Search results

This article builds on a paper by McGuinness which examined the effects on UK alcohol consumption per head of time, real income per head, the real price of alcohol, the level of alcohol advertising and the numbers of retail alcohol outlets. This paper adds deaths, unemployment and inflation as explanatory variables.

Adopts a firm‐level approach and attempts to develop our understanding of the means through which different types of firm compete. Addresses specifically, a lacuna in existing knowledge by investigating a fundamental research question: “How do firms pursuing a prospector mode of market strategy differ from those pursuing a defender, analyzer or reactor strategy in terms of the product‐market positioning attributes they exhibit?“ Miles and Snow provide the basis for the assessment of strategy types, while “strategic market positioning” is characterised as the product‐market positions established by the firm. Conceptualises strategic market positioning as the ways in which firm‐specific resources and assets are deployed to build positional advantages in product‐markets. Presents analyses of data generated from high technology, medium and large, industrial manufacturing firms and discusses these results in the light of previous findings. Places particular emphasis on the distinguishing characteristics of prospector‐type firms. Identifies a number of potential research avenues from this study and discusses several implications for executives.

Presents a case analysis of Thorn Lighting Limited. The focus of discussion is the Spennymoor operations plant in the UK, whose mission is: “To supply the products required by the market, at the lowest possible cost, consistent with meeting our customers’ expectations on quality and delivery”. The plant employs just over 1,000 personnel and, since 1989, has undergone major organizational and cultural change enabling its market share to approximately double. Much of this has been attributed specifically to the close alignment of Thorn’s HR strategy and its overall business strategy, in particular to a cultural shift based on self‐managed teamworking and decentralized line management. The sustained business success being enjoyed by Thorn Lighting at Spennymoor is a powerful indicator of the company’s ability to create conditions for motivating and aligning people behind commercial goals. It has taken a decade, in a competitive market place, for such a strategy to mature.

The purpose of this research paper is to define a new construct, organisational change capability, which determines an organisation's effectiveness in implementing marketing strategy.

A framework is constructed based on a dynamic concept of strategy, implying that strategy implementation is a process of effectively leading and managing incessant organisational change. The new construct is defined by analysis and synthesis of key sources in prior literature on leading and managing organisational change.

The paper identifies organisational change capability as a distinctive new construct that integrates stages in leading and managing organisational change. The framework shows how the new construct relates to market orientation and learning orientation in jointly influencing the success of dynamic strategy outcomes.

The paper is conceptual, and requires empirical development.

The paper helps an organisation to understand the nature of change capability, and its role in effectively implementing marketing strategy.

The value of the paper lies in defining a new, distinctive construct that can be developed as an operational measure of an organisation's capability of effectively implementing marketing strategy.

A climate of austerity has gripped the politico-economic philosophy of many nation states across Europe and beyond as governments seek to rebalance budget deficits. This presents unique challenges for those engaged in purposeful acts aiming to regenerate communities of places – the regeneration managers.

England provides an interesting case study to examine some of the prime challenges facing regeneration managers by focusing on the ideologies that have informed successive UK governments’ policy responses and spatial strategies. The main body of research, including interviews, was carried out between 2010 and 2012, and was subsequently updated in early 2013.

Tracing an apparent transmutation of urban regeneration policy, the chapter helps to unmask a spatially unjust neoliberal toolkit, albeit pierced by some socially motivated actually existing regeneration initiatives. The transmutation of regeneration that has taken place is often concealed by de facto austerity measures and austerity politics.

The programme of interviews remains ongoing, as the research continues to track the shifting contours of state-led regeneration policy. Analysis is therefore provisional and explorative, with more detailed research reports and publications subject to follow.

The chapter explores emerging new agendas and sets out to identify some of the primary challenges that regeneration managers must face.

‘Regeneration’ as a state-led policy objective and political concern has been virtually expunged from the Coalition lexicon. The present policy preference is to target public resources in ‘value-added’ schemes that favour private oriented objectives in a highly unbalanced way.

The curtailment of broader regeneration debates has framed discussions limited to the depth of cuts, the speed of implementation and the spatial distribution of such measures. The result is that regeneration, understood as a capitalist policy instrument intended to respond to and assuage the outcomes produced by capitalist frameworks, is no more.

This is the first of a three-part paper exploring the intersection between sex, gender and leadership in the UK Civil Service. The purpose of this paper is to introduce research by the authors into differences in the behaviour of men and women managers in the UK Civil Service, differences in 360 degree assessments of these behaviours and variations in the behaviours and assessments in different organisational contexts. This part of the paper sets the scene, and provides a literature review and a series of conjectures, derived from this review.

This part of the paper outlines the training and development activities carried out by the authors and explains the target populations, the context in which managers operated and the part played by psychometric assessments in such activities. It then provides a literature review on the intersection of sex, gender and leadership. This looks at: the glass ceiling; leader preferences; gender stereotypes; gender stereotypes and leaders; attitudes towards women as leaders; leadership theories and gender stereotypes; sex differences in psychological traits; sex differences in leader behaviour and effectiveness. Finally, it presents a series of conjectures, derived from the literature review.

The literature review shows that the playing field that constitutes managerial ranks continues to be tilted in favour of men and behaviours associated with the male stereotype, despite what leadership theories and field evidence would suggest.

The research was also a by-product of the authors’ training and development work, not a purpose-built research programme to explain the “glass ceiling”. It relates to the UK Civil Service and may not be relevant in other contexts.

Later parts of the paper present prescriptions for minimising the impact of gender stereotypes, along with an evidence-based leadership framework. Training and development implications are presented. Findings are relevant to leaders, would be leaders and human resource professionals, including training and development specialists.

The vast majority of top leadership positions across the world are held by males rather than females. This prevents women from moving up the corporate ladder. This literature review describes the “glass ceiling” and explores what lies behind it.

Research on sex differences in behaviour, gender stereotypes and situational differences in both, in the UK Civil Service, are all original. Of particular importance is the new evidence-based framework of leadership competences.

The purpose of this paper is to encourage understanding of the practical value to managers and communication practitioners of the positive lessons from issue and crisis management cases.

Unlike many other areas of management writing, which focus on new approaches and best practice, issue and crisis management cases often highlight “PR disasters” where other managers may simply count themselves lucky that it happened to someone else. This paper uses well known examples to explore the reasons for this focus on failure and proposes ways for managers to move beyond schadenfreude to secure genuine learning and competitive advantage from the adverse experiences of others.

Whereas many industry “award winning” cases are self‐serving and prone to wisdom after the event, there is a growing body of authoritative case‐books and other material which can provide useful evaluation and benchmarking for an organization's own activity, both internal and external.

While academics and their students are familiar with the use of communication case analysis, this paper explores the range of published case study resources for practitioners and other managers who may be less aware of what is currently available and how independent analysis and insight can help facilitate effective performance against accountability.

The professional challenge the chapter addresses is Black, Asian Minority Ethnic Chief Executive Officers (BAME CEOs) who lead Multi-academy Trusts (MATs) in England need to navigate turbulence to assure all schools within their MATs are high performing. In the investigation of this issue, the structures of MATs themselves emerge as causing turbulence. Evidence revealed the BAME CEOs with track records of improving failing schools to outstanding schools interviewed in this research are working in partnership with their communities. These BAME CEOs sustain their high achieving MATs and/or take on more schools that need improving and lead their change to outstanding schools with BAME communities, non-BAME communities and diverse communities. However, they were not given the opportunities to build capacity for high-performing schools by the current MAT structures. Rapid change to the organisation of Public Education Governance Systems has shifted power from local authority governance to public corporation governance without addressing any of the old problems in the change (Brighouse, 2017). The rapid change has led to a clash of cultures between those with the values of generic Public Governance Systems who have not been democratically elected by the public and do not require professional educational credentials, a track record of being ethical teachers, and a track record of leading ethical teachers in ethical communities in school improvement from ‘Needs Improvement’ to ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’. The rapid change has been hallmarked by a lack of full and free interactions and cooperation of the public in how the change in public education is being implemented. There has been no referendum on whether parents want their schools organised by their representatives they have elected in local councils or organised by public corporations financed by Private Finance Incentive (PFI) and Private Finance 2 (PF2) and operated by public corporations like Carillion.