Executives’ Orientations as Indicators of Crisis Management Policies and Practices*

ABSTRACT The paper examines effects of executives’ orientations on crisis management awareness and practices, drawing on the simplicity and paradox management theories. It is suggested that a focus on single‐sided management constitutes an antecedent of crisis proneness. Employing a set of key corporate domains and based on a holistic organizational approach, the study aims at assessing the extent to which companies are crisis prone or prepared. In a sample of 82 Istaeli business and not‐for‐profit organizations it was found that human resource management, strategy, structure, and unlearning factors significantly predicted crisis preparedness. These results suggest that unlearning, despite a mere allusion to this correlate in the simplicity and paradox management theories, correlates better with crisis preparedness. By contrast, traditional strategy‐related and structural effects were marginally related to crisis management policies. Implications and suggestions for further research are proposed.     

集团企业工作协同管理模型研究

集团企业逐渐成为我国经济发展的骨干和支柱[1]。如何解决好集团企业内部之间的协同管理问题已经成为集团生存发展的瓶颈问题[2]。本文对集团企业协同管理系统进行了深入地分析研究,对企业的发展具有一定的理论指导意义。     

高速列车用铝合金焊丝的生产工艺

目前我国高速列车铝合金车体主要采用MIG自动焊接,为实现自动焊接,要求焊丝尺寸精,且具有一定的刚度。国内生产的铝合金焊丝存在严重的质量不稳定问题,高速列车的铝合金焊丝尚依靠进口。为实现高速列车用铝合金焊丝的国产化,本论文针对目前高速列车使用的ER5356及ER5183铝合金焊丝,开发了铝合金光亮焊丝生产工艺。     

对企业会计准则中关键不确定性术语理解的初步研究

中国企业会计准则体系实现了与国际会计准则的实质性趋同,采用了相似的原则导向观,在准则条文中使用了许多模糊的术语作为确认、计量和披露的标准。国际文献普遍研究了或有事项准则中的语言概率问题,对国际会计准则中不确定性术语的应用研究只限于在发达市场经济之间的对比,忽视了这些标准在没有职业判断传统的转轨经济国家的应用情况。在调查了中国会计准则中主要不确定性术语被中国会计师的解读情况后发现,中国会计师对某些词汇也存在较低的理解一致性。被明确定义的不确定性术语的理解一致性显著高于没有被定义的,但是同一词汇在不同情景下的理解存在显著差异。因此,准则制定机构应当关注那些理解不一致的准则,采取措施确保原则导向的新会计准则得到广泛一致的应用。     

长沙服务外包产业政策效应实证研究

文章基于长沙市服务外包产业政策,分析服务外包产业政策效应。假设ITO、BPO、KPO三种服务外包类型具有相关性,设立服务外包产业政策效应理论模型。运用SPSS17.0进行因子分析、方差分析和相关分析,测量不同服务外包类型在各种政策影响下所发挥效应是否存在显著差异,以此对长沙市服务外包产业政策效应假设进行验证,并提出服务外包产业政策发展策略。     

改革视角下中国新型城镇化红利及其释放路径

作为改革红利的一部分,新型城镇化红利是指在已有城镇化发展基础上,通过协同推进工业化、信息化、农业现代化,优化城镇化布局和形态,以制度创新为手段推进新型城镇化战略后减少的城镇化成本或增加的城镇化收益。在中国的新型城镇化过程中,制度改革创新提高了生产率和要素配置效率,进而释放出改革红利。新型城镇化红利包括五大方面:新人口红利、新土地红利、新产业红利、新生态红利和基本公共服务均等化红利。从改革视角来看,中国主要依靠制度协同创新来释放新型城镇化红利,可能的八条释放路径为:户籍分类制度改革、劳动力分类培养改革、土地确权和土地流转制度改革、生态补偿和耕地保护制度改革、区域合作制度改革、非公资本参与国资项目制度改革、服务业发展改革、权力清单和政绩考核机制等。     

Organizational mindfulness,mindful organizing,and environmental and resource sustainability

The research theorizes that environmental vulnerability can be minimized through mindfulness‐based strategies, and redesigning organizing processes, so that richer thinking is activated more quickly among greater number of people all of whom try to update their knowledge regardless of the knowledge source. It empirically evaluates the effects of organizational mindfulness and mindful organizing on resources and environmental sustainability. The model was tested in a very appropriate setting—Saudi Arabia, where increasing demand for and supply of energy culminates in unsustainable resources utilization and rise in greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental vulnerabilities. Data were collected from Saudi firms operating in the oil and gas sector and analyzed using SmartPLS software. The measurement and structural models were evaluated. The measurement model exhibits adequate model fit. The tests for the structural models show that four (of five) dimensions of organizational mindfulness (viz., commitment to resilience, deference to expertise, preoccupation with failure, and reluctance to simplify interpretations) and mindful organizing are significantly related at 5% significance level. Sensitivity to operations has no significant relationship with mindful organizing. Mindful organizing is significantly related to environmental and resources sustainability. Moreover, mindful organizing fully or partially mediates in the relationship between some of the dimensions of organizational mindfulness and environmental and resources sustainability. The study is one of the first to integrate mindfulness‐based approaches to sustainability and environmental research.     

What have we learnt about board gender diversity as a business strategy? The appointment of board subcommittees

This paper explores whether a board's gender diversity influences the voluntary formation of its board subcommittees. Female board directorship may become a business strategy for firms if it affects the appointment of board subcommittees. We hypothesize that the voluntary creation of board subcommittees is affected by the presence of female directors on boards; the presence of independent, executive, and institutional female directors; and the proportion of shares held by female directors on boards. Board gender diversity has been measured as a proportion and with Blau's index. The results show that independent female directors are positively associated with the likelihood of voluntarily setting up all or some of the committees and a supervision and control committee. The presence of executive female directors negatively influences the probability of forming all or some of the committees, an executive committee and a supervision and control committee. The percentage of shares held by female directors has a positive effect on the voluntary creation of an executive committee. The findings also report that women directors and institutional female directors do not contribute to the voluntary creation of board subcommittees. Our evidence shows that female board directorship impacts the demand of internal control mechanisms such as board subcommittees, suggesting that firms should take it into account as a business strategy. The main implications derived from this research are relevant for Spanish policymakers and researchers because board gender diversity may play a significant role in the decision‐making processes of firms and may influence firms' outcomes.     

The virtuous circle of human resource investments: A precrisis and postcrisis analysis

We propose a dynamic model of positive feedback between human resource (HR) investments and companies' economic performance. The model assumes that HR investment increases profitability through labor productivity and, in turn, profitability improves HR investment through organizational slack. Based on data from a sample of 2,497 industrial companies over a 7‐year period (2005–2011), longitudinal analysis corroborates the existence of a two‐way relationship between HR investment and profitability over time. However, the emergence of an economic crisis weakens this feedback, identifying the effect of organizational slack on HR investment as the weakest causal chain link. In a postcrisis period, HR investment is not such a high priority for managers.     

Telling and selling the value of diversity and inclusion—External consultants' discursive strategies and practices

On the basis of a qualitative study of a subgroup of diversity professionals, external diversity and inclusion (D&I) consultants, we explore D&I consultants' discursive strategies and practices situated within organisational structures, relations, and interactions of power and knowledge. Theoretically, the research reveals how D&I consultants' own discursive strategies interact with existing organisational and societal discourses of diversity, incrementally shaping their continual evolution. A classification is developed, which sets out four approaches taken by consultants with regard to their discursive strategies in relation to clients. The findings suggest that HR practitioners need to work in tandem with external consultants to develop strategies to improve the status and legitimacy of diversity work if the field is to progress the organisational D&I agenda.