Perceptions of Integration: What the Literature Says and What Stakeholders See

This paper compares perceptions of integrated marketing communication (IMC) to establish whether consumers perceive integration in the same way as the literature. It begins by reviewing the literature to identify shared assumptions about integration and factors thought to contribute to the integration of marketing communication and, in an experiment, compares these with the perceptions of consumers. Many of the shared assumptions in the literature have been supported by the findings of this study. Integration has been demonstrated to be both a strategy and a tactic. The strategic side is part of a management process and is unable to be observed by consumers from the marketing communication output. Consumers can, however, identify the tactics and are able to recall a number of integration factors such as logo, corporate colours and image. Consumers in the total message integration groups perceived the messages they received as more integrated than those in partial integration or no integration groups.

From concept to embodiment : challenge and strategy

Facing with the difficulty in information propagation and synthesizing from conceptual to embodiment design, this paper introduces a function-oriented, axiom based conceptual modeling scheme. Default logic reasoning is exploited for recognition and reconstitution of conceptual product geometric and topological information. The proposed product modeling system and reasoning approach testify a methodology of "structural variation design", which is verified in the implementation of a GPAL (Green Product All Life-cycle) CAD system. The GPAL system includes major enhancement modules of a mechanism layout sketching method based on fuzzy logic, a knowledge-based function-to-form mapping mechanism and conceptual form reconstitution paradigm based on default geometric reasoning. A mechanical hand design example shows a more than 20 times increase in design efficacy with these enhancement modules in the GPAL system on a general 3D CAD platform.

A strategic marketing approach to national development initiatives involving large scale collaborative ventures (LSCV)

This paper relates to government initiatives which aim at advancing their country’s economic development and investor attractiveness. It identifies large scale projects that involve collaboration between government and business (termed: large scale collaborative venture – LSCV) as one aspect of competing in the new economy. The study pursued the research proposition that a LSCV can be effectively facilitated by following a theory based process similar to what is used in corporate practice. An approach to managing such ventures is outlined, based on strategic marketing theory applied to a major project, the Multifunction Polis. It is proposed that such an approach may enhance the success of a collaborative venture and thereby help countries participate more successfully in global competition through such ventures.

Queensland's Smart State Initiative : a successful knowledge based urban development strategy

The chapter will set out to explain the KBUD and urban policy making processes in Queensland, Australia. This chapter will draw on providing a clear understanding on policy frameworks and relevant ICT applications of the Queensland ‘Smart State’ experience. The chapter is consisted of six sections. The first section following the introduction provides background information. The second section focuses on the KBUD processes in Queensland. The third section offers a comprehensive analysis of the ‘Queensland Smart State’ initiative, and it also identifies actors and goals of the agenda of Smart State experience. The fourth section reviews knowledge based development and ICT applications and policies of the Queensland Smart State and Brisbane Smart City experiences, and their impacts on Brisbane’s successful KBUD. The fifth section discusses knowledge hubs and ICT developments within the Brisbane metropolitan area. Then the chapter concludes with future trends and conclusion sections.

Technology strategy : findings from adoption and adaptation of Japanese manufacturing management (JMM) to ASEAN and Australasian automotive manufacturers

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the appropriateness of “Japanese Manufacturing Management” (JMM) strategies in the Asian, ASEAN and Australasian automotive sectors. Secondly, the study assessed JMM as a prompt, effective and efficient global manufacturing management practice for automotive manufacturing companies to learn; benchmark for best practice; acquire product and process innovation, and enhance their capabilities and capacities. In this study, the philosophies, systems and tools that have been adopted in various automotive manufacturing assembly plants and their tier 1 suppliers in the three Regions were examined. A number of top to middle managers in these companies were located in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Viet Nam, and Australia and were interviewed by using a qualitative methodology. The results confirmed that the six pillars of JMM (culture change, quality at shop floor, consensus, incremental continual improvement, benchmarking, and backward-forward integration) are key enablers to success in adopting JMM in both automotive and other manufacturing sectors in the three Regions. The analysis and on-site interviews identified a number of recommendations that were validated by the automotive manufacturing company’s managers as the most functional JMM strategies.

Corporate social responsibility and sport event sponsorship

Demonstrating socially responsible behaviour has become increasingly important for corporations. Using the Psychological Continuum Model (PCM) as its theoretical framework, this paper examines the meditational role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the relationship between sport participation motivation, event attachment and purchase intent of a sport event’s sponsors’ products. A questionnaire was distributed to a sample of sport event participants (N=689) to measure sport participation motivation (recreation and charity), attachment to the event, CSR, and purchase intent of sponsors’ products. Results reveal that CSR fully mediates the link between purchase intent and sport participation motivation and partially mediates the influence of attachment on purchase intent. The authors propose that corporations strategically align with sport events in which participants are attached to allow for CSR and the meaning elicited by the event to work jointly.

Organizational ambidexterity and corporate entrepreneurship : the differential effects on venturing, innovation and renewal processes

Most corporate entrepreneurship studies have focused on either innovation, venturing or strategic renewal making comparison between the antecedents of all three aspects of corporate entrepreneurship difficult. Moreover, studies on corporate entrepreneurship hardly address organizational antecedents, while simultaneously managing and organizing CE and mainstream activities has been seen as a major challenge for incumbent firms. Our findings show that organizational ambidexterity has strong and differential effects on venturing, innovation and renewal. We find, for example, that innovation is affected by horizontal integration, while strategic renewal is significantly influenced by integration on top management team level.

Cultural selection and its influence on perceptions of reputation within organisations

The capacity to identify, interpret, and prioritise environmental issues is critical in the management of corporate reputation. In spite of the significance of these abilities for corporate reputation management, there has been little effort to document and describe internal organizational influences on these capacities. Contrary to this state of affairs in the discipline of public relations, a long history of ethnographic research in cultural anthropology documents how sets of shared environmental perceptions can influence and moderate environmental factors in cultural populations (see for example, Durham, 1991 ). This study explores how cultural “frames of reference” derived from shared values and assumptions among organizational members influence organizational perceptions, and consequently, organizational actions. Specifically, this study explores how a central attribute of organizational culture--the property of cultural selection-- influences perceptions of organizational reputation held by organizational members. Perceptions of reputation among organizational members are obvious drivers to both the nature of and rationale for organizational communication strategies and responses. These perceptions are the result of collective processes that synthesise (with varying degrees of consensus) member conceptualisations, interpretations, and representations of the environmental realities in which their organization operate. To explore how cultural selection influences member perceptions of organizational reputation, this study employs ethnographic research including 20 depth interviews and six months of organizational observation in the focal organization. We argue that while external indicators of organizational reputation are acknowledged by members as significant, the internal action of cultural selection is a far stronger influence on organizational action.

Structural differentiation and corporate venturing : the moderating role of formal and informal integration mechanisms

Research has suggested that corporate venturing is crucial to strategic renewal and firm performance, yet scholars still debate the appropriate organizational configurations to facilitate the creation of new businesses in existing organizations. Our study investigates the effectiveness of combining structural differentiation with formal and informal organizational as well as top management team integration mechanisms in establishing an appropriate context for venturing activities. Our findings suggest that structural differentiation has a positive effect on corporate venturing. In addition, our study indicates that a shared vision has a positive effect on venturing in a structurally differentiated context. Socially integrated senior teams and cross-functional interfaces, however, are ineffective integration mechanisms for establishing linkages across differentiated units and for successfully pursuing corporate venturing.

Strategy for the development of investment decision-making framework for road asset management for queensland department of main roads

The aim of this project is to develop a systematic investment decision-making framework for infrastructure asset management by incorporation economic justification, social and environmental consideration in the decision-making process. This project assesses the factors that are expected to provide significant impacts on the variability of expenditures. A procedure for assessing risk and reliability for project investment appraisals will be developed. The project investigates public perception, social and environmental impacts on road infrastructure investment. This research will contribute to the debate about how important social and environmental issues should be incorporated into the investment decision-making process for infrastructure asset management.

Be careful what you ask for : how inquiry strategy influences readiness mode

Much has been written about affecting change in the workplace, including how to help employees prepare for the process. However, little is known about how participation influences employees' emotions and attitudes at the start of an intervention. By qualitatively analyzing conversations that were triggered by an organizational change effort, we explored how different inquiry strategies influence readiness for change. We examined four inquiry strategies by combining strength or deficit frames with individual or organizational focus. Distinctive conversational patterns emerged within each strategy, which we believe influence peoples' change readiness. In this article we present four readiness modes to describe these patterns and conclude with implications for managers who seek to shape their change efforts more effectively.