Showing papers by "Danny Miller published in 2003"

An asymmetry‐based view of advantage: towards an attainable sustainability

Abstract: The resource-based view of the firm postulates that sustainable abnormal rents can accrue to firms having valuable, rare, inimitable, non-substitutable resources and capabilities. Given these criteria, sustainable resources are hard to attain. Our study of some two dozen firms shows how some of them were able to overcome this dilemma by building not so much on resources and capabilities as on asymmetries. Asymmetries are typically skills, processes, or ‘assets’ a firm's competitors do not and cannot copy at a cost that affords economic rents. They are rare, inimitable and non-substitutable, although not connected to any engine of value creation, and, in fact, often act as liabilities. By discovering and reconceptualizing these asymmetries, embedding them within a complementary organizational design, and leveraging them across appropriate market opportunities, many firms were able to turn asymmetries into sustainable capabilities. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Virtual Moment

Abstract: En suivant la tradition de l'analyse ethnographique, l'A. propose un compte-rendu du Best Value, soit l'inspection faite par le gouvernement du Royaume-Uni des services fournis par les municipalites et autres unites d'organisation locale. Son analyse repose, en grande partie, sur les categories et les termes employes par l'inspectorat lui-meme. Dans chaque domaine d'inspection, il apparait que les resultats contredisent les intentions initiales des enquetes menees. Cela semble etre le resultat des processus d'abstraction qui surgissent pendant l'inspection. Une telle abstraction a ete decelee dans l'apparition d'un jargon et d'une bureaucratie issus de l'echelle meme de l'audit, dans l'exteriorisation de facteurs critiques lors de l'etude de marche, ainsi que dans l'accent mis sur la representation de la consultation, au dela des resultats de la consultation elle-meme, et par le fait que l'on ait privilegie l'information quantitative plutot que l'information qualitative. Enfin, l'expression appropriation du processus est analysee afin de demontrer comment l'ethos central du service public est nie par ces memes forces. Toutes ces formes d'abstraction se manifestent plutot en depit qu'a cause des intentions de l'inspectorat. Dans la conclusion ces formes sont analysees comme des contradictions qui sont le produit de forces decrites par le biais d'une theorie du Virtualisme.

Could the Internet Defetishise the Commodity

Abstract: This paper is in three parts. In the first I summarise and argue for the continued importance of the critique associated with the fetishism of the commodity. In the second part I report on an ethnographic study of the Internet and the lessons learned for how it could most effectively be used. In the third part I present the outline of a programme for inclusion within the school geography curriculum to use the Internet to educate children in their responsibilities as consumers. This consists of following three products, all of which are personalised to the children as end consumers. Using the Internet they would follow all stages of production, distribution, transportation, and the combination of elements that constitute the commodity. All such processes are seen through the labour of those involved. The result may not fully defetishise the commodity in respect to wider issues of power and control, but it might turn the current interest in commodity chains into an attempt to transform the consciousness of ...

A first step toward broad-scale identification of freshwater protected areas for pacific salmon and trout in oregon, usa

Abstract: Decision makers, concerned with Pacific salmon and trout, must often select freshwater areas to protect or restore based on only site-scale information. In response, the Coastal Landscape Analysis and Modeling Study (CLAMS) has developed broad-scale models based on topographic features of watersheds to assess potential use by steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) or by coho salmon (O. kisutch). The modeled attribute, termed intrinsic potential, was expressed for each species as the geometric mean of classified channel gradient, valley constraint, and mean annual discharge. These components were derived from 10-m Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) for all streams in two large basins in the Coastal Province of Oregon, USA. Because the types of topographic features associated with steelhead and coho salmon differ, stream reaches with high intrinsic potential (values ≥ 0.8) for these two species generally did not overlap. Streamside areas adjacent to reaches with high intrinsic potential were characterized relative to land ownership and use. High-intrinsic-potential reaches typically occurred on publicly owned forestlands for steelhead and on privately owned lands with various uses for coho salmon. Results are relevant in describing the likelihood of finding unimpaired habitat in high-intrinsic-potential reaches for these species and in assessing the feasibility of conservation options, thus in identifying freshwater protected areas. Findings for steelhead and coho salmon in the study basins suggest how the approach and developed models might be applied to other aquatic species for which links to topographic features are known or scaled-up to aid in regional prioritization of reaches or watersheds as protected areas. Tailoring actions to the intrinsic potential of an area should enhance the efficacy and efficiency of broad-scale freshwater conservation strategies so may improve their societal support.

Lost in Time: Intergenerational Succession, Change, and Failure in Family Business

Abstract: Previous research has shown there is a high failure rate (70%) for successions in family owned businesses. Other researchers have suggested that the reasons why such successions fail are: unclear succession plans, incompetent or unprepared successors, and family rivalries. In this paper, poorly performing or failed family enterprises were tracked for several years to determine what happened. Sixteen intergenerational successions, which were followed by poor performance ending either in successor dismissal or bankruptcy, were studied. Findings indicated that intergenerational successions were often hampered by an inappropriate relationship between the past and the future. Specific problems identified include: excessive attachment to the past by an overly dependent and conservative successor, a rejection of the past by a rebellious one, or an incongruous blending of past and present by an unsure and wavering new leader. The fact that these patterns occur with such regularity suggests that they be studied further as syndromes that must be combated by a great many family owned businesses. (SFL)