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Senior managements possess considerable discretion in making choices on personnel policy. Practice indicates a broad range of choice on a continuum from high strategic integration of human resource issues in strategic planning to more piecemeal ad hoc approaches to managing human resources. The particular approach adopted in organisations will reflect the interplay of internal and external factors in the organisation′s environment and establish the context for human resource development (HRD). A key external factor is the product market which affects managerial discretion in personnel policy choice. Important internal factors include competitive strategy and managerial values. Three benchmark dimensions underpin personnel policy choice in organisations – strategic integration, collectivism and individualism. Management positions on these dimensions become manifested in key areas of personnel policy such as the work system, communications, rewards, recruitment/employee development and the role of the personnel function. Looking at the Irish context a number of factors both encouraging and mitigating a greater strategic role for HRD may be identified.

The purpose of this article is to extend and reinforce previous research intended to demonstrate that a process model of decision making is conducive to strategic decision success. Using a strategic decision matrix with a two‐dimensional focus, 16 high‐visibility strategic decisions from different corporations in the 1990s are evaluated and classified to support the hypothesis that a formal decision‐making process is conducive to successful strategic decision outcomes. The results of this evaluation clearly indicate that, in the absence of a managerial decision‐making process, successful outcomes are unlikely to materialize. Conversely, although a process‐oriented approach to strategic choice affords no guarantee of a successful outcome, the likelihood of this occurrence tends to increase with this approach. This revisiting of strategic decision success confirms earlier research in this critical area. Hopefully, it will elicit subsequent research of a similar nature.

Based on the strategy tripod perspective, this study aims to address how emerging economy multinational enterprises (EMNEs) make a strategic decision of choosing a foreign location for their strategic asset seeking and under what mechanism EMNEs make foreign direct investment (FDI) location choice.

This paper first reviews the literature on strategy tripod and strategic asset seeking strategy of EMNEs. Then, six cases of Chinese multinational enterprises operating in manufacturing industry have been introduced, emphasizing on interactions within three dimensions of strategy tripod framework, namely, resource-based dimension, industry-based dimension and institution-based dimension. By triangulating with multiple sources of archival and interview data, this paper identified a conceptual model presenting location choice mechanisms.

Based on a comparative multi-case study, four mechanisms of EMNEs’ location choice when seek strategic asset by FDI within a strategy tripod framework have been revealed. Specifically, EMNEs make their strategic decision of choosing a foreign location for their strategic asset seeking under mechanisms of seeking complementary resources based on industry characteristics; echoing with institutional dimension of home country when exploitation of resource; matching institutional dimension of host country when consider industry fitness; and institutional leveraging combined with understanding of resource and industry dimensions inside strategy tripod.

The findings shed novel insights into the mechanisms under which EMNEs choose their location for strategic asset-seeking FDI. It also broadens the strategy tripod framework by looking deeper into the characteristics of each dimension within a new research context of EMNEs’ FDI location choice.

Upper echelons theory (UET) stands that cognitive bases of the CEO influence the field of vision and interpretation of the environment and affect its decisions about the firm. The main objective of the paper is to see if there are different CEO profiles, which can be associated with different strategic management choices.

Using a representative sample of 1,236 small firms in high- and medium-high-technology, both in industrial and service sectors, the authors identify five CEO typologies through cluster analysis. The classification is based on CEO's personal characteristics such as education, tenure in the company or entrepreneurial experience. Multivariate analysis is carried out to establish the possible association between belonging to these clusters and some strategic decisions such as orientation towards innovation, efficiency or internationalisation. The unit of analysis is the firm focusing on the CEO.

The authors conclude that it is possible to classify the CEOs of these companies into five well-differentiated groups, with specific profiles. We find a significant association between belonging to a CEO profile and strategic choices taken in the firm. Managers who have been CEOs in several companies and have some entrepreneurial experience frequently guide the company towards innovation and internationalisation. CEOs with a lot of experience but limited to a single company often look for process efficiency.

Furthermore, it is observed that the belonging of these clusters is not evenly distributed in the group of companies analysed. Instead, depending on size and family / no family issues, the authors find a different presence of the CEO typologies.

The work provides relevant information in the field of small-, high- and medium-high-technology companies in relation to the profile of the CEO.

La teoría de los estratos superiores (UET) sostiene que la base cognitiva del CEO influye en el campo de visión y la interpretación del entorno y afecta sus decisiones sobre la empresa. El objetivo principal del documento es ver si existen diferentes perfiles de CEO, que pueden asociarse con diferentes opciones de gestión estratégica.

Utilizando una muestra representativa de 1,236 pequeñas empresas de alta y media–alta tecnología tanto en el sector industrial como en el de servicios, identificamos cinco tipologías de CEO a través de análisis Cluster. La clasificación se hace en base a características personales del CEO tales como Formación, antigüedad en la empresa o experiencia emprendedora. Se llevan a cabo análisis multivariante para establecer la posible asociación entre la pertenencia a uno de esos clusters y algunas decisiones estratégicas como la orientación a la innovación, la eficiencia o la internacionalización. La unidad de análisis es la empresa focalizándonos en el CEO.

Encontramos que es posible clasificar a los CEOs de estas empresas en cinco grupos bien diferenciados, con perfiles específicos. Encontramos una asociación significativa entre la pertenencia a un perfil de CEO y las decisiones estratégicas tomadas en la firma. Los directivos que han sido CEO en varias empresas y tienen alguna experiencia emprendedora orientan con frecuencia la compañía hacia la innovación y la internacionalización. Los CEOS con mucha experiencia, pero limitada a una única empresa, buscan a menudo la eficiencia en los procesos.

Además, se observa que la pertenencia a esos clusters no se distribuye de manera uniforme en el colectivo de empresas analizado, sino que, dependiendo de si la empresa es industrial o de servicios, de su tamaño o si es o no familiar, encontramos distinta presencia de las tipologías de CEO.

El trabajo aporta una información relevante en el ámbito de las empresas pequeñas de alta y media alta tecnología en relación con las características del CEO.

The study of internal and external consistency of manufacturing choices is a central theme in the literature of manufacturing strategy. However, most empirical studies lack dynamic perspective in facing this problem. This paper explores on an empirical, longitudinal basis the role of strategic priorities and past experience in driving the selection of manufacturing improvement programmes. A completely aligned selection is expected when the choice of the improvement programme is coherent with both the change in manufacturing priorities and the past experience of the programme implementation. Partially aligned and misaligned choices derive from the coherence with only one or none of the two driving factors. Different patterns of selection have been detected that depend both on the programme and on company‐specific factors. Starting from the level of strategic alignment of company’s choices, guidelines are provided in order to manage effectively the process of manufacturing strategy formulation.

Conceptualizes a paradigm for strategic decision success that is based on a formal, managerial decision‐making process, advanced as part of a set of managerial attitudes towards the process and towards the decision itself. The resultant typology of strategic decisions is related to four sets of real‐world applications to validate the paradigm and to confirm the hypothesis that a formal managerial decision‐making process is conducive to strategic decision success. Concludes that an attainable objective set in an open, decision‐making process and pursued through a judgemental process in quest of a satisficing outcome is more likely to succeed.

Retailers face a multitude of strategic choices, with varying levels of risk, profitability and societal impact. Sifting through these options is a daunting task. In the literature, strategies have been successfully categorized using grids and matrices. Reviews first the strategy matrix approach, especially as applied to retailing; then introduces a topology of strategic choice in retailing which provides a way to assist retailers to think and manage strategically. The topology configures strategies into four directions: internal, horizontal, vertical and migrational. Internal strategies reside at the intraorganizational level and encompass various differentiation and time strategies. Horizontal strategies are expansionary and include choices on outlet numbers, internationalization, mergers and joint ventures. Vertical strategies turn the firm towards its suppliers and include supplier acquisition and improved buyer‐supplier relations. Migrational strategies are extraterritorial and involve radical changes of direction such as changes in outlet size category, location type and outlet type. Recognizing the synergistic interactions within and between the strategic directions is an important aspect of the analysis.

This article posits a paradigm of levels of success for strategic decision outcomes. A high level of strategic decision success is normally preceded by a positive strategic gap in which the strengths of the organization clearly outweigh its weaknesses. Three comprehensive cases are set forth as practical applications to illustrate and confirm the paradigm of levels of strategic decision success. Philip Morris’s decision in 1984 to diversify into the food processing industry is proffered as the epitome of a highly successful strategic choice. General Motors’ decision in 1978 to reinvent the corporation is advanced as a hallmark of a marginally successful strategic outcome. And Walt Disney’s decision in 1996 to acquire Capital Cities/ABC is cited as an example of a strategic choice with an indeterminately successful outcome. The conclusions in all three cases are supported by current research findings.

Research on strategic choices available to the firm are often modeled as a limited number of possible decision outcomes and leads to a discrete limited dependent variable. A limited dependent variable can also arise when values of a continuous dependent variable are partially or wholly unobserved. This chapter discusses the methodological issues associated with such phenomena and the appropriate statistical methods developed to allow for consistent and efficient estimation of models that involve a limited dependent variable. The chapter also provides a road map for selecting the appropriate statistical technique and it offers guidelines for consistent interpretation and reporting of the statistical results.

Much of the extant management research implies that the existence of industries and organizations depends on variables and factors largely beyond their control, and survival is the result of a happy confluence of their origins, events, and growth rather than actions of conscious volition. The authors suggest that industry circumstances can be overcome. So, rather than studying rates of organization population change as effects of environmental change, the authors propose that some managerial actions can be taken that, in the aggregate, will affect the industry context. Changes in concentration should influence the environment in which industry members will compete later. Migration moves and rationalization of production facilities, along with organization population pressures, should exert strong influences on changes in the industry environments. Such findings suggest that some degree of strategic choice is at work and that firms have some discretionary choice in their industries.