Recontextualising a strategic concept within a globalising company: a case study on Carlsberg's ‘Winning Behaviours’ strategy

A corporate strategy is often formulated on the executive floor at headquarters. However, in order to make it live in an organisation, middle management and employees must be involved and make sense of it. These actors thus contribute to, participate in and enact the strategy in processes where it may take on new meanings and forms. This article investigates how ‘Winning Behaviours’, a strategic concept developed on the initiative of top management at the Carlsberg Group in order to improve global integration in the multinational organisation, was recontextualised. It draws upon interviews and observations as well as documents collected at the company headquarters in Denmark and in its subsidiaries in China and Malaysia. Here, expatriate and local managers tried to give sense to the Winning Behaviours in various ways, and employees brought their own local leadership ideals into play when they tried to make sense of the preferred behaviours and turn them into daily practices. The process of creating a new strategic concept and making it live in other sociocultural contexts was facilitated by headquarters staff in the Human Resources and Communications departments, who thus played an important role as change agents in the ‘glocal’ strategy process.     

Overcoming the main barriers in initiating and using purchasing-BSCs

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC), as a strategic management and control tool with an integrated set of leading and lagging performance measures, can secure successful implementation of purchasing strategies. However, the quality of the BSC itself as well as the effectiveness of the process to set up, implement, and use the BSC are crucial. Recognizing the growing importance of the purchasing-BSC (P-BSC) combined with the problems companies are facing, the authors emphasize the necessity for a better management process for purchasing strategies, introduce the P-BSC concept as a means to improve implementation success, and study the main barriers companies are facing when they initiate and use P-BSCs. This study and the recommendations how to overcome these barriers are based on seven in-depth case studies which derived from an action research project with European multinational firms.     

The role of institutional and intermediary forces in shaping patterns of employee involvement and participation (EIP) in Anglo-American countries

Most studies of employee involvement and participation (EIP) focus on organisation level, which is understandable given that employers have plenty of choice about how it should be implemented. However, even the most lightly regulated economies do not operate in a complete institutional void as some forms are regulated while government-funded initiatives also promote EIP. Employers' organisations, professional associations and other specialist organisations also operate as intermediary forces between the state and individual employers to shape EIP. However, these forces have not been analysed, an omission which seems strange given the ‘space’ available for occupation in lightly regulated economies. This paper compares the role these different forces play in shaping patterns of EIP at organisation level in four Anglo-American countries (the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand) through interviews and documentary evidence at national, intermediary and organisation levels. While ‘hard’ institutional forces have some influence on representative EIP, ‘soft’ institutional and intermediary forces are more likely to shape EIP because they allow employers choice and flexibility in implementation and fit with national business systems in these countries. However, given such interventions are voluntary, they are also susceptible if government priorities change or employers are attracted by the next management fad.     

The role of the psychological contract in shaping graduate experiences: a study of public sector talent management programmes in the UK and Australia

Abstract

Although talent management is acknowledged for its role in building competitive advantage, very little research has examined the factors that influence the success of talent management programmes at an individual level. In this paper we explore participant experiences (n = 68) from two public sector ‘fast track’ graduate development programmes, one in the UK and one in Australia. Drawing on psychological contract theory we examine how talent management programmes shape individual expectations and how these expectations influence participant experiences and evaluations of the programme. Our findings highlight the role of both talent management strategy and talent management implementation as well as factors external to the organisation, (such as employer brand and the influence of family and friends), in shaping expectations. Our analysis highlights the impact of multiple agents, particularly line managers, in the ongoing development and fulfilment of the ‘graduate psychological contract’. At a practical level, we argue that organisations need to manage expectations by more explicitly communicating what will, or will not, be offered in a graduate fast-track programme. We also suggest that organisations need to consider the importance of line managers in the implementation of talent management.     

Management of paradox: a comparative study of managerial practices in Korean and Japanese firms

Numerous scholars are recognizing that paradoxes are indigenous to organizational functioning. Managers too are being challenged to do more and spend less, and delegate and know the details. As a corporate objective, neither efficiency nor innovation can be sacrificed. In this paper, we have attempted to capture this emerging trend empirically. Defining management of paradox as ‘managerial practices that realize the simultaneous accomplishment of multiple strategic objectives that are seemingly or actually incompatible,’ this paper explores how organizational capabilities of effectively dealing with paradox can be acquired. Specifically, the paper attempts to address two organizational mechanisms: decision-making structure and human resource practices (HRPs). Propositions deduced from the existing literature were tested with the data collected from 103 Korean firms and 136 Japanese firms. The data indicated that firms have to be multi-talented. It was found that firms that successfully accomplished innovation and efficiency objectives simultaneously were those that were able to mix paradoxical organizational practices: decentralization and control on the one hand and the three HRPs on the other. It was also found that the Japanese corporations were more apt in deploying paradoxical managerial practices than the Korean counterparts. The paper concludes by discussing a few theoretical implications.     

Strategic interventions of management accountants: everyday practice of British and German brewers

A popular stereotype has it that German firms are somehow ‘long-term strategically oriented’ and British firms focus on short-term financial gain. Analysing ethnographic material from British and German brewers, this paper explores how management accountants in the two countries conceive of their relationship with processes of strategic formulation and how they seek to mobilize strategic arguments in their day-to-day contacts with operational management. The focus of this study is not on the strategy debates which one might expect among senior management, but on routine interaction between management accountants and managers in which the mundane events of organizational life are made to happen in the name of loftier ‘strategic’ priorities. From observations of such interaction and management accountants' reflections on them, contrasting ways of integrating management accounting expertise with operational knowledge of the firm are suggested for the British and German brewers studied. Those contrasts are developed by drawing on the relationship between time and the possibility for strategic intervention more generally.     

Strategic Practice Drift: How Open Strategy Infiltrates the Strategy Process

This paper builds theory on the process of open-strategy infiltration through an ethnographic study investigating how open strategy entered a financial services firm's strategy process behind the backs of top managers. Based on our analysis, we show how open strategy infiltrates the strategy process through a ‘strategic practice drift’, i.e., a gradual and partly unnoticed shift towards open strategy that occurs through ‘accommodating’ and ‘legitimizing’ the performance of transparency and inclusion in the strategy process. We show how the ‘goal-based ambiguity’ and ‘procedural certainty’ of initiatives that latently imply the performance of transparency and inclusion in the strategy process enable open-strategy infiltration. Furthermore, we show how top managers' ‘goal-based rationalization’ and ‘procedural renegotiation’ of practising transparency and inclusion contribute to the eventual reproduction of open strategy in the strategy process. Our model generates an understanding of how and why open strategy can enter the strategy process behind the backs of top managers and adds nuance to extant understandings of the role of top managers in this process. In addition, our findings contribute to research on strategy as practice by theorizing ‘strategic practice drifts’ and extending our understanding of the role of ambiguity therein.     

平衡计分卡在酒店战略管理目标制定中的运用

中国酒店行业的快速增长,使得行业竞争不断加剧,包括五星级酒店在内的高端酒店市场竞争尤为激烈。每个酒店必须实施有效的战略管理,才能应对复杂的竞争环境,保持酒店长期稳定的发展。战略目标的制定是战略管理的首要步骤,只有制定全面、可衡量的、可执行的、可监控的战略目标,才能让酒店战略管理落到实处。平衡计分卡作为一种有效的战略管理工具,能够从财务、客户、内部流程、学习与成长四个维度对酒店的战略目标进行全面有效地诠释。本文以平衡计分卡为主要理论工具,试图阐述其对酒店战略目标制定中所起到的价值。通过战略地图这一重要转化方式,将酒店的目标转化为平衡计分卡的表现形式,以确保制定的目标具备均衡性、可衡量性、可控性、可验证性和前瞻性的特点。为酒店战略管理的有效实施打下坚实的基础。     

成本管理绩效评价体系的构建与研究——分层次双渠道综合确定关键绩效指标

成本管理理论的发展和平衡计分卡作为绩效评价和战略管理工具在实践中的逐步完善,推动了成本管理绩效评价的研究。本文提出一种新的业绩评价思路:在成本管理的战略层,使用平衡计分卡寻求成本管理的成功因素(CSF);而在成本管理的作业层,从管理决策导向因素出发确定业绩评价指标,进而综合确定关键绩效指标(KPI)。     

平衡计分卡实践调查:从业绩评价到战略管理工具

平衡计分卡全球使用率调查结果差异很大,其中原因之一在于实践者对平衡计分卡主要作用的定位——作为业绩评价工具还是战略管理工具——有所不同。借鉴国外同行的分类方法,结合中国企业的调查资料分析,我们将平衡计分卡的实践分为评价和战略工具两种类型。统计结果显示,平衡计分卡的实践效果与对其原理的全面理解和体现有关,采用比较完备的计分卡设计和作为战略管理工具使用,与较高的实践效果评价相联系。     

Target costing,co-ordination and strategic cost management

During the last years issues of strategic management accounting have received widespread attention in the accounting literature. Yet the conceptual foundation of most proposals is not clear. This paper presents a theoretical analysis of one of the most prominent approaches of strategic management accounting, i.e. target costing. We analyse three distinct characteristics of this strategic management accounting tool, namely its market orientation, its use as co-ordination instrument and its interaction with other factors affecting long-term cost structure in the form of strategic learning. The analysis shows that the more ‘strategic’ dimensions are added to the problem of cost management, the less valid are ‘strategic’ management accounting proposals in terms of the usual way target costing is employed.     

Forecasting unknown-unknowns by boosting the risk radar within the risk intelligent organisation

This theoretical perspective paper interprets (un)known-(un)known risk quadrants as being formed from both abstract and concrete risk knowledge. It shows that these quadrants are useful for categorising risk forecasting challenges against the levels of abstract and concrete risk knowledge that are typically available, as well as for measuring perceived levels of abstract and concrete risk knowledge available for forecasting in psychometric research. Drawing on cybersecurity risk examples, a case is made for refocusing risk management forecasting efforts towards changing unknown-unknowns into known-knowns. We propose that this be achieved by developing the ‘boosted risk radar’ as organisational practice, where suitably ‘risk intelligent’ managers gather ‘risk intelligence information’, such that the ‘risk intelligent organisation’ can purposefully co-develop both abstract and concrete risk forecasting knowledge. We also illustrate what this can entail in simple practical terms within organisations.     

Development of academic entrepreneurship in a non-mature context: the role of the university as a hub-organisation

This paper focuses on how the evolving roles of a university and its Technology Transfer Office (TTO) are stimulating academic entrepreneurship in a non-mature entrepreneurial ecosystem. A more mature entrepreneurial ecosystem was built gradually by these actors through their progressive creation of innovation intermediaries and coordination among the local players involved in the creation of start-ups. We analyse how the university became a hub organisation. We use the case of the University of Strasbourg to show that the university contributed to the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem by acting as a boundary spanner and by building and orchestrating the network of the stakeholders in the local system of innovation. This ‘hub’ university became a leading regional organisation at the political level. The TTO played a central role in supporting academic entrepreneurship at the operational level based on its evolution from a revenue maximising model to a model that takes account of social and economic regional development. The progressive adoption of a more selective model of start-up creation requires good coordination among the local actors. Over time, the TTO’s boundary spanning function increased to encompass the development of operational network building and orchestrating functions.     

Role of Knowledge in Value Creation in Business Nets*

abstract This paper focuses on the role of knowledge in intentionally created business networks called nets. Nets are seen to offer firms collective benefits beyond those of a single firm or market transaction. We propose that the types of knowledge and learning required in the management of different types of business net are dependent on the value creation characteristics of the net types. Based on this we suggest a classification of three generic net types –‘current business nets’, ‘business renewal nets’, and ‘emerging new business nets’– and argue that they pose different conditions for management in nets. Using this framework and integrating notions from the industrial network approach, strategic management and dynamic capabilities view, and organizational learning we make a number of observations and propositions about the role of knowledge and learning in the three types of business net. The paper contributes to the emerging theory of network management.     

Managing Change,or Changing Managers? The role of middle managers in UK public service reform

Abstract

Drawing upon interview data from three case study organizations, we examine the role of middle managers in UK public service reform. Using theory fragments from organizational ecology and role theory, we develop three role archetypes that middle managers might be enacting. We find that rather than wholesale enactment of a ‘change agent’ role, middle managers are balancing three predominant, but often conflicting, change-related roles: as ‘government agent’, ‘diplomat administrator’ and, less convincingly, ‘entrepreneurial leader’. Central government targets are becoming the main preoccupation for middle managers across many public services and they represent a dominant constraint on allowing ‘managers to manage’.     

Becoming an HR strategic partner: tales of transition

This article aims to bridge the gap between previous examinations of HR strategic partnership from a role perspective and an emerging interest in the social construction of identity. I consider ‘strategic partner’ as a local, flexible social construction framed by the broader occupational context. Based on a year-long ethnographic study, I examine the experiences of HR practitioners ‘becoming’ strategic partners, considering the themes of becoming strategic, becoming a partner and remaining a generalist. Practitioners depict becoming strategic as a ‘release’ from previous constraints, with becoming a partner positioned as filling a gap created by clients' deficiencies in people management. Meanwhile, tensions develop as strategic partners attempt to retain a say in transactional issues. I reflect on the resulting practical issues while also considering the role of HR practitioners in, in the words of Helen Francis, ‘the dynamic and socially complex nature of HRM’.     

Selecting managers for transformational change

This article draws on the findings of a recent empirical study into the experience of managing change in ‘high velocity’, transformational change contexts. It argues that, with increasing empowerment, notions of the singular, mandated change agent may have to be juxtaposed with the idea of change being managed by a more diverse, multifarious ‘cast of characters’. If this is the case, effectiveness in change management may increasingly rest on the development and application of a systematic methodology for assessing the suitability and capabilities to perform in a change role. However, on the basis of the evidence presented, it would appear that selection decisions are being made on a largely subjective and arbitrary basis, and this may be creating wrong or misguided assumptions about an individual's suitability to perform in a change agent role. Additionally, the initial evidence suggests that the process of selection may be open to manipulation by some individuals whose personal aims and goals in the change process are not necessarily congruent with those of the organisation. This in turn may pose an element of strategic risk to the overall change process. The article then discusses some of the theoretical and practical implications facing those with a responsibility for selecting and managing the change managers.     

Strategic task forces

Nonprofit organisations frequently face challenges that cannot be resolved by staff, board members and other volunteers. Marketing themselves, whether to build awareness and recognition, or more specifically to raise funds, is one such challenge. Another is the development of strong, highly networked new volunteers both to assist with specific issues and to serve later in other capacities. ‘Strategic task forces’ offer one way to address immediate needs but also can serve as a means of more strategically approaching marketing issues such as awareness and recognition among key decision makers. A case study and analysis are presented to demonstrate the use of strategic task forces and how they can be utilised to accomplish both tactical and strategic objectives at the same time. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

Union responses to ‘multi‐enterprise’ factories in the Italian motor industry

During the 1990s, outsourcing work was commonly associated with the weakening of union organisation and the deterioration of pay, working conditions and job security. A variant of outsourcing, termed here as ‘insourcing’, involves a firm purchasing ‘non‐core’ functions and services from enterprises located under the same roof. This case study of Fiat outlines the impact of insourcing on traditional arrangements and practices, and analyses the response of Italian local unions. The findings indicate that in the context of ‘bargained compromise’ between trade unions and management in the Italian motor industry insourcing did not have the negative implications for union organisation and employee terms and conditions associated with traditional outsourcing.     

Organisational communication and supportive employees

The importance of the social dimension of organisations is currently a strong focus of emphasis in the literature. From a managerial perspective, however, it is important that the community spirit within an organisation falls in line with its strategic direction. The study discussed in this article shows that high quality internal communication may be important in encouraging such a supportive attitude. What is considered ‘good’ internal communication does not directly engender more support for the organisation's strategic direction. However, evidence from research in five organisations (with 791 respondents distributed across 19 work units) suggests that there are two ways to foster support. One is to create a sense of commitment within the organisation; the other is to establish trust in the management. Both approaches appear to have a positive relationship with good internal communication. The quality of task‐related communication is important in creating commitment. What is vital in creating trust, however, is the quality of non‐task‐related communication. The study at the focus of this article addresses the following question: does organisational communication help foster a positive attitude towards the strategic direction of an organisation?