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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nine‐point strategic leadership characteristics of Malaysian Quality National Primary School Leaders (QNPSL) and to indicate the implications of these findings for the current educational management and leadership practices in their quest for Malaysian quality education.

The study selected 600 senior management team members from 150 schools to complete a seven‐page questionnaire survey and eventually managed to collect back 420 completed survey questionnaires. The study employed SPSS 15.0 and a full‐fledged Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) software Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) version 16.0 to confirm the dimensionality and the psychometric properties of the scale, as well as to test the research hypotheses.

Despite what Davies and Davies suggested, the results confirm that the Malaysian QNPSL do not possess three out of nine predetermined characteristics of a strategic leader such as wisdom, strategic intervention point and strategic competence which are pertinent for efficient and effective leadership in realizing the objectives of the National Education Master Plan.

The findings from the study provide useful information to senior management team members of the respective schools, District and State Education Departments in improving the quality of Malaysian education.

As this is the first research of its kind in Malaysia, the findings to a certain extent will be able to contribute to the efforts in achieving the accessibility, equity, quality and enhancement of management goals stipulated in the National Education Master Plan (2006‐2010).

During the last 20 years inclusive practices in primary schools have been promoted by policies and worldwide organisations. Scholars confirm that school leaders have an essential role to play with direct impact on meeting children's needs and that there is a chronic deficiency of research on this issue. The purpose of this paper is to describe how strategic leadership roles implemented by head‐teachers can facilitate the implementation of inclusive policies in the school setting and present possible suggestions through the analysis of leadership theories and literature related to inclusion in primary schools.

The methodology this research employs includes a literature review that conceptualises the roles of leadership positions in inclusive settings. This is structured as an explanatory discourse, drawing on the notion of transformational and visionary leadership as the basis of strategic leadership, in order to identify the important role and strategies of leaders in a primary school setting.

The paper highlights the benefits of exploring the role of leaders in these schools. The paper assumes that organisations are complex structures and the analysis indicates that there is not one single exclusive way of implementing an effective role and that alternatives can be created by adapting a flexible framework. This framework is conceptualised by examples from institutions in which leaders have motivated the improvement of school quality by following the described strategic tools. The implications of this for leadership are that Strategic Intent seems to address the directions of the aims of inclusive leaders: it uses unique strategies and relies on the capability of leaders to encourage further dedication and involvement in the organisation's culture. It is suggested that the key components of this framework which will result in the school setting becoming more inclusive consist of: resource allocation, consistency, strategic planning and cultural considerations.

This paper introduces different strategies that can be explored by school leaders with the aim of being implemented in schools.

This paper has developed a framework to which leaders could adapt their own needs and it assists them in their decision‐making process.

The purpose of this study is to conceptualize, validate and confirm a structural equation modeling (SEM) hypothesized model of strategic leadership practices of Malaysian vocational college educational leaders.

The study used a quantitative survey approach. The data were collected from 500 educational leaders of 65 Malaysian vocational colleges throughout Malaysia using a five-point strategic leadership scale. The gender composition of the sample was almost equivalent. The study embarked on descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis and full-fledged SEM for the data analyses.

The findings revealed that the Malaysian vocational college educational leaders had high tendency and inclination of practicing strategic leadership at their workplace. Besides, there was also evidence that the educational leaders of the Malaysian vocational college exhibited high levels or degree of strategic leadership practices. The responses to the survey items were consistent with seven distinct practices of strategic leadership such as strategic orientation, strategic alignment, strategic intervention, restlessness, absorptive capacity, adaptive capacity and leadership wisdom. The use of SEM procedures had confirmed that the hypothesized model of strategic leadership practices for Malaysian vocational college educational leaders was empirically valid and reliable.

The findings highlighted the importance of planning and development of a specific-context training program for Malaysian vocational college educational leaders in strategic leadership. The training was considered fundamental in pursuit of effective leadership and positive institutional outcomes for such colleges in Malaysia.

The study had successfully formulated, tested and validated a model of strategic leadership practices for Malaysian vocational college educational leaders. The model was believed to be the first of its kind in the Malaysian vocational education context.

Looks at the relationship between strategic planning and leadership characteristics, claiming that, in most research, leadership characteristics are seen as a dependent variable. Carries out a survey of 91 firms (through questionnaires sent to Chief Executive Officers) using a 7‐point Likert scale to measure responses. Performs varimax rotation and regression analysis to analyse the results. Focuses on three specific characteristics ‐ power/control, creativity, and people/dependence ‐ and attempts to establish the impact these characteristics have on plan intensity (the degree to which organization members are guided by an established plan) and the use of direction‐setting tools such as mission/vision, long‐term objectives, short‐term objectives and action planning. Reviews some literature in the separate fields of strategic planning and leadership, drawing together various strands to suggest that leadership characteristics are important predictors of plan intensity within organizations and that they will also be strong predictors on how direction‐setting tools are used within the organizational planning process. Discusses the findings as they link into the three leadership factors mentioned. Mentions, also, the planning index and how it relates to planning intensity. Concludes that leadership characteristics are strong predictors of planning intensity and planning tools. Notes limitations of the study.

Understanding how managers in position of leadership experience culture is essential to avoid instability and poor performance in international strategic alliances. This study tests the proposition that national culture, top management team culture, and manager's personality influence leadership and shapes intercultural fit through the predominant management style in US‐Mexican strategic alliances.

Strategic leadership and personality theories constitute the framework for this study. Managers from the US‐Mexican strategic alliances which partners hold an equity position were surveyed and provided data to test the hypotheses.

Findings show that American and Mexican managers construct their own social reality with rules and norms bounded primarily by the existing organizational culture in the alliance. Both managers' management styles are similar and converge into a participative “consultative” style emerging as a “third culture” characterized by task innovation and emotional concern as American managers' input and task support and social relationships as Mexican managers' contribution. This study suggests that if adequately balanced, individualism‐collectivism is a source of intercultural fit while building shared leadership.

Managers of international alliances may reconfigure individual and cultural orientations and styles of alliance partners in the design of management teams to build high levels of social effectiveness. The innovator style of American managers supports the dynamics of change for the alliance to advance while the adaptor style of Mexican managers builds stability, order, and maintains group cohesion and cooperation.

Intercultural fit in international strategic alliances is achieved through designing organizational cultures that incorporate partners' cognitive diversity into the relationship.

Contingency models have enabled researchers to develop system‐based decision‐making approaches to organizational studies. Two contingency decision‐making models ‐ rational and political choice ‐ have been applied to identify those organizational characteristics and strategic leadership qualities associated with acquisitive growth through “absorption” and “diversification”. A study of the International Telephone and Telegraph Company (ITT) organizational growth strategies from 1920 to 1997 reveals that senior managers adopt the rational decision‐making model when organizational growth through acquisition involves absorption, and the political model when organizational growth calls for diversification. A contingency historical study of ITT demonstrates two important periods in ITT’s organizational life cycles ‐ one of growth (1920‐early 1970s) and one of consolidation/stability (from mid‐1970 to the present time). Contingency models indicate that differences in organizational growth strategies arise due to differences in environmental factors characterizing each period as organizations pass through several stages of growth in their life cycles.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of organizational culture on strategic planning and the role of leadership effectiveness in the association between organizational culture and strategic planning in Indian nonprofit organizations (NPOs).

Data were collected from 441 respondents using a structured questionnaire. Common method bias was addressed through the use of multiple surveys. Structural equation modeling was used to process the data.

Advice-seeking interactions, collaborative culture and an error management culture positively impacted the creation and conceptualization of strategic plans in Indian NPOs. An error aversion culture did not significantly impact the creation and conceptualization of strategic plans. Leadership effectiveness moderated the relationship between “advice-seeking interactions” and the “creation and conceptualization” of the strategic plan, a “collaborative culture” and the “creation and conceptualization” of the strategic plan and an “error management culture” and the “creation and conceptualization” of the strategic plan.

Strategic management literature on the determinants of the creation and conceptualization of strategic plans is scant. Further, it does not include the influence of cultural constructs such as advice-seeking interaction (ASI), collaborative culture (CC), error management culture (EMC), error aversion culture (EAC) on the creation and conceptualization of strategic plans. This study extends the debate on the culture–strategy nexus to help practitioners understand the importance of organizational culture (advice-seeking interaction, collaborative culture, error management culture, error aversion culture) in creating strategic plans.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce CEO succession (and subsequent TMT turnover) as a knowledge enabler. Focusing on absorptive capacity, an important dynamic capability involving the acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation of knowledge, this paper highlights the role of a new CEO in emphasizing specific facets of the knowledge management (KM) process to fulfill expected strategic mandates.

This paper presents a conceptual framework that underscores the importance of CEO succession as a knowledge enabler by depicting its influence on the various dimensions of absorptive capacity. To this end, this paper develops an integrated set of propositions that unpack the influence of different types of CEO successions that trigger and enable different KM processes involved dimensions of absorptive capacity.

The theoretical framework presented in this paper suggests that given a certain succession context (forced or voluntary turnover of predecessor) different types of CEO succession, combined with possible executive turnover, will constitute a reorientation in top management experience and expertise. This will in turn trigger certain dimensions of absorptive capacity (potential or realized), to fulfill specific strategic mandates such as strategic change or strategic continuity.

This paper presents a theoretical framework that underscores the importance of studying CEO succession in conjunction with their influence on different knowledge dimensions of absorptive capacity. CEO succession (and subsequent changes in top management team composition) is suggested to be a knowledge enabler. Based on the context of CEO turnover (forced vs voluntary) and the amount of change undergone in TMT composition, different types of CEO succession (based on their origin) are suggested to have different challenges to overcome and different strategic mandates to fulfill. Fulfilling these strategic mandates will require an emphasis on different facets of the KM process, which is encompassed in the dimensions of absorptive capacity. This will, in turn, resolve questions about which knowledge activities the organization needs to invest its resources in and resources allocation decisions may become easier.

Based on their origin, three kinds of CEO succession have been described in this paper – insider-follower, insider-contender and outsider succession. Each of these types of succession encounter different challenges and are expected to fulfill different kinds of strategic mandates. Accordingly, this paper proposes that each kind of CEO succession trigger and enable the knowledge components of absorptive capacity (knowledge acquisition, knowledge assimilation, knowledge transformation and knowledge exploitation) in different manners. This will in turn, allow firms to prioritize the allocation of resources toward different kinds of knowledge activities related to absorptive capacity.

This paper suggests that the CEO succession event, although broadly discussed in management research, has been overlooked when it comes to KM in organizations. Given that strategic leadership is one of the powerful enablers of organizational practices and outcomes, this paper emphasizes that different types of CEO succession may be able to influence the KM process by enabling the different dimensions of absorptive capacity (potential and realized).

The main objective of this study was to examine academic staff's perceptions of the characteristics of a learning organization within higher education: in this instance, the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). The study also examined the relationship between the characteristics of a learning organization and satisfaction with performance in teaching and research activities.

A survey method was used in a sample of 400 academicians with a return rate of 214 (53.5 per cent). Watkins and Marsick's and Marsick and Watkins's learning organization questionnaire was used to measure the characteristics of the learning organization and to collect data for the study.

The main results showed that the academic staff indicated moderate levels of the characteristics of a learning organization and satisfaction with performance. The results also showed that there were positive and significant relationships between dimensions of the learning organization and satisfaction with performance activities in teaching and research. Furthermore, dimensions of the learning organization accounted for small but significant variance of satisfaction with both teaching and research performance activities.

This study contributes empirical findings on learning organization in a higher learning institution, a research area in which there is a scarcity of empirical studies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the strategic planning practices applied in the high-performing banking industry in the Indonesian context and how decision style facilitates successful planning.

This study employed a qualitative research approach as the framework for this study to get a genuine explanation of the perspectives of participants researched about strategic planning. The data collection method used in-depth semi-structured and unstructured interviews of both key informants and non-planning members in each identified bank. Three banks were selected because of their commitment in strategic planning and their high-performance status. This study used research information from a panel of experts to first define a bank as high performing in the first instance, and then to select the three top performing banks for the study.

This study has provided useful findings about the strategic planning practices in the high-performing banks. The key findings comprise the fact that all three banks in this study have carried out the usual and main strategic planning activities presented in this study: the vital role of the CEO in strategic planning has been proven, and planning flexibility in the strategic planning process has been identified, among other related findings.

This study provides a useful research model for investigating strategic planning practices both in the relatively stable and predictable business environment and turbulent and unpredictable business environment. This study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is the first to investigate the issue in the Indonesian context.