European perspectives on human resource management

This paper argues that the concept of human resource management was created and has been developed in the United States of America. The relevance of that model in other parts of the world is open to exploration, conceptually and empirically. Looking at Europe, the paper examines successively the differences between the US and European HR management systems; the differences between regional groupings within Europe; and then the differences at national level. Finally, the article looks at some of the explanations for the differences identified and whether there are signs of convergence and outlines some of the implications for scholarship in the field.     

Revisiting managerial perspectives on dividend policy

We survey managers of Nasdaq firms that consistently pay cash dividends to determine their views about dividend policy, the relationship between dividend policy and value, and four common explanations for paying dividends. The evidence shows that managers stress the importance of maintaining dividend continuity and widely agree that changes in dividends affect firm value. Managers give the strongest support to a signaling explanation for paying dividends, weak to little support for the tax-preference and agency cost explanations, and no support to the bird-in-the-hand explanation. The study provides new evidence about how managers view dividend life cycles and residual dividend policy. The authors would like to thank two anonymous referees for helpful comments and suggestions, and Maheshan Fernando and Sumeet Chawla for providing research assistance.     

Strategic management perspectives on supply chain

In the second decade of the twenty-first century, supply chain management (SCM) practices have gained an increasingly strategic character. The focus has shifted from an operational perspective to a strategic one, and SCM is repeatedly cited in the literature as a strategic management tool with a profound effect on the survival of the organizations. SCM domain is well-supported to be closely linked with a number of strategic management views and theories. This study investigates the main strategic management views and theories relevant to SCM and their interactions. It reveals how they complementarily explain supply chain management characteristics of being customer-driven, process-oriented, global, strategically coupled, complex, dynamic, adaptive, multi-agent, IT-intensive, value creating, collaborative and networked. Based on a comprehensive literature taxonomy, a mapping of the main supply chain characteristics to these management views and theories is provided. A conceptual clustering of different management perspectives is developed, and their interactions are analyzed.

     

Two perspectives on multiskilling and product-market volatility

We study the effect of product-market volatility on a firm's choice between multiskilling and specialization. We construct a theoretical model that captures the tradeoff between multiskilling (which gives greater flexibility to reassign workers in production) and specialization (which provides workers with the expertise to respond to product market signals in their area of specialty). Using data from a nationally-representative cross section of British establishments, we find that greater volatility is associated with greater specialization. This result holds both inside and outside of manufacturing, but consistent with our model, it holds only in multi-product establishments and not in single-product ones.     

Theoretical perspectives on the coordination of supply chains

Supply-chain coordination relies on the availability of prompt and accurate information that is visible to all actors in the supply chain. However, new demands on the supply-chain system require changes to information flow and exchange. We undertake a case study of three automotive supply chains that face such new demands resulting from the introduction of an order-driven supply-chain strategy. We use our case study findings to evaluate the applicability of three different theoretical lenses on the multi-faceted interactions between information, physical flow, and the complex rationales driving supply-chain evolution: the resource-based view (RBV), the concept of complex adaptive systems (CAS), and adaptive structuration theory (AST). We find that each theory has a separate realm of applicability and while complimentary in nature, provides distinct insight on the structural shift in the supply-chain system. More specifically, we find that AST, a theory prominent in the social sciences, provides novel insights to supply-chain research at the firm level, particularly with respect to the difficulties in using IT systems to drive systemic change. It complements both the system-level perspective offered by the complex adaptive systems theory, as well as the concept of dynamic capabilities originating in the resourced-based view. The paper concludes with wider implications for future research in supply and value chain management.     

Institutional perspectives on cost allocations: integration and extension

The debate on cost allocations in the management accounting literature has been dominated by a largely rationalistic perspective primarily informed by economic theories. However, there is growing evidence of institutional factors influencing cost allocation practices in organizations. This paper draws on neo-institutional sociology (NIS) and attempts to integrate prior research evidence of the institutional influence on cost allocation practices into an analytical framework. The core of our argument hinges on the observation that most cost allocations generate some degree of ambiguity. We argue that the implementation of various cost allocation techniques (in terms of their coupling to operating control) reflects differences in management of such ambiguity, but that this is conditioned by the patterns in which cost allocation techniques diffuse across organizations. We also address some pertinent criticisms of the NIS literature by discussing how certain intra-organizational factors and aspects of the organization's technical environment might interact with external institutional pressures in the implementation of cost allocation techniques. We advance six research propositions reflecting how such external institutional pressures and interaction effects influence the coupling of cost allocation practices to operating control.     

关于财务学的多学科多视角研究

传统的财务学研究只应用了经济学、管理学和会计学知识。本文则提出应用社会学、伦理学、心理学等学科的理论和方法对财务学进行多学科多视角的研究，更加有利于财务学的发展。     

New perspectives on intersectoral relationships between manufacturing and services

This study advocates the explicit incorporation of the production of in-house information services into input-output tables in order to overcome the limitations imposed by conventional accounting frameworks which distort the relationship between manufacturing and services. This relationship is analysed using a well-known impact methodology. The importance of consumption induced multiplier effects, i.e. demand linkages, is also emphasised. The shift in perception of intersectoral relationships which adoption of our methodology provides is demonstrated using Japan in 1980 as a case study. It is shown that conventional analysis seriously underestimates the importance of services for output and employment creation. Comparisons to a recent study by Park and Chan (1989) are drawn which provided the stimulus for this paper.An earlier version of the study appeared as Massey Economic Paper No. A9101, January 1991. Comments from two anonymous referees are gratefully acknowledged.     

Personnel and paradigms: four perspectives on the future

This article critically examines the emergent ‘consensus’ functionalist image of personnel management in the 1990s, contrasting it with potential images derived from other paradigmatic perspectives. The utility of the ‘consensus’ image in reinforcing personnel practitioners’ threatened power base is also discussed.     

Environmental influences on corporate entrepreneurship: executive perspectives on the internet

This paper focuses on the likelihood of firms adopting corporate entrepreneurship in response to the challenges and opportunities presented by a change in their business environment shaped by the growth of the Internet. We further examined if firms are willing to modify their existing systems in response to such a change. We also investigated the paths or modes of entrepreneurship that firms would adopt when they perceive being entrepreneurial to be a viable response in light of a specific change in their business environment. Finally, we identified the impediments that firms may need to overcome when adopting corporate entrepreneurship. Results based on the data from senior executives lend support to our hypotheses. Managerial implications of the results are discussed.     

基于不同视角的绿色建筑经济评价体系研究

绿色建筑自推广以来,在国内外建立了许多关于评价绿色建筑的标准。但是这些评价标准却几乎不涉及对绿色建筑经济方面进行分析评价。国内外学者对这方面进行了一系列研究,但是仍没有形成一个统一的绿色建筑经济评价标准。通过对已有的研究成果进行归纳总结,分析其中可采纳的部分和有待改进之处,从而提出了一个系统完善的绿色建筑经济评价体系,该体系从绿色建筑各参与方的角度对绿色建筑进行经济评价,从而可以更好地推进绿色建筑的发展。     

Foreign subsidiary perspectives on the mechanisms of global HRM integration

Often in connection with the integration‐responsiveness dilemma, research on HRM in multinational corporations (MNCs) speaks more to explaining the appearance of HRM practices in foreign subsidiaries than to the mechanisms through which such practices are globally integrated. Accordingly, and adopting a subsidiary perspective, the present study has two main aims. The first is to identify the key mechanisms of global HRM integration, how they are used and by whom, and the second is to investigate the factors that explain their usage. The study uses qualitative data from 40 personal interviews conducted with general managers and the most senior HR personnel across 20 Finnish‐owned subsidiaries in China. Based on the contingency view of organisations, explanations for mechanism usage are attributed to certain internal characteristics of the subsidiaries and to the Chinese institutional environment.     

Redundancy: perspectives and policies

Although it is unwarranted to ignore personal traumas caused by redundancy, the public dimension, given an economy dominated by de-industrialisation and unemployment, has assumed growing importance. In this article, R. John Sutherland examines public policies towards redundancy from several perspectives.     

New perspectives for the managerial entrepreneurship

Is the purpose of this speech to build in an eclectic and holistic way the bases of a theoretical mark that it describes, analyze and do interpret the phenomenon of the managerial entrepreneurship from the interdisciplinary point of view in such a way that the foundation is to respond to the question how to understand the entrepreneurship?, to build starting from their evolution diverse perspectives that you/they enrich their analysis and study that make understand that the entrepreneurship is a practical, simple and complex phenomenon that the managers experience directly in their activities and functions, as a breaking act and improvement of the conditions of life of the society. It is sought to analyze and to propose perspectives of study of the entrepreneurship of the managers, their personal characteristics, as their social, political, economic and cultural implications, from the interdisciplinary point of view in the mark of the investigation line entrepreneurship and Managerial Mentality that he/she interprets their purpose action, administration, innovation and mainly their relationship with the environment, so momentous for the growth of the companies.     

U.S. chief procurement officers’ perspectives on public procurement

Each year public procurement officials in the United States spend trillions of dollars to purchase goods and services for public use. The volume of public procurement spending compels public administration and supply chain management scholars to examine these procurement practices. Based on a unique dataset composed of a series of qualitative and quantitative interviews with chief procurement officers (CPOs) and their team members from 45 states and 2 territories in the United States, this paper explores the key institutional factors affecting state-level public procurement in the U.S., explores variation in the definition of contract performance, and assess the importance of multiple factors in creating procurement contracts. We present an agenda for future research on state-level public procurement in the U.S that has important implications for the theory and practice of public procurement.     

Employee perspectives on communication and consultation: findings from a cross-national survey

Highlighting the ongoing significance of national models of employment relations, this paper examines whether variation in communication and consultation practices between countries is reflected in employee perceptions. Drawing upon a survey of around 3,500 employees in four European countries – France, Germany, Italy and the UK – the paper explores whether workers' views on various aspects of communication and consultation are similar or different. It finds that there are certain similarities, with particular types of information and forms of communication being valued across the countries. However, differences are also identified. It is suggested that national institutions may well shape employee expectations about the nature of communication and consultation, feeding through to how satisfied they are with these processes.     

Comparative HRM: European views and perspectives

The US originated notion of HRM has been widely accepted across the world – and also widely criticized. The underlying features of the European economy are different from those of the USA and it is argued that these have led to a different approach to HRM being developed in Europe. Differences in features such as more limited individualism, a greater role for the State, different patterns of consultation and patterns of ownership, are linked to these different practices and have led to more varied patterns of research and a more critical literature.