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The assessment of managerial action can be viewed as an information tool for the improvement of management decision‐making processes. Such an assessment might serve to improve both the managerial actions directly assessed and other related organizational aspects. This research focuses on what we can call a “specific assessment”, as opposed to a more permanent assessment which is normally facilitated by traditional information systems. From a learning perspective, it is the generation of second‐order learning on management systems that is being considered here. In terms of information flows, we are talking about the creation of information in order to improve management action, and eventually contribute to the excellence of management. The accounting system has been the privileged source of information but how well does this tool address managerial action? How well does this tool address innovation and learning dimensions? A review of the literature shows that the answers to those questions can be disappointing. What is more, the advances brought about by the quality initiatives do not seem yet to greatly improve those aspects. During the last eight years we have been engaged in a broad action‐research program in a large pharmaceutical multinational company. From this rich experience we pick one of the main axes of transformation: a case of multiple process reengineering. An assessment of this organizational innovation allows us to study the questions stated above. We start with a presentation of the particular context of the company. We identify then descriptive and explicative contextual variables concerning success factors and limits of the managerial actions studied. Finally, we present expected results, and other parallel impacts not initially expected.

When considering the traditional conceptions of strategy and quality, the links between the two concepts appear sketchy. On the other hand, nowadays, the main streams of thought lead to a necessary and complementary relationship between total quality and strategic management. The pharmaceutical industry, because of the stakes implied by the activity itself, is particularly concerned with the links between quality and strategy: the example of the large European group Merck‐Lipha appears quite significant.

Peters and Waterman brought the concept of excellence into the conscious practice of organizations during the early 1980s. Theory has timidly followed afterwards. However, the concept existed before and it is broadly used nowadays. This article attempts to synthesize the evolution of excellence, especially in the last 20 years, during which time some legitimate counter developments have shown important limits for these “excellence stages”. Those counter developments tend to be enlightening but have often brought about confusion. Where could excellence be tomorrow and what should organizations do about it? Concludes from this analysis that: deep conceptual work is necessary; the importance of implementation is often mentioned in the literature but not addressed in detail; the idea of sustainability may need further development, especially concerning a clear separation between the socio‐ecological and the competitive advantage perspectives; the different excellence approaches have not looked deeply into the differences between large and small enterprises, public and private sectors, and the organization itself and its components.

After the prophetic messages about the contributions of information technologies (IT) on firms, we face warning signals on the unavoidable need for change management, and the perverse side effects of IT improvements when they are not integrated within a strategic and managerial framework. The analysis of practices concerning the introduction of IT in organisations shows that often, the context and the process are neglected; as for the content, it is centred on tools rather than on the needs to be satisfied. A managerial typology of barriers to change that differentiates risks of strategic or structural nature, and cultural or behavioural nature, explains the lack of quality in operations. In order better to manage the implications of IT evolution, i.e. their downstream incidences, it is necessary to have steered upstream in defining the objectives, analysing the needs, taking into account the socio‐ organisational context, and the implication of actors.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze resources and capabilities that distinguish between traditional, slow born‐global and rapid born‐global micro‐firms.

The study uses multiple case study methodology. Three case studies are presented to compare the internationalization pathways of three French micro‐firms.

The paper emphasizes the importance of leveraging between internal and external resources for rapid internationalization of micro‐firms. The rapid internationalization is driving and facilitated by managerial abilities, innovation and network. The study shows that analysis of micro‐firms in terms of resources and capabilities enhances the understanding of internationalization.

Because it is limited to three case studies, the generalization of findings to a broad sample of French micro‐firms will be needed.

The research suggests that two‐level analysis (i.e. individual level and micro‐firm level) should be considered when examining rapid internationalization. Micro‐firm top managers need to be aware of the importance of developing internal resources to facilitate incorporation of new external resources. Their experience and expertise in addition to the micro‐firm's innovation capacity or reputation can be used to expand rapidly abroad.

The distinction between traditional, slow born‐global and rapid born‐global French micro‐firms in terms of resources and capabilities makes this study original.