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1 – 10 of 133
Article
Publication date: 21 April 2023

Robert Newbery, Stephen Roderick, Johannes Sauer, Matthew Gorton and Keith Robbins

Research on entrepreneurial orientation (EO) seeks to understand the EO–performance relationship. However, at a strategic level, performance relates to a competitive advantage and…

Abstract

Purpose

Research on entrepreneurial orientation (EO) seeks to understand the EO–performance relationship. However, at a strategic level, performance relates to a competitive advantage and comprises both value-added and efficiency measures. Following arguments that performance is context and strategy dependent, the paper argues that EO research needs to clarify and specify the type of performance relationship measured.

Design/methodology/approach

To explore the EO–performance relationship, the research considers the agricultural sector where policy has traditionally encouraged the maximisation of efficiency in production and has only recently promoted entrepreneurship, providing fertile ground to explore different approaches to measuring performance. A survey collected detailed accounting records and context specific EO for 282 commercial farms. The authors estimate two models (Heckman selection regression and stochastic production frontier) that examine the relationships between EO and value-added/efficiency performance outcomes.

Findings

The analysis confirms the EO–value-added performance relationship, with significant positive relationships for the EO components proactiveness and innovativeness and a negative relationship for risk. No EO–efficiency performance relationship was found, despite a robust analysis of technical efficiency using detailed accounting data.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to EO theory by problematizing performance and highlighting the importance of the type of performance measured. This paper contributes empirically with findings relating to a mature industry contributes to entrepreneurship methodology by outlining how EO–performance relationships can be measured in terms of productivity and technical efficiency.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 29 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Case study
Publication date: 24 November 2022

Swapnil Garg

The learning outcomes of this study are as follows: ■ understand organizational turnaround and its sustainability;■ applying the understanding of turnarounds to distinguish…

Abstract

Learning outcomes

The learning outcomes of this study are as follows: ■ understand organizational turnaround and its sustainability;■ applying the understanding of turnarounds to distinguish between operational and strategic levers of a turnaround strategy; ■ analyze and evaluate past and present turnarounds from a sustainability perspective; and ■ formulate managerial actions to make turnaround sustainable.

Case overview/synopsis

Braithwaite Company Ltd. (Braithwaite) was a specialized engineering firm headquartered in Kolkatta, India. It primarily undertook structural steel fabrication to make railway wagons and bridge structures. It was incorporated as a private enterprise almost a century back. However, since its nationalization five decades ago, it has been operating as a public sector undertaking (PSU) under the aegis of Indian Railways, a department of the Government of India. The case documents the past three decades of the firm’s journey, during which it experienced three episodic turnarounds. Details of the first two turnarounds are presented as the background, in light of which sustainability of the third turnaround is to be examined. The case explores the sustainability of organizational turnarounds from the perspective of the current Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), the case protagonist. Braithwaite underwent financial and operational distress in 1992, 2005 and 2015 and negotiated them under different leaders. These leaders from diverse backgrounds used distinct tactics and strategies to bring about organizational turnarounds. The case provides data and information to assess the sustainability of the third turnaround. Hence, it allows a class to explore the paradoxical observation that while “turnaround” inherently implies sustenance of good performance over time, turnaround sustainability is not spontaneous in the real world. The case deals with the performance issues of PSUs, which make significant contributions to the national economy in the case of emerging economies (for example, 5%–8% of the Indian National gross domestic product is contributed by PSUs; https://swarajyamag.com/ideas/psus-are-crucial-for-indias-growth-but-only-if-they-play-a-strategic-role). Under government ownership and management, the poor performance of PSUs is often attributed to bad decision-making by its top management. In contrast, Braithwaite’s top management’s sound contextual decision-making resulted in a jump in its performance during each turnaround phase, but unsound fundamentals resulted in the unsustainability of the turnarounds. Hence, the case enables an exploration of the unique challenges faced by PSU that emanate from legacy roles, monopolistic markets and dual purpose – the concurrent pursuit of profits and social welfare. Consequently, the case allows an examination of the reasons for the distress of PSUs and the viability of turnaround strategies in the context of the broader Business–Government–Society landscape in emerging economies.

Complexity academic level

The case is written for use in the MBA elective course covering “Strategic Revival and Turnaround Strategies.” It can be used at the beginning of the course to identify reasons for organizational failure/distress or in the later part of the course to discuss the implementation of operational and strategic turnaround strategies.

Supplementary materials

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

Subject code

CSS 10: Public Sector Management.

Details

Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, vol. 12 no. 4
Type: Case Study
ISSN:

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1996

Keith Richardson

Public and private sector managers make investment decisions under uncertainty. Economic efficiency requires that managers who wish to maximize expected utility use NPV. A field…

220

Abstract

Public and private sector managers make investment decisions under uncertainty. Economic efficiency requires that managers who wish to maximize expected utility use NPV. A field test reports that a lower proportion of public managers (20%) utilize NPV than private managers (46%). This difference is significant at p = .01 in both logistic regression and chi-square tests for three competing, but not mutually exclusive, reasons. First, taxpayers are a primary source of capital. Taxation decisions are primarily political events and inefficiency is less likely to be disciplined by capital withdrawal. Second, it is more difficult to estimate expected benefits and costs. Third, investment decisions are often the result of political, not economic, processes. The objective may not be maximization of NPV.

Details

Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1096-3367

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 16 September 2019

James Fowler

Abstract

Details

London Transport: A Hybrid in History 1905–1948
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78973-953-4

Book part
Publication date: 22 May 2017

Lisa L. Knoche and Amanda L. Witte

Strong home-school partnerships consistently and substantially benefit children’s academic and social development. Home-school partnerships are considerably affected by the…

Abstract

Strong home-school partnerships consistently and substantially benefit children’s academic and social development. Home-school partnerships are considerably affected by the settings in which they take place (e.g., rural, urban, suburban), the characteristics of the partners (e.g., parents and teachers), and their relationships with one another (parent-teacher partnerships). In rural communities, supportive home-school partnerships promote young children’s success but have proven difficult to implement. African American families with young children residing in rural communities experience unique social and institutional challenges and benefits that are particularly salient for fostering home-school partnerships. Thus, the landscape of rural communities is an important and essential consideration for understanding the intersection between race and home-school partnerships. This chapter focuses on the promise of positive home-school partnerships for rural African American children, their families, and their schools. Home-school partnership as an essential component of children’s academic and social development is defined, and sample home-school partnership intervention programs are described. Finally, existing policy investments related to the facilitation of home-school partnerships are explored and policy recommendations that promote such partnerships are discussed.

Details

African American Children in Early Childhood Education
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-258-9

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 October 2018

Ferdy Novianto, Sumartono, Irwan Noor and Lely Indah Mindarti

This paper aims to examine the effect of communication, resources, disposition and bureaucratic structure to the success of energy subsidy policy, to examine the effect of…

3185

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the effect of communication, resources, disposition and bureaucratic structure to the success of energy subsidy policy, to examine the effect of moderation of variable scenario of renewable energy policy on the influence of communication, resources, disposition and bureaucracy structure on the success of energy subsidy policy.

Design/methodology/approach

This study was purposively (based on specific objectives) conducted in Jakarta, which is associated with the implementation and subsidy policy scenario, the study focused on the center of government, namely, the capital city, Jakarta. Collection of data in this research survey was conducted in June-August 2017. The sampling technique was proportional stratified random sampling that took up most of the 770 members of Masyarakat Peduli Energi dan Lingkungan and Masyarakat Energi Terbarukan Indonesia using a representative sample of results that have the ability to be generalized. Based on the formula Slovin (Solimun and Fernandes, 2017), a sample of 145 respondents was obtained. The research approach used was a quantitative with the analysis tool called the generalized structure component analysis.

Findings

This paper exhibited that all relationships between variables have a p-value of 0.05 except the third moderation and fourth moderation relationship. So it can be said that all relationships between variables are significant except the relationship between the variables of moderation to the relationship between the disposition variable (X3) on the successful implementation of subsidy policy (Y) and the relationship between the moderation variable to the relationship between bureaucracy structure variable (X4) to the successful implementation of subsidy policy.

Originality/value

The originality of the research refers to the following: The Policy Theory described by Edwards III (1980), and reinforced by the findings of Ratminto and Winarsih (2005), and Bloom et al. (2009), that communication, resources, dispositions and bureaucratic structures affect the success of the energy subsidy policy. This becomes the formulation of a hypothesized research problem whether communication, resources, disposition and bureaucratic structure affect the success of the energy subsidy policy. In fact, the conditions in Indonesia are quite different from the Western world, and the system in Indonesia has embraced subsidies. Therefore, this study also examines the moderating effects of renewable energy policy scenarios in the relationship between communication, resources, dispositions and bureaucratic structures on the success of the subsidy policy energy. Given that there is no strong theory that examines the effects of moderation of these four factors on the success of the energy subsidy policy. Therefore, as the development of Edward III Theory, this study examines the proposition of whether renewable energy policy scenarios reinforce or weaken (moderation effects) on the effects of communication, resources, dispositions and bureaucratic structures on the success of energy subsidy policies.

Details

foresight, vol. 20 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-6689

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1984

GEORGE JEFFERSON

In 1964 two events taxed the energies and imaginations of lecturers in schools of librarianship — the introduction by the Library Association of a new syllabus and the…

Abstract

In 1964 two events taxed the energies and imaginations of lecturers in schools of librarianship — the introduction by the Library Association of a new syllabus and the inauguration of the Council for National Academic Awards. One was the culmination of an examination system nurtured by an organisation which had shaped for so long their professional context as practitioners and as teachers. The other heralded a system, as promulgated by Robbins, which would provide the opportunity and stimulus for colleges “to pioneer and experiment on distinctive lines in accordance with their own traditions”. The transition from the custom and practice of one to the innovative possibilities of the other was the greatest single challenge confronting lecturers in non‐university schools of librarianship. It was a challenge made more formidable by the general lack of support — indeed hostility — of the profession at large, furthering the divide between schools and practitioners, and by the characteristic ambivalence of the Library Association. The status quo of custom and practice seemed sufficient to many.

Details

Library Review, vol. 33 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0024-2535

Article
Publication date: 9 October 2020

Tamson Pietsch

The purpose of this paper is to create comparable time series data on university income in Australia and the UK that might be used as a resource for those seeking to understand…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to create comparable time series data on university income in Australia and the UK that might be used as a resource for those seeking to understand the changing funding profile of universities in the two countries and for those seeking to investigate how such data were produced and utilised.

Design/methodology/approach

A statistical analysis of university income from all sources in the UK and Australia.

Findings

The article produces a new time series for Australia and a comparable time series for the UK. It suggests some of the ways these data related to broader patterns of economic change, sketches the possibility of strategic influence, and outlines some of their limitations.

Originality/value

This is the first study to systematically create a time series on Australian university income across the twentieth century and present it alongside a comparable dataset for the UK.

Details

History of Education Review, vol. 49 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0819-8691

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 April 2013

Richard Schoenberg, Nardine Collier and Cliff Bowman

Against a backdrop of continued weak economic conditions and with many firms experiencing declining financial performance, this paper presents a synthesis of the business…

5688

Abstract

Purpose

Against a backdrop of continued weak economic conditions and with many firms experiencing declining financial performance, this paper presents a synthesis of the business turnaround literature. It aims to identify which turnaround and recovery strategies have been effective historically, based on the evidence provided by previous empirical research.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors review literature that includes 22 empirical studies, which investigated business turnarounds in previous recessionary environments. This literature was reviewed in its entirety, rather than as individual contributions, to synthesise the lessons available for businesses operating in today's challenging economic environment.

Findings

The literature review revealed convergence in the findings of the prior studies. In total, six effective turnaround strategies were consistently identified and four of these relate to the content of the turnaround, namely: cost efficiencies, asset retrenchment, a focus on the firm's core activities and building for the future and two relate to accompanying change processes required for implementation: reinvigoration of firm leadership and culture change.

Research limitations/implications

The authors highlight areas where knowledge on business turnarounds remains limited and suggest potentially fruitful directions for future research.

Practical implications

The authors discuss the elements involved in each of the six effective turnaround strategies identified. The authors also provide a contemporary example to illustrate the application of these strategies in the current economic environment.

Originality/value

The paper offers practitioners an evidence‐based view on effective business turnaround and recovery strategies, in addition to providing researchers with an accessible review of the existing literature.

Details

European Business Review, vol. 25 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0955-534X

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Teacher Preparation in Australia: History, Policy and Future Directions
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78743-772-2

1 – 10 of 133