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Middle managers' career success and business strategy in the Canadian aerospace industry: A configurational analysis in the context of innovation and costs leadership

Jacqueline Dahan (Department of Management and Human Resources, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada)
Yvon Dufour (Department of Management and Human Resources, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada)

Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration

ISSN: 1757-4323

Article publication date: 13 April 2012

442

Abstract

Purpose

The main aim of this paper is to investigate the way middle managers picture their career success and the business strategy of their firm with the following key question in mind: “Is there a relationship between the two?”.

Design/methodology/approach

This research is based on a “polar sample” of two companies of the Canadian aerospace industry that use generic business strategies which differ considerably along the continuum of strategic approaches from one another. A list of 50 people was made in collaboration with the executives of the companies investigated. A total of 74 percent (37) of the middle managers invited to be interviewed accepted the invitation. The interviews lasted on average 90 minutes. They were analyzed using NVivo software.

Findings

The analysis yielded a set of four empirical configurations of career success. The idea of central orchestrating theme has been at the core of configuration theory since its inception but few researchers have set the task to investigate them let alone in studying career success. Four core unifying themes were found: “just watch me”, “one for all and all for one”, “eureka”, and “thanks but no thanks”. Each of the company strategies provides a receptive context for no more than two coexisting configurations of career success, one leading to a rapid ascent and the other to a slower one.

Originality/value

Few studies have looked into how middle managers portray career success for themselves. Furthermore, the literature is wanting in another crucial respect: the researchers do not take into consideration the particular strategic context of the firm. This paper argues that the paths toward career success must be understood in the context of the business strategy of the firms that give them form, meaning, and substance.

Keywords

Citation

Dahan, J. and Dufour, Y. (2012), "Middle managers' career success and business strategy in the Canadian aerospace industry: A configurational analysis in the context of innovation and costs leadership", Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 82-94. https://doi.org/10.1108/17574321211207980

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2012, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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