Evaluating artistic work : balancing competing perspectives

The artist is frequently uncertain, when he or she begins to create a work, how the completed work will look or sound. However, the corporate business model, which is premised on a rational and instrumental worldview, suggests that in a market environment, art should be evaluated objectively, based on clearly stated and measurable objectives - often prior to that work being commenced. This paper explores the difficulties that art has in fitting into a corporatist worldview. First, the paper examines the historical materialization of the corporate model, and how it has infiltrated non-profit arts. Second, the paper investigates the likely reasons as to why instrumental rationality and managerialism have been embraced so enthusiastically by bureaucrats, arts marketers and funders. And third, the paper suggests a research approach by which artists, managers and audiences can evaluate art within a framework that is sympathetic to the art and the artist.

The story of Lijjat : women's entrepreneurship and empowerment in India

This paper narrates the story of an Indian women's organisation called Lijjat which is not only a case in women's empowerment but one of a very successful business enterprise by any standards. Lijjat has grown over a period of half a century from its humble beginnings in 1959 to a growing organisation symbolising women's empowerment through an enterprise that has a turnover of l. Rs. 4.85 billion and an envious brand image for its consumer products. The Lijjat business model offers us insights and solutions in the third and fourth world context to fight poverty and restore dignity. More importantly, it offers us a business model to empower women and thus their families living at C.K. Prahlads "bottom of the pyramid" not only as consumers, but in this instance, in full measure as entrepreneurs and business managers.

Using a knowledge management evaluation framework for improving an ERP system - a Hong Kong construction industry case study

Organisations need to rely on leadership, information support and human capital in order to ensure a knowledge advantage over their competitors. Knowledge management (KM) provides organisations with sustainable competitive advantage, because it becomes extremely difficult for an organisation to cut expenditure and increase revenue by simply reengineering its business model. Project delivery and success has been traditionally viewed and measured as management of a three-legged stool, with the legs defined as cost, schedule and quality. However, KM can be linked to success by organisations becoming more effective as well as being more efficient.

This paper uses a KM framework, the Knowledge Advantage (K-Adv), developed initially for use by construction organisations. It assesses the impact of leadership and its supporting information communication technology infrastructure on the ability of people (by effectively creating, sharing, disseminating and using knowledge) to facilitate sustainable competitive advantage.

A case study that is presented is based upon the experience of a leading construction company using an Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) system to demonstrate the effectiveness of KM from a cost management business unit perspective. Results are evaluated using a capability maturity model (CMM) - that forms the core of the K-Adv tool - to help improve processes that meet the needs of the organisation operating in a highly dynamic business environment. The case study is part of a broader doctoral research project that uses action learning to facilitate and measure ERP improvement.

Applying genetic algorithm for optimizing broadcasting process in ad-hoc network

Optimizing broadcasting process in mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is considered as a main challenge due to many problems, such as Broadcast Storm problem and high complexity in finding the optimal tree resulting in an NP-hard problem. Straight forward techniques like simple flooding give rise to Broadcast Storm problem with a high probability. In this work, genetic algorithm (GA) that searches over a population that represents a distinguishable ‘structure’ is adopted innovatively to suit MANETs. The novelty of the GA technique adopted here to provide the means to tackle this MANET problem lies mainly on the proposed method of searching for a structure of a suitable spanning tree that can be optimized, in order to meet the performance indices related to the broadcasting problem. In other words, the proposed genetic model (GM) evolves with the structure of random trees (individuals) ‘genetically’ generated using rules that are devised specifically to capture MANET behaviour in order to arrive at a minimal spanning tree that satisfies certain fitness function. Also, the model has the ability to give different solutions depending on the main factors specified such as, ‘time’ (or speed) in certain situations and ‘reachability’ in certain others.

The path to Project Darwin : the evolution of the AMP's organisational structure

Demutualisation became a global trend amongst financial sector firms in the last two decades of the twentieth century. Changes to the organisational foundations of mutual firms represented a shift in operational cultures and have often been viewed as an end point or demise of the co-operative business model. It is the intention of this article to investigate the extent to which this was the case within a major mutual institution, the Australian Mutual Provident, Australia's oldest and largest mutual insurer. The article's key argument is that the concept of mutuality is organic, and that within this organisation it evolved as the structure of the firm became more sophisticated as it developed from a supplier of life insurance products into a sophisticated financial services provider, which ultimately generated internal pressures to demutualise.

Costco and the Aussie shopper : a case study of the market entry of an international retailer

Retailing is a globalised industry, yet retailers must respond to local shopping habits if they are to be perceived as legitimate by the host country customers. However, some retailers may be unable or unwilling to respond to all customer requirements. Costco, the membership warehouse club retailer, has been successful in its international expansion efforts, establishing its first Australian store in Melbourne in 2009. In the first 12 months of operation, the store became one of Costco's top five stores in the world. We investigated this success by focussing on the customer and used institutional theory to analyse what concessions were made by the customer and the company. Data were collected from consumer interviews, site visits and secondary media and industry sources. Analysis revealed negotiations based on the rejection, acceptance or adaptation of the regulative, normative and cultural cognitive aspects of the Australian shopper and the Costco business model. Customers made concessions to accommodate the new business model, and Costco responded to entrenched Australian shopping habits. This case is the first to explore the outcome of retail internationalisation from the customers' perspective, revealing the concept of mutual concessions. The interaction and subsequent adaptation by both customer and retailer have resulted in the institutionalisation of new shopping norms in the host country and success for the international retailer.

When Australian construction SME implementing TQM

Statistics show that construction industry contributes steadily and significantly to the national economy and SME always plays a major role. In order to offer "value for money" to the client and lower the operating cost, practising quality program is crucial. The aim of this paper is to investigate, via extensive literature reviews, how Australian construction SME should manage when implementing TQM strategy in the business model. In summary, there are four management implications: construction management, knowledge management, supply chain management and marketing management, which can enhance competitive advantage and favor commercial viability. One can reasonably conclude that quality improvements will lead to long term commercial advantages.

The house of service: the Gulen movement and Islam's third way

David Tittensor offers a groundbreaking new perspective on the Gülen movement, a Turkish Muslim educational activist network that emerged in the 1960s and has grown into a global empire with an estimated worth of $25 billion. Named after its leader Fethullah Gülen, the movement has established more than 1,000 secular educational institutions in over 140 countries, aiming to provide holistic education that incorporates both spirituality and the secular sciences.

Despite the movement's success, little is known about how its schools are run, or how Islam is operationalized. Drawing on thirteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Turkey, Tittensor explores the movement's ideo-theology and how it is practiced in the schools. His interviews with both teachers and graduates from Africa, Indonesia, Central Asia, and Turkey show that the movement is a missionary organization, but of a singular kind: its goal is not simply widespread religious conversion, but a quest to recoup those Muslims who have apparently lost their way and to show non-Muslims that Muslims can embrace modernity and integrate into the wider community. Tittensor also examines the movement's operational side and shows how the schools represent an example of Mohammad Yunus's social business model: a business with a social cause at its heart.

The House of Service is an insightful exploration of one of the world's largest transnational Muslim associations, and will be invaluable for those seeking to understand how Islam will be perceived and practiced in the future.

Australian films at large: expanding the evidence about Australian cinema performance

International markets have in recent years become a critical component of the business model for Hollywood cinema, opening up a renewed interest in the global dimensions of film diffusion. Smaller film-producing nations such as Denmark have similarly emphasised global distribution as a key component of the industry's success. Typically, however, claims for Australian film industry success rely almost exclusively on a film's domestic box office performance. This paper considers the possibilities for an expanded approach to measuring success and failure in the Australian film industry. Adopting analytic methods from cinema studies, cultural economics and geo-spatial sciences, this paper will examine the international theatrical circulation of Australian films using a unique global database of cinema showtimes. This data set captures all formal film screenings in 47 countries over an 18-month period ending 1 June 2014 and enables detailed empirical study of the locations visited by Australian-produced films. In conjunction with relevant box office data and contextual critical commentary, we propose a revised and expanded ‘film impact rating’ for assessing the reported performance of Australian films.

Friend or foe? Regional newspapers and the power of Facebook

This paper examines how some regional newspapers in Australia are engaging with the social media juggernaut Facebook and the effects of this on their relationships with audiences in a digital world. We highlight how terms such as ‘friend’ and ‘community’ mask complex power struggles taking place across these two media platforms. On the one hand, Facebook can facilitate public conversation and widen the options for journalists to access information but, on the other, it has become a competitor for advertising revenue as news outlets struggle to find a business model for online spaces. We suggest that newspapers and journalists are facing challenges in navigating the complexities of a platform that crosses public/private domains at a time when the very nature of ‘private’ and ‘public’ is being contested. The paper adopts a ‘pooled case comparison’ approach to research, drawing on data from two separate Australian studies that examine regional newspapers in a digital landscape. The research draws on interviews with journalists and editors in Australia across three states and on focus groups and interviews with newspaper readers in Victoria.

An Environmental Analysis Corroborating PDA and the Winthrop Example

Libraries seek active ways to innovate amidst macroeconomic shifts, growing online education to help alleviate ever-growing schedule conflicts as students juggle jobs and course schedules, as well as changing business models in publishing and evolving information technologies. Patron-driven acquisition (PDA), also known as demand-driven acquisition (DDA), offers numerous strengths in supporting university curricula in the context of these significant shifts. PDA is a business model centered on short-term loans and subsequent purchases of ebooks resulting directly from patrons' natural use stemming from their discovery of the ebooks in library catalogs where the ebooks' bibliographic records are loaded at regular intervals established between the library and ebook supplier. Winthrop University's PDA plan went live in October 2011, and this article chronicles the philosophical and operational considerations, the in-library collaboration, and technical preparations in concert with the library system vendor and ebook supplier. Short-term loan is invoked after a threshold is crossed, typically number of pages or time spent in the ebook. After a certain number of short-term loans negotiated between the library and ebook supplier, the next short-term loan becomes an automatic purchase after which the library owns the ebook in perpetuity. Purchasing options include single-user and multi-user licenses. Owing to high levels of need in college and university environments, Winthrop chose the multi-user license as the preferred default purchase. Only where multi-user licenses are unavailable does the automatic purchase occur with single-user title licenses. Data on initial use between October 2011 and February 2013 reveal that of all PDA ebooks viewed, only 30% crossed the threshold into short-term loans. Of all triggered short-term loans, Psychology was the highest-using. Of all ebook views too brief to trigger short-term loans, Business was the highest-using area. Although the data are still too young to draw conclusions after only a few months, thought-provoking usage differences between academic disciplines have begun to emerge. These differences should be considered in library plans for the best possible curricular support for each academic program. As higher education struggles with costs and course-delivery methods libraries have an enduring lead role.

Alianças estratégicas e suas implicações para a configuração de capacidades tecnológicas: evidências da indústria farmacêutica multinacional

Esta dissertação examina as capacidades tecnológicas (sistema técnico-organizacional, molécula e medicamento) disponibilizadas em alianças estratégicas pela indústria farmacêutica multinacional, assim como as principais implicações das alianças estratégicas para a indústria farmacêutica em termos de configuração de suas capacidades tecnológicas . Essas questões são examinadas à base de evidências empíricas secundárias sobre alianças estratégicas em uma amostra de 25 companhias multinacionais da indústria farmacêutica, pertencentes a três grupos: companhia farmacêutica de grande porte (big pharma); companhia biofarmacêutica de grande porte (biofarma) e companhia pequena de pesquisa . A literatura relacionada oferece uma grande quantidade de estudos sobre alianças estratégicas e capacidades tecnológicas na indústria farmacêutica multinacional. Porém, o tema das implicações de tais alianças estratégicas para mudanças na configuração de capacidades tecnológicas ainda carece de mais fundamentação empírica, pela perspectiva de gestão de empresa e, mais precisamente, pela perspectiva de estratégia empresarial baseada em competências dinâmicas. Essa dissertação baseia-se em extensiva e sistemática coleta de evidências empíricas relativas às alianças estratégicas implementadas por 25 companhias da indústria farmacêutica e, publicadas durante o período de 1993 a 2003. Tais evidências empíricas foram coletadas a partir de três bancos de dados: Business & Industry; Galé e Dialog . Com relação aos resultados, foi encontrado que: Em termos de participações com capacidades tecnológicas ingressantes em alianças estratégicas: (i) as 'big pharmas' ingressaram com 11 % das 169 capacidades tecnológicas; (ii) as biofarmas ingressaram com 44% das 143 capacidades tecnológicas; (iii) as companhias pequenas de pesquisa ingressaram com 72% das 95 capacidades tecnológicas . 2 Em termos de implicações das alianças estratégicas para a mudança na configuração de capacidades tecnológicas que ingressaram em alianças estratégicas, foi encontrado que: (i) as 'big pharmas' aumentaram a proporção em moléculas (16% para 55%); (ii) as biofarmas aumentaram a participação em moléculas (22% para 32%) e sistema técnico-organizacional para pesquisa de molécula (49% para 55%); (iii) as companhias pequenas de pesquisa inseriram-se a uma nova atividade (comercialização de medicamento no mercado farmacêutico) a partir do aumento da participação em medicamentos (3% para 29%). Adicionalmente, atualizaram sistemas técnico-organizacionais para pesquisa de molécula . As evidências sugerem que o critério de escolha por companhia parceira e por mecanismo de aliança estratégica foi condicionado aos objetivos e às necessidades de cada grupo de companhia da indústria farmacêutica. Por fim, enquanto as companhias integradas, 'big pharmas' e biofarmas, principalmente, as primeiras, têm adaptado o modelo de negócio "Fully Integrated Pharmaceutical Company" com a adoção de alianças estratégicas para complementação de capacidades tecnológicas, as companhias pequenas de pesquisa capitalizam as suas capacidades tecnológicas através das alianças estratégicas e ingressam no mercado farmacêutico com a comercialização de medicamentos adquiridos por meio de alianças estratégicas. Portanto, as evidências sugerem que a busca por complementação de base de conhecimento para competir no mercado globalizado, tem implicado ainda que, informalmente, uma alteração na organização das atividades tecnológicas inovadoras, especialmente, em termos de produtos (medicamentos) .

Ascenção e queda do provimento de acesso gratuito à Internet no Brasil: o papel dos modelos de negócio

This research was commenced with the idea to promote an strategic evaluation of the sustentability of the free Internet access, analysing its process of value creation, its sources of revenue generation, its business models development as well as its capacity to generate adequated returns to the investors. It was concluded that the free Internet access is not dead. Indeed, what has occoured was a migration from a model completely based on delivering a single service, generally dependent of publicity sells revenues, to a hibrid based business model with different types of services and with revenues been generated from multiple sources. Nevertheless, not all players were capable to evolute their business models and survive, what occasioned a huge number of fails, mergers and acquisitions, resulting in a concentration all over the segment.

Como a medição de propensão ao risco do candidato a fraqueado pode ser utilizado pela rede franqueadora para melhorar a eficiência de seu processo de seleção

É notório o crescimento das redes franqueadoras e da quantidade de franquias que vêm se estabelecendo no Brasil nos últimos anos. Este crescimento, dentre outros fatores, provêm do grande número de empreendedores que têm optado por este modelo de negócio como estratégia para aquisição, seja do primeiro negócio, seja para a expansão dos já existentes. Neste contexto, é preciso entender os principais fatores que levam estes indivíduos a optarem pelo franchising. Pesquisas sobre o tema empreendedorismo e as motivações que levam os indivíduos a empreender dão conta de que o fator risco do negócio e a percepção do indivíduo a respeito de tal risco é um dos mais relevantes no processo de tomada de decisão para a abertura do novo empreendimento. Neste contexto, este trabalho procurou avaliar como a propensão ao risco de empreendedores que optaram pela aquisição de franquias influenciou o processo de tomada de decisão destes indivíduos.

Inovação do modelo de negócio: um estudo de caso no IPT

O trabalho discute a inovação de Modelo de Negócio nas organizações. Um Modelo de Negócio é a maneira como uma empresa organiza seus recursos, competências e relacionamentos, de forma a criar valor para seus clientes. No ambiente atual de dinamismo e competitividade crescentes, passa a ser fundamental que as empresas desenvolvam Modelos de Negócio inovadores, para poderem se diferenciar de seus concorrentes, e criarem vantagens competitivas duradouras. Empresas como Dell, Amazon, Walmart e Starbucks desenvolveram Modelos de Negócio únicos, baseados em suas próprias competências, e que conseguiram antecipar necessidades de seus clientes. Muitos outros exemplos de Modelos de Negócio inovadores são descritos neste trabalho. A inovação é fundamentalmente um processo que envolve criatividade e imaginação. Modelos de Negócio inovadores podem ser desenvolvidos através de processos criativos que envolvem a geração de idéias, e transformação das idéias de maior potencial em novos empreendimentos. Dessa forma, as empresas podem criar condições para explorar o potencial empreendedor de seus empregados. o final do trabalho retrata um Estudo de Caso no Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas do Estado de São Paulo. Um novo Modelo de Negócio é sugerido para desenvolver a capacidade empreendedora do IPT.