bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Working time and employment relations
Authors: Williams Steve
Published: September 2023

This chapter turns to working time—its length, its pattern, and its use. It commences with an overview of the importance of working time as an employment relations issue and how it can be understood before discussing some key trends relating to the duration of working time. Next, the chapter switches to flexible working time arrangements, including a critical assessment of the rise of employment contracts that do not offer any guaranteed minimum hours of work, so-called ‘zero-hours contracts’ (ZHCs). The chapter then examines how working time is used, with a particular emphasis on explaining increased levels of work intensity. The EU Working Time Directive and the Working Time Regulations (WTR) in the UK mean that some working time matters have become more strictly regulated by law. The chapter looks at this legislation, explains why it has been controversial, and considers its implications.
Labour conflict and employment relations
Authors: Williams Steve
Published: September 2023

This chapter examines the main influences on strike levels and the key features of the legal framework governing industrial action by trade unions. The concept of ‘labour conflict’ is used to refer to a variety of behaviours undertaken by workers and their allies, both inside and outside the workplace. These reflect the basic antagonism underlying the employment relationship and are designed to challenge the interests of employers and/or governments. Mobilization theory explains the circumstances under which workers' grievances translate into instances of actual labour conflict. This conflict, when it does arise, can take a variety of forms, and is not just restricted to strikes.
Resolving labour conflict
Authors: Williams Steve
Published: September 2023

This chapter explains employment relations procedures, particularly those used to resolve labour conflict and employment disputes. It starts with arrangements for resolving collective disputes arising between trade unions and employers. It considers the process of negotiation as well as the part played by external, third-party arrangements for collective dispute resolution, including the Advisory, Conciliation, and Arbitration Service (ACAS). The chapter next switches to procedures for handling disputes that arise when individual employees have complaints about their treatment, are alleged to have breached organizational rules in some way, or have their performance deemed substandard—namely grievance and disciplinary procedures. There is growing interest in ‘alternative’ methods of dispute resolution, such as mediation. Finally, the chapter looks at the role of the state in resolving employment disputes and enforcing rights at work. There is a particular emphasis on the system of employment tribunals (ETs): quasi-judicial bodies that adjudicate in employment disputes in the UK. Given that a major problem with the tribunal system is its failure to make sure that people's employment rights and protections are upheld, there is growing interest in other, perhaps more effective means of enforcing them.
Advertising Across Cultural Borders
Authors: Percy Larry , Rosenbaum-Elliott Richard
Published: September 2023

This chapter looks into advertising to different cultures. It lists the basic sources of various cultural assumptions ranging between sources of culture, cognitive organization, and cultural expressions. The chapter uses Hofstede’s dimensions and definitions framework on cultural values citing power distance, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity, and long-term orientation as dimensions. It also includes the different approaches to communication, which are divided between high-context culture and low-context culture. Moreover, the chapter explores other cultural dimensions such as Schwarz’ Universal Value Structure. It highlights how culture impacts the process and effectiveness of advertising and brand perceptions.
Selecting the Target Audience
Authors: Percy Larry , Rosenbaum-Elliott Richard
Published: September 2023

This chapter focuses on the target audience. It narrates the process of the strategic planning process. The chapter then notes the awareness and attitude considerations for potential target audience buyer groups by referencing the customers' relationship and loyalty to brands. It explores the profiling of the target audience by referencing demographics, geographics, psychographics, social class, culture, personality, and values. The chapter looks into personality and its relation to advertising. Additionally, segmentation is a powerful tool for understanding the market and helping to optimize targeting. The chapter also correlates target audience and marketing and communication strategies.
Processing the Message
Authors: Percy Larry , Rosenbaum-Elliott Richard
Published: September 2023

This chapter looks into processing the message. It focuses on how consciousness works by referencing four processing responses which are attention, learning, acceptance, and emotion. The chapter highlights the importance of processing responses. It explores attention in advertising through the terms of reflexive attention and selective attention. Learning is also tied with top-down processing and bottom-up processing. The chapter points out how unconscious learning from an advert could impact brand attitude or brand behaviour. It looks at how emotions tied with memories could frame how a message will be processed. Additionally, the chapter explores how digital media affects processing response.
What are Advertising and Promotion?
Authors: Percy Larry , Rosenbaum-Elliott Richard
Published: September 2023

This chapter introduces the concept of advertising and promotion. It starts with the history of advertising before defining advertising as a public announcement. The chapter also highlights the growing role of advertising as a result of the rise in digital media. It looks into advertising methods such as brand attitude strategy and message appeal. Next, the chapter explores promotion and its three fundamental types: trade promotion, retail promotion, and consumer promotion. It also discusses advertising and promotion in social media alongside its ethics. Moreover, the chapter mentions criticisms of targeting advertising such as advertising creating unnecessary desires, deceptive content, and impacting the economy.
What it Takes for Successful Advertising and Promotion
Authors: Percy Larry , Rosenbaum-Elliott Richard
Published: September 2023

This chapter explores the process of creating successful advertising and promotion. It notes the significance of being conscious of sending messages through advertising and promotion. Moreover, the chapter discusses the communication response sequence which was designed to show how communication works from a psychological standpoint. It highlights the importance of planning by referencing the five-step strategic planning process and the advantage of sequential planning. The chapter then compares the difference between the planning sequence and the communication response sequence while listing the behavioural steps of target audience action, communication effects, processing, and exposure.
Determining the Best Positioning
Authors: Percy Larry , Rosenbaum-Elliott Richard
Published: September 2023

This chapter looks into the third step of the strategic planning process. It explores the positioning strategy for advertising in line with the marketing plan. Additionally, the chapter highlights the importance of understanding how consumers define the market and brand competition. It notes products, price, place, and promotion as consumer benefits linked to the four marketing mix components. The chapter then explores the target market and effective brand positioning strategy. It narrates perceived similarity and the hierarchical market as ways of defining markets. Moreover, the chapter explores the expectancy-value model of attitude, which looks into a person’s attitude, belief and product. It also notes the significance of benefits in the expectancy-value model.
Algebra
Authors: Renshaw Geoff
Published: September 2023

This chapter shows how algebra is a form of shorthand which is used to express complex statements clearly and concisely and how symbols are used to denote unspecified or variable numbers. It begins by presenting the rules of algebra and ways of manipulating algebraic symbols. Then it introduces the various operations for fractions. The chapter then considers the basic understanding of powers and roots and the application of algebraic rules for manipulating them. Finally, the distinction in logic between a necessary and a sufficient condition is reviewed explicitly.
Quadratic equations
Authors: Renshaw Geoff
Published: September 2023

This chapter discusses quadratic equations and quadratic functions, which are the simplest type of non-linear relationship. It illustrates that a quadratic function, when graphed, produces a characteristically U-shaped curve. The chapter then shows how to solve quadratic equations, including simultaneous quadratic equations. At the end of the chapter two applications of quadratic functions in economics are briefly presented.
Elasticity
Authors: Renshaw Geoff
Published: September 2023

This chapter is entirely devoted to the concept of elasticity, a concept that figures prominently in almost every area of economic analysis. Two key elasticities in economics are examined in this chapter: the elasticity of supply and the elasticity of demand. The arc elasticity, which relates to discrete changes in the variables, and the point elasticity, which incorporates the derivative and relates to indefinitely small changes in the variables are considered. In the case of the demand function, the important relationship that exists between price, marginal revenue, and the elasticity of demand are identified and explored. Finally, it considers how the elasticity concept may be applied to other functions in economics.
Compound growth and present discounted value
Authors: Renshaw Geoff
Published: September 2023

This chapter discusses the mathematics of borrowing and lending, and of economic variables that are growing through time. It begins by examining the arithmetic and geometric series of simple and compound interest, from which the formula giving the value of any variable that is growing at a constant compound rate is derived. This chapter also develops the formula for calculating the present discounted value of a series of future payments. Finally, it derives a formula for calculating the repayments of a loan in equal instalments.
Derivatives of exponential and logarithmic functions and their applications
Authors: Renshaw Geoff
Published: September 2023

This chapter presents the derivatives of the natural exponential and logarithmic functions. It begins by stating the rules for finding the derivatives of these two functions. Lastly, it shows by example that when log scales are taken on both axes, the slope of the resulting graph measures the elasticity of the function.
Returns to scale and homogeneous functions; partial elasticities; growth accounting; logarithmic scales
Authors: Renshaw Geoff
Published: September 2023

This chapter examines several economic concepts that can be explained and analysed by using simple mathematical techniques. First, it considers the concept of economies of scale. Then it looks at the algebraic characteristics of the production function and how these relate to the mathematician's concept of a homogeneous function. It also examines several other characteristics of a homogeneous production function. The concept of partial elasticity is also developed. Then it demonstrates the proportionate differential of a function, which plays a major role in both theoretical and empirical analysis of economic growth. Finally, it returns once more to the use of logarithmic scales or logarithmic transformation.
Integration
Authors: Renshaw Geoff
Published: September 2023

This chapter develops the most basic ideas of integration. It provides the basic principles and the relevance of integration to help in understanding economic problems. This chapter begins with the introduction of the definite integral, and then move on to the indefinite integral of a function and explains how the two approaches are related.
Matrix algebra
Authors: Renshaw Geoff
Published: September 2023

This chapter shows how matrix algebra can help overcome the problems in solving a set of three or more simultaneous equations and how it makes it possible to handle large sets of simultaneous linear equations. It concludes by illustrating the applications of matrix algebra. First, to a simple macroeconomic model, showing how the methodology and notation can reveal in a very transparent way much about the relationships between variables and the effects of parameter changes. Second, to analyse inter-industry dependencies and the relationship between gross and net outputs in an economy.
Difference and differential equations
Authors: Renshaw Geoff
Published: September 2023

This chapter broadens the analysis of various economic variables that have been growing (or in some cases declining) through time, such as money deposited in a bank, GDP, and the price level. It considers models in which variables change discretely with time, for example in annual jumps, and variables that change continuously with time.
Why go to university?
Authors: IVORY SARAH BIRRELL
Published: September 2023

This chapter discusses the importance of university education. Knowledge comes from humans. University education helps people transition from being knowledge consumers, to having the skills to be knowledge creators. Increasing foundational knowledge on a topic is important, but you must go beyond this to be able to do something with such knowledge. It is impossible to achieve ‘complete knowledge’ but even if this were possible, knowledge constantly changes and expands. Therefore, you need to be able to understand, interpret, and evaluate new knowledge in your life beyond university. Indeed, thinking is essential not just for success at university studies. It defines us as humans, citizens, and people in the workplace. The chapter then outlines the reasons for attending university, which can be broadly divided into reactive, deferring, and proactive categories.
What is critical thinking?
Authors: IVORY SARAH BIRRELL
Published: September 2023

This chapter examines what critical thinking is. Critical thinking actively and carefully evaluates the reasoning and evidence behind knowledge and arguments. In relation to approaches to knowledge, at an early stage humans seek ‘correct’ knowledge, at an intermediate stage they reject the ability to rank knowledge, and at a higher stage they evaluate knowledge to search for the best within the parameters available. Approaches to arguments see individuals as either followers who believe any arguments they hear, cynics who reject all arguments and evidence, and healthy sceptics who look to evaluate arguments based on underlying reasoning and evidence. Humans can be persuaded by pathos (appeals to emotion), ethos (the credibility of the source or speaker), or logos (the logic of the underlying argument). The chapter then looks at the revised taxonomy of cognitive processes and considers the concept of cognitive biases. As distinct from shallow or cynical thinkers, critical thinkers have a high-stage approach to knowledge; are healthy sceptics in relation to arguments looking to the underlying reasoning and evidence; are persuaded mostly by the logos of an argument; use the full spectrum of cognitive processes (especially higher-order); and try to avoid their own cognitive biases influencing their thinking.
Strength of evidence
Authors: IVORY SARAH BIRRELL
Published: September 2023

This chapter discusses evaluating the reliability of knowledge and the credibility of sources with the overall aim of identifying and using strong evidence as one of the key elements of critical thinking. Evidence is something tangible that determines your line of reasoning and supports your argument to make it more convincing. Sources need to be evaluated for their credibility based on expertise and vested interest, but you should also use independent verification through gatekeepers who assess the underlying knowledge. You can place various sources on a continuum from least to most credible, including blogs; agenda-driven news media; company websites; Wikipedia; consultants, think tanks, and NGO reports; respected and established news media; reputable organization reports; audited reports; and academic sources. To find academic sources of evidence, you should identify the leading textbook in your field and learn to use an academic journal database to identify key articles. Referencing is a standardized way of demonstrating your knowledge of the topic, demonstrating the credibility of your evidence, providing the reader with avenues to explore ideas further, and ensuring good academic practice by acknowledging the work of others and avoiding plagiarism.
Clarity of communication
Authors: IVORY SARAH BIRRELL
Published: September 2023

This chapter addresses how clarity of communication is simultaneously the most important and the least important of the three aims of critical thinking. There are two main ways to communicate your thinking: written and spoken. As there is no ‘formula’ for either of them, both require practice to improve over time. Written communication is most common in the form of essays which require an academic writing style: neither too simple nor too complex, and neither informal nor ultra-formal. Academic conventions vary between disciplines but, in general, you should use topic sentences at the beginning of each paragraph to achieve a narrative that flows, use consistent terms, avoid the first person, and avoid subheadings. Introductory and concluding paragraphs are most important in essay composition to ensure arguments are clearly communicated. In formal oral presentations, you need to focus on the audience hearing and understanding your argument. This includes paying attention to voice, pace, tone, audience connection, complexity, structure, and visual aids. Nerves can impact your ability to effectively communicate spoken arguments, so you should use specific tactics to minimize this impact.
Writing
Authors: IVORY SARAH BIRRELL
Published: September 2023

This chapter explores how writing can support the development of critical thinking skills. Writing-to-think aims to develop unformed early thoughts, spark possible lines of inquiry, and test out ideas. Writing is so effective in contributing to thinking because it is hard to do, because it requires you to express your thoughts with coherence and clarity, and because it allows you space and freedom to try out your voice. When writing-to-think, you must adopt two different personas: the writer and the critic, and never try to be both at the same time. The chapter also differentiates between free writing and direct writing. The two main obstacles to writing-to-think are confidence and time. Writing-to-reflect can be used to uncover and overcome obstacles you are facing in relation to this or other tools.
Reading
Authors: IVORY SARAH BIRRELL
Published: September 2023

This chapter considers why reading at university is an essential tool in becoming a critical thinker, what it means to read actively, and how to become an effective active reader. Reading at university moves you beyond reading-to-know and into reading-to-think, which is known as active reading. Active reading comprises seeing, comprehending, analysing, interpreting, and evaluating to make meaning from text. Your own interpretation is necessary because a text has three different authors: the human author, the imagined author, and the reader as an author. Reading is an essential part of university in part because texts allow authors the time and space to develop complex, carefully constructed arguments and ideas which are well reasoned. The chapter then looks at selective reading; the CBD active reading strategy, which focuses on Context–Breadth–Depth; and note-taking. Obstacles to active reading include time and focus, reading ability and accuracy, and the style and difficulty of texts.
Listening
Authors: IVORY SARAH BIRRELL
Published: September 2023

This chapter illustrates that the ability to effectively listen is a key tool not only within a university context, but also within your personal and professional life, and contribute to critical thinking. Where passive listening accepts the first and easiest meaning of what you hear, and rote listening aims simply to repeat what you hear, active listening is a cognitive process that aims to engage and improve your thinking. Active listening comprises hearing, comprehending, analysing, interpreting, and evaluating sounds. While recorded listening is increasingly available and can be useful, you must master ‘live listening’ in the pursuit of improved thinking and for your professional life beyond university. You should listen to lecturers and tutors, but it is also important to listen to your colleagues, and to those not speaking. Obstacles to active listening also include attention, distraction, and extended focus. However, not all listening should be active listening, even at university: empathetic listening has a place, especially in your relationships with others.
Speaking
Authors: IVORY SARAH BIRRELL
Published: September 2023

This chapter examines speaking as a tool to test ideas, develop unformed thoughts, and engage in real-time thinking. Speaking-to-think is a tool to hone your ideas and thoughts, get feedback and critique from others, or bond with your group. Speaking at university provides a relatively safe environment to practice this tool so that you can speak confidently beyond university, for example in your professional life. When speaking, you should focus on aiming to improve thinking, not image, and use whatever words are available without letting fluency hold you back. You should also ensure that your volume, articulation, pace, phrasing, and engagement contribute to being heard and understood. Moreover, you should welcome feedback and critique as one of the main purposes of speaking. It is also important to explore ways to overcome obstacles such as lack of confidence, anxiety conditions, emotion, and lack of opportunity.
Thinking
Authors: IVORY SARAH BIRRELL
Published: September 2023

This chapter focuses on the role of thinking as a tool for critical thinking. System 1 thinking (fast thinking) is instinctive and automatic, while System 2 thinking (slow thinking) is deliberate and reasoned. System 1 thinking dominates (and should dominate) your daily life, linked to survival instincts and heuristics (rules of thumb). System 2, on the other hand, responds when System 1 does not or cannot because you face an unexpected or unfamiliar situation; to monitor System 1 thoughts and responses and intervene to modify them if necessary; and when you intentionally put yourself in unfamiliar situations in order to improve it—like undertaking a university degree. University is a key opportunity to improve thinking which requires appropriate motivation, faith, and ongoing practice. The PURR acronym can guide you in structured thinking sessions: prepare, undertake, record, return, and distract-to-focus activities can be useful during these sessions. Time and distraction are the most common obstacles to dedicated thinking. Cognitive bias, in particular subconscious bias, can also influence your thinking and understanding, and uncovering this is essential to reveal its impact.
Environmental and internal analysis: market information and intelligence
Authors: West Douglas , Ford John , Ibrahim Essam , Montecchi Matteo
Published: September 2023

This chapter discusses the first part of the strategic marketing management (SMM) process, namely strategic analysis. Strategic analysis is concerned with understanding the strategic position of the organization in terms of its external environment, its internal resources and competencies, and the expectations and influence of stakeholders. For proper conduct of strategic analysis, different sets of market information and competitive intelligence should be gathered, scanned, and analysed. Many analytical models and frameworks are available to support such an analysis, and strategic managers should make their choice based on their understanding of how to operationalize the selected model. To conclude their strategic analysis and to inform the subsequent decision of strategic choices, strategic managers should attempt to find a strategic fit between external opportunities and internal strengths while working around external threats and internal weaknesses.
Strategic marketing decisions, choices, and mistakes
Authors: West Douglas , Ford John , Ibrahim Essam , Montecchi Matteo
Published: September 2023

This chapter examines the second stage of the strategic marketing management (SMM) process: that is, strategic choice and decisions. Strategic choice involves understanding the bases and directions that guide an organization's future strategy, generating various strategic options and alternatives, and choosing the most appropriate ones for the organization. Drawing upon the conclusions from the strategic analysis stage, managers have to identify and assess the alternative ways in which their organization can use its strengths to capitalize on opportunities—or minimize threats—and invest in available opportunities to overcome its weaknesses. The chapter begins by illustrating the hierarchy of strategic decisions at the three organizational levels: corporate, SBU (strategic business unit), and functional. It then considers how marketing strategy decisions could benefit (and have benefited) from recent advancements in technology and digital resources to enhance the creation of sustainable competitive advantages by using data to help drive decision-making.
Branding strategies
Authors: West Douglas , Ford John , Ibrahim Essam , Montecchi Matteo
Published: September 2023

This chapter focuses on branding strategies, presenting a series of suggestions to help the brand strategist to create, maintain, and enhance this valuable company asset. A brand is a ‘name, term, sign, symbol (or a combination of these) that identifies the maker or seller of the product’. It allows the consumer to develop a relationship with a product/service. Strategic brand management requires a sophisticated understanding of, first, industry cost structure, brand efficiency, and brand profitability, and second, consumer perceptions of brands and the potential for differentiation and sustainable competitive advantage. The chapter then looks at some examples of the strongest brands in the market, before reviewing various tools and techniques used in branding. It also considers some of the latest thinking regarding brands: scent branding and brand vulgarity.
Pricing and distribution strategies
Authors: West Douglas , Ford John , Ibrahim Essam , Montecchi Matteo
Published: September 2023

This chapter studies pricing and distribution strategies. In many markets, pricing and distribution strategies meet in conjunction with positioning and customer wants. Undoubtedly, the internet has provided both the biggest challenges and the biggest opportunities to suppliers and companies in bricks-and-mortar channels. The problems faced by marketers overall are that a multitude of individual and combined methods for pricing and distribution are possible. The key challenge for marketers is how to price and distribute in a way that supports a chosen position and fends off the drive to commoditization. Ultimately, value holds the key to both pricing and distribution. Strategies attempting to ‘rip off’ or overcharge are likely to fail and longer-term trust will evaporate. As a consequence of these challenges, price and distribution are likely to remain key issues in marketing strategy in the immediate future.
Social and ethical strategies
Authors: West Douglas , Ford John , Ibrahim Essam , Montecchi Matteo
Published: September 2023

This chapter reflects on social and ethical strategies. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is comprised of a number of important components. The firm has an economic responsibility in that it must maximize shareholder value. The firm also has a legal responsibility to operate according to society's rules and regulations. Beyond law and economics, social responsibility also encompasses ethics. The firm must act in a fair, just, and moral way in its operations. Finally, corporate social responsibility has discretionary and philanthropic components that entail such diverse activities as donating money and hands-on help to charities, the community, the environment, and in some cases developing nations. When done the right way, CSR will not only improve the image of the firm, it will also improve productivity and profitability.
Strategy implementation and control
Authors: West Douglas , Ford John , Ibrahim Essam , Montecchi Matteo
Published: September 2023

This chapter discusses the importance of the implementation of marketing strategy, as well as some common barriers to implementation that organizations face. It considers the need for organizations to control their marketing strategies, and how organizational cultures and structures have significant roles to play in this. Control can be defined as a managerial task that sets targets, evaluates performance against those targets, and then takes corrective or reinforcing action where necessary. Control generally takes three forms: annual plan control, profitability control, or strategic control. Meanwhile, implementation is the act of execution of an endeavour. The successful implementation of a firm's marketing strategy is partly a result of an organization's corporate culture, defined simply as ‘the way we do things around here’.
Strategy and metrics
Authors: West Douglas , Ford John , Ibrahim Essam , Montecchi Matteo
Published: September 2023

This chapter examines the options and appropriateness of different metrics available to marketers working on the implementation and control of strategy. Financial measures can reveal short-term and long-term profitability, cash flows, and the value of the business. Marketing metrics can enable one to link such hard evidence with data on consumer behaviour. The direction of the strategy can be chosen on the basis of various types of analytics, from descriptive to prescriptive. The logic of the process of competitive advantage is that the superior returns enjoyed will be reinvested in the sources of competitive advantage. A significant change in marketing has been a shift to the single yardstick of customer lifetime value (CLV); the summation of an organization's CLVs is known as customer equity. The chapter then reviews the nature of big data that are produced from the records of numerous touchpoint interactions.
What is Strategy?
Authors: Henry Anthony E.
Published: September 2023

This chapter begins by explaining what is meant by strategy and arguing that there is general agreement that it plays a crucial role in helping organizations achieve a competitive advantage. It analyses the role of an organization's values, vision, and mission and highlights the organization's importance in facilitating strategy and setting strategic goals. It also looks at the co-dependent relationship between strategy analysis, formulation, and implementation, noting that separating these elements may be useful for exposition but has limitations when seeking to explain strategy in practice. The chapter considers an organization's assumptions about its competitive environment or the theory of the business, emphasizing how this can lead to organizational failure. It concludes by developing a strategic management framework, which is a useful process in the search for competitive advantage.
Evaluating the Macro-environment
Authors: Henry Anthony E.
Published: September 2023

This chapter focuses on the macro-environment and its importance to an organization. It elaborates how changes, such as disruptions, discontinuities, or tipping points that take place in the macro-environment point to trends that can substantially impact an organization's competitive environment. It also evaluates the tools of analysis an organization can use to discern changes in its macro-environment, including scenario planning that helps managers make better decisions under conditions of uncertainty. The chapter covers the limitations of a PESTLE framework and the link between a SWOT analysis with scenario planning and PESTLE analysis. It evaluates the relationship between the macro-environment and the competitive environment.
The Organization: Value-creating Activities
Authors: Henry Anthony E.
Published: September 2023

This chapter focuses on how an organization can analyse its value-creating activities, considering some of the different ways in which an organization can assess its performance. It points out the importance of debates about what constitutes a differential firm performance, which is just as significant as a strategy formulation. It also clarifies that a differential firm performance refers to the observation that organizations that possess similar resources and operate within the same industry experience different levels of profitability. The chapter examines how linkages in the value chain can create competitive advantage and how to undertake SWOT and TOWS matrix analyses. It identifies the benefits of using a Balanced Scorecard and Triple Bottom Line when assessing the performance of an organization.
The Internal Environment: A Resource-based View of Strategy
Authors: Henry Anthony E.
Published: September 2023

This chapter explains why organizations that possess similar resources and compete in the same industry experience different levels of profitability. It explores the resource-based view, which is a perspective that suggests that relative firm performance and profitability are determined by an organization's resources and capabilities. It also stresses how the resource-based view emphasizes the internal capabilities of the organization in formulating strategy to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage in its markets and industries. The chapter reviews the role of capabilities in helping an organization achieve competitive advantage and the VRIO framework as a means of achieving sustainable competitive advantage. It discusses a knowledge-based view of the organization and dynamic capabilities as a way of dealing with the limitations of the resource-based view of strategy.
Corporate Strategy
Authors: Henry Anthony E.
Published: September 2023

This chapter deals with corporate strategy, which is concerned with what businesses to compete in. It addresses issues on how resources are to be allocated across an organization which is made up of multiple business units. The chapter looks at how an organization determines which businesses to invest in and which to divest. It also emphasizes that the overall objectives of the organization which are paramount in guiding its direction and decisions are determined by the corporate parent. The chapter clarifies that the role of a corporate parent is to add value across the business units, noting that the measurement of the value being added by the corporate parent depends on whether it is greater than if the business units were managed independently of the parent or managed by another corporate parent. It also describes synergy achieved when a corporate parent adds greater value to the organization.
International Trade Theory and the Firm
Authors: Clegg L. Jeremy , Wang Elizabeth Yi
Published: September 2023

This chapter deals with international trade, which has always been a feature of the operations of businesses and consumers. It clarifies how importing and exporting remains a central strategy of global factories, along with licensing and foreign direct investment (FDI). It also examines ‘pure’ international trade theory and introduces the agency of the firm, including the arguments for and against protectionism and the role of digital trade. The chapter talks about how the global factory uses exporting and importing throughout its operations, combining them with marketing strategies, production, and logistics strategies. It explores the principles of international trade between nations and the comparative advantage that arises naturally as a result of human activities.
The Institutional Dimension
Authors: Voss Hinrich , Antoniou Christos
Published: September 2023

This chapter helps develop an understanding of what institutions are and how they affect a global factory at local, regional, and international levels. It analyses economic and organizational institutional theories, which introduces the formal and informal mechanisms by which institutions exert influence over businesses, the laws and regulations with which firms have to comply, and the traditions and cultures they have to respect and address. It also talks about how institutions can have a positive impact by enabling and supporting international business through trade promotion and investment agreements. The chapter refers to institutions that support and inhibit international business in relation to the global factory. It describes varied supranational institutions that shape national laws and influence the global factory and situates the behaviour of the global factory in various institutional contexts.
The Economic Dimension
Authors: Wei Yingqi , Cross Adam R. , Read Robert
Published: September 2023

This chapter examines the economic dimension of the external environment in which global factories operate. It extends the discussion on why governments involve themselves in economic affairs and the varying ideologies that underpin the form and extent of this involvement. It also details the various types of national economic system that can be found in countries and explores how the economic policy of governments has the potential to influence the performance and profitability of the international operations of global factory networks. The chapter considers a variety of economic indicators and factors that global factory managers can use to evaluate the attractiveness of foreign locations, emphasizing the relationship between indicators and factors and the opportunities, costs, and risks they present to the activities of the global factory. It looks at exchange rates and various types of exchange rate policy pursued by governments.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Authors: Voss Hinrich
Published: September 2023

This chapter introduces theories of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and discusses the relationships of multinational enterprises (MNEs) with the natural environment and human rights. It looks at key concepts that relate to the identification and evaluation of stakeholders and the proactive approaches that MNEs have adopted to address environmental and ethical concerns. It also uses case studies to develop an understanding of how the core company aims to ensure that the businesses with which it is working adhere to laws and ethical norms. The chapter presents the activities of MNEs within the global norms framework, alongside the social and environmental targets that international organizations pursue with the support of MNEs. It highlights the links between CSR and the formal and informal institutional environment and assesses the social and environmental impact of the global factory.
International Production and Logistics Strategies
Authors: Wong Chee Yew , McDonald Conor
Published: September 2023

This chapter examines the motives for international production and the sourcing strategies of global factories. The strategic and operational decisions involved in pursuing international production are explored and it shows how global production networks are formed to achieve competitive advantages. It highlights the importance of understanding changes to strategic roles and competencies of global factories and the exploitation of knowledge in global production networks.
Human Resources Management Strategies
Authors: Moore Fiona , Enderwick Peter
Published: September 2023

This chapter looks at the key resource within any business: people, discussing the management of people in an international business, which involves significant challenges. The chapter examines the additional options in staffing and selection that internationalization brings. It also refers to human resources management (HRM) in an international context, which requires a commitment to effective systems for training, performance appraisal, and compensation, particularly in view of how diversity and equity objectives are addressed. The chapter cites challenges in labour relations practices when conducted internationally and through outsourced arrangements. It deals with the characteristic of the global factory, which considers the management of expatriates and their repatriation as a unique aspect of international HRM.
Formulating the Strategic Response
Authors: Enderwick Peter , Voss Hinrich , McDermott Michael
Published: September 2023

This chapter examines the strategy formulation process, elaborating that strategy is a disputed concept and process and is more than simply planning, the pursuit of goals, or operational excellence. It talks about various schools of strategy thought that offer different perspectives and considers industry approaches, market exploitation, and strategy as problem-solving. It also highlights some of the key tools of strategic analysis, including SWOT, PESTLE, industry, and market analysis. The chapter analyses international strategy formulation and multi-domestic, global, and transnational approaches. It investigates strategy formulation within both small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and service MNEs and strategy formulation within the global factory, noting how this differs in terms of competitive advantages, coordination, and the reconciliation of strategic trade-offs.
Strategic Project Organizing
Authors: Winch Graham , Maytorena-Sanchez Eunice , Sergeeva Natalya
Published: September 2023

Strategic Project Organizing places emphasis on the strategic and organizational aspects of projects and their leadership. Structured around the Three Domains model, it covers all the fundamental project management concepts, whilst guiding the reader through the organizational challenges of enabling positive change. Through the lens of strategic leadership, this text discusses how to respond proactively to threats, as well as seize opportunities, in order to advantageously change the socio-economic environment in an organization's favour. The text also explains the tools and techniques adopted during the process of organizational transformation. All chapters offer review and discussion-based questions to encourage critical thinking. Real life projects featured in the case studies include the Eden Project, the Thames Tideway Tunnel and the Berlin Brandenburg Airport. The text is made up of four parts. The first part looks at the core concepts of strategic project organization. The second part focuses on the Three Domains model. Then the next part is about the three interfaces: the governance, commercial, and resource interfaces. The final part looks at the core skills needed.
Introduction
Authors: Winch Graham , Maytorena-Sanchez Eunice , Sergeeva Natalya
Published: September 2023

This chapter introduces the concept of strategic project organizing (SPO), which primarily revolves around how organizations and society deliberately transform their futures. It considers how transportation and information technology profoundly changed the world and stimulated the invention of new ways of projecting. The Three Domains Model addresses a fundamental paradox in project organizing, wherein the vast majority of project managers work for permanent organizations while also focusing on temporary organizations. The chapter discusses the systems paradigm of project organizing that laid the foundations for subsequent research and teaching on project organizing. It then references Thomas Cole's Voyage of Life to show that, fundamentally, SPO is a voyage through the life cycle that is projected.
Projecting and creating
Authors: Winch Graham , Maytorena-Sanchez Eunice , Sergeeva Natalya
Published: September 2023

This chapter explains the importance of projecting and creating as dimensions of the Project Leadership Model (PLM). It clarifies how sense-making and relating provides information sources for projecting the project mission and working out how that mission will be delivered. Projecting in strategic project organizing (SPO) is the process of imagining how a project will be developed and progressed throughout its life cycle. In order to communicate the project mission, leaders must craft a project narrative to explain why the project exists while simultaneously inspiring related personnel. Meanwhile, creating in the PLM has two distinct elements of designing the project and innovating.
The owner domain
Authors: Winch Graham , Maytorena-Sanchez Eunice , Sergeeva Natalya
Published: September 2023

This chapter explores the owner domain of strategic project organizing (SPO). The owner domain is usually populated by a single organization from the public or private sectors. In correlation, the concept of owner-project capability showcases the dynamic capability that all organizations require in order to transform their operational capabilities. The chapter then explains the importance of taking a broad view in the development of the value proposition. Value proposition analysis and the commercial and governance cases are all different ways of testing the viability of the project mission. The chapter shows that only a capable owner can shape and influence the project mission, and then benefit from project outcomes.
The supplier domain
Authors: Winch Graham , Maytorena-Sanchez Eunice , Sergeeva Natalya
Published: September 2023

This chapter covers the supplier domain of strategic project organizing (SPO). Members of the supplier domain are responsible for providing the human and technological resources that deliver the output so that the owner can transform that output into outcomes. Suppliers are typically a distinctive type of firm called the project-based firm (PBF), which is characterized by its core operational capability being project organizing. The chapter cites how PBFs are clustered into distinctive project-based sectors, and the ways in which those suppliers are then tiered in relations of contract and subcontract within the project coalition. It also considers the P-form corporation and the Professional Service Firm as distinctive types of PBF which often complement each other within project coalitions.
The delivery domain
Authors: Winch Graham , Maytorena-Sanchez Eunice , Sergeeva Natalya
Published: September 2023

This chapter notes the delivery domain of strategic project organizing (SPO) in relation to temporary project organizing. It acknowledges that the delivery organization has been at the heart of the traditional approaches to project management. The strategic project delivery plan (PDP) provides the overall strategy for the delivery phase of the project. The chapter notes one of the project leader's principal responsibilities of designing the project delivery organization like the SPO Star Model, while also highlighting the importance of project scope defined by the work breakdown structure (WBS). It considers the principles of teaming on projects while integrating them into the project delivery organization as a dynamic interplay between routines, tasks, and teams in a process of future-making.
The commercial interface
Authors: Winch Graham , Maytorena-Sanchez Eunice , Sergeeva Natalya
Published: September 2023

This chapter explores the notion of the commercial interface in relation to collaborating to deliver the project mission. It notes that commercial relations between the owner and the suppliers are some of the most contentious in strategic project organizing (SPO). The commercial interface is fronting the important issue of probity and corruption that became pervasive and the effective management of projects is impossible. The chapter then covers the commercial interface from the perspective of the owner and its contracting strategy, and then from the perspective of the supplier and its project strategy. It explains how the strategies can align to gain the mutual benefits of collaborative working and trust.