The Softer Side of Strategy Dynamics

Intangible resources like the feelings of staff, customers and investors have an indirect but powerful impact on firms' performance. They grow or decline alongside the more tangible resources in the firm's armoury. Capabilities too must be accumulated and retained, and may be reinforced by learning mechanisms within the business. This third and last article on the dynamics of strategy discusses how dynamic resource system view (DRSV) techniques can be applied to these intangibles to improve the firm's performance. (The first two articles on DRSV were published in the Autumn and Winter 1999 issues of Business Strategy Review ).     

Galbraith’s Planning System as a Substitute for Market Theory

Knowledge about the power and misbehavior of defense contractors is substantial; yet their power continues to grow in full view of a record of waste, fraud, corrupt activity, and the failure to perform contracts. The knowledge base about defense contractors has not been sufficient to effectively oppose their extensive power. Knowledge is needed about how the boards of directors of the defense corporations are interlocked. That work is initiated in this article by ranking the top defense contractors in terms of the number of power blocs to which the corporations belong in the defense contractors' power-bloc network.     

Strategy Communication in Family-Owned Restaurants: Ad Hoc and Ad-Lib

ABSTRACT

Most New Zealand restaurants are small family-owned businesses, which could be expected to communicate their purpose, business strategy, and goals to their employees. However, this expectation may be at odds with the informal mode of a family operation. This exploratory study therefore examines the communication of strategies in family-owned restaurants to determine the likely impact of family ownership on strategy communication. Interview data from family business owners and employees indicate that communication was largely ad hoc, relating to tactics more than strategies, and that many owners lacked the skills needed to operate a profitable and successful business. The weak understanding of strategic business skills identified may explain the high rate of failures identified in the New Zealand restaurant industry.