Competitive management and working capital

Working capital is a necessary input to the production process and yet is ignored in most economic models of production. The implications of modelling the time dimension of production, and hence the working capital requirements of firms, are explored, with particular stress placed on the competitive advantage gained by firms that retain flexibility in the time structure of their production.     

Competitive strategy in remanufacturing and the impact of take-back laws

This paper examines the impact of take-back laws within a manufacturer/remanufacturer competitive framework. Take-back laws require that firms take responsibility for the collection/disposal costs of their products. We consider two alternative implementations of take-back laws that are distinguished by the degree of control that the manufacturer has on returns sold to the remanufacturer. In one implementation, known as collective WEEE take-back, the manufacturer has no control over returns sold to the remanufacturer. The other implementation, known as individual WEEE take-back, gives complete control to the manufacturer.We develop a general two-period model to investigate questions of interest to policy-makers in government and managers in industry. Our results suggest that, in some settings, enactment of collective WEEE take-back will result in higher manufacturer and remanufacturer profits while simultaneously spurring remanufacturing activity and reducing the tax burden on society. A negative effect is higher consumer prices in the market. In other settings, we find that collective WEEE take-back introduces a structural change to the industry—creating an environment where remanufacturing becomes profitable when it is not profitable without a take-back law. With respect to individual WEEE take-back, we find that the manufacturer often benefits from allowing the remanufacturer to enter the market, though from a government policy-maker perspective, there are clear risks of monopolistic behavior.     

Competitive strategy,flexibility and selection: the case of Caledonian Paper

This article is a detailed case study of the human resource management approach of a foreign-owned, greenfield site establishment. The particular theme emphasised is the relationship between the nature of the organisation's competitive strategy and need for workforce flexibility, and the strategic use of the recruitment-selection process to try to bring about this relationship.     

Co-determination and working time accounts in the German finance industry

This article examines the workings of co-determination in the German finance industry through two case studies examining the introduction of working time accounts. It is shown that the accounts posed important new challenges for employees and works councillors that represented variants of long-existing negotiations around working time issues. The problems were clear and similar in both cases, giving rise to complaints to councillors, though not to managers. Councillors’ responses differed in the two companies. In one, they successfully re-negotiated the agreement under which the accounts had been introduced. In the other, they did not succeed in doing so. The differences between the two representative bodies are analysed to reflect on a theory of employee representative influence.     

Environmental strategy in the global banking industry within the varieties of capitalism approach: The moderating role of gender diversity and board members with specific skills

This research sets out to analyse environmental disclosure in the banking industry by considering the varieties of capitalism framework. This approach is concerned with the way companies interact strategically to resolve coordination issues arising from their operations, and it is supported by prior research. This is a fruitful perspective for exploring the association between country‐level factors and disclosure by firms, such as environmental reporting. This research is based on an international sample of countries operating in coordinated market economies (CMEs) and liberal market economies (LMEs). The results obtained show that financial institutions operating in CME countries are involved in more environmental matters than banks domiciled in LME countries. As regards the moderating variables, the evidence shows that women on the boards of banks in CME countries encourage the reporting of environmental information, as predicted. Nonetheless, and contrary to our expectations, members with specific skills on boards within CME cultures do not favour greater disclosure of environmental information compared with those on boards of banks operating in LME contexts.     

Competitive strategy for open and user innovation

I study the incentives to open technologies in imperfectly competitive markets with user innovation. Firms may choose to open part of their knowledge or private information so that it becomes freely accessible to users. Openness decisions are governed by a trade‐off between collaboration and appropriability: by becoming more open, a firm encourages user innovation but hampers its ability to capture value. I find that large firms are less open and invest more in product development than small firms, and that firms react to greater openness from rivals by becoming more open. I also show that compatibility and spillovers have a negative effect on openness, and that firms become more open as the number of competitors increases.     

In search of competence: aligning strategy and competences in the telecommunications industry

Competence management and management by competences are new concerns among academics and professionals. In this paper we argue that the most appropriate way to advance in the construction of a new managerial approach is by relating competence to the strategy of the organization. To make that operational we develop an analytical framework. Since competence has slightly different meanings in the North American and European literature, we first proceed to a revision of conceptual approaches. The analytical framework was empirically tested in a field survey conducted among companies in the Brazilian telecommunications industry.     

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.     

Organizational environment and business strategy: Parallel versus conflicting influences on human resource strategy in the pharmaceutical industry

While much attention in recent years has been focused on the issue of human resource strategy, little research has been conducted on the degree to which the various forces helping to shape human resource strategy exert parallel or conflicting influences. In this article, business environment and strategy influences on corporate human resource strategies in the pharmaceutical industry are examined. In particular, data derived from corporate annual reports are used to generate a grounded theory of where, when, and why environmental influences on human resource strategy may be more or less consistent with business strategy influences across a number of human resource strategy dimensions.     

竞争优势与制造业结构升级

一、竞争优势的含义和变动趋势 竞争优势反映的是同类产业的竞争关系。衡量制造业行业的竞争优势或劣势,可以有多种指标,但基本的或综合性的指标是贸易竞争力指数。贸易竞争力指数=(出口额-进口额)/进出口总额。贸易竞争力指数大于0的行业具有竞争优势,指数越大,竞争优势越强;贸易竞争力指数小于0的行业处于竞争劣势,指数越小,竞争劣势越大。     

The importance of fit between individual values and organisational culture in the greening of industry

Individual and societal values with respect to environmental protection have been shown to have grown significantly in the past decade and can be expected to continue to grow. As a result, companies that do not materially adopt environmental values into their corporate value systems will find their culture to be incongruent with the personal values of their employees. Under such circumstances, these employees will face the choice of three sub-optimal options: (1) dissatisfied compliance with the corporate values; (2) resolution to change the corporate values; or (3) resignation from the organization. Those companies that are able to achieve a congruent fit between individual and organizational values will benefit from higher worker satisfaction, longer tenure and greater loyalty.     

Decentralised bargaining of working time in the German automotive industry

The article addresses the question whether or not the trend towards the decentralisation of collective bargaining on working time in Germany entails a loss in the binding power of industry‐level agreements. To this end, both working‐time agreements and practices are examined at the firm or establishment level in the automotive industry. Additionally, the article examines the extent to which workplace micro‐level changes are reflected in official statistics. The findings indicate that unions and works councils have taken on new roles preventing a widespread erosion of collective regulations.     

卷烟分拣策略与分拣设备

不同的卷烟物流配送中心需要采用个性化的卷烟分拣策略,进而根据分拣策略选择不同的分拣设备,分拣设备是实现分拣策略的保障.     

实施供应链管理增强我国企业竞争力

本文针对我国企业传统管理的弊端,论述了实施供应链管理对我国企业提高竞争力的重要意义,分析了我国企业供应链管理的现有条件和问题,提出了实施供应链管理增强我国企业竞争力的主要途径。     

Operations strategy in an emerging economy: the case of the Ghanaian manufacturing industry

Operations strategy and its development have received a lot of attention in the operations management literature. However, as noted by Ward et al. (1995), an understanding of the factors that influence operations strategy development has not been widely studied. Further, how managers of firms in underdeveloped countries develop operations strategy has yet to receive any significant attention among researchers. This paper takes a look at the development of operations strategy in an underdeveloped economy, Ghana. Specifically, the paper examines the relationships between the business environment and the operations strategy choices made by firms in Ghana. The paper seeks to understand the influence that specific business environmental factors have on the operations strategy choices of low cost, quality, flexibility, and delivery dependability.A survey of manufacturing firms was carried out in 1998. The respondents (production managers in those firms) were asked to indicate the extent to which business costs, labor availability, competitive hostility, and environmental dynamism were of concern to them. They were also asked to indicate their extent of emphasis on the operations strategy choices of quality, cost, flexibility and delivery dependability. This paper presents the result of the analysis of the relationships between the environmental factors and the operations strategy choices. The data indicate that, among firms in Ghana, the two strongest factors that influence the degree of emphasis placed on operations strategy choices are perceived business costs and competitive hostility. Results are presented for both large and small firms, and for firms that are completely locally owned as well as for joint venture firms.     

东莞家具行业的专利策略

文章通过观察家具行业的专利策略实施现况,分析家具行业专利策略滞后的原因;结合各种专利策略的案例,探讨家具行业实施专利策略的具体办法,为帮助家具产品的创新优化、最大化家具企业经济效益提供战略参考。     

绿色营销:我国饭店业的新战略

随着人们绿色意识的增强,饭店业也由传统的营销方式转变为绿色营销战略。文章着重探讨了绿色营销作为新型的战略在饭店业中的运用。     

Certified and uncertified skills and productivity growth performance: Cross-country evidence at industry level

We analyse the relationship between human capital and productivity growth using a five-country multi-industry dataset together with a measure of human capital which accounts for both certified skills (educational qualifications) and uncertified skills acquired through on-the-job training and experience. We find evidence of positive human capital effects on growth in average labour productivity, particularly when using our composite human capital measure. We also find some tentative evidence that multi-factor productivity (MFP) growth is positively related to the use of high-skilled labour. However, externalities of this kind are largely confined to industries which make intensive use of university graduates.     

现金流量表的简化理解与编制

对我国广大会计人员而言,现金流量表的理解与编制已经不是新话题,但却一直是困绕会计工作者的一大难题。本文所要介绍的是笔者根据多年的教学经验和体会总结出来的一些简化理解和简化编制现金流量表的具体方法。这些方法将有助于提高会计人员正确且迅速地编制现金流量表。     

Concentration ratios,strategy and performance: The case of the Norwegian telecommunications industry

This article explores how changes in industry structure are reflected in changes in performance and strategy. A set of interrelated hypotheses is proposed and examined in one industry (the Norwegian telecommunications industry). Increasing competition was found to be positively related to increasing industry concentration but negatively related to new entries and performance as measured by value added. Large and small firms were found to vary in performance, and they are seemingly applying different strategies in coping with stagnating market opportunities.