Strategic HRM as a Budgetary Control Mechanism in the Large Corporation: A Case Study from Engineering Contracting

This paper presents case study evidence of a rare attempt to make the corporate human resource function strategic. More significantly, the paper’s theoretical approach and the research questions it addresses examine the material beyond the confines of HRM discourse that emphasizes “strategic choice", integration or fit as received management strategies. Alternatively, the empirical, yet theoretically informed research questions suggest that strategic HRM necessarily de-skills the autonomy and discretion of many workers. Further, to be effective HRM must be diluted to reflect what is often (un)spoken budget and financial performance criteria that constitute an internal audit system. The theoretical arguments and empirical material presented in this paper appears relevant to a critically informed accountancy audience for two reasons. First, the case demonstrates how the language of financial management is diffused within other management fields such as HRM. Second, although the centralized system of performance management for project management appeared as a human resource innovation it intensified the significance of financial constraints on human resource staff whose labour process was previously relatively autonomous.     

公共管理学科规范发展的基本路径:学科定位与教学模式革新

随着全球化、信息化和知识经济时代的来临,各国政府都面临着国家治理和全球治理的挑战,各种亟待解决的公共管理实践问题层出不穷,公共管理学科发展也正在迎来空前的历史发展机遇和挑战。然而,与传统主流社会科学相比,新兴的公共管理学科还很不成熟,学科发展的规范性亟待加强。究其根源,学科定位模糊和教学模式封闭是制约公共管理学科规范发展的两大关键因素,为此本文提出通过学科准确定位和教学模式革新推动公共管理学科规范发展的基本路径。结合公共管理学科的性质和发展趋向,本文进一步提出公共管理应该定位于"公共领域综合性应用学科",并通过构建开放性的教学模式来实现对传统封闭式教学模式的革新。     

Sectoral innovation system foresight in practice: Nordic facilities management foresight

A number of studies have explored the interconnection between the foresight literature and the innovation system literature. This paper adds to these studies by investigating how theoretical elements of the innovation system approach can contribute to the design and practice of foresight processes. The paper originates in a foresight project in the Nordic facilities management sector. The goal of the foresight project was to identify the possible futures of the facilities management sector in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden) and, based on the findings, to establish a proposal for a common Nordic facilities management research agenda. The paper finds that three elements of the innovation system literature are of particular interest for the practice of foresight: innovation systems and context dependency, learning and user–producer interactions, and the role of knowledge and knowledge production. These elements are embedded into a simple sectoral innovation system model (including actors, knowledge flows, and the strategic environment).     

How control systems influence product innovation processes: examining the role of entrepreneurial orientation

This paper yields insights into the channels through which management accounting and control systems (MACS) exert an influence on product innovation by examining the extent to which different forms of control (i.e. value systems (VS), diagnostic control systems and interactive control systems (ICS)) are directly associated with the distinct phases of innovation processes. Using survey data collected from 118 medium and large Spanish companies, we find that (1) VS and ICS have significant main effects on the creativity, co-ordination and knowledge integration, and filtering (sub-)phases of innovation processes and (2) the significance and direction of these influences vary depending on the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of firms. By highlighting the relevance of EO in shaping the influence of MACS on product innovation processes, this study calls for caution in generalising the expected effects of MACS on innovation.     

Collaborative design research: Lessons from continuous auditing

In this paper we discuss Collaborative Design Research – a hybrid methodology for undertaking design science research in collaboration with industry partners – that has been applied to the area of Continuous Auditing and which also has wider applicability to AIS research. Collaborative Design Research has a role at the time in the evolution of a field when early adopting practitioners have made the decision to implement an innovation, but there is as yet no established product or set of best practices that makes it obvious what they should do. We discuss eight key issues facing researchers attempting to do collaborative design research: 1) choice of implementation partner (IP), 2) choice of projects, 3) managing expectations, 4) building on the expertise of the IP, 5) introducing innovation to the IP, 6) project evaluation and reassessment, 7) cost and resource management, and 8) publishing results.     

Closed‐End Fund Discounts and Expected Investment Performance

This article provides empirical support for the theory that closed‐end fund discounts reflect expected investment performance. Evidence is presented to explain how equity closed‐end fund initial public offerings (IPOs) can sell at a premium when existing funds sell at a discount and why the initial IPO premiums decay after the IPO. Relative premium decay data are presented. Tests on (1) the relation between relative premium changes and investment performance following IPOs, (2) relative premium mean‐reversion following management changes, and (3) net redemptions following closed‐end fund open‐endings for funds trading at pre‐open‐ending announcement discounts individually support and collectively strongly support the theory.     

Financial liberalization,bureaucratic corruption and economic development

We study the effect of international financial integration on economic development when the quality of governance may be compromised by corruption. Our analysis is based on a dynamic general equilibrium model of a small economy in which growth is driven by capital accumulation and public policy is administered by government-appointed bureaucrats. Corruption may arise due to the opportunity for bureaucrats to embezzle public funds, an opportunity that is made more attractive by financial liberalization which, at the same time, raises efficiency in capital production. Our main results may be summarized as follows: (1) corruption is always bad for economic development, but its effect is worse if the economy is open than if it is closed; (2) the incidence of corruption may, itself, be affected by both the development and openness of the economy; (3) financial liberalization is good for development when governance is good, but may be bad for development when governance is bad; and (4) corruption and poverty may coexist as permanent, rather than just transitory, fixtures of an economy.     

“十二·五”时期商业银行业务创新与技术创新的融合

“十二五”期间商业银行机遇与挑战并存。要改变传统上依靠资本消耗的增长模式,银行唯有坚持不断创新,提高核心竞争力。“十二互”期间我国银行业要在管理创新、产品和服务创新、渠道创新等方面有所突破,必须加强业务创新与技术创新的融合。因此,商业银行需要从战略层面保证IT战略、IT架构和银行总体战略一致,加强信息标准化和信息整合,加强和完善IT治理,加强IT风险管理,改进内部创新机制,加强复合人才培养,以业务创新引领信息技术创新,以信息技术创新推动业务创新,推进业务创新和技术创新的相互促进和融合。     

Evidence on the Management of Public Services Innovation

Innovation is a central part of the UK Government's programme to improve public services. However, there is little evidence on how innovation is managed in public service organizations. Drawing upon theories of the management of innovation and longitudinal case studies, this article demonstrates the iterative and complex ways in which innovations unfold. Issues of particular importance in the management of innovation include the role of teams and teamwork, projects, pilots and experiments, and various forms of project management.     

Evidence on the Management of Public Services Innovation

Innovation is a central part of the UK Government’s programme to improve public services. However, there is little evidence on how innovation is managed in public service organizations. Drawing upon theories of the management of innovation and longitudinal case studies, this article demonstrates the iterative and complex ways in which innovations unfold. Issues of particular importance in the management of innovation include the role of teams and teamwork, projects, pilots and experiments, and various forms of project management.     

SBU:战略执行与管理控制系统在中国的实践与创新——基于海尔集团SBU制度的描述性案例研究

本文以海尔集团SBU制度为对象,采用实地调研、描述性案例研究方法,在理论文献分析的基础上,剖析了海尔SBU制度"过程化"的五个内容要点、诠释了海尔SBU作为一个管理控制系统在概念、体制创新、管理整合方面对西方SBU制度的扬弃,揭示了海尔这类中国企业在战略实施、运营管理、流程组织、员工激励计划等方面对管理控制理论研究的贡献和对管理实践的示范效应。文章最后指明了推行SBU体系需要引以关注的"持续改进"的问题。     

Problem structuring for transitions: The case of Swiss waste management

Transdisciplinarity is considered an appropriate approach in supporting transitions of complex socio-technical systems as such transitions demand highly contextualized real world knowledge and valuations. This holds especially true for the problem identification and structuring (initial) phase of a transition project, which aims at supporting goal formation based on a sound understanding and representation of the system's current state and its dynamics. Throughout this phase, it is important that all relevant perspectives in terms of expertise and interests are considered and adequately fed into a process of knowledge integration. This paper presents in its first part the structuring for complex transitions (SCT) procedure aiming at this requirement. The procedure has been specifically designed for problem structuring in socio-technical systems in the initial phase of a transition project. The results of the procedure provide sound inputs for the next project phases and the transition methods applied therein, but can themselves already be used as fruitful orientations in strategy development. The second part of the paper briefly outlines the application of the SCT procedure to Swiss waste management. This application involved 48 participants who reached consensus on relevant impact factors and developed a shared vision for managing a complex transition process in the area of waste management. The approach is marked by high feasibility and socially robust results.     

An empirical study on the drivers of management control systems' design in new product development

New product development has changed significantly over the last decade and management control systems have played an important role in this transformation. This study draws on Galbraith's concept of uncertainty and investigates the relationship between project uncertainty, product strategy and management control systems. It also explores whether these systems help or, as argued in the innovation literature, hinder product development performance. Results support the relevance of the project uncertainty and product strategy to explain the design of management control systems. They also show that better cost and design information has a positive association with performance, but that time information has a negative effect.     

Vertical merger,R&D collaboration and innovation

This paper studies the effects of vertical merger and R&D collaboration activities on firms' innovation decisions and stock returns based on a continuous-time real option model under market and technological uncertainties. Our analysis confirms vertical merger's benefit in amplifying the potential gain from innovation through eliminating inefficiencies. We show that vertical merger boosts innovation incentives in two ways: it reduces the optimal innovation threshold when firms suspend the project and increases R&D investment when firms launch the project. If vertical merger is not possible, R&D collaboration can improve firms' innovation levels as an alternative decision, but inefficiencies still exist which implies less pronounced stimulation effects. Both vertical merger and R&D collaboration can reduce firms' risk when conducting innovation project and weaken the positive R&D-returns relation and financial constraints-returns relation, while these effects of vertical merger are stronger than those of R&D collaboration.     

The effects of organic and mechanistic control in exploratory and exploitative innovations

This study investigates the indirect effects of mechanistic and organic types of control on project performance acting through innovativeness in exploratory and exploitative innovation projects. It also examines the interaction effect of these controls on performance. The research model is empirically tested with survey data from 119 projects in various project organizations, using Partial Least Squares (PLS) with controls for the size of the project and task uncertainty. The results illustrate that organic control, acting through innovativeness on project performance is an important form of control in exploratory innovations, and also enhances performance in exploitative innovations. In addition, the results indicate that the interaction effect of organic and mechanistic control types enhances performance in both exploratory and exploitative innovation projects, suggesting a complementary effect. The findings are discussed in relation to theory and their managerial implications.     

项目管理技术在国家审计项目管理中的应用

项目管理方法和应用工具的不断完善和创新,使得项目管理技术日臻成熟,并大大拓展了项目管理技术方法的应用领域。国家审计项目管理和现代项目管理在理论和实务两方面都具有高度的一致性,项目管理的绝大部分技术都能在国家审计项目管理中得到应用和推广,包括审计项目的计划管理、成本管理、进度管理、风险管理、后评估等多个方面。充分借鉴项目管理技术,可以有效解决我国国家审计项目管理中存在的缺乏审计项目管理标准、项目控制流于形式、审计质量控制流程薄弱、审计风险控制能力差、审计效率低下等突出问题,促进审计工作的科学化和规范化。     

Assessing an activity-based costing project

Research dealing with the implementation of system changes such as activity-based costing (ABC) systems is founded largely on a presumption that the motivation for the innovation is economic. The definition of success or failure then rests on the project’s reaching a stage of implementation where the new data are used in routine and/or unforeseen ways to improve economic efficiency. This paper presents a view of an ABC project where complex motivations, both economic and institutional, are identified, these held in turn by different groups within the organization as well as external groups likely to be affected by the project. Seen in terms of its institutional motivations, the project, documented in an internal review as a failure because it was abandoned without using the data, can be defined as a success by at least some of the affected groups.     

金融脱媒对商业银行经营管理的影响分析

随着经济金融体制改革的推进,我国商业银行经营环境正经历着前所未有的巨变,金融脱媒态势日益显现。在这种环境下,如何加快改革创新步伐,重塑经营管理体系,已经成为我国商业银行必须高度关注和认真解决的问题。本文对以上现实问题进行了思考和探索。     

Integrating e-commerce and knowledge management—what does the Kaiser experience really tell us

The growth of e-commerce (electronic commerce) is vast, complex and rapidly expanding. E-commerce is clearly an integral part of business, spreading across the areas of Business to Consumer, Business to Business, e-government and e-health. In fact, we could be forgiven for thinking we are in the e-millennium. E-medical record is an example of one such e-initiative to touch the health care sector. However, the true advantages of these e-medical records are not clear. We present the case example of medical automated record system (MARS), the automated medical record system at Kaiser Permanente-Ohio. In so doing, we show that the true advantage of this system is that it functions as a knowledge management system (KMS) simultaneously enabling and facilitating convergence and compliance of health care treatment, as well as enhancing and supporting the creation and renewal of knowledge pertaining to health care delivery. This demonstrates the importance of integrating a knowledge management focus in many e-commerce initiatives and we conclude by outlining the implications of such a focus for all organisations trying to increase their customer moment of value.     

Accounting for great expectations: Lessons from the new media surge for critical management theory

The short organizational history of Silicon Alley (1995–2001) is used to examine some key lessons on management learning and innovation in new, interactive media start-ups from a critical perspective. The macro-social context of this history is seen as shaped by the contemporary round of political and economic globalization and its consequences such as the consolidation of the Internet, the succession of software generations, the increase of economic concentration and corporate size, the uneven availability of venture and investment capital, and other changes in the organizational and legal structures of the “new economy”. It is argued that the dynamics of global–local interaction affects the relative autonomy of firms and their subunits (managed vs. self-organized project teams), sharpens the managerial contradictions between routinization/reproduction and innovation/transformation, and widens the differences between organizations and networks in facilitating learning, teaching, and innovation. The analysis emphasizes the endemic tension between institutional dominance and efforts at self-organization from below, the importance of informal, flexible, and relatively autonomous project networks for innovation and transformation as compared to the institutional power relations of older and larger firms, and the significance of networks in furthering the exploration and social construction of new cognitive and social boundaries.