Designing competitive international compensation programs

Over the past 25 years, expatriate managers have voiced increased disenchantment with their compensation packages whíle abroad. This paper takes a prescriptive approach, outlíning severa I elements of a successful human resources strategy and stressing key ingredients of effective international compensation programs. Particular ettention is given to the adherence of cultural values and distrlbutive justice when working across nations and cultures.

Linking strategy and the knowledge of the firm

Discovering the ways through which firms develop and maintain competitive advantage is a central research stream in management theory. The objective of this paper is to present a contribution to the discussion of the knowledge of the firm as a source of competitive advantage. The paper states that a firm's success is a consequence of its ability in the continuous development of core competencies that will sustain its competitiveness over time. Core competencies are understood as the sets of knowledge that differentiate a company strategically. The firm must discover, develop, share and update the knowledge that sustains the present and future core competencies. Knowledge management, through processes of knowledge creation and integration, is one way of doing this.

Applications of artificial intelligence to condition-based maintenance

In this paper we discuss interesting developments of expert systems for machine diagnosis and condition-based maintenance. We review some elements of condition-based maintenance and its applications, expert systems for machine diagnosis, and an example of machine diagnosis. In the last section we note some problems to be resolved so that expert systems for machine diagnosis may gain wider acceptance in the future.

The relevance of subsidiary initiatives for Brazilian multinationals

The purpose of this paper is to analyze relationship patterns between headquarters and subsidiaries of Brazilian Multinationals Enterprises (BrMNEs). The key construct for that investigation is Subsidiary Initiative, which comprises Subsidiary Entrepreneurial Orientation, Autonomy, Integration, Local Competitive Context and Business Network. A survey was carried out in a sample of 65 subsidiaries of 29 BrMNEs. The main outcome is that subsidiaries are highly integrated and receive Entrepreneurial Orientation from Headquarters (HQs), but Initiative is limited. Actually, the main determinants of subsidiary's initiatives are Local Context and Business Networking in the host country. This apparent paradox may be explained by what we call 'rebellious subsidiaries', which take initiatives based on their business environment and connections, regardless of their HQs' directions or delegation of autonomy.

COGNITIVE LEGITIMACY, RESOURCE ACCESS, AND ORGANIZATIONAL OUTCOMES

Previous research has demonstrated the importance of developing legitimacy initiatives in order to create new business opportunities, satisfy shareholders, and obtain access to resources. Within this framework, cognitive legitimacy plays a key role. Through a case study of six Spanish public universities, the authors measure the relationship between cognitive legitimacy, access to resources, and organizational results. The results support the assertion that organizations with more cognitive legitimacy have greater access to resources and improved their results. This study contributes with muchneeded empirical research on cognitive legitimacy and demonstrates its usefulness as an explanative factor of organizational success.

A blockmodel study of managerial hierarchies, verbal networks, and organizational culture in four hospitals

This study demonstrates and applies a social network methodology for studying the dynamics of hierarchies in organizations. Social network (blockmodel) analysis of verbal networks in four hospitals contrasted hierarchical and structurally equivalent partitions of the sociomatrices of frequent ties and perceptions of organizational culture. It was found that the verbal networks in these organizations follow a center periphery pattern rather than a hierarchical logic and that perceptions of culture vary more by verbal network than by formal hierarchy. The perceptions of culture of central groups in one organization are much like those of peripheral groups in another. In all four hospitals, structurally equivalent social networks are more important in predicting subcultures than are hierarchical groupings and hierarchy has a limited impact on the development of verbal networks. These findings suggest the value of an amoeba rather than a pyramid metaphor in interpreting the cultures and relational structures of organizations.

Modeling the Diffusion of Energy Performance Contracting

The Portuguese Energy Policy considers the development of a commercially viable and competitive market for energy performance contracting (EPC) as a main mechanism to achieve the objectives of energy efficiency improvement. This paper proposes a study to investigate how to achieve widespread adoption of energy performance contracting by means of system dynamics modelling and simulation. To explore and gather insights on this question, a system dynamics model representing the system of the Portuguese EPC market at industry level will be created. The simulation of that model will provide a helpful basis for analysing and explaining the development of key variables, and accelerating learning on the managerial, organizational and political adaptation processes that foster the diffusion of EPC adoption. The first phase of this research project aims at identifying and analysing the key factors and critical cause-effect relations that drive the adoption of EPC. With this purpose, a qualitative content analysis on relevant documents was performed and a set of interviews was conducted. That data was analysed to capture the critical variables and its interrelation to formulate a preliminary representation of the system structure as stock and flow diagrams.

A gestão do conhecimento na administração pública municipal em Curitiba com a aplicação do método OKA - Organizational Knowledge Assessment

O presente artigo objetiva analisar como a gestão do conhecimento se manifesta na administração pública da Prefeitura Municipal de Curitiba; para tanto, buscou-se a aplicação do método Organizational Knowledge Assessment (OKA), criado pelo Banco Mundial e organizado pela Escola Nacional de Administração Pública (Enap). No que tange aos procedimentos metodológicos, utilizou-se o estudo de caso como instrumento de pesquisa e coleta dos dados. Como resultado, identificaram-se o processo de avaliação organizacional, indicando as similaridades e distinções do desenvolvimento do método de cada área-fim, e a importância de implantar sistematicamente um processo de avaliação aliado ao planejamento da organização pública com estratégias para disseminar, compartilhar e aplicar o conhecimento produzido.