bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Strategic cooperation and consortia building for Indian libraries: models and methods
Authors: Ghosh Maitrayee , Biswas S.C. , Jeevan V.K.J.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the state of libraries in India and summarise the strategic cooperative initiatives undertaken to improve user access to electronic information services.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology used included personal interview, e‐mail interaction and literature searches. Several strategies for retrieving information were used across both the professional and research literature [Library Literature, Library and Information Science Abstracts, and Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)] and the Internet (Google). A variety of search terms were employed to gain a broad overview of the subject and then more targeted terms to examine key aspects of the area of study with greater specificity. The paper also examines a range of general environmental factors impacting on libraries and which must be taken into account to accelerate the pace of beneficial change. It also lists the significant achievements in this field to date.

Findings

There are still significant potentials for further implementation of cooperative strategies to enhance networked, electronic information service delivery in India. This paper discusses some of the underlying issues which are presumably delaying the establishment of consortia and which need to be resolved.

Research limitations/implications

This area of study is extremely fast moving and regular updating and continuation of this research is required to maintain a grasp of the situation.

Practical implications

The negative factors outlined in this paper which militate against the full successful impact of cooperative strategies are clearly set out, in order to help library managers and administrators create practical solutions capable of eliminating these obstacles to progress.

Originality/value

This research gives an insight into how consortial strategies can help overcome the resource constraints which characterise library provision in many developing countries, providing a model for other library systems, which face similar problems, to follow.
Evaluating websites A systematic investigation of internet site quality from a single country domain name
Authors: Davarpanah M.R. , Khaleghi Narges
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The objective of this research paper is to evaluate websites freely available on the internet from one country – Iran and to provide information about the quality of their content.

Design/methodology/approach

General quality criteria were used for the evaluation. These included ownership and authorship, type of websites, purpose and scope of the sites, language, links, domain types, currency/updating of information, accessibility, services and facilities. Thus, in May and June 2004, 328 websites were selected using Yahoo, Google, Lycos, Iran Digest, and A Guide to Iranian Websites, to conduct searches. A check list was drawn up to review the information from the tools.

Findings

The research revealed that among Iranian websites providing information on the internet, private sites were much more likely to be of poorer quality compared to sites of governmental organizations.

Research limitations/implications

Because there are no authoritative search engines which are specifically Iranian, the data were collected by using a selection of five search tools over a limited period of time. Using only these search tools, 3735 websites were found. While this paper has surveyed the content of the websites, more research is needed to highlight the nature of the internet infrastructure and its use in this country.

Originality/value

The websites of each country are regarded as a prime national gateway of information. The paper uses other work on evaluating national web presence and gives clear insight into Iran's websites and gives a model for evaluating the national web presence in any one country. Based on the results, national digital strategies can be devised to help make progress towards an effective and high quality national portfolio of websites.
Does education have a role in developing leadership skills?
Authors: Elmuti Dean , Minnis William , Abebe Michael
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to provide a pragmatic example of multi‐stage leadership education model. Leadership education that is multidisciplinary, global, and ethics oriented is a remedy for many of the leadership challenges we are currently facing in the business world.

Design/methodology/approach

This article discusses whether we can teach leadership, and if so, what essential skills should be taught in business schools. It also examines the shortcomings of current leadership education curriculum and recommends some major changes that need to be made. This article provides a descriptive overview and historical examination of these issues and techniques.

Findings

A major finding can be drawn from this paper is that the present leadership education curriculum in business schools is not adequate in many regards and more work needs to be done.

Research limitations/implications

Business schools need to focus on revitalizing the leadership education curriculum to come up with a program that prepares students with practical and dynamic skills that enables them to be the future business leaders. A long‐term approach to leadership education rather than a short‐term effort is suggested.

Originality/value

By incorporating multidisciplinary, global‐oriented and ethical leadership education, we believe that this article on leadership education can effectively address the major challenges of the new millennium.
Leaving leadership: solving leadership problems through empowerment
Authors: Carson Charles M. , King James E.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

Has the objective of examining why the focus given to leadership should be severely curtailed in research and teaching, and replaced by concepts that are better defined, understood and whose positive contributions are clearly and consistently attainable. Education and research should firmly alter its focus to concentrate on empowerment, a concept that has been consistently tied to important organizational outcomes. Greater benefit can be attained by refining and advancing our understanding of empowerment (while instructing students/practitioners with our current knowledge), than by continuing to devote massive resources to the morass that is leadership.

Design/methodology approach

These concepts are supported by prior studies and theoretical development rather than empirical evidence.

Findings

Finds that we are infinitely better off teaching people what we know about using and encouraging empowerment than what we do not know about leadership, as traditionally defined. Moreover, in the twenty‐first century with flatter hierarchies and less variance in knowledge, power and resources, perhaps “leadership” should be defined by one's ability to respond to empowered situations with self‐leadership, as opposed to the traditional characterizations, which were derived from and are rooted in a more hierarchical view of work and organization.

Originality/value

This paper calls for a radical shift in our thinking about leadership research and teaching. Its value and originality to leadership scholars should be high.
Leadership development: teaching versus learning
Authors: Allio Robert J.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to elucidate the limitations of contemporary approaches to developing leaders and to present alternative approaches.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper offers a review and critique of the assumptions on which current leadership programs are based.

Findings

Most leadership training initiatives fail to produce leaders. Typical programs teach leadership theory, concepts, and principles; they promote leadership literacy but not leadership competence. Paradoxically, however, while leadership cannot be taught, leadership can be learned. Men and women become leaders by practice, by performing deliberate acts of leadership. The primary role of a good leader (one who is competent and ethical) is to establish and reinforce values and purpose, develop vision and strategy, build community, and initiate appropriate organizational change. This behavior requires character, creativity, and compassion, core traits that cannot be acquired cognitively.

Practical implications

For those charged with the responsibility of developing leaders, the three necessary steps are to select the right candidates, create learning challenges, and provide mentoring. Those who seek to develop effective leadership training programs must first establish a metric for assessing leadership effectiveness. They must then design experiments that can establish a causal or statistically significant relationship between training initiatives and leadership competency. Evidence suggests that the most effective leadership programs will focus on building self‐knowledge and skills in rhetoric and critical thinking.

Originality/value

This paper challenges the utility of most leadership training. Leadership cannot be taught, although potential leaders can be educated.
There is no such thing as leadership, revisited
Authors: Washbush John B.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

This essay reflects a profound sense of frustration with the concept of leadership and the enormous and every increasing body of research and pontification about it. Given the ongoing failure to define leadership as a coherent construct, it aims to argue that continuing along this omni‐directional path is not likely to produce anything truly useful for those who study, teach about or work in organizations; rather, abandoning the concept altogether and emphasizing a focus on improving decision making in organizations may prove more fruitful.

Design/methodology/approach

Looks at different concepts of leadership and the enormous and ever‐increasing body of research and pontification about it.

Findings

In the end, however, the author believes that we are mostly left with endless discussions and perspectives of a word that simply sounds better. We seem to remain intent on calling almost everything leadership – but, if everything is leadership, then logically nothing is leadership.

Originality/value

This review is a useful source of information for anyone interested in the concept of leadership.
Leaders and the decision‐making process
Authors: Schwarber Patricia D.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The author has the objective of demonstrating how decision‐making conversations that are not guided by a process can lead to misunderstandings, wasted time, and a lack of results. These undisciplined exchanges will be contrasted with communications between and among people who use a common language and follow an agreed‐on, step‐by‐step approach to the decision at hand.

Design/methodology approach

The author uses a partially hypothetical example of a leader who failed to involve her team in a major decision as a starting point for discussion of who should be involved in decisions, why, how, and when.

Findings

Decision making happens through conversations that people have, either one‐on‐one, with teams, or in cross‐functional groups. Unfortunately, many decision‐making conversations end up as free‐for‐alls, with people talking at cross‐purposes, sharing information haphazardly, and covering the same ground over and over without coming to any conclusions. Decision makers are far more successful when they are focused and equipped with a process to guide them through their conversations than if they let these conversations just “happen”. Two of the most important roles leaders can play are those of role model and coach, to individuals and groups, to ensure that their decision‐making conversations proceed in a rational, organized manner.

Originality/value

Practical ideas will be offered to help leaders transform their organization's decision‐making conversations from undisciplined exchanges to results‐oriented encounters.
The influence of managers' characteristics and perceptions in strategic alliance practice
Authors: Pansiri Jaloni
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a linkage between strategic alliance practice and managerial cognitive base with a view to understanding alliance dynamics better.

Findings

Brings together two streams of management literature (cognitive base and strategic alliances) in order to provide an alternative to understanding strategic alliances. The analysis found that ever since the work of Hambrick and Mason, Upper echelon (UE) linking managerial characteristics to strategic choice have persistently overlooked strategic alliances as strategic options worth consideration. While on the other hand only a handful of strategic alliance researchers have paid lip‐service to the UE perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

After presenting a strategic alliance model, the paper reviews analysis of reasons for alliance formation, choice of partners, alliance structure and scope and alliance performance. Literature on managerial characteristics is also explored with a view to provide an approach to researching strategic alliances.

Research limitations/implications

The paper cannot claim to have evaluated all the literature on the subject. A claim regarding lack of linkages between the two streams of research is made only in the context of accessed publications.

Practical implications

The paper identifies opportunities for further research that links managerial cognitive base with diverse strategic alliance practices. Borrowing from the work of Carpenter et al. the paper further identify possibilities for further research that links top management teams characteristics to strategic alliance research which also has not been researched before.

Originality/value

The paper uses well‐established and researched management fields to identify gaps in the literature which could be further explored. To this end, the paper's originality and value is within identification of these gaps in the management literature.
Defining intellectual capital: a three‐dimensional approach
Authors: Marr Bernard , Moustaghfir Karim
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a three‐dimensional framework to facilitate future definitions of intellectual capital (IC). The concept of IC is often ill‐defined and there is a multitude of different definitions for the construct of IC. The lack of a common platform for dialogue has negative implications for research and practice in the field as it has hinders cross‐disciplinary learning. This paper aims to presents a flexible framework in order to make important differences explicit and therefore, if adopted, facilitates the creation of a cohesive body of knowledge.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper utilises a systematic review process. This methodology was initially developed in the medical science to produce a replicable, scientific, and transparent analysis of evidence in the literature and has recently been broad into management science. A total of 938 papers were analysed to extract findings. The summary of the review protocol can be found in the Appendix.

Findings

Analysing the literature allowed the necessary components of a definition together with a list of possible sub‐components to be extracted. Definitions of IC need to be explicit about the: component parts of the construct; role IC will take in an organisation; and disciplinary perspective taken for the discussion.

Research limitations/implications

This paper presents the necessary components of a definition of IC. If widely used, it would be able to facilitate cross‐disciplinary understanding and hopefully inter‐disciplinary research. It is seen as a starting point and open for future extension and development. A systematic review aims to limit bias and random error, however, it is limited by its scope on the basis of the defined research question and therefore delimited by factors outlined in the research protocol.

Practical implications

The major implication for practitioners is the understanding that IC can mean very different things for different people. Insights outlined in this paper will enable anyone to understand better the important construct of IC from different perspectives, which in turn should facilitate dialogue and avoid many unnecessary misunderstandings.

Originality/value

The paper is a first attempt to present a framework to facilitate future definitions of IC. If used, discussed, and extended in the future, it could present an important corner stone for better cross‐disciplinary dialogue and the establishment of a research field of IC.
Linking intellectual capital and intellectual property to company performance
Authors: Bollen Laury , Vergauwen Philip , Schnieders Stephanie
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to link empirically the value of intellectual capital and intellectual property to firm performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data from managers in the (German) pharmaceutical industry is used to conduct a regression analysis focusing on the correlation between human, structural and relational capital, intellectual property and firm performance.

Findings

The results of the study show that including intellectual property in models linking intellectual capital to firm performance enhances the statistical validity of such models and their relevance for management.

Practical implications

Intellectual capital is an important source of an organization's economic wealth and is therefore to be taken into serious consideration when formulating the firm's strategy. This strategy formulation process can be enhanced by fully integrating intellectual property and intellectual capital into management models, as shown in this paper.

Originality/value

This empirical paper builds on and extends the Bontis research on the relationship between intellectual capital and firm performance. Contrary to Bontis the authors include intellectual property into the intellectual capital framework and focus on the role of intellectual property in the relationship between intellectual capital and firm performance.
Formal organizations in contemporary society
Authors: Dwyer Rocky J.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The paper examines the importance and pervasiveness of formal organizations in contemporary society.

Design/methodology/approach

An examination of the historical, classic, and modern theorists' perspectives was undertaken to determine the relevancy of the theories in dealing with the changing social, technological and cultural values of today's organization and society.

Findings

Understanding the importance and pervasiveness of formal organizations in contemporary society would enable individuals to influence better factors associated with changing values.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that an intrinsic understanding of the various dimensions, which help, create and shape an organization, can be influenced at both the micro and macro levels.

Originality/value

This paper presents an overview of the literature which both enhances personal knowledge and understanding at the theoretical and practical levels so as to enable individuals to gain insight on the inherent factors that may be influenced to advance organizational goals and objectives.
From pre‐Medieval to post‐Modern times
Authors: Kidd John , Stumm Marielle
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The paper aims to begin with a brief review of early banking and finance methods, early logistics routes through Europe, and message delivery modes in medieval China, the paper then proposes to move on to a comparative study of modern logistics modes in the European Union and in India – in particular the ports of Le Havre (France) and Mangalore (Karnataka).

Design/methodology/approach

The data are derived from secondary sources, including the local press in India as well as official European Union (EU) documentation.

Findings

Given the cultural and political differences between the EU and India, their logistics and hinterland development are very different in deployment and scope: Le Havre “scores” much more highly than Mangalore and the EU is much more coherently developed than India.

Practical implications

Le Havre, France, and the EU are well placed through their integrated logistics development to merge with the proposed Euro‐Asia‐America “land‐bridge” which initially will be based on a redeveloped Trans‐Siberian rail network; whereas the southern “Silk Road” development, taking in India, is floundering due to many factors inhibiting implementation of this new network.

Originality/value

The paper will be of interest to those who wish to view the development of intercontinental logistics routes, and to grasp the future potential for new trade links between the Pacific and the Atlantic ports.
Origin of the Economic Order Quantity formula; transcription or transformation?
Authors: Roach Bill
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to speculate on how the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) formula was developed.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents a literature review and analysis.

Findings

Ford Whitman Harris's contribution to the EOQ formula is significantly original.

Practical implications

Origins of work and questions of plagiarism can be ambiguous. The speculations here illustrate some of the ambiguities inherent in trying to use citations to give appropriate credit for ideas. They also help scholars understand the creative process and perhaps to teach in a way that enhances the creativity of students.

Originality/value

The paper specifies the link between Lord Kelvin and Ford Whitman Harris.
Speaking about management education
Authors: Spender J.‐C.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the notion of management as a regulated profession and provide a critique of some of the recent critiques of the profession, noting from whence the profession has come and offering a number of alternative ways forward.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper explores the notions of ownership and control of professional knowledge, at least as it relates to management, and considers how the profession might fare if it is seen in the light of metaphors other than the rational, scientific approaches.

Findings

The paper finds that management education has become professionalised around quasi‐scientific research methods and a regulated body of knowledge which is visibly distant from what managers use

Practical implications

The future shape of management education and the place of B‐schools in that process hang on the decisions made about the ideas presented here.

Originality/value

This paper provides some interesting insights into the development of management as a regulated profession.
The eighteenth century antecedents of bureaucracy, the Cameralists
Authors: Jackson Michael
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show that the master narrative of bureaucracy of Max Weber had deep roots in the development of public administration in Germany.

Design/methodology/approach

One nearly forgotten predecessor of Weber's was Johann Gottlob von Justi, an eighteenth century Cameralist. This paper compares his work with Weber in order to shed new light on the evolution of the theory and practice of bureaucracy.

Findings

By taking von Justi as representative of Cameralism in general, the paper finds that there is in his work about half of the criteria of Weber's concept of bureaucracy as the rule‐bound application of rules. Although Cameralism focused on economic regulation, it was political science rather than economics (where it is usually dismissed as an inferior version of mercantilism), for it constantly stressed political control of the economy and the use of administration and management to achieve that control. It was political science in a second sense, too, in that it supposed that there was an underlying analytic order to the world to be discovered by scientific investigation and study. The unique historical circumstance of the dispersion of German‐speaking Middle Europe both provided the stimulus for Cameralism and ensured its failure.

Research limitations/implications

Of course, there is more to Cameralism that just one writer, and that limitation needs to be recalled. It would be timely to investigate further the development of administration in early modern Europe.

Originality/value

The scant research literature on Cameralism means that the comparison with Weber is seldom, if ever, made.
Timeless advice: Daniel Defoe and small business management
Authors: Hamilton R.H. , Hamilton Patricia L.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

Daniel Defoe, best known as the author ofRobinson Crusoe, was also an early entrepreneur who late in his life published a business text calledThe Complete English Tradesman.The purpose of this paper is to argue thatThe Complete English Tradesmanshould be given renewed consideration as an early predecessor to the great works in management literature.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper compares the content found inThe Complete English Tradesmanwith topics and content typically found in modern small business management texts.

Findings

The paper finds considerable overlap between Defoe's advice and modern small business management principles. Besides the overall relevant content, the paper also finds unique insights offered by Defoe that could be applied by the modern small business entrepreneur. The paper presents possible reasons why Defoe's work is not widely known today.

Research limitations/implications

Defoe's work may be reflective of the general eighteenth‐century entrepreneurial climate. There may be other related sources of interest, as well as potential parallels between the eighteenth‐century climate and the modern entrepreneurial environment.

Practical implications

A timeless core set of actions may be essential for entrepreneurial success.

Originality/value

This is the first research to compare Defoe's work explicitly with modern small business management theory or practice.
British management theory and practice: the impact of Fayol
Authors: Smith Ian , Boyns Trevor
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of Fayol's ideas on both British management thought and practice.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents a schematic which seeks to illustrate the links between the various strands of scientific management theory, especially that of Fayol, in Britain between the 1920s and the 1960s/1970s and, for the same period, the links between the theory and practice of scientific management. The links indicated in the schematic are assessed first through an examination of the development of British management thought, in particular the exemplification of Fayol's ideas by Lyndall Fownes Urwick and the British neoclassical school. Using archival evidence from a small number of engineering companies, the impact on practice of the ideas of Fayol and other aspects of scientific management is then examined.

Findings

The paper concludes that, while Fayol's theoretical influence has stood the test of time, his impact on practice was much more limited.

Originality/value

By focusing on the historical impact on practice of management theory, this paper not only provides a basis for future research by business and management historians, but also throws light on the relevance for practice of theory, an issue of relevance for all theoreticians and management practitioners.
Mary van Kleeck, Taylorism and the control of management knowledge
Authors: Nyland Chris , Heenan Tom
Published: January 2007

Purpose

Motivated by the call of the Congress for Industrial Organizations (CIO) for greater labour involvement in management (a call informed by the principles of the Taylor Society), US business launched a crusade in 1944 under the banner, “The Right to Manage”. The purpose of this paper is to extend earlier explorations of the ideas that inspired the leaders of the CIO.

Design/methodology/approach

Through examining the work of the neglected feminist, and labour and social activist, Mary van Kleeck, the paper shows how the ideas concerning the democratisation of management, and the determination of decision making by knowledge, not profit, evolved into Taylorism's principal tenets.

Findings

The paper finds that an analysis of Mary van Kleeck's work helps explain why many of the ideas that prevailed among inter‐war Taylor Society members deeply disturbed employers, while concomitantly enthusing the CIO.

Originality/value

This paper redresses the view of scientific management's history that misleadingly stresses the initial hostility between Taylor's circle and organised labour, which has become entrenched in management folklore and accepted as axiomatic within the discipline, while ignoring the subsequent commitment of Taylor and the Taylor Society to management democratisation.
Maslow: man interrupted: reading management theory in context
Authors: Dye Kelly , Mills Albert J. , Weatherbee Terrance
Published: January 2007

Purpose

This paper aims to build on recent work in the field of management and historiography that argues that management theorizing needs to be understood in its historical context.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the paper attempts to show how a steady filtering of management theory and of the selection and work of management theorists lends itself to a narrowly focused, managerialist, and functionalist perspective. Second, the paper attempts to show how not only left‐wing ideas, but also even the rich complexity of mainstream ideas, have been “written out” of management accounts. The paper explores these points through an examination of the treatment of Abraham Maslow in management texts over time.

Findings

The paper's conclusion is a simple one: management theory – whether mainstream or critical – does a disservice to the potential of the field when it oversimplifies to a point where a given theory or theorist is misread because sufficient context, history, and reflection are missing from the presentation/dissemination.

Originality/value

This paper highlights the importance of reading the original texts, rather than second or third person accounts, and the importance of reading management theory in the context in which it was/is derived.
Strategy in the Battle of Britain and strategic management theory
Authors: Grattan Robert F.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to compare the strategy formulation process recorded as being used during the Battle of Britain with concepts from current management theory.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach to the topic is through the medium of a case study. An account is given of the events in the battle, based on a variety of sources, and various management theories are then used in comparison.

Findings

The paper concludes that it was the strategic thought, or lack of it, that was the root cause of the German failure. The theories of strategic thinking; strategy formation; strategic change; and business level strategy are considered in turn in the context of the German side of the battle. The dominance of Hitler in the strategy formulation process is considered a disadvantage. Although the Luftwaffe had superior resources, the manner of their use was at fault. The strategy emerged over the period of the battle, but the results lacked consistency, coherence and a clearly defined aim.

Practical implications

Comparison of military and business strategy formulation processes is a valuable means of considering the validity of strategic management theory. Caution has to be exercised, however, when considering events 65 years ago and in making military business comparisons, which though indicative are never completely exact.

Originality/value

It is hoped that this comparative case study will be of value both to practising managers and to those researchers who can see value in this methodology. Military strategists should find value in the use of strategic management theories in their field.
Losing innovativeness: the challenge of being acquired
Authors: Skovvang Christensen Karina
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The aim of the paper is to explore how innovativeness and creativity in a small technology company changes after the company is acquired by a larger company.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical part of the article is based on interview and questionnaire data, with a focus on employees' perception of innovativeness and creativity, including their own innovativeness in relation to the possibilities offered within the organisational structure.

Findings

The results indicate that entrepreneurial spirit, innovativeness, and creativity in the case company were related to the lack of boundaries to and contact with customers. These driving forces could not be sustained when the organisation matured and was acquired by a larger company.

Research limitations/implications

More research regarding the integration phase of acquisitions, and how it affects employees and innovativeness, is needed. Case‐based research should examine differences between companies that are repeatedly successful in integrating small technology companies into their organisational structure and those that are not. Employees' motivation as a key factor to innovativeness should be in focus and the research should also include employees that leave the acquired company as well as employees with the acquiring company.

Practical implications

An acquisition strategy as a way for mature organisations to gain access to innovativeness and new resources and skills can easily fail. Even though the resources and skills of the two companies are complementary and the competencies of the acquired organisation are intact, efforts are needed to make the energies of the two organisations act in tandem. Thus, the pre‐ and post‐integration phases of an acquisition seem to be of paramount importance.

Originality/value

Very few papers have studied how employees in an acquired company perceive incorporation into a large mature company. This article adds to research by examining how employees in a small, entrepreneurial company perceive innovation, creativity, and the innovative process three years after being acquired by a large, mature company.
The relationships between network commitment, its antecedents and network performance
Authors: Clarke Nicholas
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to put forward a theoretical model grounded in the literature that identifies a number of antecedent conditions associated with network commitment.

Design/methodology/approach

Based upon empirical data gathered from formal healthcare networks in the UK, findings are presented that suggest different forms of commitment within networks may have opposite effects on network performance.

Findings

This paper argues that commitment may play a significant role specifically associated with determining performance outcomes in networks. In so doing a theoretical model is put forward drawn from the literature to suggest possible antecedent conditions associated with commitment at the inter‐organisational level.

Originality/value

To date few studies have been undertaken to examine the antecedents of commitment within networks. More importantly, the recognition of commitment as a multi‐dimensional construct within networks has yet to have informed understanding of the role commitment may play at the inter‐organisational level.
Spotlight on Laura D. Tyson
Authors: Powell Sarah
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to record an interview with Laura D. Tyson, Dean of London Busness School.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper focuses on the school's diversity, the work of its new research centres, and issue of funding and of competition between business schools.

Findings

There is a lack of female business school candidates, recruitment, retention and re‐entry of women into the workforce, There is the need for more women at board level.

Originality/value

The paper emphasises the importance of the teaching of ethics in business schools and looks at the role of business in promoting economic development and reducing poverty.
Alignment: the duality of decision problems
Authors: Scherpereel Christopher M.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

Identifying the state of alignment, when there is misalignment, and the path to achieve alignment are of central importance to decision makers today. This paper seeks to offer decision makers some actionable guidance in narrowing the search for possible solution methodologies and to develop a generalized decision alignment framework that can be applied to real decision problems.

Design/methodology/approach

Alignment is viewed as a goal of decision makers and the correct matching of decision and action is essential to achieving consistently high performance. Drawing on parallels with the duality problem in linear programming, decision alignment is defined. The decision alignment framework is theoretically developed using examples from a diverse application set, including quantitative research, decision making, education, and e‐commerce.

Findings

The evidence shows that good research conforms to the decision alignment framework and poor research violates it. Similarly, good decisions conform to the decision alignment framework and poor decisions violate it. The decision alignment framework guides decision makers in constraining and redefining problems to optimize outcome performance, and shows the importance of addressing the dual problem of learning and understanding the phenomena.

Research limitations/implications

The theoretical foundation developed can be used to promote future research in decision alignment. By providing a theoretically derived framework, rich opportunities for empirical testing are offered. Researchers are also given guidance on how alignment research can be conducted.

Practical implications

The examples presented highlight the prescriptive, communicative, and descriptive value of the decision alignment framework. Practitioners are provided with examples for using the decision alignment framework to build toolboxes of approaches that can be aligned to a characterization of real‐world decision problems to improve performance.

Originality/value

The introduction of a decision alignment framework is a significant contribution to the management decision literature. By introducing a decision alignment framework, the rather ambiguous term alignment is precisely defined as the matching of decision problem characterization (primal problem) with the approach possibility set (dual problem).
Spotlight on George Stalk
Authors: Powell Sarah
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to record an interview with George Stalk of The Boston Consulting Group.

Design/methodology/approach

The article cites illustrative examples of a selection of notably successful companies including Toyota, Dell, CarMax, Ford Customer Service Division, Wausau Papers and the Batesville Casket Company.

Findings

George Stalk points out that, despite the “hardball” competitive strategy advocated, the approach is “softball” in its human‐resource orientation and goal of growth. Stalk emphasizes that companies cannot cost‐reduce their way to prosperity.

Originality/value

This article focuses on the need for companies to compete if they are to thrive, playing to win through competitive strategies aimed at creating unassailable advantage.
A quest for a common terminology: the concept of born glocals
Authors: Svensson Göran
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The objective of this paper is to conceptualize and define a concept (i.e. born glocals) that may contribute to unite the terminology into one common concept.

Design/methodology/approach

A literature review is provided. A concept is conceptualized.

Findings

The current terminology should be derived from and underpinned by conceptual and definitional attributes beyond what currently appear to be buzzwords.

Research limitations/implications

The concept of born glocals coined by the author should be seen as a compromise to unite the disparate terminology used to label the phenomenon in focus.

Originality/value

The field of research, its researchers and others (i.e. scholars and practitioners) interested in the phenomenon at hand would benefit from having access to a common terminology.
The “learning trap”: a Bollywood frame for strategic learning
Authors: Minocha Sonal , Stonehouse George
Published: January 2007

Purpose

This paper aims to highlight the nature of strategic learning in Bollywood, India's Hindi Film Industry. Film making is an art that requires continuous learning as a prerequisite to creativity and innovation. Improved competitive performance goes beyond operational organisational learning into strategic learning. This research investigates the extent to which strategic learning, as opposed to operational learning, is taking place within film making organisations operating in the Bollywood setting.

Design/methodology/approach

The research was conducted through two descriptive case studies of production houses in Bollywood using semi‐structured observations and interviews with producers and directors in the case study sites. Data are analysed using techniques of interpretive “illuminative evaluation”.

Findings

The research suggests that the current frame of film making at Bollywood is stuck in a learning trap, in that organisational learning tends to be adaptive not generative and leads only to technical innovation. There has been no change in the paradigm of film making from one rooted in the past and the present, in terms of India's history, social and political context, to one looking to the future. For this paradigm shift to take place a future vision is proposed in the form of strategic learning and innovation, allowing Bollywood to go beyond the domestic Indian market and make a contribution to world cinema by breaking away from its current formulaic approach to film making. These findings also have implications for other management learning and practice contexts.

Research limitations/implications

Although this research is limited to Bollywood, it has implications which potentially go beyond it in the form of a new frame as described above, and also for the organisational learning literature which has tended to focus on learning in general, rather than differentiating between operational learning and strategic learning; whereas operational learning can improve production processes, strategic learning depends upon creativity and innovation as the basis of improved competitive performance.

Practical implications

The paper concludes that the research site is trapped within its current frame of learning and, in order to break away from it, it must embrace strategic learning to move beyond the traditional loops of organisational learning. The practical implications of the paper lie in furthering the understanding of the nature of strategic learning in a creative industry, which may, in turn, shed new light on strategic learning within similar contexts.

Originality/value

The originality of the research stems from the focus on strategic learning and a new site for its exploration in the form of the Bollywood setting. Furthermore it extends understanding of the organisational factors affecting the status of strategic learning in organisations.
Construct development and measurement of indecisiveness
Authors: Elaydi Raed
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The current study aims to aid in the theoretical development of the indecisiveness construct, create a definition of indecisiveness that reflects current research, and differentiate indecisiveness from other constructs in the field. An indecisiveness scale with positive psychometric properties is developed to measure the construct.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 578 undergraduate participants answered an open ended question inquiring about a “big” decision they were facing in their life. Participants completed questionnaires on indecisiveness and decision‐making strategies.

Findings

Of the 578 total participants who completed the study, 465 (approximately 81 percent) stated that they felt indecisive with regard to their “big” decision. While researchers may be hesitant to study indecisiveness because the phenomenon is thought to be rare, the current study indicates that the presumed anomaly may exist more often than the literature reflects. What's more, the widespread occurrence of indecisiveness speaks the importance of studying the phenomenon. Results also suggest strong support for using the indecisiveness scale, with psychometric tests finding convergent validity with emotion‐focused decision‐making strategies and divergent validity with logic‐focused strategies.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations include using a sample of undergraduate students to initially test the indecisiveness scale.

Practical implications

With a solid construct definition and psychometrically sound measurement instrument, this paper hopes to encourage future research on indecisiveness and its role in the decision‐making process. This work is especially critical in the upper echelons of organizations, where indecisiveness can affect millions of lives and cost billions of dollars.

Originality/value

Research studying indecisiveness is sparse at best, and the need to study the construct has been consistently overlooked in the literature. This study is the first of its kind to develop a solid definition of indecisiveness as it exists in the decision‐making process and an accompanying measurement instrument with positive psychometric qualities.
Beyond English
Authors: Maclean Dirk
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to reassert the status of language as a topic of major interest to researchers in the light of the rise of the transnational corporation.

Design/methodology/approach

This article reviews recent literature and case study evidence in order to track an important shift taking place in the status of language management.

Findings

The emergence of the transnational corporation transforms the nature and significance of language from a minor issue into one that impacts on a company's core competencies.

Research limitations/implications

The literature remains sparse and case studies limited in number. In depth investigation into the language management practices of transnational corporations is called for in order to test the hypotheses of this paper.

Practical implications

Language will generate greater interest as a research topic as the transnational model is implemented, and more sophisticated language management practices will emerge as a result, with the promise of delivering a competitive advantage.

Originality/value

The inter‐relationship between language management and the transnational model of global corporations has not been asserted in the literature up to this point.