential. However, limited knowledge is available on the choices to develop circular PSS solutions. The goal of this paper is to provide a circular innovation framework containing circular strategies to facilitate the decision-making in PSS circular innovation. A systematic literature review in combination with content analysis underpinned this research. The strategies were investigated in 45 PSS cases from the literature. A coding system was designed and employed to identify and organize the circular strategies and practices. The statistics techniques employed were frequency and co-occurrence analysis, which aimed to describe the synergies among strategies. The framework proposed contains twenty-one circular strategies. The practical perspective comprises the seventy-seven practices used for the operationalization of strategies. The framework can assist organizations in making strategic to tactical decisions when developing circular PSS solutions. The paper provides a panorama of the strategy applications among the PSS types. Finally, the research approach can be employed to continuously develop an understanding of the application of circular strategies in PSS and other fields.

Approach to management by processes in a sports department of a local government organization

The strategy creates assumptions that should reflect the organization and the surrounding environment. The difficulties in the operationalization of the strategy and the lack of resources for the nonprofit sports organization require effective approaches. This study uses the Business Process Management to support the strategy operationalization using improvement actions according to the existing circumstances of each organization. Based on the action research we analyze the existing situation of nonprofit sports organizations and identify the line of actions to achieve the municipality intended outcomes. The lack of financial resources requires the identification of improvements according to the existing resources. The assessment of the concerns and issues related to stakeholders provides a mechanism to clarify which improvement action should be developed considering the involvement of different board members of the organization. The manager training in nonprofit organizations is an important area to target actions to contribute to the development of the nonprofit organizations, increasing their knowledge. Our findings highlight how the proposed approach can be used in nonprofit sports organization to develop an action plan to engage their business objectives according to its environment.

Strategic Communication: Defining the Field and its Contribution to Research and Practice

ABSTRACTThis article draws on a decade of research in strategic communication and especially on the contributions in this special issue to propose a new and more comprehensive definition of strategic communication. We argue that strategic communication encompasses all communication that is substantial for the survival and sustained success of an entity. Specifically, strategic communication is the purposeful use of communication by an entity to engage in conversations of strategic significance to its goals. Entity includes all kind of organizations (e.g., corporations, governments, or nonprofits), as well as social movements and known individuals in the public sphere. Communication can play a distinctive role for the formulation, revision, presentation, execution, implementation, and operationalization of strategies. While there are many ways to investigate these research objects, strategic communication as a discipline takes the perspective of the focal organization/entity and its calculus to achieve specific goals by means of communication under conditions of limited resources and uncertainty. The article takes a critical look at the current state of the field and outlines several requirements that will help scholars and practitioners alike to build a unique body of knowledge in strategic communication.

Strategy Implementation and Performance of Non Governmental Organizations in Kericho County, Kenya

Non-Governmental Organizations face problems related to planning, staffing, organizational change, influence ofleadership on allocation of resource and competition. The study focused on strategy implementation and performance.The objectives were; to investigate the effect of resource allocation, role of staff involvement, influence of rewardsystems, effect of operating procedures and role of communication on performance. The study is important toNon-Governmental Organizations, board of directors, donors and government. The study used McKinsey 7s model,survey research design. The target population was 37 the organizations and 349 members of the management team.Stratified technique was used to categorize the management into Board of Governors, managing directors, managersand heads of departments/project officers. A sample size of 151 respondents was selected from the categories. Datawas collected and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for SocialSciences (SPSS) version 21. The analyzed data was presented in form of frequency distribution tables. The findingsindicated that Strategy operationalization through resource allocation (allocation of money, adequate personnel andstaff involvement to implement new strategies) and operating procedures (staff training, policies, guiding principlesto ensure compliance to organization’s strategy, procedures, capacity of management, strategic guidance of topmanagement) affect performance to varying levels , Strategy institutionalization, through communication and rewardsystem (clear goals and objectives, strategy direction, strategy clearly communicated, performance recognitionsystem, effort based rewards and rewards system linked to new strategy affect performance differently.

Strategy operationalization in a Taekwondo Federation

Strategy operationalization in a Taekwondo Federation

On the Interplay between Strategy and Management Control Systems

There is considerable academic interest for the interplay between strategy and management control systems (MCS). Strategic performance measurement systems (SPMS), such as Simons’ levers of control and Kaplan and Norton's balanced scorecard were introduced in the normative literature as vehicles for developing and implementing strategy. But there are also numerable case studies and surveys that investigate empirical evidence of the interplay between management control and strategy derived from management practices. This paper is a review of the extant literature aimed at identifying developments and gaps within this specific area of accounting research. To this end literature from six fields of research has been searched in a structured manner using exhaustive search algorithms. Studies are analysed using Mohr’s (1982) approaches to explanation and frameworks of Langfield-Smith (1997) and Keating (1995). The review by Langfield-Smith (1997) indicated that literature in this specific area of scholarly inquiry is characterized by a diversity of research designs and ambiguity in operationalization of - among other variables - strategy. Analysis of survey & case based research performed during the last decade reveals that operationalization of strategy is more than often based on one of the established strategy frameworks and is currently not as diverse as reported in Langfield-Smith (1997). Several scholars indicate that knowledge in this area is still rather limited, however comparison among studies provides insights that have not been made explicit.

A Configuration Model of Organizational Culture

The article proposes a configuration model of organizational culture, which explores dynamic relationships between organizational culture, strategy, structure, and operations of an organization (internal environment) and maps interactions with the external environment (task and legitimization environment). A major feature of the configuration model constitutes its well-defined processes, which connect the elements of the model systematically to each other, such as single- and double-loop learning, operationalization of strategies, legitimization management, and so on. The model is grounded in a large review of literature in different research areas and builds on widely recognized models in the field of organization and culture theory. It constitutes a response to the call for new models, which are able to explain and facilitate the exploration of the empirical complexity that organizations face today. The configuration model of organizational culture is of particular interest to scholars who investigate into cultural phenomena and change over time.

Strategy in High-Velocity Environments

While industries such as ICT and biotechnology have been characterized as high-velocity environments, in which demand, competition and technology are constantly changing, there has been little systematic empirical research focusing on the conceptualisation and operationalisation of strategy in such environments or its effect on performance. This article draws from industrial economics and the resource-based view to conceptualise strategy in high-velocity environments as a multi-dimensional construct. Additionally, the construct's positive effect on business performance is empirically proven. The article closes with managerial implications and directions for further research.

Role of metacognitive processes in developing learning strategies

Within the context of effects that findings in the domain of cognitive psychology produce on the improvement of learning process in teaching, the results for examinations on student learning strategies and some of their implications were analyzed. Diverse methods for the operationalization of strategies, both cognitive and metacognitive, applied by students are featured. It is demonstrated that engagement of metacognitive processes is of crucial importance, firstly for developing efficient learning strategies and then for achieving better quality outcomes of educational process. Metacognition is treated in some studies as a process parallel to cognition and accordingly, distinction is made between cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies. But metacognitive processes are also often treated as intrinsic factors acting in the process of developing and using cognitive strategies in learning and they determine features and quality of those strategies and their effects. Some prospects for further intervening trends in the process of teaching are presented using the findings. It is emphasized that influence exerted by social environment i.e. school setting where the process of learning is going on can not be disregarded.