IE University

About: IE University is a education organization based out in Segovia, Castilla y León, Spain. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Corporate governance & Supply chain. The organization has 527 authors who have published 1709 publications receiving 64682 citations.

Measures Vs. Actions: The Balanced Scorecard in Swedish Law Enforcement

Abstract: Studies of organizational performance have overwhelmingly relied on evidence gathered from private sector firms. Nevertheless, the past several years have witnessed increasing interest in enhancing effectiveness and efficiency in the public sector, in turn generating considerable investment in the deployment of performance metrics in such settings. Though extant evidence provides many perceptive insights into the specifics of performance frameworks in public sector organizations, little is known about the measurement of organizational performance in police work. Our investigation drew upon the deployment of the balanced scorecard in Swedish Law Enforcement, an organization that long ago implemented the new paradigm of policing, which consisted in enhancing the quality of urban life on the mere making of arrests. Results from this investigation concur with other studies indicating that public sector organizations tend to assume a stakeholder perspective on performance measurement. In particular, Swedish Law Enforcement developed aset of measures of external success and internal performance that addressed present, past, and future time dimensions. Implementation of the balanced scorecard in police work, though, raised some problems. Our study details concerns about the aggregation of non-financial performance measures. More importantly, some crucial areas in the new concept of policing (such as community policing) were neglected by the system. Conversely, the system focused on monitoring some easy-to-measure indicators that provided a traditional view of police work while some crucial areas of policing were not measured. This focus ultimately lessened the operational potential of the balanced scorecard system. Our study also puts forward some suggestions for future research in this area.

Understanding Community Dynamics in the Study of Grand Challenges: How Nonprofits, Institutional Actors, and the Community Fabric Interact to Influence Income Inequality

Abstract: This paper provides a conceptual model that explains how competitive and institutional dynamics at the community level influence the ability of welfare-oriented nonprofits to eradicate income inequality. To test our framework, we build a large and unique seven-year panel dataset consisting of data from 245 U.S. communities. We find that increasing the number of welfare nonprofits is beneficial for reducing community inequality, but only up to a point, after which resource competition decreases their effectiveness. This competition for resources is also present when a high density of elite-oriented nonprofits operates in the same community. Hypotheses focused on the institutional dimension receive mixed support. As predicted, welfare nonprofits are more effective when they operate in communities with strong law enforcement capabilities and less effective in politically conservative local contexts. Contrary to our expectations, however, we find that welfare nonprofits are less effective in demographically h...

Mix flexibility and volume flexibility in a build‐to‐order environment

Abstract: Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the factors enabling or hindering the simultaneous pursuit of volume flexibility and mix flexibility within a supply chain through the lens of a manufacturing plant seeking to implement a build‐to‐order (BTO) strategy.Design/methodology/approach – To accomplish this empirical investigation, an in‐depth case study involving a manufacturing plant and its supply chain was designed. Prior to primary and secondary data collection, this research setting had already decided to implement a BTO strategy and had, moreover, carefully assessed several practices for BTO strategy implementation, as well as their interactions.Findings – The studied case suggests that a number of approaches typically used to increase volume flexibility, actually negatively affect mix flexibility and vice versa. The existence of such trade‐offs may ultimately inhibit the implementation of a BTO strategy and this was the case in the studied company. Nevertheless, empirical evidence also suggests tha...

What is eco-innovation?

Abstract: The scale of environmental problems, coupled with social inequalities and competitiveness challenges within the global economy, have raised increasing awareness of the need to change and renew existing technological production and social behavioural patterns. At best, such awareness may produce innovative responses that gradually move society along a more sustainable path. Analytical tools for such transformation have been developed in the field of environmental management, namely within frameworks such as eco-efficiency,1 industrial ecology2 and design for environment3 and more recently within the concept of eco-effectiveness,4 natural capital and biomimicry.5 Furthermore, the urgency for change has led to increasing application of the term ‘innovation’ in environmental management and policy. Despite the promise of eco-innovations, the term is also used in diverse contexts with different underlying connotations that may eventually diminish its practical value. Most commonly eco-innovation refers to new technologies that improve economic and environmental performance but also some definitions include organizational and social changes for improving competitiveness and sustainability and its social, economic and environmental pillars (see Box 2.1).

'Dependent Contractors' in the Gig Economy: A Comparative Approach

Abstract: In response to worker misclassification lawsuits in the United States, there have been recent calls for the creation of a hybrid category in between employee and independent contractor specifically for the gig economy. However, such an intermediate category is not new. In fact, the intermediate category has existed in many countries for decades, producing successful results in some, and misadventure in others. In this article, we use a comparative approach to analyze the experiences of Canada, Italy, and Spain with the intermediate category. In our analysis we focus on a set of questions: Is labour law fundamentally outdated for the digital age? Does the gig economy need its own specialized set of rules, and what should they look like? What role does digitalization and technology play in the casualization of work? We ultimately conclude that workable proposals for a third category must also encompass other forms of precarious employment.