Business Commons^™

The Business Model In Practice And Its Implications For Entrepreneurship Research, Gerard George, Adam J. Bock

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

While the term 'business model' has gained widespread use in the practice community, the academic literature on this topic is fragmented and confounded by inconsistent definitions and construct boundaries. In this study, we review prior research and reframe the business model with an entrepreneurial lens. We report on a discourse analysis of 151 surveys of practicing managers to better understand their conceptualization of a business model. We find that the underlying dimensions of the business model are resource structure, transactive structure, and value structure, and discuss the nature and implications of dimensional dominance for firm characteristics and behavior. These findings …

Greenleaf's 'Best Test' Of Servant Leadership: A Multilevel Analysis, Robert W. Hayden

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Scholarship

This study empirically tests Robert Greenleaf’s (1970) seminal articulation of servant leadership. The four personal outcomes he theorized (health, wisdom, freedom-autonomy, and service orientation) were tested against established dimensions of servant leadership. All correlations were significant and positive. Using multilevel analysis, the predictive strength of these servant leadership dimensions were assessed at two levels within an organization, and explained. Implications and future direction of research were discussed.

The Stability Of Offshore Outsourcing Relationships: The Role Of Relation Specificity And Client Control, Stephan Manning, Arie Y. Lewin, Marc Schuerch

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

Offshore outsourcing of administrative and technical services has become a mainstream business practice. Increasing commoditization of business services and growing client experience with outsourcing have created a range of competitive service delivery options for client firms. Yet, data from the Offshoring Research Network (ORN) suggests that, despite increasing market options and growing client quality and cost efficiency expectations, clients typically renew provider contracts and develop longer-term relationships with providers. Based on ORN data, this paper explores drivers of this phenomenon. The findings suggest that providers promote contract renewal by making client specific investments in software, IT infrastructure and training, and …

Frederick Winslow Taylor: Reflections On The Relevance Of The Principles Of Scientific Management 100 Years Later, Cristina M. Giannantonio, Amy E. Hurley-Hanson

Business Faculty Articles and Research

"This Special Edition of the Journal of Business and Management was organized to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of Frederick Winslow Taylor’s The Principles of Scientific Management. The large response to our call for papers is indicative of the scholarly interest in Taylor, his work, and its relevance to management practitioners. The papers we received were broad in scope. While most were supportive of scientific management, some felt that Taylor should not be honored. The merits of Taylor’s work can certainly be debated, but what cannot be argued is that Taylor changed the way people worked in the …

Narrative Approach To Corporate Strategy: Empirical Foundations, Michael S. Carriger

WCBT Faculty Publications

Purpose - This paper aims to present theoretical and empirical foundations for the use of a particular type of narrative skillfully deployed by senior leaders in an organization as an effective tool for creating, disseminating and executing corporate strategy. Design/methodology/approach - The paper presents original research on the effectiveness of the use of a "springboard story" as a leadership tool. Findings - Data are presented to substantiate that a "springboard story" presentation of corporate strategy and competitive advantage is more effective at producing a consistent and confident choice of competitive advantage among an audience than a presentation of corporate strategy …

“Choice Of Service, Choice Of Cost”- A Transformational Change Program In It - The Case Of A Global Consumer Products Company: Case Study, Barbara M. Tarasovich, Bridget Lyons

WCBT Faculty Publications

This paper presents a framework for development of a transformational change management program (Flamholtz and Randle, 2008) in an information technology (IT) organization of a global Fortune 200 consumer products company. The goal of the transformation was to build leading edge global IT service offerings, to internal and ultimately external customers. The program played a pivotal role in the company’s "Path to Growth" Strategy. This strategy included very specific targets for sales, margins and earnings growth over a five-year period. The case illustrates how a well conceived change program, integrated with an organization’s overall strategic plan, is a competitive advantage.

Legitimizing Radical New Medical Services, Nanette C. Clinch, A Osland, C Wang

Faculty Publications, School of Management

Physicians enjoy considerable liberty in the creation of entrepreneurial ventures in the new frontiers of medicine. Professional societies may opine about a new procedure but professionals may feel free to ignore their counsel as well. Two case studies are used to discuss this method of new venture creation; the cases are trait selection through pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and female cosmetic genital surgery (FCGS), both controversial practices. We discuss the ethics and legitimacy of both and how one can use theory to analyze whether or not these are legitimate businesses and how to develop them.

Prior Knowledge And New Product And Service Introductions By Entrepreneurial Firms: The Mediating Role Of Technological Innovation., Patrick Murphy, Jintong Tang

Patrick J. Murphy

Most research on new product and service development by entrepreneurial firms takes an individual-level, pre-launch perspective or firm-level post-launch perspective. Our study examines two components of the new product and service introduction process: how entrepreneurs’ prior knowledge underpins (1) firm technological innovation prior to the introduction of new products and services (pre-launch) and (2) post-launch viability of those new products and services. Our findings, based on a series of analyses of data from 158 entrepreneurial firms, show that formal technological innovation fully mediates the relation between prior knowledge and the introduction of viable new products and services.

The Power Of “We”: Effects Of Psychological Collectivism On Team Performance Over Time, Erich C. Dierdorff, Suzanne T. Bell, James A. Belohlav

James A. Belohlav

No abstract provided.

A 2x2 Conceptual Foundation For Entrepreneurial Discovery Theory., Patrick J. Murphy

Patrick J. Murphy

Theories about entrepreneurial discovery are important to entrepreneurship. However, the dominant conceptual foundation underlying such theories hinders their development. It assumes that opportunities form based on either deliberate search or serendipitous discovery. I examine this unidimensional logic and identify a gap in its informative content. Then, I reframe it into orthogonal dimensions. The multidimensional model describes the same cases as the unidimensional model but also describes what the unidimensional model cannot, including cases that are high or low on both dimensions. This extension yields a 2x2 conceptual foundation for entrepreneurial discovery theory that promotes the development and coordination of distinct …

The Best Selection Of Strategic Plans In Balanced Scorecard Using Multi-Objective Decision Making Model, J Dodangeh

Jay Daniel

Emerson College Csr Course - Spring 2011 Guest Speakers, Art Stewart

Art Stewart

No abstract provided.

Worldcat Quality: An Oclc Report, Karen S. Calhoun, Glenn Patton

Karen S Calhoun

This report describes OCLC's steps to make it easier to find items in WorldCat and get them from OCLC member libraries. It begins with a review of WorldCat's unprecedented growth since 2008--growth which has challenged OCLC's programs for managing duplicate entries and library location (holdings) information. OCLC's 2010 implementation of new duplication detection and resolution (DDR) software helped; however, WorldCat quality needs to be further strengthened. The authors describe a special project—GLIMIR—and other WorldCat quality improvement projects intended to improve the clustering of WorldCat records and holdings for the same work, thus reducing the complexity of search result displays and …

"Corporate And Social Responsibility: The Changing Context For Marketing Communications Practice", Art Stewart

Art Stewart

The Power Of “We”: Effects Of Psychological Collectivism On Team Performance Over Time, James A. Belohlav, Erich C. Dierdorff, Suzanne T. Bell

James A. Belohlav

No abstract provided.

Richard Branson And Virgin, Inc., Todd A. Finkle

Todd A Finkle