Ashridge Business School

About: Ashridge Business School is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Management development & Coaching. The organization has 140 authors who have published 236 publications receiving 6555 citations.

Privacy, trust, and self-disclosure online

Abstract: Despite increased concern about the privacy threat posed by new technology and the Internet, there is relatively little evidence that people's privacy concerns translate to privacy-enhancing behaviors while online. In Study 1, measures of privacy concern are collected, followed 6 weeks later by a request for intrusive personal information alongside measures of trust in the requestor and perceived privacy related to the specific request (n = 759). Participants' dispositional privacy concerns, as well as their level of trust in the requestor and perceived privacy during the interaction, predicted whether they acceded to the request for personal information, although the impact of perceived privacy was mediated by trust. In Study 2, privacy and trust were experimentally manipulated and disclosure measured (n = 180). The results indicated that privacy and trust at a situational level interact such that high trust compensates for low privacy, and vice versa. Implications for understanding the links between privacy attitudes, trust, design, and actual behavior are discussed.

The paradox of strategic controls

Abstract: This paper reviews the literature on strategic controls. It summarizes the main theoretical arguments that have been put forward for establishing strategic control systems, and contrasts these arguments with evidence that suggests that few companies in fact have a strategic control system in place. The paper then identifies some of the difficulties that may be associated with establishing a strategic control system, points up issues that require further empirical research, and suggests a framework for exploring a contingency theory concerning the sorts of businesses in which strategic control systems would be most and least valuable.

Horses for Courses: Explaining the Gap Between the Theory and Practice of Green Supply

Abstract: Researchers and policy-makers have become increasingly enthusiastic about greening purchasing and supply management activities. In theory, greening supply should both limit environmental damage from industrial activities, and deliver bottom line benefits to implementing firms. However, compared with other environmental initiatives, few firms have implemented extensive green supply programmes.

Desperately seeking synergy.

Abstract: Corporate executives have strong biases in favor of synergy, and those biases can lead them into ill-advised attempts to force business units to cooperate--even when the ultimate benefits are unclear. But executives can separate the real opportunities from the mirages, say Michael Goold and Andrew Campbell. They simply need to take a more disciplined approach to synergy. These biases take four forms. First comes the synergy bias, which leads executives to overestimate the benefits and underestimate the costs of synergy. Then comes the parenting bias, a belief that synergy will be captured only by cajoling or compelling business units to cooperate. The parenting bias is usually accompanied by the skills bias--the assumption that whatever know-how is required to achieve synergy will be available within the organization. Finally, executives fall victim to the upside bias, which causes them to concentrate so hard on the potential benefits of synergy that they overlook the possible downside risks. In combination, these four biases make synergy seem more attractive and more easily achievable than it truly is. As a result, corporate executives often launch initiatives that ultimately waste time and money and sometimes even severely damage their businesses. To avoid such failures, executives need to subject all synergy opportunities to a clear-eyed analysis that clarifies the benefits to be gained, examines the potential for corporate involvement, and takes into account the possible downsides. Such a disciplined approach will inevitably mean that fewer initiatives will be launched. But those that are pursued will be far more likely to deliver substantial gains.