Strategic Scope Research Articles

The Construction of A Strategic Issue: Issue Selling as A Narrative Process

For the past 30 years, the issue-selling movement has uncovered the vast repertoire of actions by which ‘sellers’ persuade a decision-maker that an issue is strategic. While these works have a rational and teleological conception of this phenomenon, implying that the strategic scope of the issue is given ex ante, other research in strategy shows that such scope is a social and discursive construction based on interactions between various actors. This article proposes a model of issue selling as an emergent narrative process. Based on a qualitative survey of 42 middle managers, using semistructured interviews, we show this process starts with a phase of incremental elaboration, in which the seller informally shares narrative fragments with a network of actors, followed by a phase of interpretation, in which the seller formally presents his or her narrative to a decision-maker, coherently articulating previously collected narrative fragments. We also show that the passage between these two phases is allowed by what we call the ‘strategic construction’ of the narrative. These results help to show that issue selling is a less solitary and rational process than previous work suggests.

What drives bank liquidity creation? The interaction of monetary policy and strategic scope

The research investigates how the marginal influence of monetary policy on the expansion of liquidity creation changes depending on the strategic scope of banks. Through a sample of Vietnamese commercial banks between 2007 and 2019, we estimate measures of liquidity creation that consider all banking items and build up various monetary policy indicators. Empirical regressions are achieved with the dynamic generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator that is fitted to tackle the endogeneity issue. The study confirms the existence of the bank liquidity creation channel, i.e., an easing monetary policy boosts the banks' liquidity creation ability, both when the central bank reduces interest rates and injects more capital into the market. For banks with a strategic scope that relies more on non-interest revenues or diversifies more into various banking segments, the relationship between monetary policy and the generation of bank liquidity is strengthened when the central bank adjusts interest rates but mitigated if it changes the money supply using quantitative-based monetary tools. This paper expands the literature stream on monetary policy's liquidity creation channel, which is essential to the economy but has been little explored, by shedding light on the moderating role of bank income. Additionally, this study employs many policy indicators based on interest- and non-interest-rate tools to avoid misleading conclusions on the policy stance.

Economic Diplomacy and Human Rights: In search of a Democratic Framework

Current challenges of economic diplomacy make even more urgent the need for strong human rights legislation, involving not only democratically elected governments but also non-state actors such as civil society, local authorities (mega cities outnumber many countries), businesses, and universities. The paper focuses on three problems of the delicate relationship of economic diplomacy with the protection of human rights: – the new shift in economic and commercial power from the Northwestern developed countries to Southeastern emerging economies with serious deficits in the functioning of democratic institutions, but with a rapidly emerging middle class, with serious ambitions for change (in a positive or negative direction), – the “energy security”, as the Russian military intervention in Ukraine, revealed, – and economic sanctions, since poor design and implementation of sanctions policies often mean that they fall short of their desired effects, endangering human rights. How, then, could the exercise of modern economic diplomacy (promoting exports and investment abroad, attracting FDIs, aid and trade negotiations, but also strengthening the functioning of other civil society actors), not only helps protect human rights but also be an opportunity for high strategic scope and great social value? Applying human rights’ evaluation criteria of economic diplomacy, with the help of policy experience and technology, should concern societies in democracies. The research results can be taken into consideration by policymakers to create an appropriate economic diplomacy framework shaped by European democratic values and respect for human rights.

Beyond Total Cost Management (TCM) to Systemic Value Management (SVM): Transformational Trends and a Research Manifesto for an Evolving Discipline

Total cost management (TCM) has developed as a systematic approach to managing resources, costs, profitability, and risks throughout the lifecycle of any enterprise, program, facility, project, product or service. However, a number of trends are today creating a new socio-technical scenario, characterized by increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), which is affecting the strategic scope and applicative dimensions of TCM. A logic of sustainability and multi-stakeholder value is increasingly required to account for the competing and multi-dimensional needs of customers, employees, partners, and large stakeholder ecosystems. This article presents a review of cross-disciplinary literature and the use of authors’ engagement and consolidated expertise in the field to drive a group model building process aimed to design a conceptual framework and a research manifesto for the evolving TCM discipline. The study provides a classification of nine major trends and evaluates the impact of those trends on a number of TCM dimensions. Next, a research agenda is showed, including nine trajectories for scholars and practitioners engaged to support the evolution of TCM towards a new idea of systemic value management (SVM). The study advances the current knowledge on value-based and sustainable approaches to management and offers to experts and practitioners a basis to implement innovative development projects in the field of TCM.

Organizational antecedents to bootlegging and consequences for the newness of the innovation portfolio

AbstractLiterature on strategy, innovation, and portfolio management has recently shown increased interest in the concept of planned emergence. This builds on an understanding that organizations' innovation is triggered both by deliberate top‐down management approaches as well as emergent bottom‐up processes. However, little is known on how to effectively plan emergence. In this context, bootlegging has been mentioned as a potential approach, describing instances in which employees choose to innovate without the knowledge and permission of top managers. Whereas past research has focused on the individual employee, we shift the perspective to the overall tendency of bootlegging in organizations. We investigate which organizational conditions facilitate the propensity of bootlegging becoming a widespread practice in an organization, and how this tendency is associated with the organization's innovativeness. Drawing on the theory of creative deviance, we argue that organizations deploying management practices fostering emergent and induced innovation initiatives increase structural strain and thereby bootlegging tendency in such organizations. As more innovation initiatives are elaborated outside the formal process, the number and diversity of ideas outside the strategic scope should increase. Higher bootlegging tendency is thereby proposed to be associated with higher portfolio innovativeness. Empirical evidence from the study of 930 respondents in 124 firms supports the notion that management practices supporting emergent innovation initiatives increase bootlegging tendency, which in turn increases newness of the organization's innovation portfolio. Management practices inducing a particular innovation direction are, in contrast, less prone to trigger structural strain with lesser effects on bootlegging tendencies of the organization. In sum, we contribute to the literature by providing evidence on bootlegging as a promising approach to enable “planned emergence”. We illustrate how different types of management practices can be used to regulate deviance in the organization to achieve higher degrees of newness of the organization's innovation outcomes.

The impact of divorce on the family business system in SMEs -- patterns of coping strategies, commitment and ownership regulations

In this paper, we outline how the divorce of the main owner-manager of a family-owned SME impacts the family business system. Divorce not only represents a pronounced family failure, but it can also be a highly stressful condition for the family members involved. To date, the impact of divorce on family businesses remains understudied, despite rates of divorce as high as 50% in some countries. Drawing on almost a decade of experience with engaged scholarship at the interface between divorce and family businesses, we selected four typical case studies to illustrate different coping strategies and show how divorce can change the strategic outlook of the family business system in SMEs by altering the commitment of the owner family to maintain the business in the family as well as ensuring the business continuation per se. Moreover, we exemplify how legal ownership regulations can shape family businesses' strategic scope after divorce by impacting the financial situation. We integrate these findings into a model of family business system adaptation.

Midwifery Practice and Education in Antwerp: Forecasting Its Future With Scenario Planning.

Midwifery across the world is facing changes and uncertainties. By recognizing plausible future options, a contemporary and strategic scope of midwifery practice and education can be established. The city of Antwerp, Belgium, was the indicative case for this study. Key drivers were identified to serve as input for scenarios. Structuration theory and intuitive logics scenario planning methods were used to structure contextual midwifery scenarios. Six certain and six uncertain variables were identified. A two-dimensional framework showed these factors: (a) maternity care services and organization and (b) the society of child-bearing women and their families. Three scenarios described the plausible future of midwifery: (a) midwife-led care monitoring maternal health needs, (b) midwife-led holistic care, and (c) midwife/general practitioner-led integrated maternity care. All of the scenarios show the direction of change with a strategic focus, the importance of midwifery authenticity, and digital adaptability in maternity services. Also, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic cannot be ignored in future midwifery. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2022;53(1):21-29.].

Rancangan Program Pengembangan SDM Stratejik Berbasis Kompetensi untuk Level Manajer di PT XYZ

PT XYZ, a company in outsourcing business, is in the midst of business model change. This change demands two things from the employees. First, because of the increasing complexity of the intended business process, companies need to improve their employees' capabilities. Second, for the process of change to work well and quickly employees need to be in tune with the core competencies of the company. This thesis focuses on achieving that second demand through employee development strategies and programs at the manager level. Managers have a role as a bridge between top management and staff. This unique position makes the manager role as a lever in the internalization of core competencies. The success of PT XYZ instilling core competencies in managers will determine the success of internalizing core competencies across the company. The success of such internalization will determine the success of business model change which will be the future of the company. This will be the foundation of PT XYZ in doing evolution. This thesis produces the design of the strategic scope and program scope of human resource development based on core competency. The strategic scope ensures human resource development will align with and support the corporate strategy. The program scope designs appropriate development activities to build core competencies, develop ways to evaluate them, and ensure managers can apply these core competencies in their jobs.

Cold Chain Strategies for Seaports

The refrigerated (‘reefer’) container market and cold logistics chains creates opportunities as well as challenges for seaports. This high-value market grows rapidly, but places stringent demands on seaports’ logistics processes, infrastructure, and energy provision. This study addresses the question how port authorities address the challenges and in this dynamic market environment. While previous research has outlined developments in port governance paradigms and the strategic scope of port authorities, the academic literature still lacks a comprehensive understanding of the policy options available to port authorities to respond to arising challenges and opportunities. To provide this missing understanding, this study presents a new dataset of policies, implemented by world’s 50 largest container ports, addressing reefer transportation and cold chain logistics. Policy measures are classified according to content, goals and scope. The findings from this worldwide comparative analysis illustrate that port authorities often pursue policies extending far beyond their traditional ‘landlord’ responsibility. Most commonly still, the scope of port policy is limited to the port cluster, where ports (co)-invest in or aim for cluster formation around cold stores. When a port extends its strategic scope towards its foreland or hinterland, this is usually aligned with policy goals formulated at higher levels of governance, such as modal shift goals or the development of domestic post-harvest distribution systems. There is however little evidence of coherent and comprehensive cold chain strategies, addressing the logistics, marketing, technology, and sustainability dimensions. The paper outlines the general tenets such a strategy should contain as a consideration for policymakers.

Strategic scope and bank performance

One of the most dramatic trends in banking since the 1980s has been the secular movement away from core banking and interest generating activities towards enhanced reliance on non-interest-generating activities that focus largely on fees and trading profits. In this paper, we draw on a dataset covering nearly a million quarterly observations on more than 12,000 US banks and find no evidence that this shift in the bank business model harms bank profitability. To the contrary, a higher share of non-traditional bank income is associated with a higher profitability. The increase in profitability does not seem to come at the cost of substantially larger bank-level risk taking, at least not for large banks, which are the banks mostly involved in non-traditional bank business. There is also no conclusive evidence that a larger share of non-traditional income is associated with a larger contribution to systemic risk. The net benefits of non-traditional income increased in the 2000s, when both interest rates and bank margins started to decline. Estimation techniques that mitigate endogeneity concerns resulting from unobserved heterogeneity also show larger net benefits associated with greater bank reliance on generating non-traditional income.

Building sustainability and innovation in organizations

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the results of a systematic literature review on innovation and sustainability. To accomplish this aim, a systematic analysis of the literature in the Scopus database was carried out for articles with the terms “innovation” and “sustainability” in their titles. Once identified, articles were analyzed in three ways: the ten most-cited articles; the ten most-cited literature reviews; and the most recent articles. Sustainable development is the central theme of the articles studied. Sustainable development is influenced by the ways that sustainability is measured within the network of which the organizations are a part, including adequate systems, and is mediated by compatible behaviors. Encouraging green innovation is an environmental commitment and managerial concern driven by customer pressure, environmental regulations and cost reductions. Suppliers and customers can contribute or benefit from the value created.Design/methodology/approachThis study was a Systematic literature review. The search terms “Innov * AND sustain *” were defined for the titles of the articles. The analysis was divided into three categories: the ten most-cited articles (without a year filter to form an idea of the impact of the main research in the field); the ten most-cited reviews (these were only filtered from 2009 to 2018); and the 10 most recent articles (all of the articles found were from the year 2018).FindingsThe main findings of this study were that network action, mobilization of relevant stakeholders, reinvention of the business model, redefinition with multiple values and a sustainable strategic scope are the mechanisms that effectively contribute to promoting the link between innovation and sustainability in organizations. Sustainable development is the central theme of the articles studied. Sustainable development is influenced by the ways that sustainability is measured within the network of which the organizations are a part of, including adequate systems, and is mediated by compatible behaviors.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by providing perspectives for future studies that may contribute to the sustainable development of organizations. Sustainable development is strongly influenced by the ways that sustainability is measured within the network of which the organizations are part, including appropriate systems, and is mediated by compatible behaviors.

Educação Internacional como Soft Power: o ensaio da Política Externa de Dilma Rousseff

The objective of this article is to analyze the experiment of international education as an instrument of soft power in the foreign policy of Dilma`s Rousseff government. It will be analyzed the context of action of the Itamaraty and the new players that have come to have an important contribution to foreign policy. We conclude that the foreign policy of the Dilma`s government, even though it has used international education as one of its foreign policy instruments, failed to implement soft power with a clear intention in the strategic scope of international insertion of the country.

The Technology Transfer in the Development of the Small and Medium Metal-mechanic Ecuadorian Enterprise

The position of Ecuador, according to indicators of innovation and competitiveness on a global scale, expose problems that in general affects the Ecuadorian industry, specifically the metal-mechanical one, that is considered an important source of employment and revitalization of the country's economy since 2010. The government has prioritized the metal-mechanical industrial sector as one of the strategic sectors for the transformation of the productive matrix of the country. The small and medium enterprises (SMEs), included in this sector, have problems associated with their technological resources, that have been turned into challenges to be faced in order to reverse the situation. This paper shows the results of a situational diagnosis aimed at identifying the problems related to the management of the processes of technology transfer in the sector that includes the analysis of the administrative, technical, technological, and economic factors involved in these processes in a selected group of SMEs, as well as their social, economic and environmental impact. The main results achieved in the design of an alternative and complementary methodological procedure are presented. The procedure is supported by a set of engineering and management tools to execute an important process of technology management, the technology transfer with strategic scope, aimed at increasing competitiveness with social responsibility.

“One of these days, things are going to change!” How do you make sense of market disruption?

The significance of mindsets is apparent in everyday business life. As today’s managers and companies face uncertainty and disruptive change in the business environment and markets, there is a growing need to understand and strategically address such change. This becomes challenging when disruptive market forces confront the institutional logic or rules of the game based on collectively acquired experience of doing business in the given field. In overcoming such challenges, managers’ hidden reasoning remains an untapped potential while their existing mindset influences what they attend to and what they decide to do. This article elaborates a diagnostic framework, accompanied by a tool to help managers make sense of disruptive markets and reflect individually and collectively on possible courses of action. The framework has two principal dimensions—strategic scope and focus—that are further divided into three business elements of strategic market-oriented management: offering, customer, and market. The tool offers a practical means of profiling individuals’ mindsets. In increasingly dynamic business environments, reflection capabilities represent a new source of competitive advantage.

International Expansion of Nigerian Banks Which Theories of Internationalization Prevailed?

<p>This paper compares the internationalization pattern of Nigerian banks to the predictions of the theories of internationalization. The research sougt to identify factors that influenced the decision of Nigerian banks to establish international operations as well as those that determined their entry mode choices.</p><p>The study adopted a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach. Multiple case studies were used and five Nigerian banks were purposively sampled. Primary data was collected using Likert scale questionnaires and interviews, while secondary data was obtained from multiple sources. Primary data was analyzed using the normal distribution fitting algorithm approach.</p><p>The research found that expansion into foreign markets was triggered by the success of banking sector reforms in Nigeria, a shift in the strategic scope of the banks and a desire to exploit tangible and intangible assets in less developed, but profitable banking markets in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It was also found that environmental uncertainties in host countries influenced entry through high equity commitment modes. Furthermore, it was found that the internationalization of Nigerian banks conformed to the predictions of the eclectic theory, the resource-based-view and the views of scholars of the transaction cost analysis who propose hierarchies in host locations with high environmental uncertainties.</p>This study offers an idiosyncratic contribution to the study of bank internationalization.

Information Urbanistic Perspective in the Context of Blue Economy

This article describes how the subject of the blue economy is currently on the political agenda of the European Union. Its strategic scope seeks to involve the various economic stakeholders whose activities are centered on the sea. From tourism to the exploitation of marine resources, economic operators should develop their activities in an integrated way and with a close respect for the sustainability of natural resources. The present article analyzes the level of integration of the economic activities, public and private, through the evaluation of the sites of the main stakeholders in tourism area, establishing a comparison between two important Portuguese and Spanish cities. Assuming that in the current information society, particularly in tourism, the competitiveness of economic activities is conditioned by the availability of integrated information among the various players, it is important to adopt appropriate models to share information and activities because this is an important critical success factor to the economic development of regions.

Innovation summits: comparison and conceptualisation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the strategic intent and consequent organisation of innovation summits. Innovation summits have recently appeared in practice as a new approach by which firms strategically market and further their open innovation agendas both internally and externally. Design/methodology/approach To advance the knowledge of this novel phenomenon, which has not yet been described in theory, a qualitative research design is appropriate. Consequently, this research conducts comparative case studies of four leading companies. Findings The paper contributes knowledge on how innovation summits can be designed and used as a strategic marketing approach to mobilise and match key people for open innovation. The authors find that the strategic scope and cognitive distance of invited firms are critical dimensions in characterising distinct types of innovation summits and propose a classification scheme for understanding different types of summits. Practical implications For practitioners, the authors present two central questions to consider before staging a summit: what is the strategic scope and who should be involved? This classification scheme offers managers an understanding of the implications of these choices. Originality/value While much research takes a macro-perspective on open innovation, much less is known about the micro-level of bringing parties together. In practise, the concept of innovation summits has gained a significant interest; however, the concept is still relatively unknown in the literature. This paper is one of the first to advance knowledge of this novel phenomenon.

Driving Organizational Innovation - The Mediating Role of Strategic Decision-Making Self- Efficacy

Driving organizational innovation in mature firms is a cognitively and emotionally challenging endeavor. Unclear remains what leads individuals irrespective of formal entitlement to discretionarily engage in driving organizational innovation despite the risks and challenges associated with such engagement. Conceptualizing individual proactivity in driving firm innovation as an active approach behavior towards complex managerial decision-making tasks of strategic scope, this paper introduces the construct of strategic decision-making self-efficacy (SDSE), defined as an individual’s confidence to make decisions of strategic scope. SDSE is understood as a self-regulatory mechanism to catalyze individuals’ proactive engagement in driving organizational exploitation efforts under a novelty paradigm, even if this means to deliberately forego or violate against existing routines, policies, or people. Drawing on insights from opportunity-oriented research in strategic management, this paper investigates the role ...

Leveraging organizational knowledge vision through Strategic Intelligence profiling - the case of the Romanian software industry

This paper presents the empirical testing of a Strategic Intelligence profiling tool customized for software development companies that we have previously designed, through an abductive methodology. We conducted a quantitative survey to identify the associations between the strategic profiles embedded into the profiling tool (Intelligence Provider, Vigilant Learner, Opportunity Captor and Opportunity Defender) and four variables with high impact on organizational knowledge: strategic scope, organizational agility, organizational cultural change process and the approach of competitors. We found that the relevance of our Strategic Intelligence tool’s variables is a consistent base for testing the robustness of the model in software industry, in order to validate the profiling instrument. We consider that the originality of the Strategic Intelligence profiling tool, tailored to software industry requirements, resides mainly in the foresight capability of the firm, which is highly dependent on less acknowledgeable factors such as: anticipative versus non-anticipative signal processing; the profile specific equilibrium of recognitional versus analytical strategic decision and rising the actionability of tacit managerial knowledge through collective intelligence reliability.

Large UK retailers' initiatives to reduce consumers' emissions: a systematic assessment

In the interest of climate change mitigation, policy makers, businesses and non-governmental organisations have devised initiatives designed to reduce in-use emissions whilst, at the same time, the number of energy-consuming products in homes, and household energy consumption, is increasing. Retailers are important because they are at the interface between manufacturers of products and consumers and they supply the vast majority of consumer goods in developed countries like the UK, including energy using products. Large retailers have a consistent history of corporate responsibility reporting and have included plans and actions to influence consumer emissions within them.This paper adapts two frameworks to use them for systematically assessing large retailers' initiatives aimed at reducing consumers' emissions. The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) is adapted and used to analyse the strategic scope and coherence of these initiatives in relation to the businesses' sustainability strategies. The ISM ‘Individual Social Material’ framework is adapted and used to analyse how consumer behaviour change mechanisms are framed by retailers. These frameworks are used to analyse eighteen initiatives designed to reduce consumer emissions from eight of the largest UK retail businesses, identified from publicly available data.The results of the eighteen initiatives analysed show that the vast majority were not well planned nor were they strategically coherent. Secondly, most of these specific initiatives relied solely on providing information to consumers and thus deployed a rather narrow range of consumer behaviour change mechanisms. The research concludes that leaders of retail businesses and policy makers could use the FSSD to ensure processes, actions and measurements are comprehensive and integrated, in order to increase the materiality and impact of their initiatives to reduce consumer emissions in use. Furthermore, retailers could benefit from exploring different models of behaviour change from the ISM framework in order to access a wider set of tools for transformative system change.