Scale,scope and accountability: A response to Lloyd-Jones and Lewis

This is a response to the critique by Lloyd-Jones and Lewis of our 2003 Business History article. It makes a renewed case for the extension of business history research into corporate governance and accountability, such that this new dimension is considered in conjunction with the analysis of scale and scope. Our approach and that of Lloyd Jones and Lewis demonstrate that governance and accountability, or the lack of it, in conjunction with strategy and structure, are useful dimensions of the cases they analyse, and, we would continue to argue, in the general case as well.     

Marketing accountability: Linking marketing actions to financial results

This plenary address to the Society for Marketing Advances calls on the marketing discipline to be accountable, link its contributions to financial performance, and assert the value it contributes to the firm. The paper suggests a process for developing causal links among marketing activities, intermediate marketing outcomes, and financial performance metrics.     

The European way to lean management

Lean management is an integrated set of attitudes and decision and action methods with which a firm can achieve sustainable competitive advantages and increase its value in a turbulent environment. In 1992 lean management became a major priority for top management in German and Austrian firms. The article is written from the standpoint of strategic management and presents preliminary lessons to be learned from the experience in progress in leading European firms. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Addressing ethical issues in retailing: a stakeholder perspective

This paper contends that, despite the dominance of the marketing paradigm in retail studies, benefits may be gained from applying stakeholder analysis to retailing. The development of stakeholder theory is outlined, and its problems and shortcomings reviewed. Notwithstanding these, retailing's stakeholders are defined in relation to "best practice". Examples of issues pertaining to stakeholder groups are given. Several ethical issues in retailing are then examined to demonstrate the benefits that accrue from applying a stakeholder approach. It is suggested that such a framework offers a broader perspective, and in particular that rising concern for ethical issues in retailing is better articulated through such a framework. The paper concludes such issues are better addressed when any retail marketing analysis is paralleled with a stakeholder analysis.     

The cheating culture: A global societal phenomenon

Today's future business leaders are confronted early in their academic careers with history-making events which have a profound impact on the global economic system. These students of business are being exposed to behaviors as they unfold and, as such, are possibly living in an age of the “cheating culture” whereby everybody cheats because everyone else does it. Business students from around the world completed a cheating culture scale as part of a much larger investigation examining college students’ attitudes toward capitalism and business ethics. Findings suggest that the cheating culture is not just a capitalistic phenomenon and that attitudinal differences are driven by gender, country corruption, and socioeconomic environment. Future business leaders worldwide, who are being shaped by news reports of scandal, are also being taught the fundamentals of operating in the business world. Unfortunately, they may be learning to inextricably combine the cheating culture with best business practices.     

加快提升我国造船生产组织管理技术的路径

现代工业生产实践一再证明着这一道理:管理是生产力,管理出效益.其他生产力要素(知识、劳动、资本)只有通过管理这一生产要素才能结合起来,转化为财富.如果没有科学、先进的生产组织管理技术做"粘合剂"、"调节器",纵然是巨额资本投入、现代化的设施设备,以及有热情和干劲的员工,也不能充分发挥其功效和作用,也未必能产出高的经济效益;而如果有了高水平的管理,就会使各种资源要素充分发挥其功效,即使硬件设施条件一般,也会产生巨大的经济效益.     

对工程造价及管理问题的认识

我国的工程造价管理改革仍然处在一个刚起步和过度的阶段,市场经济体制的内在要求与经济运行的现状存在着矛盾,是工程造价体制改革的背景.从工程造价领域来看,虽然市场经济体制要求将工程定价权交给了企业业主,但是施工企业仍然依赖于现存的预算定额体制去计价.本文重点以建筑施工企业加强工程造价管理和目前工程造价存在的问题、改革情况谈点认识.     

强化企业资金预算管理控制能力的途径分析

资金预算不仅是企业计划发展的前提条件,也是企业扩大规模的物质保证.企业积极采取资金预算及管理的目的在于合理分配资金且实现企业的长久发展.通过对资金预算管理现实意义的分析,分析了当前企业资金预算管理存在的问题,并针对具体问题,提出了企业资金预算控制的有效途径.     

The new product process: A decision guide for management

This paper presents some of the findings of the latest study in the Project NewProd research series. It attempts to bridge the research‐versus‐practice gap by giving some advice on putting the findings into practice. The study looks at the characteristics of new research projects in an attempt to uncover what separates winners from losers. This paper takes the key findings from the research study and formulates them into a guide for systematic new product development, giving a practical aid to those involved in the new product development process.     

Risky business: Taking a stand on social issues

When company executives take a stand on social issues, the repercussions can be significant. Not only does the company run the risk of alienating employees, but taking a stand on a controversial issue can impact the company's image and ultimately consumer purchasing behaviors. However, research on corporate social responsibility generally supports the notion that when companies get involved in societal issues, it can positively influence bottom-line financial performance. This article evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of taking a corporate stand on sensitive social issues and suggests guidelines that leaders should consider to increase the probability of success. Specifically, we found that oftentimes it is not the stand a leader takes but rather how that leader takes that stand. Moreover, we encourage business leaders to consider the delicate balance between fiduciary responsibility and social activism, to use a strategic approach, and to understand the legal repercussions before taking a stand on a social issue.     

The judicious use and management of humor in the workplace

Everybody loves humor. In the workplace, it can provide such benefits as stress relief, team unification, employee motivation, idea generation, and frustration diffusion through venting. Despite these positives, it should be stressed that humor in this context has downsides, as well. For example, humor can distract us from the job at hand, hurt our credibility, or cause offense in increasingly diverse work settings. In the midst of this complicated situation stand managers, who occupy a position of responsibility for both the good and bad effects of humor in the workplace. It is the intention of this article to use existing humor theory and a simple model to generate a more analytical understanding of humorous interaction. Suggestions are then offered as to how to use humor and manage the use of humor in such a way as to maximize its benefits, while minimizing its dangers.     

The development of new products: The role of firm context and managerial cognition

We explore the effect of organizational factors and managerial cognition on firms' entrepreneurial actions and investigate the relationship between these antecedents by drawing from prior work on corporate entrepreneurship, managerial cognition, and the attention-based view of the firm. The analysis of data from 84 firms shows that firm strategy and resources influence the degree of negativity with which managers interpret events that lead to the development of new products. Our results also suggest that more negative evaluations of the triggering event lead to less innovative new products. While the strategy and the resources of a firm also have an effect on a new product's degree of innovativeness, at least part of this effect is mediated by executives' evaluation of the triggering event. The theoretical elaboration and our results contribute to a better understanding of the drivers of corporate entrepreneurial activities and point to the importance of considering both managerial and organizational factors for advancing our knowledge on firms' entrepreneurial actions.     

Evaluating sponsorship through the lens of the resource-based view: The potential for sustained competitive advantage

The resource-based view (RBV) of the firm has become a prominent management theory that firms can use to analyze resources as potential sources of competitive advantage. Theorists have suggested sponsorship of sport properties as one such resource, yet specific cases of sponsorship's role in a firm's achievement of a sustained advantage over competitors have yet to be explored. This article illuminates the case of Visa's longstanding global sponsorship of the Olympic Games, which was initiated and leveraged to counteract competitor American Express’ advantage with global business travelers. Evidence is presented that supports Visa's achievement of a competitive advantage during the term of the sponsorship. The case is then used to develop a conceptual model based on the RBV to identify the key characteristics of sponsored properties capable of assisting the sponsoring firm in achieving a sustained competitive advantage. From a managerial perspective, the model is designed to assist marketing managers tasked with the identification and evaluation of potential sponsorship properties.     

Towards a new way to measure power: Applying conjoint analysis to group decisions

This paper presents some preliminary development towards a methodology for measuring power in a group purchase decision. We define power as the capacity of an individual to change the probability of an alternative being chosen by expressing an opinion about that alternative. We present a linear model that relates the group members' preferences to the probability that a given alternative will be chosen. The model parameters reflect specific measures of power and can be estimated by conjoint analysis. We present the results of a pilot field study, conducted on a sample of purchasing managers, which favorably assesses certain psychometric properties of the resulting measures for dyads.