Beyond Panglossian theory: strategic capital investing in a complex adaptive world

Traditional capital budgeting theory (as an extension of financial economics) is characterized as Panglossian because of its suggestion that rational market outcomes produce the best of all possible worlds. During the last two decades, practice-oriented theorists have increasingly been moving from algorithmic capital budgeting techniques to a focus on capital investment strategy. Also, during the last twelve years, economics researchers at the Santa Fe Institute (SFI) have scrapped the dubious assumptions of neoclassical economics and have turned to complex adaptive systems theory for a more realistic portrayal of the economy. This paper explores various SFI studies and their implications for capital investment theory and capital investment strategy. Brian Arthur's theory of increasing returns undermines the notion that capital budgeting techniques can be counted on to generate economic efficiency. His theory further suggests that the high tech, knowledge-based sectors of the economy inherently produce outcomes that are too unpredictable for the meaningful application of traditional capital budgeting techniques. Studies by David Lane and his colleagues suggest that the identity of agents, the attributes of artifacts and the possibilities for action tend to be emergent phenomena that are generated by the interactions of agents. These considerations suggest a form of strategic action that focuses on process. Finally, it is argued that the artificial life and other SFI types of computer simulation models are potentially useful tools for the study of strategic capital investment decisions.     

A theory of strategic venture investing

Some venture capital investors seek purely financial gains while others, such as corporations, also pursue strategic objectives. The paper examines a model where a strategic investor can achieve synergies, but can also face a conflict of interest with the entrepreneur. If the start-up is a complement to the strategic partner, it is optimal to obtain funding from the strategic investor. If the start-up is a mild substitute, the entrepreneur prefers an independent venture capitalist. With a strong substitute, syndication becomes optimal, such that the independent venture capitalist is the active lead investor and the strategic partner a passive co-investor. The expected returns for the entrepreneur are nonmonotonic, lowest for a mild substitute, and higher for a strong substitute as well as for a complement. The paper also explains why a strategic investor often pays a higher valuation than an independent venture capitalist.     

战略投资者参与银行治理和利益相关者理论的拓展

银行公司治理的特殊性和国有商业银行治理状况是引进战略投资者的根本原因,而战略投资者在中国银行治理中发挥的独特作用是利益相关者治理理论在中国的生动演绎和创新--据此,本文提出了"叠加于股权机制之上的'话语权机制'理论".     

科技金融结合，一个战略性话题——中关村：国家科技金融创新中心地位确立

前不久,九个国家相关部门和北京市政府联合发布《关于中关村国家自主创新示范区建设国家科技金融创新中心的意见》,这一重大政策的出台,标志着中关村作为国家科技金融创新中心的战略地位的确立,标志着中关村示范引领和辐射带动全国科技金融创新体系的形成。     

Free ad(vice): internet influencers and disclosure regulation

Consumers rely on intermediaries (“influencers”) such as social media recommendations to provide information about products. The advice may be mixed with endorsement in a way that is unobservable to the follower, creating a trade‐off for influencers between the best advice and the most revenue. This article models the dynamic relationship between an influencer and a follower. The relationship evolves between periods of less and more revenue. The model can provide insight into policies such as the Federal Trade Commission's mandatory disclosure rules. An opt‐in policy may be superior: it deregulates influencers who are reaping the rewards of past good advice.     

A law and finance theory of strategic blocking and preemptive bidding in takeovers

This paper uses a law and finance approach to develop a new takeover theory that formalizes the idea that large target shareholders, who can block a takeover attempt, exercise a strategic influence on tender offer prices, and thereby, on the distribution of the takeover gain. The theory captures the interaction between legal rules, target ownership structure, bidder toehold and potential effects of arbitrageurs in an endogenously determined bargaining parameter that predicts a skewed distribution of the gain in favor of target shareholders. In a regression model, the parameter has significant explanatory power, specifically when the total takeover gain is positive.     

战略视角下的事务所文化建设

随着知识经济、信息技术、经济全球一体化及各种技术的高速创新,事务所之间的竞争已成为事务所文化的竞争.本文认为,事务所文化需要按照战略管理要求加以建设与管理,即在分析内外部条件的基础上确定企业文化建设的"战略定位",根据"战略定位"落实"路径选择",围绕"路径选择"进行"资源的筹划和配置".     

Integrative strategic performance measurement systems,strategic alignment of manufacturing,learning and strategic outcomes: an exploratory study

There is considerable interest in the role of strategic performance measurement systems (SPMS), such as balanced scorecards, in assisting managers develop competitive strategies. A distinctive feature of SPMS is that they are designed to present managers with financial and non-financial measures covering different perspectives which, in combination, provide a way of translating strategy into a coherent set of performance measures. There appears to be wide variation in how these systems are configured. However, as yet, there has been little consideration given to identifying underlying information characteristics that might help explain how the systems have beneficial effects. This study identifies a key dimension of SPMS, integrative information, as being instrumental in assisting managers deliver positive strategic outcomes. Three interrelated dimensions of integrative SPMS were identified in this study. The first, strategic and operational linkages, was a generic factor that captures the overall extent to which the systems provide for integration between strategy and operations, and integration across elements of the value chain. The second attribute, customer orientation, focuses on customer linkages and includes financial and customer measures. The third dimension, supplier orientation, is based on linkages to suppliers and includes business process and innovation measures. A model is developed that predicts that integrative SPMS will enhance the strategic competitiveness of organizations. It is proposed that the influence of integrative SPMS on strategic outcomes is indirect through the mediating roles of alignment of manufacturing with strategy and organizational learning. Data from a survey of 80 strategic business units provide varying support for the proposed relationships.     

Retiree health benefits in the United States: a strategic critical management review

This article provides a critical review of studies associated with retiree health benefits in the United States. An attempt is made to determine if logical conclusions or trends could be identified regarding this issue of health care policy debate. The forms of retiree health benefits are covered, as is a discussion of Medigap policies and insurance coverage for the elderly. Employer-sponsored retiree benefits and the effects of supplemental coverage on the use of services are also reviewed. Lastly, a discussion and conclusion regarding this research agenda is presented with a critical analysis of the health care policy management debate for the future.     

Value innovation: the strategic logic of high growth

Why are some companies able to sustain high growth in revenues and profits--and others are not? To answer that question, the authors, both of INSEAD, spent five years studying more than 30 companies around the world. They found that the difference between the high-growth companies and their less successful competitors was in each group's assumptions about strategy. Managers of the less successful companies followed conventional strategic logic. Managers of the high-growth companies followed what the authors call the logic of value innovation. Conventional strategic logic and value innovation differ along the basic dimensions of strategy. Many companies take their industry's conditions as given; value innovators don't. Many companies let competitors set the parameters of their strategic thinking; value innovators do not use rivals as benchmarks. Rather than focus on the differences among customers, value innovators look for what customers value in common. Rather than view opportunities through the lens of existing assets and capabilities, value innovators ask, What if we start anew? The authors tell the story of the French hotelier Accor, which discarded the notion of what a hotel is supposed to look like in order to offer what most customers want: a good night's sleep at a low price. And Virgin Atlantic challenged industry conventions by eliminating first-class service and channeling savings into innovations for business-class passengers. Those companies didn't set out to build advantages over the competition, but they ended up achieving the greatest competitive advantages.     

数据仓库与商业银行战略管理

我国商业银行在股改上市后越来越重视战略管理。但是,从整体上看,在战略制定、战略执行、战略评估等方面,由于缺乏量化数据支持,商业银行决策层定性的主观判断较多,只有构建企业级的数据仓库平台方能解决这个问题。由此,数据仓库技术在我国商业银行战略管理领域得到了广泛的应用,     

Environmental management and business strategy: Towards a new strategic paradigm

There has been considerable debate in recent years regarding the direction in which environmental business strategy can be expected to develop in the future. This article seeks to investigate the extent to which firms have sought to change the basis of their strategic decision making, from a shareholder value paradigm to one reflecting an environmental focus. The results of a 1994 survey are reported and evaluated in the light of previous survey findings. Despite an increasing coverage in the literature of how individual firms have been responding to the environmental challenge, the findings of the present survey do not lend support to the view that there has been an underlying transformation in the process of strategic management. The findings tend to support the view that such a paradigm shift is more likely to take place in a legislative rather than a voluntary context.     

On the nurturing of strategic foresight: The Ubuntu perspective

We draw on ideas from the African humanistic philosophy of Ubuntu with existing approaches to propose alternative ways of nurturing strategic foresight in practice. Delineating Ubuntu as a transient organizing philosophy, we show how the integration of Ubuntu in everyday organizing could enhance relational pluralism, and in-turn strategic foresight. Embarking on some mild speculative expedition based on ideas from Ubuntu, we also outline some activities and organizing routines of team leaders that may contribute to encouraging employees to enact ‘foresightful’ actions in their situated practice. We conclude with implications of our study for organizing and some directions for futureresearch.     

Normality of the future: Trend diagnosis for strategic foresight

Foresight processes and activities are confronted with the task of making sense of the present, in particular by interpreting weak signals of change in the organizational environment. Although trends are considered to be important drivers of environmental discontinuities which may lead to strategic surprises, there is no operationalization from a strategic point of view. In this paper we are going to conceptualize trends as (socio-cultural) innovations. This leads to important implications. If the nature of innovation is taken seriously, then strategic trend diagnosis has to deal with two different aspects, invention and diffusion. First, we are going to present a framework for identifying the invention aspect of a trend (i.e., “the new”) which is based on the fact that “the new” results from a transgression of contextual boundaries. Second, we are going to operationalize the diffusion of “the new” as a threefold process of normalization - i.e., an unusual practice becomes social convention. Taken together, these two aspects provide a theoretical link between trends and market creation. In addition, by relating the above operationalizations to an entrepreneurial strategy-making framework, strategic issue diagnosis can be improved and more seamlessly linked to strategy formulation.     

The imperatives for organizational governance in a large charity: a strategic choice perspective

This paper explains the factors that shaped governance practices in a large charity. The author uses strategic choice theory in an analysis of case study data to bring into calculation the internal and external factors that impacted the roles of board members and executives. The paper finds overall support for a powersharing model and contributes to our understanding of governance in nonprofit organizations.     

Reconciling the electricity industry with sustainable development: backcasting — a strategic alternative

The concept of Sustainability has emerged from a recognition that all terrestrial systems, be they natural or human, are interconnected, and cannot, therefore, be adequately understood through reductionist analysis. Such an understanding has fundamental implications for the policy making process. While specialist knowledge remains an essential prerequisite in the development of effective ‘sustainability’ policies, it is not in itself sufficient. An equally important, and all too often neglected, component, is the understanding and insight gained from synthesising detailed and disparate information from across a range of disciplines. With this in mind, this paper builds on Lovin's and Robinson's earlier ‘backcasting’ work to suggest an alternative strategic structure for reconciling a reliable and affordable electricity industry with the broad tenets of sustainable development. Within this alternative model, electricity demand, as well as supply, becomes an endogenous factor in the policy making process. Moreover, the model essentially rejects the mechanistic optimisation underpinning both the contemporary market model and the earlier planned structure of the electricity industry. By contrast, the backcast proposed here embraces wider environmental and social responsibilities through a more circumspect appreciation of current knowledge and hence a more flexible and responsive policy agenda.     

On the emergence of strategic management accounting: An institutional perspective

Strategic management accounting (SMA) has been presented as an efficacious approach to strategy formulation and implementation. It also suggests accountants move away from purely financial concerns to give consideration to wider business issues. Management accounting change has attracted significant research attention in recent years. This case study explores the issues which surround change and which enable the adoption of SMA and the repositioning of management accountants to become more strategic. The empirical enquiry is based in one company through a prolonged series of interviews and meetings which enabled activities over a number of years to be reviewed. This revealed an increasing strategic role for management accountants in informing strategic decision‐making and how this role came into being. The research is informed by institutional theories and neoinstitutionalism in particular, to interpret the external and internal influences on the change in roles of some management accountants and the outputs of their work.     

Managed care: the strategic future for education in quality

This paper discusses the needs for future education in quality assurance, assessment and improvement, particularly in relation to managed care. The pressures for increased education about quality are derived from different components of the health care system; e.g., regulatory and governmental agencies, purchasers of care, and competitors of health institutions. The content of future education in health care quality is defined in six areas: (1) organization and management; (2) health systems; (3) quality theory and methods; (4) management information systems and research; (5) governmental policy; and (6) economics and finance. Education in health care quality in these content areas is delivered at both the primary and continuing education levels by universities, professional associations and private training and development corporations. Future oriented, strategic thinking education in health care quality is needed. The pressures for education about quality, including traditional concepts of quality assurance, methodologies for quality assessment and the newer approaches to continuing quality improvement, are clearly growing stronger. This article discusses the need for education in health care quality, the content areas and levels of education and the delivery system.     

The role of audit evidence in a strategic audit

This study examines how audit risk (the probability of false acceptance) and its components change when the auditor obtains audit evidence in an acceptance sampling model. Inherent risk and audit risk increase with audit evidence if the auditee has a sufficiently strong incentive for committing fraud. Detection risk always increases when audit evidence is introduced. If the auditor has a sufficiently strong incentive for avoiding false rejection, audit risk also increases with audit evidence. The analysis indicates that requiring auditors to obtain information is not effective in preventing material misstatements in at least some instances.