Search results

There are few concepts in the modern business lexicon where people feel as strongly confident in their understanding of its meaning – while there is simultaneously such profound disagreement in how people actually define the term – than the concept of “strategy.” After decades of research and publications trying to correct this situation, the problem remains. It is difficult to advance the field, teach the field, or even effectively put it into practice if you cannot define what “it” is in a clear, concise, and meaningful way. This paper offers updated definitions of key strategic management concepts.

A large academic and practitioner literature review was added to the author’s personal experience as a Fortune 500 chief strategy officer and university professor to identify five separate concepts at the heart of current colloquial uses of the term “strategy.” These concepts were then clarified and defined with implications summarized.

The generic term “strategy” is frequently used in place of multiple other very distinct concepts. This problem of concept ambiguity can be greatly reduced by understanding and emphasizing the definitions and usage of five other, already existing, business terms – “Strategic Management,” “Strategic Planning Process,” “Strategic Plan,” “Realized Strategy,” and “Business Model.”

This paper identifies the negative effects of the misuse of the term strategy and offers clear, concise remedies. Resolving the definition problems is a necessary precursor to the advancement, education, and practice of the field.

An interview with Zeynep Ton, a professor of practice in the operations management group at MIT Sloan School of Management, about er latest book, The Case for Good Jobs: How Great Companies Bring Dignity, Pay & Meaning to Everyone’s Work.

She believes that leaders can either view their employees as a cost to be minimized, invest little in them and operate with high turnover, or they can see them as drivers of profitability and growth—investing heavily in them, designing their work for high productivity and contribution and therefore operating with low turnover.-- “the good jobs strategy.”

The secret sauce of good jobs strategy is four operational choices—focus and simplify, standardize and empower, cross-train and operate with slack—that improve productivity and contribution and make that higher investment possible.

The competitive costs of low people investment are even higher than the poor operational execution costs.

By making the work better and increasing pay, companies can better attract and keep their talent and enforce high standards, which improve execution and service, uplifting revenue. Few have examined this important topic more closely than Zeynep Ton, a professor of practice in the operations management group at MIT Sloan School of Management, best-selling author of The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits.

Research on market information use in product innovation suggests that firms utilize two key strategic decision-making processes: incremental and comprehensive. Drawing from organizational information processing theory, literature implies that these processes operate differently. However, this assumption remains untested. Moreover, the degree to which a comprehensive process affects the innovation strategy outcomes depends on market information time sensitivity (MITS) and analyzability. To-date, no study has tested these assertions, either. Finally, it is suggested that meaningful market strategy is a key driver of new product success and it is important to understand how decision-making processes influence it under differing time sensitivity and analyzability.

Based on survey data from 250 Chinese firms, authors use structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses.

The results generally support authors’ contentions. More specifically, marketing strategy outcomes are influenced by marketing strategy incrementality (MSI) and marketing strategy comprehensiveness (MSC) differently. Further, time sensitivity moderates the effect of both MSI and MSC on outcomes, except for the effect of MSI on decision quality. Finally, analyzability moderates the relationships between decision making processes and certain strategy outcomes such as between MSI and meaningfulness.

Drawing from information processing theory, authors argue that incremental and comprehensive marketing strategy decision making for new product operate differentially under the same conditions. Further, the effects of these decision processes on outcomes depend on time sensitivity and analyzability of market information. Finally, auhtors argue that meaningful market strategy is a driver of success. The authors find support for most of our hypotheses and provide directions for future research.

This paper aims to investigate how school-based mentors and preservice teachers (PTs) perceive mentoring conversations when applying a set of newly developed digital tools accompanied by discursive tools in mentoring in practicum.

This study performed a thematic analysis of 12 interviews (5 with mentors and 7 with PTs) to explore how the participants perceived mentoring conversations when applying a combination of digital and discursive tools in school-based mentoring conversations. This study uses a model of adaptive expertise to discuss the findings.

This analysis revealed that the tools could alter the typical order of mentoring conversations. Mentors reported a change in their mentoring routines in which mentees took a more active role in conversations. The use of tools also allowed for richer conversations. From the perspective of PTs, the tools provided a structure for mentoring sessions, provided an alternative opening for mentoring conversations and enhanced their awareness of certain aspects of their own teaching.

This study's results suggest that the application of tools in mentoring enhances mentoring by facilitating reflection among PTs and mentors and fostering the development of adaptive expertise.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the life of the musician Brian Wilson from five different perspectives.

The authors used a mixed method of collaborative autoethnography, psychobiography and digital team ethnography to try and better understand the life and contributions of Brian Wilson.

Each of the five contributors provides different insights into the life and music of Brian Wilson.

While the focus of this paper is on a single individual, a case study, the long and distinguished life of Brian Wilson provides much material for discussion and theorising.

Each individual presenting to mental health services has a complex biography. The five different contributions articulated in this paper could perhaps be taken as similar to the range of professional opinions seen in mental health teams, with each focusing on unique but overlapping aspects of the person’s story.

This account shows the importance of taking a biological-psychological-social-spiritual and cultural perspective on mental illness.

This multi-layered analysis brings a range of perspectives to bear on the life and achievements of Brian Wilson, from developmental, musical, psychological and lived experience standpoints.

This paper aims to investigate the determinants of global interest in central bank digital currency (CBDC). It assessed whether global interest in sustainable development and cryptocurrency are determinants of global interest in CBDC.

Google Trends data were analyzed using two-stage least square regression estimation.

There is a significant positive relationship between global interest in sustainable development and global interest in CBDC. There is a significant positive relationship between global interest in cryptocurrency and global interest in the Nigeria eNaira CBDC. There is a significant negative relationship between global interest in CBDC and global interest in the eNaira CBDC. There is a significant positive relationship between global interest in CBDC and global interest in the China eCNY. There is a significant negative relationship between global interest in cryptocurrency and global interest in the Sand Dollar and DCash.

The literature has not empirically examined whether global interest in sustainable development and cryptocurrency are factors motivating global interest in CBDC. This study fills a gap in the literature by investigating whether global interest in sustainable development and cryptocurrency are factors motivating global interest in CBDC.

The study aims to explore the digital fashion trend within the Metaverse, characterized by non-fungible tokens (NFTs), across Twitter networks. Integrating theories of diffusion of innovation, two-step flow of communication and self-efficacy, the authors aimed to uncover the diffusion structure and the influencer's social roles undertaken by social entities in fostering communication and collaboration for the advancement of Metaverse fashion.

Social network analysis examined the critical graph metrics to profile, visualize, and cluster the unstructured network data. The authors used the NodeXL program to analyze two hashtag keyword networks, “#metaverse fashion” and “#metawear,” using Twitter API data. Cluster, semantic, and time series analyses were performed to visualize the contents and contexts of communication and collaboration in the diffusion of Metaverse fashion.

The results unraveled the “broadcast network” structure and the influencers' social roles of opinion leaders and market mavens within Twitter's “#metaverse fashion” diffusion. The roles of innovators and early adopters among influencers were comparable in collaborating within the competition venues, promoting awareness and participation in digital fashion diffusion during specific “fad” periods, particularly when digital fashion NFTs and cryptocurrencies became intertwined with the competition in the Metaverse.

The study contributed to theory building by integrating three theories, emphasizing effective communication and collaboration among influencers, organizations, and competition venues in broadcasting digital fashion within shared networks. The validation of multi-faceted Social Network Analysis was crucial for timely insights, highlighting the critical digital fashion equity in capturing consumers' attention and driving engagement and ownership of Metaverse fashion.

Technology is widely recognised to be revolutionising the accounting profession, allowing accountants to focus on professional skills and technical knowledge that deliver value for organisational success. Despite the known benefits, it is reported that accountants are not fully leveraging the potential value of certain technologies. To understand why, this study aims to draw on the technology adoption model (TAM) and investigates accounting professionals’ perceptions towards technology, and how these may influence adoption at work.

The study gathered online survey data from 585 accounting managers from organisations of varying sizes and in different sectors in Australia and parts of Southeast Asia. Qualitative data were thematically analysed, and quantitative data were analysed using both descriptive and multivariate techniques.

The study highlighted the pivotal role of staff perceptions on the importance and ease of using technology on the uptake and successful usage. Findings emphasised important opportunities for organisations to educate accounting staff on the value of technology and optimise their confidence and skills through training and support initiatives, particularly smaller businesses. Marked differences in the orientation towards technology among Australian and Southeast Asian participants illuminate how national work culture and practice can influence technology adoption.

The study makes a practical contribution by advancing the understanding of the relative importance and value of certain technologies in different regions and organisation types in the accounting profession. It extends the theoretical understanding of the role of TAM’s core elements to the accounting context, exploring staff’s notions of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use from the manager’s perspective.

Managing resources is crucial for firms to gain competitive advantages and succeed, particularly for startups with limited resources. It is important to understand how digital startups in general and digital academic spin-offs (ASOs) in particular may orchestrate their resources to optimize value. This paper integrates the resource-based perspective with digital entrepreneurship to analyze the resource configurations leading to success of digital ASOs.

The paper adopts an inductive approach and applies qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) on a longitudinal dataset of digital ASOs to identify the resource configurations for a successful outcome.

The authors' paper identifies two main paths to success among digital ASOs, consisting of five distinct resource configurations. The first path is termed “market exploiters” that operate in favorable market conditions where specific technological resources and research collaboration resources are lacking. The second path involves “technology explorers” that combines both technological and commercial resources to achieve success.

By outlining distinct pathways to the success of digital ASOs, this paper contributes to the digital academic entrepreneurship literature and the resource-based view of entrepreneurial firms. The paper also suggests implications for policymakers and managers in managing resources for the success of digital ventures.

By exploring the resource configurations leading to the success of ASOs commercializing digital technologies, the paper shows that favorable market conditions and complementary resource configurations can be alternative pathways to success.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and expand the concept of a marketing system for developing a more dynamic and nuanced understanding of marketing. The purpose of the proposed framework is to extend this literature by making salient and explicit how context, market system and value creation are theoretically interrelated. To accomplish this objective, the authors use the framework proposed by Layton (2019) as the theoretical foundation to acquire insights into the market. Particularly, they investigate how four distinct marketing systems (i.e. anarchy, structured, emergent and purposeful market systems) operate in a developing economy. In addition, the study explores the market's effects of technological advancement, sociocultural influences, historical background and political institutions, as well as the responses of political entities, firms and consumers. Also, the positive and negative effects of the various marketing systems are analyzed. Finally, the authors investigate the changing marketplace in various industrial sectors (e.g. home appliances, food, apparel/fashion and transportation) to provide marketing researchers and practitioners with insights. In essence, the study focuses on the sectors related to everyday consumption.

This analysis uses a theoretical approach to extend the understanding concept of marketing. To examine the numerous market systems in India, the authors use an approach developed by Layton (2007). This theoretical approach is intended to sensitize scholars to critical processes rather than a hypothetico-deductive analysis with a prediction goal (Turner, 1986). Epistemologically, this analysis can be classified as a form of discovery-oriented theory development (Wells, 1993).

Although all four systems (e.g. autarchic, emergent, purposeful and structured) are ingrained in India, their functionality differs from the Western system and among industries. For example, the apparel sector appears more autarchic, but the food industry is more purposeful. How the home appliance market operates demonstrates the transition from an autarchic to an emergent system. The authors also uncover additional environmental factors that impact the four types of marketing systems and moderator roles of governate agencies and nonprofit organizations. The externality and positive outcomes also emerged throughout the analysis.

This study articulates the four types of marketing systems and illustrates the environmental factors/antecedents and outcomes for the exchange and value creation. Most importantly, it adds value to the literature by emphasizing the role of government agencies and unrestricted institutions in the mechanism. It also uncovers cultural elements such as spirituality as a catalyst for exchange and value creation.

The analysis provides practitioners with insights into operating the firm in India by articulating the industrial differentiations and the exchange/value creation. Specifically, it provides a blueprint for strategic analysis that can be used prior to market entry to increase the likelihood of market entry success by understanding the nuanced differences that lead to significant operational difficulties if not properly prepared for and managed.

This study adds to our existing knowledge of marketing from a systemic standpoint. It also broadens and explicates marketing system theory by assessing the uniqueness of developing markets.