Context Of Strategic Management Research Articles

Adding to the Toolbox: Expert Perspectives on Conducting Experiments in Strategic Management

Strategic management as a field is primarily concerned with examining and explaining performance asymmetries between firms, yet the field’s heavy reliance on archival studies and resulting lack of methodological diversity leads to endemic problems with endogeneity and the potential presence of confounding variables. Experimental methods are excellent for dealing with endogeneity, but level of analysis concerns, lack of reviewer acceptance, and other barriers have prevented their widespread use in the strategic management context. Nonetheless, scholars have successfully published papers on important strategic management topics that have served to consolidate past theoretical gains, serve as a platform for future work, and drive the field forward. The purpose of this symposium is to gather some of these scholars together to share their experiences publishing strategic management papers that included experiments. We hope to address both the theoretical benefits of how greater methodological diversity can improve individual papers and the field as a whole, and share very practical suggestions for how scholars can overcome the very real barriers to using such methods in this context. Importantly, the theme of the panel will not be that experiments should completely replace archival methods, or that archival methods are not valuable; rather, it will advocate that the field should “widen its toolbox” and exploit the benefits of a wider range of methods for the benefit of the field.

The Untapped Potential of Social Marketing: How a Sample of Florida Cities Engage in Its Practice

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to investigate how cities are developing and implementing social marketing practices. Driven by a 2017 survey administered to a sample of Florida’s public officials, the research design of this study employs an exploratory data analysis including cluster analysis, univariate visualization, and bivariate visualization to information regarding public social marketing utilization. The findings of this study suggest possible confusion surrounding what social marketing actually is and how the practice can best be utilized within a strategic management context. This research adds value by contributing to a relatively nascent literature on social marketing within an American public administration context.

Razumevanje poslovnih procesa sa osvrtom na holističko-sistemski pristup upravljanju promenama

The subject of this paper is a theoretical background of the attitudes that treat the necessity of the importance of knowledge of business processes and holistic systemic approach to change management, in the broader context of strategic management, for better understanding and potential improvement of business by contemporary managers. The paper presents the general issues of strategic management and how it is artificially implemented in the business flows of modern organizations, then gives an overview of the concept of management by contemporary managers and issues related to the importance of knowing the characteristics of the business process and its management, and finally, provides an insight into the importance of change, as an important factor in the context of managing the business process of today, with an emphasis on a holistic-systems approach. The method of content analysis was used in the paper. The aim of the paper is to point out the importance of business process management in contemporary strategic management, above all in the context of growing changes and extremely dynamic and changing market environment, and to provide modern managers with insight into modern business and how to improve their business in an increasingly sharp market match.

The Impact of Outbound Training Activity on Organization Mission Statement (Case in Education Mission Statement MMT-ITS)

In the review of organizational behavior, effective organizations require process variables component. One of the process variables form is the existence of training design for members of the organization. The training can encourage an organization member to be an effective member. Outbound training as one of the training methods has been popular since the 1990s and has become a trend for human resource development. As a training method, outbound training with several specific goals has been widely researched and has proven to have a positive impact on team building in teamwork. On the other hand, an organization has formulated an organizational vision in the strategic management context. The organization vision than set the mission statements to coordinate of proposed goals of the organization. Furthermore, every activity in an organization should reflect and base on mission statements value to achieve its strategic competitiveness. This research examines the role of outbound training objective as a contingency factor which affects the mission statement of an organization. The research took the case in MMT-ITS as the education organization. The outbound training objective divide into two objectives, the scientific objective, and internal objective and set as the variable factor. The mission statement studied in this case is education mission statement in MMT-ITS.

University Ranking Systems and Proposal of a Theoretical Framework for Ranking of Turkish Universities: A Case of Management Departments

Recently, there have been several efforts to develop ranking systems for universities. Increasing competititon and need for competitiveness as a result of globalization, knowledge based economy and growing interest of information related to higher education institutions due to increasing mobility of people all served for the remarkable popularity of ranking systems. Many researchers and organizations have put effort into developing a ranking framework by focusing on different criteria and following various methodologies. These ranking systems produce different ranks for the same institution due to methodological differences which stem from selection of indicators, weights, data collection and analysis. Thus, this study analyzes conceptual and methodological differences in university ranking systems and concentrates on the situation in Turkey. Literature review demonstrates that there is a larger than expected need for a national ranking system for Turkey so as to identify the position of a specific university compared to others. In strategic management context, it is especially important for policy makers to develop and deploy strategies associated with the higher education system. In this aspect, this study concentrates on developing a ranking system which provides information transparency for the strategic management of higher education institutions. Moreover, this study's focus is more specific and the case of ranking of management departments is examined so as to construct a foundation for a national field based ranking system. In this regard, a framework for ranking of management departments in Turkey is proposed.

Wicked problems: turning strategic management upside down

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critique the existing decision-making models of organizational theory and the ability of strategic managers to address unconventional problems using these models. Strategic management models presume reasonable stability in the task environment and the organizational design features. However, complex problems, or wicked problems, are prolific in a global world. They change profoundly the nature of strategic management, where management faces a deep paradox – an environment of unprecedented interdependence, yet unpredictable forces of chaos and volatility, a landscape of wicked problems. In this paper, the authors address wicked problems within the context of strategic management. Design/methodology/approach – The authors review and critique the organizational theory literature, namely, microeconomics, bounded rationality, organizational failure and the theory of creative destruction within the context of wicked problems. Findings – The authors find that the contemporary models of strategic management are incapable of assisting managers in addressing the reality of wicked problems. They argue that organizational pathologies rest in executive action: pursuit of goals and objectives with a false sense of causation, feedback filters that exaggerate good news and restrict bad news and actions that give only token measures to correct faulty design decisions and faulty decision processes, including more emphasis on vertical channels than horizontal task interdependencies. Originality/value – The authors conclude that wicked problem-solving is by temperament and time horizon, a multilayered, multitasked, organizational challenge, and requires fundamentally different mindsets for design and performance systems for senior executives. The study of wicked problems requires a new corporate mindset, new collaborative models to address them and new corporate processes and executive training tools who increasingly have to address them. This research is a first step toward extending our understanding of how to address the world of wicked problems.

The future context of work in the business environment in South Africa: Some empirical evidence

The future is uncertain, but management needs to determine and also be informed about possible change trends. This research, however, reports on empirical results of the views of South African HRM practitioners to identify and prioritise business change trends for 2002 and 2010 in terms of the “hard” or “soft” HRM debate in the literature. All organisations employing HRM practitioners were include and a total of 1640 questionnaires were distributed resulting in 207 useable responses. The results highlight trends such as increased international competition, globalisation and inadequate skills in different rankings for 2002 and 2010. It is concluded that HRM practitioners, are influenced by the “hard” or “soft” approach, when they participate in a strategic management context in organisations.

Cost Management in European Universities - a Time of Change

European higher education institutions are becoming increasingly focused on cost reduction and accurate linking of costs to the accomplishment of their strategic goals. Research problem of this paper is a search for factors, common in managerial accounting practice, which could become a basis for convergence of management accounting systems across Universities. The authors have formulated conclusions, important for a successful completion of the process of changes in cost accounting and management accounting in the strategic management context. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ss.82.4.6610

Constructs in Strategic Management

Construct measurement is a cornerstone for research in any area. In the absence of information on the caliber of measurement practices within and across studies, it is extremely difficult to synthesize research and develop normative guidelines for managers. This Feature Topic aims to advance measurement practices by strategic management scholars. The Feature Topic includes six articles from a diverse array of perspectives. We describe the context of strategic management and measurement, examine how the Feature Topic articles address critical issues, and conclude with advice for authors and reviewers on this topic.

Organizational Culture in a Strategic Management Context: Construct Definition and Measurement Issues

The present study is a deliberate attempt to strengthen the measurement of culture in the strategic management arena, with particular emphasis on the culture-performance link. We sought to make thr...

Strategic Positioning for Sustainable Competitive Advantage: An Organizational Learning Approach

Organizational learning is increasingly being considered as one of the fundamental sources of competitive advantage within the context of strategic management. However, most literature has not clearly linked organizational learning with sustainable competitive advantage. This paper, therefore, explores and discusses the role of organizational learning in helping business firms to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Specifically, it deals with how organizational learning process can be used to develop knowledge resources and capabilities that lead to sustainable competitive advantage. This paper suggests that , through organizational learning a firm can develop hard to imitate knowledge resources and capabilities (human capital as well as organizational capital) that create value which in turn lead to superior performance.

Corporate Real Estate Strategy: A Conceptual Overview

This paper is a review of key issues that have emerged in the development of corporate real estate (CRE) over the past two decades and in particular considers how real estate asset holdings and activities support business objectives. The themes explored include definitions of CRE; the roles, contributions and functions of CRE; the paradigm shift in real estate from being a space provider to a strategic resource; and the strategic management context and strategy formulation.

Placing organizational learning in the context of strategic management

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to place organizational learning within the context of strategic management and to explain why it is important that senior managers view training and staff development as being continuous. Practising managers will be able to appraise the way in which their organization undertakes training and staff development, and adapt the current level of thinking within the organization so that a more holistic approach to strategy formulation and implementation is adopted.Design/methodology/approachThe work is based on a review of the literature and a number of case examples are referred to. A conceptual model is outlined and highlights how the organizational learning concept links training and managerial development programs with the development of organizational culture.FindingsBy placing training and staff development within an organizational learning context, it is possible to utilize international project groups and to develop new management practices. Practising managers will be able to use the conceptual model to devise, plan and execute a number of change‐oriented strategies.Practical implicationsThe conceptual model can be used by human resource management specialists to devise continuing professional development programs that are tailored to individual requirements. The objective is to match the organization's requirements with the capability of the staff, and in so doing achieve internal fit.Originality/valueThe conceptual model outlines how organizational learning can be used to increase the organization's knowledge base and a link is made with the deployment of international project groups that can facilitate cross‐cultural decision‐making.

Strategic management of advanced manufacturing technology

The aim of this paper is threefold. First, it discusses a role of advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) within a strategic management context of a manufacturing organisation. Resource-based view is presented as a useful theoretical school for understanding strategic management of AMT. Second, a brief case from a manufacturing organisation is provided to illustrate the debate. In the reported case study, the relevant mechanisms for understanding capability accumulation process and the role of AMT within this process are depicted. Third, a framework of resources and capabilities is proposed in order to increase applicability of presented theoretical ideas.

Investigating the link between strategy and HRD

This article is a theoretical presentation of human resource development (HRD) within the context of strategic management. It represents a single component view of human resource management (HRM) by concentrating on developing human assets only. According to this view, HRM is too complex and multidimensional an entity to be handled as a set of people‐related activities in relation to strategy. The article presents conceptions of strategic HRD based on earlier theory, and deduces three distinct logics, labelled as need‐driven, opportunity‐driven, and capability‐driven approaches to HRD. These approaches are summarized in an integrated framework which is suggested as an illustration of the full potential of HRD’s contribution to the business success. Accounts of organizations adopting the approaches are presented.

Creating diverse values for stakeholders: a hypothetical approach to a simplified alignment model of management by value creation

Describes in outline a new management paradigm, within the context of strategic management which, it is believed, will become increasingly significant in the near future. Explains the six fundamental concepts which underlie the hypothetical approach of the article. Identifies eight major values offered to stakeholders through strategic management. Uses a model to explore the alignment or misalignment between a firm's environment and its eight major values. Examines the significance of the shift in management paradigm as we enter the new millennium. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Creating diverse values for stakeholders: a hypothetical approach to a simplified alignment model of management by value creation

Describes in outline a new management paradigm, within the context of strategic management which, it is believed, will become increasingly significant in the near future. Explains the six fundamental concepts which underlie the hypothetical approach of the article. Identifies eight major values offered to stakeholders through strategic management. Uses a model to explore the alignment or misalignment between a firm's environment and its eight major values. Examines the significance of the shift in management paradigm as we enter the new millennium. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Convergence - Innovation and Change of Market Structures between Television and Online Services

Convergence is an often used but rarely defined concept. Ideas such as the creation of synergies, disappearance of industry boundaries, integration, or overlapping of markets, are all used to describe this phenomenon. Where is convergence occurring and what effects has this phenomenon for the industries involved? We give an overview of the current competition and changes in the television and online services industries where important technological, customer-focused and corporate innovations are moving them “closer together”. We define “convergence” in a strategic management context by distinguishing the dimensions of convergence and analyzing the implications for the industry structure. Does convergence mean the need for closer cooperation between industries or does it imply substitution of products or services? Dealing with altered industry structures through mutual innovation, traditional frameworks have to be reevaluated and will be modified or extended in order to give direction for an adequate strategy.

Changing Emphases in the Business World— “Multum non Multa”

Introduction This article attempts to work back from the problems, uncertainties and complexities currently encountered by large organisations and selectively searches for contributions from available and appropriate theory to help practising management cope. The decline in the use of planning techniques developed in the 50s and early 60s is assessed, and the changing role of the planning function is studied in the broader context of strategic management. A critique is given on the search for theory which will relate to a business world of increasing complexity, interconnectedness and interdependency, and which will be understood by and acceptable to the practising manager.