In search of excellence in the UK

Peters and Waterman's “In Search of Excellence” has become one of the best selling business books of the decade yet continues to be the subject of controversy. This article examines the debate surrounding the book by looking at its origins, the criticisms that it has attracted and empirically investigating how well the book describes successful British and Japanese companies competing in UK markets. The results show that, although it describes many of the characteristics of successful companies, “In Search of Excellence” neglects several competitive issues that help describe business success.     

A Model of the Australian Housing Market

We build an empirical model of the Australian housing market that quantifies interrelationships between construction, vacancies, rents and prices. We find that low interest rates (partly reflecting lower world long-term rates) explain much of the rapid growth in housing prices and construction over the past few years. Another demand factor, high immigration, also helps explain the tight housing market and rapid growth in rents in the late 2000s. A large part of the effect of interest rates on dwelling investment, and hence GDP, works through housing prices.     

A framework of environmental mitigation for the convention and exhibition centers in the China greater Bay area

The numerous participants in convention and exhibition (C&E) events and the consequently huge consumption of direct and indirect resources have increased the environmental pressure on C&E centers to implement environmentally friendly practices and procedures. This paper explores the innovative methods adopted by green-certified C&E centers and synthesizes a reference framework of environmental mitigation practices for the C&E sector in the Greater Bay Area, which was recently designated as a major regional development area in China. Eleven green-certified C&E centers were selected to establish a comprehensive and indicative framework containing 59 actual environmental practices in three major categories. Suggestions made by 12 experts for modifying the fit of the constructed framework to suit the local geographical and climatic situations of C&E centers in the China Greater Bay Area were examined.     

Just Relations and Company–Community Conflict in Mining

This research engages with the problem of company–community conflict in mining. The inequitable distributions of risks, impacts, and benefits are key drivers of resource conflicts and are likely to remain at the forefront of mining-related research and advocacy. Procedural and interactional forms of justice therefore lie at the very heart of some of the real and ongoing challenges in mining, including: intractable local-level conflict; emerging global norms and performance standards; and ever-increasing expectations for the industry to translate high-level corporate social responsibility policy into on-the-ground practice. This research focuses on the “process” aspects of resource conflicts through an examination of existing grievance-handling procedures at six mining operations where company–community conflict was present. In their current form, and on their own, the six mechanisms were found to be insufficient in their capacity to advance justice. The authors argue that if the overall objective of global norms is that companies construct and perform grievance handling in ways that strongly preference just practices, then “mechanisms-in-practice” must be better understood and constructively critiqued along all justice dimensions.     

Managing the Exploitation/Exploration Paradox: The Role of a Learning Capability and Innovation Ambidexterity

Some researchers have proposed that practices facilitating learning and knowledge transfer are particularly important to innovation. Some of the practices that researchers have studied include how organizations collaborate with other organizations, how organizations promote learning, and how an organization's culture facilitates knowledge transfer and learning. And while some have proposed the importance of combining practices, there has been a distinct lack of empirical studies that have explored how these practices work together to facilitate learning and knowledge transfer that leads to the simultaneous achievement of incremental and radical innovation, what we refer to as innovation ambidexterity (IA). Yet, a firm's ability to combine these practices into a learning capability is an important means of enabling them to foster innovation ambidexterity. In this study, learning capability is defined as the combination of practices that promote intraorganizational learning among employees, partnerships with other organizations that enable the spread of learning, and an open culture within the organization that promotes and maintains sharing of knowledge. This paper examines the impact of this learning capability on innovation ambidexterity and innovation ambidexterity's effect on business performance. The resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm is used to develop a conceptual foundation for combining these practices. This study empirically examines whether these practices constitute a learning capability by analyzing primary data gathered from 214 Taiwanese owned strategic business unit (SBUs) drawn from several industries where innovation is important. The results of this study make four important contributions. First, they demonstrate that the combination of these practices has a greater impact on innovation ambidexterity than any one practice individually or when only two practices are combined. Second, the results demonstrate a relationship between innovation ambidexterity and business performance in the form of revenues, profits, and productivity growth relative to competitors. Third, the results suggest that innovation ambidexterity plays a mediating role between learning capability and business performance. That is, learning capability has an indirect impact on business performance by facilitating innovation ambidexterity that in turn fosters business performance. This study also contributes to our understanding of ambidexterity literature in a non‐Western context, i.e., Taiwan.     

The Demand for Private Medical Insurance in the UK: A Cohort Analysis

This paper examines the determinants of the demand for private health insurance in the United Kingdom from 1978 to 1996 using a pseudo-cohort panel. The focus is on the impact of public and private sector quality, generational change, and past purchase on demand. The results indicate that there has been generational change in buying behaviour, that the number of senior doctors employed in the public sector impacts upon demand for the private alternative, and that there is limited impact of habit in purchase. Changes to the structure of labour contracts in the NHS may affect demand for the private alternative.     

Maintaining a Flexible Payout Policy in a Mature Industry: The Case of Crown Cork and Seal in the Connelly Era

This case study suggests that the payment of cash dividends may not be essential to the long-run success of even mature companies. A mature company in a mature industry, the Crown Cork and Seal Company did not pay any common dividends during John Connelly's 33-year tenure as chairman and CEO. During that period (from 1957 to 1990), the company used stock repurchases along with a compensation policy featuring low executive salaries and generous executive stock options to motivate and execute a focused business strategy. Under the leadership of Connelly, Crown was rescued from what appeared to be certain bankruptcy to become one of the most profitable firms in its industry. Debt was immediately paid down, preferred stock was retired, and the firm's operations were revamped and streamlined. Instead of following the diversification strategies of larger industry peers, Crown's strategy was focused and driven by profit margin and customer service. This strategy eventually led Crown to invest internationally and acquire one of its major rivals. In addition to significant equity ownership by Crown's management and board members, the company's board had a remarkable number of “outsiders” and representatives from international operations, creating a culture that was outward-looking as well as cohesive. And without paying a dollar of dividends—a practice that many finance scholars believe imposes a necessary discipline on mature companies—Crown both preserved its financing flexibility and produced a remarkable record of increases in both profits and market value.     

Creating and Recreating Heritage in Singapore

The aim of this paper is to examine the extent to which public planning and policy have created a 'national' identity for Singapore since its independence in 1965, the importance of heritage to contemporary Singapore, and how heritage is marketed to Singaporeans and visitors. Over the last 30 years Singapore has striven to create itself as one of the most modern and successful of the ASEAN nations, but this may have been at the cost of its indigenous cultures and authentic heritage. Many of the craft industries common in the late 1970s and 1980s have been lost, and while the Singapore Tourism Board promotes Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam as 'pockets of individuality' in Singapore's multicultural society, souvenirs currently on sale were made in China, India, Malaysia and Indonesia. By contrast, the enduring image of 'Singapore Girl' for Singapore Airlines led to an entire souvenir culture and a batik clad 'Singapore Girl' Barbie Doll.     

Enriching the Tourist and Host Intercultural Experience by Reconceptualising Communication

The aim of this paper is to reconceptualise intercultural communication as it is conventionally understood in the field of tourism studies. Tourism literature identifies many problems related to intercultural communication between tourists and hosts from different cultural backgrounds. Some of these 'problems' occur only because tourism researchers assume that the appropriate goal for communication is 'communing', that is, finding common ground or understanding. This philosophical paper suggests that if one reconceptualises communication without the communing, using the philosophy of Martin Heidegger and Jean-Luc Nancy, the 'problems' in intercultural communication disappear and communication becomes a source of enrichment for both tourists and hosts. This paper suggests that the basis of intercultural communication in tourism should be the acknowledgement of cultural differences between international tourists and local hosts, and the goal should be the 'spacing' of culturally different individuals rather than the 'communing' of 'idle talkers'. Treating intercultural communication in this way creates an opportunity for both sides to appreciate and value cultural difference. Experiencing cultural difference is one of the most fundamental motivators for travel and for opening host communities to international tourists. Reconceptualising intercultural communication by adopting Heidegger's and Nancy's philosophies promises not only to enrich the tourism experience but also to transform researchers' approaches to tourism education and training, and to tourism marketing and management.