Using templates and linguistic patterns to define process performance indicators

Process performance management (PPM) aims at measuring, monitoring and analysing the performance of business processes (BPs), in order to check the achievement of strategic and operational goals and to support decision-making for their optimisation. PPM is based on process performance indicators (PPIs), so having an appropriate definition of them is crucial. One of the main problems of PPIs definition is to express them in an unambiguous, complete, understandable, traceable and verifiable manner. In practice, PPIs are defined informally – usually in ad hoc, natural language, with its well-known problems – or they are defined from an implementation perspective, hardly understandable to non-technical people. In order to solve this problem, in this article we propose a novel approach to improve the definition of PPIs using templates and linguistic patterns. This approach promotes reuse, reduces both ambiguities and missing information, is understandable to all stakeholders and maintains traceability with the process model. Furthermore, it enables the automated processing of PPI definitions by its straightforward translation into the PPINOT metamodel, allowing the gathering of the required information for their computation as well as the analysis of the relationships between them and with BP elements.     

Good Cop–Bad Cop: Trust,Control, and the Lure of Integration

Based on a longitudinal case study of four interorganizational product development collaborations, this paper identifies a lure to cross‐functional integration that has hereto been neglected. In particular, findings suggest that when the buyer firm separates the Research and Development (R&D) Department from the Procurement Department, the two departments play a good cop–bad cop strategy toward the supplier. Thereby, they are able to foster a high level of goodwill trust between R&D personnel of the collaborating firms, while procurement personnel maintain a high level of formal control. Using an intricate sample design with polar cases, the study shows that cross‐functional integration of the two departments hampers interorganizational goodwill trust at the benefit of formal control. The findings offer a way forward for managers seeking to reap the benefits of collaboration, while limiting their exposure to the associated risks.     

The impact of technical consultants on the quality of their clients' products: Evidence from the Bordeaux wine industry

Research summary : Recent research rooted in the resource‐based view of the firm suggests that resources are more likely to create value if they are effectively managed. An underlying assumption of the literature is that firms manage their resources on their own. However, many firms hire consultants to help them do so. In this study, I develop and test hypotheses regarding the impact of technical consultants on the quality of their clients' products. Using data from the Bordeaux wine industry, I find evidence that the use of technical consultants has a positive impact on relative product quality and a negative impact on the extremeness of relative product quality. Moreover, the positive impact of technical consultants on relative product quality is stronger at lower levels of relative resource quality. Managerial summary : Findings from a study in the Bordeaux wine industry indicate that the decision to hire consultants should depend on a firm's strategy. If a firm wants to improve its performance, it should hire consultants. Indeed, the “best practices” of technical consultants are generally more valuable than internally generated knowledge. If a firm wants to achieve outstanding performance, hiring consultants may not be the right decision. Because the “best practices” of technical consultants have more certain performance implications than internally generated knowledge, they decrease the likelihood of extremely low performance. However, their lack of uniqueness also decreases the likelihood of extremely high performance. Finally, the decision to hire consultants should depend on the quality of a firm's resources. Firms with low‐quality resources tend to benefit more from the “best practices” of technical consultants. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

REASONS FOR DELISTING AND CONSEQUENCES: A LITERATURE REVIEW AND RESEARCH AGENDA

This paper discusses the literature on delisting, drawing on USA and international evidence. Given the great heterogeneity in delisting operations, we first consider the standard existing typology based on the initiator of the delisting (the stock market authorities, or the firm itself). Second, while managers often cite high compliance costs (especially due to Sarbanes–Oxley Act implementation) as the official reason for the voluntary delisting of their firm, we highlight that firms face different trade-offs in their delisting decision. We also examine the reasons for involuntary delisting, especially the delisting dilemma faced by stock market authorities when the firm violates the listing requirements. Next, we review the economic consequences of delisting in terms of value creation or value destruction for shareholders. Finally, noting gaps in the literature and other contrasting results, we propose suggestions for future research.     

Risk management and reinsurance strategies in the Spanish insurance market (1880–1940)

Reinsurance allows insurance companies to diversify their risks. However, from this original role, insurance companies have developed various reinsurance strategies in order to expand their market share. From the last decades of the nineteenth century to the 1940s, Spanish insurance companies used reinsurance in a largely unregulated context. This article analyses the reinsurance practices and their adaptation to the singularities of the Spanish market, namely: the difficulties for the consolidation of a core of pure reinsurers; the management of reinsurance in the internationalisation process; and the use of reinsurance by mutual societies to overcome their lack of equity capital.     

Waves and Determinants in Mergers and Acquisitions: The Case of Latin America

This article contributes to the current literature on mergers and acquisitions (M&As) by identifying the existence of waves and the determinants of M&A activity in the economies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. From a sample of 2,391 M&A announcements reported by Thomson One on these countries, applying the methodology proposed by Harford (2005), evidence of M&A waves is found for the periods 1995–2002 and 2003–2010, as reported for other regions in various international studies. After controlling for economic and business environment variables, as well as for profitability and book-to-market variables at the industry level, we find evidence that supports neoclassical theory as a main explanation for M&A activity but not for the misvaluation effect.     

The relationship between high performance work systems and employee proactive behaviour: role breadth self‐efficacy and flexible role orientation as mediating mechanisms

Drawing on the contextual perspective, this study provides novel empirical evidence on how the organisational context (specifically, the firm's human resource strategy) has an effect on employee proactivity. We use matched data from managers and employees in 102 Spanish professional service firms to examine how high performance work systems contribute to enhance employee proactive behaviours through two motivational variables: role breadth self‐efficacy and flexible role orientation. Results of a multilevel study demonstrate that role breadth self‐efficacy mediates between HPWS and employee proactivity, but flexible role orientation does not mediate this relationship.     

NOUVEL ESSOR DES FONDATIONS AU QUÉBEC ET AU CANADA: POUR UNE ANALYSE SOCIOPOLITIQUE FONDÉE SUR LE CONCEPT D'ÉCONOMIE PLURIELLE

Philanthropic foundations are the object of little research in Canada and Quebec. Our article recognizes the role of these organizations, as well as the presence of powerful new foundations, rich in assets and donations. This article consists of three parts. The first part presents a theoretical review of the American literature published from 2000 on. The second part examines data that we extracted from three main repertoires. Though informative, these repertoires tend to classify Canadian and Quebec foundations in categories that are mostly fiscal and legal and tend to break them down as public or private foundations. We therefore question the limits of studies based on such categories. In the third part of the article we propose a theoretical framework based on a sociopolitical point of view in an attempt to transcend the binary approach. Our approach borrows from the concepts of social and solidarity economy (SSE) and plural economy in order to better understand the new institutional arrangements in which foundations operate. This theoretical framework allows us to analyse foundations as actors of the SSE even though they might not reproduce automatically the principles and the values of the SSE in their behaviours. On the contrary, from the standpoint of a plural economy we may be in a better position to develop a sound sociopolitical analysis of diverse configurations and hybrid forms resulting from emulations or transactions between the principles of the social and solidarity economy (reciprocity), the private economy (competition) and the public economy (redistribution).