Implementing: Alternatives,costs, and benefits

This essay provides a conceptual framework for thinking about the problem of implementing (i.e. getting things done) as part of the larger process of managing. We shall isolate some alternative approaches to that implementing problem and briefly examine the underlying beliefs, the accompanying technologies, and the attendant costs/benefits of those alternatives. We shall then make a few suggestions about appropriate alternatives for the decade ahead.     

Segmentation: Identification, intuition, and implementation

This paper concerns the implementation of segmentation within a business-to-business organisation. There is wide agreement that segmentation is a fundamental component of marketing strategy. Numerous methods are identified, but there is little guidance on how segmentation can be applied in practice. Four barriers to implementation are identified. The notion of intuition has been applied in the segmentation of emerging markets for technologically based products. This work is extended into established markets using an inductive methodology and adopts an action learning approach to incorporate managerial experience into the process, illustrated by a case study. Several opportunities for further research arise.     

Servitization and deservitization: Overview,concepts, and definitions

The topic of servitization has generated a considerable body of research and many conferences, as well as industry engagement. Yet, despite the extensive literature associated with this now-mature discipline, there is no broad-based consensus on the core concepts and definitions deployed by servitization scholars, and both terminology and usage often seem ambiguous. This paper examines challenges related to service growth strategies, as well as strategies involving deservitization or a retreat from service offerings. Showing that these strategies have been pursued for more than fifty years, clarification is sought here by framing the corresponding processes and proposing definitions for four core terms: servitization, service infusion, deservitization and service dilution. It becomes clear that in focusing on the organizational change entailed by these processes, future research must elucidate “softer” issues such as leadership and business logic.     

Internet telephony: Costs,pricing, and policy

This article analyzes Internet Service Provider costs and regulatory and policy issues raised by Internet telephony. Transport and non-technical items such as customer service, sales and marketing, represent a substantial portion of an ISP’s costs with Internet telephony. Pricing models and yield management techniques supporting Internet voice services might be employed for other Internet differentiated services as well. An integrated regulatory framework will be required, because of convergence, to formulate policies for multimedia services. We conclude that governments should develop appropriate policies without introducing economic and technical distortions into the nascent Internet telephony market.     

Knowledge structures of prospectors,analyzers, and defenders: content,structure, stability,and performance

The managerial cognition perspective argues that managers operating in complex, dynamic environments develop knowledge structures that help them focus their attention, interpretation, and actions. We explore the content and structure of top managers' strategic knowledge structures by measuring differences in the level of attention they give in annual reports to strategic issues and themes that Miles and Snow used to describe their main strategic types. Twenty-one themes that form seven main factors describing managers' strategic cognition are identified, and these demonstrate reasonable fit with the Miles and Snow model. We show that expert raters can recognize these factors when they read annual reports that contain them. Cluster analysis is then used to identify groups of firms that share similar profiles on these strategic dimensions which are interpreted as examples of cognitive strategic groups. These groups show alignment with Miles and Snow's strategic types, are relatively stable over time, and differ in financial performance. The sample comprises 1,038 listed Australian firms between the years 1992 and 2003. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Southeast Asian capitalism: History,institutions, states,and firms

This paper examines the structures of capitalism in Southeast Asia. Following the lead of Gordon Redding and others, it argues that parallel to varieties of capitalism elsewhere, there are distinctive features to the Southeast Asian business system, but that institutions play a relatively large role compared to firm specific resources or industry structures. Historically, with the exception of Thailand all the countries in the region are former colonies. All including Thailand share a distinctive style of nationalism, and partly as a result of this, all are governed by states that claim to be strong and lay wide claims but whose capacities are low. Typical features of the region, particularly the roles of large business groups and the Chinese minority, also can be interpreted as a result of this history. One of the outcomes of the analysis is an extension of the varieties of capitalism approach along the dimensions of state capacity and state direction, and of the approach to the internationalizing firm along the dimensions of dynamic capacity and control of subsidiaries. A further outcome is a questioning of the traditional picture of indigenous Southeast Asian business people as lacking in entrepreneurial skills, or more broadly of Southeast Asian nations as lacking in entrepreneurial values. Rather, the past history of these countries has resulted in a set of structures that militate against successful entrepreneurial activity.

员工工资、培训与跳槽:一个劳工合约模型

本文通过劳工合约模型论证了员工工资与企业培训之间的交替关系，并分析了企业向接受培训继而跳槽的员工收取罚金对该交替关系的影响。在跳槽率作为外生变量时．若企业不向跳槽的员工收取罚金．签约员工通常乐于以较低的工资换取更多的技能培训。鉴于此，为使劳动力流动更有利于提高生产力和降低通货膨胀，政府应采取培训导向型的收入政策．或通过货币政策和财政政策的传导，鼓励企业和雇主增加培训支出并取消跳槽罚金。     

Cybersecurity: Stakeholder incentives,externalities, and policy options

Information security breaches are increasingly motivated by fraudulent and criminal motives. Reducing their considerable costs has become a pressing issue. Although cybersecurity has strong public good characteristics, most information security decisions are made by individual stakeholders. Due to the interconnectedness of cyberspace, these decentralized decisions are afflicted with externalities that can result in sub-optimal security levels. Devising effective solutions to this problem is complicated by the global nature of cyberspace, the interdependence of stakeholders, as well as the diversity and heterogeneity of players. The paper develops a framework for studying the co-evolution of the markets for cybercrime and cybersecurity. It examines the incentives of stakeholders to provide for security and their implications for the ICT ecosystem. The findings show that market and non-market relations in the information infrastructure generate many security-enhancing incentives. However, pervasive externalities remain that can only be corrected by voluntary or government-led collective measures.     

Works Councils and Separations: Voice,Monopoly, and Insurance Effects

Using a large linked employer–employee data set for Germany, we find that the existence of a works council is associated with a lower separation rate to employment, in particular for workers with low tenure. While works council monopoly effects show up in all specifications, clear voice effects are only visible for low tenured workers. Works councils also reduce separations to nonemployment, and this impact is more pronounced for men. Insurance effects only show up for workers with tenure of more than 2 years. Our results indicate that works councils to some extent represent the interests of a specific clientele.     

Capacity Utilisation and Excess Capacity: Theory, Evidence, and Policy

This paper models capacity utilisation as a cyclical variable that reflects both the value of precautionary capacity and the desire to hold strategic excess capacity. Business unit data from the Profit Impact on Marketing Strategy (PIMS) database of large, predominantly US, companies are used. Separate estimation is carried out for a number of SIC industry groups. Panel data estimation in first difference instrumental variable form is employed. Unlike many previous studies the utilisation variable is well determined. The results show significance for precautionary and strategic effects in particular industries. The paper discusses the reasons for the industry specificity of the results. Policy implications are discussed.     

Choice situation,strategy, and performance: A reexamination

This study further examines strategy and performance relationships between and within situations of varying strategic choice and environmental determinism. Contrary to Lawless and Finch's (1989) previous test of Hrebiniak and Joyce's (1985) dynamic, interactive view of organizational adaptation, the results are more in line with the theory. Some discrepancies are found, however, suggesting useful issues and hypotheses for future research.     

Affiliation, integration, and information: ownership incentives and industry structure

This paper presents theory and evidence on horizontal industry structure. At issue is the question: what makes industries necessarily fragmented? The theoretical model examines trade‐offs associated with affiliation and integration, and how they are affected by the contracting environment. I show how contractual incompleteness can lead industries to be necessarily fragmented. I also show that contractual improvements will tend to lead to a greater concentration of brands, but whether they lead industries to be more or less concentrated depends on what becomes contractible. I then discuss the propositions generated by the model through a series of case study examples.