bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Rethinking relationship management
Authors: Welch Mary
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to respond to a call for academia to partner industry by offering new thinking on public relations research and practice.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper rethinks relationship management by broadening previous views on the dimensions of relationships. Distrust is proposed as a 12th dimension, adding to Ledingham's 11. It suggests that trust and distrust exist simultaneously within business‐to‐business relationships and that trust and distrust are employed in a coaxial view of relationships within a zone of approval. The paper draws on the work of relationship management theorists and those who identify trust as a key component of relationships. Conceptual considerations are coupled with empirical data collected in a qualitative case study of relationships between the communications team of a blue chip UK utilities company and service provider (SP) organisations.

Findings

Analysis supports the broader understanding of trust and distrust operating simultaneously in a zone of approval and may help managers to analyse their business‐to‐business relationships.

Research limitations/implications

Findings of qualitative research case studies are not themselves generalisable. This paper uses those findings to develop relationship management theory which may be of interest to practitioners. The findings are also used to generate ideas for further research.

Practical implications

An embryonic model is suggested that may provide managers with a tool to use when considering the elements of trust and distrust in relationship management.

Originality/value

Contributes to a broader understanding of relationships by suggesting distrust as a 12th dimension in the coaxial view of relationships. Proposes a zone of approval model to enable the exploration of trust and distrust in relationship management.
A development framework for government communicators
Authors: Gregory Anne
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a development framework for government communicators.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper describes how a working group approached the project which involved examining extant training frameworks from communication professional bodies, academic literature and practitioner communities; undertaking extensive interviewing and data collection from departments and obtaining input from external organisations in order to devise an original, process‐driven model which embeds a strategic approach to communication. The paper also outlines the collaborative way in which the model was developed which included extensive input from government communicators at all levels of seniority, ongoing consultation and testing with potential users, private sector organisations and accrediting professional bodies.

Findings

Following a review of government communications in 2004, the new permanent secretary for government communication has begun to implement a range of initiatives. Work had already begun in the cabinet office on developing a more strategic approach to training and development and a working group was set‐up originate and launch a development framework (now called evolve) for the whole civil service communication community.

Originality/value

The paper describes the development of evolve – an open, transparent and iterative approach which has elicited commendation and support from all the parties involved.
Media coverage of police misconduct and attitudes toward police
Authors: Chermak Steven , McGarrell Edmund , Gruenewald Jeff
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how celebrated cases affect attitudes toward police, controlling for key demographic, police contact, and neighborhood contextual variables.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents two waves of public opinion data measuring attitudes toward police, police services, police harassment, and officer guilt before and after a celebrated police misconduct trial. Data were collected by telephone from residents living in three areas.

Findings

The findings in the paper suggest that news consumption of this celebrated case had no significant effects on general attitudes toward police, police services, and concerns about police harassment. Media coverage, however, did effect citizen evaluation of the guilt of the officers involved in the case. The more a citizen read a newspaper or read about the case, the more likely she was to think that the officers were guilty. Concern about crime in the neighborhood was an important predictor of attitudes toward the police, and race effects were much more pronounced after media coverage of the case.

Research limitations/implications

This paper highlights the need to examine more closely media coverage of celebrated cases and the effects of such high profile cases. In addition, it illustrates that public opinion research must be careful of contextual variables when conducting a study at a single point in time.

Practical implications

These findings also have critical implications for law enforcement agencies. The findings highlight the importance of police departments being prepared to respond to crisis events.

Originality/value

This paper is valuable to scholars and police practitioners because of its close examination of the effects of a celebrated case on various measures of public opinion of the police. Although there have many studies examining this general topic, research has ignored the impact of media coverage generally and coverage of high profile incidents.
Assessing the performance of pepper spray in use‐of‐force encounters: the Dutch experience
Authors: Adang Otto M.J. , Kaminski Robert J. , Howell Megan Q. , Mensink Jos
Published: July 2006

Purpose – This paper examines potential correlates of the effectiveness of oleoresin capsicum (OC) or pepper spray and police officer satisfaction with its performance during use‐of‐force encounters. Design/methodology/approach – Based on surveys completed by police officers, superior officers, and substitute prosecutors, data on nearly 800 uses of OC by Dutch police forces occurring between June 1, 2001 and December 31, 2002 were obtained. Ordered and generalized ordered logistic regressions are used for the analysis. Findings – The paper shows that although OC was generally effective, it was less effective on suspects under the influence of drugs, violent suspects, minority suspects, and suspects who were warned before being exposed to OC. Officers with more job experience reported OC as being more effective than officers with less experience. OC reduced aggressiveness among suspects already aggressive, but it induced aggression among initially non‐aggressive subjects. The vast majority of officers were satisfied with OC's performance during the study period, although ratings were affected by its ability to ease arrests, incapacitate suspects, and reduce suspect aggressiveness. Research limitations/implications – The OC incidents on which the analysis is based are a subset of all actual uses, and thus may not be representative. Several of the regressors are based on officer perception, and may be subject to measurement error. Practical implications – The findings in this paper have implications for police policy, practice, and training, and officer and suspect safety. Originality/value – This is one of very few studies to use multiple‐regression to examine correlates of OC effectiveness and officer satisfaction, and it expands upon the prior literature by including additional measures of OC performance. The results should be of value to law enforcement agencies and officers using OC, and those considering its adoption.
Connecting the dots: assessing the accuracy of geographic profiling software
Authors: Paulsen Derek J.
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to conduct an independent analysis of all existing geographic profiling software packages to determine if any one is more accurate than the others or if any of the software systems are any more accurate than simple spatial distribution strategies at locating the home base of serial offenders.

Design/methodology/approach

An analysis was conducted of all existing geographic profiling software as well as three spatial distribution methods of profiling. Differences in accuracy were assessed using four different methods; dichotomous profile accuracy, simple error measurement, profile error distance, and average top profile area.

Findings

Results indicate that not only are the different profiling software systems no more accurate than the spatial distribution control methods, but that accuracy in general was marginal at best. In addition results indicated that certain crimes, such as commercial robbery, were particularly difficult to profile and that the number of crimes in a series was not by itself a good indicator of success of a profile.

Research limitations/implications

The paper shows that future research needs to focus more on determining how various factors such as city type, crime type, road network and spatial aspects of a crime series (dispersion and search area) impact profiling accuracy. In addition future research should also endeavor to determine whether these advanced strategies are substantially more accurate than other simple profiling strategies such as human prediction. Finally, future research should also seek to examine geographic profiling in a real world setting and how geographic profiling impacts the success of open investigations.

Practical implications

Practically, this study casts doubt not only on the overall accuracy of profiling strategies in predicting the likely home location of an offender, but also on whether probability strategies are substantially better than spatial distribution strategies.

Originality/value

This research was the first to independently analyze all of the existing geographic profiling systems against control methods for the purpose of determining the accuracy of these different methods.
Police effectiveness and democracy: shape and direction of the relationship
Authors: Sung Hung‐En
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to show that four plausible hypotheses can be formulated (positive linear, negative linear, convex curvilinear, and concave curvilinear) to explain the impact of democratization on the ability of police to produce security.

Design/methodology/approach

Multiple regression analyzing measures of police effectiveness from the Executive Opinion Survey (World Economic Forum) and indicators of democratization (Freedom House) for 59 countries was performed to evaluate the four hypotheses.

Findings

Results strongly supported the convex curvilinear hypothesis that democracy and police effectiveness maintained a U‐shape association. Undemocratic countries and the advanced democracies experienced the highest levels of police effectiveness, whereas middle‐range countries showed lower ratings of police performance.

Research limitations/implications

Despite initial discontents with the police, emerging democracies could expect improved police effectiveness should they persist in the path of democratic consolidation, which strengthens law enforcement institutions in the long run. The use of cross‐sectional data on business analysts' perceptions precluded causal inferences and restricted the generalizability of the findings. Hypotheses should be tested with longitudinal data from more representative samples in future research.

Originality/value

Most comparative studies of police are qualitative and most quantitative police research focuses on single societies. This cross‐national quantitative comparison of policing analyzed the complex issue of police effectiveness and concluded that sustained global democratization portends transnational convergence in more effective policing.
Changing local policy and practice towards the policing of domestic violence in England and Wales
Authors: Applegate R.J.
Published: July 2006

Purpose

This paper considers the influences that have shaped local domestic violence policy and how this has affected police practice in one English police force.

Design/methodology/approach

The research in this paper is based upon theoretical concepts of central government and local accountability over policing; policy making and implementation; and pressure group influence. Documents issued to local police forces from Central Government were examined and compared to local policy documents to assess their affect over local police policy. Using a structured format, senior managers were interviewed to gain their impressions of these influences. Views of ground level staff were obtained through postal questionnaires.

Findings

This paper finds public opinion and pressure from academic research upon Central Government has resulted in a very strong central influence over local police policy and practice. Police officers believe that these influences have had a major affect upon the way that they respond to domestic violence issues at a local level, to the point where both managers and front line police officers believe that their discretion in dealing with these issues has been curtailed, and that top down control over police practice has increased. Police attitudes towards policing domestic violence are more enlightened than they once were.

Originality/value

This paper examines the opinions of both senior local police policy makers and front line policy implementers and will be of value to those interested in the policing of domestic violence issues.
Comparing public and private hospital care service quality in Turkey
Authors: Taner Tolga , Antony Jiju
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The aim of this article is to examine the differences in service quality between public and private hospitals in Turkey.

Design/methodology/approach

This study applies the principles behind the SERVQUAL model and compares Turkey's public and private hospital care service quality. The study sample contains a total of 200 outpatients. Through the identification of 40 service quality indicators and the use of a Likert‐type scale, two questionnaires containing 80‐items was developed. The former measured patients' expectations prior to admission to public and private hospital service quality. The latter measured patient perceptions of provided service quality.

Findings

The results indicate that inpatients in the private hospitals were more satisfied with service quality than those in the public hospitals. The results also suggest that inpatients in the private hospitals were more satisfied with doctors, nurses and supportive services than their counterparts in the public hospitals. Finally, the results show that satisfaction with doctors and reasonable costs is the biggest determinants of service quality in the public hospitals.

Originality/value

Consequently, SERVQUAL, as a standard instrument for measuring functional service quality, is reliable and valid in a hospital environment.
A study of relationship between managers' leadership style and employees' job satisfaction
Authors: Mohammad Mosadegh Rad Ali , Hossein Yarmohammadian Mohammad
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this descriptive and cross‐sectional study is to explore the relationships between managers' leadership styles and employees' job satisfaction in Isfahan University Hospitals, Isfahan, Iran, 2004.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected through the distribution of two questionnaires among the 814 employees, first line, middle and senior managers of these hospitals through a stratified random sampling.

Findings

The dominant leadership style of managers was participative. The mean score of employee‐oriented dimension of leadership style in first line, middle and senior managers were 52, 54, and 54 (from 75 credit) respectively. The mean score of task‐oriented dimension of leadership style in first line, middle and senior managers were 68, 69, and 70 (from 100 credit) respectively. The mean score of employee's job satisfaction was 3.26±0.56 on a 6 scale (moderate satisfaction), 1.9, 26.1, 64.7, and 7.3 percent of hospital employees had respectively very low, low, moderate, and high satisfaction with their job. Employees demonstrated less satisfaction with salaries, benefits, work conditions, promotion and communication as satisfier factors and more satisfaction with factors such as the nature of the job, co‐workers and supervision type factors. There was significant correlation (p<0.001) between the use of leadership behaviors and employees and job satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications

Employee job satisfaction depends upon the leadership style of managers. Nevertheless, participative management is not always a good management style. Managers should select the best leadership style according to the organizational culture and employees' organizational maturity.

Originality/value

Although this study conducted in Iran, it is anticipated that the findings may have relevance on a broader scale. By replicating this study in different countries and contexts the results of could be very helpful for developing a new model of leadership with new implementation techniques that can be implemented easily and successfully in a cross cultural context.
Capturing the competence of management consulting work
Authors: Visscher Klaasjan
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to assess whether the effort of consulting firms and branch organizations to establish a shared and standardized methodology as a means to professionalize consulting and as a standard for training is possible and sensible.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was conducted among Dutch management consultants, which explored their ways of working and their ways of learning.

Findings

The study shows that efforts to develop a shared and standardized phase‐model methodology do not seem to be effective. Instead of following phase‐models, consultants appear to be improvising bricoleurs, tailoring their ways of working to specific situations, and using broad, heterogeneous and partly implicit repertoires, which are built through mainly through action‐learning. This requires another kind of methodology and another kind of training.

Research limitations/implications

The article gives a general direction for the development of a consulting methodology and the education of consultants. Further research on consulting practices and repertoires is necessary to explore this direction.

Practical implications

The paper concludes that the value of phase‐models as a standard is limited. Therefore, branch organizations, consulting firms and corporate universities should not focus their professionalization and training activities on these standardized methods.

Originality/value

Little work has been done yet on the relation between professionalization, methods, and training in management consulting, and no earlier publication has studied this topic quantitatively.
Knowledge management in the public sector: stakeholder partnerships in the public policy development
Authors: Riege Andreas , Lindsay Nicholas
Published: July 2006

Purpose

How knowledge management theories and frameworks are applied in the public sector is not well understood due to little evidence being published in the literature. This paper aims to identify core issues and challenges that governments face in delivering effective public policy, particularly challenges presented by increasing community expectations, and to highlight the importance of developing public policy via knowledge‐based partnerships with its stakeholders.

Design/methodology/approach

Arguments draw on relevant theory in knowledge management and related fields as well as from public sector experiences.

Findings

The main discussion examines some issues, challenges and opportunities in public policy developments and proposes some practical models to assist governments develop and capitalize on more effective knowledge‐based stakeholder partnerships.

Practical implications

This paper suggests that some existing process frameworks can provide a good starting‐point to capturing knowledge about stakeholders, highlighting how stakeholders interact with policy development processes. The reviewed literature and ideas proposed herein classify stakeholders from a number of different perspectives and attempt to provide some practical assistance to governments in developing more effective and strategically guided stakeholder policy partnerships, including more effective use of resources and improved knowledge transfer. Such frameworks need to be viewed as being dynamic and stakeholder classifications need to be monitored continually.

Originality/value

This paper highlights the need for more effective government and stakeholder partnerships to develop better public policy, including providing governments with cost‐effective avenues to knowledge and expertise, and facilitating greater public accountability. Several processes are suggeted that can facilitate more transparent and effective two‐way knowledge transfers between public organizations and stakeholders, which are fundamental for establishing successful partnerships.
Business process modeling through the knowledge management perspective
Authors: Kalpič Brane , Bernus Peter
Published: July 2006

Purpose

As economies move into the information age and post‐industrial era, information and knowledge become important resources to organizations. The article sets out to discuss the role and contribution of business process modeling (BPM) in the knowledge management initiative and in the management of company‐specific knowledge.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors consider BPM as a tool for knowledge management that allows the transformation of informal knowledge into formal knowledge and facilitates its externalization and sharing. The article starts with the brief introduction of the theoretical background of business process modeling and its basic concepts, and also presents definitions and concepts of major knowledge categories, knowledge processes and knowledge resources, as have been given by different authors in the knowledge management (KM) domain. These definitions are used as a basis for the knowledge category model and knowledge process model proposed by the authors.

Findings

The article presents findings of the mapping process of the BPM concepts into the knowledge life‐cycle model, proposed by Nonaka and Takeuchi and knowledge categories defined by different authors. During mapping, the authors experienced a lack of explicit and widely accepted definitions of knowledge categories and knowledge processes in respect of all knowledge features.

Originality/value

The article emphasizes an important differentiation between various categories of knowledge, identified in the BPM process, as a basis for the business process‐related knowledge categorization and identification of key knowledge processes. The article also presents the theoretical framework, which gives an account of how and when business process models capture and allow the sharing of knowledge. The framework identifies key knowledge categories, stages in knowledge transformation, and activities in this process.
Tacit to explicit: an interplay shaping organization knowledge
Authors: Bhardwaj Meeta , Monin John
Published: July 2006

Purpose

Aims to study the role tacit knowledge plays in shaping the knowledge base of the knowledge‐intensive growing organizations using the storytelling method.

Design/methodology/approach

Stories were collected from eight human resource professionals working in eight different knowledge‐intensive growing organizations in New Zealand. Interviews containing loosely structured questions were used for collecting stories. These stories were deconstructed on the knowledge grid. This grid attempted to depict a complex interplay of tacit knowledge with the important subsystems (referred to as threads) of organization.

Findings

Tacit knowledge seemed to be a major concern for the human resource professionals in knowledge‐intensive growing organizations. It plays a significant role in shaping the knowledge base of an organization by interacting with the important subsystems of organization.

Research limitations/implications

There is a need to study ways of reducing the risk of being dependent on tacit knowledge of a few employees. Technology is needed that would be able to effectively capture the multidimensional interplay of tacit knowledge with important subsystems of organization.

Practical implications

Knowledge being a strategic input in knowledge‐intensive growing organizations, there is a need to address major concerns related to tacit knowledge that these organizations specifically face due to their knowledge‐intensive nature.

Originality/value

Tacit knowledge interacts with the important subsystems of an organization, thereby shaping its knowledge base. This paper attempts to demonstrate that tacit knowledge operates in multidimensional contexts.
The effect of knowledge management practices on firm performance
Authors: Palacios Marqués Daniel , José Garrigós Simón Fernando
Published: July 2006

Purpose

This research proposes to study the connection between knowledge management practices and firm performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Theoretical relations are tested through an empirical study carried out on 222 Spanish firms in the biotechnology and telecommunications industries.

Findings

This paper shows how the firms that adopt knowledge management practices obtain better results than their competitors.

Research limitations/implications

The subject of principles has not been considered a dimension of knowledge management. New avenues of inquiry are opened considering this dimension.

Practical implications

It determines practices that have a positive incidence on firm performance.

Originality/value

The conceptualization of knowledge management practices represents a theoretical innovation. This scale can be used in other knowledge‐intensive industries. The paper concludes that these practices have a positive incidence on firm performance.
Fostering innovation and knowledge creation: the role of management context
Authors: Aramburu Nekane , Sáenz Josune , Rivera Olga
Published: July 2006

Purpose

At a time when many companies in the Spanish and Basque manufacturing industries are attempting to embark on delocation movements (also commonplace in other countries), the increase in innovatory capacity is becoming an essential element in counteracting such movements and the downsizing that these involve. The study presented here seeks to measure the explicit emphasis given by manufacturing companies from the Basque Region (Spain) in the field of innovation, and the degree of adaptation of their management context to features of the middle‐up‐down model as put forward by Nonaka et al. to promote an effective knowledge generation process.

Design/methodology/approach

An ad hoc questionnaire has been addressed to Chief Executive Officers, within the framework of broader research into organizational learning and business performance started in 2002. This questionnaire is focused more on the “hard” elements of the management context than on the “soft” ones, which may limit its usefulness under certain circumstances.

Findings

Conceptually‐speaking, the methodology used has the value of linking extremely abstract concepts from the middle‐up‐down model (knowledge vision, articulation of this vision by means of concepts and images, “BA”, “information redundancy,” etc.) with specific elements from the management context.

Originality/value

The results of the study reveal that manufacturing companies from the Basque Region have improved their innovatory capacity to a great extent, adapting quite a lot of their management context to new requirements. However, a weak point is detected in them: the absence of an organizational structure that may favor the existence of areas in which knowledge is shared.
Re‐forecasting practice in the UK
Authors: Barrett Richard , Hope Jeremy
Published: July 2006

Purpose

More frequent re‐forecasting is becoming an important topic on corporate agendas and is seen by many to be the only way to keep financial performance on track at a time when revenues are becoming less predictable. The paper aims to investigate this topic.

Design/methodology/approach

For the past four years ALG Software has commissioned a study of the re‐forecasting practices in a sample of the top organisations in the UK by revenue. The objective of the study is to benchmark how frequently the UK's leading organisations currently re‐forecast and what their goals are for the future.

Findings

The results show that the majority of organisations remain dissatisfied with the frequency with which they re‐forecast and wish to re‐forecast more frequently. However, the findings also show that many organisations feel that they cannot re‐forecast as often or as quickly as they would like. In fact, evidence suggests that little, if any, progress has been made during the last four years since this survey was first commissioned. This is due to either the amount of time it takes operational line managers to re‐forecast their resource requirements, or the amount of time it takes the finance function to complete a round of re‐forecasting. The type of application used for budgeting and re‐forecasting appears to make little difference to the time it takes organisations to produce an annual budget or complete a re‐forecast. Central to this issue is the use of non‐financial or “operational” data that predicts future resource requirements, and the limitations of the budgeting systems that organisations currently employ. Regardless of the type of application used for budgeting or re‐forecasting, much of this modelling is still done off‐line on spreadsheets.

Originality/value

The paper is of value to finance managers considering choosing a new budgeting application who will need to ensure that the type of operational modelling of non‐financial driver data, currently done offline on spreadsheets by line managers, can be seamlessly integrated into the central budgeting model.
AML‐related technologies: a systemic risk
Authors: Demetis Dionysios S. , Angell Ian O.
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The paper seeks to analyse the systemic effects of AML‐technologies and regulations, at both national and organizational levels.

Design/methodology/approach

It focuses the power of systems theory, particularly the insights about self‐referential systems, to describe the organizational and bureaucratic phenomena that have emerged from the introduction of technology in the AML domain.

Findings

The paper confronts the technological instrumentalism both prevalent in the AML community and implied by the actions of regulators. It demonstrates the many false assumptions being made, and calls on the whole AML community to re‐think and clarify its position.

Research limitations/implications

This is the second paper describing an ongoing research project that focuses theory on the phenomena occurring when information and computer technologies are applied in the AML arena. The project is experimental and in its early stages, and so is necessarily limited in scale, but not in scope. The objective is to invite the AML community into a hermeneutic debate of the ideas, thereby informing AML policy decisions.

Practical implications

The paper calls for a reconsideration of the underlying assumptions within which AML‐related technology is appropriated by financial institutions. It demonstrates how this technology creates multiple complex systemic phenomena that often act contrary to initial intentions. This complexity is generated not only by data mining and/or profiling technologies, but also by peripheral technologies as they interact with human activity systems in the AML domain.

Originality/value

The paper is one of the relatively few that moves away from narrative description of AML phenomena, to present an academically legitimate theoretical foundation for analysis.
Natural disasters and money laundering risks
Authors: McKenzie Mark , Bryant Kenneth L.
Published: July 2006

Purpose

Sets out to examine the dangers of money laundering as a consequence of natural disasters.

Design/methodology/approach

Lists the potential abuses and scans to which unscrupulous manipulators will resort in order to profit from natural disasters.

Findings

Finds that criminal groups have established networks and sophisticated technology to effectively carry out their activities.

Originality/value

This is a detailed and eye‐opening revelation of the various criminal opportunities for money laundering spawned by natural disasters.
Monetary implications of FATF regulation of secret bank accounts to combat money laundering
Authors: Shahin Wassim N.
Published: July 2006

Purpose

This paper aims to analyze the monetary consequences of the new restrictions imposed in February 2000 by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on money laundering. FATF established 25 criteria based on its 40 recommendations (currently 49) to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. A total of 23 countries were placed on a list of Non‐Cooperative Countries and Territories (NCCTs) for not meeting most of the criteria. Several of the criteria relate to additional tightening or regulation of banking and financial secrecy in these countries. In order to be de‐listed from NCCTs, countries have started regulating their banking and financial sectors by placing restrictions on the degree of secrecy, passing tighter secrecy laws and closing loopholes in existing laws. The new regulatory measures may have money, banking and other economic implications.

Design/methodology/approach

Presents a theoretical model of a banking firm offering secret bank accounts to examine the impact of changing secrecy laws on deposits, interest rates, money and credit aggregates.

Findings

Three different sets of results are plausible depending on the reactions of banks with regard to their deposit rate. The likelihood of banks changing this rate is examined using a profit function analysis.

Originality/value

It provides a theoretical framework for an agenda of future empirical research as researchers should emphasize the impact of tightening secrecy standards on bank deposit rates. The degree of the change in this rate may determine the magnitude and sometimes the direction of the changes in monetary variables.
Creativity is not enough: ICT‐enabled strategic innovation
Authors: Markides Constantinos C. , Anderson Jamie
Published: July 2006

Purpose

To show how information and communication technologies (ICTs) could help a company implement radical new strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

Generalizations are made based on 20 case studies of companies that strategically innovated in their industries by introducing radical new business models. Several of these cases are used in the paper to highlight the points made.

Findings

The paper shows that ICT enables firms to: reach consumers that most competitors cannot serve profitably; offer radically new value propositions to consumers that other firms cannot deliver in a cost‐efficient way; and put in place value chains that no other firm could do efficiently. ICT also allows strategic innovators to scale up their business models quickly and so protect themselves from competitive attacks.

Originality/value

This paper shows that coming up with a radical business model that breaks the rules of the game in an industry is easy! The difficult part is to implement such radical strategies in the marketplace so as to deliver real value to customers in a cost‐efficient and profitable way. The paper demonstrates that ICT is a key enabler in the successful implementation of radical new strategies.
Vehicles for attention creation: the case of a concept car at Volvo Cars
Authors: Backman Maria , Börjesson Sofia
Published: July 2006

Purpose

To present an example of a successful attention‐generation strategy working with a win‐win logic in media.

Design/methodology/approach

The research is part of a broader collaborative research approach investigating new product development processes, comprising several different projects at Volvo Cars. The paper draws mainly on an ethnographic study in combination with an interview study around the project, but also on knowledge from a number of other studies of conceptual work at Volvo Cars which have provided the authors with in‐depth contextual understanding of the practices in use.

Findings

This paper presents the underlying logic when using and exploiting a media‐attractive concept for attention‐generating purposes. It describes how to intentionally generate attention in new ways; a media‐attractive concept may deliberately be exploited to generate attention. The mutual dependence that is produced by media's own striving for attention from its audience and a company's striving for visibility can generate attention of a kind, span and duration beyond regular market activities.

Research limitations/implications

The research is undertaken in the automotive industry.

Practical implications

The paper presents an alternative approach to working with attention. As an example of how companies in competitive industries can learn from the attention industries, the paper illustrates a new breed of strategic tools that are increasingly important to consider as traditional tools become inadequate.

Originality/value

The notion of attention has hitherto been used mainly for advertising purposes, or in the media business. This paper examines how attention can be consciously used in strategic work also for other companies.
Stakeholder identification in innovation projects
Authors: Vos Janita F.J. , Achterkamp Marjolein C.
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The management of stakeholder involvement within innovation projects is a task of growing importance. The purpose of this paper is to present a method for the first challenge in stakeholder management: the identification of those stakeholders to be involved in innovation projects.

Design/methodology/approach

Analysis of stakeholder literature leads to the conclusion that stakeholder identification is considered a problem of classification. Although the availability of a classification model is necessary, it is argued that for a classification model to be of use in identifying stakeholders, such a model needs to be supplemented with an identification procedure for identifying real world parties. Furthermore, a classification model should fit the context the stakeholders are identified for, in this case for innovation projects. These insights have led to the development of a classification model fitting the innovation context, and to the embedding of this model, along with a matching identification procedure, in an identification method.

Findings

A partial and integral evaluation of the method on four cases showed its efficacy in the managerial practice of identifying stakeholders within innovation projects.

Originality/value

The method as proposed in the paper can be used for identifying stakeholders in innovation projects. The method can be considered a first step in managing stakeholder involvement.
Influence of top management team vision and work team characteristics on innovation
Authors: Carmen Camelo‐Ordaz , María de la Luz Fernández‐Alles , Salustiano Martínez‐Fierro
Published: July 2006

Purpose

This work has three main objectives – to analyse whether the strategic vision of the top management team (TMT) directly affects firms' innovation performance; to shed some light on which of the intrinsic characteristics of work teams proposed in the literature influence innovation; and to analyse the joint effect that the TMT's vision and the work team's characteristics may exert on innovation performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample for this study was chosen from the Dun & Bradstreet database. The population consists of firms with more than 50 employees belonging to the three sectors of the Spanish economy with the largest number of registered patents according to statistics from the Spanish Office of Patents and Brands (960 firms).

Findings

The results indicate that the TMT's strategic vision alone does not explain companies' innovation performance. Innovation also requires the existence of diverse, cohesive, and autonomous work teams whose members engage in fluent informal communication.

Research limitations/implications

The empirical evidence demonstrates the complexity of the innovation performance that has to be encouraged by the TMT, but also supported by the existence of teams with specific characteristics.

Practical implications

These results offer relevant implications for R&D managers about the way teams should be formed to increase innovation. The paper derives some conclusions about the key characteristics of work teams that, in combination with the view of the TMT, can affect innovation in firms.

Originality/value

The majority of earlier studies have analysed theoretically the effect of both variables – the strategic vision of the TMT and the intrinsic characteristics of teams – on innovation, but separately. This paper analyses the joint effects that the intrinsic characteristics of work teams have on innovation, which resolve some contradictions regarding the way some variables affect innovation of the firm. Finally the results offer empirical evidence on how Spanish firms obtain innovation performances.
Inhibitors of disruptive innovation capability: a conceptual model
Authors: Assink Marnix
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine why large firms often fail to develop disruptive innovations. This study identifies several key inhibitors or barriers that hinder those developments. A conceptual model is presented that examines the interrelationship and interdependence of these inhibiting factors, in an effort to provide a better understanding of how companies can improve their disruptive innovation capabilities.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper focuses on disruptive innovation rather than incremental innovation and is limited to research findings on large corporations. Recently published works (1990‐2004) have examined success factors as the determinants of disruptive innovation capability. A complementary approach is to examine the inhibitors of disruptive innovation and investigate their interrelationship and interdependence. The study is based on an extensive review of literature available, and examines both internal and external inhibiting factors to develop a conceptual model of disruptive innovation capabilities.

Findings

Many large corporations fail to develop disruptive innovations. It is argued that the basic constraints to creating successful disruptive innovation stem in large part from several inhibiting factors, and we have identified different clusters of interrelated and partly‐interdependent inhibitors: the inability to unlearn obsolete mental models, a successful dominant design or business concept, a risk‐averse corporate climate, innovation process mismanagement, lack of adequate follow‐through competencies and the inability to develop mandatory internal or external infrastructure. The conceptual disruptive innovation capability model provides a better understanding of the interrelationship among these limiting factors. There is still a vast gap between intention and actual disruptive innovation capability. Developing distinctive capabilities to bridge this gap should be an integral part of a company's strategy for growth.

Research limitations/implications

This paper is based on an extensive review of literature on disruptive innovation barriers. In it is proposed a conceptual interrelationship model of innovation inhibitors as a basis for determining and improving a company's disruptive innovation capability. It is suggested that, in addition to the theory presented in this paper, further empirical research studies be carried out to validate the key inhibitors of our conceptual model, their interrelationship and interdependence, and the impact on disruptive innovation development.

Originality/value

The study is intended to provide practical insight into clusters of inhibiting factors that prevent large organisations from improving their disruptive innovation capability. The conceptual model facilitates the development of distinctive competencies and mindsets to improve these capabilities.
Who are the Chinese private entrepreneurs?
Authors: Chen Guangjin , Li Jun , Matlay Harry
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the key micro factors that are shaping Chinese entrepreneurship: socio‐political origins, motivations, educational attainment, organisational forms and power structures.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper employs a questionnaire survey approach, involving a sample of private entrepreneurs who responded in 1993, 1997, 2000, 2002, and 2004.

Findings

The findings reveal a remarkable change in the origin of private entrepreneurs, from a lower to a higher social background. It emerges that individuals were primarily motivated to become private entrepreneurs by positive factors. Increasingly, since the late 1990s, individuals who chose private entrepreneurship exhibited much‐improved educational attainments. Significantly, many enterprises have not yet separated ownership from the management function.

Research limitations/implications

The data under investigation are not yet fully explored. Further analyses of the impact that the changing attributes of private entrepreneurs could have on entrepreneurial firms is planned for the near future.

Practical implications

From the perspective of social changes, there is a need for differential policies to support novice entrepreneurs who originated from a poor social background. Current business governance indicate a tough task to create an organisational structure and management style that would maintain the entrepreneurial spirit and accommodate the needs for control, delegation, and co‐ordination within the organisation.

Originality/value

The paper uses the newly available nationwide survey data to explore the attributes of private entrepreneurs.
China's social capital and financial performance of private enterprises
Authors: Zhang Qizi , Fung Hung‐Gay
Published: July 2006

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the effects of social capital (defined as networks) on the performance of Chinese private enterprises.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper employ an econometric model to test relationships between social capital and firm performance, using a sample of private enterprises in a survey in China in 2000.

Findings

The analysis suggests two findings. First, memberships in various organizations do not appear to be significant in affecting the performance of Chinese private enterprises. Second, short‐time investment in, and the flow of, social capital are significant determinants of enterprise performance.

Research limitations/implications

The study examines only the effects of the short‐time investment in social capital. Further research is suggested to examine the effects of long‐term investments in social capital, the relationship between short‐time investment and long‐time investment in social capital, and the network as a whole, including informal networks.

Originality/value

The paper uses the survey data in China to test Krishna's hypothesis which suggests that short‐term investments can play a positive role in the financial performance of firms.