Business Commons^™

Social Contagion And Knowledge Acquisition In Construction Professional Service Firms, Oluwasegun O. Seriki, Roisin Murphy

Conference papers

The construction industry in Ireland, including professional service firms (PSF’s) operating therein, are undergoing a period of change and uncertainty driven by economic, demographic, political and technological factors. While considerable evidence exists demonstrating the relationship between environmental turbulence on organisational decision making, there remains a distinct lack of focus on behavioural patterns affecting decision-making process of construction firms. Social contagion (SC) theory asserts that the spread of ideas, attitudes, or behaviour patterns in a group is achieved through imitation and conformity, and is well established within social sciences research, and is increasingly being used to analyse organisational behaviour. However, limited …

Conference Presentation: The Power Of Words In Tension: Enterprise/Strategy As A Dilemma In Neoliberalism’S Persistence., Brendan O'Rourke

Conference papers

We address how enterprise is related to, another important discourse, strategy. From a discourse analysis of the talk of small firm owner-managers, emerges a view of strategy and enterprise as a single, integrated entity, bound together by some commonalities but more importantly by paired opposites reminiscent of ideological dilemmas (Billig, Condor, Edwards, Gane, Middleton & Radley, 1988). This dilemmatic nature of enterprise/strategy discourse adds to explanations for the persistence of the neoliberal form of enterprise, with the entrepreneur as the heroic saviour of all, based on the entrepreneur as an empty signifier (Jones & Spicer, 2009; Kenny & …

The Power Of Words In Tension: Enterprise/Strategy As A Dilemma In Neoliberalism’S Persistence., Brendan O'Rourke

Conference papers

We address how enterprise is related to, another important discourse, strategy. From a discourse analysis of the talk of small firm owner-managers, emerges a view of strategy and enterprise as a single, integrated entity, bound together by some commonalities but more importantly by paired opposites reminiscent of ideological dilemmas (Billig, Condor, Edwards, Gane, Middleton & Radley, 1988). This dilemmatic nature of enterprise/strategy discourse adds to explanations for the persistence of the neoliberal form of enterprise, with the entrepreneur as the heroic saviour of all, based on the entrepreneur as an empty signifier (Jones & Spicer, 2009; Kenny & …

An Empirical Investigation Of Strategic Planning In Qs Practices, Roisin Murphy

Conference papers

The benefit of engaging in strategic planning has been well documented over several decades of strategic management research. Despite the significant body of existing knowledge in the field, there remains a limited collection of empirically tested research pertaining to strategic planning within professional service firms (PSFs) in construction, particularly from an Irish context.

The research is an exploratory study involving in-depth, semi-structured interviews and a widespread survey of Quantity Surveying (QS) practices in Ireland. The aim of the research is to ascertain the extent of strategic planning undertaken within Irish QS practices, and to gain an insight into the characteristics …

How Do Organisations Engage In Marketing Strategy Making? A Problemistic Search Perspective, Sarah Browne, Katrina Lawlor, Pamela Sharkey Scott, Laura Cuddihy

Conference papers

Despite the importance of marketing strategy making (MSM) we understand little of how strategy making actually occurs within organisations. Departing from the common focus - on the tools and techniques of strategy– we apply a strategy as practice (SAP) lens to our exploration of MSM. We adopt a problemistic search perspective and utilise an in-depth case study to explore individual’s interactions in developing strategic marketing initiatives. We uncover a three-stage pattern in solution search within MSM; identification of the problem situation and postponing response, to problem recognition and acceptance, to a collective problem solving stage, which we label pre implementation …

Capacity Rationalisation And Exit Barriers In The Irish Printing Industry, Kathleen Hughes

Conference papers

Decisions regarding capacity and capital investment are among the most critical for firms, as reflected in the extensive literature devoted to this subject. However, substantially less work has been carried out on the decision to disinvest. This is unfortunate as in some situations, such as recessionary times, the main competitive moves pertain to disinvestment, rather than investment. This study aims to contribute to this subject, in particular it aims to identify why industries with a concentrated structure can when proactively rationalise when required, while fragmented ones cannot. Research methodology a case study approach, comprising in-depth interviews with six industry experts …

The Sales Organisation: Influencer Or Mere Implementer Of Business Strategy? Investigating The Evolving Role Of Sales Strategy And Processes In Attaining Overall Business Objectives And Goals In International Markets, Sarah Browne, Katrina Lawlor, Pamela Sharkey Scott, Laura Cuddihy

Conference papers

This research will attempt to empirically examine the evolving nature of the sales organisation from a mere tactical support function of marketing, to a strategic capability in its own right and one that perhaps has a salient role to play in attaining overall objectives and goals pertaining to the business level strategy for international markets. The foundations of this research stem from multiple strands of literature including, strategic marketing, strategic management, selling and sales management and business internationalisation. This proposal attempts to locate this early stage research within these important and growing strands of literature and address the under researched …

Examining The Inseparability Of Enterprise And Strategy Discourse, Brendan O'Rourke

Conference papers

Small owner-managed firms are an interesting site in which to examine the deployment of strategy discourse. On the one hand, small firms offer a location where the holistic nature of strategy (Clegg et al., 2004:24; Liedtka, 1998:122; Lilley,2001: 75) is more likely to feature in daily practice On the other hand, owner-managed firms lack a key reason for the original emergence of the strategy discourse i.e. strategy as a discourse of accountability by professional managers to shareholders (Knights & Morgan, 1991). Small firm owner-managers are the ideological heroes of the enterprise discourse (Carr, 2000:101). This work looks at how owner-managers …

Exploring The Discourses Of Small Enterprise Proprietors, Brendan O'Rourke, Martyn Pitt

Conference papers

Over the last three decades the discourses of strategy and enterprise have developed significantly in the context of large corporate organizations and increasingly within and for the public sector. The discourses of strategy and enterprise have developed in relationship with each other and are generative of various attributes and dilemmas for the identity of the strategist/entrepreneur. This study looks at how these important discourses are deployed by small enterprise proprietors in periodical publishing in Ireland as they construct their business identities with one of the authors. Interview data from one proprietor is subjected to a discourse analysis drawing particularly on …

Searching For Greater Variety In Strategic Thinking, Brendan O'Rourke, Martyn Pitt

Conference papers

This paper proposes a use of the discursive approach to explicate variety in ways of strategic thinking. Such an explication of variety is both useful managerially in increasing awareness of greater discursive resources and also theoretically in critiquing views of strategic thinking as homogenous and organizationally contained. Ways of strategic thinking have been investigated using a variety of approaches including expertise perspectives (Voss, Greene et al. 1983), cognitive mapping (Eden, Jones et al. (1979); Huff (1990) ) and upper echelon theory (Hambrick 1998). More recently the linguistic turn in organizational sciences (Alvesson and Kärreman 2000), and the study of strategy …