bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Commitment
Authors: Guest David E.
Published: January 2015

Attitudinal or affective commitment addresses identification with and attachment to an organization, a team, or some other feature. A widely cited distinction is often made between affective, continuance and normative commitment, typically to an organization. There are established measures. Research shows that affective commitment is the most salient and a range of antecedents and outcomes have been established, although links to outcomes are often quite weak. There are ongoing debates about the conceptual basis of the popular approaches to commitment but it appears to retain relevance for organizational policy, for example, in relation to the war for talent.
Consultancy
Authors: McMackin John
Published: January 2015

Management consulting can be defined as “the creation of value for organizations, through improved performance, achieved by providing objective advice and implementing business solutions.”
Evolutionary Psychology
Authors: Nicholson Nigel
Published: January 2015

Evolutionary psychology is the name given to the multidisciplinary enterprise, across the life and social sciences, to use the developments of Darwinian theory and research over the past 60 years, to unify our understanding of human social behavior and identity. It has a proven ability to explain and unify the multiple meso‐level theories in the study of management, decision‐making, and organization.
Gender
Authors: Bosak Janine , Eagly Alice H.
Published: January 2015

In the 1970s, feminist researchers introduced the concept of gender to distinguish between differences in male and female psychology caused by sociocultural meanings associated with males and females, and those caused by their biology. Owing to the complexity and intertwined nature of biological and sociocultural factors in causing behavior, the term “sex” has been used by researchers to refer to the binary categories of male and female without implying causes for underlying differences, while research on causation invokes more specific language with the term “gender” referring to cultural constructions such as stereotypes. This article discusses gender in relation to the field of work, specifically focusing on gender stereotypes, gender identity, and sex differences/similarities in attitudes and behavior.
Goal Orientation
Authors: Erez Miriam
Published: January 2015

Goal orientation originated in the educational psychology literature in the early 1980s and has recently been applied to the work context.
Goal Setting
Authors: Erez Miriam
Published: January 2015

Specific high goals lead to higher performance than easy goals, no goals or even urging people to do their best. The higher the goal the higher the performance, given ability, commitment, feedback, and resources. Goals are effective because they give people direction, they increase effort and persistence, and they cue people on strategies to attain them.
Government and Business
Authors: Campbell John L.
Published: January 2015

There is a vast literature about the relationships between government and business in advanced capitalist societies.
Organizational Learning
Authors: Kirwan Cyril
Published: January 2015

Although the construct of organizational learning has developed from a number of research perspectives, (
see also
Learning Organization and Knowledge Management) at its simplest it is seen as a change in an organization's knowledge that occurs as a result of its experience.
Locus of Control
Authors: Saboe Kristin N. , Spector Paul E.
Published: January 2015

Locus of control (LOC) is a personality variable that reflects people's generalized expectancies for control of reinforcements of rewards. Individuals who believe that they control rewards are internals and individuals who do not believe this are externals. LOC scales have been developed to be both general and domain specific, such as LOC in the workplace. Studies have shown that general scales are more strongly associated with general criteria, such as life satisfaction, whereas work LOC relates more strongly to work‐relevant criteria, such as job attitudes or performance.
Organizational Citizenship Behavior
Authors: Farrell Jennifer B.
Published: January 2015

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) describes discretionary behavior on the part of the employee that although not formally recognized by the organization's formal reward system, contributes to organizational functioning. This article defines OCB and provides an overview of the main research findings to date. Areas requiring further investigation are also discussed.
Social Capital
Authors: Gubbins Claire
Published: January 2015

Social capital, as a concept, is defined in numerous and varied ways. Definitions focus on the structure of relations among actors in a network, the characteristics of the actors, the resources possessed by and available to the actors in a network or both the structure, characteristics and resources of a network of actors. The multitude of definitions of social capital is argued to be in part because the differences in metaphors used by authors to define a concept to suit their goals and the purpose of their theorizing.
Transformational/Transactional Leadership
Authors: Kidney Rachel
Published: January 2015

Transformational and transactional leadership theory emerged at the center of a paradigmatic shift in leadership research that began in the 1980s. Since its inception, transformational and transactional leadership has revitalized the study of leadership and has been the subject of a great deal of theorizing and empirical investigation. This theory focuses on the predictive value of reciprocal interactions between leaders and followers in achieving effective leadership and performance. This entry provides an overview of the background of transformational and transactional theory, its conceptual development over the years, and the performance link, and concludes with a review of the multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ) – the most commonly adopted measure of transformational, transactional, and laissez‐faire leadership.
Women at Work
Authors: Bosak Janine , Kinahan Mary
Published: January 2015

As women began to enter paid employment in large numbers, the study of “women at work” has emerged as a significant interdisciplinary subfield of organizational research, drawing on management, psychology, economics, and so on. In recent years, with women's numbers increasing substantially in the general labor force, in professional occupations, and in management, the study of the role of women in modern organizational life has become increasingly important. This article discusses “women at work,” specifically focusing on possible explanations for perceived and actual sex differences/similarities in work attitudes and behavior and the different challenges women face at work.
Women Managers
Authors: Bosak Janine
Published: January 2015

With increasing numbers of women in the labor force and in higher education, more than at any other time in history, women have the qualifications and resources to fulfill management and leadership roles. However, despite these advances, few women make it to the corporate boardrooms, executive office suites, or the ranks of companies' top earners. This article discusses one of the main causes for women's power deficit, the glass ceiling phenomenon, specifically focusing on how societal stereotypes result in discrimination and prejudice for women due to a perceived incongruence between female and masculine leadership stereotypes. This article also discusses the recent emergence of more androgynous models of leadership and the possible suitability of these types of leadership styles for women managers.
Error
Authors: Koput Kenneth W. , Podsakoff Nathan P.
Published: January 2015

This entry identifies two uses of the term error in organizational analyses. In the first use, error is the distributional property capturing the extent to which actual values deviate from an expectation. In the second use, error is the logical condition of making a false inference. Instances of error are given and the importance of attending to the underlying statistical model, which provides the expectation or inference, and its assumptions is discussed.
Five‐Factor Model of Personality
Authors: Hodgkinson Gerard P. , Gill C.M. Hew D.
Published: January 2015

The five‐factor model (FFM) underpinning the set of traits commonly known as ‘the Big Five’, is widely accepted as one of the foremost contributions to personality theory and research. The culmination of decades of research, founded on a wealth of biological, cross‐cultural, and psychometric evidence, it enjoys pre‐eminence in all of the major branches of human psychology. In the related fields of organizational behavior and personnel psychology, its reach extends into virtually every major topic area, from selection and assessment to team functioning, work‐related stress, and job satisfaction.
Garbage Can Model
Authors: Greve Henrich R.
Published: January 2015

The garbage can model is a simulation model of organizational
D
ecision‐
M
aking under ambiguity.
Ability
Authors: Hogan Joyce
Published: January 2015

Ability usually refers to mental power and extends beyond cognitive domains to include acquired characteristics and inherited genetic predispositions. Abilities and their interaction with personality and motivation predict performance across a wide range of tasks. Intelligence is seen as the basic human ability and a number of models now propose that intelligence comprises multiple components. Most measures of intellectual abilities include verbal comprehension and quantitative reasoning. Many of the abilities underlying task performance can be identified and measured using a wide range of metrics, many of which were influenced by item‐response theory.
Affiliation, Need for
Authors: Nicholson Nigel
Published: January 2015

This is one of a trio of needs, along with power and achievement, extensively studied by David McClelland and followers.
Attribution
Authors: Martinko Mark J.
Published: January 2015

An attribution is a causal explanation.
Bureaucracy
Authors: Meyer Marshall W.
Published: January 2015

This widely used concept has a variety of meanings, some positive, some less so.
Cognitive Dissonance
Authors: Griffin Ricky W.
Published: January 2015

Cognitive dissonance is an element of Attitude Theory, which arises when there is inconsistency among an individual's attitudes, behaviors, and/or Values
Delphi
Authors: Schuler Randall S.
Published: January 2015

The Delphi group format continues to be an important technique by which a wide array of expert opinion can be generated to maximize the range of alternative solutions to issues and problems.
Empowerment
Authors: Fenton‐O'Creevy Mark
Published: January 2015

Prior to its adoption as a management term, the word
empowerment
was most often used in fields such as politics, social work, feminist theory, and Third World aid.
Entrainment
Authors: Ancona Deborah
Published: January 2015

The term “entrainment” means the adjustment of the pace, cycle, and rhythm of one activity to match that of another.
Force Field Analysis
Authors: Zand Dale E.
Published: January 2015

Force field analysis is a diagnostic technique for identifying, analyzing and organizing psychological, social, and other forces maintaining a current condition and planning change to improve the situation. Propositions are presented regarding changing forces to modify a situation and their effects on resistance, norms, motivation and tension.
Identity, Organizational
Authors: Hatch Mary Jo.
Published: January 2015

This article describes organizational identity in terms of synchronic and diachronic approaches.
Incentives
Authors: Milkovich George T. , Yanadori Yoshio
Published: January 2015

Incentives are financial or nonfinancial inducements offered to influence employees' future behavior.
Innovation Diffusion
Authors: Strang David
Published: January 2015

Much organizational research examines the process by which new ideas and practices spread.
Interpersonal Skills
Authors: Bigelow John D.
Published: January 2015

Interpersonal skills are the ability to accomplish individual and organizational goals through interpersonal interactions. They are essential for managers as their work is primarily interactional. Interpersonal skills are distinguished from other types of skills, and skills are differentiated from competencies. The major interpersonal skills of communication, influence, negotiation and conflict management, and facilitation are identified. Although interpersonal skills have been regarded as relatively straightforward behavioral routines, a more contemporary view of a skilled person is more complex: a person who can appraise his/her broader impact and can flexibly apply a repertoire of interaction tactics to accomplish a set of goals. Finally, the need for skill learning is discussed. Three approaches to skill learning are described. A key issue for all these approaches is how to develop a valid and sustainable skill assessment process.
Investor Capitalism
Authors: Useem Michael
Published: January 2015

A majority of the shares of publicly traded companies in the united states are now held by institutional investors, and shares are increasingly held by professional money managers in many other countries as well. Institutional owners are more demanding, more international, and they exercise more influence on company leadership than individual shareholders. An era of managerial capitalism is being eclipsed by that of investor capitalism in the united states and elsewhere, and companies have, as a result, strengthened their leadership and restructured their operations to deliver even greater shareholder value.
Management, Classical Theory
Authors: Jelinek Mariann
Published: January 2015

Early efforts to formalize principles to guide a growing class of professional managers at the end of the nineteenth century are termed classical management theory. Classical theory sought rationality and order in work through what they called “the one best way,” the most logical division of labor, appropriate structure to relate the activities thus divided (in terms of the variety of activities and the levels of supervision), the correct span of control for directing activities, and the proper allocation of responsibility to a designated authority.
Mechanistic/Organic
Authors: Donaldson Lex
Published: January 2015

The mechanistic organizational structure is a top‐down, hierarchical structure in which people have clear roles and receive detailed instructions – formalization and centralization are both high.
Mentoring
Authors: Kram Kathy
Published: January 2015

Mentoring refers to relationships between juniors and seniors that exist primarily to support the personal development and Careers advancement of the junior person.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Authors: Puranam Phanish
Published: January 2015

A merger refers to the amalgamation of two independent corporate entities into a single one (e.g., Daimler/Chrysler), whereas an acquisition refers to the absorption of one corporate entity into another (e.g., Cisco/Stratacom).
Organizational Change
Authors: Van de Ven Andrew H.
Published: January 2015

This essay defines organization change, reviews the factors that are associated with it, and different theories that explain processes of organizational change.
Organizational Neurosis
Authors: de Vries Manfred F.R. Kets
Published: January 2015

Notwithstanding the emphasis on rational action in organizational life, organizations are made up of people, and as a wit once said, “everybody is normal, until you know them better.”
Organizational Status
Authors: Lincoln James R.
Published: January 2015

Organizational status is the standing or position of an organization in a stratification system, based on social honor or esteem.
Outsourcing
Authors: Puranam Phanish , Srikanth Kannan
Published: January 2015

Outsourcing is the transfer of responsibility for the execution of any of a company's recurring internal activities to another company. Outsourcing is not synonymous with offshoring. Outsourcing involves a change in “ownership” boundaries – that is, a vendor's employees now execute processes that were previously performed by the firm's employees. In contrast, offshoring involves the relocation of activities to a remote (often low wage) location, which could be delivered by the firm's own or another firm's employees. When a third party vendor's employees deliver a service from a remote location for a company, it is typically called “offshore outsourcing.”
Participation
Authors: Cordery John
Published: January 2015

Participation denotes employee involvement in decision‐making within organizations. Participation may take various forms (e.g. formal/informal, direct/indirect, short/long‐term), and has been linked to a number of positive outcomes for employees and organizations, including job satisfaction, organizational commitment, motivation, performance, and psychological well‐being.
Person–Environment Interaction
Authors: Kristof‐Brown Amy
Published: January 2015

At its most basic level, person–environment (P–E) interaction argues for study of the relationship between people and their environments.
Postmodernism
Authors: Legge Karen
Published: January 2015

Postmodernism is a cultural movement of the late twentieth century that may be defined in opposition to modernism.
Process Consultation
Authors: Zand Dale E.
Published: January 2015

Process consultation posits that how something is done – process – determines the content, quality, and implementation of decisions. Process consultation consists of identifying, analyzing, and improving faulty processes to increase individual, group, or organization effectiveness, usually with the aid of a consultant. Many processes may be diagnosed as faulty and become targets of change. For example, communication patterns – who communicates with whom, about what, when, arousing what emotions, who is ignored, and who is interrupted. A group with a poor communication process will often have low quality, uncoordinated goals, and difficulty confronting emerging conflicts.

Other facets of process consultation include problem solving, goal setting, decision making, leadership style, trust development, conflict management, norms, interaction patterns, group cohesion, group growth, role conflict, power, influence, reward systems, intergroup competition, socialization, and culture. One can expect to find some process elements in almost every organizational change effort.

Increasing the client's process awareness and skills is a primary goal of process consultation; so he or she, with coworkers, can become less dependent on the consultant. Using a joint diagnosis model, the client participates in diagnosing process difficulties and learns to observe and solve its process problems. Process consulting depends on a voluntary relationship between client and consultant that develops a mutually trusting relationship to facilitate the client's process learning and increased self‐sufficiency.
Prospect Theory
Authors: Moore Don
Published: January 2015

Prospect theory has been one of the single‐most influential behavioral theories of choice, not only in organizational behavior but also in psychology and in economics.
Reliability
Authors: Klimoski Richard
Published: January 2015

In the context of organizational research, reliability refers to the degree of self‐consistency among the scores earned by an individual on a measure or the degree of consistency that exists among observations made (e.g., of service quality) over repeated attempts to do.
Role Conflict
Authors: Riordan Catherine
Published: January 2015

Role conflict is the experience of contradictory, incompatible, or competing role expectations.
Role Set
Authors: Polzer Jeffrey T.
Published: January 2015

A role set is the set of people who influence or are concerned with the behavior of the person in a role.
Role Theory
Authors: Polzer Jeffrey T.
Published: January 2015

Role theory specifies the conceptual relationships among several distinct role conditions.
Self‐Regulation
Authors: Toegel Ginka , Nicholson Nigel
Published: January 2015

Self‐regulation refers to a set of processes that enable individuals to guide their goal directed activities over time and across changing contexts.
Sexual Harassment
Authors: Gutek Barbara A.
Published: January 2015

Sexual harassment is broadly defined as unwelcome verbal or physical sexual overtures that may be made a condition of employment or otherwise affect one's job or Careers and/or create a hostile or intimidating work environment.
Social Loafing
Authors: Narayanan Jayanth , Pillutla Madan M.
Published: January 2015

The term social loafing refers to the tendency of individuals to expend less effort when working in collectives than when working by themselves.
Status Incongruence
Authors: Deephouse David L.
Published: January 2015

Two sources and two consequences of status incongruence are presented.
Stress
Authors: Frese Michael , Sonnentag Sabine
Published: January 2015

Stress in organizations is common: “A recent study conducted on behalf of the American Psychological Association showed that between 2007 and 2010 about 70% of surveyed Americans perceived “work” to be one the major causes of stress.”
Symbolism
Authors: Maanen John Van
Published: January 2015

Symbolism is defined and illustrated in semiotic terms and linked to a cultural perspective on management and organization. Attention is also given to how symbols are “decoded.”
Technology
Authors: Anderson Philip
Published: January 2015

Although technology is a central construct in organizational research, it is defined and employed in different ways by different scholars, sometimes causing considerable confusion.
Technology Transfer
Authors: Sutherland Kim
Published: January 2015

Technology transfer involves the movement of an idea, practice, or object from a “source” individual or organization to a “recipient” individual or organization that perceives it as new.
Theory
X
and
Y
Authors: Bass Bernard M.
Published: January 2015

Theory X and theory Y delineates management views regarding employees' orientation to work. Theory X views employees as lazy, not interested in doing a good job and having little interest in the organizations goals. Consequently, management must closely monitor employees' in order to ensure that the work is carried out. On the other hand, theory Y stipulates that employees' have a desire to do a good job and are interested in the organizational goals so much so that they want to be involved in organizational decision making and utilize their skills and responsibility in order to see it succeed. As a result, the task of management is to encourage growth, provide direction and create conditions associated with greater empowerment and decentralization.
Glass Ceiling/Glass Cliff
Authors: Kulich Clara
Published: January 2015

The metaphor of theglass ceilingpoints to the discriminatory forces that limit women's access to top leadership positions. One of its major causes is that women are stereotypically ascribed feminine traits that are deemed inappropriate for a management context and thus lead to less favourable evaluations of women's performances and suitability as leaders.

Despite these barriers, some women have broken through the glass ceiling and gained leading positions in corporations. However, discriminatory processes may again qualify these appointments. Ryan and Haslam demonstrated that UK female directors' appointments are more likely to happen in companies that underperformed in the past. The authors concluded that women's appointments are over‐represented in organizational contexts which expose them to a risk of failure – a fall off a glass cliff. A number of studies have since supported the idea that female appointments are the consequence of organizational and political failure. Various reasons have been evoked such as that organisations may appoint women in a crisis because they are viewed as having the ability of conflict‐solving, or that the exchange of a male for a female leader may be a strategic signal of change.
Presenteeism
Authors: Armstrong Claire
Published: January 2015

Presenteeism is a term used to describe circumstances in which employees choose to come to work even though they are too sick, stressed, or distracted to be productive. Although presenteeism has only recently been recognized by organizations as a potential problem, it appears that it is a very significant cost that many organizations are still unaware of. It is estimated that presenteeism costs organizations approximately 1.8 times as much as absenteeism. It is usually measured in one of two ways; the number of episodes of the behavior or the costs associated with the behavior. It appears that the main way for the negative impacts of presenteeism to be counteracted is for employers to provide a healthy workplace to reduce illness among employees and to provide appropriate supports to employees when ill to minimize presenteeism.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Authors: McWilliams Abagail
Published: January 2015

Actions of firms that contribute to social welfare, beyond what is required for profit maximization, are classified as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The acceptance of CSR by business scholars and practitioners has a spotted history. While scholars debated the
legitimacy of CSR, consumers and investors developed clear preferences for socially responsible firms. Big corporations, in large part, responded positively, making CSR an important element of strategic management. The development of CSR from its controversial beginning to its current acceptance as a legitimate business function is outlined along with a discussion of the role of corporate social performance, socially responsible investing, and global corporate citizenship.
Corporate Venturing
Authors: Sammut‐Bonnici Tanya
Published: January 2015

Corporate venturing occurs when a firm enters into shareholding or a joint agreement with another firm, which is usually smaller and in possession of specialist capabilities, such as innovative technology or management and marketing expertise. In this form of venture, nonfinancial firms provide capital for start‐up companies or the buying out of new operations. The combination of firms involved in corporate venturing varies from firms within the same group, independent firms, and syndicated investment groups with venture capital funds.

Corporate venturing follows both financial and strategic intentions to obtain nascent technological or commercial areas in which the firm is already present. It is an opportunity to obtain timely strategic access to cutting edge products and services. The benefit derived by the smaller innovative firm is the acquisition of supplementary capital, which will facilitate the consolidation of technological skill and marketing expertise.

Developing corporate ventures enables local and international corporations companies to expand their business operation without having to take full ownership of other companies. It is a route available for smaller firms to increase their growth rate beyond their current capabilities.
M‐form (Multidivisional Structure)
Authors: Smith Chris
Published: January 2015

The multidivisional structure splits large companies into smaller semi‐autonomous businesses that focus on a particular product, process, and/or region. This structure enables the corporate group to focus on longer term strategic issues as the management team of the component businesses handle the day‐to‐day competitive pressures of their particular organization. While this structure is easier to manage (via financial measures) the internal competition for corporate resources that it engenders restricts sharing of knowledge and skills.
Psychological Foundations of Strategic Management
Authors: Healey Mark P. , Hodgkinson Gerard P.
Published: January 2015

The psychology of strategic management draws inspiration from the behavioral sciences to understand
why
firms act in particular ways. This approach draws attention to how managers' mental processes influence strategic action. Rather than assuming that strategizing is objectively or even intendedly rational, a psychological approach holds that strategy formulation and implementation are always exercised within the bounds of human cognitive limitations and that strategic action often reflects subjective perceptions, judgments, and goals as much as objective analysis or normatively valued choice.
Strategic Networks
Authors: Smith Chris
Published: January 2015

Organizations are embedded in networks of other organizations. While primary competitive advantage is located at the level of the individual firm, this advantage is augmented or diminished by the relative performance of the network of which the firm is a component.
Corporate Governance and Boards of Directors
Authors: McNulty Terry
Published: January 2015

Corporate governance draws attention to a vast range of individuals and groups at all levels of economic and political activity, who are involved with and interested in matters of firm performance, market confidence, and the systemic legitimacy of capitalism. Corporate governance is a very broad topic with many national variations and intellectual perspectives. It is relevant to all kinds of organizations but it is mostly considered in relation to the ownership, control, and accountability of corporations. Since the early 1990's, the emergence and worldwide diffusion of Codes of Corporate Governance among nations and transnational institutions such as the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has also highlighted the importance of corporate governance for the development of countries and their host firms. The financial crisis, the latest development in the recurrent crisis of corporate governance, has not only renewed attention to the efficacy of corporate governance mechanisms and reform, but also promises to reshape the corporate governance agenda and ideology going forward. While relations between managers, directors, boards, and shareholders will remain core to the subject these relations will be conducted within a context wherein issues such as: the balance of law versus self‐regulation; the belief in the primacy of (short‐term) shareholder value; the governance responsibilities of shareholders and financial intermediaries; the morality of executive pay and reward; the representativeness of boards; the relationship between the corporation and the rest of society, are all subject to renewed scrutiny.
Benchmarking
Authors: Sammut‐Bonnici Tanya
Published: January 2015

Benchmarking is defined as the comparison of products, services, and processes across divisions that carry out similar operations in the same organization, among competing firms in the same industry, and among firms with similar processes across different industries. The purpose of benchmarking is to explore why and how organizations achieve higher levels of efficiency and to identify the methods and processes driving that performance. Benchmarking identifies an organizations' relative cost position and recognizes opportunities for improvement. Strategic advantage is achieved by concentrating on the competences required to upgrade to new performance levels. Benchmarking has its origins in engineering as part of process improvement programs. It is traced back to Xerox's efforts at the end of the last century, when it analyzed how Japanese firms could be selling products at a price lower than its own production costs. Organizations engage in benchmarking exercises that focus of the performance of strategic management, competitive strategy, financial management, products, services, core business process and functional processes. The most popular methods of analysis used in metric benchmarking are data envelope analysis (DEA) and regression analysis.
Investment Intensity
Authors: McGee John
Published: January 2015

Investment intensity and capital intensity are measures used interchangeably but are actually somewhat different. Capital intensity refers to the size of the fixed stock of capital in relation to sales or to total costs. Investment intensity is the change in capital stock in relation to the same denominators. The underlying concern is with capital productivity. Measuring it properly has conceptual and practical difficulties, but in many businesses it is more important than the more easily measured labor productivity. To obtain high capital productivity capital/investment intensive businesses rely heavily on their ability to make good capital investment decisions. The uncertainty inherent in these decisions and the forecasting errors that can be made, go some way to explaining why investment intensive businesses often appear to perform badly.
Strategy
Authors: McGee John
Published: January 2015

Strategy has always dealt with the future, usually a long‐term typically uncertain future, for which preparations have to be made, plans established, and actions taken together with provision for alternative actions should the future turn out to have unexpected characteristics. The word strategy itself derives from the Greek στρατηγoς (“strategos”) meaning leader, reflecting military roots where strategy is concerned with “the science and art of military command as applied to large‐scale combat operations.” Strategy is exemplified by seven characteristics namely, the future, risk, decision complexity, time and irreversibility, need for organization and coordination, unknowable consequences, and scale and importance.
Cost Strategies
Authors: McGee John
Published: January 2015

Cost advantage is a particular form that stems from the cost conditions of a firm and the general cost conditions in its industry. Economies of scale and experience/learning effects are shown as the key drivers of cost advantage.
Cross‐Subsidization
Authors: Avgeropoulos Stephanos , McGee John
Published: January 2015

Cross‐subsidization refers to using profits earned in one product market to support activities in another. There are three main types of cross‐subsidization with preconditions for their use and implications for strategy.
Cash Trap
Authors: Channon Derek F. , McGee John
Published: January 2015

This refers to a business where whatever cash is generated is needed for maintaining its operations. Such businesses typically have low, if not negative, profitability and are sustained by resources allocated from the corporate level. Therefore, a business in a cash trap is not creating shareholder value and may actually be destroying it.
Dog Businesses
Authors: Whitehead Jo
Published: January 2015

Dog businesses are defined as those in which both the growth rate and the relative market share are low.
Outsourcing
Authors: McGee John
Published: January 2015

This occurs when a firm contracts with an outside organization for it to undertake specific activities which, historically, were undertaken by the firm itself. Historically, outsourcing resulted from major cost differentials between industrialized and developing countries resulting in the international transfer of industrial capacity, especially employment. More recent is the focus on strategic or transformational outsourcing where gains in quality as well as cost arise from the economies obtainable from knowledge specialization. This has resulted in major changes in the structure and behavior of very many of the world's largest corporations.
Strategic Fit
Authors: Channon Derek F. , McGee John
Published: January 2015

A prime task of management is to keep the organization in a controlled balance against the multiple and diverse forces in the broader strategic context. The term
strategic fit
is used to indicate how a strategy needs to be “fitted” with its external context and how the internal organization needs to be properly meshed with the strategy. Related and derived concepts of fit include market‐related fit, operating fit, management fit, and financial fit. The essential intangible barrier to strategy imitation is strategic fit.
Competitive Advantage
Authors: McGee John
Published: January 2015

In theory, competitive advantage is “the delivering of superior value to customers and, in doing so, earning an above average return for the company and its stakeholders.” There is a discussion of the roots of advantage in firm‐specific imperfections and an elaboration of the major routes to achieving advantage. Finally, there is a brief discussion of industry dynamics and advantage.
Time‐Based Competition
Authors: Dempsey Peter , Heard Edward , Sammut‐Bonnici Tanya
Published: January 2015

Time‐based competition can be defined as the strategic advantage derived from making the order‐to‐delivery cycle more compact, efficient, and cost effective. This requires the redesign of processes, information, and decision flows from engineering, procurement, manufacturing, order cycles, distribution, and customer processes. Time‐based competition depends on the operational variables of responsiveness, cost and quality. Managing responsiveness would entail measuring the performance of various processing in terms of time. Companies that compress time out of their business cycle or pipeline understand that, throughout it, materials, direct labor, handling and transportation, interest, and overheads contribute to overall costs. Time compression management may mean deliberately taking longer on sensitive processes that determine a product's quality and the effect on customer satisfaction. Some approaches to shortening cycle times may have a negative impact on a company's competitive advantage. The relocation of multinational production firms has created supply chains with lengthier response times. Supply chains have encountered operational boundaries to time‐based competition, where the cost of rapid production and faster delivery is not always justified by the savings in inventory and the increase in sales revenues.
Network Industry Strategies
Authors: McGee John , Sammut‐Bonnici Tanya
Published: January 2015

Companies that operate in competitive markets dominated by network externalities face distinct trade‐offs regarding the choice of a technical standard. Holding on to a primary compatibility standard permits a firm's product to capture the value added by a large network. Conversely, the firm loses direct control over the market supply of the good and faces (direct) intra‐platform competition. This trade‐off is a key strategic decision that depends in part on the control that firms have in making their output compatible with competitors' outputs and complementary products. Industry output will be higher when there are network externalities and when standards are open. With incompatibility of standards market concentration, output inequality and price and profit inequality increase with the extent of the network externality. Where there are proprietary standards and strong network effects, there is no equilibrium in terms of network offerings. Competition, as we know it, can be compromised by the size consequences of the winner‐takes‐all phenomenon. The economic characteristics of network industries are dependent in large part on the interconnectivity that is characteristic of the technologies of information goods.
Strategy Cycle
Authors: John McGee
Published: January 2015

The strategy cycle shows how the real economy of the firm (the creation of resources and capabilities and the positioning within product markets) interacts with the financial economy of the firm. The real economy of the firm, the creation of resources and capabilities, and the positioning within product markets interacts with the financial economy of the firm. This interaction can create the potential for a virtuous circle of advantage, profitability, and reinvestment, or a vicious spiral of disadvantage, loss‐making, and inability to reinvest.
Markets and Imperfections
Authors: McGee John
Published: January 2015

Market imperfections are those elements in a market that interfere with perfect competition. Some imperfections are generic and apply to the whole market resulting in nonperfect markets and the opportunity for monopolistic behavior. Firm‐specific imperfections are the foundation elements for strategy because they provide the foundations for being different from other firms, that is, competitive advantage.
Networks
Authors: McGee John , Sammut‐Bonnici Tanya
Published: January 2015

A network is a set of connections between nodes. There are one‐way networks such as broadcast television, where information flows in one direction only. In two‐way networks, such as railroads and telephone systems, links are operated in both directions. Networks can be real or virtual. Real networks are found in industries such as telephony and railways, where a physical network is present. Electricity grids, telecommunications networks encompassing telephones, fax machines, online services, and the Internet are typical examples of products or services within real networks. Virtual networks are typified by computer and software platforms where the interconnection between users is intangible. Relatively new, yet ubiquitous virtual networks are online social networks such as Facebook and Linkedin. Operating systems are typical of virtual networks. The strategic relevance of recognizing network products is that they are ruled by a specific set of market dynamics products. Network products benefit from the mechanism of network externalities that fuel rapid adoption – evident in the exponential diffusion of the Internet, the Windows platform,
iTunes
, and Gmail. Networks have been the subject of research in economics, which provides the theoretical framework of network effects and innovation diffusion. More recently, networks are being analyzed from the perspective of complexity theory, which adds an understanding of how networks of interacting agents (such as hardware platforms, software platforms, and consumer platforms) evolve and flourish through the collective behavior of adaptation, cooperation and self‐organization.
Question Mark Businesses
Authors: Jo Whitehead
Published: January 2015

Question mark businesses are those that have low relative market share but are in high growth industries. They represent one of the quadrants of the Boston Consulting Group Growth Share matrix. The strategic options for such businesses are to grow faster than the market to become a star business, to differentiate and position them as a niche player, or to sell or close them.
Gap Analysis
Authors: Channon Derek F. , Sammut‐Bonnici Tanya
Published: January 2015

A comparison of the objectives and the expected business outcomes usually leads to a performance gap between the two. Gap analysis is concerned with why the gap occurs and the development of measures for reducing or eliminating it. This might be achieved by changing the objectives, or by changing strategy at the level of the businesses. The first step in gap analysis is to consider revising the corporate objectives. If expected outcomes from the businesses should exceed aspirations, the objectives can be revised upward. When aspirations substantially exceed possible performance, it may be necessary to revise the objectives downward. When, after such adjustments, a significant gap still remains, new strategies need to be developed to eliminate the gap.
Radar Mapping
Authors: Sammut‐Bonnici Tanya , Channon Derek F.
Published: January 2015

A radar mapping permits management to see the performance of a company at a glance. Radar maps are also referred to as radar charts and spider charts. On the map the factors influencing strategy are broken down under seven capabilities – labeled core competences, customer relationship management, logistics and distribution, technological infrastructure, leadership and management, innovation management, and market positioning.
Frugal Innovation
Authors: Sammut‐Bonnici Tanya , McGee John
Published: January 2015

Frugal innovation can be defined as the practice of simplifying product components and manufacturing processes into basic elements, in order to redesign both the product and the processes to become more efficient and cost effective. The economic relevance of frugal innovation is the creation of low‐cost mass market products that are affordable to all social strata including the less affluent segments. As the price of a frugal product is low, the margin per product is proportionately low. However, the volume of the mass market is vast and the total gains are extraordinarily high. Cost savings through frugal innovation rely on three ways of reducing expenditure: subcontracting, utilizing existing technology, and applying mass‐production techniques. Frugal innovation can be explained through the economies of substitution. It works best when the cost of substituting older components with newer, more technologically advanced components, is lower than the cost of designing the product afresh. The substitution effect in frugal innovation occurs because of the time lag in the technological development of different components within a product. The dynamics of economies of substitution and frugal innovation create an intertemporal substitution of components and a process of modularity in the design of high‐performance products.
Corporate Reputation
Authors: Davies Gary
Published: January 2015

Corporate reputation is defined somewhat differently in various literatures but a common theme is “the accumulated impression held of the organization”. Two stereotyping factors have a substantial influence on reputation, the company's country of origin and the company's market sector. Reputation can be central to the management of, in particular service, business. In this context many argue a link between the company culture and how the business is viewed externally. Research shows how having customer facing employees who hold more positive views of the organisation than those held by its customers will produce sales growth.

Reputation management is constrained by a lack of agreement as to how it should be measured. A danger is for managers to try to improve upon what a particular measure contains, ignoring what might really influence market performance. As a business function reputation is still in its infancy, many seeing it as an evolution of Public Relations, a few as a main board role.
Risk
Authors: Wilson David
Published: January 2015

Dictionaries typically describe risk in terms of the possibility of destruction, loss or damage. In business organizations, however, risk also takes on other characteristics. For example, insurance companies categorize risk into at least two distinct categories – “pure” risk and “speculative” risk. Examples of a pure risk are the likelihood of damage to assets and liabilities through fraud or criminal acts.
Fragmented Businesses
Authors: Whitehead Jo
Published: January 2015

Fragmented businesses are those which inhabit one quadrant of the advantage matrix in which there are many ways to build advantage, but none of them provide a significant degree of advantage: examples include restaurants, specialist engineering, and chemical specialities. An example of a fragmented business is garages for automobile repair. Typically, these are very small businesses owned and operated by a single individual. There are apparently few economies of scale and, to the extent there are, these are outweighed by the overhead requirements and loss of tight management control. Another example is the local restaurant business – but very few restaurants can establish a significant advantage over the others because they share similar cost structures, and innovations can generally be copied very quickly.
EthnicChinese Family Business
Authors: Tsui‐Auch Lai S. , Chow Dawn
Published: January 2015

This article summarizes the common characteristics of ethnic Chinese businesses, and acknowledges that they are rapidly evolving entities in response to economic globalization. Increasingly, ethnic Chinese business elites in Asia are both local and traditional in their cultural norms and globalizing in their business approaches. In general, large ethnic Chinese businesses have developed a form of hybrid capitalism combines family control and professional management, as well as personal relationship‐based and contract‐based employment and business relations.