A critique of Porter＇s cost leadership and differentiation strategies

Porter identifies high market share with cost leadership, citing GM as a successful practitioner of this strategy. However, GM became a market share leader in the American automobile industry due to a strategy of market segmentation, differentiation and a broad scope shaped during the 1920s. Porter argues that cost leadership and differentiation offer an equally viable path to competitive success. Nevertheless, a differentiation strategy based on superior quality compared to competition is more profitable than cost leadership strategy. It can lead a business to become a market share leader, and consequently even a low-cost leader. Research indicates that differentiation and cost leadership can co-exist. However, Porter insists that each generic strategy requires a different culture and a totally different philosophy. The problem is that Porter＇s generic strategies are too broad. It is not his logic that is flawed, but his basic premise that prescribes cost leadership strategy as the only route to market share leadership, and presents a narrow view of differentiation with a unique product--sold at a premium price--on the one hand, and a ＂standard, or no-frills＂ product on the other. Mintzburg （1988） says Porter＇s cost leadership strategy should be called ＂price differentiation＂： a strategy that is based on a lower price than that of the competition. He suggests that business strategy has two dimensions： differentiation and scope. Thus, setting scope aside, competitive strategy has only one component： differentiation. So, the key question is not whether to differentiate, but how？ First, make customer-perceived quality as the foundation of competitive strategy because it is far more critical to long-term success than any other factor. Second, serve the middle class by competing in the mid-price segment, offering better quality than the competition at a somewhat higher price. It is this path that can lead to market share leadership--a strategy that can be both profitable--and sustainable.     

Political Opinion Leadership and Electoral Behavior

SUMMARY

A micro-model that focuses on political opinion leadership within an extended nomological network is developed and tested. Data were gathered from a sample of voters in an election. The results indicate that political opinion leadership played a central role in the voting behavior. Key antecedents to opinion leadership were voter involvement, subjective knowledge, and indirectly, information seeking behavior. Important consequences were voting stability, perceived risk and political satisfaction.     

不确定性企业环境条件下的辱虐式领导与团队绩效关系研究

关于辱虐式领导对企业与员工的破坏性的研究逐渐成为西方领导理论和组织行为学领域的前沿研究课题。从群体层面来探讨中国情境下的企业在不确定性企业环境条件下的辱虐式领导对团队绩效的作用机制，通过对企业的调查与实证分析发现，辱虐式领导与团队绩效显著负相关，对辱虐式领导进行有效管理有利于减少团队绩效水平的阻碍因素；企业环境的不确定性在辱虐式领导与团队绩效之间存在调节作用，针对具体情境对辱虐式领导进行权变管理，有利于构建和谐的劳动关系。     

“ENTER2008”: Report on the 15th International Conference on Information Technology and Travel and Tourism, 23–25 January 2008, Innsbruck,Austria

As the world's largest annual event on information and communication technologies (ICTs) and travel and tourism, ENTER2008 was held in Innsbruck, a small medieval town in Austria. Like previous ENTER conferences, delegates were able to participate personally in the discussion of the latest research findings and industrial innovations in the context of ICTs in travel and tourism. Delegates could also enjoy the hospitality and unique experiences offered by the conference host and organizer. Different from other ENTER conference proceedings, which always had front pages in silver, ENTER2008 proceedings used an attractive and bright cover page in a good mixture of yellow and red.     

Brand Name Audit Pricing,Industry Specialization,and Leadership Premiums post‐Big 8 and Big 6 Mergers*

This paper investigates brand name, industry specialization, and leadership audit pricing in the wake of the mergers that created the Big 6 and the Big 5 accounting firms. For samples of Australian listed public companies in each of the postmerger years 1990, 1992, 1994, and 1998, we estimate national audit fee premiums for the Big 6/5 auditors and the industry specialists and leaders. We find limited support for the ability of the Big 6/5 to obtain fee premiums over non‐Big 6/5 for those industries not having specialist auditors. Nonspecialist Big 6/5 auditors are able to obtain fee premiums over nonspecialist non‐Big 6/5 auditors for those industries having specialist auditors. However, this result only holds among the smaller half of our sample. We do not find strong support for the presence of industry specialist premiums in the postmerger years, especially after 1990, using various definitions of industry specialist. We find, at best, limited support for the presence of industry leadership premiums. The evidence suggests that after the Big 8/6 audit firm mergers, some caution is required in generalizing the Craswell, Francis, and Taylor 1995 finding of national market industry specialist premiums. More generally, the study raises questions about the tenuous link between the concept of specialization and national market‐share statistics.     

Managing International Distribution Channel Partners: A Cross-Cultural Approach

Although the topic of conflict has been extensively studied in the distribution channels literature from a domestic perspective, there is relatively little published research examining the construct within the international distribution channels context. This is of particular concern because cross-national channel partnerships are on the rise, and divergent cultures may engender heightened conflict, which has a deleterious effect on channel performance. This article explores the extent to which different channel leadership styles, predicated on Hofstede's dimensions of national culture, can be effective strategies to manage conflict in international distribution channels. Specifically, the article examines whether the relationship between leadership style and conflict in international distribution channels is moderated by national culture. Additionally, the impact of manifest conflict on international channel partner performance is investigated. A conceptual model and research propositions are developed. The use of leadership styles to manage disagreements among international channel partners is argued to be culturally specific. International channel management implications and directions for future research are suggested.     

国外精神型领导研究前沿探析

精神型领导理论是目前国内外学术界领导研究领域的一个前沿主题。它反映了在当前企业组织结构加速变革的情境下,组织寻求通过内在激励员工使其获得体验和发挥自我以实现个体、群体或组织绩效方面的不断提升。本文分别从概念界定、维度结构以及模型分析三个方面对国外精神型领导的相关文献进行了归纳总结,并对目前该领域研究的局限进行了分析,明确了未来研究的方向。     

国有企业改革的背景差异与变革型领导者催生

变革型领导是国有企业改革的中坚力量,推动着改革的进程。在体制转型情景下,国有企业性质和目标的转变给国有企业领导者提出历史性的新要求,国有企业改革的进程与力度决定国有企业领导者的类型与结构,促使了变革型领导的形成。变革型领导根据国有企业改革和企业实际需要,在生产经营中采取生产与营销模式改革、产权与人事制度改革、企业文化改革等变革创新行为,并通过制度创新促进和推动国有企业改革。     

Unique but integrated: The role of individuation and assimilation processes in teen opinion leadership

Opinion leaders propel the diffusion of innovation and exert a significant influence on the marketplace. This influence is especially pronounced during adolescence, a period marked by increasing reliance on peers and the emergence of a tension between two countervailing needs: assimilation and individuation. A survey of 1142 adolescents reveals that these developmental needs affect adolescent opinion leadership in the critical clothing market. Adolescent opinion leadership relies on a balance between desires for assimilation (i.e., centrality within the peer network) and individuation (i.e., need for uniqueness); adolescents' susceptibility to peers' normative influence and gender moderate these relationships. Adolescents who occupy central positions within their peer network tend to be opinion leaders, though only if they are not susceptible to normative influence. Position within the peer network is a key for girls, whereas need for uniqueness is a key for boys. These differences implicate different approaches for managers targeting adolescent males and females.