Danny Miller

Bio: Danny Miller is an academic researcher from HEC Montréal. The author has contributed to research in topics: Consumption (economics) & Agency (sociology). The author has an hindex of 133, co-authored 512 publications receiving 71238 citations. Previous affiliations of Danny Miller include University of New Mexico & McGill University.

Entreprises familiales : comment bien préparer la relève

Abstract: L’entreprise familiale est le type d’entreprise le plus repandu au Quebec, au Canada et meme partout dans le monde. A l’echelle locale, elle genere a elle seule 70 % de la creation d’emploi. Toutefois, la succession des entreprises echoue trop souvent, privant ainsi les familles et l’economie nationale d’une importante source de prosperite. Que doit faire la generation actuelle pour mieux preparer la prochaine a reprendre les renes ?

Competitive Dynamics: Toward a Multidimensional Transcendence

Abstract: Competitive dynamics research is being challenged to transcend its present boundaries. Increasing stakeholder power, globalization and new forms of competition have made it useful to construct a framework for the field that broadens our conception of competition. Our framework consists of five defining dimensions that expand the boundaries of competitive dynamics: aims of competition, mode of competing, roster of actors, action toolkit, and time horizon of interaction. We use these dimensions to contrast three prototypical perspectives of competition: the familiar rivalrous competition, competitive- cooperative dynamics, and a new approach we designate as relational competition. We draw conjectures about the industry, cultural, organizational, and governance moderators that condition the appropriateness of these forms of interaction, and relate our approach to configurational, transaction cost, and stakeholder views.

Very big and very small societies

Abstract: Originally anthropology was conceived as applying to entities variously described as cultures or societies. It occupied a position between psychology - dedicated to understanding individuals, and sociology - concerned with larger, industrial and global scenarios. In this paper I argue that anthropology should be applied directly to those areas that were previously excluded from its domain. The intention is not to produce a psychological anthropology or a sociological anthropology. Instead this paper argues that the very same ideas, methods and analyses previously applied to societies or cultures as holistic entities may be reapplied, on the one hand, to the world as a global society and on the other hand to individuals and households as very small societies. Examples of global phenomenon treated as though a single society include religion and sex. For the study of individuals and households. examples are taken from an eighteen months ethnography of a street in South London. For this study one hundred individuals and households were researched, with the emphasis upon their material culture. Their relative autonomy from the state and relatively high level of resources, plus the cosmopolitan context of London means that people on this street can construct cosmologies and practices analogous to those of societies and cultures as conceptualised in traditional anthropology. So in this paper each person is considered as through they were a tribe in New Guinea, examined for their cosmological integrity as expressed in their material practice. The result provides new avenues for a future anthropology to explore additional domains of human creativity.

Critique and comment. The concept of revolutionary change: Rejoinder to Ramaprasad

Abstract: The concept of revolutionary change in organizations is explored by taking Ramaprasad's (1982) recent discussion as a point of departure. It is argued a) that Ramaprasad has misinterpreted Miller and Friesen's (1980) concept of revolution; b) that the processes of revolution and evolution have vastly different repercussions for organizational design; c) that it is necessary for theoretical clarity to distinguish among the causes of the revolution, the revolution itself, and its consequences; and d) that there are crucial differences between conceptual and structural revolutions.

Competitive advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance

Abstract: COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE introduces a whole new way of understanding what a firm does. Porter's groundbreaking concept of the value chain disaggregates a company into 'activities', or the discrete functions or processes that represent the elemental building blocks of competitive advantage. Now an essential part of international business thinking, COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE takes strategy from broad vision to an internally consistent configuration of activities. Its powerful framework provides the tools to understand the drivers of cost and a company's relative cost position. Porter's value chain enables managers to isolate the underlying sources of buyer value that will command a premium price, and the reasons why one product or service substitutes for another. He shows how competitive advantage lies not only in activities themselves but in the way activities relate to each other, to supplier activities, and to customer activities. That the phrases 'competitive advantage' and 'sustainable competitive advantage' have become commonplace is testimony to the power of Porter's ideas. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE has guided countless companies, business school students, and scholars in understanding the roots of competition. Porter's work captures the extraordinary complexity of competition in a way that makes strategy both concrete and actionable.

Upper Echelons: The Organization as a Reflection of Its Top Managers

Abstract: Theorists in various fields have discussed characteristics of top managers. This paper attempts to synthesize these previously fragmented literatures around a more general “upper echelons perspective.” The theory states that organizational outcomes—strategic choices and performance levels—are partially predicted by managerial background characteristics. Propositions and methodological suggestions are included.

Clarifying the Entrepreneurial Orientation Construct and Linking It To Performance

Abstract: The primary purpose of this article is to clarify the nature of the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) construct and to propose a contingency framework for investigating the relationship between EO and firm performance. We first explore and refine the dimensions of EO and discuss the usefulness of viewing a firm's EO as a multidimensional construct. Then, drawing on examples from the EO-related contingencies literature, we suggest alternative models (moderating effects, mediating effects, independent effects, interaction effects) for testing the EO-performance relationship.

Social Identity Theory and the Organization

Abstract: It is argued that (a) social identification is a perception of oneness with a group of persons; (b) social identification stems from the categorization of individuals, the distinctiveness and prestige of the group, the salience of outgroups, and the factors that traditionally are associated with group formation; and (c) social identification leads to activities that are congruent with the identity, support for institutions that embody the identity, stereotypical perceptions of self and others, and outcomes that traditionally are associated with group formation, and it reinforces the antecedents of identification. This perspective is applied to organizational socialization, role conflict, and intergroup relations.