bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The effectiveness of non‐executive directors in Chinese state‐owned enterprises
Authors: Kakabadse Nada K. , Yang Hong , Sanders Richard 
Published: August 2010

PurposeThe primary aim of this paper is to examine whether boards of directors with independent members function as effective corporate governance mechanisms in Chinese State‐Owned Enterprises (SOEs), by analysing four characteristics of non‐executive directors (NEDs) that impact on their effectiveness, namely their degree of independence, information, incentive, and competence.Design/methodology/approachBeing exploratory in nature, the research uses qualitative methods for data collection. It is based on an interpretivist perspective of social sciences, analysing and explaining the factors that influence the effectiveness of NEDs.FindingsThe findings indicate that the NED system is weak in China as a result of the concentrated ownership structure, unique business culture, intervention of controlling shareholders and the lack of understanding of the benefits brought by NEDs.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper examines the salient features of and challenges to the system of NEDs of SOEs in present‐day China. It provides an understanding of how the various perceptions of the board, gathered from in‐depth interviews of corporate directors, leads to new interpretations of board effectiveness. The research, however, is limited owing to a relatively small sample size and the sensitive nature of the information collected.Originality/valueThe study aims to fill gaps in the literature and contribute to it by assessing the “real” views and perceptions of NEDs in China in an institutional environment significantly different from that of the USA, the UK and other western economies.
Uncertainty, risk, and real options: who wins, who loses?
Authors: Reed Richard , Storrud‐Barnes Susan F. 
Published: August 2010

PurposeReal‐options have moved from being an academic theory to a decision‐making tool that is being used by managers. The thinking underpinning real options has remained true to its financial options‐pricing heritage, which means that it is based on an assumption of managerial risk‐neutrality. Managers can be risk‐seeking or risk‐averse, depending on whether or not they are meeting performance targets. This paper aims to explore the questions of what happens when the assumption of risk neutrality is relaxed and how the outcomes of managerial decisions on investments affect the firm's stockholders and bondholders.Design/methodology/approachThe work is conceptual in its approach.FindingsManagers, stockholders, or bondholders do not lose when managers are performing above target and when environmental uncertainty is high, or below target when environmental uncertainty is low, but managers win at the expense of stockholders when they are meeting performance targets and uncertainty is low, and managers win at the expense of bondholders when they are performing below target and uncertainty is high.Research limitations/implicationsPropositions are provided for subsequent empirical testing. The paper holds environmental complexity and munificence constant, but discusses the implication of that in the conclusions.Practical implicationsThe research has implications for shareholders and bondholders. It also has implications for Boards of Directors and the actions they take within their monitoring and control duties.Originality/valueBecause the paper is able to separate the constructs of uncertainty and risk, this is the first work that has been able to fully relax the assumption of risk neutrality that underpins real‐options theory.
Antioxidant activity of seed extracts of Annona squamosa and Carica papaya
Authors: Kothari Vijay , Seshadri Sriram 
Published: August 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate various extracts of Annona squamosa L (Annonanceae) and Carica papaya L (Caricaceae) seeds for their antioxidant activity, free radical scavenging ability, total phenolic and flavonoid contents.Design/methodology/approachSamples from both the seeds were prepared by subjecting them to microwave‐assisted extraction. After determining their antioxidant properties and polyphenolic contents, correlation between them was also investigated.FindingsHighest antioxidant activity (3,179.66 g gallic acid equivalent/g of dry extract) and phenol content were registered by chloroform:methanol extract of C. papaya seeds. Maximum radical scavenging activity (3,201.63 ascorbic acid equivalent antioxidant capacity g/100 g of dry extract) was exerted by water extract of A. squamosa seeds, whereas acetone extract of C. papaya registered highest flavonoid content among all extracts. Polar extracts were found to be better free radical scavengers compared with those less polar. Hexane extracts showed least DPPH radical scavenging activity. Acetone proved efficient in extracting flavonoids, whereas phenols were best extracted in a mixture of chloroform and methanol. Phenolic metabolites seem to be contributing significantly towards antioxidant activity of the C. papaya extracts, but less so in the case of A. squamosa.Originality/valueThere have been few reports on antioxidant activity of non‐edible parts of commonly consumed fruits. The research indicates that seeds may be a promising source of antioxidants, which may have therapeutic implications.
Trade linkages between China, India and Singapore
Authors: Jayawickrama Ananda , Thangavelu Shandre M. 
Published: August 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the trade linkages and degree of export competitiveness between Singapore, China and India.Design/methodology/approachBalassa's export performance index and the dynamic RCA index was adopted, as suggested by Kreinin and Plummer to identify the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) of the above countries in industrial products by SITC 1‐ and 2‐digit levels. The Spearman's rank correlation coefficient is used to identify the degree of complementarity between RCA indices.FindingsGiven the abundant resources, China and India have comparative advantage in a broad range of manufactured goods as compared to Singapore. From the disaggregated analysis at 2‐digit level, the paper finds that the Singapore and China exports are complements, although the degree of complementarity has being declining over time. Meanwhile, Singapore and India exports are found to be stronger complements and stable over time. The results also show that China and India exports are strong substitutes. The paper also finds that the export specialization of China and India has experienced significant changes and shifting to new export products over time.Originality/valueGiven the recent trade agreements between China and Singapore and India and Singapore, it is important to examine the trade linkages (complementarity/substitutability of trade) between these countries. The paper highlights the importance of China and India in complementing countries such as Singapore as it climbs the technological ladder to maintain its competitiveness in the world market.
The practical wisdom of Peter Drucker: roots in the Christian tradition
Authors: Meynhardt Timo 
Published: August 2010

PurposePractical wisdom is central to the tremendous success of Peter Drucker as a management thinker. The paper aims to argue that the attractiveness of his writings is mainly due to the underlying Christian value system, which is the basis for the coherence of his thinking, and the reference system for his normative statements and practical wisdom.Design/methodology/approachThe paper discerns the moral foundations of Peter Drucker's work by highlighting explicit value statements in his early writings, some even before he turned to management. Against this background, examples are provided of how he translates his values in practical wisdom into dealing with management challenges.FindingsA major driving force of Drucker's entire work is seen as the secularization of his religious beliefs. His practical suggestions for modern corporations are deeply influenced by Christian faith. Up to now this has been largely unknown or ignored.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper rests on limited text analysis which should be extended in future research. If Drucker's success may be at least partially attributed to his moral tone, any effort to redeem management and to anchor it as a liberal art can deploy his work.Originality/valueDissecting the moral background of the most influential management thinker in the last century the paper reveals that Drucker's practical wisdom is the result of a deep connection between Christian values and knowledge. It clearly points to an integrated research perspective, and above all it calls for a rigorous inquiry into moral assumptions underlying any writing on management.
Practical wisdom in managerial decision making
Authors: Melé Domènec 
Published: August 2010

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to present the necessity for practical wisdom in the managerial decision making process and its role in such a process. The paper seeks to contrast the position with two conventional approaches based on maximizing and satisficing behaviors respectively.Design/methodology/approachFollowing Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas it is argued that a correct decision should consider an “integral rationality” which includes not only “instrumental rationality” but also “practical rationality”. The latter permits the evaluation of both means and ends from the perspective of human good. Practical wisdom helps the decision maker to determine how a decision will contribute to the human good in each particular situation.FindingsMaximizing and satisficing behaviors are based on the facts‐values dichotomy, which separates business and ethics and presents a rationalistic and incomplete view of the reality. The alternative presented here sees the decision as a whole, and this is a more comprehensive understanding of the reality. Ethics is better integrated into the decision making process, since it is an intrinsic part of such a process, not an extrinsic addition.Practical implicationsEvery decision has an ethical dimension, which should be considered by managers for making good decisions. Practical wisdom is essential in perceiving such a dimension and in making sound moral judgments in the making of decisions. Managers do not need only skills for making correct decisions, but practical wisdom and moral virtues, too.Originality/valueThe approach presented in the paper defeats the conventional but narrow views of managerial decision making based on maximizing behavior or on satisficing behavior and introduces the categories of good and evil as the main driver for managerial decision making.
Transforming healthcare: a study in practical wisdom
Authors: Brinkmann Bill , O'Brien Dan 
Published: August 2010

PurposeAscension Health has developed a leadership formation program and decision‐making process specifically designed to tap into the inner spiritual strengths of its religiously pluralistic workforce in order to foster leadership that is more effective in initiating organizational cultural changes necessary for making successful quality improvements vital for the transformation of healthcare. This paper aims to focus on this initiative.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is a case study, describing how Ascension Health designed a quantified measurement tool used to test the degree to which key characteristics of its mission, vision and values are implemented in its policies, practices and outcomes. Applying principles of decision‐making theory from Lonergan, Harrison and Nutt, Ascension Health also created an organizational discernment process designed to habitualize best practices of decision making that support the organization's mission and transformational goals.FindingsThe authors describe how their organization's interventions have strengthened the practical wisdom of its leaders, helping it to improve on its faith‐based mission and transformational goals. Case examples are included to illustrate the transformational effects of these interventions.Practical implicationsApplying formation practices that engage a spiritually diverse workforce and adopting disciplined processes of decision making can be adapted to any complex organization willing to dedicate itself to the inner transformation, participation and empowerment of its leaders and associates.Originality/valueThe formation program, decision‐making approach and measurement tool are all original. Business leaders and leadership development programs will find the experience of Ascension Health to be a valuable reference for their own organizational change initiatives.
Middle level thinking: the cultural mission of business schools
Authors: Dean Maines T. , Naughton Michael 
Published: August 2010

PurposeBusiness education should be seen as a form of professional education which assists the student to acquire the virtue of practical wisdom. This article seeks to discuss the issues.Design/methodology/approachA middle level thinking (MLT) approach is taken to engage business education and practice that seeks to fashion explicit and vibrant ties between broad ethical principles and the concrete decisions, policies, and processes which shape how an organization operates.FindingsThe financial crisis of 2008 and past business scandals are symptoms of a broader cultural crisis. Universities and their business schools have contributed to this cultural crisis by providing students with an overly compartmentalized and specialized form of education. Business education must be re‐envisioned as professional education which prepares students to engage in a form of middle level thinking (MLT). For this kind of thinking to become sustainable within a university context, it must draw upon the university's own cultural mission; otherwise, it will be susceptible to the economic and specialized pressures which bear upon these institutions.Practical implicationsThe article describes a practical process called the self assessment and improvement process which helps to catalyze MLT. It also examines this method's application within the authors' own business school, which is situated within a Catholic university.Social implicationsBy fostering MLT, business schools will promote the development of professionals who have the capacity to connect broad moral principles to concrete moral judgments and actions, thereby leading to specific practices which enable organizations to better contribute to the common good.Originality/valueThe article shows that acquisition of practical wisdom can be promoted within business schools through practical approaches which help to foster MLT.
Practical wisdom and understanding the economy
Authors: Clark Charles M.A. 
Published: August 2010

PurposeThis paper aims to look at the development of economic theory into what Aristotle called a “theoretical science” and the subsequent rejection of practical wisdom. Since business education is largely based on economic theory, this has an effect on management and other business disciplines.Design/methodology/approachThis paper examines how the philosophical preconceptions that underlie economic theory greatly influence the development of economic theory and policy. The approach is to use the history of economic ideas to get a deeper understanding of current economic ideas and issues.FindingsThe paper finds that the attempt to turn economics into a hard science forced economists to adopt an overly narrow view of the human person, to exclude ethics from their analysis and to ignore historical and social context; that is the real economy. Following this research agenda turned economics into a mere defense of laissez‐faire ideology, and led to the promotion of economic policies that are harmful to society, such as the deregulation of the financial services industry in the 1990s that set the stage for the financial meltdown and economic crisis of 2008.Practical implicationsThe paper shows that economic theory that excludes ethics, and takes an overly narrow view of the human person, weakens the effectiveness of economic analysis. Including ethics and a more valid philosophical anthropology leads to better analysis and policy.Social implicationsA more realistic and ethically grounded economic analysis will have a great effect on society for it will take away the common argument that ethical considerations need to be ignored in economic analysis and policy.Originality/valueThe paper's originality is in using the insights of the Catholic social thought tradition, specifically its view of the human person, to promote a broader approach to economics.
Practical wisdom for turbulent times: exegesis beyond historical and canonical concerns
Authors: Lenssen Gilbert 
Published: August 2010

PurposeIn turbulent times like these, practical wisdom from the religious and spiritual traditions can provide new grounding. In the Christian tradition, practical wisdom can be derived from exegesis of New Testament texts. Text exegesis can be integrated in executive education/formation, even in secular settings. This paper aims to discuss the issues.Design/methodology/approachA symbolic narrative method is applied to demonstrate how practical wisdom can be discerned from religious texts. Transposed to an interfaith or secular environment, the use of exegesis in executive formation is explained based on Winnicott's theory of transitional objects.FindingsChristian social ethics could be enriched by a renewed interest in wisdom that sources itself in biblical exegesis. This interdisciplinary paper explores the nature of practical wisdom as inspired by biblical exegesis applying a symbolic‐narrative method. This method is applied within the context of a humanistic Christology that reveals the wisdom of Jesus in his human capacity. This is illustrated by the exegesis of the New Testament text “The feeding of the five thousand”. In a conclusion and outlook the value of interfaith text exegesis in management education in a secular context is explored based on the personal experience of the author in executive formation.Originality/valueInterdisciplinarity combined with methodological rigor in a biblical approach to practical wisdom is highlighted in the paper.
The practical wisdom of personalism
Authors: Alford Helen 
Published: August 2010

PurposeCurrent mainstream management theory is based on incomplete assumptions regarding the nature of human beings and human action, leading to damaging practical results. This paper aims to draw on personalism for the formulation of better assumptions for theory.Design/methodology/approachThe main problems in current assumptions are analysed. A combination of the exclusion of human intentionality with a view of human beings as self‐interest maximisers who betray relationships if it is in their interest so to do, leads to practical proposals for management that distort human behaviour and tend to make people less trustworthy. Nevertheless, such assumptions are not entirely wrong; it is their incompleteness that is problematic. They need to be able to include the intrinsically relational aspect of the human being. In personalism, the human being is seen as a duality, individual‐person, which can provide a way of conceiving both the self‐interested and self‐giving aspects of human action in an integrated way.FindingsThree brief examples of how these expanded assumptions can give us better guidance in management situations indicate the further potential of this line of research. Personalism grounds human dignity in the idea of the person as the imago dei, a Christian idea. The paper discusses the relevance of this idea for management today.Originality/valueThe value of the paper is that it builds a bridge between current management problems and a well‐developed philosophy, allowing the resources of this tradition of thought to be accessed towards the end of creating better management theory and practice.
Practical wisdom and the Rule of Benedict
Authors: Tredget Dermot Alan 
Published: August 2010

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the meaning, use and practical application to management education and leadership development of the terms wisdom, practical wisdom, prudence, discretion and discernment as used in the Rule of Benedict.Design/methodology/approachAfter a detailed examination of the historical texts, the author draws on his personal experience of facilitating workshops with a number of senior executives. He applies this learning to current trends and issues in contemporary organisations in particular as they apply to the spiritual qualities of leadership.FindingsThe paper comes to a number of conclusions: spiritual discernment is an integral and indispensable part of practical wisdom; the acquisition, development of practical wisdom cannot be divorced from the individual's core spiritual and religious beliefs and practice; practical wisdom is not an end in itself but a means to discerning how to live a morally good life in relationship to other individuals and stakeholders.Practical implicationsAny workplace, irrespective of size and activity, must be a community of practice where practical wisdom can develop and flourish. In the frenetic workplace the exercise of practical wisdom needs protected time and contemplative leisure.Originality/valueThe ancient texts of the Rule of Benedict are translated into modern times; consequences for management practice and education are drawn.
The Decalogue and practical wisdom: rereading a seminal text
Authors: Hoebeke Luc 
Published: August 2010

PurposeActing in complex and paradoxical situations cannot be taught through recipes. This article rereads a seminal Biblical text, the Decalogue, and seeks to place it in the actual context for people confronted with difficult decisions and actions. If foundational texts are not actualised, they lose their meaning. This is the base of the Judaic exegetic tradition. Practical wisdom can use the Decalogue to act in a relevant way in uncharted territory.Design/methodology/approachA method combining the reading of an old text with a dialoguing commentary in a group is how this actualisation has been elaborated. Oral and written traditions jointly are essential in making the seminal texts of practical wisdom relevant for our times. This commentary has been elaborated as a result of a dialogue with three different groups of more than ten members. This is the way the author uses the term “validation”.FindingsIn the Judaic language verbs are the most important grammatical components. The First Testament texts have their origin in the wisdom to act in a social context. The Decalogue is the central tenet of this practical wisdom. The author has been introduced to this wisdom through the research of communities to create an art of living away from the mainstream individualistic ideology. Currently in management discourse, the use of the words, social networks, stakeholder focus, community development and the attention to systemic and ecological relationships is increasing and this experience can provide an alternative discourse helping them in their endeavours.Originality/valueActualising an ancient tradition, the article makes it relevant for issues with which decision makers are struggling today.