New business strategies of football clubs

The study investigates new strategies of football clubs in function of last few years’ trends in European football leagues. There were many changes in international professional football during the last 10-15 years that had significant effect on the success of certain clubs. We show empirical evidences about these effects based on data about revenues, transfer balance, financial and sport successes. We focus on Western European leagues and classify clubs based on their business and sport strategies.

How can economic sociology help business relationship management?

Purpose – By analyzing organizations as social actors and business relationships as social relationships, sociology can improve business relationship management. This paper aims to explore the issues involved. Design/methodology/approach – A business relationship is an interactive exchange between two organizations embedded in a network of business connections. The paper reviews theories of social actions and social actors and the concepts of economic field and embeddedness to illustrate some social dimensions of business relationships. Findings – Social action and social actor theories emphasize that co-operation is always encumbered with conflicts, that consciousness about the relationship is fundamental for both strongly and weakly structured actors, and that actors (people involved in a business relationship) always have some freedom of manoeuvre. The concept of economic field underscores the specificity of each business relationship and the critical need for concrete analysis. The concept of embeddedness highlights that no business relationship is possible without personal bonds. Research limitations/implications – These are the first results of a deeper and broader research directed towards a conceptual model of business relationship management. Practical implications – The paper can help managers to analyze more deeply the social dimensions of business relations with both suppliers and buyers. Consciousness, the ongoing presence of conflicts, the unavoidable role of personal bonds, and interactivity are always relevant in business relationship management. Originality/value – The paper integrates sociological and business marketing approaches. It applies essential sociological theories and concepts to business relationship management.

A New Role for Management of the Social Sciences in an Age of Complexity

A particular scientific world view has become dominant, influential and successful in modern sciences today. Science and technology have transformed the way we view ourselves, our societies and our place in the cosmos. However, just as science and technology seem to be at the peak of their power, unexpected problems are disrupting the sciences from within. This reflects a deeper and more serious problem regarding scientific inquiry. Science is being held back by old assumptions that have become dogmas, the biggest of which is that science already knows all the answers, and only the details need to be worked out. A transformational paradigm shift is required from a mechanistic world view to an organic world view to better address the challenges of the new millenium.

Organizational ambidexterity as a new research paradigm in strategic management

Long-term survival and growth depends on the firm’s ability to exploit its current competencies while exploring fundamentally new ones. Finding the balance between exploration and exploitation is called ambidexterity in the literature. This paper is a comprehensive review of organizational ambidexterity theory. Creating and maintaining the capacity to simultaneously pursue these contradictory activities is an extremely difficult managerial challenge. Although, several aspects are well-researched, especially structural and leadership solutions in large, multinational enterprises, but little is known about: (1) how ambidexterity forms in earlier growth stages? (2) What are the key drivers and elements of organizational context that makes organizations able to become ambidextrous? (3) What is the role of different managerial levels in this formation process? Reviewing the literature, in this article the author would like to introduce the paradox of exploration and exploitation, the tensions and different aspects of ambidexterity, the fields current stage and some important research gaps.

Átalakuló emberierőforrás-menedzsment a multinacionális vállalatok magyarországi leányvállalatainál 2008–2009 (Changing HR-practices of the Hungarian subsidiaries of multinational enterprises, 2008-2009)

A Pécsi Tudományegyetem Közgazdaságtudományi Karán sok éve folyó HR-kutatás legújabb eredménye ez a beszámoló, amely 74 Magyarországon is működő multinacionális vállalat helyi leányvállalatának HR-gyakorlatát vizsgálja. Az adatfelvétel (többségében helyszíni interjú) ideje 2010. április-november. Így a megállapítások már a válságból való kilábalás időszakára is vonatkoznak: mit és hogyan tettek a HR-szervezetek, valamint a vonalbeli vezetők a HR-munka hatékonyságának növelésére. A felállított 5, ezzel kapcsolatos hipotézist a szerzők vizsgálataik alapján részben igazolni tudták. A fő megállapítás: a nemzetközi vállalatok – minimális létszámcsökkentéssel – kitartottak Magyarország mellett, megerősítették a helyi leányvállalatoknál folyó HR-munkát. A kutatás nemzetközi keretekben jelenleg is folytatódik: 6 országban készülnek tanulmányok a helyi hasonló vállalati körre, a magyarországiéval azonos HR-vizsgálati szempontok alapján. _________ This article is the result of the several year long HR-research conducted at the Faculty of Business and Management of the University of Pécs, and it analyzes the HR-practices of the Hungarian subsidiaries of 74 multinational enterprises. Data collection (mostly interviews at the subsidiaries) took place during the period of April-November 2010. Hence, the findings also relate to the period of the recovery from the recession: what and how the HR-units/ and line managers did to increase the efficiency of the HR work. The 5 hypotheses in relation with this, could partially be verified by the research of the authors of this paper. The main finding is that the multinational enterprises – with a slight decrease of headcount – stood beside Hungary and strengthened the HR-activities at their subsidiaries. Research is still being continued internationally: studies are being prepared in 6 countries on similar groups of local companies, by using the same HR-research aspects as those used in Hungary.

Stratégiai paradigmaváltás szervezeti verseny(képesség) és az Operations management központi szerepe (Central role of strategic paradigm change, corporate competitiveness and operations management)

Az elmúlt két évtized folyamán a menedzserek megtanultak a megújult szabályok szerint játszani. Tudatosították, hogy a vállalatuk eredményes navigálásához folyamatosan figyelniük és adaptálniuk kell a legújabb módszereket, elméleteket. Jelen tanulmányával a szerző ezt a folyamatot kívánja segíteni, valamint arra az alapvető kérdésre keresi a választ, hogy érdemes-e a rendkívül gyorsan változó világban hosszabb távú célok meghatározásával foglalkozni, és ha igen, akkor mire összpontosítsák a vállalatok erőfeszítéseiket. Milyen részletezettséggel, milyen módon határozzák meg az elképzeléseiket úgy, hogy közben megőrizzék a vállalat flexibilitását, a változások idején nélkülözhetetlen agilitást. A szerző arra vállalkozik, hogy feltárja a stratégiai paradigmaváltás fejlődését, a termelési stratégia, az operations management központi meghatározó szereppé válását, valamint áttekintse a termelési és szolgáltatási rendszervezetés (OM) elveinek, eszközeinek, módszereinek fejlődését, kölcsönhatását, összefüggéseit. _______ Change of paradigm has taken place in strategic planning. Fight for position turned into a fight of movement. Companies strive to achieve individual, not copyable organizational performance, as well as to realize their business strategies by means of value generating, proactive approach. Operative management now placed in the focus of production strategy is becoming the compass, the driving force of leadership. The management of production and service systems has grown into independent scientific disciplines. It yielded such principles, tools and methods which are present as world-renowned blueprints (scientific tools) in the field of maintaining and developing corporate performance. In the present study the author specifies and discusses the tools of operative management as criteria of value generation aiming at quality and cost efficiency. He analyses the backto- back character, interrelationship of quality, TQM (Total Quality Management), TPS (Toyota Production System) and JIT (Just in Time). He examines the effects thereof on corporate performance where significant and strong relationship can be demonstrated in case there is an ability to plan and develop new products. The current new OM (Operations Management) techniques increasingly rely upon the quality of human resources, the permanent improvement of procedures as well as focusing on tight cooperation with suppliers/customers. Supply chain management, core competence management, service management now represent a “new generation” of the OM methods, processes, serving at the same time as basis and starting point for expectable future techniques as well.