The integrative domain of foresight and competitive intelligence and its impact on R&D management

R&D takes years to come to fruition, thus choosing R&D programs should be set in the context of the environment that will exist at the time that research is completed. Foresight and competitive intelligence are two fields that seek to address future oriented environmental scanning. The paper looks at what the domains of foresight and competitive intelligence entail and in particular how competitive technical intelligence can work to integrate and enable competitive agility in foresight positioning. Focus is put on reviewing literature that addresses how foresight impacts R&D project selection. A review is made on foresight programs from around the world based on a recently completed study on Canada's foresight capacity. The authors conclude that agile organizations need to be adaptive and well prepared for tomorrow's challenges and so by integrating competitive technical intelligence, (typically oriented to business needs) with strategic technology foresight, (typically designed to address government priorities for technology investments and innovation policy issues), enterprises will be best positioned to address uncertainties in the technology cycle.     

Ten years of competency-based training: the experience of accredited training providers in Australia

This article examines ten years of implementation of competency- based training (CBT) in the vocational education and training sector in Australia. It begins by explaining the meaning of CBT in Australia in the 1990s, and the way in which CBT is organised, and then describes the findings of two national research projects carried out during the period 1995– 1997. The first project reported on the extent of CBT pen-etration and the second examined the effects of CBT on teaching and learning. Finally the article speculates on the future direction of CBT in Australia, with the introduction of ‘training packages’.     

The organisational learning system within small UK manufacturing firms

Organisational learning is increasingly being mentioned in the literature as a mechanism for assisting the market performance of small firms. There exists, however, limited empirical evidence on the learning systems utilised to manage the process. A survey was undertaken to acquire data on whether a relationship exists between learning style and the nature of learning systems used by small UK manufacturing firms. The results suggest that as firms move from single towards double-loop learning this is accompanied by the adoption of a more formalised learning system inside the organisation. The implications of these finding are discussed and proposals presented on the needs for further research.     

Confidence and trading aggressiveness of naïve investors: effects of information quantity and consistency

Advances in technology, as well as regulatory and legislative actions, have led to an increase in the quantity of information available to the public. This paper experimentally examines the effects of information quantity and consistency (or directional agreement) on the judgments and trading behavior of naïve investors, holding constant the quality (or predictive value) of information. In my experiment, investors receive accounting signals and make predictions and trading decisions for 24 separate firms. I find that increasing the quantity and consistency of information leads naïve investors to show greater judgment confidence and trading aggressiveness. Increased quantity reduces investors’ expected wealth in laboratory markets, while the effect of consistency on expected wealth depends on the relationship between the low- and high-quality signals investors receive. Results highlight possible unintended consequences of increased disclosure and suggest directions for future experimental and archival research.     

Disadvantaged families and the meaning of the holiday

Holiday participation, although widespread, is not universal. This paper summarises a study of the meaning and significance of the holiday for families who are rarely able to go on holiday because of personal economic and social circumstances: a subgroup of Haukeland's category C non-travellers. Holidays are likely to have particular significance for them. Studies of women’s holiday experiences are examined in order to contribute to the context of this study. Informants were interviewed in their own homes and a number of meanings emerged including the significance of ‘change’ and establishing relationships. The study confirms the diversity of holiday experiences and meanings and the particular significance for this study group in conferring the ‘excitement and spectacle’ that are particularly limited in their every-day lives. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of corporate social disclosure on investment behavior: A cross-national study

We examine the impact of corporate social disclosure (CSD) on investment behavior in the US, Japan, France, and Sweden using stakeholder theory as the underlying framework for our analysis. We find that there is a significant difference in investors’ reactions to CSD across countries. Using a unique stakeholder scale we also find that these reactions are related to the investors’ stakeholder orientation. These findings provide insight into cross-national differences in the perceived relevance of CSD to investors.     

Social capital and management control systems: A study of a non-government organization

In this paper we use the concept of social capital to outline a distinctive approach to understanding the interplay between management control systems and the development of social connections in and between organisations. Social capital provides a comprehensive framework for examining the nature of social connections through its focus on both structural networks (bridging) and interpersonal relationships that predispose individuals towards mutually beneficial collective action (bonding). In doing so, social capital provides a means of considering how individuals react to management control systems in terms of the social ties that exist both within the organization and external to the organization. Using a case study of a non-government organization, we show how social capital is implicated in efforts to attract economic capital and cultural capital. We demonstrate how elements of a management control system can either enhance or inhibit the bonding and bridging dimensions of social capital with potential consequences on both economic and cultural capital. We highlight the mixed and sometimes contradictory effects of management control systems on social capital, and provide a powerful illustration of the role of management control systems in brokering alliances and bridging structural holes.     

The level and quality of Value-at-Risk disclosure by commercial banks

In this paper we study both the level of Value-at-Risk (VaR) disclosure and the accuracy of the disclosed VaR figures for a sample of US and international commercial banks. To measure the level of VaR disclosures, we develop a VaR Disclosure Index that captures many different facets of market risk disclosure. Using panel data over the period 1996–2005, we find an overall upward trend in the quantity of information released to the public. We also find that Historical Simulation is by far the most popular VaR method. We assess the accuracy of VaR figures by studying the number of VaR exceedances and whether actual daily VaRs contain information about the volatility of subsequent trading revenues. Unlike the level of VaR disclosure, the quality of VaR disclosure shows no sign of improvement over time. We find that VaR computed using Historical Simulation contains very little information about future volatility.     

Employee involvement climate,task and citizenship performance,and instability as a moderator

This study explored the group-level effects of a climate of employee involvement. Using the immediate manager as the referent, we examined data from 153 workgroups to establish a positive relationship between climate for employee involvement and performance. Through multilevel analysis, we provide results supporting that a climate for employee involvement positively relates to group citizenship behaviors and group task performance, respectively. Furthermore, moderation analyses confirmed the deleterious effects of member turnover on the positive relationship between a climate of employee involvement and performance. Taken together, these results support the concurrent work exploring transactive memory and mental models in groups to further explicate the interactive effects of group-level perceptions and stability on performance.