Market oriented cognitive subcultures in a multiple stakeholder environment

The importance of an organisation wide market oriented culture revolves around the performance implications of a focus on customers. However, in contemporary multiple stakeholder environments different notions of ‘the customer’ can exist adding complexity and introducing the possibility of different market oriented subcultures. An analysis of managers’ cognitive maps within a single case study highlight different beliefs and values associated with two alternative market oriented subcultures externally driven by a focus on two different customer groups. The lack of management consensus was further emphasised by two other alternative internally driven subcultures within the same firm. The implications are briefly discussed.

Antecedents of strategic flexibility:management cognition, firm resources and strategic options

Purpose: Current conceptualisations of strategic flexibility and its antecedents are theory-driven, which has resulted in a lack of consensus. To summarise this domain the paper aims to develop and present an a priori conceptual model of the antecedents and outcomes of strategic flexibility. Discussion and insights into the conceptual model, and the relationships specified, are made through a novel qualitative empirical approach. The implications for further research and a framework for further theoretical development are presented. Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory qualitative research design is used applying multiple data collection techniques in a branch network of a large regional retailer in the UK. The development of strategic options and the complex relationship to strategic flexibility is investigated. Findings: The number and type of strategic options developed by managers impact on the degree of strategic flexibility and also on the ability of the firm to achieve competitive differentiation. Additionally, the type of strategic option implemented by managers is dependent on the competitive situation faced at a local level. Evidence of managers' limited perception of competition was identified based on their spatial embeddedness. Research limitations/implications: A single, in-depth case study was used. The data gathered is rich and appropriate for the exploratory approach adopted here. However, generalisability of the findings is limited. Practical implications: Strategic flexibility is rooted in the ability of front-line mangers to develop and implement strategic options; this in turn facilitates competitive differentiation. Originality/value: The research presented is unique in this domain on two accounts. First, theory is developed by presenting an a priori conceptual model, and testing through in-depth qualitative data gathering. Second, insights into strategic flexibility are presented through an examination of managerial cognition, resources and strategic option generation using cognitive mapping and laddering technique. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Introduction : Islam and human resource management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce this special issue on Islam and human resource management (HRM). Design/methodology/approach – The paper introduces the papers in this special issue, which further current understanding of the association between Islam and HRM, and HRM practices in Islamic countries. The papers debate whether it makes sense to talk about an Islamic HRM, and try to identify the key features of an Islamic HRM model that is substantially distinctive from existing normative models of HRM. Findings – The papers examine the impact of Islamic values on HRM practices and organisational outcomes, but more research is needed to gain a deeper understanding of the role Islam plays at the work place, and specifically how Islamic ideals, culture, values and norms are used in practice and implications thereof on workplace environment and overall organisational performance. Originality/value – The paper introduces the concept of Islam and human resource management.

Performance management systems:a global perspective

Performance management is the process by which organizations set goals, determine standards, assign and evaluate work, and distribute rewards. But when you operate across different countries and continents, performance management strategies cannot be one dimensional. HR managers need systems that can be applied to a range of cultural values. This important and timely text offers a truly global perspective on performance management practices. Split into two parts, it illustrates the key themes of rater motivation, rater-ratee relationships and merit pay, and outlines a model for a global appraisal process. This model is then screened through a range of countries, including Germany, Japan, USA, Turkey, China, India and Mexico. Using case studies and discussion questions, and written by local experts, this text outlines the tools needed to understand and ‘measure’ performance in a range of socio-economic and cultural contexts. It is essential reading for students and practitioners alike working in human resources, international business and international management.

Quality management (QM) implementation in the Kuwaiti Oil Industry:An empirical study and a proposed generic framework

In an Arab oil producing country in the Middle East such as Kuwait, Oil industry is considered as the main and most important industry of the country. This industry’s importance emerged from the significant role it plays in both country’s national economy and also global economy. Moreover, Oil industry’s criticality comes from its interconnectivity with national security and power in the Middle East region. Hence, conducting this research in this crucial industry had certainly added values to companies in this industry as it investigated thoroughly the main components of the TQM implementation process and identified which components affects significantly TQM’s implementation and its gained business results. In addition, as the Oil sector is a large sector that is known for its richness of employees with different national cultures and backgrounds. Thus, this culture-heterogeneous industry seems to be the most appropriate environment to address and satisfy a need in the literature to investigate the national culture values’ effects on TQM implementation process. Furthermore, this research has developed a new conceptual model of TQM implementation process in the Kuwaiti Oil industry that applies in general to operations and productions organizations at the Kuwaiti business environment and in specific to organizations in the Oil industry, as well it serves as a good theoretical model for improving operations and production level of the oil industry in other developing and developed countries. Thus, such research findings minimized the literature’s gap found the limited amount of empirical research of TQM implementation in well-developed industries existing in an Arab, developing countries and specifically in Kuwait, where there was no coherent national model for a universal TQM implementation in the Kuwaiti Oil industry in specific and Kuwaiti business environment in general. Finally, this newly developed research framework, which emerged from the literature search, was validated by rigorous quantitative analysis tools including SPSS and Structural Equation Modeling. The quantitative findings of questionnaires collected were supported by the qualitative findings of interviews conducted.

Aligning employee service recovery performance with brand values:the role of brand-specific leadership

This study investigates the effects of brand-specific leadership on employees' brand-aligned service recovery performance (SRP). In order to do so, we empirically test a conceptual model of relationships between brand-specific transformational leadership (TFL) and transactional leadership (TRL), trust in leader and in corporate brand, brand identification, and SRP from employees' perspectives. It is the first study to incorporate trust in corporate brand into the framework. Results from a study of 246 customer-contact employees show that brand-specific TFL has a positive impact on all variables studied, while brand-specific TRL is ineffective in fostering brand-building behaviours. More specifically, brand-specific TFL's effects on employee SRP are mediated by trust in the leader, trust in the corporate brand, and brand identification. Implications and future research directions are discussed. © 2013 Copyright Taylor & Francis.

Market-driven strategies and the design of flexible production systems: evidence from the electronics industry

Links the concept of market-driven business strategies with the design of production systems. It draws upon the case of a firm which, during the last decade, changed its strategy from being “technology led” to “market driven”. The research, based on interdisciplinary fieldwork involving long-term participant observation, investigated the factors which contribute to the successful design and implementation of flexible production systems in electronics assembly. These investigations were conducted in collaboration with a major computer manufacturer, with other electronics firms being studied for comparison. The research identified a number of strategies and actions seen as crucial to the development of efficient flexible production systems, namely: effective integration of subsystems, development of appropriate controls and performance measures, compatibility between production system design and organization structure, and the development of a climate conducive to organizational change. Overall, the analysis suggests that in the electronics industry there exists an extremely high degree of environmental complexity and turbulence. This serves to shape the strategic, technical and social structures that are developed to match this complexity, examples of which are niche marketing, flexible manufacturing and employee harmonization.

Before and after modelling:risk knowledge management is required

Risk and knowledge are two concepts and components of business management which have so far been studied almost independently. This is especially true where risk management is conceived mainly in financial terms, as, for example, in the banking sector. The banking sector has sophisticated methodologies for managing risk, such as mathematical risk modeling. However. the methodologies for analyzing risk do not explicitly include knowledge management for risk knowledge creation and risk knowledge transfer. Banks are affected by internal and external changes with the consequent accommodation to new business models new regulations and the competition of big players around the world. Thus, banks have different levels of risk appetite and policies in risk management. This paper takes into consideration that business models are changing and that management is looking across the organization to identify the influence of strategic planning, information systems theory, risk management and knowledge management. These disciplines can handle the risks affecting banking that arise from different areas, but only if they work together. This creates a need to view them in an integrated way. This article sees enterprise risk management as a specific application of knowledge in order to control deviation from strategic objectives, shareholders' values and stakeholders' relationships. Before and after a modeling process it necessary to find insights into how the application of knowledge management processes can improve the understanding of risk and the implementation of enterprise risk management. The article presents a propose methodology to contribute to providing a guide for developing risk modeling knowledge and a reduction of knowledge silos, in order to improve the quality and quantity of solutions related to risk inquiries across the organization.

Knowledge management and enterprise risk management implementation in financial services

This paper starts from the viewpoint that enterprise risk management is a specific application of knowledge in order to control deviations from strategic objectives, shareholders’ values and stakeholders’ relationships. This study is looking for insights into how the application of knowledge management processes can improve the implementation of enterprise risk management. This article presents the preliminary results of a survey on this topic carried out in the financial services sector, extending a previous pilot study that was in retail banking only. Five hypotheses about the relationship of knowledge management variables to the perceived value of ERM implementation were considered. The survey results show that the two people-related variables, perceived quality of communication among groups and perceived quality of knowledge sharing were positively associated with the perceived value of ERM implementation. However, the results did not support a positive association for the three variables more related to technology, namely network capacity for connecting people (which was marginally significant), risk management information system functionality and perceived integration of the information systems. Perceived quality of communication among groups appeared to be clearly the most significant of these five factors in affecting the perceived value of ERM implementation.

Small business owners’ success criteria, a values approach to personal differences

This study of 150 Dutch small business owners, identified through business/ network directories, investigated relationships between owners’ understanding of success and their personal values. Business owners ranked 10 success criteria. Per- sonal satisfaction, profitability, and satisfied stakeholders ranked highest. Multidi- mensional scaling techniques revealed two dimensions underlying the rank order of success criteria: person-oriented (personal satisfaction versus business growth) and business-oriented (profitability versus contributing back to society). Furthermore, business growth, profitability, and innovativeness were guided by self-enhancing value orientations (power and achievement). Softer success criteria, such as having satisfied stakeholders and a good work–life balance, were guided by self-transcendent value orientations (benevolence and universalism).

Form follows function:model-driven engineering for clinical trials

We argue that, for certain constrained domains, elaborate model transformation technologies-implemented from scratch in general-purpose programming languages-are unnecessary for model-driven engineering; instead, lightweight configuration of commercial off-the-shelf productivity tools suffices. In particular, in the CancerGrid project, we have been developing model-driven techniques for the generation of software tools to support clinical trials. A domain metamodel captures the community's best practice in trial design. A scientist authors a trial protocol, modelling their trial by instantiating the metamodel; customized software artifacts to support trial execution are generated automatically from the scientist's model. The metamodel is expressed as an XML Schema, in such a way that it can be instantiated by completing a form to generate a conformant XML document. The same process works at a second level for trial execution: among the artifacts generated from the protocol are models of the data to be collected, and the clinician conducting the trial instantiates such models in reporting observations-again by completing a form to create a conformant XML document, representing the data gathered during that observation. Simple standard form management tools are all that is needed. Our approach is applicable to a wide variety of information-modelling domains: not just clinical trials, but also electronic public sector computing, customer relationship management, document workflow, and so on. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.

Statistics of a noise-driven Manakov soliton

We investigate the statistics of a vector Manakov soliton in the presence of additive Gaussian white noise. The adiabatic perturbation theory for a Manakov soliton yields a stochastic Langevin system which we analyse via the corresponding Fokker-Planck equation for the probability density function (PDF) for the soliton parameters. We obtain marginal PDFs for the soliton frequency and amplitude as well as soliton amplitude and polarization angle. We also derive formulae for the variances of all soliton parameters and analyse their dependence on the initial values of polarization angle and phase. © 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Brand orientation and brand values in retail banking

This exploratory study seeks to provide an appreciation of brand orientation in retail banking. Through in-depth interviews at head office and branch level, we explore managers' brand mind-set. We also surface managers' views about the relationship between market and brand orientation. Further, we examine managers' perceptions about the role of brand values as resources in creating a brand orientation. In a large-scale study of front-line employees, we examine the level of agreement with brand values, and describe differences in brand buy-in across employee clusters. © 2013 Copyright Westburn Publishers Ltd.

Performance management in the United States and France:four case studies in the retail and airline industries

The profusion of performance measurement models suggested by Management Accounting literature in the 1990’s is one illustration of the substantial changes in Management Accounting teaching materials since the publication of “Relevance Lost” in 1987. At the same time, in the general context of increasing competition and globalisation it is widely thought that national cultural differences are tending to disappear, meaning that management techniques used in large companies, including performance measurement and management instruments (PMS), tend to be the same, irrespective of the company nationality or location. North American management practice is traditionally described as a contractually based model, mainly focused on financial performance information and measures (FPMs), more shareholder-focused than French companies. Within France, literature historically defined performance as being broadly multidimensional, driven by the idea that there are no universal rules of management and that efficient management takes into account local culture and traditions. As opposed to their North American brethren, French companies are pressured more by the financial institutions that fund them rather than by capital markets. Therefore, they pay greater attention to the long-term because they are not subject to quarterly capital market objectives. Hence, management in France should rely more on long-term qualitative information, less financial, and more multidimensional data to assess performance than their North American counterparts. The objective of this research is to investigate whether large French and US companies’ practices have changed in the way the textbooks have changed with regards to performance measurement and management, or whether cultural differences are still driving differences in performance measurement and management between them. The research findings support the idea that large US and French companies share the same PMS features, influenced by ‘universal’ PM models.

Business-driven social change:a systematic review of the evidence

How can companies help change people's behaviour in order to benefit society? Organizations have the resources and market influence to effect positive change. Through product labeling, supply chain management, cause marketing, corporate philanthropy, employee volunteerism and NGO (non-government organization) partnerships, companies are helping society get active, eat healthy foods, dispose of products properly, use less energy and generally live more sustainable lives. This report reveals the three conditions necessary for changing people's behaviour that create benefits for society. The report also includes 19 mechanisms companies can use to motivate people to change and to create the capabilities and opportunities for change.