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The purpose of this paper is to explore how corporate real estate (CRE) managers of higher education institutions formulate their CRE strategies and CRE operating decisions to align CRE with the corporate strategies of these institutions.

An analytical alignment framework has been developed, which was used to study the possible and actual connections between CRE management and corporate management at 13 large Dutch Universities of Applied Sciences. The data collection included a content analysis of the strategic plans of these universities and interviews with the CRE managers.

The research findings show several layers of how CRE managers aim to align CRE with corporate goals to add value to the organization. It appears that the CRE strategies in-use are more clearly aligned with the corporate strategies than with the espoused CRE strategies.

The paper emphasizes the relevance of involving CRE management in corporate decision-making to contribute to the attainment of the organizational objectives with an efficient and effective accommodation.

Substantial changes in learning and teaching practices in higher education lead to evolving corporate strategies, which result in the need for aligned CRE strategies and CRE operating decisions. This paper makes practitioners and researchers aware of the differences between alignment-based espoused CRE strategies and alignment that results from CRE strategies in-use in the field of higher education. The findings and insights might be applicable in other sectors as well.

Importers make use of two strategies in seeking new suppliers: namely an incremental strategy and an evolutionary strategy. In using an incremental strategy the importers look for new suppliers in the existing buying region in which they are working, although in no way are they confined to this region. In the case of an evolutionary strategy, they seek suppliers within a totally new geographical and cultural region. Importers try as far as is possible to apply an incremental strategy and only when this is no longer viable do they switch to using an evolutionary strategy. Five factors govern the choice of which strategy to employ: responsibility, product prices, knowledge about the buying area, transport system and product quantity.

The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the relationship and networking strategy tools in the IMP literature. It proposes six dimensions for characterizing such tools: approach to tool development, level (and layer) of analysis, perspective of interaction, activities of network strategizing, external or internal orientation and use for “strategizing on” vs “strategizing in” relationships and networks.

The paper uses a manual qualitative content analysis approach and an inductive approach, well suited for extracting relationship and networking strategy tools due to their implicit and dispersed nature.

The paper presents an IMP toolbox comprising a wide variety of relationship and networking strategy tools emphasizing interconnectedness, interdependence and limited managerial autonomy, as well as an analysis of how identified tools are positioned along each of the six proposed dimensions.

This paper contributes a conceptual framework with a vocabulary to content analyze and discuss relationship and networking strategy tools in IMP research.

The IMP toolbox may be a useful point of departure for managers who feel a need for developing and using a mix of tools for strategizing in business relationships and networks.

The paper instills a strategy tool lens in the IMP literature and foregrounds strategizing concepts and techniques that were previously difficult to attend to for both researchers and practitioners.

This descriptive study of 184 small firms identified strategies most frequently used by their managers. These strategies were identified using the Entrepreneurial Strategy Matrix, a situational model in which the identification of levels of innovation and risk lead to prescriptions of appropriate strategies. Concurrently, this model was empirically tested and its validity supported. Of the strategies used, the five most common were: “work to create a competitive advantage,” “maintain innovation,” “lower the costs of developing and/or maintaining one’s venture,” “defend product/service as it is now,” and “create a first mover advantage.” In addition, there were no differences between the use of strategies by entrepreneurs in service and manufacturing industries.

To evaluate whether “numerical flexibility” – specifically a form of temporary and precarious employment – hourly‐paid part‐time teaching in the UK higher education sector – adds strategic value and demonstrates good practice.

The study is based on new evidence drawn from five case study organisations in which a range of managers was interviewed in depth.

Analysis identifies a continuum of strategies from integration into the main workforce through to “deepened differentiation”. Although integration is somewhat problematic when applied to a diverse group, differentiation seems predicated on a defensive, risk management approach designed to further marginalise this activity. Also, differentiation fails to address the aspirations of many employees, creating tensions between institutional strategy and the needs of academic heads.

The number of case studies is limited. These case studies were selected because they had the most proactive strategies on this issue, which infers that the majority of employers in HE have not been rather less strategic or proactive.

The paper is of particular value to HR professionals considering the use of numerical flexibility approaches. It also contributes to the academic debate on the strategic value of such approaches.

The paper explores a neglected but important area of the workforce. The paper notes that some supposed benefits of numerical flexibility might be illusory, such as the deployment of allegedly “cheap and disposable” substitute workers which may be offset by unintentional consequences including rigidities in an organisation's human resource systems.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how artists deal with having multiple potentially incompatible work-related identities as a result of a career transition from making a living exclusively as artists to taking on additional work outside the creative industries.

In all, 40 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted by telephone with artists in the Netherlands. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze the findings.

Four different strategies for dealing with multiple potentially incompatible identities were identified: integration, accumulation, separation and dis-identification. The findings suggest that the informal social context, the support of rejection of important others, influenced the strategy adopted by the artists. Invalidation from the environment often leads to stress and separation or dis-identification strategies, while validation seems to lead to integration and accumulation strategies that are less psychologically straining.

The findings stress the importance of the external environment. While the workers had to deal with their own psychological stress and regret about not succeeding at working exclusively as artists, they also had to create a feasible story that allowed them to “sell” their transition to others.

Careers are becoming increasingly non-linear, and the number of workers who need to juggle multiple (potentially conflicting) work-related identities is rising. However, how workers deal with this has received only limited attention from researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate Donald F. Dixon's contribution to scholarship in clarifying two parallel streams of thought on marketing's role in value creation: value in use and value in exchange.

The paper presents a literary analysis of some of Dixon's work that is often overlooked, and a discussion of its relevance to the services, channels and marketing strategy literature.

Dixon's distinction between the two streams of thought (“value in use” and “value in exchange”) clarifies an important aspect of marketing's intellectual heritage that has eluded the literature on services marketing, channels and marketing strategy. The consequences of this oversight are considerable.

The paper focuses on an aspect of Dixon's work that is underappreciated and not widely understood.

This paper aims to explore new forms of control that can address the legitimacy problems of globally‐integrated enterprises.

In a conceptual analysis the characteristics of the globally‐integrated enterprise are used to put forward apt strategies of control. These proposals are examined and illustrated in a case study of the strategies in use in the athletic footwear industry.

This paper argues that command‐and‐control strategies will be ineffective for globally‐integrated enterprises. In order to behave like a global corporate citizen companies need to stress controls based on belief systems and interactive systems. Certain features of this shift in control are visible within the athletic footwear industry although many strategies in use are still based on thinking like a multinational.

This paper is explorative in nature. More empirical research is needed to test the proposals this paper puts forward.

The results of this paper can be used as a framework to develop control strategies for companies working from a transnational perspective.

The functioning of globally‐integrated enterprises creates both tremendous economic possibilities as well as new problems of legitimacy. This paper is one of the first systematic attempts to provide a framework for dealing with these legitimacy problems and also serves as an illustration of this framework in the athletic footwear sector.

Describes how individuals hold theories which govern their actions and how these theories unintentionally create organizational defensive routines and inhibit learning. Presents an action science approach whereby consultant researchers can help individuals see their taken‐for‐granted theories, test them and then redesign their action in the light of their learning.

In the past decade many events have affected the financial services industry, especially for the banking segment. “Events such as deregulation of deposit rates, the fall of geographic barriers, an economic downturn, and increasing non‐bank competition, have all caused the banking industry's policies and leadership practices to be re‐evaluated by such authorities as shareholders, directors, regulators, and management itself” (Want, 1990). Also, due to industry pressures, many banks are having to stretch themselves into market sectors and services that would otherwise have been unheard of just a few years ago. Tough times have arrived, and throughout the industry banks are seeing slower growth in loans, deposits, and fee income. Overall, these changes have required some type of reaction from the banking industry in order to survive. “Conventional reactions to these types of industry changes could entail any of the following: cost cutting, revamping of the organisational structure, acquisitions of other financial institutions, sale of marginal businesses, elimination and reduction of support staff functions, new technologies and training efforts to improve operational efficiencies, and new marketing strategies” (Want, 1990). While any one of these strategies may be successful for some organisations, they can result in a detriment to others. “A key success factor in using these strategies is not to use any one of them in isolation. In fact it is suggested that a combination of strategies be used to incorporate one corporate strategic plan” (Want, 1990).