On the surface, things haven't changed. In 1971, Professor Myles L. Mace, in his seminal study, Directors: Myth and Reality, reported that the typical board does not get involved…
Abstract
On the surface, things haven't changed. In 1971, Professor Myles L. Mace, in his seminal study, Directors: Myth and Reality, reported that the typical board does not get involved in the establishment of objectives, strategies, and policies. Recently, more than a decade later, the author conducted a study of the boards of more than 225 U.S.‐based firms in which the majority of chairmen, contrary to what was subsequently found to be their practice, indicated that their boards are not involved in strategic planning.
John W. Henke, Ravi Parameswaran and R. Mohan Pisharodi
Manufacturer price reduction pressure on suppliers is an important contributor to helping a manufacturer maintain a strong competitive position by keeping costs low. The benefits…
Abstract
Purpose
Manufacturer price reduction pressure on suppliers is an important contributor to helping a manufacturer maintain a strong competitive position by keeping costs low. The benefits of trusting supplier working relations also help strengthen a manufacturer's competitive position. The purpose of this paper is to determine if manufacturer price reduction pressure and trusting working relations with the pressured suppliers, typically considered to be mutually exclusive, can co‐exist.
Design/methodology/approach
A structural equation modeling approach was used to analyze data covering 946 production buying situations involving 279 suppliers and six NA automotive OEMs.
Findings
Manufacturer price reduction pressure and trusting working relations with the pressured suppliers, are not mutually exclusive, they can co‐exist.
Research limitations/implications
The research found that it is not the pressure that impacts the manufacturer – supplier relations, but rather it is the manner by which the manufacturer goes about pressuring its suppliers that impacts its supplier working relations. The research, however, does not directly address how a manufacturer can achieve both ends simultaneously.
Practical implications
Manufacturers no longer have to choose between exerting price reduction pressures on suppliers or working to achieve trusting relations with suppliers. They can successfully do both. At the same time, suppliers must recognize that these conditions may occur and when applied simultaneously ultimately benefit both parties.
Originality/value
This research adds to the critically under‐researched B2B pricing processes and pricing impact areas, while helping to influence managerial actions, an area in which academic B2B research is considered to be lacking.
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Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.
Abstract
Purpose
Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.
Design/methodology/approach
This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.
Findings
Facilitating a flourishing stream of innovation requires its own innovative practices, and ways of finding out today what tomorrow's customers need – even if they do not know that now.
Practical implications
Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.
Originality/value
The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to digest format.
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Noel Scott, Brent Moyle, Ana Cláudia Campos, Liubov Skavronskaya and Biqiang Liu
A great deal of economic knowledge comes in the form of statistics, tables, graphs, and reports. In government, such materials often abound and point policymakers into different…
Abstract
A great deal of economic knowledge comes in the form of statistics, tables, graphs, and reports. In government, such materials often abound and point policymakers into different directions. Nonetheless, some materials evidently are more effective than others. Why is that? This chapter examines how high-level administrators reconfigure an institutional setup, so that it produces effective economic materials. A range of other supply-side strategies are discussed, too. The chapter takes a historical approach and focuses on actual practices. It examines activities and materials by rivaling actors in the American military administration of Germany, OMGUS, during 1945/46. The chapter finds that actors make materials effective through two interlocking strategies. First, actors re-engineer an institution in order to control which materials it produces and disseminates; second, actors align and adapt the specific content, form, and delivery of materials to their broader aim. The chapter supplements the economic history of Germany after World War II with a historical epistemologist perspective. It shows that the shift of US policy from economic restriction to reactivation was facilitated by a group of actors in OMGUS. By re-engineering the institution and creating official materials with a consistent narrative, they succeeded in transmitting their view, the need for economic reactivation, to the Washington administration.
Joao Pedro Couto and Jose Cabral Vieira
This paper examines the effect of national culture on the process of innovation and research and development activities in the subsidiaries of multinational companies. For this…
Abstract
This paper examines the effect of national culture on the process of innovation and research and development activities in the subsidiaries of multinational companies. For this purpose, we use a sample of 222 subsidiaries for five European countries. The paper has drawn up two important findings. Firstly, cultural dimensions such as individualism, masculinity, power distance and uncertainty avoidance influence research and development activities of the subsidiaries. Secondly, the type of management model, defined according to the location of the parent company, influence the organization of the research and development activities.
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Elizabeth Parkin has joined Macpherson Paints Ltd, said to be Britain's third largest trade paint manufacturer, as market development manager with specific responsibility for…
V. Jayakumar and M.N. Vinodkumar
Transport industry is one of the leading accident causing industries all around the world. Personal attributes like educational qualification, work experience, marital status…
Abstract
Purpose
Transport industry is one of the leading accident causing industries all around the world. Personal attributes like educational qualification, work experience, marital status, consumption of alcohol, hours of work of bus drivers are known to influence such accidents. In the present study, the mediating effects of Workplace spirituality (WS) among bus drivers between the personal attributes and job performance variables like self-reported accidents, punishments and appraisals are carried out.
Design/methodology/approach
A mediation analysis of WS between personal attributes and job performances of bus drivers is conducted in the present study. Since there is scarcity of studies measuring the effects of WS of bus drivers, new scale to measure WS was developed. The study was carried out in the government-owned road transport corporation in the state of Kerala, India. Responses were obtained from 617 male drivers.
Findings
Using exploratory factor analysis, four factors were identified, namely Meaningful work, Sense of Community, Mindfulness and Compassion. Confirmatory factory analysis provided good fit. The intercorrelations of personal attributes of drivers (independent variables) between WS factors (mediating variables) and job performance variables (dependent variables) were found out. Mediation analysis showed complete mediation of WS factors between marital status, alcohol consumption, hours of work and job performances like number of self-reported accidents, punishments and appraisals. The WS levels of drivers decrease significantly as working hours per goes beyond the legally allowed working hours.
Originality/value
Psychological attributes like Mindfulness, Sense of community, compassion etc. which are collectively known as WS influence the job performances of employees in other industries. Yet it is not studied in the transport industry. Hence, in the present study, the levels of WS are studied among bus drivers of government-owned road transport corporation in the State of Kerala, India.