Thinking of exporting?: Export management companies could be the answer

With the interest in globalization, many domestic manufacturing companies are anxious to export their products. Lacking the resources and experience to sell effectively abroad, manufacturers often rely on export management companies (EMCs) to act as their export departments. How successful have these arrangements been? Haigh reports that the performance of EMCs is below the expectations of manufacturers more than half the time, but concludes that EMCs can be a very effective strategy for entering foreign markets if care is taken to select an appropriate company.     

How to manage corporate purchasing synergy in a decentralised company? Towards design rules for managing and organising purchasing synergy in decentralised companies

More and more organisations are showing interest in how purchasing strategy and structures may support their overall business strategies. More and more, therefore, the question prevails how to get organised at a corporate level to capture the potential purchasing synergies. The challenge is to generate knowledge regarding how to structure and manage effectively purchasing synergies between business units. This paper deals with the concept of purchasing synergy or more specifically: the management of value-adding linkages in the area of purchasing between different business units in a multi-business company. It summarises the intermediate results from Ph.D. research currently conducted at Eindhoven University of Technology. Based on the findings derived from in-depth case studies at three large multinational companies, we propose a model, which may support management by formulating the right strategy and designing the right structure aimed at capturing the potential synergies.     

国有装备制造企业采购管理模式的探索和实践

采购管理作为企业产供销链条的重要环节,面对经济全球化的挑战,如何科学规划、实现科学创新管理,一直是企业关注的话题.哈尔滨电气集团公司作为一家大型国有装备制造企业,通过多年的探索与实践,努力寻求在国企特有的组织架构基础上,建立一套适合企业发展需要的采购管理模式,持续推进降本增效,不断提升企业的核心竞争力和价值.     

How Much More (or Less) Is a Brand Worth When Made in a Low Labor-Cost Country? It Depends Upon Who and Where You Ask

ABSTRACT

This multinational adaptive conjoint study measures how much more, or less, consumers might be willing to pay for different brand/manufacturing country combinations. Chinese, South Korean, and US respondents were asked about their preferences for laptop computers carrying different combinations of price, country of manufacture (CM), and country of brand (CB) cues. For all three respondent groups, price was the most salient attribute, followed by country of manufacturing, and then CB. Nonetheless, respondents from different countries differed in their preferences for price/country of manufacturing/brand combinations. The findings suggest that brands having both positive CB and CM images can charge premium prices in their home countries and abroad. Brands with weaker CB and CM images may enjoy home court advantages domestically; however, they may have to price their products lower when competing in countries with stronger CM and CB reputations.     

There is a secret to success: Linking customer experience management practices to profitability

Customer experience (CX) and customer experience management (CXM) are key tenets of the presently dominant marketing research and management strategy paradigm. Despite CXM's prevalence, very little research explores its practices and links to company performance. This study tackles a rather elusive challenge for practice and research: how to connect customer experience (management practices) to company profitability. Based on a dataset of over 273 companies with dedicated CX strategies, we explore four different clusters of how companies manage their CX programs. Interestingly, each form of practice leads to a different performance outcome. Thus, our work lays the foundation for linking CXM practices to company performance, emphasizing which practices are more rewarding than others. The present study lays the groundwork for research to further elaborate on the cause-effect relationship between CX and performance and what the next and best CXM practices look like.     

Toward lean management? international transferability of Japanese management strategies to Australia

There has been growing international interest in the “lean production” notion with present Japanese car plants as the paragon of this work system. Yet despite its Japanese origins many commentators have taken for granted that this Japanese notion can readily be transferred to other contexts and that it is a preferable alternative to Fordist mass production. Lean management involves continuous improvement, just-in-time techniques, total quality management, and team based work organization. These techniques have led to demonstrable major improvements in the efficiency of manufacturing enterprises in Southeast Asia, Japan, Europe, and the U.S., as shown by numerous studies. However, there has been little research on the possible transferability of such Japanese management strategies to Australia, which does not have a reputation for having highly committed workers or compliant unions. Therefore, the introduction of lean management in Australia deserves examination. After summarizing the context of the Australian car industry and the literature on lean production, we report on our study of a major car plant, which is based on interviews, observation, and a survey of employees. We were fortunate in having a high degree of cooperation from the company, unions, and government, because this independent study was initiated jointly by these three parties, which is relatively unusual for such research. Although we report several criticisms of lean production, we conclude that, especially when coupled with industry restructuring, lean production can potentially contribute to a substantial improvement in manufacturing competitiveness. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

中国创始人(Founder)系列物种研究之一:创始人30

如果没有十年前那一场伟大的互联网泡沫,也许中国不会想到要复制一个纳斯达克。如果那场泡沫不是如此迅速而又残酷地破灭,也许后来百度、盛大、携程、如家、分众这样的公司登陆的     

Business Ethics Auditing – More Than a Stakeholder's Toy

The explosion of interest in responsible corporate citizenship since 1995 has reminded many of the earlier rapid development of interest in environmental management issues. Active stakeholders and lobby groups have successfully exerted pressures on management for improved corporate behaviour. The paper looks at some recent initiatives and draws conclusions about the imprecise terminologies in use. It moves on to consider tools to better manage business risk exposures within the corporation. The example of the Business Ethics Strategic Survey is described, together with the attendant benefits it can deliver to company chairmen, Audit Committees and investment fund managers.     

A GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN PROFIT MAXIMIZATION AND TRANSFER PRICING MODEL

In environments where tax rates in local regions do not represent major decision factors, a cost minimization methodology, which represents the most common optimization modeling approach for integrated manufacturing and distribution planning, can help formulate an effective integrated plan. However, when planning flexibility or alternatives exist because of differing local country tax rates and types and intra‐company transfer pricing options, cost minimization methodologies may inaccurately identify profit‐maximizing global production and distribution plans. Instead, a profit maximization model that explicitly evaluates decisions such as where to incur tax liabilities and how to set intra‐company prices may be required to develop an integrated global manufacturing and distribution plan. In this paper, we discuss and formulate a model that yields profit maximizing global production and distribution plans. We discuss the managerial implications of our results, and the potential applications and benefits of the model.     

游离于公司法、破产法之间的债权人保护

如何加强对债权人的保护是学术界一直在研究的论题,有种观点认为公司的管理者在公司资不抵债时应当由对股东负责转为对债权人负责;公司的主要目的是为股东创造收益,破产的目的是保护债权人的利益。因此,应当废除公司领域中对债权人的保护,使其尽快回归到专门为债权人服务的破产领域,让公司法和破产法各司其职,使股东利益和债权人的保护得到强化。     

Trust in Companies and in CEOs: A Comparative Study of the Main Influences

Trust is a crucial factor for the long-term economic success of a company. However, not only does the company establish trust, but the CEO representing the company builds up trust as well and, therefore, also influences the company’s success. Our study examines how different dimensions of trust (i.e., ability, integrity, benevolence, and information quality) influence the degree of overall trust in a company and in CEOs. Nevertheless, dimensions that influence trust in a CEO can be completely different to those influencing trust in companies. Companies and CEOs that act on an international level can hardly be experienced individually, and thus people get information about the company via media use. Therefore, additionally we examine which kind of media is used for getting information about a company or CEO and whether a relationship exists between media use and trust. Findings from a survey in Switzerland (n = 245) show that companies are more trusted than CEOs and that the items which influence overall trust differ between CEOs and companies. Social responsibility as a benevolence item is important for both groups. Regarding information on different media channels, users of traditional media like newspapers, TV, and radio are most critical regarding trust in companies and CEOs.     

Managerial Work and Lying: A Conceptual Framework and an Explorative Case Study

In the last few years there has been a lot of fuzzy talk, scientific discourses and comments of business life about the values, ethics and social responsibility of companies. Companies are expected to have also some other tasks besides that of gaining profit. A part of the tasks which management has, except for thinking of the benefits of their own organization, are things which work for the well-being of the whole society. Issues like this are, among others, working for employment, taking care of the environment, and promoting consumer security.While making decisions of their own action in the company, the management often has to face ethical solutions. The benefit of the company may be different from that of other business stakeholders. In this case, the manager has to decide for which part he should act, for the company or for the stakeholders. The ethical problems in deciding may appear also inside the company. In our study, we are very interested in the decision-making processes which are connected with the honesty of the manager and his/her being honest with the stakeholders both inside and outside the company.In our research, we have tried to create a framework which helps us to find out in what kind of situations a manager faces the problem whether he/she should tell the truth to the stakeholders or not. We have also studied the means which the managers use in their potential dishonesty. Further, we have tried to find out how the managers see themselves in situations where they cannot tell the truth or have to cover it.     

Actuaries,Conflicts of Interest and Professional Independence: The Case of James Hardie Industries Limited

Drawing on calls by researchers to examine corporate scandals involving potential conflicts of interest or compromise to professional independence involving the actuarial profession, this article outlines one such case. The consulting actuaries – to a large Australian listed company, James Hardie Industries Limited – found themselves advising two parties in a corporate restructuring where the interests of each were sometimes competing and the interests of the public appeared to be ignored. The James Hardie case is instructive in a number of ways: first, it demonstrates the subtlety with which conflicts of interest or pressures on professional independence can arise; second, it demonstrates how important professional issues can be obfuscated by more obvious and pressing financial and strategic issues; and finally it demonstrates that adherence to professional codes of conduct and the ease with which professional ethics can be compromised when those codes are vague and transgressions are rarely actionable. The James Hardie case highlights structural issues in the employment of consulting actuaries which presents risks to the profession. It demonstrates that the combination of an aggressive corporate management with a strategic agenda reliant on consulting actuaries that have a vested interest in promoting and maintaining valuable relationships, both financially and professionally, results in ethical challenges.     

航空客运收益管理中的渠道管理问题研究

传统的存量控制研究的解决方案是以直接面对最终顾客为前提的,没有将销售渠道的需求分布考虑在内,因而也就不能把分配给各个销售渠道的机票数量进行科学控制和优化。不同的销售渠道对同种类型机票的需求分布不同,并且给航空公司带来的最终收入不同,因此,随着联网售票系统的完善和电子商务的发展,如何更好地管理销售渠道,给那些能给航空公司带来更多收益的销售渠道预留足够的座位,已经成为航空公司不容忽视的问题。     

作业成本法在第三方物流企业成本管理中的应用

物流成本的居高不下是当前多数物流企业面临的主要问题,借助于第三方物流是个必要的选择,第三方物流对于多数企业在借助专业化规模经济、提高物流效率、降低物流成本方面具有较好的作用。为了提高第三方物流企业的物流管理水平,把作业成本法应用在企业物流成本的核算管理当中,应从物流管理的转变着手打破企业成本管理的枷锁,拓展企业的利润空间,提高企业的生产运营质量,增强企业的核心竞争力。     

An Antitakeover Amendment for Stakeholders?

The non-financial effects (NFE) antitakeover amendment addresses the duties of company directors and management when faced with a possible takeover bid. The NFE amendment either permits or requires managers to consider the interests of the company's stakeholders during takeover bids. Other types of antitakeover devices have been viewed as protecting either stockholder or management interests. The NFE amendment would appear to protect a broad spectrum of interests including those of company employees, creditors, and the community in which the company operates. Positive market returns to the adoption of NFE amendments provide some evidence that investors approve. The percent of both management and institutional ownership are positively related to the market reaction to the NFE amendment adoption. To the extent that institutional ownership proxies for the broad spectrum of stakeholder interest, NFE devices, unlike some other amendments that have been studied, appear to be in the interests of more than a single interest group.     

建立企业与农户利益共享机制之探讨——以安徽省巢湖市瑞祥畜牧养殖有限公司为例

“公司＋农户”是农业产业化经营的一种重要组织形式。在“公司＋农户”的经营方式中建立利益共享机制，实现农户发家致富、公司发展壮大，是巢湖市瑞祥畜牧养殖有限公司近年来比较成功的实践。鉴于公司管理水平有限、发展资金不足以及对风险防范缺乏足够的措施等问题，企业亟需提高管理水平，提升农产品品牌价值；尽快建立风险与利益保障机制；同时政府应加大对企业的扶持力度。     

From an aggregate to a brand network: a study of the brand portfolio at L'Oréal

Abstract

Our purpose is to contribute to the understanding of brand-portfolio management by examining the brand-portfolio strategies of a world-leading company. We started to work on a case study with L'Oréal. Our research focused on two questions: (1) what reasons lead L'Oréal to develop a brand-portfolio strategy?; (2) how can brand-portfolio management create a higher and stronger level of competitive advantage for this company? The results show that an aggregation of brands is not in itself a brand portfolio. The juxtaposition of brands is one of, but not the sole, element necessary for the development of a brand portfolio, which is a combination of a brand ensemble and key competences born out of organisational savoir-faire. By analysing the evolution of the L'Oréal brand portfolio, this work shows how the brand combination within a portfolio is a key factor for company development, growth, and risk management. It is a crucial phase to understand L'Oréal's competitive advantage.     

Letting Go to Grow—Empirical Findings on a Hearsay

Research to date has largely neglected the role of management style in new entrepreneurial ventures. We address this gap by investigating the impact of management style on company performance and how the impact is different contingent on the life cycle stage of new entrepreneurial ventures. By employing the concept of microinvolvement, our study demonstrates that management style significantly impacts company performance and that the merits of a highly involved management style are less in later‐stage new entrepreneurial ventures. This finding provides support for the saying “letting go to grow” and raises important implications for management.     

Strategy in motion: Using motion pictures to illustrate strategic management concepts

A company is more likely to enjoy excellent organizational performance if its employees understand the importance of strategic management and are actively engaged in helping the company pursue its strategies. Many employees view strategy as disconnected from their jobs, however, and getting them to embrace strategy can be challenging. Using a series of vivid examples, we describe how motion pictures can bring strategic management concepts to life for employees. By making strategic management concepts more relevant and less abstract, movies can lead employees to enjoy thinking about and discussing strategy.