bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Impact of intellectual capital on organisational performance
Authors: Hang Chan Kin
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper, which is written in two parts, is to investigate empirically if intellectual capital (IC) has an impact on the financial aspects of organisational performance as well as attempting to identify the IC components that may be the drivers for the leading financial indicators of listed companies. The study sought evidence from the companies of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Design/methodology/approach

Using data of all the constituent companies of the Hang Seng Index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange from 2001 to 2005 and the VAIC™ methodology used in the measurement of IC by Pulic, regression models were constructed to examine the relationships between IC and the selected financial performance measures of these companies. The research hypotheses and research method are detailed in Part 1 of the paper. In this paper – Part 2, the results and findings of the investigation are analysed and discussed.

Findings

The results of the analysis revealed no conclusive evidence to support a definitive association between IC, as measured by VAIC™, and the four measures of financial performance in the sample companies surveyed in Hong Kong. At best, only a moderate association was recorded between IC and the profitability measures. The study further revealed that physical capital is highly regarded by the companies surveyed for enhancing market valuation, productivity and profitability.

Research limitations/implications

Evidence from Hong Kong shows that there is an overall lack of association between IC and financial performance, which contradicts some prior studies conducted overseas. This may suggest that Hong Kong may be lagging behind, for example, some Asian competitors such as Taiwan and Singapore in IC development. In addition, the empirical results suggest that physical capital continues to play a prominent role in the territory, which may be an indication of Hong Kong's ongoing reliance on “tangibles” as the strategic asset to generate corporate performance. These findings may, however, illustrate that the association between IC and financial indicators such as market valuation may not be a universal and uniform one. Rather, the association may vary from market to market, probably depending on the level of IC awareness in the investors.

Originality/value

It is believed that this is the first study conducted in Hong Kong involving the use of VAIC™ for the measurement of IC. It not only contributes to the knowledge of IC research, but adds to the existing literature of the progress of IC development in relation to financial performance in companies internationally.
Institutional narcissism, arrogant organization disorder and interruptions in organizational learning
Authors: Godkin Lynn , Allcorn Seth
Published: January 2009

Purpose

This article aims to present an alternative approach to diagnosing behavioral barriers to organizational learning.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper juxtaposes interruptions in organizational learning with characteristics of narcissism and arrogant organization disorder. Psychoanalytically informed theory and DSM‐IV criteria are applied to interruptions in organizational learning and an alternative approach to diagnosing behavioral barriers to organizational learning is suggested.

Findings

This paper illustrates how managers might account for human failings when considering organizational learning in less than ideal settings.

Originality/value

This paper demonstrates how informed psychoanalytical theory can be applied to the learning organization and provides a framework from which to diagnose and deal with arrogant organization disorder.
Learning organization and transfer: strategies for improving performance
Authors: Weldy Teresa G.
Published: January 2009

Purpose

This study aims to explore a relationship between the learning organization and transfer of training as strategies for learning and managing knowledge to make performance improvements and gain or maintain a competitive advantage.

Design/methodology/approach

Various similarities are identified in the literature that are indicative of a relationship between the learning organization and transfer of training such as: emphasis on both as strategies for a competitive advantage, focus on learning and knowledge, emphasis on taking action to improve performance, link between individual learning and organizational learning, and the focus of previous studies. This paper proposes a positive relationship suggesting that learning organizations are more likely to practice transfer of training.

Findings

The importance placed on the learning organization and transfer of training as critical factors for improving performance and gaining a competitive advantage necessitate that both areas be further investigated. Any relationship between the learning organization and transfer of training could lead to performance improvements and maximize the benefits gained and enable organizations to remain competitive in the face of global competition, a constantly changing environment, and unstable economic conditions.

Originality/value

This paper introduces an important stream of research relevant to a relationship between the learning organization and transfer of training as strategies for facilitating learning and knowledge management. Although numerous similarities are identified in the literature, no theoretical or empirical studies have been conducted.
Chinese pragmatism and the learning organisation
Authors: Elkin Graham , Cone Malcolm H. , Liao Jianqiao (Jim)
Published: January 2009

Purpose

For 40 years, it has been widely believed in the West that learning organisations would be healthier, flexible and more competitive than other organisations. By now, one might expect them to be widespread. However, fully developed learning organisations are rare in the West. In contrast, Chinese organisations seem naturally to be learning organisations. The paper aims to explore the impact of Eastern (largely Chinese) and Western (largely US) philosophies upon the development of learning organisations and suggests that for learning organisations to develop in the West a different philosophical approach may be needed.

Design/methodology/approach

The Chinese worldview, and Chinese pragmatism in particular, are discussed in the context of learning organisations. A link is made with the American pragmatism of Dewey. These philosophical traditions are compared to the prevailing worldview and philosophical tradition in the West, which may help explain the rarity of the learning organisation in the West.

Findings

A pragmatic philosophy and a relational worldview allow the development of natural learning organisations in China. The recovery in the west of pragmatism and a relational worldview might allow Western organisations to move towards becoming learning organisations. Without this philosophical underpinning, it is unlikely that there will be more than visionary glimpses of utopian ideas for learning organisations.

Originality/value

The significance of pragmatism in the development of learning organisations needs to be considered as a factor in the failure to develop widespread learning organisations in the West.
International joint ventures: an integrated framework
Authors: Vaidya Sameer
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of issues that are involved in forming joint ventures (JVs) as well as subsequent operation of the venture.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper looked at a wide range of literature on international joint ventures (IJVs) to analyze issues managers face during the formation and implementation of these ventures. This paper aims to provide not only avenues for further research in the area but also practical advice to managers in what they need to be aware of while deciding whether to enter an IJV.

Findings

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the literature with respect to IJVs. Issues with formation include such topics as trust, motives for formation, control issues, and culture. An integrated framework is suggested by the author to look at a diverse range of issues together. This paper takes the small pieces of the IJV literature and connects them into a big picture to make it easier for practitioners as well as academicians to understand the complexities.

Research limitations/implications

This paper could not review all the possible relationships and variables that affect IJVs.

Practical implications

A useful source for managers who manage JVs as well as for business executives who are thinking about forming a JV with a foreign partner.

Originality/value

Although many papers have studied the issues relating to JVs, not too many have identified an integrated framework to show the relationships between the various factors that affect JVs.
Using the internet for news and perceptions of news organization bias
Authors: Christie Thomas B.
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to reveal perceptions of news organization bias among people who use the internet.

Design/methodology/approach

Data for this study were drawn from the Pew Research Center June 2005 News Interest Index. Respondents were asked if news organizations were politically biased in their reporting. Another question asked respondents if news organizations had a liberal or conservative bias. The final question asked respondents to judge news organization bias on political and social issues.

Findings

In two of the three perceptions of internet user/non‐user ratings of ideological bias in news organizations, internet news users surveyed rate news organizations as more biased than non‐users. However, when asked to ascertain either liberal or conservative bias in news organizations, non‐internet news users were more likely to claim that news organizations were biased.

Research limitations/implications

More valid measures of the dimension of liberal and conservative bias could help in analyzing the effect of this particular variable on the use of the internet for news. Also, there is the possibility of some confusion in identifying internet news sources.

Practical implications

Advertising revenue of traditional media could decline as news use shifts to internet sources, and customers of the traditional US news networks would continue to migrate to the internet.

Originality/value

As this new media technology has the potential to reach new markets throughout the world, consumers who perceive that traditional news media are ideologically biased may favor the new medium over more traditional sources of news.
Before and after 2000: revenue and high tech valuation
Authors: Xu Lianzan , Cai Francis
Published: January 2009

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the concerns that high‐tech “new economy” companies employ aggressive revenue recognition practices to boost stock prices.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors test empirically the hypothesis that revenue is more value relevant than other key performance measures traditional earnings and operating cash flows, especially in the case of high‐tech firms with losses.

Findings

Test results from this study demonstrate the association between stock prices and reported revenues, both before and after year 2000 the stock market meltdown.

Research limitations/implications

The study limits its scope on the high‐tech new economy sector. The findings may not be applicable to other industries.

Practical implications

An important implication of the findings is that the association between stock prices and revenue is presumably the underlying reason for aggressive revenue recognition.

Originality/value

This paper provides empirical evidence demonstrating the association between stock prices and revenues, which is very valuable to policy makers and market participants.
Who moved MY job?
Authors: Nassif Maggie , Roe William
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a model of possible solutions to potential employment issues arising from the outsourcing job trend. The case study offers university administrators and education policy makers the rationale to develop sequential, fully articulated education programs that equip the students with job skills that make them competitive in a global work force.

Design/methodology/approach

The objective is achieved through a case study of an outsourcing outfit in Jonesboro, Arkansas. A range of recently published academic research and vocational literature provide the statistical background for the experiment conducted at Arkansas State University.

Findings

The US education system is not competitive when compared to Asian and European education systems, which emphasize math, science, and foreign languages. Collaboration between government‐funded entities and corporate America to invest in training the American human capital, as in the case of rural sourcing, is crucial to guarantee America's continuing position as a super world power.

Research limitations/implications

Resources include academic research as well as popular vocational publications to ensure the valid representation of academia and corporate America. In addition, several on‐site interviews and observations were conducted. However, due to the fluidity of the outsourcing situation, constant updating of data are required. Consulting the most recent statistics and publications is recommended to stay abreast of the situation.

Practical implications

Recommendations to globalize the American education system are made and are currently being shared with education policy makers at the state level. These recommendations include the implementation of foreign language requirements and more rigorous math and science programs in high schools.

Originality/value

This paper identifies practical tools to overcome the threats of outsourcing jobs to Asia through offering a road map to globalize the American education system with the goal of preparing a competitive workforce for the twenty‐first century.
A balanced scorecard model with incremental analysis for the motor homes industry based on survey results
Authors: Pineno Charles J.
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a balanced scorecard model methodology to develop an approach for decision making for the motor homes industry that is used to communicate and evaluate achievement of the corporate mission and strategy. The index, success indicator, gives management a “bottom line” result including non‐financial as well as financial measures based on the targeted improvement efforts as well as the actual result. The comprehensive set of measures helps to focus their organization's strategic objectives in the areas of financial, customer, learning, and growth.

Design/methodology/approach

The qualitative analysis and the quantitative survey of the motor homes industry were summarized to develop generalized measures and applications as a basic for formulating a special balanced scorecard model.

Findings

Various financial, customer, learning, and growth metrics were identified for a possible template for an actual balanced scorecard.

Research limitations/implications

This paper focuses on a methodology for use by the manufactured home industry that would quantify the intuitive understanding needed to project the possible results. The advantage of using the analysis and the “success indicators” would be to give a “bottom line” result (financial and non‐financial) based on corporate efforts within the industry as presented in the simulation. Further modeling would be necessary to investigate changes in multiple measures.

Practical implications

The strategy cannot be executed if it cannot be understand, and it cannot be understood if it cannot be described.

Originality/value

This paper develops an approach for decision making by formulating a specific balanced scorecard model for the motor homes industry.
Instructional design and e‐learning
Authors: Hussin Husnayati , Bunyarit Fatimah , Hussein Ramlah
Published: January 2009

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the elements of effective instructional design in an e‐learning environment in selected Malaysian higher learning institutions. In addition, the study also seeks to investigate the e‐learning use behaviour among these e‐learners.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used the interview method of data collection to examine the e‐learning systems used at the selected institutions and a questionnaire‐based survey to gather responses from students on their perception of the effectiveness of instructional design elements and their e‐learning use behaviour.

Findings

Findings of the study indicate positive perceptions of e‐learning among students in the selected universities. Student involvement and course content are among the most satisfactory factors for instructional design principles as perceived by the students.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations of the study relate to the generalisability of the findings to other user groups. The findings of the study provide insights on the relevance of instructional design elements to an effective e‐learning environment.

Practical implications

The findings should assist instructors and e‐learning implementers in designing course materials that would be more effective for e‐learning at the tertiary level of education.

Originality/value

The research provides some evidence from an e‐learners' perspective on the effectiveness of instructional design for an e‐learning environment in the Malaysian context.
Service impact analysis using business continuity planning processes
Authors: Wan Stewart
Published: January 2009

Purpose

This paper aims at improving the service‐oriented IT management by adopting relevant business continuity planning processes for service impact analysis in handling resource event. The paper also proposes a framework for implementation.

Design/methodology/approach

A framework was developed from the study of literatures in IT service management and business continuity management. It was implemented to a real IT operations environment to evaluate its effects and benefits.

Findings

Many organisations in the IT service industry drive the service‐oriented IT management rapidly in the region. For fault management and service continuity management, one relies heavily on the experience of experts in handling the event for realising the relationships between service and resource. Knowledge retention and information base for service management are the new challenges in the area of service management.

Research limitations/implications

Further optimisation and ongoing maintenance works are required to refine the correlation processes.

Practical implications

The framework was implemented using existing IT service management portal and network system monitoring tools with minimal modification effort.

Originality/value

This paper highlighted the value of adopting business continuity planning processes in service management. It also presented a way to implement a service management information base in practice.
Web‐assisted instruction in upper division communication studies curriculum
Authors: Olaniran Bolanle , Austin Katherine A.
Published: January 2009

Purpose

This paper aims to describe the incorporation of technologies into two upper division Communication Studies courses at Texas Tech University.

Design/methodology/approach

The article discusses the methodological and pedagogical rationale used to select the appropriate technologies and to effectively incorporate them into the classroom. An early semester survey and then a post‐semester survey were administered. The survey results and implications are reported and discussed.

Findings

There are more technologies available to teachers today than in the past. Therefore, the decision to use these technologies will continue to be intricate, but instructors must make the decision based on a fundamentally sound rationale in order to succeed and attain the course goals.

Originality/value

The paper offers both qualitative and quantitative observations and suggestions for instructional technology in the traditional classroom.
E‐learning adoption: the role of relative advantages, trialability and academic specialisation
Authors: Mohamad Hsbollah Hafizah , Kamil
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) lecturers' perception of the decision regarding adopting e‐learning as a teaching tool.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 244 lecturers in Universiti Utara Malaysia. Internal consistency using Cronbach alpha and exploratory factor analysis with Varimax rotation was conducted to confirm the measurement used. Logistic regression was run to examine factors influencing the adoption of e‐learning as a teaching tool among lecturers in UUM.

Findings

After performing reliability and validity tests of the instrument, only six factors were included in the framework out of nine factors affecting adoption. The research model showed a reasonably good fit with the data and empirical results confirm that only relative advantages, trialability and academic specialisation positively influence the adoption decision. Thus, the findings have provided evidence of the importance of relative advantages, trialability and academic specialisation in understanding the adoption decision before introducing new online technology and instructional delivery in education.

Research limitations/implications

The measurement of perception was accessed after the adoption process might contribute to post‐adoption experience, and the findings are limited to a specific sample that somewhat minimises the generalisability of the result. Future research should aim at examining the proposed framework in a broader range of public higher learning institutions that use e‐learning application in delivering knowledge.

Originality/value

The research provides a new perspective on lecturers' adoption of new technology and focuses on the substance of the instrumentation.
Understanding the appeal of user‐generated media: a uses and gratification perspective
Authors: Shao Guosong
Published: January 2009

Purpose

User‐generated media (UGM) like YouTube, MySpace, and Wikipedia have become tremendously popular over the last few years. The purpose of this paper is to present an analytical framework for explaining the appeal of UGM.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is mainly theoretical due to a relative lack of empirical evidence. After an introduction on the emergence of UGM, this paper investigates in detail how and why people use UGM, and what factors make UGM particularly appealing, through a uses and gratifications perspective. Finally, the key elements of this study are summarized and the future research directions about UGM are discussed.

Findings

This paper argues that individuals take with UGM in different ways for different purposes: they consume contents for fulfilling their information, entertainment, and mood management needs; they participate through interacting with the content as well as with other users for enhancing social connections and virtual communities; and they produce their own contents for self‐expression and self‐actualization. These three usages are separate analytically but interdependent in reality. This paper proposes a model to describe such interdependence. Furthermore, it argues that two usability attributes of UGM, “easy to use” and “let users control,” enable people to perform the aforementioned activities efficiently so that people can derive greater gratification from their UGM use.

Originality/value

UGM are an extremely important topic in new media scholarship, and this study represents the first step toward understanding the appeal of UGM in an integrated way.
Collective intelligence for idea management with Internet‐based information aggregation markets
Authors: Bothos Efthimios , Apostolou Dimitris , Mentzas Gregoris
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of information aggregation markets (IAMs) for community‐based idea management and to present IDeM, a novel Internet‐based software tool that can be used for generating and evaluating new ideas utilizing the concept of IAMs.

Design/methodology/approach

Starting with a review of existing methods for collective intelligence, IAMs are identified as a prominent method for collective intelligence. Specific requirements for exploring IAMs for idea management are derived. Based on these requirements, a software tool for implementing IAMs in the context of idea management is developed (IDeM). IDeM has been evaluated and evaluation results are used to identify IDeM's benefits and limitations. A review of related work points out the innovative characteristics of IDeM.

Findings

Evaluation results indicate that IAMs is an efficient method for idea generation and evaluation. Moreover IDeM is perceived both as easy to use and efficient in supporting idea generation and evaluation.

Practical implications

IDeM can be used by commercial or other organizations for supporting generation and evaluation of new ideas.

Originality/value

IDeM's innovative aspects are: in addition to trading, it allows users involvement by means of new idea submission, rating of ideas and commenting on ideas; it confronts the uncertainty of new idea related events by offering an expert based valuation mechanism.; and it extends the typical output of IAM tools – which is price of idea‐stocks – by calculating the volume weighted average price.
Social ties and online word of mouth
Authors: Steffes Erin M. , Burgee Lawrence E.
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The power of word of mouth (WOM) communication and its influence on consumer decision making is well established in academic literature. The recent adoption of online communication by many consumers has facilitated a fundamental change to the structure of many WOM interactions by exposing consumers to electronic WOM (eWOM) from virtual strangers. The current study seeks to uncover whether traditional findings on social ties and WOM communication hold for eWOM information.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 482 college students with varying levels of expertise with eWOM forums, specifically RateMyProfessors.com in the USA. Participants completed a 20‐question survey related to university professor and class choice.

Findings

The study finds that students seeking information on which professor to take weight the information they obtain from eWOM forums to be equally influential in their decision as their own primary experience with the professor. Furthermore, the information gained from the eWOM forum is more influential in their decision than speaking with friends in person (WOM). While existing research suggests that strong tie referral sources are more influential than weak tie information sources on decision making, this research finds that some weak tie information sources are rated as more influential.

Research limitations/implications

A limitation of the study is the focus on one eWOM forum, RateMyProfessors.com. Future research would benefit from expanding the number and type of eWOM forums.

Originality/value

While the emergence of the Internet and social networking has spawned an interest in the overall study of eWOM, this study is the first to evaluate eWOM in the context of tie strength, homophily and decision making. The study also investigates whether existing theories of interpersonal communication hold in an online context.
Collaborative attack on Internet users' anonymity
Authors: Puzis Rami , Yagil Dana , Elovici Yuval , Braha Dan
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to model and study the effectiveness of an attack on the anonymity of Internet users by a group of collaborating eavesdroppers.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on an analysis of the Internet topology. The study is based on two methods for choosing nodes that contribute the most to the detection of as many communicating Internet users as possible.

Findings

The paper illustrates that it is possible to compromise the anonymity of many Internet users when eavesdropping on a relatively small number of nodes, even when the most central ones are protected from eavesdropping.

Research limitations/implications

It is assumed that the Internet users under attack are not using any anonymity enhancing technologies, but nodes can be protected from eavesdropping. It proposes a measure of the success of an attack on Internet users' anonymity, for a given deployment of collaborating eavesdroppers in the Internet.

Practical implications

The paper shows that several, and not necessarily the most prominent, collaborating nodes can compromise the anonymity of a considerable portion of Internet users. This study also emphasizes that when trying to completely compromise the anonymity of Internet users, an eavesdroppers' deployment strategy that considers eavesdroppers' collaboration can result in substantial resource saving compared to choosing a set of the most prominent nodes.

Originality/value

The paper proposes a new measure of anonymity level in the network, based on the linkability of the Internet users. This paper is the first to present results of a non‐trivial Group Betweenness optimization strategy in large complex networks.
Homepage not enough when evaluating web site accessibility
Authors: Hackett Stephanie , Parmanto Bambang
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine if the homepage of a web site is representative of the whole site with respect to accessibility.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents an intraclass correlation (ICC) between homepage web accessibility barrier (WAB) scores and the WAB scores of web site levels 1 through 3 for 33 popular web sites.

Findings

The paper finds that the homepage is not sufficient to detect the accessibility of the web site. ICC of the homepage and average of levels 1‐3 is 0.250 (p=0.062) and ICC of levels 1, 2, and 3 is 0.784 (p<0.0001). Evaluating the homepage and first‐level pages gives more accurate results of entire site accessibility.

Originality/value

This is first study correlating homepage accessibility with web site accessibility.
A review of trust modeling inad hocnetworks
Authors: Mejia Marcela , Peña Néstor , Muñoz José L. , Esparza Oscar
Published: January 2009

Purpose

Mobilead hocnetworks rely on cooperation to perform essential network mechanisms such as routing. Therefore, network performance depends to a great extent on giving participating nodes an incentive for cooperation. The level of trust among nodes is the most frequently used parameter for promoting cooperation in distributed systems. There are different models for representing trust, each of which is suited to a particular context and leads to different procedures for computing and propagating trust. The goal of this study is to analyze the most representative approaches for mobilead hocnetworks. It aims to obtain a qualitative comparison of the modeling approaches, according to the three basic components of a trust model: information gathering, information scoring and ranking, and action execution.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper identifies the different tasks required by a trust system and compares the way they are implemented when the system model itself is based on information theory, social networks, cluster concept, graph theory and game theory. It also provides a common nomenclature for the models. The study concentrates exclusively on the trust models themselves, without taking into account other aspects of the original articles that are beyond the scope of this analysis.

Findings

The study identifies the main components that a trust model must provide, and compares the way they are implemented. It finds that the lack of unity in the different proposed approaches makes it difficult to conduct an objective comparison. Finally, it also notices that most of the models do not properly manage node reintegration.

Originality/value

The best of our knowledge, the study is the first that uses information scoring and ranking as classification key. According to this key, approaches can be classified as based on information theory, clusters and social network theory, and cooperative and non‐cooperative game theory. It also provides a common nomenclature for all of them. Finally, the main contribution of the paper is to provide an analysis of the most representative approaches and present a novel qualitative comparison.
The role of experiential value in online shopping
Authors: Won Jeong So , Fiore Ann Marie , Niehm Linda S. , Lorenz Frederick O.
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether Pine and Gilmore's four experience realms (4Es) are affected by web site features; the 4Es affect consumer emotional components of pleasure and arousal; and pleasure and arousal lead to enhanced web site patronage intention.

Design/methodology/approach

For the main experiment, two stimulus web sites reflecting high experiential value and low experiential value were developed. Data were collected in a laboratory setting from 196 participants. An analysis of the causal model was conducted using the maximum‐likelihood estimation procedure of Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) for hypotheses testing.

Findings

Using AMOS, the results indicated that web site features affected the 4Es and three of the 4Es (entertainment, escapist and esthetic experiences) influenced pleasure and/or arousal. Pleasure, arousal, entertainment, and esthetic experiences had direct effects on web site patronage intention.

Practical implications

The results present an effective way to offer experiential value, which enhances web site patronage intention, to online retailers.

Originality/value

This is the first empirical research to investigate the holistic process of the effects of product presentation on consumer responses towards an apparel web site that there is a clear need for further study.
Managing enterprise risk: why a giant failed
Authors: Zand Dale E.
Published: January 2009

Purpose

This case aims to chronicle the dismantling of Tenneco – a large, prosperous diversified firm. Because it failed to manage risk, its best assets ultimately had to be sold to allow its survival. Behind its actions of problematic acquisitions and questionable financial policies, are underlying dynamics that offer lessons for other companies.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is are based on extensive interviews of management, board members, and review of documents and publications. The paper focuses on decisions that cumulatively contributed to enterprise‐wide risk.

Findings

The paper finds that Tenneco management's blind spot was its failure to consider the interaction of its decisions and implicit assumptions over time.

Practical implications

Six principles of enterprise‐risk management are distilled from the Tenneco case.

Originality/value

Although Tenneco's financial crisis occurred decades ago, the lesson for present‐day management is clear: independent board oversight is crucial. Moreover, the enterprise risks inherent in some decisions are only apparent if the board takes a system‐wide view.
How teams can capitalize on conflict
Authors: Flanagan Tim , Runde Craig
Published: January 2009

Purpose

Teams inevitably face conflict. Their challenge is to take advantage of the opportunities inherent within conflict while at the same time lessening its potentially harmful effects. Learning how to create a climate that fosters open, candid communications and that uses constructive communications techniques enables teams to meet this challenge. This paper aims to look at these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper discusses the nature of team conflict and address specific areas where teams need to develop norms for handling conflict.

Findings

The paper finds that teams usually focus on the substantive tasks for which they are formed but often fail to develop norms and processes for addressing the inevitable conflicts that can derail their progress.

Originality/value

The paper shows how teams can get the best out of conflict by: starting early to develop norms for how they will address conflicts that arise; creating a climate of trust, collaboration, and emotions to foster open communications about issues; and using constructive communication techniques to keep their focus on creatively resolving problems.
Strategic thinking about disruptive technologies
Authors: Evans Nick , Ralston Bill , Broderick Andrew
Published: January 2009

Purpose

A company's strategy work is not complete without a consideration of the ongoing emergence of disruptive technologies from laboratories around the globe. This paper aims to offerone such methodology – the opportunity‐discovery process – to systematically look at a full range of emerging technologies, see the commercialization possibilities, and lay the foundation for understanding what to do.

Design/methodology/approach

All of the steps in the opportunity‐discovery process are demonstrated in a project done for the US government. The challenge was to identify the most important civilian technologies disruptive to the US interests up to 2025.

Findings

In this paper, biogerontechnology is used to show the product of the analysis methodology. For biogerontechnology, the disruptive potential comes in the form of new treatment modalities and shifts in the cost, allocation, and use of health‐care resources.

Research limitations/implications

More research needs to be done to examine the commercial opportunities of biogerontechnology.

Practical implications

The task of analyzing disruptive technologies is also critically important because making the uncertainties about the future explicit is the key to understanding the possibilities and making good choices about where and when to invest the company's precious time and resources.

Originality/value

This is the first case study of the SRI‐BC opportunity analysis, and it highlights the scenario approach to understanding disruptive technology.
The new demography of the 21st century: part 2 – gender gaps and population bulges – what demography means to the corporate planner
Authors: Walker Martin
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to reveal a surprising global drama now unfolding across the world: unpredicted demographic trends portend unexpected social transformations.

Design/methodology/approach

Using recent research, the paper considers the startling implications of some current demographic trends.

Findings

Marketers and strategists need to radically rethink their mindsets based on new trends. For examples, the world population is aging in an unprecedented way.

Research limitations/implications

It is important to note that trends in demography can be particularly misleading and can reverse suddenly.

Practical implications

Many widespread assumptions based on previous demographic trends now seem to be misguided. For example, India seems very likely to become the world's most populous country by 2030.

Originality/value

Surprising current trends and factors include: by 2020 the global middle class will swell by as many as 1.8 billion, a third of them in China alone; Beijing expects that it may have as many as 40 million frustrated bachelors by 2020; and the population of the 50 least developed countries is expected by the UN to grow from 800 million to 1.7 billion by 2050.
How visionary nonprofits leaders are learning to enhance management capabilities
Authors: Stid Daniel , Bradach Jeffrey
Published: January 2009

Purpose

Whereas the strength of most for‐profit enterprises is their management practice, a Bridgespan survey showed that non‐profits are best in visionary leadership, but often significantly under‐managed. This paper aims to describe how a few charismatic leaders recognize the crucial importance of improving their management capabilities so the organization will deliver great results over time.

Design/methodology/approach

Examples of five leading non‐profits are presented to show how management strengths can be added.

Findings

Key points learned by successful non‐profits are: understand the tension between leadership and management; get strategic clarity to make it easier to see how to achieve the desired impact by setting priorities, establishing performance measures, and making tradeoffs; anchor strategic clarity in a few key metrics, to keep everyone focused; build and align the team; and actively manage the change process.

Practical implications

Implementing this agenda in the context of nonprofit leadership is difficult. A framework is offered that illustrates the shift that many non‐profits need to work through in order to become a high performing organization.

Originality/value

When asked, non‐profit leaders profess that visionary leadership (with a compelling case for a cause) drives fundraising and recruitment of volunteers. But their management to deliver long‐term results is not as strong. Organizations must find a balance, with the goal of becoming both strongly led and strongly managed.
Five processes of response distortion: a model of response filters
Authors: Scholl Norbert
Published: January 2009

Purpose

Honesty and spontaneity are regularly discussed in articles on qualitative market research. The focus is mostly on specific types of response tendencies, and the tendencies are mostly emotional in nature (e.g. self presentation). The purpose of this paper is to offer a comprehensive framework that describes and explains the different types of response processes, based both on an emotional‐cognitive dimension and an internal‐external dimension. These tendencies are coined as “response filters”.

Design/methodology/approach

This model of response filters is drawn up as a hypothetical model, inspired by the theory of Daniel Katz on the four functions of attitudes: instrumental, ego‐defensive, value expression and knowledge organisation. It is likely that these functions not only determine why we have certain attitudes, but also how we present them to others. The author, a social psychologist with 20 years of experience as a qualitative market researcher, proposes a framework of response tendencies in qualitative research, using the theory of attitude functions as a basis.

Findings

Using the analytical framework of Katz, the author first describes five main processes that play a role in the answering process. A model of response filters is consequently developed, based on the emotional‐cognitive dimension and the internal‐external orientation dimension, and finally the author describes strategies and techniques for interviewers, to deal with the described response tendencies.

Research limitations/implications

Although the model seems to be comprehensive and will probably match the experiences of most qualitative market research practitioners, it is speculative in nature. Its main purpose is to offer an insightful framework, that helps students and practitioners to get a better understanding of the dynamics of interviewing; the factors that are involved and how to deal with them to reach a deeper understanding of people's attitudes.

Originality/value

In the area of quantitative studies, a large amount of research and documentation is available on so‐called response tendencies in closed questions and ranking tasks. In qualitative market research, however, one has not yet come across a comparable overview of the various psychological mechanisms that are relevant to open questions.
Blind insights: a new technique for testing a priori hypotheses with qualitative methods
Authors: DeRosia Eric D. , Christensen Glenn L.
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose and illustrate blind qualitative hypothesis testing, which is a qualitative research technique that further generalizes the well‐known notion of “blindness” in research to include a qualitative researcher. The technique introduces a method to test a priori hypotheses using qualitative, emergent observation and analysis without the biasing influence of prior knowledge of the hypotheses being tested.

Design/methodology/approach

In essence, the proposed technique is as follows. After forming a set of a priori predictive hypotheses, a theoretical researcher (who may or may not be a qualitative researcher) engages the cooperation of a qualitative researcher to perform an empirical study. The qualitative empirical researcher is given adequate guidance to perform a study but is kept blind to the hypotheses. After the qualitative empirical researcher makes observations and forms his or her conclusions, the qualitative empirical researcher and the theoretical researcher jointly determine the extent to which the conclusions support or disconfirm the hypotheses. The qualitative empirical researcher then identifies emergent themes and inductive conclusions that contribute beyond the a priori hypotheses. A study testing consumer response to advertising is described as an illustration of the proposed technique.

Findings

The proposed technique diminishes the influence of the ontological assumptions of researchers on hypothesis tests. By reducing a priori expectations, the proposed technique frees practical and academic market researchers to more fully immerse in the context of interest and better recognize subtle phenomena and imbricated, complex intrapersonal and/or social interactions. Furthermore, the proposed technique provides a new way for qualitative methods to go beyond the “supportive” and “exploratory” role to which they have often been limited.

Originality/value

An ability to test hypotheses gives qualitative researchers another way to contribute to the literatures currently dominated by constricted and pallid questionnaire‐based methods within the positivist tradition. Such literatures will benefit from the methodological pluralism encouraged by the technique introduced here because some benefits of qualitative research (including an ability to identify unanticipated, emergent findings) offer much needed compensation for inherent flaws in questionnaire‐based methods.
Targets of commitment in service provider‐consumer relationships: a prototyping study
Authors: Jones Tim D. , Taylor Shirley F. , Bansal Harvir S.
Published: January 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the question of whether or not there are three distinct targets of commitment in consumers' relationships with their service providers; commitment to the service company, commitment to the individual service provider, and commitment to the individual provider as a friend or acquaintance.

Design/methodology/approach

Initial theories regarding targets of commitment in service relationships are developed with reference to the literature in psychology, organizational behavior, and marketing. Exploratory research into the commitment construct in service relationships is conducted using a prototyping approach. The prototyping approach involves the exploration of natural language concepts including the identification of a concept's attributes, and the concept's relationship to other concepts.

Findings

The results of the prototyping analysis give us preliminary evidence to suggest that that the three targets of commitment while related, are independent. Each target of commitment has a number of unique and central attributes.

Originality/value

Commitment is an important variable in the study of relationship marketing; however, in most marketing studies, the target of a customer's commitment is not clearly defined, nor have potential differences between various targets of commitment been fully explored. This research highlights the fact that relationship commitment is a multi‐level variable. In addition, this research demonstrates the effectiveness of the prototyping methodology in the exploration of abstract concepts and the relationship between them.