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The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the implementation of certain structural manufacturing decisions and the importance that is attached to certain competitive priorities in the firm's business strategy. The paper seeks to analyse the role these decisions play in the creation of a firm's competitive advantage, and aims to provide evidence of which decisions provide the firm with strategically relevant production capabilities.

The hypotheses were tested using data collected from business units in the metal industry in Spain, by means of a postal survey. A total of 188 completed questionnaires were obtained and a structural equations analysis was conducted on the results.

This study has provided evidence for the strategic importance of structural decisions in the production area. The findings of this research suggest that the implementation of certain decisions can originate capabilities on which a competitive advantage can be based.

The results of this research are specific to the industry, and the analysis is static. Further research should be conducted in other industries. A longitudinal study would be convenient, in order to obtain a good understanding of the causal relationships between structural production decisions and the competitive priorities emphasised in the business strategy.

Strategic management of the capabilities which derive from structural manufacturing decisions is shown to have a relevant role in the creation of competitive advantage.

The present paper contributes to the study of the strategic function of manufacturing from the perspective of manufacturing capabilities. In particular, we examine the strategic contribution of structural manufacturing decisions by contributing different capabilities.

This paper seeks to address how firms may contribute to environmental improvement through structural changes of their logistics systems.

A comprehensive literature review discloses the low interest that has been directed to environmental issues in logistics, and findings relevant for structural issues at a firm level are described. Three cases where firms have implemented different types of structural changes to their logistics systems support the analysis.

A range of different measures to succeed in environmental as well as logistics performance are presented, comprising types of consolidation, logistics standardisation, and IS/IT solutions allowing a vast restructuring of logistics systems.

The discussion about logistics and the environment has mostly revolved around more environmental friendly technological solutions, concerning single firms as well as governmental support for technology development. The structural, more organisational issues, have been addressed on a societal level, where solutions concern infrastructure. There is a need to reduce the amount of transport in general. The paper discusses how logistics systems' environmental performance can be improved simultaneously with a non‐reduction of logistics performance in terms of costs and delivery service.

This paper seeks to investigate whether linkages, proposed by previous researchers, among business strategies and structural and infrastructural investment decisions of manufacturing are empirically supported.

A sample of 101 US manufacturing firms is classified into three groups based on their predominant business strategies. The classification is validated using analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests on the taxons and on the environment in which the firms operate. ANOVA tests on manufacturing investment decisions are then used to address the central question of the paper – whether the three business strategy groups differ in their emphasis on structural and infrastructural areas of manufacturing.

The three business strategy‐based groups of firms, labeled broad‐based competitors, differentiators, and price leaders, differ in their emphasis on several of the structural and infrastructural areas of manufacturing, thus supporting the contention of linkages among business strategy and manufacturing investment decisions.

The popular notion of linkages among business strategies and investments in structural and infrastructural areas of manufacturing is empirically tested.

The purpose of this paper is to show that participants read vignettes in which managers were assigned different roles. The vignettes depicted managers with two leadership styles (transformational/transactional) and two decision‐making approaches (comprehensive/restrictive). The managers were then rated on patterns of organizational justice (social/ structural). Leadership and decision‐making styles affected different forms of justice.

Participants rated performance‐evaluation vignettes depicting leadership style, decision‐making approach, and organizational justice patterns on the part of hypothetical managers/leaders.

Managers portrayed as transformational leaders were rated high on social justice, whereas leaders rated as transactional were high on structural justice. Managers portrayed as restricted in their decision‐making approach were rated lower on social justice compared with managers who used a more comprehensive decision style. Justice ratings were significantly influenced by leadership style and decision

It is suggested that an increased awareness regarding organizational justice is imperative for all decision and leadership styles, and that social justice can occur in brief but powerful encounters that can be executed by any manager or leader.

If organizations, managers, and leaders attend to justice issues, they will foster healthier and more productive workplace environments that extend beyond immediate performance indicators (e.g. budget, quarterly profits, sales and revenue). A focus on organizational justice will create long‐term performance cultures (by fostering employee development, extending genuine regard for employee contributions and wellbeing, and leveraging employee commitment), and lead companies to sustainability.

We take Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT) seriously by rigorously estimating structural models using the full set of CPT parameters. Much of the literature only estimates a subset of CPT parameters, or more simply assumes CPT parameter values from prior studies. Our data are from laboratory experiments with undergraduate students and MBA students facing substantial real incentives and losses. We also estimate structural models from Expected Utility Theory (EUT), Dual Theory (DT), Rank-Dependent Utility (RDU), and Disappointment Aversion (DA) for comparison. Our major finding is that a majority of individuals in our sample locally asset integrate. That is, they see a loss frame for what it is, a frame, and behave as if they evaluate the net payment rather than the gross loss when one is presented to them. This finding is devastating to the direct application of CPT to these data for those subjects. Support for CPT is greater when losses are covered out of an earned endowment rather than house money, but RDU is still the best single characterization of individual and pooled choices. Defenders of the CPT model claim, correctly, that the CPT model exists “because the data says it should.” In other words, the CPT model was borne from a wide range of stylized facts culled from parts of the cognitive psychology literature. If one is to take the CPT model seriously and rigorously then it needs to do a much better job of explaining the data than we see here.

The purpose of this paper is to unveil how Johor Bahru resident’s conceptions are affected by various structural housing attributes. The determination of an appropriate combination of housing preferences requires a great deal of involvement to balance a complex interplay of factors. This is attributable to this fact that housing preferences involve multiple-criteria decision-making, as each element has its own perceived relative importance. Accordingly, this study examines the resident housing preferences of Johor Bahru located in southern Malaysia with specific emphasis on the priority of structural attributes of housing preferences.

Using data collected through the theoretical and conceptual framework of non-structural fuzzy decision support system (NSFDSS) applied to facilitate the priority setting process.

Priority lists of preferences for structural housing attributes showing the contribution of each factor within their respective level and not the contribution of that factor toward the overall housing preferences were established.

By providing primary information about how potential buyers of a new house prioritize the different elements of a house design, the obtained results can make a useful contribution to the knowledge of individuals engaged in the housing development industry.

While in examining consumers’ housing choice and preferences, most studies use the hedonic price framework studying the issue from several aspects, this is first study dedicated to establish a priority of housing attribute using NSFDSS.

The purpose of this paper is to report on an inductive research that analyzes the unique decisions of three firms that shape their business model and, consequently, provide a competitive advantage.

Given the paucity of prior research on the effect that a firm’s business model has on its competitive advantage, addressing the research question warrants an in-depth qualitative study. The study requires explicitly capturing decisions from a firm’s chosen business model and how these decisions are linked to its competitive advantage. The authors take on an inductive research approach to study three longitudinal case studies of organizations that have either successfully implemented their adopted business model or are implementing unique business models.

First, the authors identify nine different theoretically grounded propositions based on decisions taken by the firms the authors studied, which shape their business model and give them a competitive advantage. Second, the authors look at these decisions in an integrated manner and categorize these into structural decisions and strategic decisions. Third, the authors extend an existing line of thought that predominantly views the business model as complementary to a firm’s product or service innovation. The authors emphasize on the criticality of the business model as a higher level construct formed from multiple structural and strategic decisions that, eventually, become a source of competitive advantage.

The findings help to identify a possible theoretical explanation of newer forms of organization, evolving from product, process or service innovation, combined with their unique business model. They help in guiding practitioners to identify sources of competitive advantage through the innovative business models.

I. Introduction The general manager of a state owned manufacturing plant in a developing country has to decide how to allocate production between two products. The first product is more profitable, but the second is a priority product which the government wants to produce inside the country. Demand for the second product is uncertain, so that producing too much may decrease profits without increasing market satisfaction, while producing too little could result in unfavourable government and public reaction. This problem is typical of many decision‐making situations in the modern world—the dilemma posed by multiple, conflicting objectives in an uncertain environment.

This study aimed for the examination of the change decision-making approaches utilised by academic library directors and the identification and explanation of the determinants of the utilised approaches.

The data were collected from a survey. The content analysis was utilised to analyse the qualitative data. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the quantitative data.

The findings resulted in the identification of the approaches used to make change decisions and three categories of determinants. Directors actually utilised multiple and dual approaches more than single approaches to make change decisions. The determinants of number of library branches, number of subordinates, total years of directorship and years of present position played a significant role in the utilised approaches to making change decisions. However, the findings demonstrate that the determinants of age, gender, library size, library type, number of different positions, total years of library service and education level were not significant determinants of the utilised approaches to making change decisions.

The limitation is that the results of this study are not applicable and generalisable to academic libraries beyond this classification using in this study.

The change decision-making approaches and the identified determinants will be useful and valuable for leaders and managers to make better decisions while managing change in the digital age.

The identification of the approaches and determinants provides information professionals with new knowledge and enables them to reflect the determinants of the utilised approaches and to make better change decisions in a given situation.

Stage models have benefited global managers by seeing internationalization as an evolutionary and learning process that involved making careful and incremental changes. What the stage models lack, however, are specification of internal problems and hurdles that managers will face during this organizational change process. We attempted to fill this knowledge gap by exploring types of managerial dilemmas that organizations will confront as they internationalize. This adaptive choice process of internationalization was discussed in this paper through the case of a domestic company during its overseas expansion. Our research shows that the internationalization process often creates managerial dilemmas for organizations in terms of strategic, structural, and human resource changes. There are also strong interactions among these dilemmas such that the decision regarding one dilemma may often impact how other dilemmas can be resolved Firms that are able to resolve these dilemmas, while considering their interactions, can become more successful in their internationalization process. These findings were developed into propositions regarding how companies can manage the process of internationalization more successfully. We also addressed specifically how the adaptive choice model would complement the stage models and enrich our understanding of the corporate internationalization process.