The Collaborative Enterprise

Instead of the currently prevailing competitive model, a more collaborative strategy is needed to address the concerns related to the unsustainability of today’s business. This article aims to explore collaborative approaches where enterprises seek to build long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with all stakeholders and want to produce sustainable values for their whole business ecosystem. Cases here analyzed demonstrate that alternative ways of doing business are possible. These enterprises share more democratic ownership structures, more balanced and broader governance systems, and a more comprehensive view of organizational goals and performance – which goes beyond the narrow concept of financial bottom line and into a stronger and systematic care of the needs and requirements of the different stakeholder groups. Thanks to this evidence and different theoretical and empirical contributions, we suggest that the strength and sustainability of enterprises come from their ability to fit into the environmental, social, and cultural context in which they operate. By creating values for all stakeholders, enterprises can involve them and gain deep support based on their commitment. This may lead to superior performance from a multiple-bottom-line perspective.     

PURCHASING POWER PARITIES IN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS: QUANTITY vs. PRICE COMPARISONS

Just as intertemporal price indices have two functions, to measure price changes and to deflate current values to constant values, this is true also for interspatial price indices, purchasing power parities (PPPs). In practice these two functions of PPPs, for conversion and for comparing price levels, are not always distinguished, and this may have some disadvantages since in a number of cases the differences between the two PPPs might be considerable. The authors review the differences in content of the two types of PPPs, and make some suggestions for making the distinction more explicitly.     

Toward an early warning system at the United Nations

World problems have emerged in profusion in the recent years. Alternative futures have likewise been produced in great numbers through diverse world models and forecasts. Advance information on basic and critical trends is now a necessary condition of informed decision-making in the international arena. Such information can be potentially gathered and made available. It is suggested that it be based on an assessment of the ratio of basic human needs to the resources required to meet them, in the context of the development trends in each nation. Universal human needs, as well as needs which are diversified due to cultural and developmental factors, can be assessed and the resources required for their fulfilment computed. The extrapolation of the long-range evolution of needs/resources ratios yields a typology of national conditions which serves to identify areas of potential conflict as well as to develop criteria for multilateral planning and negotiation. Advance information on the long-range evolution of needs/resources is in the commonhuman interest and accords with the Charter of the United Nations. Its implementation within the United Nations system is both institutionally and operationally within the realm of possibility, and should constitute an item of high priority within the system.     

A NOTE ON THE CONCEPT OF SERVICES

Not one of the many service definitions proposed by various authors and applied in practice enjoy general acceptance. Is it feasible to reach an international agreement on the definition of services? The answer is probably yes; however, is it worthwhile to spend considerable resources to reach such an agreement. Does an overall services aggregate indeed provide important analytical uses? Many doubts are expressed in this respect. Authors of recent international work on the statistics of services tend to accept a more flexible attitude: instead of having one single definition on services, several service concepts could be applied depending on feasibilities and other circumstances of the various statistics. However, all service definitions should be based on the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) and on the Central Product Classification (CPC), recently approved by the Statistical Commission of the United Nations.     

Surviving the transition: Central European bank executives’ view of environmental changes

Executives of ten large banks in three Central European transition economies were interviewed concerning their views of environmental changes. The study sought to identify environmental sectors that were important and uncertain for the bank executives. Central European bankers perceived customers, competitors, economic, and regulatory environmental sectors more uncertain than international and technological factors, sociocultural issues, and new entrants. We found that executives of banks with poor prior performance viewed environmental changes as threats rather than as opportunities.     

Competitive repertoire complexity: Governance antecedents and performance outcomes

Research summary : Past inquiry has found that implementing complex competitive repertoires (i.e., diverse and dynamic arrays of actions) is challenging, but firms benefit from doing so. Our examination of the antecedents and outcomes of complex competitive repertoires develops a more nuanced perspective. Data from 1,168 firms in 204 industries reveal that complexity initially harms performance, but then becomes a positive factor, except at high levels. We use agency and tournament theories, respectively, to examine how key governance mechanisms—ownership structure and executive compensation—help shape firms' competitive repertoires. We find that the principals of agency theory and the pay gap of tournament theory are both important antecedents of competitive complexity, and an interaction exists wherein firms build especially complex repertoires when both influences are strong. Managerial summary : In boxing, the fight does not always go to the bigger or stronger person, or even to whomever throws the most punches—the fight is sometimes won by the boxer who is unpredictable, such as throwing an uppercut when the opponent expected a right hook. Similarly, when companies compete in the marketplace, advantage is afforded not only to those with more resources or who engage in more competitive activity, but also to those whose actions are unpredictable. In this study, we develop the notion of “competitive complexity,” which describes the diversity and changing nature of a company's competitive moves. Implementing complex competitive repertoires can be painful in the short term but, if done correctly, can help company performance in the long run. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.