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1 – 10 of over 82000Joakim Winborg and Gustav Hägg
In the literature there is limited knowledge about how to prepare students for a corporate entrepreneurial career. The purpose is therefore to develop a framework for…
Abstract
Purpose
In the literature there is limited knowledge about how to prepare students for a corporate entrepreneurial career. The purpose is therefore to develop a framework for understanding the role corporate development projects play in corporate entrepreneurship education, and to examine the potential role of the design of the project. The study defines a corporate development project as a project being part of an academic education to provide students with working experiences situated in an experiential learning process.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on work-integrated learning literature, the authors first develop a conceptual framework. Thereafter, they undertake a multiple case study using data from a Master's Program in Corporate Entrepreneurship. Starting from the conceptual framework, the authors employ deductive thematic analysis in order to analyze data and finally to develop an elaborated framework.
Findings
In the framework, the authors identify and label five categories of learning outcomes from the corporate development project. The framework helps understand the interplay between the different learning outcomes in students' learning process and shows how the design of the project shapes the learning process.
Practical implications
The framework can assist educators in designing and integrating the corporate development project as a key module within a corporate entrepreneurship academic program.
Originality/value
Based on the framework, the study develops the knowledge about the design of corporate entrepreneurship education. Future research should test the framework using data from other academic programs in corporate entrepreneurship.
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Chris Akroyd, Sharlene Sheetal Narayan Biswas and Sharon Chuang
This paper examines how the management control practices of organization members enable the alignment of product development projects with potentially conflicting corporate…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines how the management control practices of organization members enable the alignment of product development projects with potentially conflicting corporate strategies during the product development process.
Methodology/approach
Using an ethnomethodology informed research approach, we carry out a case study of an innovative New Zealand food company. Case study data included an internal company document, interviews with organization members, and an external market analysis document.
Findings
Our case study company had both sales growth and profit growth corporate strategies which have been argued to cause tensions. We found that four management control practices enabled the alignment of product development projects to these strategies. The first management control practice was having the NPD and marketing functions responsible for different corporate strategies. Other management control practices included the involvement of organization members from across multiple functions, the activities they carried out, and the measures used to evaluate project performance during the product development process.
Research limitations/implications
These findings add new insights to the management accounting literature by showing how a combination of management control practices can be used by organization members to align projects with potentially conflicting corporate strategies during the product development process.
Practical implications
While the alignment of product development projects to corporate strategy is not easy this study shows how it can be enabled through a number of management control practices.
Originality/value
We contribute to the management accounting research in this area by extending our understanding of the management control practices used during the product development process.
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Senem Güney and James R. Taylor
The purpose of this paper is to explore the problem of reconfiguring epistemic boundaries and the authority relationships that these boundaries represent in corporate R&D. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the problem of reconfiguring epistemic boundaries and the authority relationships that these boundaries represent in corporate R&D. The authors focus the analysis on the mediation of this reconfiguration by project management tools, specifically the development plan and its subsidiary roadmaps and timelines.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyze discourse data from an ethnographic study to show in situ the communication about and through project management tools in collaborative project development. The concepts of organizational map and mapping from the perspective of the communicative constitution of organization (CCO) frame the close-up analysis of this communication.
Findings
The analysis reveals how the plan and its subsidiary texts participate in the negotiation and legitimation of epistemic ownership and authority for a collaborative strategy to be implemented. The authors illustrate the material agency of these texts in the objectification and prioritization of strategic choices in this implementation.
Research limitations/implications
To conclude, the authors discuss the significance of exploring the mapping function of supposedly mundane representational tools used in project management.
Originality/value
The originality of this study comes from applying the organizational map concept to demonstrate the politically charged materiality of project management tools in the discursive establishment of authority and accomplishment of corporate strategy.
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Hans Mikkelsen and Jens O. Riis
At any point in time, most companies have a myriad of internal development initiatives in progress, dealing with a broad spectrum of different activities with respect to time…
Abstract
At any point in time, most companies have a myriad of internal development initiatives in progress, dealing with a broad spectrum of different activities with respect to time horizon, functional areas involved, and actors with different roles and interests.
This chapter sets forth to analyse how to manage this myriad of projects. Two ways of bringing several projects into a meaningful context will be presented. In the first way, a plurality of simultaneous development initiatives is organized in portfolios based on their mutual interdependencies. Four approaches to prioritizing projects in a portfolio will be discussed.
In the second way, a development program is formulated in which a strategic effort should be implemented by means of a number of different projects.
The last section will focus on company development under unpredictable and complex conditions, and we will present a framework for Agile company development.
Jaakko Aspara, Henrikki Tikkanen, Erik Pöntiskoski and Paavo Järvensivu
Long‐run corporate success requires engagement in two types of innovative activities: exploitation and exploration. However, earlier research has focused on exploration and…
Abstract
Purpose
Long‐run corporate success requires engagement in two types of innovative activities: exploitation and exploration. However, earlier research has focused on exploration and exploitation concerning a firm's technologies. The purpose of the present article is to explicitly examine exploration and exploitation related to customers and markets.
Design/methodology/approach
The article is conceptual in nature, based on marketing, strategic management, and organization literatures.
Findings
The article explains the logic of exploration‐exploitation with respect to two market‐related resource classes – the firm's knowledge of markets and customers (market/customer intelligence) and market actors' knowledge of and bonds to the firm (brands/bonds) – as viewed in combination with the resource class of technologies, processes, and products (technologies/processes). The distinction of these three resource classes enables a three‐dimensional conceptualization of the ideal types of a firm's business development projects, which are seen as combinations of exploration and exploitation of resources across the three classes. The article also introduces the notions of multidimensionality of exploration‐exploitation within the resource classes and relativity of resource newness.
Originality/value
The article explicates how firms can orient their exploration and exploitation strategies not only on the technology dimension but also on the dimensions of market/customer intelligence and brands/bonds.
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Given the resources being spent on corporate identity development,it is disappointing that the mainstream marketing texts and journalsafford it little space. Development of an…
Abstract
Given the resources being spent on corporate identity development, it is disappointing that the mainstream marketing texts and journals afford it little space. Development of an understanding of corporate identity and image is sought. Corporate identity is projected by organisations and services to shape the image held of the organisation by its publics. In the absence of tangibility, as is the case in service marketing, corporate image has a powerful role. For these reasons, financial services marketers need to treat corporate identity as a strategic marketing issue. How this may be done is theorised and a case study of Allied Irish Bank plc is used as an illustration of corporate identity development in practice. Given the company‐specific and industrywide changes that have occurred in financial services, the corporate identity issues raised will apply to many businesses within that industry.
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Business ethics, corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate strategy and public administration.
Abstract
Subject area
Business ethics, corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate strategy and public administration.
Study level/applicability
Undergraduate (final year) and Master level course (e.g. MBA, EMBA, Master in management and Master in public administration).
Case overview
This case accounts the experience of a Malaysian Governmental Development Agency cum City Council, Bintulu Development Authority (BDA), in organizing and strategizing its CSR initiatives so as to discharge its self-interests and societal expectations. BDA was established following the discovery of huge reserves of natural gas and oil offshore in Bintulu, an industrial town in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia. It serves as the governmental instrument to undertake and coordinate development initiatives in Bintulu. There have been several driving forces prompted BDA to be more vigilant in discharging its social obligations along with its statutory obligations as a development agency and municipal services provider. They are, namely, the BDA Ordinance 1978 that governs its legitimate existence, the emergence of social media era that alters the access of people to information, the growing ecological and social concerns, and the unpredictable geopolitical environment that makes the logic of long-term strategic planning questionable. To ensure discharging its statutory and social obligations, BDA articulated vision and mission statements with strong social orientation. Two master development plans, embedded with social and environmental considerations, have guided BDA in translating its strategic mission into real structured development and action plans from 1978 to present. Through institutionalization of CSR elements as part of the organization's core business routines, annual budget allocation, performance control and reward mechanisms, CSR becomes an organizational routine of value to BDA.
Expected learning outcomes
This case has three learning objectives: it assists students to understand the contextual background of the case so as to establish the strategic position of CSR initiatives within the organization; it assists students to assess the embeddedness of CSR in an organization's core business routines and its potential sources of value creation; and it encourages students to examine the possible critical factors that enable or impede the initiation and implementation of regular CSR programs in an organization.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
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This chapter will examine the response of a rural community in Ireland to the imposition of a gas pipeline on their farms, in the western coastal county of Mayo. This analysis…
Abstract
This chapter will examine the response of a rural community in Ireland to the imposition of a gas pipeline on their farms, in the western coastal county of Mayo. This analysis will include a discussion of the concept of ‘rural community sentiment’ (Leonard, 2006, 2008a, 2008b) as a factor in the mobilisation of community campaigns against infrastructural projects which are perceived as a threat to existing ways of life in regional areas. The chapter will also explore key theoretical concepts for this community-based responses to environmental degradation in rural areas, including critical criminology and rural criminology, resource curse theory and ask whether the campaign was ecopopulist, with issues of social and environmental justice at its core. This will be achieved through a case study approach. In so doing, the chapter will highlight the basis for rural community’s campaigns of opposition to development projects imposed by corporate or state bodies in the Irish case.
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This paper aims to revisit the viable system model (VSM) discussing it from both the theoretical and the empirical standpoints, and ascertaining its relevance for organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to revisit the viable system model (VSM) discussing it from both the theoretical and the empirical standpoints, and ascertaining its relevance for organizational governance.
Design/methodology/approach
A combination of theoretical and empirical components is used: introduction to theory and critique on the one hand; case studies and a large sample empirical study on the other.
Findings
The VSM has proved to be a powerful means of governance for organizations in turbulent times. It conveys a durable, reliable knowledge. This has been corroborated in both case studies and a large-scale empirical study.
Practical implications
Application of the model under study can activate a huge potential for the improvement of organizations.
Originality/value
This contribution tests the VSM in an unseen fashion – qualitatively and quantitatively. The results suggest that a high confidence in the model is justified. It conveys to managers and leaders an unconventional, superior approach to both diagnosis and design of their organizations.
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Helen Arkorful, Sam Kris Hilton and Fred Awaah
The abandonment of governmental development projects either after completion or midway completion at the taxpayer’s expense in Ghana could be attributed to lack of effective…
Abstract
Purpose
The abandonment of governmental development projects either after completion or midway completion at the taxpayer’s expense in Ghana could be attributed to lack of effective community engagement (CE). Thus, this study aims to assess CE in development projects by comparing government-sponsored projects to private-sponsored projects.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was adopted where a multiple case study design was used as a research strategy. Data was collected from selected districts in the Central Region of Ghana by using a semi-structured interview guide and analyzed using the thematic and comparative analysis techniques.
Findings
The results reveal that CE in government-funded projects was low, while CE in projects funded by private organizations was high. Three levels of engagement (consultation, participation in decision-making and consent) were also identified. Furthermore, the roles of public participation, including knowledge sharing, collective sense of ownership, among others, were ascertained. Finally, resources constraints, competing interests, lack of information flow, public attitudes toward change and central government/political interference are challenges of CE in development projects.
Originality/value
This study has provided an empirical basis for government and other development agents to draft a policy on CE to serve as a guide, spell out the role of CE, mitigate the challenges of CE and ensure strict compliance to the three levels of engagement.
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