Business Commons^™

Perspectives On Firm Strategies In The Non-Market Environment, Vittal Kartik Rao

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The non-market environment, which includes “the rules of the game” that govern economic interactions in the market, plays a central role in the ability of firms to create economic value and to sustain competitive advantage. This dissertation focuses on firms’ interactions with different elements of the non-market environment and is comprised of three essays.

Essay 1 examines the conditions under which firms reach agreements with environmental activists in regulatory agency proceedings to mutually settle disputes. The chapter argues that actions of firms will be dictated by the features of the regulatory decision-making process and the heterogeneity in the attributes of …

An Evaluation Of Lfucg Economic Development: Making Strides Towards Strategic, Performance-Driven Partnerships, Sarah Ausmus Smith

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Like many other municipal governments, Lexington utilizes a web of partnerships to support economic development. These relationships take many forms; LFUCG employs grants, tax incentives for businesses, and contracts with other organizations. Unlike some of its peers, though, LFUCG does not have a strategic plan in place to drive decision-making processes and sharpen its focus on outcomes. This report sets the foundation for future strategic management efforts by identifying opportunities and weaknesses that might be addressed by LFUCG through an environmental scan and establishing a performance management framework for existing contractual economic development partners. The key findings are as follows: …

Organizational Ambidexterity And Not-For-Profit Financial Performance, Timothy Michael Madden

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to extend the concept of organizational ambidexterity (OA) into the domain of not-for-profit (NFP) organizations. These organizations are subject to many of the same demands as their for-profit counterparts, yet research has not been conducted on how NFPs manage the competing pressures of refining existing routines for efficiency with the need to grow and innovate. This dissertation includes two portions: a quantitative analysis of a large NFP-rating agency dataset and qualitative interviews with executive directors and managers from within the food banking industry to identify the processes in use at a sample of ambidextrous …

Strategic Management And Job Satisfaction: Agency-Level Effects In The Federal Government, Tara Bopp

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

As strategic planning and human capital strategies become more regulated in the United States government, a decision must be made by federal agency heads. Will agencies fully participate and buy into the process of participative strategic planning and management or will they comply with regulations and reforms merely for the sake of compliance with little further effort? The intent of this study is to show that agencies that choose to do more than simply comply with GPRA and implement strategic planning and management can benefit from their increased effort in by increasing job satisfaction in their workforce.

The Government Performance …