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1 – 10 of 166This paper expands theory on strategists by investigating how non-executive strategy professionals in multi-business firms strategize. In focus is the strategizing of two groups…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper expands theory on strategists by investigating how non-executive strategy professionals in multi-business firms strategize. In focus is the strategizing of two groups of non-executive strategy professionals: a corporate strategy team and eleven business strategists employed in each of the incorporated units.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study design was employed to explore privileged accessed data to gain first-hand in-depth qualities of strategists' work. The design was characterized by phenomenon driven immersed participatory insider research with retrospective reflection and theorizing. Data includes strategies, interview data, calendars, meeting minutes, workshop material and observational field notes.
Findings
Non-executive strategy professionals in multi-business firms are either employed at the corporate center or in the peripheral businesses. Based on this location and their individual experiences they assume an exclusive content or an inclusive process strategizing orientation. In practice, the groups strategize tightly together.
Research limitations/implications
Case studies are useful in explorative research providing thick descriptions. While empirically rich, the results of this study are limited by the context of one single case. Future research is encouraged to confirm, contradict and refine the results presented.
Practical implications
The insights from this study can help organizations regarding how to employ strategy professionals in multi-business firms.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to a recognized need to explore strategists' work. In contrary to the majority of existing research, focusing on senior management and/or strategy formulation, this paper highlighted non-executive strategy professionals' strategizing.
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Value is created for firms’ owners when profits outweigh investments over a given time period. This paper aims to distinguish where, within firms, strategic thinking is required…
Abstract
Purpose
Value is created for firms’ owners when profits outweigh investments over a given time period. This paper aims to distinguish where, within firms, strategic thinking is required for the purposes of creating value.
Design/methodology/approach
A novel framework is developed, which explains how six sources of value can be identified and logically related to six practical value management levels.
Findings
Importantly, only one source of value, namely, autonomous revenue growth, demands true strategic thinking because it represents an unknown outcome from the strategist’s perspective. This source of value can be tapped into at any decision-making level.
Originality/value
This paper clarifies and emphasises that demonstrating strategic wisdom is possible for anyone within a firm and ultimately, it resolves down to the thinking and decision making that increases the chances of generating higher, earlier and more frequent future incoming cash flows.
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Pernilla Gluch, Ingrid Svensson and Jan Bröchner
This study aims to investigate practitioners’ perceptions of strategic work in municipal facilities management: how public facilities management is changing, what is included in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate practitioners’ perceptions of strategic work in municipal facilities management: how public facilities management is changing, what is included in strategic public facilities management and who leads the strategic work.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review begins with mainstream studies of strategy management, ultimately concentrating on municipal facilities management. Findings are based on a 2020/2021 questionnaire targeting 356 practitioners in municipal facilities management across Sweden (50% response rate). The statistical treatment includes factor analysis.
Findings
Most respondents indicated changed ways of managing facilities in the past five years; most reported that they were in an organization with an explicit goal of working more strategically. Respondents associated strategic facilities management with governance, facilities, sustainability, technology change and communication. Frequently, it was the management team of the facilities management department that led strategic work.
Research limitations/implications
Research into municipal facilities management is dominated by studies in Northern Europe, and more studies from other regions are needed. How strategies and work roles evolve in parallel appears to be a fruitful direction of further research.
Practical implications
Facilities managers need stronger competences and more resources to engage in strategic facilities management. Findings indicate a need to integrate sustainability aspects better into long-term strategic work.
Social implications
More strategic municipal facilities management is of obvious social value.
Originality/value
This is the first study of practitioner perceptions of work on strategic facilities management in municipalities.
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This paper is aimed at describing and analysing what school organisers express when they network to expand the access and application of digital technologies in educational…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is aimed at describing and analysing what school organisers express when they network to expand the access and application of digital technologies in educational systems. Digital technologies develop rapidly in society, creating challenges and opportunities in people’s lives. Schools have an important task: to prepare young people for a future permeated by digital technology.
Design/methodology/approach
Participant observations and semi-structured interviews were used to describe and analyse how school organisers describe digitalisation work in the educational system.
Findings
The findings show that school organisers describe digital competence and providing support to schools as being important for expanding the access and application of digital technologies in the educational system. They also talk about equality connected to digitalisation work, changes in organisations, the importance of a holistic perspective, and a gold thread. They furthermore explain that networks, a sharing culture, good relations, and good communication enable digitalisation work. In addition, they point out that the lack of time, attitudes towards digital technologies, the lack of digital competence, and resistance to change are some of the constraints for digital technologies in the educational system.
Practical implications
School organisers need to implement digitalisation policies, which can be problematic because they work strategically to support operational activities.
Originality/value
This paper contributes knowledge about school organisers’ work to expand the access and application of digital technologies in the educational system.
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Riccardo Rialti, Alessandro Caliandro, Lamberto Zollo and Cristiano Ciappei
This paper presents an in-depth investigation on how brands may concur to the co-creation of consumers’ experiences. In particular, the purpose of this paper is to clarify the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper presents an in-depth investigation on how brands may concur to the co-creation of consumers’ experiences. In particular, the purpose of this paper is to clarify the main types of co-created experiences that consumers may encounter as a result of social media brand communities.
Design/methodology/approach
To identify the main types of co-created experiences, a digital investigation has been used as the main method of analysis. The authors draw their digital investigation on the digital methods paradigm.
Findings
Four principal types of co-created experiences have been identified and conceptualized, namely, brand’s products’ individual usage experiences, auto-celebrative experiences, brand’s products’ communal usage experiences and collective celebration experiences.
Originality/value
Results stress the importance for brand strategists to involve members of social media brand communities to stimulate co-creation experiences. Specifically, it emerges that the simultaneous interaction among members of the community and the brand may directly affect co-creation experiences.
Propósito
La presente investigación se propone analizar en profundidad cómo las marcas pueden estar de acuerdo con la co-creación de las experiencias de los consumidores. En particular, el objetivo de la investigación es aclarar cuáles son los principales tipos de experiencias co-creadas que los consumidores pueden experimentar debido a su participación en las comunidades de marcas de redes sociales.
Diseño/metodología/enfoque
Para hacerlo, en primer lugar, se han identificado los factores que influyen en la co-creación de las experiencias de los miembros de las comunidades de marcas. En particular, el punto de partida de esta investigación está representado por el papel de otros consumidores y de la marca en la co-creación de experiencias. Con el fin de identificar los principales tipos de experiencias co-creadas, se ha utilizado una investigación digital como el principal método de análisis. Dibujamos nuestra investigación digital en el paradigma de Métodos Digitales.
Hallazgos
Se identificaron y conceptualizaron cuatro tipos principales de experiencias co-creadas.
Originalidad/valor
Los resultados enfatizan la importancia de que los estrategas de marca involucren a los miembros de las comunidades de marcas de medios sociales para estimular la co-creación de experiencias. Específicamente, surgió cómo la interacción simultánea de otros miembros de la comunidad y la marca puede afectar la co-creación.
Palabras clave:
Co-creación de valor, Comunidades de marca, Experiencias de los consumidores, Experiencias co-creadas, Investigación digital, Marketing experiencial
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Since the end of 2016, “fake news” has had a clear meaning in the USA. After years of scholarship attempting to define “fake news” and where it fits among the larger schema of…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the end of 2016, “fake news” has had a clear meaning in the USA. After years of scholarship attempting to define “fake news” and where it fits among the larger schema of media hoaxing and deception, popular culture and even academic studies converged following the 2016 US presidential election to define “fake news” in drastically new ways. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
In light of the recent elections in the USA, many fear “fake news” that have gradually become a powerful and sinister force, both in the news media environment as well as in the fair and free elections. The scenario draws into questions how the general public interacts with such outlets, and to what extent and in which ways individual responsibility should govern the interactions with social media.
Findings
Fake news is a growing threat to democratic elections in the USA and other democracies by relentless targeting of hyper-partisan views, which play to the fears and prejudices of people, in order to influence their voting plans and their behavior.
Originality/value
Essentially, “fake news” is changing and even distorting how political campaigns are run, ultimately calling into question legitimacy of elections, elected officials and governments. Scholarship has increasingly confirmed social media as an enabler of “fake news,” and continues to project its potentially negative impact on democracy, furthering the already existing practices of partisan selective exposure, as well as heightening the need for individual responsibility.
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There is a significant pressure on consulting businesses to produce innovative solutions and to assist their clients in producing innovative solutions for their organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a significant pressure on consulting businesses to produce innovative solutions and to assist their clients in producing innovative solutions for their organizational problems as well. In addition to that challenging need to innovate for survival and competition, as other contemporary firms, consultancies must face the global changes brought by the outbreak of the coronavirus infection since 2019. This qualitative pilot study aimed at exploring the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the approaches to innovation in the consulting industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Triggered from the literature gap on approaches to innovation in consultancies during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, a grounded theory approach was used to generate a theoretical explanation of how the COVID-19 is affecting the strategies and approaches of businesses in harnessing innovation opportunities from the perspectives of four professionals from an information technology (IT) consultancy in the USA.
Findings
The findings of this pilot study showed that organizational leaders' increased responsiveness, a Job-To-Be-Done strategy, organizational support and team adaption are the keys to harvesting dynamic capabilities for better competition, even during global environmental changes.
Practical implications
This implies that managers remain the main actors in a firm's efforts to harvest dynamic capabilities. Innovation strategists, business leaders and policymakers can confidently work together to implement novel and flexible work settings that integrate both social and economic advancements.
Originality/value
Theoretical implications support the sustainable innovation strategy concepts and the Job-To-Be-Done theory. Finally, the substantive theory from this pilot study lays the ground for future research on approaches to innovation in the consulting industry.
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The purpose of this study is to analyze how institutional governance and business environment affect countries’ competitiveness and their relative importance.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyze how institutional governance and business environment affect countries’ competitiveness and their relative importance.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the authors analyze how institutional governance and business environment affect countries’ competitiveness, their relative importance and what are the implications for Brazil. The authors have collected data from 131 countries related to the institutional governance, business environment and competitiveness of these countries. For the analysis of the mentioned influences, the technique of partial least squares structural equations modeling is used.
Findings
Results indicate that the main role in countries’ competitiveness is played by the quality of institutional governance. The quality of the business environment reinforces the positive effect of the quality of institutional governance on countries’ competitiveness (mediation effect). Brazil has poor governance quality indicators when compared to high-middle income countries, especially regarding government effectiveness, political stability and control of corruption.
Research limitations/implications
The study provides a better understanding of the relative importance of governance quality and business environment quality for countries’ competitiveness. One limitation of this study is that the research was restricted to data related to the year 2019.
Practical implications
For strategists and decision-makers, understanding these effects on countries’ competitiveness and their relative importance is fundamental to understanding what makes their companies internationally competitive.
Social implications
The presence and appreciation of institutional governance quality need to be cultivated in society.
Originality/value
Instead of using the original diamond model, which presents circular relationships, the authors have used the business environment construct, composed of elements of the diamond model to test the relationships between the quality of institutional governance, competitiveness and the business environment.
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Paulina Bednarz-Łuczewska and Michał Łuczewski
This article aims to analyze the strategic work of Polish entrepreneurs in the furniture industry following the political changes in 1989. The authors examined how these…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to analyze the strategic work of Polish entrepreneurs in the furniture industry following the political changes in 1989. The authors examined how these entrepreneurs transitioned from local craftsmen or importers into leaders of international manufacturing companies and how their strategizing contributed to the unprecedented growth of the Polish furniture sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examined extant data, specifically biographical interviews conducted with 11 prominent leaders in the Polish furniture industry (Hryniewicki, 2015, 2018). They analyzed within a theoretical framework that integrates J.C. Spender’s theory of strategic management with Barry Johnson’s concept of polarity management. Polarity is a way of understanding and managing interdependent, opposing pairs of values or perspectives that give rise to conflict.
Findings
The analysis reveals key patterns of strategic challenges at the level of human agency, history and sense-making. The authors identified four key polarities: life and business, knowledge presence and absence, concordance and discordance, and instrumental and non-instrumental sense-making.
Originality/value
The polarity concept illuminates the interplay of agency and determinism in strategic decision-making, offering valuable insights for methodology and a deeper understanding of Poland’s furniture industry.
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Michael Price, Nicholas Wong, Charles Harvey and Mairi Maclean
This study explores how a small minority of social entrepreneurs break free from third sector constraints to conceive, create and grow non-profit organisations that generate…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores how a small minority of social entrepreneurs break free from third sector constraints to conceive, create and grow non-profit organisations that generate social value at scale in new and innovative ways.
Design/methodology/approach
Six narrative case histories of innovative social enterprises were developed based on documents and semi-structured interviews with founders and long serving executives. Data were coded “chrono-processually”, which involves locating thoughts, events and actions in distinct time periods (temporal bracketing) and identifying the processes at work in establishing new social ventures.
Findings
This study presents two core findings. First, the paper demonstrates how successful social entrepreneurs draw on their lived experiences, private and professional, in driving the development and implementation of social innovations, which are realised through application of their capabilities as analysts, strategists and resources mobilisers. These capabilities are bolstered by personal legitimacy and by their abilities as storytellers and rhetoricians. Second, the study unravels the complex processes of social entrepreneurship by revealing how sensemaking, theorising, strategizing and sensegiving underpin the core processes of problem specification, the formulation of theories of change, development of new business models and the implementation of social innovations.
Originality/value
The study demonstrates how social entrepreneurs use sensemaking and sensegiving strategies to understand and address complex social problems, revealing how successful social entrepreneurs devise and disseminate social innovations that substantially add value to society and bring about beneficial social change. A novel process-outcome model of social innovation is presented illustrating the interconnections between entrepreneurial cognition and strategic action.
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