Strategic Intent Research Articles

The Actual Security Climate in the Black Sea Basin

Abstract This paper analyses the context of security in the Black Sea basin area and its connections with the strategic, military, and economic aims of the main factors contributing to the region’s stability and security. The work debuted with some geographical and physical features of the maritime basin, switching the analysis to security actors. The article portrays the EU (European Union) and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) regarding the actual and past actions taken to enhance the region’s security and stability. Further, the article investigates the six riparian states through the military and strategic-oriented approach. The concluding part of the work exhibits a sharp insight beyond the sea basin area, and the work is closed by short concluding remarks.

Designing a circular contract Template: Insights from the fairphone-as-a-Service project

Recent scholarship has started to recognize the need to understand the role of contracts in processes of circular business model innovation, particularly in Product Service Systems (PSS) business models. Ownership, usage right and risk allocation are key aspects of contract design, all influencing circular business model innovation. However, current knowledge of how contracts support emerging circular business models is limited. In this paper, we address this gap by presenting an in-depth analysis of a case study drawing on data stemming from the Fairphone-as-a-Service project to define key elements for a Circular Service Contract Template. Our findings support the idea that contracts, ownership, and usage right issues strongly influence the core elements of a PSS business model, such as servitization, longevity and modularity. Particularly, evidence from the case study confirmed the presence of tensions between ownership and contractual aspects when attempting to manage the circular business practices.

The geopolitical economy of state-led intelligence-commerce: two examples from Iraq and West Germany

ABSTRACT This article argues that intelligence agencies are actors in the global political economy. Two key arguments are advanced: firstly, that states use intelligence-commerce to secretly pursue economic, strategic aims, which they have to publicly shun for political or normative reasons. Secondly, that states' specific use of intelligence-commerce is related to their structural position within the international political economy. To demonstrate that the use of intelligence-commerce exceeds regime-type and straddles the presumed, strict boundary of ‘democratic' and ‘authoritarian' intelligence, this article uses Iraqi and West German intelligence-commerce as two, related empirical examples. The article applies an understanding of the state as a bundle of practices organized around the hegemonic principles of nationalism and raison d’etat, which manifest both discursively and materially in intelligence agencies, and discusses research methodologies in the data-scarce context of intelligence scholarship.

“We Do Not Have Any Further Info to Add, Unfortunately” – Strategic Disengagement on Public Health Facebook Pages

ABSTRACT During the COVID-19 pandemic, communication with the public has been a central concern for state actors. One important question has been how to best use social media to ensure the sufficient uptake of their advice and recommendations to the public. With regard to such strategic communicative aims, a significant amount of attention has been previously devoted to the engagement, interaction, and dialogic forms of strategic communication on social media. This paper, however, focuses on an aspect that has not been discussed much in the literature: the need an organization might have to disengage due to a lack of resources or when a conversation has stalled. Using the communication that Scandinavian public health authorities carried out through their Facebook pages as cases, this paper employs a thematic analysis of the associated posts and qualitative interviews with employees to argue that these institutions use three disengagement strategies: 1) contradiction, 2) meta-discursive disengagement, and 3) disengagement through sympathy/empathy. Based on this, we consider the strategic potential of disengagement and discuss whether disengagement strategies can be considered legitimate tools for public health organizations’ crisis communication that can allow them to achieve the dual aim of ensuring citizens’ support for and compliance with authorities’ recommendations.

Evolutionary analysis of Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge events considering the impact of participants' emotions

The Japanese government's decision to discharge nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the sea on April 13, 2021 has aroused widespread concern around the world. The Japanese people, especially the fishermen, have expressed their long and strong dissatisfaction with this decision. Motivated by this background, this paper discusses an evolutionary game considering the impact of participants' emotions to explore the evolutionary stable strategies of both the Japanese government and Japanese fishermen. The results show that (i) the evolutionary stability strategies of the two sides of the game are different under different emotion combinations. Under the optimism of the fishermen, the fishermen's decision making is irrational, and the equilibrium strategy of the game between the two sides is not conducive to fishermen. (ii) The emotions of the players will not only affect their own strategic choices but also affect the strategic choice intentions of other players. (iii) Reducing the cost of nuclear wastewater treatment is currently the most feasible way to reduce the probability of the Japanese government's discharge policy. Under the premise that the government chooses to discharge, no matter what the fishermen's emotions are, it is the fishermen's dominant strategy to strive for more subsidies for their own interests. The abovementioned findings can provide a decision-making reference for the Japanese government to formulate discharge strategies and for Japanese fishermen to protect their rights and interests.

The Fish Is in the Water and the Water Is in the Fish: Symbiosis in a Nuclear Whale Fall

The nuclear site of Sellafield in West Cumbria, North West England, embarks on a long period of decommissioning. Sellafield Limited (SL), the government-owned company running the site, is intent on disentangling the strong socioeconomic and affective relations with its host area with a view to making West Cumbria less dependent on SL, the area’s major employer, as the company prepares for a slow withdrawal. Comparing West Cumbria to a whale fall, the habitat that comes into being around the nourishing presence of a decomposing whale carcass, I suggest that West Cumbria has feasted on Sellafield through different stages of nuclear activity, from its production of plutonium down to the long-life materiality of its nuclear legacy wastes. From this perspective on a symbiotic relationship, dependency is shown to be not a one-sided reality but a discursive tool wielded by both the industry and West Cumbrians for different strategic purposes.

Elite Pipelines: How Elite School Ties Are Reflected in Interfirm Employee Migration

Recent research has pointed to pipelines, or sequenced hiring of individuals from the same source organizations over time, as a common practice employed by firms to reduce labor market imperfections and create human capital resource advantages. We extend this literature by considering how pipelines may emerge not just out of strategic intent but also out of informal social processes reflecting network transitivity and homophily. Using bipartite social network analysis techniques in a sample of 110 public U.S. electronics component manufacturers, we argue and find evidence for transitive effects between firms’ employee-based ties to elite educational institutions and the formation of interfirm employee pipelines. We demonstrate that pipelines are more likely to form between firms that both hire educational elites, especially when those firms share ties to the same elite schools and when those shared elite schools are executives’ alma mater(s). We also find that these effects tend to be more pronounced when the focal firm has higher growth potential, encouraging mobility by attracting potential elite candidates and facilitating the two-way matching process in labor markets. Our theory and findings contribute to a better understanding of informal processes underlying pipeline formation and specifically demonstrate how hiring tendencies may lead to closed recruiting networks characterized by elite replication.

Effect of Pre-Merger and Acquisition Capability Strategies on Value-Based Financial Performance of Banks in Ghana

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of pre-merger and acquisition capability strategies on value-based corporate financial performance of banks in Ghana. Design/Methodology/Approach: A cross-sectional survey was employed comprising four (4) acquirer banks listed on Ghana Stock Exchange (hereafter GSE) and four hundred and eighty-two (482) respondents purposively selected for this study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, principal component analysis (PCA) and regression analyses. All the analyses were performed using SPSS v21. Findings: The findings reinforce the important position pre-merger and acquisition capability strategies on value-based corporate financial performance of acquirer banks. Amongst the pre-M&A success capability strategies that maximise shareholder value are: strategic intent; clear criteria; choice and evaluation of strategic partner and size mismatch; financial, legal and operational due diligence; integrative approach that strengthens the core business, expands the core business and unlocks new business areas; and effective communication before acquisition). Research Limitations/Implications: The study employed only a single research methodological approach, therefore future research could be undertaken using a mixed approach and triangulate to compare findings. Furthermore, the findings from the present study are cross-sectional, considering the limitations there in, a longitudinal approach should be explored. Practical Implications: Emphasis should be place on pre-merger and acquisition capability strategies that maximise shareholder value. This will help practitioners make legitimate decisions and conclusions that can foster business growth. Originality/Value: the effect of pre-merger and acquisition capability strategies on value-based financial performance was tested; previous studies have tended to test the direct effects.

NATIONAL TRENDS IN DEMOGRAPHIC PROCESSES ABOUT THE TASKS OF SPORTS AND HEALTH MANAGEMENT

Introduction. The priority area of sports and health should be aimed at consolidating the nation's efforts in the struggle for a healthy future, steady perception of traditional sports and physical activity, and a healthy lifestyle. Actions aimed at implementing the priority area of sports and health should be accompanied by public awareness of the undeniable need for physical activity as the basis of a healthy lifestyle. The state must provide the necessary conditions (including regulatory, material, and methodological support) for citizens' systematic sports and recreation activities, taking into account their individual needs and interests. The purpose of the article is to study the national trends of demographic processes regarding sports and health management tasks in Ukraine. Results. The priority direction of the sports and health sphere has been determined, which should be aimed at consolidating the efforts of the whole nation in the struggle for a healthy future, establishing the perception of traditional sports and physical activity, and promoting a healthy lifestyle. The tasks of sports and health management are revealed: assistance to the state policy in sports and health activities, planning, organization, and control. The main strategic goals of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine are revealed. It is noted that to fulfill the strategic purpose of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, namely, increasing the population's life expectancy, which primarily depends on the development of physical culture and sports, requires using indicators based on demographic statistics. It is emphasized that in the direction of increasing the life expectancy of the population of Ukraine, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine envisages achieving a 5% reduction in the mortality rate and a 5% increase in the life expectancy rate. The survey of households in 2020 in Ukraine showed that 50.5% of the population considered their health to be good, 39.7% - satisfactory, and 9.8% - bad. Conclusions. The study showed that the permanent population of Ukraine had decreased significantly, while the structure of gender composition for 1991-2021 has not changed. Over the past thirty years, the country's population has shrunk by almost 20 percent due to its significant mortality. It is emphasized that the nation's health directly depends on the efficiency of the sports and health sphere. It is noted that this situation causes the state and trends of demographic processes in Ukraine to be of concern, outlined by several demographic problems. It is determined that the low level of accessibility of sports and health services in Ukraine is evidence of the need to update the issue of increasing the income level of citizens and financial support of this sector of the economy. Keywords: sports and health-improving activity, demographic processes, demographic problems, management tasks, Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

Analysis and Evaluation of the Dynamics of Hazelnut Production and Foreign Trade in Georgia in 2010-2020

One of the important tools of Georgia's economic development is to deepen international trade relations and increase its export potential. For this direction, it is even more important to strengthen the trade partnership relations with the EU countries. For this regard the conclusion of the Association Agreement with EU creates legal certainty of cooperation and high reliability for local manufacturers and exporting businesses to enter in The EU market. Hazelnut production holds an important place in Georgia's export production. Moreover, Georgia ranked 7th in the world in hazelnut production during 2017-2018 and is one of the major exporters of the product. More importantly, Georgia’s largest share of hazelnut exports is to EU countries (140 thousand tons were exported in 2010-2020, which is 67% of exported hazelnuts). This factor stimulates the production of hazelnuts. Hazelnut producers mainly are small local households, which is giving this matter more importance. Consequently, the involvement of the population in the hazelnut industry is high, which contributes improvement of their social-economical situation. In Georgia, Samegrelo-zemo Svaneti leads with high rates of hazelnut production, followed by Guria and Imereti regions. Given the relative efficiency of product sales, there is a growing trend of hazelnut production development in other regions, including Ajara. By analyzing the production dynamics in Adjara, assessing and considering the natural-climatic conditions, with the support of governmental, non-governmental and international donor organizations, the development of hazelnut production and its formation for one of its strategic purposes is a real perspective. Keywords: Hazelnuts, export, import, EU.

Interpretation of Water Samples by Correspondence Analysis for Radioactive Elements in the Northern Coast of Oman Sea

Oman Sea is connecting belt between the Indian Ocean and PersianGulf. Because it strategic and environmental aim, presence of naturalradionuclide 226Ra, 232Th, 40K and 137Cs as man-made element is considered.Water samples were taken from 36 marine spots at the coastal strip fromHormoz canyon to Goatr seaport in the northern coast of Oman Sea.Correspondence analysis is used to identify variation and relationshipbetween samples (Q-mood analysis) and variable (R-mood analysis) basedon approximate χ2 distances. Radioactive elements (226Ra, 232Th and 40K),physical (temperature, pH, turbidity, conductivity, special density) andchemical (salinity, oxygen and chlorophyll) parameters of water for 36samples handled by correspondence analysis, there are two outstandingresult, 1) Radioactive elements show high correlation in factors by greatereigenvalue, and 2) some of the samples such as W13, W24 and rather W02,W05 and W12 show highest activity from Radioactive elements and alsotemperature and conductivity show nearest relation with them in manyfactors.

Education and the European Green Deal: Strengthening Sustainability Education in the EU

Education plays a key role in the global political attempts to promote sustainability and to tackle climate change. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.7 ‘Education for sustainable development and global citizenship’ calls on the states to ensure that learners acquire the knowledge and the necessary skills to promote sustainable development. The European Union, under the leadership of Ursula von der Leyen, through its Green Deal puts forward the ambitious goal to make Europe, by 2035, the first climate neutral continent in the world – an ambition which remains at the core of its political agenda. How can education contribute to this goal, what initiatives are taken at EU level to support sustainable development and how do the SDGs shape education policy itself? This article discusses the EU’s approach on environmental sustainability education and presents the most important policy initiatives aiming at supporting Member States’ education systems in addressing climate change and sustainability. It will be clear that the strategic aim goes far beyond slight adaptions of existing curricula - it puts sustainability at the heart of the European education policy reform agenda.

Redefining capabilities as drivers of adaptation, incremental change, and transformation: recognizing the importance of strategic and operational intent on performance

AbstractPrior research has emphasized the importance of dynamic capabilities to organizational transformation. In this paper, we explore how dynamic capabilities can have varying roles in change, and only potentially create transformational outcomes. By conducting ethnographic phenomenon driven research and observing the interactions of specific customer data related capabilities over a long period of time, we relate the potential for change to the way in which capabilities' interact, and identify three different mechanisms for change. Transformation requires a disruption of existing operational capabilities, which may result from one of the three identified mechanisms. Introducing a more theoretically consistent and practical taxonomy for (dynamic) capabilities may help in resolving some of the criticisms for their unclear practical implications. Further, our findings underline the importance of studying capabilities in their networks within organizations and over time.

Competitive Advantage as an Outcome of Strategic Intent: A Review of Literature

Organizations throughout the world are confronted with issues coming from a high degree of competitiveness and pressure to fulfill strategic objectives in accordance with their mission and vision statements, yet they lack the capacity to reach their full potential over time. The global marketplace is characterized with reduced trade barrier, intensified competition, shortened product life cycle, and deepening industrial segmentation. In this fast-paced business environment, companies fiercely seek to secure core competence to obtain and sustain their competitive advantages. The attribute of strategic intent will help the firm to achieve performance in terms of growth since organizations know themselves and will operate with direction. Strategic intent help in determining resource allocation and competency in an organization, as organizations' resources and capabilities are necessary for a future position. Identifying the desire for the company to succeed and stay ahead of the competition as the primary incentive for strategic thinking is one of the fundamental drivers of strategic intent. Although empirical data supports the existence of performance difficulties in organizations, little efforts have been made to study how the execution of strategy intent influences the competitiveness of organizations. Consequently, the study has systematically reviewed extant literature in the field of strategic intent to develop an encompassing definition of the construct, identify the processes of strategic intent, the perspectives and measures of these perspectives. Ultimately, the review of literature has led to the development of a theoretical and empirical literature that can be used in future empirical studies. This study sought to review the development existing literature to underline the knowledge gaps appropriate to form a basis for future research work. A conceptual model was developed consisting of two constructs: strategic intent and competitive advantage as a guide for future research work in the field of strategic management.

Naturalistic Study Design of the Warm-Up Prompt and Online Planning Effect on Fluency in Informal Dialogues

As many studies on pre-task planning and a few on online planning were designed in experimental settings, this research article offers a naturalistic model for investigating the effect of warm-up prompt and online planning effect on fluency in informal dialogues. Among Skehan’s (1996) three parameters of oral language performance, the researcher focused only on measuring the fluency of two male Indonesian learners of English as a Second Language. The participants were also explicitly prepared for the topic through preconditioning information and warm-up prompts. They were also implicitly allowed to have ‘rapid planning’ (Ochs, 1979) or online planning strategy in response to the questions. Their entire informal conversations were audio-taped, transcribed, and analyzed according to Ellis and Barkhuizen’s (2005) scheme of measuring spoken language. The result shows that participants of different proficiencies committed errors of fluency by choice as their online planning strategy. However, the high proficient learner produced fewer errors that the low proficient learner did. They both used the errors for making rapid / online planning to buy time but for two different purposes. The high proficient speaker planned for strategic purposes and formulating a better answer while the low proficient speaker planned mostly for overcoming shortage of vocabularies. The errors were also found to be used in combined format thereby giving the full time-buying benefit for the speakers in their online planning mode.

Hotels’ experience of green environment management and innovation performance: stewardship of multiple green drivers

Drawing on underpinning theories, this study conceptually develops a model helping organizations to transform green strategic mechanisms into a higher hotel’s green process innovation performance (GPIP). Using a multi-source survey, the study collected data from 401 respondents in hotels (e.g. 213 CEOs and 188 managing directors/general managers, 198 front-desk managers and 203 production managers). PLS-SEM was used to run regression analysis. The results support that green creativity (GC) is the top among five mediating green drivers, e.g. green organizational identity (GOI), green human capital (GHC), green organizational capital (GOC), and green relational capital (GRC) that strongly supports green strategic intent (GSI) to translate environment strategies into hotel GPIP. Accordingly, GOC highly supports GHC toward the hotel’s GPIP compared to GRC. Green knowledge sharing (GKS) negatively moderates the link between GC and the hotel GPIP, but fails to moderate GOI and the hotel GPIP.

How brands mobilize status, reputation, and legitimacy cues to signal their social standing: The case of luxury watchmaking

While social evaluations have gained prominence in the field of marketing, few studies have investigated how brands strategically mobilize their social evaluations. This study aims to further explore the potential of social evaluations to shed light on brand management processes. Through a qualitative content analysis of 420 unique magazine ads of 36 fine watchmaking brands over a four-year period, we show how brands strategically draw from the distinct repertoires of status, reputation, and legitimacy to signal their social position and increase their appeal to consumers. We find that brands mobilize and combine cues from the three repertoires in different ways and that these variations stem from differences in the brands’ strategic intent and extent of market embeddedness. We discuss the contributions of these findings to the marketing literatures on social evaluations and on the role of advertising in brand building and conclude by outlining avenues for future research.

Hedged testimony

AbstractSpeakers offer testimony. They also hedge. This essay offers an account of how hedging makes a difference to testimony. Two components of testimony are considered: how testimony warrants a hearer's attitude, and how testimony changes a speaker's responsibilities. Starting with a norm‐based approach to testimony where hearer's beliefs are prima facie warranted because of social norms and speakers acquire responsibility from these same norms, I argue that hedging alters both components simultaneously. It changes which attitudes a hearer is prima facie warranted in forming in response to testimony, and reduces how much responsibility a speaker undertakes in testifying. A consequence of this account is that speakers who hedge merely for strategic purposes deprive their hearers of warrant for stronger doxastic attitudes.

Assessing the AI-CRM technology capability for sustaining family businesses in times of crisis: the moderating role of strategic intent

PurposeThis study assesses the capability of artificial intelligence integrated customer relationship management (AI-CRM) technology for sustaining family businesses in times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also investigates the moderating role of strategic intent in sustaining family businesses in times of crisis.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used dynamic capability view theory and related literature on family business and technology adoption to develop a conceptual model. This model has been validated using the structural equation modeling technique considering 332 usable responses from people of India involved in family businesses and technology adoption. The study also uses multigroup analysis to examine the moderating role of strategic intent.FindingsThe study finds that adoption of AI-CRM technology significantly and positively impacts dynamic capabilities of the family businesses, such as sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities, which in turn positively and significantly influences their sustainability during crises. The study also highlights the significant moderating impact of strategic intent for sustaining family business firms in uncertain times.Practical implicationsThis study has highlighted the importance for family businesses to adopt AI-CRM technology and its influence on their dynamic capabilities. The study also provides important inputs to the management of family businesses regarding adoption of new technologies and their significance during crises. The study also documents that strategic intent could help family businesses to survive during such times. The study is conducted in India and thus cannot be generalized.Originality/valueThis study table is unique in that it investigates the influence of AI-CRM technology and the moderating role of strategic intent on family business sustainability in times of crisis. Moreover, the proposed theoretical model is a unique model with explanative power of 71%.

The politics of future war: Civil-military relations and military doctrine in Britain

AbstractTensions between civil and military authorities over issues such as budgets and strategic posture are unavoidable in pluralistic societies. Scholars of Civil-Military Relations (CMR) have identified a range of practices through which civil-military contestation occurs, and examined their implications for issues such as military effectiveness. This literature, however, has yet to incorporate critical approaches to knowledge into its analysis. Seeking to fill this gap, this article explores how the British military's presentation of its professional knowledge has been increasingly shaped by the political context of British defence policy. More specifically, it argues that the British armed forces’ presentation of opaque imaginations of future war in military doctrine has sought to entrench the role of Defence in an environment of increasingly integrated governmental responses to security challenges. To do this, the article focuses specifically on two concepts that have become increasingly significant in the British defence establishment's articulation of its professional authority and strategic purpose – Multi-Domain Integration (MDI) and the Integrated Operating Concept (IOpC). The article therefore contributes to the literature a fresh perspective of the role of military doctrine and epistemic practices in civil-military contestation, as well as a critical account of the politics of knowledge in British defence.