Strategic Situation Research Articles

Developing Business School Strategies: A Practitioner-Oriented Conceptualization

This conceptual paper examines the rationale for strategic planning in business schools and outlines an applied strategy development and controlling process that has been in use at a major Swiss business school for several years, contributing to a significant strengthening of the school's strategic position. It explains the strategy hierarchy and the strategy planning cycle, describes how to conduct a consistent strategic situation analysis, and details how to develop and manage a coherent strategy at all levels (normative, strategic, tactical, and operational), including type, nature, and structure of the corresponding documents.

Hotel industry expansion and sustainable development: A case study of Inle Lake, Myanmar

This article examines how international hotel industry expansion affects sustainable development in the context of least developed countries. The study focuses on power asymmetries in the governance processes of hotel value chains. First it develops a model to analyse these processes. Subsequently this model is used to present a case study of Inle Lake, Myanmar. The results show the relations between hotel industry growth, economic development, and sustainability in the particular governance setting of this destination. The analysis sheds light on how actors purposely produce and maintain strategic situations in which the interests of particular actors are protected at the costs of many others. In conclusion we therefore argue that practitioners and academia should direct their efforts at creating (knowledge about) governance arrangements that enable genuine community involvement in decision-making processes related to hotel industry expansion.

Behavioural strategy and deep foundations of dynamic capabilities – Using psychodynamic concepts to better deal with uncertainty and paradoxical choices in strategic management

Behavioural strategy deals with strategic management from a psychologically informed perspective, integrating emotional aspects in strategic management. Strategic situations can be characterised by a high level of uncertainty, based on the unforeseeable nature of the future and the paradoxical nature of underlying seemingly conflicting choices. Both entail human emotional reactions such as fear and anxiety. Therefore, the micro-foundations of dynamic capabilities theory should pay more attention on the study of fear in the strategic decision-making process. Psychoanalysis and psychotherapy have long-term experience in researching these emotions, such that psychodynamic theory can help with understanding their influences on the thoughts and feelings of the manager, the management team, and the organisation in the process of strategy making.Using the psychodynamic lens in the field of behavioural strategy presents a new and fairly neglected avenue for exploring the more unconscious, ‘deep foundations’ of dynamic capabilities resting on the strategizing manager, the top decision-making team, and the implementing organisation. The three generic dynamic capabilities developed by Teece et al. (1997) and Teece (2007), sensing, seizing and reconfiguring, provide a framework for developing a process-oriented perspective for creating corporate strategy, so that the foundations of dynamic capabilities can be reworked and complemented within this framework. This will also enable the operationalisation of success factors for dynamic capabilities from a psychodynamic perspective and creates opportunities for future research.

Flowers supply chain in Paraná Coast - Brazil: an application of Miles and Snow taxonomy

Parana Coast had already been a great producer and commercial center of flowers, however in the last decade the supply chain had reduced its cultivation area and marketing. In order to support a better understanding of the strategic management current situation of the flowers production chain in several Brazilian regions based on the similarity found in Parana Coast, it is presented the results of a research that sought to identify the processes of production, distribution and trade in the flowers supply chain in Parana Coast, and provide a strategic classification using the Miles and Snow model. It was conducted a descriptive exploratory survey between May 2014 to April 2015, with face interviews to nine farmers, five wholesalers and fifteen retailers. The producers had a defensive strategic posture, the wholesalers showed an analytical strategic posture and the retailers had a reactive strategic posture, and they were the strongest segment of the supply chain due to the organizational skills. In these three levels predominated the commercial rivalry among the segments. It was concluded that the flowers supply chain in Parana Coast, urgently needs a governance model among the segments that allows performing cooperative practices and harmonic business combination to generate greater competitiveness for the sector.

Предвестники катастрофы на юге: поражения РККА в Крыму и под Харьковом в мае 1942 г

In the spring of 1942, the Soviet-German front - from Leningrad to the Kerch Peninsula in the Crimea - became a theater of operations that proved the epilogue to the Red Army’s strategic offensive conducted in the winter of 1941-1942, and served as the overture to the summer campaign of 1942. The summer advances of Wehrmacht troops and troops of Germany’s allies on the southern wing of the Soviet-German front was preceded by large spring 1942 battles on the Volkhov Front where near Myasnoi Bor the 2nd Shock Army of general A. A. Vlasov was encircled and crushed; in the Northwest Front, the powerful counterthrust of the German troops through the settlement of Ramushevo deblocked the main forces of the 16th Field Army at Demyansk. The 33rd Army of general M. G. Efremov was beaten near Vyazma, in the rear of the Army Group Centre, military forces of the 1st Guards Rifle Corps and 11th Cavalry Corps of the Western Front were encircled. During the operations, due to the errors of the commanders of troops aggravated by scarce supplies and replenishment, a number of armies of the Volkhov, Northwest, Kalinin and Western Fronts were crushed. The catastrophic defeats of the armies of the Crimean and Southwestern Fronts in May 1942 had especially heavy effects on the Soviet troops in the south. The main reasons for the failure of the Soviet offensive operations in the southern wing of the Soviet-German front were as follows: mistakes at the planning stage, insufficient strengthening of flanks of the shock groups, absence of fortified belts in the rear of the armies and fronts with obligatory placement of troop reserves, artillery and military engineering units on such rear boundaries. The neglect of meteorological conditions (forecasts) in the zone of action of the Southwestern, Southern and Crimean Fronts, the insufficient information regarding the counter-forces and their actual assets, reserves and action plans resulting from the poor performance of the army reconnaissance and secret agent intelligence, frequent losses of control over the troops due to continuous wire communications failures within the ‘front - army - corps - division’ chain, weak and inept use of radio communication resulting in overdue reaction of the commanders to sudden changes in combat situations - all these factors contributed to the catastrophic result of the battles in the Crimea and at Kharkov in May of 1942. The tragedies dramatically worsened the strategic situation on the southern wing of the Soviet-German front and let the German generals recapture the strategic initiative. Materials and evidence for the article were searched for in the Central Archive of the Russian Ministry of Defense; memoirs and articles by Soviet and German military commanders as well as scholarly works of the post-war (Soviet) and modern periods also proved sources of data for the paper. The historical and situational, comparative and narrative methods were applied in the work; those imply studies of certain facts in the context of the era under consideration - in conjunction with the “adjoining” events and facts on the principles of “historicism”.

FIGHTING WAY OF 29TH SEPARATE SKI TEAM DURING OFFENSIVE OPERATIONS OF CENTRAL FRONT

By the beginning of 1943 the Soviet armed forces have achieved major successes. The counter-offensive at Stalingrad dramatically changed strategic situation on the Soviet-German front in favor of the Red Army. In these circumstances, the Supreme Command decided; leveraging the success of the Stalingrad counteroffensive, expand common forward fight from Leningrad to the Caucasus. It was decided to concentrate its efforts on the south-westerly direction, that is, where enemy was applied particularly noticeable damage and where least expected his stubborn resistance. Important role in operations against the Army Group Center was assigned to the Central Front, which was formed after the defeat of F. Paulus at Stalingrad during the operation Ring. The Central Front included 21th Army under the command of Lieutenant General I.M. Chistyakov, 65 Army under the command of Lieutenant-General P.I. Baht, 70th Army under the command of Major-General G.F. Tarasova, 16 th Air Army under the command of Lieutenant-General S. Rudenko, 2 Panzer Army under the command of Lieutenant General A.G. Rodin, 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps under the command of Lieutenant-General V. Kryukov, which included the 29th Infantry Brigade separate ski, This article discusses the combat path of the 29th separate ski Infantry Brigade involved in the battle for the interception of Soviet strategic initiative in the Second World War. Thoroughly studied and analyzed the documents of the Central Archive of the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense, as well as the available literature on the subject that has allowed to clearly define the goals and objectives of the study, formulated the methodological basis - the principle of scientific historicism and objectivity, as well as the principle of systems in the study of history as part of the test of chronological period. It is shown in what difficult conditions these events took place. Example of soldiers of the 29th Infantry Brigade separate ski - this is an example for the patriotic education of Russian society.

ANALISIS MANAJEMEN STRATEGI PADA PT. PLN (PERSERO) (Studi Kasus UPJ Garut Kota - Kabupaten Garut)

In performing the internal activity of PT. PLN (Persero) UPJ Garut Kota necessary arrangements efficiently and effectively to achieve organizational orientation towards customer satisfaction and to achieve the Vision, Mission and Objectives of the company. A detailed analysis regarding the company's goal to explain ideas and show how its suitability in determining the basis for the company of the strategic situation faced by the company. Strategy program PT. PLN (Persero) UPJ Garut Kota based company's national strategy which is based on government policy on electricity in Indonesia. In the implementation adapted to the circumstances and conditions of the company that has Strength and Weakness, Opportunity of internal organization, and Threats of external Organizations. Keyword: Strategic Management, Customer Satisfaction, SWOT Analysis

THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING IN THE PROCESS OF INCREASING COMPETITIVENESS OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD PRODUCTS

Countries, which have problems in the field of economic relations with aboard, usually misapply basic postulates and concepts of international marketing, as modern conceptions for achieving competitive advantage on international scale. Accordingly, this paper work researches the role of international marketing in the process of raising competitiveness of the agricultural and food products. Global marketing is facing a stronger and more complex challenge that needs faster and more subtle strategic responses. Namely, it must expect rapid changes, complex strategic situations, stricter and more unpredictable competition and changing mental maps of management, especially in regard to the affirmation of social awareness about the importance of respecting the environmental, social, political, cultural, and other components of the local market. Because the tastes, needs and consumer habits differ significantly, there is also justification for market segmentation of agri-food products.

Cognitivism, prospect theory, and foreign policy change: a comparative analysis of the politics of counterinsurgency in Malaya and Afghanistan

This article investigates the cognitive limitations on policy change in counterinsurgency (COIN) efforts by examining why American decision-makers failed to revise their government strategy substantially while fighting the insurgency in Afghanistan in 2003–2014 and why their British counterparts were more successful in adjusting their policies in the Malayan insurgency in 1948–1954. Unlike most of the COIN literature that concentrates on military strategy and tactics, the analysis of government policy-making in Malaya holds some important political lessons for American leaders today despite differences between the insurgencies in Afghanistan and British Malaya. As a response to the criticism of COIN studies in general that they lack theoretical guidance, this article utilizes an integrated cognitivist-prospect theory framework. It is argued that some of the COIN literature mistakenly suggests that a more difficult strategic situation was primarily responsible for American failure in Afghanistan. Instead, American decision-makers faced a more difficult task cognitively than their British counterparts, as policy change in Afghanistan would have required greater ideational change. American principals were much more attached to their beliefs emotionally, had no alternative problem representation, and had to shift between frames in order to engineer a response that was more in line with events on the ground in Afghanistan. Regarding prospect theory, findings indicate that gains frames appear to be unhelpful in monitoring progress until catastrophic failure endangers the reference point, and that decision-makers often have more than one reference point to attune their policies to, which often results in suboptimal choices with regard to at least one reference point.

Names for Games: Locating 2 × 2 Games

Prisoner’s Dilemma, Chicken, Stag Hunts, and other two-person two-move (2 × 2) models of strategic situations have played a central role in the development of game theory. The Robinson–Goforth topology of payoff swaps reveals a natural order in the payoff space of 2 × 2 games, visualized in their four-layer “periodic table” format that elegantly organizes the diversity of 2 × 2 games, showing relationships and potential transformations between neighboring games. This article presents additional visualizations of the topology, and a naming system for locating all 2 × 2 games as combinations of game payoff patterns from the symmetric ordinal 2 × 2 games. The symmetric ordinal games act as coordinates locating games in maps of the payoff space of 2 × 2 games, including not only asymmetric ordinal games and the complete set of games with ties, but also ordinal and normalized equivalents of all games with ratio or real-value payoffs. An efficient nomenclature can contribute to a systematic understanding of the diversity of elementary social situations; clarify relationships between social dilemmas and other joint preference structures; identify interesting games; show potential solutions available through transforming incentives; catalog the variety of models of 2 × 2 strategic situations available for experimentation, simulation, and analysis; and facilitate cumulative and comparative research in game theory.

The beginning of the end of Chinese Surrogate Manufacture? Cool-Comfort Shoes International Company Limited and its Ace-of-Biz

Subject area Strategic management Study Level/applicability Undergraduate/postgraduate modules in strategic management. Case overview The case portrays a Chinese surrogate manufacturer – Cool-Comfort Shoes International Co. Ltd. (CCS) – which attempted to build its own brand, Ace-of-Biz (AoB). The surrogate manufacturing business had accumulated the funds needed to develop its AoB brand for sale in the domestic market. The 2007 world financial crisis and subsequent world recession caused exports and, thus, surrogate manufacturing to plummet. CCS was hoping that their loss in export of surrogate products would be more than compensated for by the gain in the domestic sales of AoB. However, despite 10 years of commitment, AoB's sales still had not grown sufficiently to counter the slowdown in exports, and the leaders at CCS were wondering what the future would hold for the company and its AoB brand. Expected Learning Outcomes This case study provides students with an ideal context to develop an appreciation of how changes in the domestic and international business environment affect the corporate and business strategies of a small- to medium-sized enterprise and the differences between corporate and business strategies, and to demonstrate their ability to apply a number of strategic management tools and techniques for the critical appraisal of a strategic situation and justify their recommended course of action. Supplementary Materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

THE ROLE OF THE USE OF COMMUNICATIVE-ORIENTED METHODS OF TEACHING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN THE PROCESS OF TRAINING A STUDENT`S CREATIVE PERSONALITY

The article focuses on the topical problems related to the analysis of modern Russian and foreign methods of teaching foreign languages in higher education system. The author analyzes the communicative-oriented methods and their role in training a student`s creative personality in modern conditions, in particular, the project method, which is characterized by high communication and implies active involvement of students in practical activities. Some strategic situations associated with teaching of English language communication are taken into account, for example: communicative trend of teaching of all kinds of oral activities and means of language, stimulation of verbal and cogitative activity of students, individualization of learning, contextual organization of teaching process, originality and informative value of teaching materials, formation of communicative competence; interaction and collaboration of students. The aim of the experiment was to provide students with some pedagogical means, enabling them to display their creative activity in different spheres. In the course of the experiment students actualized their creative abilities to understand problems and to work-out the ways of solving them in the process of cognitive search. The author comes to the conclusion that the use of the project methods is effective in providing accessible and communicative-oriented teaching, the main goal of which is not reproduction of the gained knowledge, but the formation of language consciousness, creative thinking and capability to selfactualization.

THE ROLE OF THE USE OF COMMUNICATIVE-ORIENTED METHODS OF TEACHING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN THE PROCESS OF TRAINING A STUDENT`S CREATIVE PERSONALITY

The article focuses on the topical problems related to the analysis of modern Russian and foreign methods of teaching foreign languages in higher education system. The author analyzes the communicative-oriented methods and their role in training a student`s creative personality in modern conditions, in particular, the project method, which is characterized by high communication and implies active involvement of students in practical activities. Some strategic situations associated with teaching of English language communication are taken into account, for example: communicative trend of teaching of all kinds of oral activities and means of language, stimulation of verbal and cogitative activity of students, individualization of learning, contextual organization of teaching process, originality and informative value of teaching materials, formation of communicative competence; interaction and collaboration of students. The aim of the experiment was to provide students with some pedagogical means, enabling them to display their creative activity in different spheres. In the course of the experiment students actualized their creative abilities to understand problems and to work-out the ways of solving them in the process of cognitive search. The author comes to the conclusion that the use of the project methods is effective in providing accessible and communicative-oriented teaching, the main goal of which is not reproduction of the gained knowledge, but the formation of language consciousness, creative thinking and capability to selfactualization.

An Interaction between Government and Manufacturer in Implementation of Cleaner Production: A Multi-Stage Game Theoretical Analysis

This paper shows how game theory can be applied to modeling the interaction between government and manufacturer in implementation of cleaner production. A generic game model based upon ‘Two-person Non-cooperative’ static game is created to allow various strategic actions being tested by stages, and aid decision making by selecting optimal strategy for both manufacturer and policy maker to reduce lifecycle based environmental impact while maximizing the economic benefits. The game theoretical result suggests a ‘win-win’ strategic situation as the best interaction, which indicates that manufacturer implements the clean technology voluntarily and government no longer needs to intervene intensely in manufacturer’s environmental unfriendly behavior. In addition, a case example is given to help a tombarthite manufacturer select the feasibly optional clean technology to improve the existing process of production, which provides a useful insight into the application of game theory. Limitations of the game theoretical analysis are discussed to lay out a foundation for further study.

The Role of Kish Free Zone in Islamic Republic of Iran Development

The role of commercial free zones in development of developing countries is known to everyone. In fact these legal financial structures have become possible by establishing facilities through governmental laws which are more flexible in order to persuade national and international investors to invest on the fields required by the government attempt.By establishing these zones and preparing the right facilities, the government will stand in the favor of the society’s interest. Obviously dedication of such facilities would be only possible by ratification of especial laws and regulations. One of the main apprehensions of the investors is the method of regularization of the relation with the employees which is generally one of the obstacles or means of growth of foreign investments in developing societies which is reflected in the employment and labor law. Kish Island, being located in the south of Iran, considering its strategic situation, is one of the most developed zones in Iran.

Aimé Humbert – Wertvorstellungen eines Bourgeois und das Japan der Bakumatsu-Zeit

Abstract Although it had no military presence in East Asia, Switzerland was the first landlocked European country to conclude an unequal treaty with the bakufu government of Japan in 1864. Aimé Humbert, initiator and leader of the Swiss delegation, spent 10 months in Japan waiting for the conclusion of the treaty. He is recognized not only for the significance of his mission regarding the economic relations between Switzerland and Japan, but also for his unique documentation of bakumatsu Japan’s everyday culture in his travel account Le Japon Illustré, which was published in 1870. This paper depicts Humbert’s perception of Japanese society and politics and analyzes private correspondence between him and his wife. His observations will be contextualized with the orientalist discourse in Europe and Swiss domestic politics in the 19th century. I will argue that Humbert clearly projected his value concepts as a bourgeois, liberalist and Protestant into Japan. For example, there is a parallelism between Humbert’s criticism of the Buddhist clergy and the liberalist’s anti-Catholicism. Of course, Humbert’s view of bakumatsu Japan and his way of describing the Japanese was strongly influenced by Eurocentric conceptions of the world in the 19th century. His belief in Japan’s ambitions as an independent nation, once liberated from despotism, however, can be considered as Humbert’s peculiarity and as implicit in his strategic situation: even though he profited from the West’s gunboat diplomacy, he did not need to justify any colonial ambitions of his nation, but rather predicted a “democratization” of trade with East Asia.

Game-changer: game theory and the art of transforming strategic situations

wise win before they fight, while the ignorant fight to win. So wrote Zhuge Liang, the great Chinese military strategist. He was referring to battlefield tactics, but the same can be said about any strategic situation. Even seemingly certain defeat can be turned into victory-whether in battle, business, or life-by those with the strategic vision to recognize how to the to their own advantage. The aim of David McAdams's Game-Changer is nothing less than to empower you with this wisdom-not just to win in every strategic situation (or game) you face but to change those games and the ecosystems in which they reside to transform your life and our lives together for the better. Game-Changer develops six basic ways to change games-commitment, regulation, cartelization, retaliation, trust, and relationships-enlivened by countless colorful characters and unforgettable examples from the worlds of business, medicine, finance, military history, crime, sports, and more. The book then digs into several real-world strategic challenges, such as how to keep prices low on the Internet, how to restore the public's lost trust in for-charity telemarketers, and even how to save mankind from looming and seemingly unstoppable drug-resistant disease. In each case, McAdams uses the game-theory approach developed in the book to identify the strategic crux of the problem and then leverages that game-awareness to brainstorm ways to change the game to solve or at least mitigate the underlying problem. So get ready for a fascinating journey. You'll emerge a deeper strategic thinker, poised to change and win all the games you play. In doing so, you can also make the world a better place. one Game-Changer [is] enough to seed and transform an entire organization into a more productive, happier, and altogether better place, McAdams writes. Just imagine what we can do together.

Group size effect on cooperation in one-shot social dilemmas

Social dilemmas are central to human society. Depletion of natural resources, climate protection, security of energy supply, and workplace collaborations are all examples of social dilemmas. Since cooperative behaviour in a social dilemma is individually costly, Nash equilibrium predicts that humans should not cooperate. Yet experimental studies show that people do cooperate even in anonymous one-shot interactions. In spite of the large number of participants in many modern social dilemmas, little is known about the effect of group size on cooperation. Does larger group size favour or prevent cooperation? We address this problem both experimentally and theoretically. Experimentally, we find that there is no general answer: it depends on the strategic situation. Specifically, we find that larger groups are more cooperative in the Public Goods game, but less cooperative in the N-person Prisoner's dilemma. Theoretically, we show that this behaviour is not consistent with either the Fehr & Schmidt model or (a one-parameter version of) the Charness & Rabin model, but it is consistent with the cooperative equilibrium model introduced by the second author.

Initial Responses in Strategic Situations

In this chapter we analyze the behavior of individuals when facing strategic situations for the first time. First, we motivate our study through simple examples where, for different reasons, behavior may differ from the Nash equilibrium prediction. Subsequently, we describe different models that have been used to account for alternative types of behavior in novel situations. Finally, we explain the most common experimental techniques used to analyze the validity of such models in different strategic situations.

Chasing Lemmings: Modeling IT-Induced Misperceptions About the Strategic Situation as a Reason for Flash Crashes

Flash crashes, perceived as sharp drops in market prices that rebound shortly after, have turned the public eye toward the vulnerability of information technology-based stock trading. In this paper, we explain flash crashes as the result of actions made by rational agents. We argue that the advancement of information technology (IT), which has long been associated with competitive advantages, may cause ambiguities with respect to the game form that give rise to a hypergame. We employ hypergame theory to demonstrate that a market crash constitutes an equilibrium state if players misperceive the true game. Once the ambiguity is resolved, prices readjust to the appropriate level, creating the characteristic flash-crash effect. By analyzing the interaction with herd behavior, we find that flash crashes may be an unavoidable systemic problem of modern financial markets.