Showing papers in "California Management Review in 2002"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a new "Stakeholder view" of the firm which holds that stakeholder relationships are the ultimate sources of the wealth-creating capacity.
Abstract: This article enlarges the "extended enterprise" metaphor from its origins in manufacturing-logistics management to embrace the full range of constituencies that are vital to the survival and success of the corporation. This article presents a new "Stakeholder View" of the firm which holds that stakeholder relationships are the ultimate sources of the firm's wealth-creating capacity. According to this view, long-term business success requires a firm to develop and integrate relationships with its multiple stakeholders within a comprehensive management strategy. In order to illustrate the validity of this approach, this article describes and analyzes the evolution and impact of comprehensive stakeholder management policies in three major firms.
956 citations
TL;DR: Social network analysis is a valuable means of facilitating collaboration in strategically important groups such as top leadership networks, strategic business units, new product development teams, communities of practice, joint ventures, and mergers as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: With efforts to de-layer organizations and reduce functional boundaries, coordination increasingly occurs through networks of informal relations rather than channels tightly prescribed by formal reporting structures or detailed work processes. However, while organizations are moving to network forms through joint ventures, alliances, and other collaborative relationships, executives generally pay little attention to assessing and supporting informal networks within their own organizations. Social network analysis is a valuable means of facilitating collaboration in strategically important groups such as top leadership networks, strategic business units, new product development teams, communities of practice, joint ventures, and mergers. By making informal networks visible, social network analysis helps managers systematically assess and support strategically important collaboration.
895 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe clients' key role responsibilities that are essential for effective client co-production in KIBS partnerships and present strategies that service providers can use to manage clients so they perform their roles effectively.
Abstract: A common characteristic of knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) firms is that clients routinely play a critical role in co-producing the service solution along with the service provider. This can have a profound effect on both the quality of the service delivered as well as the client's ultimate satisfaction with the knowledge-based service solution. Based on research conducted with an IT consulting firm and work done with other knowledge-intensive business service providers, this article describes clients' key role responsibilities that are essential for effective client co-production in KIBS partnerships. It then presents strategies that service providers can use to manage clients so they perform their roles effectively. By strategically managing client co-production, service providers can improve operational efficiency, develop more optimal solutions, and generate a sustainable competitive advantage.
694 citations
TL;DR: Corporate Social Initiatives (CSI) as discussed by the authors is an emerging form of corporate community involvement called "Corporate social initiative" which is connected to the firm's core values, responsive to moral pressures, and has clear objectives and means of measurement.
Abstract: The practice of corporate philanthropy has evolved significantly over the past several decades and has now become an integral part of corporate strategy. This article identifies an emerging form of corporate community involvement called "Corporate Social Initiatives" (CSI). These programs differ from their predecessors in that they are connected to the firm's core values, responsive to moral pressures, based on the firm's core competencies, and have clear objectives and means of measurement. Firms are adopting these initiatives as a part of a strategy that seeks competitive advantage through reputation assets or as a response to perceived pressures from the moral marketplace. This article explicates the drivers behind the increased interest in CSI, relates CSI to changes in the environment of social expectations for business, reviews potential challenges to CSI programs, and suggests critical factors in the design of successful CSI programs.
443 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors delineate five kinds of corporate identities: actual, communicated, conceived, ideal, and desired identities, which reflect the current, distinct attributes of the organization, what the organization communicates about itself; the perceptions of the corporation by stakeholders; the optimum positioning for the organization; and corporate vision.
Abstract: In the wake of corporate acquisitions, mergers, and spin-offs, considerable senior management attention has been devoted to corporate identity and its communication to key stakeholder groups. This article provides a framework to help management achieve clearer understanding and better management of their corporation's identities. Many firms operate with a belief in a single monolithic corporate identity. Our research leads to a different view: organizations have multiple identities. We delineate five kinds of identity, within a framework termed the AC²ID Test™(ACCID), namely, the actual, communicated, conceived, ideal, and desired identities. These reflect respectively: the current, distinct attributes of the organization; what the organization communicates about itself; the perceptions of the corporation by stakeholders; the optimum positioning for the organization; and corporate vision from the perspective of the CEO or management board. Not only should management understand its multiple identities, it also should be alert to critical misalignments among them, as these can seriously weaken a company.
408 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a longitudinal outsourcing case study that explicates the often abstruse Winner's Curse, its effect on post-contract management and the relationship, and how it was alleviated by agreeing to mutually renegotiate the terms of the deal.
Abstract: Large international corporations commonly engage in IT outsourcing. However, the process of evaluating, selecting, and subsequently contracting out or selling the organization's IT assets, people, and/or activities to a third-party supplier creates the possibility of a "Winner's Curse." This occurs when the supplier over-promises on what can be delivered for the contract price. This article presents a longitudinal outsourcing case study that explicates the often abstruse Winner's Curse, its effect on post-contract management and the relationship, and how it was alleviated by agreeing to mutually renegotiate the terms of the deal. Building on auction and IT outsourcing theory, the article provides both a model of IT outsourcing processes and a Winner's Curse typology for understanding IT outsourcing ventures. To avoid the experience of relational trauma as a consequence of a Winner's Curse, this article identifies six lessons that client and supplier companies should consider before signing IT outsourcing deals.
296 citations
TL;DR: Ashoka Fellows work in six areas: learning/education, environment, health, human rights, civic participation, and economic development as discussed by the authors, and they join the Global Fellowship network of social entrepreneurs.
Abstract: William Drayton founded Ashoka in 1980 to use a venture capital model to support social entrepreneurs, namely, practical visionaries who are committed to social change. The primary objective of Ashoka is to identify social entrepreneurs around the globe, who then receive Ashoka Fellowships that provide both financial and professional support. To be chosen, each prospective fellow goes through a rigorous search and selection process. Fellows receive a living stipend (typically for three years) and they join the Global Fellowship—a worldwide network of social entrepreneurs. Since 1982 over 1,100 Ashoka Fellows have been selected in 41 countries. Ashoka Fellows work in six areas: learning/education, environment, health, human rights, civic participation, and economic development.
287 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the sources, uses, and outcomes of knowledge and show how successful firms acquire and absorb more information and know-how and how these firms have more effective decision-making processes that enable them both to create new knowledge and to apply this knowledge to generating more innovation in products and processes.
Abstract: Based on a survey of 317 firms and in-depth cases on six firms, this article examines the management of the most intangible asset of the firm—its knowledge. This article examines the sources, uses, and outcomes of knowledge and shows how successful firms acquire and absorb more information and know-how. More importantly, these firms have more effective decision-making processes that enable them both to create new knowledge and to apply this knowledge to generating more innovation in products and processes. Greater levels of innovation in turn lead to improved market and financial performance. This article identifies eight key lessons for knowledge managers and demonstrates how rather than attempting to manage knowledge, firms should measure the change in the innovative outputs that arise from their knowledge management strategies and practices.
263 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the assumptions that underpin CRM and present the results of research that is skeptical of its value, concluding that CRM should only be adopted after a careful appraisal of its cost-effectiveness.
Abstract: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is premised on the belief that developing a relationship with customers is the best way to gain their loyalty. It is argued that loyal customers are more profitable than non-loyal customers. Recently, academic researchers have questioned some of the key premises that are used to support CRM in general, and relationship marketing and customer loyalty programs in particular. This article critically examines the assumptions that underpin CRM and presents the results of research that is skeptical of its value. CRM should only be adopted after a careful appraisal of its cost-effectiveness.
259 citations
TL;DR: This article developed a capability-driven, as opposed to market driven, framework of multinational strategy, which explains the organizational consequences of international expansion and global integration depending on the capability types, capability strategies, and multinational strategies of the multinational firm.
Abstract: Current trends appear to suggest that globally integrated strategies are the wave of the future for many industries, but no theoretically sound, firm-level model explains this situation International business models explain industry trends from economic perspectives, and organizational theory is beginning to examine the organizing principles of multinational firms, but a gap exists in explaining the strategic motivations of multinational firms as they expand and integrate worldwide This article develops a capability-driven, as opposed to market-driven, framework of multinational strategy This contingent framework explains the organizational consequences of international expansion and global integration depending on the capability types, capability strategies, and multinational strategies of the multinational firm
251 citations
TL;DR: For example, this paper found that sharing the limelight seems harder than sharing responsibility in the context of shared leadership in the corporate world, and that two or more individuals sharing leadership is more complicated than simply "divvying up the tasks."
Abstract: In both the business press and in academic journals, corporate leadership typically is portrayed as a solo activity, the responsibility of one person at the top of an organizational hierarchy. However, evidence shows that shared leadership is not only common in the corporate world, it is often more effective than the storied "one-man shows." Ongoing research at the University of Southern California's Center for Effective Organizations pinpoints several factors needed to make joint leadership a success. Where two—or more—individuals share leadership, it turns out that making the arrangement work is more complicated than simply "divvying up the tasks." For example, sharing the limelight seems harder than sharing responsibility.
TL;DR: The biological notion of speciation events, which form the basis for the theory of punctuated equilibrium, can reconcile the process of incremental technical change with the radical change associated with the shift of an existing technology to a new application domain and assist managers to cope with, and potentially exploit, such change processes.
Abstract: What is discontinuous about the moment of radical technological change? Discontinuity typically does not lie in a radical advancement in technology itself; rather, it stems from a shift of an existing technical lineage to a new domain of application. Seeming revolutions such as wireless communication and the Internet did not stem from an isolated technical breakthrough; rather, their spectacular commercial impact was achieved when an existing technology was re-applied in a new application domain. The biological notion of speciation events, which form the basis for the theory of punctuated equilibrium, can reconcile the process of incremental technical change with the radical change associated with the shift of an existing technology to a new application domain. This concept can assist managers to cope with, and potentially exploit, such change processes.
TL;DR: This article presents an organizational security approach that senior managers can use as a roadmap to initiate security plans and policies and audit their implementation.
Abstract: Information security is not a technical issue; it is a management issue. It rests on three cornerstones—critical infrastructures, organization, and technology. While critical infrastructures are beyond the direct control of the organization, balancing them is a critical component of corporate governance. Total security is neither technically feasible nor operationally practicable. Therefore the organization must determine what information assets must be protected and the degree of protection to be provided for them. As Internet-based commerce diffuses through society, there will be decreasing tolerance on the part of customers for losses stemming from perceived or actual cyber vulnerabilities. Only senior management can initiate the plans and policies that address the different aspects of security in a balanced and integrated manner. Leaving security primarily to the IT function will strengthen just one of the cornerstones—namely, technology—and will not yield the intended results. Security lapses are management failures more than technical failures. This article presents an organizational security approach that senior managers can use as a roadmap to initiate security plans and policies and audit their implementation.
TL;DR: Using evidence from a selection of diverse economies in Asia, the authors explores and maps out these patterns and discusses the challenges for research and management practice, highlighting the need to consider the limiting factors, ranging from economic stages of development to business strategies, national culture and fixed enterprise mindsets.
Abstract: The globalization of the field of human resource management (HRM) has led to some common changes in international HRM practices On the surface, this indicates a degree of convergence With deeper examination, however, a different picture emerges Many differences in HRM remain due to a variety of limiting factors, ranging from economic stages of development to business strategies, national culture, and fixed enterprise mindsets Using evidence from a selection of diverse economies in Asia, this article explores and maps out these patterns and discusses the challenges for research and management practice
TL;DR: In this paper, a comparative analysis of a matched sample of two contractors in China showed that although the code requirements were met in both cases, relationships with adidas not only differed but also made a difference.
Abstract: Comprising networked organizations that span advanced and developing countries, the athletic footwear sector is at the cutting edge of globalization. An important dimension of corporate responsibility is setting and maintaining labor standards for contractors9 employees in countries where workers have little or no legal protection against exploitation. This article examines how adidas, the industry9s number two firm, has utilized a code of labor practice to regulate the labor standards of its main manufacturing suppliers. A comparative analysis of a matched sample of two contractors in China shows that although the code requirements were met in both cases, relationships with adidas not only differed but also made a difference. Compared with compliance type relationships, collaborative global firm-contractor ties encourage higher workplace performance and better employment relations in contractor factories.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show how managers can grow capabilities that sustain competitive advantage by constantly identifying and growing asymmetries, embedding and empowering them within an organizational design, and shaping market focus to exploit them.
Abstract: While popular brands and unique capabilities help sustain a company9s competitive advantage, they cannot be built by imitation. Managers have been able to develop sustainable capabilities not by emulating others, but by using their organizational designs and processes to identify, build on, and leverage their "asymmetries"—their evolving unique experiences, contacts, or assets. Such asymmetries may occur even in the simplest organizations. Unfortunately, they frequently are concealed, of little apparent use, and unconnected to value creation. Thus they require new strategy making and organizational approaches for their discovery, development, and application. Based on lessons from a two-year study of a diverse sample of companies, this article shows how managers can grow capabilities that sustain competitive advantage by constantly identifying and growing asymmetries, embedding and empowering them within an organizational design, and shaping market focus to exploit them.
TL;DR: The authors examines the role of the individual as an agent of organizational learning, focusing on individuals who are not in top management positions, and examines the critical role played by these individuals through three brief case studies.
Abstract: This article examines the role of the individual as agent of organizational learning, focusing on individuals who are not in top management positions. It examines the critical role played by these individuals through three brief case studies and addresses four questions: What does it mean for an individual to be an agent of organizational learning? What characterizes the agents' behavior? What special skills are necessary in order to be an effective agent of organizational learning? What motivates people to take on this role despite the considerable risks?
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that e-commerce technologies cannot be successfully leveraged without considering the organizational relationships in which the technologies are being embedded, and that by properly matching the B2B context with Internet technologies, firms can be in a better position not only to achieve significant economic outcomes, but also to attain sustainable competitive advantages, improve coordination and collaboration processes, and decrease channel resistance.
Abstract: Why is it that two firms can use the Internet in the same way (e.g., to reach new customers) and achieve very different outcomes? How can firms better allocate and subsequently leverage the investments they make in Internet technologies? This article shows that e-commerce technologies cannot be successfully leveraged without considering the organizational relationships in which the technologies are being embedded. By properly matching the B2B context with Internet technologies, firms can be in a better position not only to achieve significant economic outcomes, but also to attain sustainable competitive advantages, improve coordination and collaboration processes, and decrease channel resistance.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the people and events through three theoretical lenses: behavioral decision theory, group dynamics, and complex systems, and provided several important lessons for managers making and implementing high-stakes decisions within organizations.
Abstract: Many participants and observers have analyzed the 1996 Mount Everest tragedy and blamed a host of factors including the weather, equipment failures, and human error. This article examines the people and events through three theoretical lenses: behavioral decision theory, group dynamics, and complex systems. Factors at each level—individual, group, and organizational system—interacted with one another to cause the tragedy. This analysis provides a framework for understanding and diagnosing largescale organizational failures, and it provides several important lessons for managers making and implementing high-stakes decisions within organizations.
TL;DR: This article found no evidence that stock option re-pricing is associated with an improvement in the financial performance of the firm, and no support for the perspective that repricing facilitates either retention or firm financial performance.
Abstract: The repricing of stock options—resetting option values when the strike price falls below the current trading price of a firm9s stock—is a controversial tactic. Detractors suggest that repricing is tantamount to rewarding the failure of firms9 management to secure a level of stock value that exceeds the strike price of options. The arguments of proponents, however, reflect a common theme—a sentiment routinely expressed in repricing firms9 proxy materials: Repricing facilitates the retention of chief executive officers and top management teams and, derivatively, the financial performance of the firm. An analysis of these diametrically opposed views provides no support for the perspective that repricing facilitates either retention or firm financial performance. In fact, repricing is associated with increased levels of CEO and TMT turnover. Moreover, there is no evidence that repricing is associated with improvement in the financial performance of the firm.
TL;DR: The Roman Republic embraced a system of co-leadership that thrived for over four centuries before dissolving into the dictatorship of the Empire as discussed by the authors, and the authors identify ten key lessons that the republicans of Rome understood and that are extremely relevant for the modern organization attempting to institute or sustain coleadership.
Abstract: The Roman Republic embraced a system of co-leadership that thrived for over four centuries before dissolving into the dictatorship of the Empire. Many modern firms are evolving in the opposite direction, as sole leadership structures are replaced or augmented by shared leadership. This modern evolution has been prompted by the increasing prevalence of job sharing and teams in the workplace, joint leadership in the family, and complex technology and massive mergers in the marketplace. This article identifies ten key lessons that the republicans of Rome understood and that are extremely relevant for the modern organization attempting to institute or sustain coleadership. These ten lessons find parallels in the successes and failures of co-leadership at such firms as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Unilever, and DaimlerChrysler.
TL;DR: In slightly over two years, NTT DoCoMo, Japan's leading wireless telecommunications network provider, has been able to win over 30,000,000 subscribers to i-mode, its mobile Internet service as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In slightly over two years, NTT DoCoMo, Japan's leading wireless telecommunications network provider, has been able to win over 30,000,000 subscribers to i-mode, its mobile Internet service. I-mode represents the first successful implementation of the convergence of the Internet and mobile telephony into a new industry. This article examines the origins of i-mode's success, both in terms of NTT DoCoMo's technological strategy and business model and why Japan has proven such a fruitful environment for mobile Internet. It also explores whether i-mode's success provides a global first-mover advantage to NTT DoCoMo's plans to employ strategic partnerships to spread the i-mode standard.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the business of technology transfer in universities and show that the extent of university patenting is still very small relative to industry, and technology transfer revenues are still relatively low relative to university research budgets, and that the policy foundations and the marketing models on which it is built will need to evolve further to better fit the underlying economic realities of the dynamic technological innovation processes they are intended to promote.
Abstract: Both universities and firms are engaged in the same overarching dynamic technological innovation processes. All researchers pursue a combination of the three Fs of fame, fortune, and freedom regardless of whether they are "academic" or "corporate." It is the different alignments of incentives and constraints that induce academic researchers to have a comparative advantage in some kinds of innovation and those in commercial R&D to have a comparative advantage in other kinds of innovation. This results in a division of innovative labor and creates opportunities for gains to be made from trade in technologies. Offices of technology transfer were created to improve this flow of trade between university research and industry by patenting and marketing university research results and fostering startups using university technologies. This article examines the business of technology transfer. The extent of university patenting is still very small relative to industry, and technology transfer revenues are still very small relative to university research budgets. While university technology transfer is growing rapidly, the policy foundations and the marketing models on which it is built will need to evolve further to better fit the underlying economic realities of the dynamic technological innovation processes they are intended to promote.
TL;DR: The concept of balance is a judo strategy principle that emphasizes the importance of retaining the initiative and shaping the competition in ways that make it easier to win this paper, and successful judo strategists learn to engage with powerful opponents by mastering three techniques: grip your opponent, avoid tit-for-tat, and push when pulled.
Abstract: Any company can learn to compete more effectively with stronger rivals by mastering the concept of balance in the face of attack. Balance is a judo strategy principle that emphasizes the importance of retaining the initiative and shaping the competition in ways that make it easier to win. Rather than get thrown on the defensive, successful judo strategists learn to engage with powerful opponents by mastering three techniques: grip your opponent, avoid tit-for-tat, and push when pulled. These techniques are illustrated with a variety of examples drawn from both new-and old-economy companies.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors profile the changing demographics and unique consumption patterns of the African-American consumer segment of the financial services market and offer suggestions to marketers seeking to render more effective service to this attractive and growing segment of financial services marketplace.
Abstract: This study profiles the changing demographics and unique consumption patterns of the African-American consumer segment of the financial services market. When it comes to the selection and purchase of financial products and services, African-American consumers differ markedly from their white counterparts. This is especially apparent in the case of relatively high-risk, high-return financial assets, resulting in a diminished rate of wealth accumulation over time in black households. This article offers suggestions to marketers seeking to render more effective service to this attractive and growing segment of the financial services marketplace. For example, promotional materials should reflect the key role of African-American women in determining household consumption patterns. Moreover, successful marketing to African-American households requires a strong educational component.
TL;DR: In this article, the potential effects of unrestrainable technological acceleration on such issues as the autonomy of the university, the erosion of science and technology's culture, future man-made disasters, and the likelihood of technology-driven societal upheavals are suggested.
Abstract: Technology must continue to accelerate for at least four reasons: innate human curiosity, the human propensity to warehouse knowledge, the special character of science and technology's culture, and the competitive drive of for-profit organizations. After elaborating on those reasons and their interactions, this essay briefly considers potential effects of unrestrainable technological acceleration on such issues as the autonomy of the university, the erosion of science and technology's culture, future man-made disasters, and the likelihood of technology-driven societal upheavals. Some possible coping mechanisms are suggested.