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The economic structure of the new Europe is more complex than originally assumed. Here's a look at the new order and its impact on global competitive strategy.

This study investigates the role of functional area-specific managerial schemas on the attempt of strategic renewal at a large medical devices developer and manufacturer during a period of high environmental dynamism. Using data from a 16-month field study on managerial work related to the strategy process, I examine how functional area managers attempted to (re)configure organizational capabilities in response to various environmental challenges. While I did not find any disagreement between functional area managers related to what those challenges were, I did find fundamental disagreements related to what capabilities the organization can muster as a response. More specifically, disagreements surfaced in relation to how these capabilities should be assembled, and ultimately acted as triggers for the contestation of existing shared frames between functional area managers. These findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that there exist large differences between how managers within an organization interpret what the organization is capable of, and more specifically link these differences to the organization’s ability to adapt to environmental changes by showing how they impact the assembly of new capabilities deemed necessary for a successful response.

No one would argue that leaders have a myriad of significant responsibilities. Using a premise the authors support – leadership is a people business – they aim to utilize their more than 100 years combined leadership to answer the question: what, then, is the real work of the leader?

Narrative based on over 100 years of leadership and consultation on leadership with a wide variety of organizations.

The result is the eight roles of the leader, which are as follows: collaborative developer of mission, vision, and organizational core values; creator of a humanistic work environment; developer of people, builder of capabilities; Initiator of organization‐wide communications; role model of emotional intelligence; utilizer of strategic data; consensus seeker – risk taker; change agent.

The paper discusses each of the roles of the leader in some detail, using a model developed for this purpose. The paper does not attempt to deal with the production, product quality, financial, etc. responsibilities of the leader, only what the authors feel is the principal focus of leadership – the people.

The authors are leaders with over 100 years combined leadership experience. Some are leading theorists and practitioners as well. Defining exactly what is leadership has been a persistent problem for researchers and theorists. Discovering how to create or produce leaders likewise has been a difficult challenge over the years. This paper provides a model that encompasses both challenges to answer the fundamental question, what is the real work of the leader?

The authors share the observations of a combined 70 years of consultation with organizations, and input from tens of thousands of worldwide employees, to explore conventional barriers encountered in the work environment and how to “break‐out‐of‐the‐box” to find more creative solutions to organizational problems.

Narrative based on over 70 years of consultation with organizations on a wide variety of related managerial subjects.

Certain behaviors must precede any attempts to create a fulfilling, stimulating, and freedom‐to‐think, creative work environment. Formulation and fulfillment of a psychological contract, especially on the part of the organization's leaders – but also including employees – seems to be an effective process for the development of an open, healthy climate which is encouraging and conducive to the development of creativity. In the larger view of the organization, such freedom which comes from clear understanding and expression of expectations within the company significantly increases its transparency. With increased clarity of understanding of the work environment and supportive leadership, employees will go beyond the job minimums and offer creative, “out‐of‐the‐box” contributions.

A creative new look at an old but very critical subject.

During difficult economic times the media often highlight examples of failing or failed business organizations. In some cases the demise of corporations is examined in considerable detail often resulting in the following take‐home messages: these are the sins that have brought about your failure; and if things had been done differently you might still be a viable company. This paper aims to point out success stories from creative leaders who successfully navigated through challenging environments.

The paper draws on existing cases from the literature highlighting leaders who led their organizations to positive ends during turbulent times.

There are opportunities for company success despite difficult business environments.

It is rare to read about successful leadership practices during turbulent times. Yet, they do exist. The overwhelming number of examples and cases written about, however, are indeed in the negative direction, not the positive.

The purpose of this paper is to briefly discuss some aspects of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, potential applications, and challenges including scientific methods that will help to study the impacts of RFID implementation on businesses.

As an introductory paper, this paper conducts a brief literature review, provides personal reflection on RFID technology, and consolidates expert opinions.

This paper identifies a set of research topics that seem relevant for a large‐scale implementation of RFID systems. It brings up the importance of business impacts as a result of new RFID systems introduced to organizations.

The paper is original in the sense that it combines literature review, personal reflections, and expert opinions to draw a set of research topics that contribute to both acceptance and large‐scale implementation of RFID systems.