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The music festival industry is challenged by intense competition and financial exigency. As a result, many festivals have either folded or are currently struggling. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to show that motivator-hygiene-professional (MHP) strategic capabilities (SCs) are positively associated with quality music festival management thereby providing a playbook for potentially mitigating these challenges.

The mixed methods research design comprised a case study of a leading event management company as well as nation-wide in-depth interviews and questionnaire survey. The authors initially confirmed the nature of the challenges to the industry from the case study and the in-depth interviews. The authors then developed an MHP Model of 15 SCs that were identified from the literature and the qualitative research. The relationship of the MHP SCs model to quality music festival management was tested in the questionnaire survey.

The respondents suggested that all the SCs were related to quality music festival management. However, Professional SCs were considered comparatively less important than motivator and hygiene SCs. Across all three groups, interviewees highlighted the significance of artists, site and operational planning, financial and stakeholder management and ticket pricing. In addition, careful planning, delegation and quality focus, problem solving, resolve and flexibility, leadership and vision, communication and innovation were considered conducive to the quality management of music festival organisations.

The MHP SCs model and dimensions of quality management offer music festival event managers a detailed practical playbook for moderating challenges to music festival management. In essence the authors provide the specific drivers that festival managers should best focus their attention upon. Visionary leadership, artist differentiation, innovation, customer service and flexible management have priority.

The findings add to the festival management literature by demonstrating the importance of motivator, hygiene and additional professional SCs for moderating challenges to the music festival industry. To the best of authors’ knowledge, no previous studies have directly investigated specific SCs critical for quality event and festival management. In particular, the academic significance of this paper is that the authors have combined Herzberg’s motivator and hygiene factors with SCs, which are in essence success drivers, to create a novel holistic MHP SCs model for quality music festival management. Further explanatory insight is gained by the addition of a third factor of professional SCs.

Presents a case study of the Health Sciences Libraries Consortium in Philadelphia using Ovid Technologies’ search system, database and Web gateway. Considers the authentication and authorization environment and the successful use of the program Guardian. Outlines further developments in this area as the system is upgraded.

Defines the construct of “comedy” in electronic advertisements, using drama theory to derive a taxonomy of comedic types. Summarizes the controversies that form the background of humour research and proposes a revision in terminology that distinguishes the stimulus (called “comedy”) from the response (called “laughter”). Goes on to discuss the fundamental attributes of comedy from a drama perspective and uses Bergson’s theory of laughter as the cornerstone of two continua mapping four comic types: verbal/physical and romantic/satiric. Uses examples from television and radio commercials to illustrate the way that the classification scheme works in the media context. Discusses each comedic type in terms of associated audience responses relevant to consumer audiences. Concludes with comments on the social function of advertising comedy.

Herbert A. Simon and Alan Newell won the Turing Award jointly in Computer Science for foundational work on Artificial Intelligence. Simon also won the Nobel Prize in Economics for the concept of “bounded rationality.” In both cases, the same heuristic was deemed fundamental: “Search till a satisfactory solution is found.” We argue that behavioral strategy can learn a great deal from the Theory of Computational Complexity and Artificial Intelligence. These fields can provide a sounder theoretical grounding for bounded rationality and for the necessity and usefulness of heuristics. Finally, a concept of “organizational intractability” based roughly on the metaphor provided by the Theory of Computational Complexity may be useful in determining what analytical decision technologies are actually intractable in real organizations with constraints on time and managerial attention.

This paper presents an integrated regulatory model to protect depositors in the event of a retail financial institution run or failure. In Australia, many of the factors included in this model are either not in existence, or if in existence have not been fully implemented. A review of regulatory arrangements for retail financial institutions in Australia is warranted in the light of these deficiencies.

The purpose of this paper is to report on research that identifies the relationships that senior managers believe exist between capabilities and business success. In doing so, it addresses the need for more empirical research about the role of strategic and dynamic capabilities in organisational performance. It also highlights the critical strategic and dynamic capabilities that are most valuable for practising managers.

A multi-method study was conducted. Eight types of strategic capability and ten types of dynamic capability commonly found in organisations were identified through consecutive literature review, web site content analysis and interviews with senior executives. A questionnaire survey was then used to ask senior officers of publicly listed Australian firms about the importance of each capability and financial and non-financial performance indicators. The relationship between capabilities and performance was measured by regression modelling.

Good leadership with an innovative vision and selection and retention of good staff and developing their skills and capabilities were the stand out strategic capabilities. Strategic thinking about the big picture and the long-term and flexible leaders who can lead and manage adaptation to change were considered to be the most important dynamic capabilities. Strategic capabilities were more often associated with indicators of financial success, and dynamic capabilities were more often associated with non-financial measures of organisational performance.

This is the first study to make a distinction between strategic and dynamic capabilities in examining the relationship between capabilities and business success. The results demonstrate that the distinction has both theoretical and practical value.

Reports research conducted in 1991 among Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of advertising agencies, banks, airlines and large tourist companies in Melbourne in order to canvass their opinions on good management practices. The principles of a generative research strategy were adhered to and a free response questionnaire was administered to the target population. The aim of the study was to capture the views of CEOs directly involved. CEOs considered leadership, human resource management, financial acumen, experience, creative and visionary thinking and good communication, among others, to be fundamental factors of proficient management in a service organization. Despite using a generative strategy, these espoused practices are

This article summarises the findings of a study which canvassed clients’ views of strategic capabilities which lead to management consulting success. The survey was undertaken among 171 executives in the top 500 companies in Australia. The major elements that were investigated were the reasons for hiring the consultants and the strategic capabilities related to successful performance indicators as identified by clients. The findings show that the main reasons consultants are hired are insufficient in‐house expertise, independent/objective advice, gaining additional help/resources, insufficient manpower in‐house and quick resolution of issues. The top five strategic capabilities which clients identified as important to success, in order, were ability to listen to and comprehend the client, quality of service, client‐consultant communication, integrity and honesty and technical knowledge. All the strategic capabilities were related to one or more performance indicators. The top five performance indicators were achieving objectives agreed upon, customer/client satisfaction, timeliness of service delivery, recommendations actually implemented and achieving measurable results. Therefore the contemporary management consultant needs to be multi‐skilled and technically competent and, should have excellent people skills. Consultants also need to note that their view on what constitutes successful performance is not quite the same as that of their clients.

The aim of this study was to determine whether customer satisfaction can be used as a reliable measure of the performance of the management of a research and development (R&D) department. A study of a research and development department of an Australian manufacturing company was undertaken in 1995. R&D performance and external customer satisfaction were measured using seven dimensions of technical performance and seven dimensions of service quality. Expectations of external customer satisfaction were measured from the internal (staff of R&D department) and external customers’ (production, sales and administration) points of view. This was to highlight the gap between the staffs’ perceptions and the external customers’ perceptions of service provided. The study provides research and development managers with an additional tool for measuring their management performance.

Reports the findings of a study which aimed to identify the strategic capabilities which lead to management consulting success. The study also aimed to find out what management consultants consider to be performance indicators of consulting success and whether these were related to the strategic capabilities. The research design for this study was a modified generative strategy. Several data collection methods, namely, interviews, content analysis and questionnaire surveys, were used to generate both quantitative and qualitative data. Twenty‐one strategic capabilities were identified. These were subsumed under the broad categories of (1) functions and (2) skills and values. The three most critical functions identified, in descending order, were quality of service, setting objectives and solving problems. The three most crucial skills/values were integrity and honesty, client‐consultant communication and credibility. Ten performance indicators were identified. Of these, the three most critical, as identified by the respondents, were, customer satisfaction, profitability and repeat business.