Fostering and facilitating entrepreneurship in organizations: Implications for organization structure and human resource management practices

Two particularly important factors involved in successful corporate entrepreneurship are organization structure and human resource management practices. By selecting and implementing the appropriate structure and practices, human resource professionals can systematically foster and facilitate innovation and entrepreneurship within their organizations. The more that new and different entrepreneurial activities are needed, the more that complete structural arrangements as well as policy and procedure flexibility are needed. In this article, structural practices appropriate for different degrees of entrepreneurial activity are described. But because appropriate structural practices alone are not sufficient for effectiveness, necessary human resource management practices are also described in detail. Throughout, implications for structural and human resource management practices in advancing entrepreneurship are considered.     

Purchasing practices in a hospital environment: an ethical analysis

The critical state of the hospital industry, as previously described, generates a difficult decision environment for the materiel manager and those in the purchasing function. The unique life- and death circumstances of hospitals impose a further onus on those who manage them. In the name of saving lives, they can find a convenient excuse to disregard all moral principles, forgetting the Socratic dictum "it is not enough that one lives, but that one lives well." Without the moral "right stuff," they can easily give in to the seductions of momentary gains and glory through ethical short-cuts. There is wisdom and consolation in the words that "nice guys may appear to finish last, but usually they're running in a different race." Studies have established a direct relationship between corporate excellence and ethical values. The reality of competition in the hospital industry dictates that the integration of ethics into the life of the organization should happen by design and not by accident. This is what is meant by strategy. If hospitals would strive for excellence to survive and grow, they should have a strategy with a mission statement that also embodies its moral values and moral agenda. Such an approach does not guarantee that an organization will become immune to moral contamination, but it does provide an antidote.     

The mediating effect of information availability between organization design variables and environmental practices in the Canadian hotel industry

This study examines whether providing employees with information about environmental impacts, industry practices, technologies, regulations and benchmarking of environmental practices mediates the influence of organization design variables on environmental impact reduction. The study finds that both organization design variables (discretionary slack, coordination mechanisms and performance evaluation) and information availability have a direct influence on environmental impact reduction practices in the Canadian hotel industry. However, information availability partially mediates the influence of organization design variables, indicating that effecting changes in organization design alone may be less effective in generating proactive environmental practices without providing employees with information and benchmarking of industry environmental practices. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Purchasing and supply management sustainability: Drivers and barriers

While sustainability has garnered a great deal of attention in the popular press, it is not well defined, and little is known about the actual drivers and barriers to adopting environmentally sustainable practices within organizations. This is particularly true with regard to implementation in the purchasing and supply management (P/SM) function. This study reviews the sustainability literature and defines supply management sustainability (SSM) and its components. Additionally, a multi-method approach was utilized consisting of an extensive review of the sustainability literature, a multi-stage Delphi analysis with a panel of twenty-one P/SM executives, and interviews with nineteen additional P/SM executives. The purpose of this study was to identify the drivers and barriers currently facing P/SM sustainability implementation efforts. The results indicated that top management initiatives and government regulations currently drive P/SM sustainability efforts while investments in sustainability and economic uncertainty are a hindrance to these programs.     

Quality management practices and their relationship to buyer’s supplier ratings: a study in the Korean automotive industry

This research explores if quality management practices are different among suppliers whose performance is rated high, medium, or low by a common buying company and identifies which specific practices contribute to the differences. The entire population of first-tier suppliers to a Korean auto assembler was surveyed to measure use of quality management practices. Useable returns were received from 25% of the suppliers surveyed. To measure conformance quality and overall rating, suppliers were categorized into high, medium, and low performing groups based on the buying company’s data. Multivariate analysis of variance was done using general linear model (GLM-MANOVA) to explore differences in the high-, medium-, and low-performing supplier groups based on their use of quality management practices. No statistically significant differences were found when suppliers were categorized based on conformance quality. However, when categorized based on overall rating, the highest rated suppliers were found to emphasize process management and employee satisfaction to a greater degree than the lowest rated suppliers.     

The relationship between human resource management practices,business strategy and firm performance: evidence from steel industry in Taiwan

The primary objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between human resource management (HRM) practices, business strategy and firm performance. We examined the following HRM practices: training and development; teamwork; compensation/incentives; HR planning; performance appraisal; and employment security. We surveyed 236 managers working at steel firms in Taiwan to explore their perceptions on the impact of HRM practices and business strategy on firm performance. The results of this study are summarized as follows: (1) HRM practices will be positively related to firm performance; (2) there is a close linkage between HRM practices and business strategy; (3) business strategies will be positively related to firm performance; (4) integrating HRM practices with business strategies will be positively related to firm performance.     

Critical human and behavioral factors on the adoption of sustainable supply chain management practices in the context of automobile industry

Built upon the resource-based view, the study examines the critical human and behavioral factors (HBFs) on adopting sustainable supply chain practices in the automobile sector (AS). The Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method is applied to understand the causeeffect relationships between (HBFs), evidenced by a case study in the automobile industry of India. The causeeffect relationships are informed by an expert team consisting of 18 members working in academia, the automobile industry, and professional consulting companies. The experts provided their inputs based on their direct experience and expertise in this subject matter. The research findings highlight that sustainable supply chain cost (end to end) is a critical success factor. Mangers in the AS should prioritize and focus on sustainable supply chain costs (end to end) to pursue sustainable practices because such critical success factors can foster information sharing behavior. The firms could develop both hard and soft critical HBFs such as Information technology (IT) infrastructure and employee training to build up HBFs to integrate a supply chain. The study provides insight to academicians, policymakers, and practitioners about critical HBFs and develops sustainability goals and policies accordingly.     

Purchasing process models: Inspiration for teaching purchasing and supply management

Most scholars of purchasing and supply management (PSM) are familiar with some form of a purchasing process model (PPM). A PPM is the visual representation of the sequence of activities that constitute purchasing and supply management. Such a visual representation can be a tool in teaching PSM since it gives students an overview of an otherwise intangible process. Moreover, a PPM can also be viewed as a representation of the identity of PSM, providing a schema of what is PSM (and what it is not). In this notes and debates article, a systematic overview of different types of PPMs, and their evolution, is presented, based on a literature review and a survey, with the models being classified as tactical/operational, strategic, cyclical, or decision-making processes. Our first aim is to inspire PSM scholars and educators when they are considering various PPMs to be used in their teaching of PSM. Our second aim is to debate the question where the evolution of PPMs is heading and explore whether a single holistic model can provide an accurate and representative framework to structure purchasing activities both today and in the future.     

Multinational companies and high-performance work practices in the Spanish manufacturing industry

In this paper we use data from industrial plants to establish whether there are differences in the adoption of high-performance work practices (HPWPs) between subsidiaries of multinational firms and indigenous firms. We use a unique data set that consists of a sample of manufacturing establishments located in Spain. We consider 14 HPWPs and find that multinational firms adopt HPWPs more intensively than non-multinationals. We also find that the country of origin of the multinational firm is not so important.     

Human resource management practices in Nigeria: challenges and insights

This paper generated current knowledge on aspects of human resource management practices in Nigeria from a sample of 185 human resource management professionals employed in over ninety-six corporations located in three major cities in Nigeria. Furthermore, the convergence/divergence/cross-vergence perspective was utilized to provide theoretical insights on the human resource management practices. The findings support a cross-vergence perspective as evidenced by the blend of human resource management practices reflecting both generalized or standardized practices and localized practices. Implications and direction for further studies are discussed.     

Flexible working practices in engine plants: evidence from the European automobile industry

A convergent development between European countries can be observed in terms of the extension of functional flexibility, enlarging production workers’ jobs, introducing teamwork arrangements. In the literature, the emphasis has traditionally been on divergence between countries, which was explained in terms of different management strategies and industrial relations systems.     

Technological innovation and industrial organization in the Danish wind industry *

The origin of this article is the paradox that heavy US R&D funding to hi-tech aerospace industry in the seventies and eighties was not able to provide an appropriate industrial technology base in wind technology that could match the wind turbines from the much more low-tech Danish machine industry (agricultural sector), which received very limited public R&D funding. Nevertheless, the Danish manufacturers took the lion's share of the world market in the eighties, in casu the California home market for the American producers. A bottom-up learning based development strategy almost completely outperformed a science based top down development strategy for this re-introduced energy technology (top down failures were also seen in the UK, Denmark, W. Germany). The top-down and bottom-up strategies reflect two very different types of de facto entrepreneurial behaviour and industrial organization.     

Reforms of work practices and IR procedures in the maritime industry: an Australia-USA comparison

Technological change, enhanced international competition, and a world-wide shipping depression for much of the 1980s posed new challenges for the Australian and US maritime industries. In Australia, maritime workplace reform was carried out by a focus on government-sponsored corporatism and consensus while in the US reform focused on deregulation and collective bargaining. It is unlikely that either pattern will produce fleets that are truly competitive.     

Lean production and supplier relations: a survey of practices in the Aragonese automotive industry

This paper analyzes the main results of a survey to 28 automotive suppliers in the Spanish region of Aragón. It has been found in a regression analysis that the rotation of tasks and teamworking are positively correlated with the training and the use of modular components. Nearly half of the companies cooperate with customers, suppliers, and technological centers to improve their production processes but only two companies cooperate with their customers in component development and design which indicates an underinvolvement of the surveyed companies with the automotive manufacturers. The companies are much more integrated with the automakers in the delivery process, since more than half of the companies have daily deliveries and directly to the assembly line of the automaker.     

Product waste in the automotive industry: Technology and environmental management

In this article the changes in technology and industry structure forced by waste management in the automotive industry are explored. The analysis is based on (1) a characterisation of corporate response to environmental issues, and (2) the management of technology applied to the car manufacturing industry. It is argued that a more elaborate view of company reactions to governmental regulation of environmental issues has developed in recent years. Companies respond with pro-active strategies. Because of this active attitude environmental concerns influence other aspects of company policy, such as the management of technology. New strategies emerge which are not only a response to environmental problems, but might also influence the industrial structure for the future. The analysis is not only relevant for the automotive industry, but for other manufacturing industries as well. Government action puts waste management issues on the agenda of an increasing number of manufacturing firms that have to develop solutions for these in close cooperation with their suppliers and customers.