Book reviews

Books reviewed:
Abby Day Peters, Gower, Winning Research Funding
George Tesar, Sibdas Ghosh, Steven. W. Anderson and Tom Bramorski, Strategic Technology Management – Building Bridges between the Sciences, Engineering and Business Management.
Robert D. Handscombe and Eann A. Patterson, The Entropy Vector: Connecting Science and Business.
Susan Segal-Horn, The Strategy Reader ,
Bianca Piachaud, Outsourcing R&D in the Pharmaceutical Industry: From Conceptualisation to Implementation of the Strategic Sourcing Process.
Liang Thow Yick, Organizing around Intelligence: Leading, Managing and Nurturing Intelligent Human Organizations that constantly exploit Innovation and Creativity embedded at the Edge of Chaos.     

Book reviews

Book reviews in this article:
Tools for Change and Progress: A Socio-Technical Approach to Business Process Re-engineering Enid Mumfordm, Geert Jan Beekman
Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution Michael Hammer and James Champy
The Essence of Business Process Re-Engineering Joe Peppard, Philip Rowland
Software Assistance for Business Re-Engineering K Spurr, P Layzell, N Richards (Eds.)
Re-Engineering the Networked Enterprise Y Jayachandra with Raul Medina-More Gita J Melkote Fernando Flores
Reengineering Information Technology: Success Through Empowerment Stephen, Baxter, David Lisburn
Managers Divided: Organisation Politics and Information Technology Management David Knights, Fergus Murray
Business Process Reengineering: Breakpoint Strategies for Market Dominance Henry J. Johansson, Patrick McHugh, A. John Pendlebury & William A. Wheeler III
Beyond Business Process Reengineering: Towards the Holonic Enterprise Patrick McHugh, Giorgio Merli & William A. Wheeler III     

Japanese horizontal keiretsu and the performance implications of membership

Our study investigates the effect of Japanese horizontal keiretsu group membership on firm risk and return. Like prior studies, our results show that horizontal keiretsu membership has a negative effect on firm profitability. However, we find that horizontal keiretsu networks are likely to increase the gap between targeted and realized returns, which we call the outcome–aspiration gap. Moreover, in contrast to prior studies, our results indicate that keiretsu membership does not enable member firms to reduce risks by smoothing profitability. Instead, our findings provide evidence that is counter to the conventional notion that Japanese horizontal keiretsu allows their member firms to trade off profits for reduced risk.

The impact of state shares on corporate innovation strategy and performance in China

This paper examines the impact of state shares on corporate innovation strategy and performance in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Through an investigation of 541 publicly traded companies in five high-tech industries during the period between 2000 and 2005, we find that the presence of state shares have a positive effect on the corporate choice of a process innovation strategy over a product innovation one. However, this relationship is moderated by the overall ownership concentration ratio. Moreover, our findings suggest that companies with large state shares prefer to conduct innovations independently rather than collaboratively with others, and they usually achieve better innovation performance. These findings indicate that the government play a role as both an investor and a resource allocation coordinator and therefore complicate the relationship between ownership structure and corporate innovation activities.

Change and continuity in Japanese corporate governance

Previous studies on Japanese corporate governance were largely based on the agency theory framework, and can be seen as attempts to understand the unique monitoring mechanisms in the Japanese context. This paper briefly reviews prior research and then discusses the recent changes in the environment that have been affecting Japanese corporate governance. Our central argument is that there is both change and continuity in Japanese Corporate Governance. We also present emerging research from an institutional theory perspective. In this line of research, corporate governance is treated as part of a nation’s institutional framework and hence, researchers need to understand unique institutional arrangements that affect corporate governance practices and their change or continuity.

Opportunities and challenges for academic returnees in China

A growing number of Western-educated management PhD graduates are starting their academic career in Chinese business schools. While opportunities are abundant for these returnees, they also face the choice between developing internationally transferable assets and building locally embedded competences. Some possible solutions are discussed, at both personal and institutional levels.

Prolific authors and institutions in leading international business journals

The science and practice of international business is advanced through scholarly contribution to the leading international business journals. Increased competition among academic institutions has led to increased emphasis on publication in the leading international business journals. Yet, little is known as to the answers to questions such as: (1) Who are the most prolific authors in the leading international business journals? and (2) Which educational institutions appear poised to lead international business scholarship? To examine these questions, the study examines scholarly work in international business over the past eleven years in six leading international business journals (i.e., Journal of International Business Studies, Management International Review, Journal of World Business, International Marketing Review, Journal of International Marketing, and International Business Review). Addressing these two research questions provides us with a more complete understanding of the authors and institutions most likely to influence the field of international business.     

Book Reviews: edited by Wlodymyr Maksymiw

Shaping Women's Work: Gender, Employment and Information Technology . J. Webster
Information Space. A Framework for Learning in Organizations, Institutions and Culture . Max H. Boisot
The Industrial Craftsworker: Skill, Managerial Strategies and Workplace Relations . Peter Cook
Towards a Competent Workforce . Bob Mansfield and Lindsay Mitchell
Restructuring Within a Labour Intensive Industry . I. M. Taplin and J. Winterton (eds)
Employee Participation in Europe . Herman Knudsen
Technology Strategy for Business . David Ford and Mike Saren     

Does Asian management research need more self-confidence? Reflections from Russia

This commentary on Klaus Meyer’s article, “Asian Management Research Needs More Self-confidence,” in the Asia Pacific Journal of Management (2006), discusses the need for Asian management research to look beyond the pressures for publication in top-tier, Western scholarly academic journals. We reflect on our nearly two decades of research on Russian management to illustrate many of Meyer’s ideas and insights in a different transition economy. We support his call for more context-specific research that can also offer contributions to global management knowledge as well as indigenous management practice.

Conference Reports

K. D. KILBURN
Report of a Conference jointly organised by the R&D Research Unit of Manchester Business School, the journal R&D Management, and RADMA, in Manchester, 8–11 July, 1986.     

Indian business groups: Evolution and transformation

Business groups are an important constituent of many emerging economies. In this paper, we focus on the evolution and transformation of Indian business groups (IBGs) over two economic eras — pre-reform era (pre 1991) and reform era (post 1991). To this end, we analyze IBG behavior during these periods, and explain the implications of such behavior on IBG value creation. Our conceptualization of IBG dynamics utilizes the perspectives of product relatedness and institutional relatedness, and undertakes a broad review of the extant literature.

Competitive dynamics research: An insider’s odyssey

This paper introduces competitive dynamics research, a body of work that has emerged in the strategic management field over the last two decades. I will focus on my scholarly pursuit—both the substance and the process—during the early years of my faculty career. I will use my twelve core publications written during this period to outline the entire research program, highlight the makeup of each of the four sub-streams of the program, and show how these streams are linked. I will also share my personal learning in the process of building this research program. The paper aims to convey some firsthand experience for researchers and scholars, especially those starting in their careers and international scholars who are interested in publishing in major U.S.-based journals, so they can construct their own research programs and cope with the manifold process challenges in research and publishing.

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
Men of Iron. The Crowleys in the Early Iron Industry by M. W. Flinn.
Management Principles by Walter Puckey.
Management Studies in Technical Colleges , Ministry of Education: First Report of the United Kingdom Advisory Council on Education for Management 1962.
Management Models and Industrial Applications of Linear Programming by A. Charnes and W. W. Cooper. J. Wiley (New York & London) 1961.
Business Organisation and Management by E. Petersen, E. G. Plowman and J. M. Trickett.
Labor's Grass Roots by Jack Barbash.
The Smaller Firm and Technical Education by P. F. R. Venables and W. J. Williams.
Educational and Occupational Selection in West Africa , A. Taylor (ed.).
The Development of the Indian Economy by W. B. Reddaway.
Measurements of Production and Productivity in Indian Industry by G. C. Beri.
Studies in Industrialisation: Nigeria and the Cameroons by F. A. Wells and W. A.
Labor Relations in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile by Robert J. Alexander.     

The cognitive,psychological and social contexts of Japanese management

After reviewing the literature on Japanese management theory, Keys & Miller (1984), called for a deeper understanding of the environmental contexts of Japanese management and the development of more integrated, internally consistent models. The literature review presented here discusses the dimensions of the cognitive, psychological and social contexts of Japanese management, and concludes with a causal integration between the contexts that underly Japanese management and specific Japanese management practices.Portions of this paper were presented by the first author at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, San Diego, 1985. The authors thank Richard N. Farmer, Richard Peterson, Franklin R. Root, and the reviewers for their helpful comments. Requests for reprints should be sent to Mark E. Mendenhall, Department of Management, College of Business Administration, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA 90045.Mark E. Mendenhall is with the College of Business Administration, Loyola Marymount University. Gary Oddou is with the School of Business, San Jose State University.     

The regional character of Asian multinational enterprises

In recent issues of this Journal a debate has raged concerning the appropriate nature of academic research in the Asia Pacific region. While we support the desire for both rigor and regional relevance in this research, we wish to demonstrate a strong commonality between the performance of large Asian firms and others from Europe and North America. This prompts us to question the need for a new theory of the MNE based on the experience of Asian firms. Like their counterparts elsewhere, the large Asian firms mostly operate on an intra-regional basis. While in the literature it has been assumed that the path to success for Asian firms is globalization, we show that the data supporting this is confined to a handful of unrepresentative case studies. We also present a bibliometric analysis which shows an overwhelming case study sample selection bias in academic studies towards this small number of unrepresentative cases.

Managing Creative People: Lessons in Leadership for the Ideas Economy by Gordon Torr

Books reviewed in this issue:

• •

  Managing Creative People: Lessons in Leadership for the Ideas Economy
• •

  Triple C Model of Project Management: Communication, Cooperation, and Coordination
• •

  Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities that Lead to Business Breakthroughs
• •

  Customer Visits

     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
TUC: The Growrh of a Pressure Group 1868–1976, by Ross M. Martin.
The Decline of the British Motor Industry, by Peter J. S. Dunnett.
Haward Business Review of Human Relarions
Not For Bread Alone: An Appreciation of Job Enrichment, by Lynda King Taylor
Whatever Happened to Shell's New Philosophy of Management, by F. H. M. Blackler and C. A. Brown
Managerial Rolcs in Industrial Relations: Towardc a Definitive Survey of Research and Fornulation of Modek, edited by Michael Paole and Roger Mansfield
Evaluaring Management Education by Robin M. Hogarth.
Professionals and Management, by Russell D. Lansbury
Advances in Manugernent Education, edited by John Beck and Charles Cox
Work Creation International Experiences, edited by M. P. Jackson and V. J. B. Hanby
Employment Outlook and Insight, edited by David H. Freedman
Masters, Unionsand Men: Work Controlin Building and the Rise of Labour 183&1914, by Richard Price
Occupation and Pay in Great Britain 190679, by Guy Routh
The Future of Pay Bargaining, edited by F. T. Blackaby
White-Collar Proletariat: The Industrial Behaviour of British Civil Servanu, by Michael P. Kelly     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Trade Union Growth, Structure and Policy, A Comparative Study of the Cotton Unions by H. A. Turner
The Executive: Autocrat, Bureaucrat, Democrat by Eugene E. Jennings
The Fundamentals of Management by W. S. Barry
Management, Men and Values by Abram T. Collier
The Management Process: An Integrated Functional Approach by William McNair Fox. Richard D. Irwin
Collective Bargaining versus Government Regulation: India and U.S.A. by A.V. Raman Rao
The Industrial Relations System of Pakistan by M. Ali Raza
Psychology in Administration: A Research Orientation by Timothy W. Costello and Sheldon S. Zalkind (ed.)
Workers, Factories, and Social Change in India by Richard D. Lambert
The Limits of Business Administration and Responsibility by G. Prys Williams
Democratic Values and the Rights of Management by E. Ginzberg and H. Berman
Models of Markets by Alfred R. Oxenfeldt (ed.)
Unified Operations Management by Arnold O. Putnam, E. Robert Barlow, and Gabriel N. Stilian
British Wage Councils by F. J. Bayliss
Managerial Problems in Public Enterprise by A. H. Hanson
An Investment in People.     

Book Reviews

Environmental Impact Assessment T. O'Riordan and R. Hey
The Political Economy of Science The Radicalisation of Science H. Rose and S. Rose
Technological Substitution: Forecasting Techniques and Applications H. A. Linstone and Devendra Sahal
Forecasting for Business-methods and applications D. Wood and R. Fildes
Business Strategies for Survival—planning for social and political change W. K. Purdie and B. Taylor
Modelling as an Aid to R & D Project Selection
R & D Management Bibliography- 1976     

Book reviews

Books reviewed:
Yannis Caloghirou, Nicholas S. Vsonortas and Stavros Ioannides, European Collaboration in Research and Development: Business Strategy and Public Policy
David L. Bodde, M E Sharpe, The Intentional Entrepreneur – Bringing Technology and Engineering to the Real New Economy.
Margaret Myers and Agnes Kaposi, A First Systems Book: Technology and Management (2nd ed.).
Amy L Pablo and Mansour Javidan, Mergers and Acquisitions: Creating Integrative Knowledge.
Samuel D Schiflett, Linda R Elliot, Eduardo Salas and Michael G Coovert, Ashgate, Scaled Worlds: Development, Validation and Application.
Solly Angel, The Tale of the Scale – An Odyssey of Invention.