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In this research we explore the issue of “competence management,” as usually defined in the corporate vocabulary, mostly in the human resource (HR) function, and more particularly of “strategic competence management” (long-run management of competences which are critical to achieve strategic goals). We try to show that competence management is a dynamic organizational competence. We analyze it in the case of a large European telecommunications company, France Télécom, in the years 2001–2003. The telecommunications sector is characterized by quick changes in technology, markets, and industrial structures, and therefore a high level of uncertainty. It is also a high-tech activity, based upon continuously evolving personal skills which require long education and training times. There is an apparent contradiction between uncertainty, which makes planning difficult, and the necessity to plan new competence development with long response times. This contradiction cannot be solved if competences are defined in a static way, as structural attributes of actual or potential employees or groups of employees. The strategic competence management issue must be considered rather in the frame of a dynamic, process-based view, which involves an on-going collective and reflexive activity of actors themselves to define and manage their competences. We tested process-based competence management in the case of two telecommunication domains: high bit-rate ADSL telecommunications and Internet services to small and medium businesses. The reflexive and collective competence management process had to be instrumented with instruments which did not aim at an accurate representation of competences as objects, but rather tried to offer a meaningful support for actors’ continuous (re)interpretation of present and future work situations in terms of critical competences. As a conclusion we extend the example of competence management instruments to the general issue of management instruments, in the context of uncertain and dynamic environments. Information-based theories of instruments view instruments as specular representations of situations, which allow optimal or satisficing problem-solving procedures. But when business environments continuously evolve and resist prediction, we must move toward an interpretive view of management instruments as meaningful signs, which help actors to make sense of the situations in which they are involved. Their relevance is not an absolute ontological truth but the practical effectiveness of their context-situated utilization and interpretation. A semiotic and pragmatist theory of activity and instruments can then be proposed.

The recent period, also called the “era of algorithms”, has brought remarkable transformations both in personal life and in the way of doing business. Developing and implementing digital technologies depend on the availability of human capital, a resource that is increasingly difficult to find. Countries are in competition for this resource, and attracting talent has become a goal often difficult to achieve. In this context, the current chapter seeks to evaluate human capital contribution to the digital competitiveness of the EU countries and to describe the moderating role of digitization in the development of human capital through migration management. Investigating the digital competitiveness of the EU countries, we demonstrated that the most important driver of the major differences between these countries is human capital. In this context, migration becomes both an opportunity and a threat, and its digital management is of tremendous importance.

The paper provides an overview of research published in the innovation and operations management (IOM) literature on 15 methods for cost management in new product development, and it provides a comparison to an earlier review of the management accounting (MA) literature (Wouters & Morales, 2014).

This structured literature search covers papers published in 23 journals in IOM in the period 1990–2014.

The search yielded a sample of 208 unique papers with 275 results (one paper could refer to multiple cost management methods). The top 3 methods are modular design, component commonality, and product platforms, with 115 results (42%) together. In the MA literature, these three methods accounted for 29%, but target costing was the most researched cost management method by far (26%). Simulation is the most frequently used research method in the IOM literature, whereas this was averagely used in the MA literature; qualitative studies were the most frequently used research method in the MA literature, whereas this was averagely used in the IOM literature. We found a lot of papers presenting practical approaches or decision models as a further development of a particular cost management method, which is a clear difference from the MA literature.

This review focused on the same cost management methods, and future research could also consider other cost management methods which are likely to be more important in the IOM literature compared to the MA literature. Future research could also investigate innovative cost management practices in more detail through longitudinal case studies.

This review of research on methods for cost management published outside the MA literature provides an overview for MA researchers. It highlights key differences between both literatures in their research of the same cost management methods.

The chapter studies the current tendencies of the Russian practice of decision-making in business systems by the example of a gas distribution company of the Russian Federation. In the modern Russian practice, the companies transform the system of decision-making to the process-oriented approach, which envisages decision-making and correction of decisions not according to functional responsibilities but according to consecutively performed procedures of conducted business processes.

The authors describe the procedure of formation of business processes in a gas distribution company by the example of the business process “Technological connection” and provide its characteristics.

As a result of studying foreign approaches to formation of the model of management and decision-making in companies, the authors develop a methodology of evaluation of economic effectiveness of implementation of a business process, based on the principles of management according to goals and KPI. This methodology allows evaluating the obtained results of a separate stage and of the business process on the whole.

By the example of the studied business process, a set of key indicators of effectiveness of a separate subprocess “Formation of technical condition” in a company is offered, and calculations of final results of effectiveness of this business process are provided. As a result of the final evaluation, practical recommendations for development of managerial decisions in a company are provided.

Purpose – The chapter aims to analyse specific management tools which can be used to facilitate public governance practices, such as the process of stakeholder involvement.Methodology/approach – By means of both a theoretical discussion and an empirical research conducted on Italian local public utilities (LPUs), the chapter attempts to understand: (a) the degree of application of quality management, sustainability mechanisms and stakeholder's involvement; (b) the correlation between the application of these tools stakeholder involvement processes.Findings – Not all the tools imported from the private sector have the same ‘attitudes’ for stakeholder involvement evidencing a gap of Italian LPUs in quality management systems in ensuring that stakeholders and their contribution to product value is considered. These results give support to the necessity to move beyond New Public Management. Therefore, governance becomes a new process for developing and implementing public policies: this requires original mechanisms of coordination among institutional actors, public authorities and stakeholders.Research limitations/implications – This study gives rise to new research path in LPUs corporate governance research. Looking for the creation of a series of suppositions and considerations as to why LPUs actively venture into the practice of good corporate governance trough stakeholder involvement. Accordingly, it is necessary to invest in the debate on the tasks of the board of directors.Originality/value of paper – This study gives a new path of research, asking board of directors to move toward a stakeholder-conscious governance model, with broader input and ongoing engagement, as an important aspect for a better corporate governance in public administrations.

The social science research community in higher education in the United Kingdom constitutes the largest group of staff covered by any of the six research councils. Over 25% of the people entered in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) had a social science base. This chapter examines the way the pattern of social science research in the UK has been affected by, mainly, the RAE, the interpretations and strategic implementations that flow from it, and the funding allocations it informs. It draws on my own previous work, and that of others across a range of social science disciplines, as well as a small survey of active researchers conducted in late 2004/early 2005 as processes were set in train for the 2008 exercise. The critique of a process based mainly on peer review provides food for thought for those in Australia, where a research quality assessment exercise is in prospect. Paradoxically, the UK may be moving, after 2008, to an approach close to the one being abandoned in Australia.

To address management issues in the development of flexible production systems in the enterprises of knowledge-intensive industries, this chapter considers four basic approaches to planning production processes. Based on these approaches, the methodology of the agent-based approach, which satisfies the fundamental requirements of today's production systems, is formulated, with much attention paid to the rules of dispatching as a key tool of operational control over the production plan and its implementation. The advantage of simulation-based approaches is that they can dynamically adjust the ongoing integration of planning, depending on the state of flexible production systems, in the use of combined approaches and methods of management of production processes.

In order to support transformational business change, IT needs to streamline the process of bringing new IT processes to life.

In today’s ever-changing business world, nobody knows what is around the corner, so improving agility is the best way to the future-proof organization.

IT Service Management is the ability to collect data, analyze it, to make reports, and to implement improvements in agile mode, sometimes make it challenging to manage all these informational organization assets effectively. To perform real-time monitoring of these activities, manage, and be able to involve the final user in the heart of the IT process, or reduce operating cost, agility is the ideal solution.

In this chapter, the authors propose a global strategic model to improve Information Technology Service Management service management processes with the additions of two drivers: agility management and security management.

Organizations that adopt new practices employ managers to make decisions about how to materialize these practices. I examine how these managers move between the meanings and resources found in extra-local and local realms. I find that managers’ practices shift over time from adapting BPR practices to inhabiting BPR as an idea. Managers’ approaches are shaped by each organization’s history of efforts to introduce extra-local ideas. Rather than adapting BPR practices, managers draw on change tools, techniques, and methods that have worked in the organization and integrate BPR work into ongoing interactions, activities, and language in the local context.

Attribution bias can be costly to firms because it hinders decision makers’ ability to infer the real cause of prior events and take corrective action to improve future performance. This study extends prior research by examining whether and how the presence of variance reporting from accounting systems affects firm profitability through a labor cost management decision that is highly susceptible to attribution bias. Our results support the prediction that the presence of variance reporting (process feedback) increases the likelihood of belief revision and corrective action related to the systematic error, and thus increases overall profitability for the firm. The findings of our study propose a solution to attribution and learning problems observed when decision makers are responsible for both cost management and bids as documented in prior literature.