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The purpose of this paper is to find the driving factors for effective and efficient management of international manufacturing network (IMN) which has become increasingly important due to the intensive competition existing in the manufacturing industry. This paper presents a magnified view of different constructs of IMN and identifies the qualitative factors which are broadly classified under different constructs like political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental.

Principal component analysis is applied to club identified factors into political, economic, social, technological and legal categories. PESTLE–SWOT approach is used to shortlist the identified factors using the elimination algorithm. Using analytical hierarchy process, weightages and rank of the identified factors are evaluated. Interpretive structural modeling is applied to understand inter-relationship among factors, and to analyze the driving power and dependence of the factors.

The results obtained from the above approaches are compared to identify most significant factors and the list of IMN enablers is presented using Venn Diagram. Government stability, Economic freedom, economic stability, environmental sustainability and raw material availability are coming out to be the driving factors across all techniques. Finally, the paper provides weights of the driving indicators common across all multi-criteria decision-making techniques considered.

The proposed work provides significant information about the qualitative factors needed to be considered while designing and developing IMN. As identified by literature review and through expert opinions, not all 29 factors responsible for IMN development are crucial. Many factors are either interdependent or driven by others. The paper provides a useful analysis about the driving factors that need to be taken into account.

The study presents a comprehensive analysis of the IMN enablers. Furthermore, it provides managerial and theoretical implications to deal with the complexities encountered while establishing IMN.

Distribution and retail supply of electricity is the most important cog in the power sector value chain. Despite several reforms, most of the Discoms are facing huge financial losses and resorting to a tariff hike which may not be a viable solution. The purpose of this paper is to analyze a case study of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (Tata Power-DDL) which inoculated itself against the financial ills, and demonstrates how a utility can nurture itself and manage the key stakeholder expectation with innovation, ethics, safety, transparency and agility being its cornerstone.

The study analyses the situation for Tata Power-DDL which needs to realign its strategy to meet emerging sustainability challenges. The case covers the aspect of strategic management, strategy formulation and change management system deployment using tools such as strength, weakness, opportunities, threat (SWOT), political economical social technological legal environment (PESTLE), critical success factor and key performance indicator cascade. It touches upon the emerging need for distribution utilities to look beyond economic signals and take social and environmental impacts into the strategy planning process.

It viewed the distribution business beyond its conventional responsibility of making power available to consumers and to provide quality service. A well thought out adaption and adoption of upgraded technology can be a game changer even for a market which is highly regulated and dominated by players in their respective defined territories.

Since the sector is regulated and each utility has a pre-defined set of area of operation with no competition within its licensed area, hence, there is a limited application of applied strategy tools such as SWOT and PESTLE.

Since the sector is regulated and each utility has a pre-defined set of area of operation with no competition within its licensed area, hence, there is a limited application of applied strategy tools such as SWOT and PESTLE.

India as a market is evolving in energy space and utilities are still struggling to have a fundamental structure to meet the agenda of “power to all.” The paper provides the valuable insights into the process of environmental scanning and formulation of organizational strategy to meet the needs of existing and future energy markets.

Changes in the UK social care sector over the past 20 years have effected a fundamental shift in commissioning and delivery relationships. This “quasi-market” challenges existing theory and models around competitive advantage. This study, as outlined in two earlier articles, addressed weaknesses in the defining framework for analysis and business planning in this new environment; the purpose of this concluding paper is to propose a new perspective for those interested in entering this market.

The original research comprised a constructive research approach through a single holistic case study, using qualitative research methods including document analysis, interviews, secondary data, observations and facilitated meetings.

This final paper offers a structured framework of analysis and response: the External Drivers Model.

The model was developed for a scenario impacting upon a social housing agency, with ambitions to enter this market as a new provider; it may require further research to establish its generalisability to other organisations and other sectors.

This series of three papers adds to existing knowledge by critiquing current business models, and positing a potential development to existing contingency theory: the External Drivers Model. The study has resulted in a number of outputs including an outline of tools to assist in using the model.

Independent French wine producers are faced with excessive costs and a declining image of quality compared with their New World competitors. A confusing offer and weak brand identities also make their often poorly marketed products less attractive at the point of sale. As production continues to surge, plummeting prices have left many of these producers economically unviable. Is it possible for these small independent producers to survive in an ever more competitive global market? This paper attempts to answer this question, by studying the challenges confronting this group, as well as their advantages, both in their home and on a global market.

Literature in French and English was reviewed in highlighting key issues impinging the industry. A small survey was conducted to ascertain the drinking habits of young adults market in France. Also SWOT, PESTLE, and Porter’s Five Forces were used in presenting a more strructured approach in discussing the nature of and challenges facing this industry.

It is evident that a lot of work needs to be done for French wines to regain their global competitiveness, and even more so for small producers who do not benefit from the massive promotional budgets of their larger competitors. However, by ensuring a superior level of quality, higher production costs can be justified, while still being carefully managed to ensure that all additional costs incurred add value to the end product. This quality needs to be guaranteed by a stronger and clearer AOC system that is regularly evaluated to maintain its credibility, and reinforced by a strong individual brand image, in order to gain consumer confidence. A cultural change is also necessary, away from defence and towards a more proactive approach. The innovation for which French winemakers were once famous must be reclaimed.

It would be interesting to further study the cultural metamorphosis that has taken place amongst French winemakers over the course of the last century. The comparative bargaining power of small producers against large supermarket chains is also a topic that could be further explored. Given that it will not be possible for all producers to become a key reference and guarantee shelf space amongst their highly marketed competitors, greater research into more innovative ways of getting products to market would be extremely useful.

Foreign markets should be highly studied and understood before entry. Integrating products into local culture is often more successful than imposing the product as part of the culture of the producing country. Most importantly, however, producers should be prepared to adapt to a changing market and to invest in order to secure future capital inflows. The rise of new global players, such as China, will only intensify competition, and today’s less sophisticated consumers are more likely to be swayed by low prices and strong brands than by an overpriced and poorly positioned product from “Old Europe”.

A fairly thorough account of the current state of affairs of the wine industry in France has been presented and both the French literature and relevant web sites in French have been reviewed in highlighting and evaluating issues impinging the wine industry.

The aim of the chapter is to compare Public–Private Partnership (PPP) healthcare investments in developed countries with those in emerging economies, analysing the sustainability issues of health-led growth. Healthcare PPP best practices in developed nations represent a template that catching-up economies may follow with local adaptations. A comparison starts from the UK case and then examines the Turkish experience as an ideal bridge between advanced and developing countries. Healthcare investments are a primary social infrastructure, with a deep impact on poverty alleviation. Demand for the infrastructure necessary to provide healthcare services has increased substantially in developing and emerging economies due to rapid economic growth, industrialization and urbanization, while public supply is limited by budget constraints. PPP best practices provide a global benchmark (World bank, 2015b). Integrated supply and value chains and management of viability milestone improve healthcare PPP sustainability and bankability. Different legal frameworks and funding issues are not thoroughly investigated. Careful customization and local fine-tuning of best practices require further scrutiny. Homogenization of best practices improves comparison of different projects, fostering competition and easing cross-border investments, accompanied by knowledge transfer, sharing and consequent value co-creation. Best practices improve value for money, bankability and resilience of PPP investments, with potential benefits for healthcare services and quality of life. This chapter makes an innovative and comprehensive comparison of healthcare PPP projects worldwide, looking for a common denominator of value-enhancing rules and resilient pro-growth strategies.

The entrepreneurial marketing paradigm is open to several interpretations. One such is that we should consider, in particular, the behaviour of small firms, and in particular, small entrepreneurial firms; another interpretation is to argue for the building of a completely new, and substantive, paradigm that builds upon, for example personal contact network development and focuses upon marketing activity being compressed, non‐linear in outlook and application, and informal. In this article the author asks a fundamental question highly pertinent to the developing subject of marketing within small firms. Is conventional marketing theory and practice from the “classical school” applicable to all types of organisations no matter what their size, or do smaller firms need a different sort of marketing, more suited to their particular needs? The paper concludes that in many cases the central core hub of marketing that has become known as the classicist philosophy of strategic marketing management (see Brennan, Baines, and Garneau, 2003) is appropriate and can often be employed to the smaller enterprise with beneficial commercial effects. However there may be some reluctance on the part of small firms to accept the notion that conventional marketing is of particular use. The author hopes that this short paper will provoke a subsequent debate about the current “state of play” concerning the entrepreneurial marketing paradigm.

A wider participation from outside the top management team can support the strategy creation and execution of firms through improving access to knowledge, increasing innovativeness and creating legitimacy for the strategy. However, creating a climate of trust where ideas are freely expressed and challenged is easier said than done. This paper thus focuses on trust in strategizing, in particular in strategy workshops with wider participation.

The analysis is based on qualitative data from 10 strategy-making processes consisting of a total of 28 strategy workshops. Data were collected through interviews and joint reflections with the leaders, external facilitators and consultants, as well as through action research.

This study identifies three factors that influence trust in strategy workshops with wider participation, namely opening up the conversation, clarity of the participative process and delivering with honest intent. These factors could play crucial roles in creating the trust needed for wider participation in strategy workshops.

This paper provides strategy actors (e.g. leaders, consultants) with actionable knowledge about what strategy workshops with a wider circle of participants require to create trust.

This study relates to the ongoing and increased interest in openness for strategy-as-practice in general and open strategy in particular. Moreover, it contributes to the discussion that the boundaries between strategizing and change tend to become blurry. Therefore, the present paper contributes to the theory and practice of strategy creation, strategy execution and change by investigating wider participation in strategy workshops.

Globally and particularly in Ireland, reduced expenditure on healthcare along with increasing pressure to increase patient throughput and improved performance against standards, is forcing healthcare providers to adopt tools from the business sector and apply them in the healthcare sector to bring about improved performance. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This study is interpretivist in nature, specifically focussing on exploring how the balanced scorecard can support improved service delivery within a hospital department. The research will conduct an exploratory case study of a single hospital site within the Irish republic. This research is based on qualitative interviews with corroboration from document review and direct observation. This study provides a snap-shot of the Cath Lab service at a moment in time.

The development of a strategy map and proposed balanced scorecard for an Irish hospital unit.

The development of a balanced scorecard for a healthcare organisation.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of analysts in providing information to support business model innovation.

This paper is based on initial research by two of the co-authors on business models (Stott et al., 2016), to which is added the experience of members of the team in working in strategic analyst firms or in working closely with clients of business analyst firms and further secondary data.

The findings of this paper show that analysts could do more to help their clients capture the opportunities and meet the threats of business model innovation, but this may require business leaders and analyst firms to think differently about their mutual relationship, particularly the briefs that clients provide analysts and how analysts aggregate information to provide a clearer picture of business model choices and their likely consequences.

This paper needs confirmation of views by primary empirical research.

This study identifies the need for firms to brief their analysts to provide much enhanced information concerning business model opportunities and threats, and for teachers and researchers in marketing to become more closely acquainted with the business model literature and analyst reports and processes.

As the idea of business model change becomes a more acceptable part of the strategic armoury of firms, the understanding of the information requirements to support such change to become more widely understood, and business model change to be consequently more common can be expected. This paper contributes to the understanding of the information requirements involved in such changes.

This study highlights the gap in the discussion of information provision to business leaders concerning business model innovation requirements and threats.