Futures assessment by field anomaly relaxation : A review and appraisal

Futures research includes the problem of generating reasonably exhaustive and plausible scenarios for a given topic, a problem for which there are no truly satisfactory solutions. This article reviews and evaluates a method, field anomaly relaxation, first put forward some 20 years ago. The evaluation is in the context of an illustrative study of political developments in Europe. The research reconstructs and further develops the method and concludes that it has something to offer for scenario generation. Its weaknesses are identified and suggestions for further research are made.     

The Evolution of Human Sigma

Different quality management concepts, including Six Sigma, have been applied by many different types of organizations. Although much important work has been documented regarding Six Sigma, a number of questions remain concerning the applicability of these concepts in various organizations and contexts. Currently, limited research has been conducted on the Human Sigma approach. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to analyse the principles and philosophies of Human Sigma and its relationship to Six Sigma through a systematic review of the literature. It is suggested that this in turn will lead to a better understanding of the Human Sigma approach and ultimately bridge the gap in the literature. Therefore, the paper argues that much can be learned from the principles and practices of Six Sigma, however the discussion further provides an assessment of the Human Sigma principles and their potential suitability to tourism businesses. In particular, specific similarities and differences concerning areas such as methodologies, tools, and results are presented in this article.     

Group-based pay-for-performance plans and firm performance: The moderating role of empowerment practices

As the popularity of group-based pay-for-performance plans persists, compensation researchers are exploring the conditions under which these plans contribute to the financial performance of firms. Based on a sample of 1,933 employees from 415 companies in South Korea, we found that group-based pay-for-performance plans enhance both objective and subjective measures of firm performance. Furthermore, consistent with the contingency perspective of fit, we found that empowerment practices positively moderate the relationship between group-based pay-for-performance plans and firm performance. These findings suggest that empowerment can enhance the effectiveness of such pay plans. We discuss implications for research and practice.     

Incentives and targets in hospital care: Evidence from a natural experiment

Performance targets are commonly used in the public sector, despite their well known problems when organisations have multiple objectives and performance is difficult to measure. It is possible that such targets may work where there is considerable consensus that performance needs to be improved. We investigate this possibility by examining the response of the English National Health Service to high profile waiting time targets. We exploit a natural policy experiment between two countries of the UK (England and Scotland) to establish the global effectiveness of the targets. We then use a within-England hospital analysis to confirm that responses vary by treatment intensity and to control for differences in resources which may accompany targets. We find that targets met their goals of reducing waiting times without diverting activity from other less well monitored aspects of health care and without decreasing patient health on exit from hospital.     

Building an innovation factory

New ideas are the precious currency of the new economy, but generating them doesn't have to be a mysterious process. The image of the lone genius inventing from scratch is a romantic fiction. Businesses that constantly innovate have systematized the production and testing of new ideas, and the system can be replicated by practically any organization. The best innovators use old ideas as the raw materials for new ideas, a strategy the authors call knowledge brokering. The system for sustaining innovation is the knowledge brokering cycle, and the authors discuss its four parts. The first is capturing good ideas from a wide variety of sources. The second is keeping those ideas alive by playing with them, discussing them, and using them. Imagining new uses for old ideas is the third part--some knowledge brokers encourage cross-pollination by creating physical layouts that allow, or even force, people to interact with one another. The fourth is turning promising concepts into real services, products, processes, or business models. Companies can use all or part of the cycle. Large companies in particular desperately need to move ideas from one place to another. Some will want to build full-fledged consulting groups dedicated to internal knowledge brokering. Others can hire people who have faced problems similar to the companies' current problems. The most important lesson is that business leaders must change how they think about innovation, and they must change how their company cultures reflect that thinking.     

LEGAL ENVIRONMENT,INTERNALIZATION, AND U.S. ACQUIRER GAINS IN FOREIGN TAKEOVERS

In examining takeovers of foreign targets by U.S. firms, we investigate the effect of the target country's legal environment on acquiring firm value. Our results indicate that acquirers of target firms located in civil law countries experience significant positive abnormal returns, especially when the acquirer possesses a high level of intangibles. Furthermore, we find that acquirers with high levels of intangibles are more likely to acquire target firms in civil law countries. These findings suggest that the transfer of intangibles overseas provides relatively larger efficiency benefits for multinational corporations in cases where the alternative, contracting in external markets, is more difficult.     

The Value of Strategic Alliances in Acquisitions and IPOs

This paper investigates how firms’ strategic alliance experience affects their valuations as acquisition targets or in initial public offerings (IPOs). We propose that alliance experience serves as a valuable signaling device for opaque firms. The results show that takeover targets with alliance experience receive higher premiums than those without such experience. More recent alliance experience as well as alliances in the same industry also contributes to a larger target gain. Similarly, IPO firms that have alliance experience obtain higher valuations than those without the experience. Finally, alliance experience increases the likelihood that private firms exit by going public rather than being acquired.     

The role of strategic enterprise risk management and organizational flexibility in easing new regulatory compliance

The impact of new regulatory requirements for internal control reporting on an organization's ability to maintain strategic flexibility has been debated in the popular press extensively. This paper tests theory from strategic management to examine the relationship between an organizations' pre-regulatory strength of strategic enterprise risk management (ERM) processes and their ability to react to new regulatory mandates. In the context of companies' adoption of SOX Section 404 internal control reporting requirements, we examine organizations' pre-SOX ERM processes, ERM supporting technologies, and organizational flexibility in order to better understand the antecedents to the difficulty encountered in meeting SOX 404 requirements. Using responses from 113 Chief Audit Executives (CAEs), we find that organizations with stronger strategic ERM processes and flexible organizational structures already in place incurred little difficulty in implementing SOX 404 mandates. On the other hand, organizations using weaker ERM processes, which focused on control compliance, experienced more difficulty. These findings provide key insights into the importance of strategic ERM in effectively complying with new regulatory controls in volatile environments.     

Models for developing managers

A key requirement for a top manager—whether from a scientific/technical background or from a commercial/administrative background—is the ability to appreciate and integrate the contributions that can be made by all the disciplines and viewpoints around the boardroom table.
It is no more difficult for a scientist to appreciate the perspectives of, say, production or marketing people than it is for them to appreciate those of the scientist. A great deal of general management development theory and practice is therefore equally applicable to the needs of those entering the domain of management from technical and scientific disciplines as it is to those arriving from the commercial, industrial and financial spheres.
The purpose of this paper is to outline a set of theoretical sources which have been found to assist managers and technical personnel to address cross-cultural issues within and between organisations.     

Understanding online firestorms: Negative word-of-mouth dynamics in social media networks

Social media are, on the one hand, a highly beneficial environment for word-of-mouth (WOM) propagation of new ideas and products, and this has increasingly made them a focus of marketing communications. On the other hand, companies and their brands as well as politicians, governmental institutions, and celebrities have increasingly been facing the impact of negative online WOM and complaint behavior. In reaction to any questionable statement or activity, social media users can create huge waves of outrage within just a few hours. These so-called online firestorms pose new challenges for marketing communications. In this article, we group observations from recent online firestorms, identify related social and economic science theories, and derive generalized factors that form the basis for the proliferation of these dynamics. Furthermore, we discuss the consequences of online firestorms for marketing communications, and offer courses of action for marketers to navigate through crises of negative online WOM.