Business Commons^™

The Effects Of Corporate Diversification And Control On Division Risk-Taking Strategy And Performance, Hae Ryong Kim

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

This research explored two major functions of corporate strategic management, corporate diversification (core-business relatedness) and corporate control, and their implications for divisional strategic management. Four research questions were raised to address these issues: (1) does core-business relatedness matter to division performance? (2) how does core-business relatedness influence corporate control? (3) how does core-business relatedness influence division risk-taking strategies and performance? and (4) how does corporate control influence division risk-taking strategies and performance?

Adopting the resource-based view and organizational learning theory, this study proposed that core-business related divisions would outperform unrelated divisions and that core-business related divisions would have higher commitment …

Asian Expatriate Development: A Comparative Study Of Japanese, Korean And Singaporean Expatriates, A. Ahad M. Osman-Gani, Wee Liang Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Owing to rapid internationalization of business activity, human resource development (HRD) has become increasingly important in recent years. This is especially true when domestic human resource management takes on international dimensions as it deals more with multicultural workforce. International HRD, much of it embodied in cross-cultural training, has been proposed by many scholars as a means of facilitating more effective interaction among managers, employees and customers from different national-cultural backgrounds. Despite the need for cross-cultural skills and the shortage of managers who possess these skills, most human resource decision-makers do nothing in terms of cross-cultural training for their employees. Studies …

Effects Of Group Support Systems On United States Air Force Strategic Planning Efforts, Bryan K. Hasty

Theses and Dissertations

Strategic planning at an Air Force wing is a team based activity that offers many advantages to the Air Force. But, it is clear there are still questions about how to properly conduct strategic planning to produce the highest quality plans in the most effective and efficient manner. To answer this question, the Air Force created a research project aimed at discovering new methods to improve strategic planning at Air Force wing levels using a computer-mediated communication system. The research project's goal is to apply collaborative processes and technologies, such as Group Support Systems (GSS), to improve the quality of …

Strategic Planning Within The Department Of Defense: A Focus On Strategic Hierarchical Consistency, Thomas E. Hartzell

Theses and Dissertations

Mandated within the Department of Defense (DoD) by the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993, strategic planning is a systematic process organizations employ to envision the future and direct actions to desired outcomes within that future. Unfortunately, strong evidence suggests DoD and United States Air Force (USAF) planning efforts to date have met with limited success. This research explores one reason for this limited success. Towards this end, it defines a strategic hierarchical consistency construct and proposes a scale to measure one component, the alignment of mission, vision, and goal statements among a hierarchy of organizational plans. It …

Technology On The Factory Floor Iii: Technology Use And Training In Us Manufacturing Firms, Paul Swamidass

Paul Swamidass

This is the third issue of the Technology on the Factory Floor series. The study was sponsored by the Manufacturing Institute and the National Science Foundation. Data for this study of manufacturing technology use was collected from 1,025 manufacturing plant managers during 1997 using a modified survey questionnaire originally used in the 1993 study.

The findings were: Since the 1993 study, inventory turnover increased, rejection and rework reduced, and cycle time and manufacturing costs decreased; overall, there was measurable improvement in manufacturing since 1993. Other findings were: larger plants use technologies more extensively than smaller plants; exporters use more manufacturing …

Guidelines For Granting Aquaculture Leases., Fisheries Wa, Aquaculture Development Council, Aquaculture Council Of Wa

Fisheries management papers

The Western Australian Government is committed to the development of aquaculture within a framework of environmental sustainability. This discussion paper will deal with issues related to the granting of leases for aquaculture and will set out a process for the management of aquaculture leases and associated licences. It will be the basis for presaring the draft Ministerial Policy Guidelines for the granting of aquaculture leases.

A Bird's Eye View Of Authority Control In Cataloging, Karen S. Calhoun

Karen S Calhoun

In this invited paper for an NSF-funded workshop for the systematics and library communities, Calhoun relates the story of cooperative authority control in libraries, drawing parallels to the problem domain of the systematics community and biological information managers. She describes what made community-wide authority control possible in libraries; offers a high-level view of how it works from systems and practitioner perspectives; and assesses the limitations, prospects and challenges for the current authority control framework in libraries.

University Of Massachusetts Housing Study The Economic Impact Component, Center For Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

The Economic Impact Component of the University of Massachusetts Housing study aims to answer two research questions:

1. What are the direct and indirect economic impacts of the housing industry in Massachusetts?

2. What is the significance of housing as a factor in business location decisions?

The first, and primary, question was addressed through a quantitative assessment using the "Local Impact of Homebuilding Model" calibrated by the National Association of Home Builders, The second research question was addressed through a qualitative assessment of area development and site selection literature and policy analyses dealing with business location criteria.

Old And New Theories Of Industry Clusters, Edward J. Feser

Edward J Feser

The paper reviews the broad range of theories and ideas that constitute, often implicitly, the logic behind strategic cluster policies. The title of the paper notwithstanding, there is no theory of industry clusters, per se. Even Porter’s (1990) seminal contribution is more a theory of firm competitiveness than clusters. There is, instead, a variety of older and newer theories of 1) the interrelationships between economic actors that clusters describe, and 2) the implications of such interrelationships for economic growth and development. Industry clusters have proven a useful way of characterizing webs of relationships between and among firms and other institutions. …

Customer Service And Satisfaction: Competitive Advantage And Beyond, Stanley Bazan

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

This article examines how excellence in customer service and satisfaction can be a major source of competitive advantage and profits for small businesses. The costs and causes of poor service and satisfaction are discussed and special emphasis is given to the value of the lifelong customer. Methods to pursue the goal of completely satisfying customers 100 percent of the time are examined. Leadership, aggressive problem solving, problem-solving teams, and assessment of customer service are among the topics reviewed.

Collective Bargaining Over Asset Restructuring, Edward B. Rock, Michael L. Wachter

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Between Boards Of Directors And Initial Public Offerings In The Biotechnology Industry, Todd A. Finkle

Todd A Finkle