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This paper aims to explore to what extent senior executives, particularly within the German machinery and equipment small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), gather and apply knowledge pertaining strategic management (SM) tools. Furthermore, the study aims to provide research evidence as to whether or not the companies derive any performance enhancing benefit from the appliance of said with the knowledge.

The research relied on a self-administered questionnaire mailed or posted to the entire population of about 6,000 enterprises. The resulting data were analyzed with the statistical package for social science (SPSS) statistical software package.

Executives within the sector, especially those with a predominantly engineering background, lack both knowledge and understanding of SM in general and strategic tool-kits in particular. Interestingly, educational background, in association with toolkit usage, appears to enhance organizational performance.

The German educational system, in conjunction with the associated professional development infrastructures, may impact the generalizability of the research findings.

The results from this study can be used for lobbying policy-makers and shapers, e.g. government, higher education, industry and professional bodies, to improve and expand engineering management education so that practitioners have the knowledge of and competency in SM.

The study provides an insight look of how executives in one of Germany’s most successful industries deal with the knowledge and application of SM tools and their impact on performance. Extant research has not dealt with Germany or this sector in relation to the appliance of strategy-related knowledge and performance.

The purpose of this paper is to share the ways in which student and learning support at the University of Sunderland has embedded and matured a new outcome-centered performance model – the Quality Model – in order to create an agile evidence-base of value, outcome and impact evidence. The authors will also share how, having established the fundamental principles regarding value and impact capture in our library setting, the concepts and approaches have also been developed and applied successfully within the context of multi-converged service delivery across the wider student and learning support service, using the AMOSSHE Value and Impact Toolkit.

The authors’ approach will be illustrated with two case studies, the first focusing on the university library services and the second on the student counseling service.

The findings will reveal that by establishing an outcome-focused model, the authors have been able to apply it across a converged service in order to generate the evidence required to articulate the value and impact of our key service objectives.

As a performance approach, the Quality Model is an original concept in that it is a self-formed model designed to meet the strategic needs of the University of Sunderland. It differs from many performance models in that it is founded on a holistic approach to service culture and customer-relationship management and is based upon strategic marketing principles. The AMOSSHE Toolkit is a pre-existing toolkit which is fully referenced in the paper. The Quality Model and AMOSSHE Toolkit are of particular relevance as many higher education services are increasingly challenged to demonstrate their value and impact and the outcomes their services deliver. This calls for a strategic approach to managing qualitative evidence. Therefore, although bespoke, the approach is transferable to the strategic priorities of other HE settings.

Given the nature of corona chaos, tech startups confront strategic disorientation; therefore, this study aims to constructively engage with the theory development process in the area of management decision, adopt causal complexity with a configurational approach of McKinsey's 5R paradigm and the Newtonian gravitational field.

This study provides a novel conceptualization of systematic research of explanatory mechanisms for navigating the turbulence and consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. This configurational study shows how European tech startups adopt strategies in addressing COVID-19 challenges successfully.

The analysis reveals configurations that lead to the outcome of the conceptual model, namely, reimagining the equifinal paths to the next normal. The findings suggest that, in navigating the crisis, tech startups are able to seize market opportunities, capture technological opportunities and consolidate their future positions.

The principal limitation consists of limited empirical evidence regarding tech startups’ ability to navigate Covid-19 crisis and choose the appropriate path to the next normal.

This study enhances European tech startups’ capability to adopt reflexivity and openness while navigating the Covid-19 chaotic context. Furthermore, the study provides a managerial toolkit to guide strategic decisions via deepening their understanding of the new created realities.

This study provides a novel conceptualization of systematic research on explanatory mechanisms for navigating the turbulence and consequences of the COVID-19 crisis context. This configurational study shows how European tech startups adopt strategies that address COVID-19 challenges successfully.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest and state that an individual or company who aims to follow through the strategic leadership improvement pathway will find Bloom’s taxonomy useful practically when it comes to self-evaluation and simplification.

The global leadership survey statistics and findings are stated to define why global leadership is important and needed. In addition, there is an emphasis on the global confluence of markets, economy and technology, and how in the upcoming decades individuals would be required to build the skills stated in Bloom’s taxonomy in order to sustain and enhance their employment value. A strategic leadership development toolkit is used. Then Bloom’s taxonomy is infused with it, hence providing a practical implementation of how taxonomy simplifies the strategic leadership development process in organizations.

Statistics and facts of global leadership and technological surveys and studies are highlighted to emphasize the significance of strategic leadership. The required abilities needed in strategic leadership are linked to the six levels of thinking in Bloom’s taxonomy, thus implying that it can be used in the strategic leadership development process.

It is suggested that Bloom’s taxonomy should not only be used for educational purposes but can aid leaders in their quest to develop strategic leadership abilities and simplify the process to start and sustain their organization’s prosperity.

Strategists have always known that how you say something is as important as what you say. We are beginning to understand why. The article discusses the concept of message “framing” and how this affects peoples' attitude towards risk. It argues that this can easily form part of the strategist's communication toolkit.

The study of framing effects is a very active research. Interest ranges from the fundamental psychological underpinning for the effect, impact on small group decision making (the effects need not be eliminated and may in fact be enhanced), human resource strategy, ethical decision‐making and the interaction of framing with broader organizational and environmental factors.

Framing effects on risk decision‐making has been robustly demonstrated in a wide variety of decision settings. Expert decision makers are as prone to framing effects as are naïve decision makers. They are consistent enough to be adopted as a reliable tool in the strategists' communication toolbox.

The strategist is likely to understand message emphasis and may be aware of general message packaging; he or she is less likely to be aware of message framing, its impact and potential value as a part of the strategic communication toolkit. Attitude towards – acceptance of or rejection of – risk is of course critical to the effective implementation of strategic programs.

This article concerns itself with one aspect of strategic communication that has received extensive attention from organizational and cognitive psychology: the issue of decision task framing.

Supporting People, in conjunction with Best Value, creates an urgent requirement for those who manage sheltered housing to review the services they provide. Both the wider strategic, financial and logistical framework within which sheltered housing operates and the quality of service provided to service users must be appraised by all providers in order to be prepared for these two key regimes. The CSHS Code of Practice for Sheltered Housing and Related Services for Older People in the Community, and Starfish Consulting's Appraisal Toolkit for Sheltered Housing have been designed to be used by sheltered housing providers to prepare themselves fully for Supporting People day ‐ 1st April 2003.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight how a commonly‐overlooked resource – physical assets – can be used to advantage as both a tactical and strategic tool during mergers and acquisitions (M&A). It aims to present an overview of strategies for managers to consider when faced with M&A – both for deterring and defending against unwanted acquirer attention, and for managing M&A post‐transaction.

Integrating findings from different research streams (e.g. financial, management, geography and real estate), and drawing on interviews and recent M&A reports, the paper distills physical asset strategies into a general overview and a two‐stage framework.

Firms' physical assets can play a significant role in driving, defending and managing M&A. By affecting both financial and organizational outcomes, it is shown how physical assets are a powerful strategic resource within the manager's toolkit. Deter‐and‐defend strategies reduce M&A vulnerability and defend against hostile raiders; Managing M&A strategies improve post‐M&A revenue generation, efficiency gains and increased organizational effectiveness.

For managers facing M&A, this paper highlights a range of strategic options which are often overlooked in M&A research. Beyond M&A, many of these strategies can also be used by any firm facing financial and performance pressures.

The paper highlights a category of M&A strategies that can have a significant impact on M&A outcomes, but is often underplayed in general management and strategy research. It elaborates on a range of strategy options. Also, by integrating findings from diverse research streams, this paper offers a broadened perspective of M&A strategies.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Today’s business world is one characterized by the growing interconnection between technology, economy and market factors. Increased levels of complexity are an inevitable consequence of these relationships. Organizational top brass are thus facing an increasing array of tough challenges pertaining to a variety of areas. Different studies have identified employee development, driving innovation, intercultural communication, guiding a team and inspiring others as being among them. Given this challenging environment, effective leadership has undoubtedly become more critical than ever. It is imperative that leadership incorporates a strong strategic element. Many firms fail to appreciate this though. The overwhelming emphasis in these cases remains on operational leadership. But this will not properly equip a leader to handle the more complex issues that materialize.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The purpose of this paper is to organize the semantics jungle of marketing strategy approaches, terms and concepts into a logically coherent framework using the history of marketing thought to inform current marketing research and practice.

The paper takes the form of an intensive literature review tracing the three streams of marketing strategy terms and concepts from their roots in the literatures of early marketing management, managerial economics and corporate management to the present.

Along with marketing ideas, strategy concepts from managerial economics and from corporate management were absorbed directly into the corpus of strategic marketing thought. These three streams of research have converged into the current state of marketing strategy – an eclectic mixture of both complementary and conflicting strategic approaches, terms and concepts. By systematically following the evolutionary development of major contributions to strategic marketing thought and by redefining terms and refining concepts the various approaches to strategy can be integrated into a comprehensive conceptual framework for organizing and choosing among individual marketing strategies.

The framework offers conceptual and practical value. It provides a researcher with a consistent set of terms and concepts to build upon. The framework also provides a strategic toolkit for the marketing manager, based upon organizational and environmental conditions, to choose from among the feasible alternatives the most effective marketing strategy to achieve management's goal(s).