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1 – 10 of over 8000Patricia Everaert, Stijn Loosveld, Tom Van Acker, Marijke Schollier and Gerrit Sarens
Despite appearing in the literature over 10 years ago as a potentially exciting cost management technique, there is still limited agreement about the nature of target…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite appearing in the literature over 10 years ago as a potentially exciting cost management technique, there is still limited agreement about the nature of target costing. The purpose of this study is to explore the characteristics of target costing, and to test whether these characteristics were adopted in three European companies that used target costing.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws on case study data, collected at three manufacturing companies (consumer electronics, machinery, and transportation equipment).
Findings
The paper identifies eight characteristics of target costing, based on the early Japanese case descriptions. These characteristics are related to the way a target is set and how progress towards that target is measured. The findings of the case studies confirm these characteristics. However, some differences were found regarding the interpretation of the strict rule that “the target cost cannot be exceeded at product launch”.
Research limitations/implications
The results indicate that future research on the adoption of target costing cannot be disconnected from its characteristics. Further studies might investigate whether degree of openness to suppliers, leadership position, time pressure and position in the supply chain can explain the noted differences in characteristics among companies.
Practical implications
The characteristics identified in this paper provide an aid to researchers and managers considering target costing. Detailed case descriptions provide best practices examples for other companies.
Originality/value
This study is the first empirical paper concerned with describing the typical characteristics of target costing. By exploring the characteristics, we hope to inspire others to further explore this interesting phenomenon.
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In this chapter, I develop a theoretical framework to address the financial–social performance debate in strategy research, drawing on literatures on institutional logics…
Abstract
Purpose
In this chapter, I develop a theoretical framework to address the financial–social performance debate in strategy research, drawing on literatures on institutional logics and organizational forms.
Methodology/design
I test the theoretical framework using an exploratory empirical approach based on ideal types with global microfinance data. A joint consideration of financial and social performances of microfinance organizations (MFOs) helps classify them into four ideal types – self-sustainable, mission-drifting, failing, and subsidized. I examine how an MFO’s organizational form and the configurations of institutional logics of the nation within which it is embedded jointly explain which ideal type the MFO falls into.
Findings
Based on a study of 1455 MFOs in 98 countries between 1995 and 2007, I show that the interactions between national institutional logics and organizational forms add significant predicting power in estimating MFOs’ ideal types. Explaining the intricate relationships between the financial and social performance of MFOs thus requires a simultaneous consideration of both the configuration of national logics and organizational forms.
Originality/value
The theoretical framework introduced in this chapter builds on recent developments in the institutional logics perspective and research on organizational forms, extending our understanding of the financial–social performance relationship among organizations. It also advances the social entrepreneurship literature by focusing our attention on various institutions at both national and organizational levels that may facilitate or inhibit social venture efficacy.
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Gitte Tjornehoj and Lars Mathiassen
While the literature on software process improvement (SPI) offers a number of studies of small software firms, little is known about how such initiatives evolve over time…
Abstract
Purpose
While the literature on software process improvement (SPI) offers a number of studies of small software firms, little is known about how such initiatives evolve over time. On this backdrop, this paper aims to investigate how adoption of SPI technology was shaped over a ten year period (1996‐2005) in a small Danish software firm.
Design/methodology/approach
The investigation is based on a longitudinal, interpretative case study of improvement efforts over a ten‐year period. To help structure the investigation, we focus on encounters that impacted engineering, management, and improvement practices within the firm. The study contributes to the SPI‐literature and the literature on organizational adoption of technology.
Findings
The paper finds the improvement effort fluctuating and shaped between management's attempt to control SPI technology adoption and events that caused the process to drift in unpredictable directions.
Practical implications
The experiences suggest that managers of small software firms remain flexible and constantly negotiate technology adoption practices between control and drift, creating momentum and direction according to firm goals through attempts to control, while at the same time exploring backtalk, options, and innovations from drifting forces inside and outside the firm.
Originality/value
Based on the research, the paper recommends substituting the “from control to drift” perspective on organizational adoption of complex technologies like SPI with a “negotiating control and drift” perspective.
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Zhi Chen, Daobo Wang, Ziyang Zhen, Biao Wang and Jian Fu
This paper aims to present a control strategy that eliminates the longitudinal and lateral drifting movements of the coaxial ducted fan unmanned helicopter (UH) during…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a control strategy that eliminates the longitudinal and lateral drifting movements of the coaxial ducted fan unmanned helicopter (UH) during autonomous take-off and landing and reduce the coupling characteristics between channels of the coaxial UH for its special model structure.
Design/methodology/approach
Unidirectional auxiliary surfaces (UAS) for terminal sliding mode controller (TSMC) are designed for the flight control system of the coaxial UH, and a hierarchical flight control strategy is proposed to improve the decoupling ability of the coaxial UH.
Findings
It is demonstrated that the proposed height control strategy can solve the longitudinal and lateral movements during autonomous take-off and landing phase. The proposed hierarchical controller can decouple vertical and heading coupling problem which exists in coaxial UH. Furthermore, the confronted UAS-TSMC method can guarantee finite-time convergence and meet the quick flight trim requirements during take-off and landing.
Research limitations/implications
The designed flight control strategy has not implemented in real flight test yet, as all the tests are conducted in the numerical simulation and simulation with a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) platform.
Social implications
The designed flight control strategy can solve the common problem of coupling characteristics between channels for coaxial UH, and it has important theoretical basis and reference value for engineering application; the control strategy can meet the demands of engineering practice.
Originality/value
In consideration of the TSMC approach, which can increase the convergence speed of the system state effectively, and the high level of response speed requirements to UH flight trim, the UAS-TSMC method is first applied to the coaxial ducted fan UH flight control. The proposed control strategy is implemented on the UH flight control system, and the HIL simulation clearly demonstrates that a much better performance could be achieved.
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The purpose of this paper is to study the phenomenon of organizational change failure through an emic approach. Grounded in empirical examples, the paper unfolds why the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the phenomenon of organizational change failure through an emic approach. Grounded in empirical examples, the paper unfolds why the phenomenon seems to be missing from the literature of the becoming view (e.g. Tsoukas and Chia, 2002).
Design/methodology/approach
Inspired by the methodological strategy of “studying through,” organizational changes are followed through space and time within the setting of a Nordic bank, from where the empirical data have been collected via longitudinal study. The empirical data are generated through a combination of methods: shadowing, interviews, in situ observations and desk research in order to capture the ever-changing phenomenon of organizational change.
Findings
The paper finds that organizational changes drift away, either by slipping into the everyday practices of the organization, or by drifting away in time when history is reinterpreted. The paper concludes that organizational change failures suffer the same fate as organizational changes more generally and drift away in space and time.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the becoming view by illustrating how methodologically an ever-changing phenomenon such as organizational change can be studied. Further, it contributes to the field of organizational change failure by unpacking the fate of organizational change failure when change is natural and slippery in nature. The paper includes reflections on what the consequences might be for praxis.
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The purpose of this paper is to deconstruct the backpacker label by reconstructing it using the historical antecedent of drifting. Following the deconstruction of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to deconstruct the backpacker label by reconstructing it using the historical antecedent of drifting. Following the deconstruction of backpacking’s near past, the author build a clearer conceptual foundation for backpacking’s future.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is framed by scenario planning, which demands a critical review of the backpacking and an appreciation of its history in order to understand its future.
Findings
Backpacking, ever evolving, remains difficult to articulate and challenges researchers to “keep up” with its complexity and heterogeneity. This paper argues that researchers must learn more about how backpacking “works” by opening a dialogue with its past, before engaging in further research. The paper finds that a poor conceptualisation of backpacking has led to a codification of backpacker criteria.
Practical implications
Backpacking remains a research topic which draws disparate researchers using criteria that produces disparate results and deviations. By understanding its past, researchers will be better placed to explore the emancipatory impulses that drive backpackers today and in the future.
Originality/value
This papers’ value lies in the retrospection process which explores backpacking’s near past so as to “make sense” of present research and present scenarios for it is the immediate future. The paper re-anchors backpacking by investigating the major historical, social and cultural events leading up to its emergence.
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This paper aims to study whether the industry indexes predict the evolution of the broad stock market in the USA.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study whether the industry indexes predict the evolution of the broad stock market in the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses industry indexes to predict the equity premium in the USA. It considers several types of predictive models: constant coefficients and constant volatility, drifting coefficients and constant volatility, constant coefficients and stochastic volatility and drifting coefficients and stochastic volatility. The models are estimated through the particle learning algorithm, which is suitable for dealing with the problem that an investor faces in practice, given that it allows the investor to revise the parameters as new information arrives. The individual forecasts are combined based on their past performance.
Findings
The results reveal that models exhibit significant predictive ability. The models with constant volatility exhibit better performance, at the statistical level, but the models with stochastic volatility generate higher gains for a mean–variance investor.
Practical implications
This study’s findings are valuable not only for finance researchers but also for private investors and mutual fund managers, who can use these forecasts to improve the performance of their portfolios.
Originality/value
To the best of the knowledge of the author, this is the first paper that uses particle learning and combination of forecasts to predict the equity premium in the USA based on industry indexes. The study shows that the models generate valuable forecasts over the long time span that is considered.
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Reinald A. Minnaar and Ed G.J. Vosselman
This paper aims to explore management control structure change related to the development of a shared service centre (SSC).
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore management control structure change related to the development of a shared service centre (SSC).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper explores a transaction costs economics perspective (TCE‐perspective) on management control structure change related to the development of an SSC. Particularly, it explores and challenges the scope of such a perspective both in terms of contents (i.e. the nature of management control related to the dimensions of transactions) and process (i.e. the way change is effectuated). It does so by theorizing as well as empirically investigating management control structure change through a case study at PCM (a Dutch newspaper publisher).
Findings
The theoretical analysis broadens existing frameworks of management control structures by particularly pointing to the possibility of including governance structures for internal transactions and exit threats (connected to a market mechanism) in the management control structure of an organization. However, the paper's empirical investigations challenge the broader framework: the possibility of an exit threat was not explicitly considered by top management (“the designer” of management control). More profoundly, empirical investigations challenge the calculative approach of the change and show that the change in management control is to a large extent a drifting process.
Research limitations/implications
An instrumental calculative approach towards SSC‐related management control change should be complemented with a relational perspective on such change, in order to further explore its drifting character.
Practical implications
A transaction costs economics approach to change in management control might provide practitioners with insights into the efficiency of specific management control structures.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the extant knowledge by both exploring and challenging a TCE‐perspective on SSC‐related changes in management control.
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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the story of 15 TEFL/TESOL English language teachers who spend their lives working globally.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the story of 15 TEFL/TESOL English language teachers who spend their lives working globally.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews from the research based on the grounded approach generated, among others, three inter-related themes, namely, the global drift, distinctive cultural dispositions and the concept of global quality.
Findings
The global drift symbolizes interviewees’ mobility pattern and captures their Hong Kong experience in four states – adaptation, drifting in global comfort, drifting in global discomfort and bitter/sweet home, each representing a different quality of mobility which contributes to the development of cultural dispositions. Findings of cultural disposition home and openness are considered in relation to studies of its kind. Four aspects of home perceptions in the data are identified. While interviewees developed complex and varied notions of home, it is argued that the geographical home remains a significant resource in the making of home. Data also suggest that most interviewees’ openness is limited – it is selective, functional and transient. Global quality, a concept emerged from the research, summarizes the distinctive cultural traits of the community of the globals. It overlaps with, but does not necessarily equate with, cosmopolitanism.
Originality/value
The conclusion relates the study, including the concepts generated from this research, to cosmopolitanism. Two theoretical constructs are employed in the analysis: form of mobility and nature of mobility.
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Ten strategies are offered as collectively making a case for an educational conception of professional development in higher education. These strategies, it is argued…
Abstract
Ten strategies are offered as collectively making a case for an educational conception of professional development in higher education. These strategies, it is argued, should help the system to resist the various forms of academic drift that are discernible, and especially those described as “research drift” and “teaching drift”, which could, unless stemmed, lead to a fragmentation of higher education. Educational development is also promoted as a set of conditions and as a series of strategies which could help higher education institutions counter the deleterious effects of “managerial shift” which is characterised as a more or less deliberate attempt to move universities away from the values of collegiality towards those of a contrasting ideology which strongly features bureaucracy and efficiency. By adopting an educational approach to professional development, higher education institutions would be helping to establish themselves more effectively as learning organisations and would be contributing to the Dearing aim of creating a learning society.
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