Search results

This paper aims to highlight dysfunctional multi-stakeholder relations and negative business outcomes, evidenced in lose/lose results, exacerbated by failure to acknowledge strategic business focus as a means to redress problematic business thinking and practice amongst key leadership teams associated with achieving balance between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility.

The reframed strategic business focus has been developed using Eastern philosophy and Western organization theory and refers to four case examples of dysfunctional business thinking and practice.

Strategic business focus results from an interdependent and complementary positive mediating relationship between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility, which is moderated by organization culture (organization core values, including shared value) and strategic human resource management (talent and mindset).

Strategic business focus as proposed has not been empirically tested but seeks to address a conceptualization that competing business and stakeholder agendas are interdependent and complementary.

Strategic business focus seeks to redress traditional win/lose and lose/lose business outcomes, by supporting win/win results, represented by shared value amongst multi-stakeholders.

Strategic business focus seeks to provide a means whereby corporate social responsibility, particularly the social contract, plays a key role in the decisions and practices of key leadership teams and the behaviour of corporate staff in host environments when seeking competitive advantage.

Eastern thinking and behaviour are usually undervalued in the western business literature, particularly in western business practice. Joint attention, however, may improve competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility agendas in support of diverse management practices, including shared value.

The Medical Research Council's Committee has issued its Second Report on Hazards to Man of Nuclear and Allied Radiations. From time to time we report on the monitoring of foods for radioactive substances, mainly Strontium 90, by the laboratories of the Agricultural Research Council and a few local authorities. The “maximum permissible levels” of radiation for individuals to which these measurements are related are those contained in the Committee's First Report (1956). Since this much work has been done making increasing numbers of measurements. In particular, background radiation from natural sources has been measured in detail. This constitutes the largest dose of radiation to the ordinary population—an average annual doserate in millirads in the range of 85 to 106. In comparison, radiation from its increased use in modern life and also from radioactive fall‐out is extremely small. Medical radiological procedures, after a nation‐wide survey of hazards to patients, are not so important as was first believed, but nonetheless contribute a larger dose than any other source of man‐made radiation, approximately 19 millirads per annum. The Adrian Committee, which conducted the review of radiological practice, considered that the dose could be reduced to 6 mr., without curtailment of radiological services.

First in a series of three articles, addressing the literature and current practice on career management. The series begins by questioning the traditional perspective of careers and centres largely on intraorganizational issues and continuous upward movement. Suggests that interorganizational, interindustry and international career mobility are not only viable career options but becoming increasingly important. Given the changing nature of the global business community and apparent increasing practice of manager transfer as well as the increasing need to address more creative career options for managers, the importance of an examination of manager mobility and associated career practices would seem appropriate.

The increasing literature on international human resource management has produced findings which are largely repetitive and anecdotal and as such are contributing to a reemerging problem for Australian business enterprises wishing to increase their international business activity. The problem concerns the factors which organizations need to consider in most effectively developing and managing international management career programmes. What has traditionally been missing is a strategic framework that links appropriate international human resource management practices with an enterprise′s international business agenda. Develops an argument around this central theme which provides an overview of the need to address what is an emerging problem for Australian business enterprises – how international management careers are best developed and managed in the context of a firm′s human resource management strategy and its strategic international business activity.

Issues, which have negatively impacted a diversity of business stakeholders, suggest that business thinking and leadership behaviors surrounding a desired strategic business focus appear increasingly inadequate. For example, that integration strategies and differentiation strategies are mutually exclusive. Three issues appear to contribute to such circumstances.

First, Western strategic business frameworks are largely based on quantitative foci, and remain largely unchallenged. Second, balance between key leadership team agendas and external stakeholder expectations is usually absent. Third, there is minimal connection between what organizational cultures reward, and how human resource management prescriptions provide support.

To address such concerns and implant a renewed strategic business focus, Porter and Kramer (2006, 2011) have identified the notion of shared value, which seems an appealing means to redress business problems represented by negative multistakeholder relations; moreover, an absence of any contemporary acknowledgment of the social contract. Nevertheless, a number of elements appear to be missing from the how shared value is portrayed by Porter and Kramer (2006, 2011).

Based on Maslow’s notion of Eupsychia, and employing an Ideation approach, a renewed strategic business focus supporting the notion of shared value is presented. The renewed focus seeks to enhance Porter and Kramer’s (2011) framework, by including key features to enhance shared value, including elements of Eastern and Western philosophy, and Western organization theory.

Problematic examples, identifying the absence of shared value, and including research propositions are identified.

Understanding the concept of a knowledge‐based economy; having a vision to make a new knowledge economy competitive; and creating and implementing a strategy to achieve that vision, would all seem to be fundamental steps for any economy striving to compete in the new global knowledge marketplace. While such issues may appear obvious, how many economies have actually responded effectively to these challenges? This paper first examines the concept of a knowledge‐based economy and then evaluates the relative performance of Australia across a profile of key knowledge‐based performance indicators. Finally, the paper addresses some key challenges facing Australia, and most other OECD economies, as they try to compete in this knowledge race in the new millennium.

Presents a model of strategic international career management. Argues that while existing career models assist in providing a strategic focus to organizational career management, in that they match career practice with business strategy, they essentially fail to recognize the inherent differences that exist in international career moves vis‐à‐vis more traditional domestic career mobility. As there are significant differences in work role transition when an international career move takes place, there has been a failure to recognize that international career moves are, as has been suggested elsewhere, transitional, discontinuous, recursionary and stage‐interdependent in nature. Stresses the centrality of these career considerations, inherent in international career mobility and generally missing from existing career models to the development of the strategic international career management model advanced.

The disproportionate representation in juvenile justice systems of children who are, or have been, in the care of the state is a major cause of concern internationally. However, the experiences of this particular group are largely absent from both policy debates and the international research base. This paper aims to correct that deficit by exploring the lived experiences of residential care, justice-involved children.

An interpretivist investigation of care experienced children’s perceptions of their experiences, involving semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 19 children in England who were simultaneously in residential care and subject to youth justice supervision. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis.

Care-experienced children described how their experiences of residential care environments and regimes have undermined their sense of how they see themselves, now and looking to the future. Against this background of disrupted identity, they also reported stigmatising interactions with staff that leave them feeling labelled both as a generic “looked-after child” and as a “bad kid”.

The findings are based on the perceptions of a group of children in the criminal justice system, which, although reflecting the experiences of those with negative outcomes, may not be representative of all children in residential care.

The findings have implications for those responsible for the care and development of care-experienced children, as well policymakers concerned with reducing the numbers of care-experienced children in youth justice. Those responsible for the care and development of care-experienced children should consider steps to reduce how factors outlined here disrupt a child’s sense of self and introduce criminogenic labelling and stigma.

Despite a number of studies seeking to understand why the number of care experienced children in the youth justice system is disproportionate, there is very little empirical work that seeks to understand the experiences and perceptions of children currently both in care and the criminal justice system. This paper seeks to correct this deficit, by detailing how children who are both in residential care and subject to youth justice supervision view their care experiences. The implications of this for policy, practice and further research are then explored.