bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Managing the new venture division: Research findings and implications for strategic management
Authors: Burgelman Robert A.
Published: May 2007

The New Venture Division (NVD), an important organizational innovation to facilitate corporate entrepreneurship, so far has been used with mixed success. Systematic differences in terms of administrative processes, strategy‐making and participants' orientation create problems in the interfaces between the NVD and the rest of the corporation. Top management should realize that the NVD is a design for ambiguity. It should take steps to provide an adequate structural context for new venture activities, and to create a process for determining the strategic context of such activities in the corporation.
Competitors' responses to easily imitated new products—exploring commercial banking product introductions
Authors: MacMillan Ian , McCaffery Mary Lynn , Van Wijk Gilles
Published: May 2007

The article describes an applied research project in which existing theory from the policy and organization theory literature was used to develop a rationale for estimating response times of competitors to easily imitated new products. A specific study of commercial banking product introductions is reported.
Multiple point competition
Authors: Karnani Aneel , Wernerfelt Birger
Published: May 2007

Situations where firms compete against each other simultaneously in several markets abound in real life. However, there is very little conceptual or theoretical literature on multiple point competition. This paper offers a first attempt at developing a conceptual framework for analysing and understanding situations involving multiple point competition. Several examples are discussed to provide insights into the options available to the competitors and the equilibrium outcomes of such competition.
Control systems and strategic adaptation: Lessons from the Japanese experience
Authors: Jaeger Alfred M. , Baliga B. R.
Published: May 2007

A model of cultural control is developed and contrasted with the more familiar bureaucratic control model. This model is used to explain processes of strategic adaptation as observed in Japanese cultural control and American bureaucratic control firms. A discussion of the strategic costs and benefits to the organization associated with each type of control is then presented.
Political strategies of regulated organizations as functions of context and fear
Authors: Birnbaum Philip H.
Published: May 2007

Data from representative privately owned profit‐making, privately owned non‐profit and publicly owned non‐profit organizations are used to determine differences in influence strategy and whether organizational context (e.g. size, dependence) and fear are significant explanatory variables for variation in influence strategies across industries. Extending ‘power‐dependence theory’ to conditions of vertical interdependence between regulated organizations and regulatory agencies, the present study finds support for the hypotheses that context has a significant positive effect on information based influence strategies, but no significant effect on pressure strategies of influence. Further, fear of government retaliation is found to be related negatively to information based influence strategies and related positively to pressure strategies. Implications for further theoretical development and private and public policy are drawn.
An exploratory study of strategic acquisition factors relating to performance
Authors: Kusewitt John B.
Published: May 2007

This study investigated the relationship of seven common factors of acquisition strategy to the long run financial performance of acquiring firms: relative size, acquisition rate, industry commonality, timing, type of consideration, acquiree profitability and price paid. The factors were analysed individually and in concert using a database of 138 active acquiring firms which had accomplished some 3500 acquisitions during the 1967‐1976 study time period. All factors except price paid were found to be individually significantly statistically related to the performance measures. Also, these factors together accounted for most of the post‐merger financial performance which can be attributed to the acquisition programme. These results indicate that six key acquisition variables, on the average, largely determine the success of acquisition strategy. Therefore, by means of those variables, guidelines are provided that should improve the effectiveness of an acquisition programme.
Retrospective reports of strategic‐level managers: Guidelines for increasing their accuracy
Authors: Huber George P. , Power Danial J.
Published: May 2007

Strategic management studies frequently involve obtaining retrospective data from strategic‐level managers. The use of this data acquisition methodology has received relatively little codification and little critical review or comment. This seems unfortunate, as discussion and codification of the methodology could be useful for those academic researchers and corporate staff who study strategic decisions and organizational processes and for those managers who may be asked to provide the retrospective data. This paper is an attempt to remedy the current state of affairs. In particular, the paper reviews several sources of the data inaccuracies that commonly affect retrospective data and offers guidelines for reducing the occurrence or magnitude of these inaccuracies.
Intrapreneurship strategy for internal markets — corporate, non‐profit and government institution cases
Authors: Nielsen Richard P. , Peters Michael P. , Hisrich Robert D.
Published: May 2007

When an organization tries to realize better its central mission, it is often important to maintain both line and staff units' integration with the central mission while flexibly and innovatively responding to evolving and changing external markets and environments. However, internal flexibility/innovation and integration needs often conflict. Thus, how to resolve these conflicting needs becomes somewhat of a dilemma (Lorsch and Allen, 1973; Nielsen, 1981, 1983d).
The experience curve from the economist's perspective
Authors: Hall Graham , Howell Sydney
Published: May 2007

This paper undertakes a critique of experience curves from several angles. It considers the extent to which they can be regarded as an extension of learning curves, and concludes that the benefits from learning‐by‐doing at plant level are exhausted relatively early. It goes on to consider the evidence that there is a common slope to experience curves, their usefulness for forecasting prices, and possible reasons for a spurious correlation between accumulated output and average cost. It concludes by demonstrating the differences in strategic implications between the various possible economic factors which may underlie the experience curve. The conclusion is that experience curves are partly spurious, and of little practical value in forecasting or decision making.
Modelling the effect of buyer and seller power on the margins of commodity plastics
Authors: Cowley P. R.
Published: May 2007

In the last decade, large sectors of the chemical and plastics industries in the U.S.A. and West Europe have suffered drastic declines in price and gross margin during periods of low use of industry capacity. This paper shows that the major changes in gross margin observed for some commodity plastics can be modelled successfully in terms of the balance between buyer power and seller power. These industries have visibility of prices and industry occupacity and comparable concentrations of sellers and important buyers. The modelling follows Burgess (1982) in expressing buyer and seller power as simple functions of buyer and seller concentrations, industry occupacity and ‘cohesion’ between sellers. This work provides a first practical test of this new approach. It is shown that the model fits the observed data best if the ‘cohesion’ declines as occupacity declines. It is suggested that the approach would be useful in understanding the behaviour of other ‘near‐commodity’, capital‐intensive businesses, and in helping to distinguish between those businesses where margins are likely to remain relatively stable and those which might face drastically declining margins if the industry occupacity declines or new entrants change the balance between sellers and buyers.
Strategic groups: Theory, research and taxonomy
Authors: McGee John , Thomas Howard
Published: May 2007

This paper discusses the concept of strategic groups, focusing upon the importance of intra‐industry strategic groupings in understanding differences across firms within an industry. The problems involved in identifying strategic groups within industries are examined through a comprehensive review of recent studies. It is demonstrated that much of the research has used surrogates for elements of a firm's strategic direction, e.g. vertical integration, product range, R & D expenditure, to suggest bases by which creative and sustainable groups are formed. The authors argue that certain theoretical concepts such as mobility barriers, isolating mechanisms and controllable variablesprovide much firmer bases for identifying strategic groups within industries. Thus, taxonomies for understanding the nature of strategic group formulation can be developed. Implications of the strategic group concept for such strategic issues as the structure‐performance linkage, firm mobility, patterns of rivalry, industry evolutionand firm growthare then examined. The paper concludes by indicating fruitful directions for strategic group research in the context of the strategic management field.
Strategy and strategic choice: The case of telecommunications
Authors: Butler Richard J. , Carney Mick
Published: May 2007

This paper outlines a model of organizational strategy that takes into account both the task ambiguity and concentration of the environment. A competitive strategy, in the sense as used in classical economics, is most suitable with low task ambiguity and concentration. When task ambiguity increases a shift to an innovative strategy can be expected. When concentration is high consolidative and cooperative strategies with respectively low and high ambiguity can be expected. These latter two strategies, in particular, tend to impose institutional and regulatory constraints upon firms, an aspect that is seriously neglected in the conventional business policy and strategic management literature. This model is illustrated using the case of the British telecommunications industry which has recently been subject to considerable regulatory and technical change. Implications for management are that strategy should be matched to environmental conditions as defined by task ambiguity and concentration. However, these dimensions are not fixed but enacted by firms in a particular industry. Implications for government are that a more contingent approach to regulation and de‐regulation needs to be considered.
The value of formal planning for strategic decisions: A comment
Authors: Foster M. J.
Published: May 2007

In an earlier paper in the SMJ, Armstrong (1982) conducted a review of the empirical evidence relating to the question of whether formal planning for strategic decision‐making pays off, or more concisely whether strategic planning pays. Armstrong found that the evidence was equivocal. He also found that the methodological purity of a number of the 12 studies, which he claimed to constitute the totality of the evidence, was in doubt. For that reason he assessed the rigour of the studies relative to a framework previously proposed by Terpstra (1981). Using this framework he found that the studies rated poorly.
Piggybacking strategies for nonprofits: A shared costs approach
Authors: Nielsen Richard P.
Published: May 2007

This article presents case data and a conceptual foundation for nonprofit piggybacking whereby a nonprofit organization subsidizes its deficit producing primary mission by diversifying into related surplus‐producing ventures. Shared common and joint costs are considered as supply‐side bases for selecting among demand‐side related diversification activities.
Generic business strategies, organizational context and performance: An empirical investigation
Authors: White Roderick E.
Published: May 2007

Some of the common organizational requirements prescribed for generic business strategies of cost leadership and differentiation are empirically examined in a study consisting of 69 business units. The results suggest the fit between business unit strategy and the internal organization of multi‐business companies does have an effect upon business unit performance.
Configurations of strategy and structure: Towards a synthesis
Authors: Miller Danny
Published: May 2007

There already exists a substantial body of work dealing with the relationships between strategy and structure. But most of the studies oversimplify things by focusing mainly on diversification and divisionalization. Recent literature has derived more complex and integrated views of strategy and structure, much of it isolating common types, ‘gestalts’, or configurations. This paper suggests a new approach for examining the relationships between strategy and structure and proposes some functional linkages between several complex strategic and structural configurations.
The strategic management process at the public planning unit level
Authors: Montanari John R. , Bracker Jeffrey S.
Published: May 2007

This paper describes a normative strategic management process for the public sector. It focuses on the state agency or department as the strategic public planning unit (SPPU). Each department within a state Government provides a distinctly different service to a more or less homogeneous segment of the state's citizenry. Therefore, for strategic management purposes, each state unit operates in its unique context and must meet the demands of varied constituency publics if it is to be a viable and effective provider of its service. The process herein described recognizes the unique aspects of public sector strategic management and integrates several stages that are specific to the public sector into an established private sector strategic management framework.
Product strategy and formal structure
Authors: Bart Christopher K.
Published: May 2007

This article presents the findings of clinically based research which investigated the relationship between strategy and formal structure at the product level in five diversified consumer packaged goods firms. The findings establish that this relationship is severely constrained. The article also suggests how firms ‘accommodate’ when unable to match organizational structure with product strategy.
Strategy implementation versus middle management self‐interest
Authors: Guth William D. , Macmillan Ian C.
Published: May 2007

This paper focuses on middle management motivation to implement strategy. It uses expectancy theory to predict that middle managers will intervene in organizational decision‐making processes leading to strategy implementation when their self‐interest is at stake. It develops the notion of ‘counter effort’, as an extension of expectancy theory. The paper reports an empirical study of middle management intervention theory. The data and analysis of this study provide strong, if indirect, evidence that middle managers who believe that their self‐interest is being compromised can not only redirect a strategy, delay its implementation or reduce the quality of its implementation, but can also even totally sabotage the strategy. Implications of the study for the management of strategy implementation are developed.
Technical change, competition and vertical integration
Authors: Balakrishnan Srinivasan , Wernerfelt Birger
Published: May 2007

This paper starts with a survey of the received theories of vertical integration. We then extend these theories by arguing that while uncertainty in general will make integration more effective, a particular type of uncertainty, the possibility of technological obsolescence, works the other way. After making this point at a conceptual level, we build a model to study how the frequency of technological change interacts with the intensity of competition to influence the optimal level of integration. The predictions of the model are then tested and very strongly supported by data from 93 industries.
Identifying and appraising how managers install strategy
Authors: Nutt Paul C.
Published: May 2007

Cases were profiled to identify tactics used by strategic managers to implement strategy and to determine which tactic was the most effective in promoting adoption. Analysis revealed that four archetype tactics were used almost exclusively. An ‘interventionist’ approach had the best results but was used in only one case in five. ‘Persuasion’ and ‘participation’ were next most effective tactics, and ‘edicts’ the least effective. The implications of these findings for strategic management practice and the needs for further research are discussed.
Merger strategies and stockholder value
Authors: Lubatkin Michael
Published: May 2007

Acquisition literature suggests a relationship between stockholder gains and the relatedness of merging firms. This notion is tested by classifying mergers into four relatedness categories and by using measures of stockholder value as developed in the literature on capital markets. In all, stock returns of 439 acquiring firms in 1031 large mergers are examined, as are stock returns of 340 large acquired firms. The findings show that mergers lead to permanent gains in stockholder value for both acquiring and acquired firms' stockholders, but they do not support the popular prescription: ‘All things being equal, some product and market relatedness is better than none.’
The structural and environmental correlates of business strategy
Authors: Miller Danny
Published: May 2007

An attempt is made to relate several common dimensions of business‐level strategy to their organizational contexts. A model is developed that predicts the structural and environmental correlates of a strategy on the basis of the number and uncertainty of its contingencies. It is shown that strategies of complex product innovation, marketing differentiation, market breadth and conservative cost control each have pronounced but very different relationships with bureaucratic and organic structural devices of uncertainty reduction, differentiation and integration, and with environmental dynamism, heterogeneity and hostility.
The influence of the strategic planning process on strategic change
Authors: Dutton Jane E. , Duncan Robert B.
Published: May 2007

This paper proposes that organizational decision‐makers exist in a market for strategic issues where different internal and external trends and developments compete for decision‐makers' attention. The paper describes how an organization's strategic planning process affects the set of strategic issues that do capture decision‐makers' attention. It explains how characteristics of the strategic issue array translate into effective and timely initiation and implementation of strategic change.
The impact of grand strategy and planning formality on financial performance
Authors: Pearce John A. , Robbins D. Keith , Robinson Richard B.
Published: May 2007

An empirical study involving 97 manufacturing firms that averaged $20 million in annual sales yielded a strong positive correlation between the degree of planning formality and firm performance. Additionally, interactive analysis disclosed that this relationship pervaded various grand strategies; the implication being that formalized strategic planning was consistently a positive factor associated with high levels of organizational performance.
Generic strategies: An empirical investigation of typology validity and strategy content
Authors: Herbert Theodore T. , Deresky Helen
Published: May 2007

Field research was conducted in 34 Canadian companies/business units to determine the validity of a generic typology of strategies and the content of each type. Two questionnaires, secondary data, and interviews were used to identify strategic types and explore their strategic characteristics. A typology of generic strategies was proposed and tested, and comprehensive descriptions of their characteristics were developed. The findings provide support for a methodology for measuring and identifying strategy, a basis for research on contingency theories of strategic management, and a practical tool for managers to identify and communicate strategic choices and the implementation issues involved.
Path analysis of the relationship between market share, business‐level conduct and risk
Authors: Woo Carolyn Y.
Published: May 2007

This study evaluated the impact of market share on three measures of business‐level risk: ROI variation, share instability and the difference between growth in price and growth in cost. The analysis also included conduct variables which might bear upon these relationships. The sample was drawn from the PIMS data base and consisted of mature industrial businesses separated into three types of market environments. Path analysis was employed and yielded partial support for the risk‐reduction benefits of market share.
Delineating a forum for business policy scholars
Authors: Macmillan Ian C. , Stern Ilene
Published: May 2007

A sample of tenured business policy scholars, with significant track records in publishing, rated key management journals with respect to their appropriateness as outlets for scholarly research in the business policy field. The results of the survey are reported.
Product diversification, performance criteria and compensation at the corporate manager level
Authors: Napier Nancy Knox , Smith Mark
Published: May 2007

The paper describes a test of the Galbraith and Nathanson (1978) model of stages of development. In particular, Galbraith and Nathanson hypothesized that in highly diverse firms: (1) performance criteria are more objective, (2) bonus is a larger proportion of total compensation, and (3) bonus allocation decisions are based more on an objective ‘formula’ of performance evaluation than on the discretion of the firm President or Chief Executive Officer. The study compared the three variables across three diversification groups (high, medium, low), based on Rumelt's (1974) classification (single product, vertically integrated, dominant, related, unrelated, and conglomerate). The study used written surveys of corporate managers in Fortune 1000 manufacturing firms.
Representation, testing and policy implications of planning processes
Authors: Boal Kimberly B. , Bryson John M.
Published: May 2007

Various ways to represent planning processes to test and draw policy implications from them are presented. We argue that three kinds of variables should be included: context, process and outcome. Four different models which incorporate these three variables are proposed, and data from a large public sector planning study are fitted to these four models. The findings suggest that the process‐outcome link is the key to understanding the effectiveness of planning processes.
Interactions between marketing and R&D departments in implementing different business strategies
Authors: Ruekert Robert W. , Walker Orville C.
Published: May 2007

This paper examines how interactions between marketing and research and development personnel vary across business units pursuing different strategies. Based on the Miles and Snow typology of strategy, several propositions concerning the extent of interdepartmental conflict, the structures used to manage and resolve such conflicts, and the perceived effectiveness of the interaction between marketing and R&D are developed. These propositions are empirically tested in a study of marketing personnel from three divisions of a large Fortune 500 company. The results of this preliminary test indicate that conflict between the two departments is greatest under a prospector business unit strategy. The degree of formalization and the use of different forms of conflict resolution mechanisms only partially conformed to the predictions of Miles and Snow, but were strongly linked to respondents' assessment of the effectiveness of relations between the two functional areas.
The strategic advantages of new manufacturing technologies for small firms
Authors: Meredith Jack
Published: May 2007

From the descriptions of firms implementing high technology manufacturing programs it would appear that only large companies can benefit from these new manufacturing technologies. In this article the point is argued that small firms are just as well, or better, equipped to implement and benefit from these technological advances, particularly in strategic areas. After describing these new technologies and their benefits and risks, two case studies are presented of small firms that made strategic use of these benefits. The factors that allow this are discussed, and the way that manufacturing technology is altering the competitive equation between large and small firms is then described.
Consensus on strategy formulation and organizational performance: Competitors in a fragmented industry
Authors: Dess Gregory G.
Published: May 2007

This paper examines the relationship between organizational performance and consensus (or agreement) within top management teams on company objectives and competitive methods for a sample of nineteen firms competing within a highly fragmented industry—paints and allied products (SIC 2851). It was hypothesized that intense competitive pressures and the resultant low industry profitability would constrain organizational resources and augment the need for consensus on both objectives and methods. However, findings indicate that consensus on either objectives or methods is positively related to organizational performance.
The creation of momentum for change through the process of strategic issue diagnosis
Authors: Dutton Jane E. , Duncan Robert B.
Published: May 2007

This paper presents a model of how decision‐makers interpret stategic issues. The model of strategic issue diagnosis identifies three critical events: activation, assessments of urgency and assessments of feasibility. The relationship of each of these interpretive assessments to the creation of momentum for change allows one to predict if and how organizations will respond to a changed decision environment. The paper further links strategic issue diagnosis to organizational responses by highlighting the systematic effect of two contextual variables—the organization's belief structure and its resources—upon the assessments in diagnosis. In this way, the model of issue diagnosis provides a framework for understanding how and why organizations respond differently to strategic issues.
A measure of ceo social power in strategic decision‐making
Authors: Pearce John A. , Robinson Richard B.
Published: May 2007

For the strategic management field to advance its understanding of the interpersonal dimensions of strategic decision‐making, valid and reliable measures of power and influence need to be developed. Research in the discipline would also be subsequently likely to enjoy enhanced viability and greater cross‐discipline confidence if it was based on proven measures. For these reasons, field research was undertaken to determine if a modified version of an existing instrument (Spekman, 1979), designed to gauge social power at low organizational levels, could be used to measure the exercise of CEO power in strategic decision‐making.
Ceo change and firm performance in large corporations: Succession effects and manager effects
Authors: Beatty Randolph P. , Zajac Edward J.
Published: May 2007

This paper argues that the succession/performance relationship is a function of two distinct, complementary concepts: manager effects and succession effects. Hypotheses are tested using a cross‐sectional/longitudinal research design, with a sample of 209 large corporations. The results suggest that announcements of CEO changes are typically associated with a reduction in the value of the firm, as reflected in the perceptions of the stock market, and that CEO successors tend to significantly influence the production and investment decisions of their firms. These results hold for both insider and outsider succession.
Strategic groups, asymmetrical mobility barriers and contestability
Authors: Hatten Kenneth J. , Hatten Mary Louise
Published: May 2007

This paper examines the literature on strategic groups and extends it: first, by clarifying the distinction between two alternate approaches to forming groups, emphasizing that multivariate group analysis can be used to conserve information not only summarize it as bivariate grouping does; second, by focusing attention on the importance of asymmetrical mobility barriers and competitive advantage in the process of industry consolidation and concentration; and third, by linking groups and the concept of contestability in an effort to make some progress towards explaining the evolution of industry structure.
Environmental variation, strategic change and firm performance: A study of railroad deregulation
Authors: Smith Ken G. , Grimm Curtis M.
Published: May 2007

Concepts from the literature on the relationship between environmental variation and strategic change are used to analyze the effects of deregulation on strategic management in the railroad industry. Specific hypotheses are presented about the impact of regulation and change in regulation on strategy, strategic change and performance. A survey of experts identified the strategies of 27 railroads prior to and after deregulation. Five different railroad strategies and five different kinds of strategic changes are identified and described. Results suggest that most firms changed their strategies in response to environmental variation, and that those that did change their strategics out‐performed those that did not. Among the strategic changes, those involving innovation and contingency strategies were found to be the most profitable. Other empirical results are presented and discussed.
Corporate acquisition strategies and economic performance
Authors: Singh Harbir , Montgomery Cynthia A.
Published: May 2007

This research investigates the conceptual argument that acquisitions which are related in product/market or technological terms create higher value than unrelated acquisitions. Related acquisitions are found to have greater total dollar gains than unrelated acquisitions. Acquired firms in related acquisitions have substantially higher gains than acquired firms in unrelated acquisitions. These findings indicate that related target firms benefit more from acquisition than unrelated target firms. Implications of these findings for managers are discussed.
The prognostics of diversifying acquisitions
Authors: Balakrishnan Srinivasan
Published: May 2007

The paper offers a possible explanation for the discrepancy between the observed increase in the number of diversified firms in the U.S. and the evidence from finance studies which at best offers only weak support for value creation in diversifying acquisitions. It is argued that the acquisition could be the culmination of a series of related strategic moves by the acquiring firm to enter a new industry, and therefore a significant fraction of the gains from synergy could have been anticipated by the capital market well ahead of the acquisition. Results from an event study of the stock market's reactions to the antecedents of the recent acquisition of Rolm Inc. by IBM lend support to this argument.
Performance differences among strategic group members
Authors: Cool Karel , Schendel Dan
Published: May 2007

Whether and why members of the same strategic group would experience different performance results has received little attention in previous research. These questions are addressed in this paper. First, conventional theory on the relationship between firm performance and strategic group membership is reviewed. Then a theory is developed as to how historical differences among strategic group members may result in performance differences. An empirical analysis of risk and return relationships is conducted, centered on the nature of environmental change characterizing the industry. The empirical setting throughout is the U.S. pharmaceutical industry over the period 1963–82.
Strategic business fits and corporate acquisition: Empirical evidence
Authors: Shelton Lois M.
Published: May 2007

A sample of 218 mergers made by randomly selected bidders during 1962 to 1983 is classified by changes in the product market opportunities of the bidder firms. Multivariate regression analysis shows that acquisitions which permit the bidder access to new but related markets create the most value with the least variance.
The effects of competition and corporate political responsiveness on multinational bargaining power
Authors: Kim W. Chan
Published: May 2007

This paper empirically investigates the effects of competition and corporate political responsiveness on multinational bargaining power. The results indicate that the more intense the competition, the weaker the bargaining power of multinationals vis‐à‐vis that of host governments. Further, higher corporate political responsiveness plays an increasingly important role in safeguarding the bargaining power position of multinationals as competition intensifies. Implications and future research development are suggested.
Joint ventures: Theoretical and empirical perspectives
Authors: Kogut Bruce
Published: May 2007

This paper compares the perspectives of transaction costs and strategic behavior in explaining the motivation to joint venture. In addition, a theory of joint ventures as an instrument of organizational learning is proposed and developed. Existing studies of joint ventures are examined in light of these theories. Data on the sectoral distribution and stability of joint ventures are presented.
The increasing role of subsidiary boards in MNCs: An empirical study
Authors: Kriger Mark P.
Published: May 2007

Little research has been done to date on the role of subsidiary boards (SBs) in MNCs. A two‐phase survey research design has yielded responses from 90 subsidiaries in 36 MNCs based in Europe, North America, and Japan. The sample provides evidence that: (1) SBs are perceived to be in transition from lesser to greater proactivity, and (2) MNCs with parent headquarters in North America, Europe, and Japan perceive the usefulness of these boards in different ways. The results indicate an increasingly active use of these boards in selective advisory and strategic roles. Some recommendations are presented for CEOs, chairmen, and subsidiary directors who are interested in designing their SBs to take better advantage of already legally mandated, but often underutilized, structures. SBs are not a panacea for resolving tensions between parents and subsidiaries and for monitoring changes in host country environments; however, they can provide added strategic governance for subsidiaries.
A transaction costs theory of equity joint ventures
Authors: Hennart Jean‐Francois
Published: May 2007

This paper presents a transaction costs theory of equity joint ventures. It distinguishes between ‘scale’ and ‘link’ JVs. Scale JVs arise when parents seek to internalize a failing market, but indivisibilities due to scale or scope economies make full ownership of the relevant assets inefficient. Link JVs result from the simultaneous failing of the markets for the services of two or more assets whenever these assets are firm‐specific public goods, and acquisition of the firm holding them would entail significant management costs.
Matching collective and competitive strategies
Authors: Bresser Rudi K. F.
Published: May 2007

This paper discusses possibilities for combining collective and competitive strategies. Combinations can be problematic if competitive intentions are disclosed through the information links resulting from collective strategies. After describing how different collective strategies may lead to an uncontrolled disclosure of strategic information, a typology evaluating the feasibility of strategy combinations is developed. The typology's implications for research and managerial practice are discussed.
Responses to externally induced innovation: Their effects on organizational performance
Authors: Marcus Alfred A.
Published: May 2007

Innovation may be externally induced; that is, an external threat or challenge such as the accident at the Three Mile Island (TMl) nuclear power plant sets the stage for outside parties such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to propose that new practices be adopted. Managers then must make choices about how their organizations will respond. This study shows how prior performance can affect organizational responses and how these responses in turn can affect subsequent performance. Vicious cycles are shown to exist in which poorly performing organizations respond with rule‐bound behavior, a response which only perpetuates their poor performance. Better‐performing organizations, on the other hand, retain their autonomy, a response which reinforces their strong performance.
Conglomerates revisited
Authors: Williams Jeffrey R. , Paez Betty Lynn , Sanders Leonard
Published: May 2007

Recent studies of corporate restructuring have arrived at conclusions that are contradictory when applied to conglomerates. Studies, often based only on manufacturing firms, argue for and against the benefits of conglomerate diversification. This paper reviews the more recent developments in this literature. We then construct a comprehensive sample of conglomerates that allows us to examine changes in conglomerate behavior over the period 1975–84 as manifested in acquisition and divestiture decisions. Our results suggest that conglomerate managers are reducing the complexity of the conglomerate enterprise by decreasing the average number of businesses managed, and by increasing the degree of business‐relatedness within the conglomerate enterprise.
Thinking one step ahead: The use of conjectures in competitor analysis
Authors: Amit Raphael , Domowitz Ian , Fershtman Chaim
Published: May 2007

An assessment of opponents' reactions to strategic and functional area policy decisions is shown to require knowledge concerning opponents' beliefs about the firm's behavior. This study introduces a methodology for incorporating such conjectures into the business planning process. It presents an analytical measure for these conjectural variations and discusses several illustrations. Examples of the application of the framework are provided by the Japanese flat glass industry and the U.S. domestic coffee roasting industry. The use of a broad range of conjectural variations in competitor analysis is discussed, and implications for business strategy formulation are highlighted.
Reputation and corporate strategy: A review of recent theory and applications
Authors: Weigelt Keith , Camerer Colin
Published: May 2007

A corporate reputation is a set of attributes ascribed to a firm, inferred from the firm's past actions. While the intuition behind reputation‐building is hardly new, recent research has formalized the concept. We review this research and then, using examples, illustrate some of the strategic behavioral implications of these formal models.
Cooperative strategy
Authors: Nielsen Richard P.
Published: May 2007

This article develops a classification scheme for mutual gain cooperative strategies between and among different organizations. The cooperative strategies considered are pool, exchange, de‐escalate, and experiment/contingency. These cooperative strategies are considered in four types of game/market environmental life cycle situations: positive‐sum growth, zero‐sum mature, negative‐sum decline, and transformable to positive‐sum growth. Cases from domestic and international business, nonprofit and government organizations are illustrated. Literature examples from strategic management, evolutionary biology, game theory and ecosystems theory are synthesized and used as foundation and explanation. Positive and negative public policy implications of cooperative strategy are also considered. In most, but not all, cases, cooperative strategy appears to improve value‐added efficiency in a wide variety of environments and situations.
Chief executive compensation: A synthesis and reconciliation
Authors: Finkelstein Sidney , Hambrick Donald C.
Published: May 2007

Chief executive (CEO) compensation is a potent instrument through which theorists can improve their understanding of organization substance and symbol. This paper reviews and integrates the literature on CEO compensation, focusing on both determinants and consequences of this complex, often controversial phenomenon. The central thesis is that CEO pay is at once both more and less ‘sensible’ than its critics and architects, respectively, contend. Comprehending CEO compensation, whether for purposes of description or prescription, requires the use of multiple perspectives—economic, political, social, and individual.
A dynamic perspective on the impact of process innovation upon competitive strategies
Authors: Schroeder Dean M.
Published: May 2007

The paper lays the foundation for building a dynamic theory of the impact of process innovation upon competitive strategies. An innovation is tracked over two and a half decades to observe changing patterns in competition resulting from ongoing innovation development, emerging complementary technologies, and expanding use. The study finds that the innovation created competitive opportunities and threats for both firms that adopted it and those that did not.
Requiem for a lightweight: The Northrop f‐20 strategic initiative
Authors: Jurkus Anthony F.
Published: May 2007

This study focuses upon the recently discontinued F‐20 program of the Northrop Corporation. Northrop's strategic initiative is analyzed historically and comparatively, and the implications of the program failure are discussed with respect to government procurement policy, defense contracting, international trade and arms transfer, and global competition in aerospace.
Changing pattern of acquisition behaviour in takeovers and the consequences for acquisition processes
Authors: Hunt John W.
Published: May 2007

Since 1985 the U.K. and American corporate markets have been seeing, for the fourth time this century, boom conditions in the acquisition and merging of companies. Most predictions suggest this pattern will continue into the 1990s. Yet the failure of acquired companies remains at 50 per cent. In an attempt to understand this failure rate Kitching's seminal work (1967, 1973) is used as a starting point. His hypothesized relationships for success or failure are tested against a recent U.K. study of 40 cases, and found to be insufficient to explain success or failure. A paradigm of contextual and process variables is proposed as a fuller explanation of the phenomenon. Finally, different contexts and different behavioural processes are suggested as more substantial explanations of outcomes.
Research notes and communications management objectives in mergers and acquisitions
Authors: Walter Gordon A. , Barney Jay B.
Published: May 2007

A taxonomy of managerial goals in mergers and acquisitions is developed through a cluster analysis of data from interviews with merger and acquisition practitioners. These clusters of objectives overlap with some objectives cited for mergers and acquisitions in the academic literature, but the correspondence is not complete. Further analysis shows that different types of mergers and acquisitions are characterized by different managerial objectives. The implications of this research for the development of a contingency model of the relationship between managerial objectives and mergers and acquisitions are discussed.
Founding strategy and performance: A comparison of high and low growth high tech firms
Authors: Feeser Henry R. , Willard Gary E.
Published: May 2007

Some firms grow very rapidly; others much more slowly. Potential explanations for differences in performance levels between high growth firms and low growth firms operating in the same industry are sought by comparing the firms' founding strategies. Results indicate that founding strategies of high and low growth firms differ systematically among the firms studied.
Value creation in acquisitions: A re‐examination of performance issues
Authors: Seth Anju
Published: May 2007

This study provides a conceptual framework and an empirical methodology to assess the extent of value creation in acquisitions. Arguments are presented to examine why related acquisitions might not outperform unrelated acquisitions on average. New measures of value creation are developed which resolve the difficulties with measures used by earlier researchers. In addition, the influence of the classification scheme used to identify acquisition types, and the impact of the relative size of the target to the bidder, on the measurement of the extent of value creation, is examined. The empirical results indicate that value is created in both unrelated and related acquisitions. Further, the data do not appear to indicate that related acquisitions create more value than unrelated acquisitions on average.
An eclectic theory of the choice of international entry mode
Authors: Hill Charles W. L. , Hwang Peter , Kim W. Chan
Published: May 2007

The choice of entry mode into a foreign market has a major impact on the success of a firm's international operations. However, the existing literature on the entry mode decision has either presented a list of considerations without identifying underlying constructs, or treated each entry decision in isolation. Here, a unifying framework is developed. This framework identifies three underlying constructs that influence the entry mode decision. These constructs are linked to considerations that have been previously discussed in the literature. It is argued that a firm's choice of entry mode depends on the strategic relationship the firm envisages between operations in different countries. A particular entry decision cannot be viewed in isolation. It must be considered in relation to the overall strategic posture of the firm. Further, the paper argues that different variables often suggest different entry modes, and that resolving these differences involves accepting trade‐offs.
Matching compensation and organizational strategies
Authors: Balkin David B. , Gomez‐Mejia Luis R.
Published: May 2007

This study examines the impact of organizational strategies (at both the corporate and business unit level) on pay strategies, and their interactive influence on the effectiveness of the compensation system. The empirical findings are based on the survey responses of 192 human resource management executives in business units of large manufacturing firms. Corporate strategy was a significant predictor of pay package design, pay level relative to the market, and pay administration policies. Business unit strategy was a significant predictor of pay package design and pay level relative to the market. The findings are supportive of congruency notions which suggest that the effectiveness of the compensation system is partly a function of the fit between pay strategies and organizational strategies.
Isolation and Structure Investigations of Square Banana (Musa balbisiana) Starch
Authors: de la Torre‐Gutierrez Lázaro , Torruco‐Uco Juan G. , Castellanos‐Ruelas Arturo , Chel‐Guerrero Luis A. , Betancur‐Ancona David
Published: May 2007

Starch was isolated from unripe square banana (Musa balbisiana) fruit and characterized physically and chemically. Isolation was done with a 23 factorial design using five replicates in the central trial. Evaluated factors were: flour: solvent ratio (1:6 ‐ 1:10, w/v); sodium bisulfite concentration (0.1 ‐ 0.3%); and soaking time (30 ‐ 60 min). Optimum starch isolation in an alkaline medium was obtained with: 1:5 (w/v) flour: solvent ratio; 0.1% sodium bisulfite concentration; and 60 min soaking time. Starch yield under these conditions was 69.8% with 94.5% purity. Starch granules had an oval‐elongate shape, a size range of 24‐68 μm, and average size of 24.6 μm. Amylose content was 22.2% and amylopectin content 77.8%. Granules had a C‐type ‐ray diffraction pattern and a degree of polymerization (DP) of 3‐20 for lengths of branch chains.