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Article
Publication date: 10 April 2017

Yaqun Yi, Meng Gu and Zelong Wei

How do firms make effective strategic change when competitive advantage deteriorates fast in a dynamic environment? Based on information-processing theory and organizational…

5575

Abstract

Purpose

How do firms make effective strategic change when competitive advantage deteriorates fast in a dynamic environment? Based on information-processing theory and organizational inertia theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how bottom-up learning affects the speed and magnitude of strategic change and if these relationships are contingent on strategic flexibility.

Design/methodology/approach

Using data of 213 firms in China, the authors conduct an empirical test of hypotheses through a stepwise multivariate regression approach.

Findings

The empirical study suggests that resource flexibility weakens the positive relationship between bottom-up learning and the speed of strategic change while strengthens the impact of bottom-up learning on the magnitude of strategic change. In addition, coordination flexibility strengthens the positive impact of bottom-up learning on the speed and magnitude of strategic change.

Originality/value

The findings not only provide a more nuanced and in-depth understanding of strategic change, but also offer strong guidance for firms on how to make better use of strategic flexibility in order to benefit from bottom-up learning.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 30 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 May 2011

Zelong Wei, Yaqun Yi and Changhong Yuan

The purpose of this paper is to address the conflicting views on the role of bottom‐up learning; this research combines the information‐processing and organizational inertia views…

3773

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to address the conflicting views on the role of bottom‐up learning; this research combines the information‐processing and organizational inertia views to explore how bottom‐up learning affects both exploratory and exploitative innovations and if the effects are contingent on organizational formalization.

Design/methodology/approach

Data for this study are obtained through an interview survey instrument from 213 firms. The questionnaire is adopted from several previous studies on organizational learning, structure and innovation with minor translation adjust. A pilot test was conducted and necessary modifications were made to the questionnaire. Tests show that the sampling validity is not biased by non‐response bias and the measure reliability and validity are acceptable. Furthermore, Harman one‐factor and CFA tests show that the results should not be biased by common method bias. The multicollinearity is also tested and controlled during regression analysis.

Findings

The findings show that bottom‐up learning has accelerated positive effect on exploitative innovation while having an inverted U‐shaped effect on explorative innovation. Furthermore, the organizational formalization strengthens the positive effect of bottom‐up learning on exploitative innovation and the U‐shaped effect on exploratory innovation.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to organizational inertia and information‐processing theories by providing a complete picture on how firms built exploitative and exploratory innovations through bottom‐up learning aligned with appropriate organizational structure.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 24 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 1995

Jacob Thimor and Uri Fidelman

Finds a statistically significant relation between top‐down concept‐mapping and the right cerebral hemisphere, and between bottom‐up concept‐mapping and the right hemisphere…

234

Abstract

Finds a statistically significant relation between top‐down concept‐mapping and the right cerebral hemisphere, and between bottom‐up concept‐mapping and the right hemisphere. Correlates scores on concept‐mapping with scores on hemispheric tests, and compares the scores of the subjects on hemispheric tests with the preferable style of concept‐mapping. Concludes that top‐down concept‐mapping, the right hemisphere, and Frege’s logic are mutually related. Similarly, bottom‐up concept‐mapping, the left hemisphere, and Russell’s logic are mutually related.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 24 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 August 2020

Osama Mah'd

Educational institutions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are striving for better resource management and finance. The bottom-up budgeting approach plays an important…

Abstract

Purpose

Educational institutions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are striving for better resource management and finance. The bottom-up budgeting approach plays an important role in motivating executives' performance. The main aim of this paper is to discover whether there is a significant difference between bottom-up and a top-down approaches to budgeting in terms of managers' performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Questionnaires were distributed to 453 university executives in 21 MENA educational institutions. The Kruskal–Wallis test was utilized to test the difference between the three groups (bottom-up, top-down and consultative approaches). Further analysis was conducted to test the difference between the two groups using the Mann–Whitney test.

Findings

The results show that there is a significant difference between a bottom-up and top-down approach in terms of managerial performance. The study's findings indicate that the bottom-up approach to budgeting leads to higher performance indicators than a top-down approach to budgeting.

Originality/value

The current study contributes to the research as it increases awareness of budgeting approaches that are used in higher education institutions, specifically in terms of the effect of these differences on executives' performance.

Details

Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, vol. 32 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1096-3367

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 5 April 2021

Vitor Koki da Costa Nogami and Andres Rodriguez Veloso

The purpose of this paper is to explore the different concepts of innovation in the subsistence marketplace from top-down and bottom-up approaches. This study analyzes the…

1896

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the different concepts of innovation in the subsistence marketplace from top-down and bottom-up approaches. This study analyzes the literature on the theme and identified research gaps by constructing a framework based on approaches and innovation concepts, which can guide future research efforts. Additionally, this paper presents two case studies, which can improve the way innovation is developed and diffused in the subsistence marketplace.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a literature review, this study develops a framework by analyzing innovation concepts in the subsistence marketplace (i.e. base of the pyramid innovation, disruptive innovation, frugal innovation, reverse innovation and inclusive innovation) in light of subsistence marketplace approaches (top-down and bottom-up).

Findings

The analysis showed critical research gaps, especially a lack of studies involving disruptive and frugal innovations from a bottom-up approach. This paper also concludes that the top-down approach is more common than the bottom-up one. To fill these gaps, this study presents two business plans by illustrating disruptive innovation vs bottom-up approach and frugal innovation vs bottom-up approach.

Originality/value

The use of real business plans to illustrate proposals having an actual impact on subsistence marketplace regions sheds light on how to address these challenges. By doing so, this paper intends to fill the theoretical gap in disruptive and frugal innovations within a bottom-up approach to promote the development and diffusion of different types of innovation in the subsistence marketplace, and thus provide solutions to alleviate poverty.

Details

Innovation & Management Review, vol. 18 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2515-8961

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 10 November 2023

Aylin Ates, Peter McKiernan and Akwal Sunner

Strategic management is traditionally seen as an exclusive managerial task rather than inclusive where accountability is reserved for top managers. However, contemporary strategy…

Abstract

Strategic management is traditionally seen as an exclusive managerial task rather than inclusive where accountability is reserved for top managers. However, contemporary strategy management practices increasingly pay attention to equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) by engaging with broader internal and external stakeholders via more open business models such as ecosystems. Hence, central to our examination is the concept of openness disposition, which in the context of strategic management refers to the tendency of individuals, collectives, and managers to make strategy transparent, participatory, and/or inclusive, or look for closure. While openness in strategy is regarded as a positive means of contemporary management, fostering diversity, creativity, innovation, and empowerment, there are some researched downsides too. The purpose of this chapter is to address the openness puzzle in strategy and gain a deeper understanding of the dilemmas of bottom-up strategy initiatives, and investigate the associated dilemmas, if any in the context of manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs). We contribute to addressing the performative effects of the dynamic expansion and contraction in openness within the SME strategy process while using the concept of openness dilemmas, tensions, and disposition. Using the Management Control Theory, this chapter will combine theory with SME practitioners’ experiences of bottom-up strategy initiatives to increase EDI in their organisations. Based on findings that emerged from a four-year longitudinal multiple case study research with 10 European SMEs, we found that bottom-up strategy exercises are more interactive. They consider a greater number of views, increase legitimacy, and EDI at the workplace, and yield more process benefits, but are time-consuming and difficult to organise that require special attention to the capability, reciprocity, and credibility dimensions.

Details

Contemporary Approaches in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: Strategic and Technological Perspectives
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-089-2

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 3 December 2018

Madhu Viswanathan, Arun Sreekumar and Roland Gau

The authors look back and forward in terms of challenges and opportunities for marketing, viewed from the vantage point of the subsistence marketplaces stream. The authors discuss…

Abstract

The authors look back and forward in terms of challenges and opportunities for marketing, viewed from the vantage point of the subsistence marketplaces stream. The authors discuss how marketing can evolve and expand to address the scale and scope of challenges that lie ahead. By way of challenges, the authors discuss the confluence of uncertainties, such as inherent in the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) contexts, in environmental issues, and in the arena of technological solutions, as well as the confluence of unfamiliarities among managers, students, and researchers. The authors discuss opportunities for marketing through a bottom-up approach and argue for evolving marketing with rapidly changing reality in BoP markets, a harbinger and an innovation laboratory for all contexts.

Details

Bottom of the Pyramid Marketing: Making, Shaping and Developing BoP Markets
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-556-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 January 2022

Muhammad Ali, Mirit K. Grabarski and Alison M. Konrad

This study aims to investigate the impact of women’s representation at one hierarchical level on women’s representation above or below that level. No past research investigated…

1053

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the impact of women’s representation at one hierarchical level on women’s representation above or below that level. No past research investigated these effects in the hospitality and tourism industries. The mixed results of research in other industries and across industries demand tests of curvilinearity and moderators.

Design/methodology/approach

Using annual equality reports, a panel data set for 2010–2019 was created for the hospitality and tourism industries. The sample of 581 organizations had up to 5,810 observations over the 10 years.

Findings

The analyses show the following effects of women’s representation: an inverted U-shape from management to non-management, a U-shape from non-management to management and a U-shape from management to the executive team, with more pronounced effect in small organizations.

Practical implications

To increase the number of female employees, organizations should invest their resources in hiring and retaining female managers until a gender balance is reached while managing any backlash from men. The results suggest that organizations with more than 40% of women non-management employees and 50% of women managers start `experiencing positive bottom-up dynamics. Thus, efforts need to be made to attract and retain a women’s pipeline at the non-management and management levels.

Originality/value

This study delivers pioneering evidence of the top-down and bottom-up phenomena in hospitality and tourism. It refines evidence of such effects found in past research conducted in other industries and across industries.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 34 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 June 2016

George Christopher Banks, Jeffrey M. Pollack and Anson Seers

Conceptualizations of work coordination historically assumed that work systems are put into place and that these systems shape the ability of workers to accomplish tasks…

2305

Abstract

Purpose

Conceptualizations of work coordination historically assumed that work systems are put into place and that these systems shape the ability of workers to accomplish tasks. Formalization has thus long been invoked as an explanatory mechanism for work coordination. Recent studies have extended interest in emergent implicit and relational coordination, yet their underlying mechanisms of bottom-up coordination have yet to be explicated such that formal top-down coordination can be approached as a complementary mechanism rather than an alternative substitute. The purpose of this paper is to integrate the literatures related to coordination and routines, and extend analysis of bottom-up coordination toward an understanding of how it can be complemented by top-down formalized coordination of routines within organizations. Implications of this work, for both theory and practice, are discussed.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual review was conducted.

Findings

By integrating the literatures related to coordination and routines, the authors extend analysis of bottom-up coordination toward an understanding of how it can be complemented by top-down formalized coordination of routines within organizations.

Research limitations/implications

From a theory-based point of view, in the present work, the authors integrated the literatures related to coordination and routines and arrived at the conclusion that bottom-up coordination can be complemented by top-down formalized coordination of routines within organizations.

Practical implications

The authors suggest that there is a need in the contemporary workplace for implicit, relational processes to enable individuals to continuously assess what changes are needed and adapt coordinated routines to accomplish the task at hand. This propensity will continue to increase as technology facilitates even more seamless communication among employees, organizations, and external partners.

Originality/value

For the first time the authors integrate the literatures related to coordination and routines, in order to extend analysis of bottom-up coordination toward an understanding of how it can be complemented by top-down formalized coordination of routines within organizations.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 54 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 29 July 2021

John C.A.M. van Beers, Desirée H. van Dun and Celeste P.M. Wilderom

Lean implementations in hospitals tend to be lengthy or lack the desired results. In addressing the question, how can lean be implemented effectively in a hospital-wide setting…

3751

Abstract

Purpose

Lean implementations in hospitals tend to be lengthy or lack the desired results. In addressing the question, how can lean be implemented effectively in a hospital-wide setting, this paper aims to examine two opposing approaches.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors studied two Dutch university hospitals which engaged in different lean implementation approaches during the same four-year period: top-down vs bottom-up. Inductive qualitative analyses were made of 49 interviews; numerous documents; field notes; 13 frontline meeting observations; and objective hospital performance data. Longitudinally, the authors depict how the sequential events unfolded in both hospitals.

Findings

During the six implementation stages, the roles played by top, middle and frontline managers stood out. While the top managers of one hospital initiated the organization-wide implementation and then delegated it to others, the top managers of the other similar hospital merely tolerated the bottom-up lean activities. Eventually, only the hospital with the top-down approach achieved high organization-wide performance gains, but only in its fourth year after the top managers embraced lean in their own daily work practices and had started to co-create lean themselves. Then, the earlier developed lean infrastructure at the middle- and frontline ranks led to the desired hospital-wide lean implementation results.

Originality/value

Change-management insights, including basic tenets of social learning and goal-setting theory, are shown to advance the knowledge of effective lean implementation in hospitals. The authors found lean implementation “best-oiled” through role-modeling by top managers who use a phase-based process and engage in close cross-hierarchical or co-creative collaboration with middle and frontline managerial members.

Details

International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, vol. 13 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-4166

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 14000