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1 – 10 of over 1000Research has shown the potential contribution of properly managed suppliers to the competitive position of firms. Major strategy schools of thought such as the industry view and…
Abstract
Purpose
Research has shown the potential contribution of properly managed suppliers to the competitive position of firms. Major strategy schools of thought such as the industry view and the resource-based view have evolved in their perspective about supplier’s contributions, replacing a transactional perspective of supplier management with a more comprehensive view of their role in corporate strategy. This study aims to understand if procurement professionals have evolved in the same direction.
Design/methodology/approach
During a corporate wide assessment for a large consumer product corporation, the author had the opportunity to incorporate a four-statement question aimed at identifying the perception of value creation by different levels of procurement staff. The answers were compared with responses of a reference group that comprised business school students who had never been exposed to professional procurement as a function or skill.
Findings
The results show that buyers, even at senior levels, more clearly identify value as the result of price negotiation, a functional perspective, than as the construction of sustainable competitive advantages, the shareholder perspective. They do not discriminate sufficiently between short-term transactional value transfer and long-term shareholder value capture.
Research limitations/implications
The study was conducted on a sample of 500 people from four continents but limited to a single corporate environment. This study focused on innovation as a source of value and competitive advantages.
Originality/value
The paper shows to corporate deciders the impact of overly cost-focused procurement departments. This study reinforces their need to better balance the objectives assigned to their procurement team. This study outlines the steps necessary to align the cultural competitiveness of procurement to the objectives of the firm, with an extended enterprise scope.
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Thomas Van Asch, Wouter Dewulf and Eddy Van de Voorde
Assessing air cargo strategy from an airport's perspective is relatively novel, and it seems little attention has been paid to this research area. This chapter will address this…
Abstract
Assessing air cargo strategy from an airport's perspective is relatively novel, and it seems little attention has been paid to this research area. This chapter will address this research gap by introducing an Airport Cargo Strategy Canvas, designed to help build cargo strategies for individual airports.
The Airport Cargo Strategy Canvas can be used as a tool to analyze and improve the air cargo strategy of an airport. The first part of this chapter will explain the different components of the Airport Cargo Strategy Canvas more in detail. The horizontal axis on the canvas differentiates between exogenous and endogenous drivers of airport competitiveness. The vertical axis distinguishes between the airport product and the airport market. The canvas also considers potential disruptors and principal shareholders' objectives. The different components of the canvas allow the analyst to dig into the main features and differentiators of respective airports. The canvas might also be helpful to structure and compare the strategic components and framework of their own or competitors' cargo strategies.
In the second part, the Airport Cargo Strategy Canvas was applied to Brussels Airport to analyze its cargo strategy. The canvas showed several strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats in its current cargo strategy. The completed canvas will let Brussels Airport's executives explore and analyze the strategy of their main competitors and peers' strategy and help them identify potential gaps in their strategies.
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The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a link between responsible leadership and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Luxembourg and also to determine…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a link between responsible leadership and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Luxembourg and also to determine Luxembourg’s specifics in the field of CSR.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a qualitative study. In total, 64 semi-structured interviews were conducted from January to August 2017 with four culturally different samples: Luxembourgers with Luxembourgish nationality, foreigners who reside in Luxembourg, cross-borderers and the rest of the world.
Findings
Responses from all four samples were similar on the one hand and quite contradictory on the other. Three groups were formed: euphoric respondents who said it is the authenticity of the leader and his modelling role in lived CSR; moderate respondents; critical respondents who deny any link between responsible leadership and CSR and claim for change and innovation, accusing the high Uncertainty Avoidance Index. In their opinion, there is an urgent need for managers to learn responsible leadership and CSR.
Practical implications
This paper contributes to the discussion on change and innovation in the field of leadership theory with particular emphasis on responsible leadership following Michael Maccoby, on multilingual and multicultural Luxembourg in the middle of Europe following Geert Hofstede and Edgar Schein and on CSR following Thomas Maak and Nicole Pless.
Originality/value
This study is a combination of research on responsible leadership and CSR in Luxembourg in connection with Hofstede’s cultural dimensions: high long-term orientation, high uncertainty avoidance and high collectivism (low individualism).
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Suwit Srimai, Jack Radford and Chris Wright
This paper aims to understand the evolutionary paths of performance measurement (PM) from the 1980s to the present.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to understand the evolutionary paths of performance measurement (PM) from the 1980s to the present.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a narrative review. The sources of literature reviewed are from diverse academic disciplines (e.g. operations management, strategic management, management accounting and organisational behaviour). Three main types of literature were selected, namely scientific literature, professional journals, and books. The authors' approach is illustrative and selective. It is based on the belief that societal and organisational contexts provide the clues for the appropriateness in design and use of a managerial innovation. It describes the transition in performance measurement, incorporating a number of PM innovations as illustrative exemplars.
Findings
Management needs, arriving from the evolving business ecology and focused on creating and sustaining competitive advantage, drive the destiny of PM systems during their evolutionary progression. Performance measurement has evolved from various perspectives. The evolution took place in four major paths, from operations to strategic, measurement to management, static to dynamic and economic‐profit to stakeholder focus.
Practical implications
The evolutions embody trends in development and use of PM systems over the long periods that point the way for future PM to develop and evolve.
Originality/value
The contemporary evolution of PM exhibited in the connection with its evolving contexts that is not explicitly acknowledged in the literature gives the raison d'être to this review.
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Muhammad Irfan Khan and Athar Iqbal
This is an acceptable fact that firms put efforts to maximize shareholders wealth but there is growing demand that firms are also accountable to various stakeholders associated…
Abstract
This is an acceptable fact that firms put efforts to maximize shareholders wealth but there is growing demand that firms are also accountable to various stakeholders associated directly or indirectly with the firms' business activities. Investors now evaluate firm's performance not only from financial perspective but also consider environment, social, and governance (ESG) factors when taking investment decision. ESG is not visible in firm's annual financial reports but investors do not deny its significance when valuing firms. There are increasing interests in ESG by communities, professionals, and government bodies, and all are interested to keep it as part of firms' regular activity and have to relate it with firm performance and efficiency that affects firm value. Still, there are difficulties in integration of ESG factors into investment decision-making, but efforts are being put to overcome all the issues. Firms which consider ESG are in a good position to achieve their long-term financial goals as they are likely to attract capital, lower borrowing costs, mitigate risks, and maximize shareholders value.
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Visionary management is a key issue for all organizations. It is a never‐ending journey toward competitive advantage. By making visionary thinking a part of your daily routine…
Abstract
Visionary management is a key issue for all organizations. It is a never‐ending journey toward competitive advantage. By making visionary thinking a part of your daily routine, you will integrate it into all aspects of your work. This should become your organization’s way of life. This article introduces a visionary management model, based on an ambiguous mission, vision, core values, smart goals, strategies, critical success factors, and related performance indicators. It is based on the most recent book of the author.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there is a systematic real estate risk factor in retail firms' common stock returns and whether this risk is priced in the stock…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there is a systematic real estate risk factor in retail firms' common stock returns and whether this risk is priced in the stock market. In addition, whether the real estate risk sensitivities of retail stocks are linked to each firm's real estate intensity is investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
With a sample of 556 retail firms from 15 countries and a three‐index model with a domestic stock market and a retail market factor, as well as a real estate risk factor as the three explanatory variables, the paper appeals to the maximum likelihood methodology of Gibbons which estimates factor sensitivity coefficients and factor risk premia simultaneously using an iterative seemingly unrelated regression (ITSUR) technique, as well as the generalized method of moments (GMM) procedure. In addition, the paper investigates whether the individual retail firms' real estate βs are affected by the firms' CRER levels and other financial characteristics, using instrumental variables estimation technique via three‐stage least squares (3SLS).
Findings
The paper finds property market risks carry positive risk premia after controlling for sensitivities to general market and retail market risks, implying that real estate is an important factor priced in the stock market value of the sample retail firms. However, higher real estate concentration does not necessarily cause higher real estate exposure after controlling for firm size, leverage and growth, implying that stock market investors are unwilling or unable to understand and capture the full risk real estate ownership risk in corporate valuation.
Research limitations/implications
From the corporate management viewpoint, those retail firms with a significant real estate portfolio should always consider the “real estate exposure” factor in their overall corporate strategy. Their high real estate exposure renders them vulnerable to shocks in the real estate market.
Originality/value
The paper offers insights into whether real estate is an important factor in corporate valuation
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During recent years, financial economists have made a significant contribution to the rapid development of a vibrant and growing literature on organization structure and corporate…
Abstract
During recent years, financial economists have made a significant contribution to the rapid development of a vibrant and growing literature on organization structure and corporate governance. In reviewing the development of this literature, it becomes easy to see how the seminal contributions of Ronald Coase (awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1991) have become the cornerstone of a new institutional economics. In particular, researchers following in Coase’s footsteps have clarified the conditions under which voluntary contracts between private agents can resolve a wide variety of so-called “agency problems.” More than just representing an important discovery of the significance of transaction costs and property rights for the institutional structure and functioning of the economy, Coase’s work has become an important foundation for the theory of contracts and for the whole field of “organization economics.”
Michaela Lipkin and Kristina Heinonen
This study aims to characterize how ecosystem actors shape customer experience (CX). The study also proposes implications for managers and research regarding the customer…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to characterize how ecosystem actors shape customer experience (CX). The study also proposes implications for managers and research regarding the customer ecosystem, its actors and actor constellations in the context of CXs.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative study is conducted among activity tracker users to identify how actors within their ecosystems shape CXs. Data include 28 in-depth interviews and ten self-reported diaries.
Findings
This study delineates six actor categories in the customer ecosystem shaping CX within and beyond the service. The number of actors and their importance to the focal customer in various actor constellations form individual-, brand- and socially driven ecosystems. These customer ecosystem types show how actors combine to drive CXs.
Research limitations/implications
Researchers should shift their attention to experiences emerging in the customer’s lifeworld. A customer ecosystem highlights the customer-centered actor configuration emergent within the customer’s lifeworld. It is self-constructed based on the customer’s reference point.
Practical implications
Managers should aim to locate, monitor and join the customer’s lifeworld to gain more insight into how CXs emerge in the customer ecosystem based on customer logic.
Social implications
Customers are not isolated actors simply experiencing service; rather, they construct idiosyncratic actor constellations that include various providers, social groups and peers.
Originality/value
This paper extends the theory on CXs by illustrating how the various actors and actor constellations forming the customer ecosystem shape CXs.
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