Business Commons^™

The Role Of Emotional Labor In Performance Appraisal: Are Supervisors Getting Into The Act?, Samantha A. Ritchie, Allison L. O'Malley

Alison L. O'Malley

Researchers have issued a call for research on emotional labor to move beyond service roles to other organizational roles (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993). The present paper proposes that emotional labor plays a pivotal role during performance feedback exchanges between supervisors and subordinates. We suggest that the emotional labor supervisors engage in while providing performance feedback is a vital mechanism by which leaders impact followers' perceptions of the feedback environment (Steelman, Levy, & Snell, 2004) and, subsequently, important outcomes (e.g., employee satisfaction with the feedback, motivation to use feedback, feedback seeking frequency, and LMX quality).

Legal And Ethical Issues Associated With Employee Use Of Social Networks, Gundars Kaupins, Susan Park

Susan Park

Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter can help employees enhance a company’s marketing, recruiting, security, and safety. However, employee’s use of social networking sites and employers’ access of those sites can result in illegal and unethical behavior, such as discrimination and privacy invasions. Companies must gauge whether and how to rely upon employees’ use of personal social networking sites and how much freedom employees should have in using networks inside and outside of the companies. This research summarizes the latest legal and ethical issues regarding employee use of social networks and provides recommended corporate policies.

Aviation Internship Toolkit For The Next Generation Of Aviation Professionals, Lori J. Brown, James C. Fox

Lori Brown

On behalf of the Next Generation of Aviation Professionals (NGAP) Outreach partners, we would like to congratulate you on your first step toward building or improving a comprehensive, competitive internship program for your organization. Through internships and externships, a company can provide exciting work in aerospace and a rewarding learning experience for young professionals, who are the industry's future. Interns also will gain insight into the demands and tasks of the many roles, as well as the important internal and external interactions that make up the team. The power of internships as a first step to expose youth to careers …

Take It Back: Dynamic Consumer Goals In Retail Customer Service Transactions, Courtney Droms

Courtney Hatch

Product returns and exchanges are an important part of a consumer’s postpurchase decision-making process and have economic and psychological consequences. Based primarily on a participant observation research, a conceptual model is developed that portrays two distinct process paths that occur during return transactions. The analysis incorporates previous research regarding goal-directed behavior and role and script theories in understanding the complexity of a return transaction. Consumers are identified as having both economic and social goals, and the change catalysts promoting shifts in goal focus as well as the interplay between these goals are represented in the model.

Gazing Into The Crystal Ball: Using Scenarios For Future Visioning Of A Distance Learning Library Service, Anne Marie Casey, Jon E. Cawthorne, Kathleen Citro

Anne Marie Casey

This article describes the use of scenarios as a tool to assist a large distance learning library service in its strategic planning. Through a description of the scenario process from beginning to end, the authors detail the steps that the library director and the consultant took initially; their missteps; and the successful conclusion. This study of the journey through the scenario process to a new strategic plan should prove useful to library administrators interested in exploring new ways to plan for uncertain futures.

How High Will Russian Aviation Fly?, Tamilla Curtis, Irina Swenson

Dr. Tamilla Curtis

The study provides the historical context of the Russian aviation industry reflecting the periods of its growth and decline. It reveals the competitive advantage strategies that have been implemented by the Russian government in an attempt to revivify an enfeebled nation's aeronautic industry. The paper discusses the newly formed Joint Stock Company (JSC) United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and its strategies to break into global markets, including UAC innovative product offerings. Whether or not, the recent efforts of the Russian government serve as a fulcrum for the Russian aviation industry that will leverage Russia into the global market, remains to be …

The Challenge Of Intervention To Monetarily Support Or Not Support The National Airline Carriers: A Case Of The Airline Industry In Eastern Europe, Dawna L. Rhoades, Tamilla Curtis

Dr. Tamilla Curtis

The airline industry has been considered a special case in national and international business virtually since its beginning. Because of this status, national governments have repeatedly intervened to support national carriers in order to prevent bankruptcy and failure. The nations of Eastern Europe are no exception to this rule and are currently considering additional intervention to support their carriers. This paper explores the rationale for intervention, particularly the suggested economic impact, using traffic and financial information from the Flightglobal database. The conclusion is that the case for intervention is weak at best and that the results may not justify the …

Crm In Russia And U.S. -- Case Study From American Financial Service Industry, Tamilla Curtis, Tom Griffin, Donald Barrere

Dr. Tamilla Curtis

This paper discusses Customer Relationship Management in two sharply contrasting business cultures: the United States and Russia. Included in the present work is a case study of a midsized American financial services firm that illustrates a common path to the decision to have a CRM system: the planning, selection, and the implementation of the CRM program, including a discussion of the likelihood of success. The clients in this case are Financial Advisors, who in turn sell the investment products to the end user individual investors. CRM in Russia is yet in its infancy as the economy emerges from 200 years …

Urban Blue Space And "The Project Of The Century": Doing Justice On The Seattle Waterfront And For Local Residents, Anne Wessells

Anne Taufen

No abstract provided.

Huge Growth Potential In 2015 For Used Books Market - A Surney, Lissa Coffey

LissaCoffey

Selling Buying Used Books - A Market With Huge Potential in 2015 - Selling/buying books online is a great way to earn extra income and an upcoming market having huge growth potential in 2015. Size the US market for used books ... Conduct research on used book selling and buying activities. The starting point for their analysis is the double-edged impact of a used book market ... But there's another effect: the presence of a market for used books ... "The growth reflects how easy is has become to sell used books.The used book market for college textbooks has been …

Do Moocs Pose A Threat To Higher Education?, Todd A. Finkle, Evan Masters

Todd A Finkle

Physician Clinical Alignment And Integration: A Community Academic Hospital Approach, Debbie Salas-Lopez Md, Mph, Sandra Jarva-Weiss Jd, Brian A. Nestor Do, Mba, Thomas V. Whalen Md

Debbie Salas-Lopez MD, MPH, FACP

An overwhelming need for change in the U.S. healthcare delivery system, coupled with the need to improve clinical and financial outcomes, has prompted hospitals to direct renewed efforts toward achieving high quality and cost-effectiveness. Additionally, with the dawn of accountable care organizations and increasing focus on patient expectations, hospitals have begun to seek physician partners through clinical alignment. Contrary to the unsuccessful alignment strategies of the 1990s, today's efforts are more mutually beneficial, driven by the need to achieve better care coordination, increased access to infrastructure, improved quality, and lower costs. In this article, we describe a large, academic, tertiary …

Joint Sector Review Assessment, Ghana, Advancing Mutual Accountability Through Comprehensive, Inclusive, And Technically Robust Review And Dialogue, Samuel Asuming-Brempong, Stephen Frimpong

Stephen Frimpong

In any sector, policy dialogue is a critical component to efficient and harmonious policymaking and implementation. A joint sector review (JSR) is an annual review of the sector to identify where challenges are preventing coherent dialogue. In Ghana, the first agriculture JSR was instituted in 2008 with the goal of reaching a common point- of- view among key sector stakeholders on important achievements in the preceding year. Stakeholders include the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA); development partners (DPs); other ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), the private sector, and civil society. In addition, the JSR seeks to review key remaining …

The Sourcing Hub And Upstream Supplier Networks, Anupam Agrawal, Luk N. Van Wassenhove, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud DE MEYER

In this paper, we explore how firms can better manage their sourcing by developing relationships not only with their suppliers but also with their suppliers' suppliers. We detail an empirical case study explaining how the firm developed relationships with its suppliers and raw material suppliers via a collaborative center, the sourcing hub. We then analytically model the scenarios encountered in our empirical work and examine two facets of upstream sourcing under uncertain demand scenarios: (a) firms can supply raw material directly to their suppliers, and this may be beneficial for the firm and its suppliers; and (b) firms can bring …

The Challenge Of Preserving Rural Industries And Traditions In Ultra-Peripheral Europe: Evidence From The Canary Islands, Abel Duarte Alonso, Lynnaire Sheridan, Pascal Scherrer

Abel D Alonso

Demographic, economic, environmental, and political changes shape many rural areas and their communities across Europe. As a result, some fundamental aspects of these communities, including traditions, culture, social fabric, and their very raison d'etre, are being tested and threatened by what seem to be irreversible events. Ultraperipheral European regions, including the Canary Islands, are not an exception; in fact, because of their physical isolation from the mainland and other barriers, these regions may be more susceptible to changes. While these dimensions are very important and need to be addressed, to date very few studies have attempted to do so with …

German, French And British Manufacturing Strategies Compared: A Growth Towards Each Other, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud DE MEYER

Manufacturing has gained over the last years in attention as a tool to create competitive advantage. For four years now a survey has been carried out by a research team at Insead to build a database on the manufacturing strategies as they are defined and implemented by large European companies. In this paper some of the 1987 data are presented, and a comparison of manufacturing strategies of large companies in the three most important European countries is made. Though the most important conclusion is that there are only slight differences between the three countries, one can see some difference in …

Using Strategic Partnerships To Create A Sustainable Competitive Position For Hi-Tech Start-Up Firms, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud DE MEYER

In most cases these companies chose or were forced to engage in a technology partnership in order to develop and survive. As one would expect, some of these partnerships succeeded whilst others failed. With hindsight it occurred to the author that success or failure was not necessarily a random event, or idiosyncratic to one particular company, but that there seemed to be a pattern. Some partnerships failed because they were a strategic misfit, others probably because they were badly implemented. Based on these clinical case studies, The author addresses these questions: when and under what conditions a partnership is needed; …

Manufacturing Operations In Europe: Where Do We Go Next?, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud De Meyer

Extrapolating from the results of a 10-year INSEAD Survey, the author offers some views on the future for manufacturing in Europe. The model on which the Survey was based indicates that competitive priorities and action plans in manufacturing changed over the 10-year period. Taking lessons from these, the author makes some 'informed guesses' on the future implications for European manufacturers in the form of seven normative features: innovation in the value package; close integration between manufacturing and service; the importance of internationalism; flexible project-based organisation; more integrated management of the value added chain; successful transformation of operational programmes into strategic …

Technology Strategy And China's Technology Capacity Building, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud DE MEYER

China has the potential to become a major source of innovation for the world. The scientific investment is in place and rapidly growing. But in order to reap the benefits of this investment its organisations will have to become better at managing innovation. One of the key elements of innovation management is the determination and implementation of a sound technology strategy. The purpose of this paper is to offer a framework and a detailed overview of what it entails to develop and implement a technology strategy. The paper emphasizes the alignment of the strategy with the organisational competencies and the …

Lasting Improvements In Manufacturing Performance: In Search Of A New Theory, Kasra Ferdows, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud DE MEYER

Is there a way to avoid trading off one capability for another in manufacturing? The prevailing wisdom says no. But some manufacturers seem to have been able to defy that: compared to their competitors, they have better quality, are more dependable, respond faster to changing market conditions, and in spite of all that, achieve lower costs. How can this be explained? Our aim here is to provide an explanation. We contend that the nature of the trade-offs among manufacturing capabilities is more complex than has been assumed. Depending on the approach taken for developing each capability, the nature of the …

Flexibility: The Next Competitive Battle: The Manufacturing Futures Survey, Arnoud De Meyer, Jinichiro Nakane, Jeffrey M. Miller, Kasra Ferdows

Arnoud DE MEYER

Over the past 4 years research teams from INSEAD (Fontainebleau), Boston University and Waseda University (Tokyo) have administered a yearly survey on the manufacturing strategy of the large manufacturers of the three industrialized regions of the world. In this paper the results for the 1986 survey are compared. One of the most striking results of that year’s survey is the emphasis some of the more advanced manufacturers put on their efforts to overcome the trade-off between flexibility and cost efficiency. In particular for the Japanese respondents these attempts become clear. Europeans and North Americans are not yet seizing the opportunity …

Interpreting And Responding To Strategic Issues: The Impact Of National Culture, Susan C. Schneider, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud DE MEYER

Perceptions of environmental uncertainty and organizational control influence strategic behavior. As national culture influences these perceptions we expect to find cultural differences in interpretation and response to strategic issues. Given a case describing an issue concerning deregulation of the U.S. banking industry, managers completed questionnaires rating interpretations and responses to that issue. National culture was found to influence interpretation and responses. In particular, Latin European managers when compared with other managers were more likely to interpret the issue as a crisis and as a threat. Latin Europeans were also more likely to recommend proactive behavior. This study indicates that different …

Exchanging Preliminary Information In Concurrent Engineering: Alternative Coordination Strategies, Christian Terwiesch, Christoph H. Loch, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud DE MEYER

Successful application of concurrent development processes (concurrent engineering) requires tight coordination. To speed development, tasks often proceed in parallel by relying on preliminary information from other tasks, information that has not yet been finalized. This frequently causes substantial rework using as much as 50% of total engineering capacity. Previous studies have either described coordination as a complex social process, or have focused on the frequency, but not the content, of information exchanges. Through extensive fieldwork in a high-end German automotive manufacturer, we develop a framework of preliminary information that distinguishes information precision and information stability. Information precision refers to the …

Ecosystem Advantage: How To Successfully Harness The Power Of Partners, Peter James Williamson, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud DE MEYER

Changes in the global environment are generating opportunities for companies to build advantage by creating loosely coupled networks or ecosystems. Ecosystems are larger, more diverse, and more fluid than a traditional set of bilateral partnerships or complementors. By leveraging ecosystems, companies can deliver complex solutions while maintaining corporate focus. This article describes six keys to unlock ecosystem advantage: pinpointing where value is created, defining an architecture of differentiated partner roles, stimulating complementary partner investments, reducing the transaction costs, facilitating joint learning across the network, and engineering effective ways to capture profit.

Encompass: Creating Innovation In Broadcast, Everyday, Arnoud De Meyer, Anne-Valerie Ohlsson-Corboz

Arnoud DE MEYER

Headquartered in the United States, Encompass Digital Media provides digital media services through its broadcasting facilities in the United States, the United Kingdom and Asia. Encompass delivers tailor-made solutions for the management and distribution of content, including a diversified range of TV content, as well as live sports events for companies such as ESPN, IMG, Star Sports and Sony Entertainment.

Encompass Digital Media (Asia) began its operations in Singapore in 2009. By 2012, the company had captured over 50 per cent of the market for outsourced Digital Playout services in Asia. While manpower costs were significantly higher than in China, …

The Flow Of Technological Innovation In An R&D Department, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud DE MEYER

The flow of technological information, in particular the type of sources and transfer channels for technological information has been a focus of research interest since the very first studies concerning management of research and development. However, the results of these empirical studies, although encouraging and useful to managers, leave several questions unanswered, and even worse, contain some contradictions. In this paper we will try to explain some of these contradictions using the technology characteristics as a contingency factor. The model, which we will present has been tested in a twofold way: questionnaires were used to provide insight into the importance …

The Manufacturing Contribution To Innovation, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud DE MEYER

The description of the contribution of manufacturing to the innovation process is often limited to the task of providing the necessary information to enable the development function to create a design which is easy to manufacture, and to be instrumental in the fast ramp-up of the production process. Though these are important tasks, it is argued in this paper that there is a third aspect of manufacturing’s contribution to innovation, namely the creation of a manufacturing system which is favorable to product innovation. This goes far beyond the design of an appropriate production process, but requires the creation of a …

Managerial Focal Points In Manufacturing Strategy, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud DE MEYER

Through analysis of specific decisions in the management of manufacturing in 163 companies, we have identified the key dimensions along which mort of the differences among manufacturing strategies can be explained. Previous research—mostly based on clinical observations—has focused on describing the typical decision categories in manufacturing strategy. Our large sample has allowed us to move beyond that and focus on the differences among manufacturing strategies. Data were collected by mailed questionnaires as a part of a large research project ‘Manufacturing Futures’. The responses to a list of 35 specific current action programmes in manufacturing were reduced through a principal component …

Managing Expert Systems: A Framework And Case Study, Rob R. Weitz, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud DE MEYER

This paper addresses the problem of managing the development and implementation of a large expert system in an organization. A traditional systems analysis and design methodology is used as a framework to highlight similarities and differences in managing large scale traditional computer based projects and large expert systems. As a non-technical, prescriptive guide, this article focusses on defining at each stage in the project, the tasks to be accomplished, resources required, impact on the organization, likely benefits and potential problems. The case of a large expert system implemented by a multinational corporation across several European sites is used to clarify …

A Typology Of Plants In Global Manufacturing Networks, Ann Vereecke, Roland Van Dierdonck, Arnoud De Meyer

Arnoud DE MEYER

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new, empirically derived typology of plants in the international manufacturing network of multinational companies. This typology is based on the knowledge flows between the plants. In our research, network analysis has been used as a methodology for understanding the position of plants in international manufacturing networks. The focus has been primarily on the intangible knowledge network, and secondarily on the physical, logistic network. Our analysis leads to four types of plants with different network roles: the isolated plants, the receivers, the hosting network players, and the active network players. Our analysis …