Showing papers on "Business model published in 1996"

The Growth of the Firm in Planned Economies in Transition: Institutions, Organizations, and Strategic Choice

Abstract: Highlighting an important facet of diversity among organizations operating in different institutional environments, this article presents a model of the growth strategy of the firm in planned economies in transition such as Eastern Europe, the former Soviet republics, and China. Focusing on the stylized state-owned enterprises, we explore the interaction between institutions and organizations in these countries. Given the institutional constraints, neither generic expansion nor acquisitions, two traditional strategies for growth found in the West, are viable for firms in these countries. Instead, firms settle on a network-based strategy of growth, building on personal trust and informal agreements among managers. The institutional environment that leads to this unique strategy of growth is examined, and boundary conditions, limitations, and implications of this model are discussed.

Innovation Speed: A Conceptual Model of Context, Antecedents, and Outcomes

Abstract: There is a growing recognition that innovation speed is important to a firm's creating and sustaining competitive advantage amidst rapidly changing business environments. However, there has been little theoretical advancement or model building regarding when innovation speed is appropriate, what factors speed up innovations, and how differences in speed affect project outcomes. In this article, we organize and integrate the innovation speed literature, develop a conceptual framework of innovation speed, and offer researchable propositions relating to the need for and antecedents and outcomes of innovation speed. Specifically, we argue that innovation speed (a) is most appropriate in environments characterized by competitive intensity, technological and market dynamism, and low regulatory restrictiveness; (b) can be positively or negatively affected by strategic-orientation factors and organizational-capability factors; and (c) has an influence on development costs, product quality, and ultimately project ...

Business Networks and Cooperation in International Business Relationships

Abstract: Cooperative relationships between firms can be better understood if they are examined in the context of a network of connected business relationships. Based on research on business relationships and business networks, this paper formulates a LISREL model that analyses cooperation in international business relationships between suppliers and customer firms. Theory suggests that cooperation can raise the value of business relationships, and that business network connections have an impact on cooperation. The model is investigated in a sample of 136 international business relationships. The analysis shows that relationship profitability is directly affected by relationship commitment and, indirectly through commitment, by business network connections.

Trusted infrastructure support systems, methods and techniques for secure electronic commerce, electronic transactions, commerce process control and automation, distributed computing, and rights management

Abstract: The present inventions provide an integrated, modular array of administrative and support services for electronic commerce and electronic rights and transaction management. These administrative and support services supply a secure foundation for conducting financial management, rights management, certificate authority, rules clearing, usage clearing, secure directory services, and other transaction related capabilities functioning over a vast electronic network such as the Internet and/or over organization internal Intranets. These administrative and support services can be adapted to the specific needs of electronic commerce value chains. Electronic commerce participants can use these administrative and support services to support their interests, and can shape and reuse these services in response to competitive business realities. A Distributed Commerce Utility having a secure, programmable, distributed architecture provides administrative and support services. The Distributed Commerce Utility makes optimally efficient use of commerce administration resources, and can scale in a practical fashion to accommodate the demands of electronic commerce growth. The Distributed Commerce Utility may comprise a number of Commerce Utility Systems. These Commerce Utility Systems provide a web of infrastructure support available to, and reusable by, the entire electronic community and/or many or all of its participants. Different support functions can be collected together in hierarchical and/or in networked relationships to suit various business models and/or other objectives. Modular support functions can combined in different arrays to form different Commerce Utility Systems for different design implementations and purposes. These Commerce Utility Systems can be distributed across a large number of electronic appliances with varying degrees of distribution.

A process oriented framework for assessing the business value of information technology

Abstract: In the current competitive environment, the need for better management of all organizational resources, and specifically IT, requires comprehensive assessment of their contribution to firm performance. However, there is little empirical evidence that IT is capable of creating value, nor has a comprehensive framework of business value emerged. Many of the available studies of IT productivity and business value were conducted using firm level output measures of value. The focus on firm level output variables, while important, provides only limited understanding of how value is created using IT. This paper develops a conceptual framework of the business value outcomes of IT by synthesizing the extant literature on IT business value and IT supported organization and process design. The framework provides a basis for process oriented studies of IT business value, and enhances our understanding of the links between information technology and firm performance.

Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management: Can We Afford to Neglect Them in the Twenty-first Century Business School?

Abstract: This article reviews the case for business schools becoming more seriously involved in teaching and research in the field of entrepreneurship and small business. It begins by reviewing some of the global pressures that underpin the need for management schools to devote more serious attention to these phenomena. It then argues the central case for a clear conceptual stance to be taken on the relationship between small business and entrepreneurship as a basis for core programme and pedagogical design. It finally reviews the key issues of change that will confront business schools wishing to move into this area under the three headings of: involvement with the community; teaching and research; and organization design.

Strategic spillovers and incentives for research and development

Abstract: This paper develops a model in which a monopolist supplier can contribute to downstream product improvements by creating knowledge spillovers which downstream firms use as a substitute for their own R&D efforts. Although a market for R&D information does not exist, the supplier may appropriate an indirect return on R&D for two reasons. Sufficiently high levels of spillover information lead to greater downstream product quality, and spillover information reduces the equilibrium sunk cost of R&D for downstream firms and thus facilitates entry. Both effects cause an expansion of downstream output and enhance the demand for the supplier's intermediate good. Given sufficiently strong incentives for supplier R&D, the locus of R&D shifts partially from the downstream to the upstream industry. R&D expenditures, technological opportunities, and downstream industry structure are determined endogenously. Weak appropriability conditions in the downstream industry enhance innovation incentives in the supply sector.

Building Brands Directly: Creating Business Value from Customer Relationships

Abstract: Acknowledgements - List of Figures - A Time for Change - Successful Business Models - Marketing Strategy for Brands and Customers - Creating Value from Brands and Customers - From Image to Interactive Advertising - From Sales to Relationship-building Promotion - From Brand Loyalty to Customer Loyalty - From Mass to Data-driven Marketing - Creating Interactive Mail - Understanding Customer Behaviour - Controlling Marketing Investments - Building Consumer Brands Directly - Building Financial Brands Directly - Building Business Brands Directly - Building Retail Brands Directly - Action Plan One: Developing a Marketing Organisation - Action Plan Two: Developing a Customer Information System - Action Plan Three: Opening a Direct Channel - Action Plan Four: Building a Relationship/Loyalty System

International Business Strategy

Abstract: Thèmes abordés : Stratégie business Comprendre les approches stratégiques envisageables dans un environnement international complexe Comprendre ce qui conduit une organisation, et s'intéresser à son rôle sociétal Contexte international Comprendre les tendances globales et le contexte qui influent sur les organisations internationales Identifier comment prioriser les marchés géographiques et comment adapter les produits et services aux besoins locaux Identifier les différents moyens d'entrer dans des marchés étrangers To understand the different ways to enter foreign markets (focus sur JV et M& mp;A) Comprendre les dynamiques de la logistique et de de l'outsourcing Comprendre comment les gouvernements influent sur le business Vitalité stratégique Comprendre les dynamiques de l'adoption et de l'agilité Comprendre l'impact de la digitalisation et comment les leaders digitaux gagnent Comprendre ce qu'est l'innovation et ce qu'il est nécessaire de mettre en 'uvre au niveau organisationnel

Managerial Tenure, Business Age, and Small Business Turnover

Abstract: This article explores a Census Bureau survey of the small business sector, the 1982 Characteristics of Business Owners survey, which contains information on both small businesses and the managers running them. A number of patterns are documented. For example, among small businesses of the same age, the probability that a business fails and the probability that a business is sold are both initially decreasing in the tenure of the manager at the business. Among businesses with managers who have the same tenure at their business, the probability that a business fails is decreasing in the age of the business.

The configuration of inter-organizational relations

Abstract: Based on recent literature on the impact of inter-organizational information systems (IOS) on industrial organization, this paper proposes a framework for research into the interdependencies between IOS and coordination strategy. The elements of the framework are: (1) market structure; (2) governance forms; (3) relationship dimensions and (4) enterprise resources. It is suggested that these four elements at the same time affect and are affected by coordination strategy which focuses on inter-organizational relations. The research proposition is that inter-organizational arrangements have to be interpreted as complex, multi-layer configurations of organizational parameters. The composition and flexible adaptation of these configurations – rather than the selection of one efficient governance form – and the related design of IOS are the major tasks of coordination strategy. The design parameters are related to the elements of the framework: (1) the position of the enterprise in inter-organizational relations, be it a network, groups of networks or markets; (2) combinations of governance forms with different partners; (3) combinations of governance forms within a given network of relations referring to the different layers in inter-organizational relations, namely the institutional, operational and technical layers and (4) combinations of (inter-) organizational arrangements for the use and development of resources. EUROSELECT, a horizontal network of European grocery wholesalers, is used as an example to illustrate how different contingencies affect the inter-organizational design and why the complex configuration of relations is chosen.

Accounting and the business economics tradition in Germany

Abstract: From the German point of view, accounting is a very important part of business economics. However, in order to understand the theoretical development of accounting in Germany during the twentieth century, it is necessary to identify the influences of the social, economic and legal environment on business economics in general and accounting in particular. Much business economics has emphasized microeconomic theory, but this ignores the problems of organization, and the institutional aspects of the business world. Financial accounting in particular cannot be understood in Germany without reference to legal rules and tradition. Although theorizing about accounting may have been the main root of the business economics tradition in Germany, other aspects of business economics have developed, and it has not been possible to construct a common theoretical foundation covering all aspects of business economics. Hence, it is necessary to study the development of German accounting theory and practice on its own terms.

Small Business Management

Abstract: PART 1: Key Issues in Small Business Studies. The Nature of Small Business Studies. Small Business Start-up. PART 2: Financing Small Business. Small Firms and the Banks. David Perryman's Business Plan. David Perryman: Business Plan Analysis. J & D (Newcastle): Business Plan. J & D (Newcastle): Business Plan Analysis. PART 3: Marketing. Marketing and the Small Firm. An Investigation into the Survival of a Small Business (Jenny Gee News): a Student's Approach to Case Illustration. PART 4: Strategic Issues. Small Firms and the Focused Factory Concept. The Focused Factory Concept: a Case Illustration. Using the Focused Factory Concept. Research and the Focused Factory Concept. A Study in the Life Cycle of a Company: Jackson & Kinross Ltd. A Case for Business Advisers: School Clothing Supplies (SCS). Small Public Sector Organisations and the Concept of Focus. The School as a Small Business: a Case Illustration.

Compliance with Agreements in Cross-Cultural Transactions: Some Analytical Issues

Abstract: Assessing whether the other party is likely to fulfil all obligations can be arduous when a transaction is international. The mechanisms that underpin compliance with agreements, and the functional detail of these mechanisms, may vary in relative importance between countries, perplexing the foreign operative. Additionally, a foreigner may suffer from informational constraints, communications distortions, and difficulty in achieving full acceptance in the local business culture.

Smart Cards: Seizing Strategic Business Opportunities

Abstract: From the Publisher: Similar in size and shape to a credit card, smart cards store and process information on an integrated microprocessor chip embedded in the card. Smart cards are now used extensively in Europe, Asia and South America for making electronic cash, debit and credit payments, information management and storage and a host of other useful applications. While the United States in behind Europe in acceptance and widespread usage of smart cards, it is estimated that by the year 2000 more than 2.5 billion smart cards will be in 25 percent of U.S. households. Financial services, transportation, telecommunications, healthcare, education - whatever your field, smart cards will soon have an unprecedented and far-reaching impact. Smart Cards: Seizing Strategic Business Opportunities brings you face to face with the growing impact of the smart card, and provides insights on implementing and profiting from new technologies and innovations. Written by leading experts drawn from Smart Card Forum and including specific and informational scenarios of smart card use in everyday life, Smart Cards brings you facts and figures that will allow you to: create a business model for introducing a variety of smart card applications; define your markets in terms of card usage and identify potential smart card partners; make financial projections, while anticipating legal and regulatory hurdles; and flatten your learning curve as you develop market trial implementation plans. Prepare yourself and your company to make the critical strategic and investment decisions this revolutionary technology will demand. Smart Cards brings you the latest facts and opinions, in chapters written by leaders in this expanding field - 20 members of the cutting-edge Smart Card Forum - and gives you a head start in understanding and preparing for this new technology.

The formation of a virtual global bank

Abstract: Banks are undergoing dramatic changes to their organization structures, operations and information systems. The banking market is also developing because information technology (IT) is enabling the banks' business customers to create new forms of organization and trade, and there is a clear trend towards the globalisation of markets and competition. Banks are responding in a variety of ways, each of which is designed to increase their ability to act internationally and more quickly. In this paper the international payments and foreign exchange markets are analysed and a case study of an international bank is presented. The traditional methods of foreign exchange dealing and subsequent payment transfer using the Society for World-wide International Funds Transfer (SWIFT) are coming under close scrutiny, and new and better ways of operating are being devised. This paper describes one approach to redesigning the international payments process. It describes the partnership strategy which is being implemented by a large international bank in cooperation with a number of regional banks, resulting in the creation of a virtual global bank. An outline is given of the evolution of the strategy, showing how a vision of the way transactions should be carried out has enabled the bank to combine its various internal strengths and develop its market network. The virtual bank system and its implementation are presented, and issues of organizational and market network change are considered. Finally the results are compared with network theory and the inter-relationships between strategy, network structure and IT are analysed.

The Japanese Business System: Key Features and Prospects for Change

Abstract: This paper argues that the Japanese business system cannot be adequately understood without extending the focus of analysis beyond the individual firm to the vertical keiretsu, or business group. The vertical group or keiretsu structure was first identified and studied in the auto and electronics industries, where it is most strongly marked, but it characterizes virtually all sectors, service industries as well as manufacturing. Large industrial vertical keiretsu are composed of subsidiaries engaged in three distinct types of activities (manufacturing, marketing, and quasi-related business.) The coordination and control systems are built on the flows of products, financial resources, information and technology, and people across formal company boundaries, with the parent firm controlling the key flows. The paper examines the prevailing explanations first for the emergence and then for the persistence of the vertical group structure, and looks at the current pressures for change and adaptation in the system. The Japanese Business System: Key Features and Prospects for Change D. Eleanor Westney M.I.T. Sloan School of Management Introduction In the late 1980s, the efforts of the business media and academic researchers to analyze the Japanese business system were spurred primarily by the desire to explain the success of Japan's economy and its firms. In the mid-1990s, however, with the Japanese economy mired in a prolonged recession, the business press virtually unanimously has portrayed a system in crisis, whose past successes contain the seeds of current and future difficulties, as its faces a changed international and domestic environment and unprecedented strains on its internal structures and processes (e.g. Economist, 3 June, 1995). The image of the Japanese business system in the popular press has changed much more dramatically than the system itself. But the image of the business system among academic researchers has also changed over the years. The intensified scrutiny to which Japan was subjected in the 1980s provided a model of the Japanese business system that built on previous work, particularly on the human resource management and decision-making systems of the large Japanese firm. But additional elements were added: assessment of strategic behavior in the mid-

Business Strategy and Access to Capital in Inner-City Revitalization:

Abstract: This essay discusses critically Michael Porter's proposals for innercity economic revitalization--to make the inner city more open to market forces and more attractive to large firms, while eliminating economicdevelopment subsidies. It is argued here that the inner city is already open to market forces, which have devastated its job and wealth structures. Further, large firms cannot be depended on to supply secure innercity jobs. And it is not easy in practice to separate inefficient "social" programs from efficient "economic" programs for urban development, especially given the complex legacy of discrimination. Finally, even a hard-headed, market-oriented urban policy can only work in a more receptive political environment. In sum, mechanisms of capital accumulation--including communitybased institutions which Professor Porter finds to be inefficient--must be strengthened in the inner city. Among these mechanisms are institutions for channeling capital and credit to inner-city firms and individuals. This essay goes on to suggest some policy ideas for enhancing access to capital in the inner city, which Porter admits is in short supply. The same forces that have led nonfinancial firms to flee the inner city have been at work among financial firms; so financial market forces will only worsen the inner-city capital shortage if left alone. Accordingly, a number of methods for "greenlining"-the shifting of savings and credit into the inner city from outside it--are proposed, followed by an idea for recycling funds lent productively in the inner city.

Organizing for crisis response

Abstract: Crises are turning points in organizations. When crisis strikes, fast-response management depends on quickly configuring and deploying information and communications. This paper brings together research and practice in crisis response management, information technology and news media fast-response methods to derive principles for using information technology as an organizational resource. Firms increasingly recognize the need to view their information technology (IT) platform as a key business resource for just-in-time scheduling, distribution, coordination, service and logistics. If they see it as an equally key resource for just-in-time crisis response, it then creates a powerful base for crisis response management. Exxon Valdez and the Gulf War illustrate these requirements. They provide a stage model of crisis response. The model is not intended as a general description of crisis, but as a more specific modelling of organizational response capability. This stage model is illustrated by Dow Corning's recent silicon-gel implant crisis.

The Business Strategy Game: A Global Industry Simulation

Abstract: Section 1: The Industry and CompanySection 2: Obtaining and Running the Company ProgramSection 3: Competition and Demand ForecastsSection 4: Plant OperationsSection 5: Warehouse and Shipping OperationsSection 6: Sales and Marketing OperationsSection 7: Financing Company OperationsSection 8: Scoring Reports, Analysis Options, and Strategic PlansSection 9: Decision Making: Recommended ProceduresAppendix: Planning and Analysis Forms

Evolutionary software development to support organizational and business process change: A case study account

Abstract: This paper addresses the issues of software development in situations of organizational and process change. There is wide agreement in the literature that organizations have to be increasingly flexible in order to survive in the current economic climate. They must innovate, replicate, adapt and extemporize. As they do so, the requirements they have of their software applications are likely to change. Equally, as new software solutions are provided, new opportunities for business change arise. The situation is made still more complex because even if the needs of organizations were stable, we still could not be certain of the validity of an application's functions. This is because the process of program development is inherently uncertain. From this situation arise difficult, practical challenges for those concerned with the deployment of software in organizations. Starting with a consideration of the nature of organizations themselves, this paper takes looks at these problems by moving between three related points. It looks at software development methodologies and suggests that these have in the past tended to assume that discrete IT solutions can be cast for a ‘steady state’ which the organization is attempting to achieve. From the second vantage point it looks at the role of IT staff in supporting the operational needs of the organization. The third is the nature of software systems themselves.

Quality outcomes: determining business value

Abstract: Linking investments in information technology to improve business performance requires that we look beyond financial measures. The author conducted a study of nine organizations that focused on how they evaluate IT investments and used the results to develop a framework of benefits and measures.