Gaps in organizational leadership : linking strategic and operational activities through design-led propositions

The relationship between design process and business systems has been of interest to both practitioners and researchers exploring the numerous opportunities and challenges of this unlikely relationship. Often the relationship is presented as building design thinking capability within an organization, which can be broadly described as the union of design and strategy. Brown (2008) notes that design thinking is ‘‘a discipline that uses the designer’s sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technically feasible and what business strategy can convert into customer value and market opportunities’’ (p. 1). The value that design thinking brings to an organization is a different way of framing situations and possibilities, doing things, and tackling problems: essentially a cultural transformation of the way it undertakes its business. The work of Martin (2009) has clearly shown the generalized differences between design thinking and business thinking, highlighting many instances in which these differences have been overcome, but also noting the many obstacles of trying to unify both approaches within an organization. Liedtka (2010) encourages firms to try and persist in overcoming these barriers, as she has noted that ‘‘business strategy desperately needs design ... because design is all about action and business strategy too often turns out to be only about talk ... fewer than 10 percent of new strategies are ever fully executed’’ (p. 9).

The challenges in developing a strategic approach to managing diversity

Diversity management is recognised as a major challenge for organizations throughout the world. There is broad acceptance that when it comes to all aspects of workforce management major differences exist among individuals in terms of age, gender, national origin, physical capability, sexuality, religion and others. This chapter discusses the concept, meaning and application of managing that difference or ‘diversity’ through programs known as diversity management. It identifies and discusses the different contextual and theoretical approaches that frame diversity programs found in organizations today. A number of programs within different country contexts are examined. The discussion examines the challenges of diversity management its programs and its outcomes with a view to understanding the lessons learned and recommending future directions.

Cultural influences on strategic communication

This chapter explores a cultural perspective on the development of strategic communication. It identifies cultural influences on organizational knowledge structures and the work of cultural schema on organizational processes of environmental interpretation. It describes the implications of the structures and processes for strategic communication. The chapter documents that strategic communication may reflect outcomes of cultural selection acting in the knowledge system of an organization as much as it reflects empirical imperatives of the external social environment.

Strategic capability development : a multi-level case study of the role of knowledge integration within product innovation

Capability development is at the heart of creating competitive advantage. This thesis intends to conceptualise Strategic Capability Development as a renewal of an organisation's existing capability in line with the requirements of the market. It followed and compared four product innovation projects within Iran Khodro Company (IKCO), an exemplar of capability development within the Iranian Auto industry. Findings show that the maturation of strategic capability at the organisational level has occurred through a sequence of product innovation projects and by dynamically shaping the learning and knowledge integration processes in accordance with emergence of the new structure within the industry. Accordingly, Strategic Capability Development is conceptualised in an interpretive model. Such findings are useful for development of an explanatory model and a practical capability development framework for managing learning and knowledge across different product innovation projects.

Is your IT Green?

The enabling role of Information technology (IT) makes it a critical resource to invest in to achieve higher economic growth. Consequently, the pervasive use of IT amongst organizations in developing countries is gaining rapid momentum. Today, IT is no longer a support tool; it is a strategic asset that fosters sustainable competitive advantage and a driver for improved business performance. At the national level, the effective use of IT drives economic performance and social transformation. This makes IT resources a revolutionizing mechanism that is capable of bringing efficiency to all levels of the economy. But, evolution in IT is occuring at a very rapid pace. Despite the many opportunities that arise from these new developments, there is a growing concern that such rapid innovations can be detrimental to the environment. This situation puts a critical question on the table – Is Your IT Green?

Strategic IMC : from abstract concept to marketing management tool

Although integrated marketing communication (IMC) has progressed towards midrange maturity level, its full-scale adoption has been impeded by a lack of consensus on its defining constructs. The purpose of this study is to move from abstraction to define the construct of strategic integration (SI) and develop this into a management tool, thus making an important contribution to both the theory and practice of IMC. Drawing from both IMC and strategic management literature, the construct of SI is operationalised into a number of key factors and a well-cited management model, Fuchs’ ‘integration valuator’ is explored as the starting point of a measurement tool for IMC. To do this, a Delphi study invites the scrutiny of an expert panel of world-leading IMC researchers and practitioners. The panel validated the model construction process,redefined overarching constructs and key factors with a high degree of consensus, supported a process measure, suggested a weighted evaluation measure and recognised the importance of developing such a measure. They delivered clear and consistent imperatives guiding model development. The result is a measure of SI that evaluates organisational proficiency and diagnoses the integration of IMC campaigns. It also advances theory by providing a better understanding of the construct of SI.

Best of breed IT strategy: an alternative to enterprise resource planning systems

Abstract - Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software has become the dominant strategic platform for supporting enterprise-wide business processes. However, single vendor ERP software systems have been criticised for not meeting specific organisation and industry requirements. An alternative approach ‘Best of Breed (BoB)’, integrates components of software from multiple standard package vendors, and in some cases custom components. The objective is to develop enterprise systems that are more closely aligned with the requirements of an organisation. Although this approach may not be common at present it is likely to grow in importance due to business needs and technology advances such as the componentisation of ERP software. A case study analysis of a BoB implementation at a global entertainment's company is used as a platform for the discussion of the issues associated with this strategy and a comparison is made with the single vendor ERP alternative. The analysis centres on the complexity of implementation, the differences in the levels of functionality and business fit and the maintenance requirements.

When to pull the plug and when to take the plunge : timing strategic decisions about new ventures

It is not uncommon for firms to explore a new venture under the belief it will generate profits, only to find out later that although costs accumulated, profits did not materialize. To manage the high level of uncertainty involved in this process, new ventures are generally designed as vehicles of exploration (Wu, 2012) that allow for a staged investment of resources, starting with small initial investments that can be scaled up or discontinued as uncertainty is resolved over time (Folta, 1998; Li and Chi, 2013). As such, new ventures provide firms a vehicle by which they can probe an uncertain future (Brown and Eisenhardt, 1997) without fully committing early on to an irreversible course of action (Folta, Johnson, and O’Brien, 2006). Our focus in the present paper is on the timing of strategic decisions that firms make regarding their exploration ventures. Prior research in the fields of entrepreneurship, real options reasoning, and decision speed has demonstrated a link between the timing of making decisions and performance (Baum and Wally, 2003; Eisenhardt, 1989; Judge and Miller, 1991). The antecedents to the timing of decisions, however, are less understood and pose an interesting dilemma.

Exploring the impact of shared domain knowledge on strategic alignment in the Australian public sector

In this age of ever-increasing information technology (IT) driven environments, governments/or public sector organisations (PSOs) are expected to demonstrate the business value of the investment in IT and take advantage of the opportunities offered by technological advancements. Strategic alignment (SA) emerged as a mechanism to bridge the gap between business and IT missions, objectives, and plans in order to ensure value optimisation from investment in IT and enhance organisational performance. However, achieving and sustaining SA remains a challenge requiring even more agility nowadays to keep up with turbulent organisational environments. The shared domain knowledge (SDK) between the IT department and other diverse organisational groups is considered as one of the factors influencing the successful implementation of SA. However, SDK in PSOs has received relatively little empirical attention. This paper presents findings from a study which investigated the influence of SDK on SA within organisations in the Australian public sector. The developed research model examined the relationship of SDK between business and IT domains with SA using a survey of 56 public sector professionals and executives. A key research contribution is the empirical demonstration that increasing levels of SDK between IT and business groups leads to increased SA.

The waves in business transformation management: a conceptualization of how IT-enabled Business Transformations Unfold

We examine IT-enabled Business Transformations (ITBT) based on three case studies of successful, multi-year ERP implementation programs. Given the inconsistencies in segmenting the different key periods in ITBTs in both literature and our cases, we sought to consolidate the common events or critical incidents in such initiatives. We label those key periods as waves, and the emergence of triggers and reactions thereunto in the management of business transformations. We show that business transformations unfold in four distinct waves: Wave 1 Concept Development, Wave 2 Blueprint Design, Wave 3 Solution Delivery and Wave 4 Post-Transformation. These waves are characterized by the occurrence of strategic- and program-level triggers to which organizations respond by invoking different management services. Our interpretive research provides a new conceptualization of ITBTs based on a service-oriented view of such initiatives. This view draws attention to managerial capabilities as a service to transformations, and how and when these capabilities are required to respond to triggering incidents. We outline propositions and recommendations for business transformation management.

Strategic supply chain management factors influencing agribusiness innovation utilization

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically, an industry development paradox, using embryonic literature in the area of strategic supply chain management, together with innovation management literature. This study seeks to understand how, forming strategic supply chain relationships, and developing strategic supply chain capability, influences beneficial supply chain outcomes expected from utilizing industry-led innovation, in the form of electronic business solutions using the internet, in the Australian beef industry. Findings should add valuable insights to both academics and practitioners in the fields of supply chain innovation management and strategic supply chain management, and expand knowledge to current literature. Design/methodology/approach – This is a quantitative study comparing innovative and non-innovative supply chain operatives in the Australian beef industry, through factor analysis and structural equation modeling using PAWS Statistical V18 and AMOS V18 to analyze survey data from 412 respondents from the Australian beef supply chain. Findings – Key findings are that both innovative and non-innovative supply chain operators attribute supply chain synchronization as only a minor indicator of strategic supply chain capability, contrary to the literature; and they also indicate strategic supply chain capability has a minor influence in achieving beneficial outcomes from utilizing industry-led innovation. These results suggest a lack of coordination between supply chain operatives in the industry. They also suggest a lack of understanding of the benefits of developing a strategic supply chain management competence, particularly in relation to innovation agendas, and provides valuable insights as to why an industry paradox exists in terms of the level of investment in industry-led innovation, vs the level of corresponding benefit achieved. Research limitations/implications – Results are not generalized due to the single agribusiness industry studied and the single research method employed. However, this provides opportunity for further agribusiness studies in this area and also studies using alternate methods, such as qualitative, in-depth analysis of these factors and their relationships, which may confirm results or produce different results. Further, this study empirically extends existing theoretical contributions and insights into the roles of strategic supply chain management and innovation management in improving supply chain and ultimately industry performance while providing practical insights to supply chain practitioners in this and other similar agribusiness industries. Practical implications – These findings confirm results from a 2007 research (Ketchen et al., 2007) which suggests supply chain practice and teachings need to take a strategic direction in the twenty-first century. To date, competence in supply chain management has built up from functional and process orientations rather than from a strategic perspective. This study confirms that there is a need for more generalists that can integrate with various disciplines, particularly those who can understand and implement strategic supply chain management. Social implications – Possible social implications accrue through the development of responsible government policy in terms of industry supply chains. Strategic supply chain management and supply chain innovation management have impacts to the social fabric of nations through the sustainability of their industries, especially agribusiness industries which deal with food safety and security. If supply chains are now the competitive weapon of nations then funding innovation and managing their supply chain competitiveness in global markets requires a strategic approach from everyone, not just the industry participants. Originality/value – This is original empirical research, seeking to add value to embryonic and important developing literature concerned with adopting a strategic approach to supply chain management. It also seeks to add to existing literature in the area of innovation management, particularly through greater understanding of the implications of nations developing industry-wide, industry-led innovation agendas, and their ramifications to industry supply chains.

Towards simple rules heuristics for IT business value

The business value of IT (BVIT) has been a prominent and central research topic in the IS discipline. Due to continuous and unpredictable technology and business changes, a more dynamic perspective on IT business value that includes organizational learning is required. We suggest that simple rules heuristics can address this challenge. The simple rules heuristics approach has been introduced by Eisenhardt and co-authors (Bingham & Eisenhardt, 2011; Bingham, Eisenhardt, & Furr, 2007; Eisenhardt & Sull, 2001) to better understand strategic decision making for capturing superabundant, heterogeneous, fastmoving opportunities. They argue that explicit organizational learning can translate accumulated experience into increasingly effective heuristics for strategic processes in highvelocity environments. We make three main contributions by exploring the suitability of a simple rules heuristics approach for the creation of IT business value: (1) we propose six types of simple rules heuristics for capturing IT-based opportunities in dynamic environments, including synergy heuristics as specifically relevant in an IT context, (2) we show how a simple rules heuristics approach can advance our understanding of dynamics and organizational learning for BVIT, and; (3) we introduce the strategic logic of opportunity to BVIT.

European audiovisual production companies adapting to strategic challenges

These are turbulent times for audio- visual production companies. Radical changes, both inside and outside the organizations, reach across national markets and different genres. For instance, production methods are changing; the demand from audiences and advertisers is changing; power relations between the actors involved in the value chain are changing; and increasing concentration makes the market even more competitive for small independent players. From a perspective of the structure–conduct– performance paradigm (Ramstad, 1997) it is reasonable to expect that these changes on a structural level of the industry will cause the production companies to adapt their strategic behaviour. The current challenges for media companies are a combination of rising complexity and uncertainty in the market (Picard, 2004). The increasing complexity can for instance be observed in the growing number of market segments and in the continuing trend towards cross- media strategies where media companies operate in multiple markets and on multiple platforms...

Strategic use of crutching and dicyclanil to protect unmulesed sheep against breech strike

Objective To test strategies for the application of dicyclanil and mid-season crutching to maximise protection of unmulesed sheep against breech strike. Procedure Three hundred and eighty unmulesed Merino weaners were randomly allocated to four groups either left untreated or treated by different strategies with 50 g/L dicyclanil. Treatments included breech treatment alone and breech plus body treatment, with two application times, immediately after shearing and 6 weeks after crutching or shearing. To assess protection, larval implants with newly hatched Lucilia cuprina larvae were applied to 10 different sheep from each group at 3, 4, 5 and 6 months after crutching and shearing and assessed for the development of strike at 48 hours. The concentration of dicyclanil was measured in wool samples clipped from the breeches of the test sheep. Results All dicyclanil treatments gave significant reduction in strike in comparison to controls up until 4 months after crutching but protection in the sheep treated immediately after shearing had waned at 5 months. Treating at 6 weeks after crutching provided significant reduction (P < 0.05) in strike for 6 months. Results for strike incidence immediately after shearing and concentration of dicyclanil in the breech wool also suggested improvements in protection by delaying treatment for 6 weeks. Conclusion In most environments it should be possible to protect unmulesed sheep against breech strike with a carefully planned integrated control program incorporating strategically timed crutching, shearing and dicyclanil application. Delaying treatment with dicyclanil to at least 6 weeks after shearing or crutching increased the protection provided in comparison to treatment immediately after shearing.