Business Commons^™

Managing Project Uncertainty: From Variation To Chaos, Arnoud De Meyer, Christoph H. Loch, Michael T. Pich

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The article cites a study finding that accurately gauging the degree of uncertainty inherent in the projects can help project managers quickly adapt to it. Researchers studied 16 projects in areas including personal-computer development, telecommunications, Internet startups, pharmaceutical development, iron-ore processing, airship development, and building construction, to examine risk management and project outcomes. They found that most managers failed to recognize that there are different types of uncertainty, each requiring a different management approach. This paper explores uncertainty-based management, which derives planning, monitoring and management style from an uncertainty profile comprising four types of uncertainty: variation, foreseen uncertainty, unforeseen uncertainty, …

Situational Tests In Student Selection: An Examination Of Predictive Validity, Adverse Impact, And Construct Validity, Filip Lievens, Pol Coetsier

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The Flemish Admission Exam 'Medical and Dental Studies' is comprised of four cognitive ability tests and four situational tests, namely two work samples (i.e., a lecture and a medical text) and two video-based situational judgement tests (i.e., a physician-patient interaction and a medical expert discussion). On the basis of the Admission Exam scores of 941 candidates (359 men, 582 women) this study shows that situational tests significantly can predict better than cognitive ability tests, with lecture and text emerging as significant predictors. When situational tests are combined with cognitive ability tests, there are no mean gender differences. Situational tests also …

Management Consultancy: Issues, Perspectives, And Agendas [Preface], Robin Fincham, Timothy Adrian Robert Clark

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This issue of International Studies of Management and Organizationbrings together five articles that reflect the rich array of contemporaryresearch that is being conducted into the activities of the managementconsultancy industry. Management consultancy, in various forms, has existed foras long as complex organizations. However, its increasing economicsignificance, associated with the rapid expansion in the number ofconsultancies and the rise of large multinational consultancy firms, as well asthe influence and impact of the fashionable management knowledge and techniqueson which much of their work is based, are more recent phenomena. To date,detailed conceptual and empirical research into the work of consultants hasbeen slight …

Medical Students' Personality Characteristics And Academic Performance: A Five-Factor Model Perspective, Filip Lievens, Pol Coetsier, Filip De Fruyt, Jan De Maeseneer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Objectives: This study investigates: (1) which personality traits are typical of medical students as compared to other students, and (2) which personality traits predict medical student performance in pre-clinical years. Design: This paper reports a cross-sectional inventory study of students in nine academic majors and a prospective longitudinal study of one cohort of medical students assessed by inventory during their first pre-clinical year and by university examination at the end of each pre-clinical year. Subjects and methods: In 1997, a combined total of 785 students entered medical studies courses in five Flemish universities. Of these, 631 (80.4%) completed the NEO-PI-R …

The Choice Between Joint Venture And Wholly Owned Subsidiary: An Institutional Perspective, Daphne W. Yiu, Shige Makino

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The study of foreign entry-mode choice has been based almost exclusively on transaction-cost theory. This theory focuses mainly on the impacts of firm- and industry-specific factors on the choice of entry mode, taking the effects of country-specific contextual factors as constant or less important. In contrast, the institutional perspective emphasizes the importance of the influence of both institutional forces embedded in national environments and decision makers' cognitive constraints on the founding conditions of new ventures. Still, this theoretical perspective has yet to provide insights into how institutional factors influence the choice of foreign entry mode. The primary goal of the …

Venture Capital And Economic Growth: An Industry Overview And Singapore's Experience, Francis Koh, Winston T. H. Koh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper provides an overview of the venture capital industry, and its development in Asia and Singapore. Venture capital plays an important role in innovation and economic growth. Indeed, the resurgence of the United States as a technology leader is intimately linked to the success of Silicon Valley. As Singapore enters the next phase of economic development, the creation of internal engines of growth is an urgent task. The Singapore government has done much to provide an environment for entrepreneurship to thrive. Its success at replicating the Silicon Valley culture will be important for Singapore's future economic success.

Investigating The Effects Of Store-Brand Introduction On Retailer Demand And Pricing Behavior, Pradeep K. Chintagunta, Andre Bonfrer, Inseong Song

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The effects of the introduction of a store-brand into a particular product category are studied. The paper focuses on the effect of store-brand introduction on the demand as well as on the supply side. On the demand side, the changes in preferences for the national brands and price elasticities in the category are investigated. On the supply side, the effects of the new entrant on the interactions between the national brand manufacturers and the retailer introducing the store brand are studied, including how these interactions influence the retailer's pricing behavior. In doing so, it is possible to test whether the …

The Effects Of Business-University Alliances On Innovative Output And Financial Performance: A Study Of Publicly Traded Biotechnology Companies, Gerard George, Shaker A. Zahra, D. Robley Wood

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Companies in the biotechnology industry face major challenges in developing and commercializing new products. Focusing on publicly traded biotechnology firms that are not members of university incubators or research parks, this paper argues that the links these companies develop with universities can have beneficial effects on a company's operations. Analysis of 2457 alliances undertaken by 147 biotechnology firms shows that companies with university linkages have lower research and development (R&D) expenses while having higher levels of innovative output. However, the results do not support the proposition that companies with university linkages achieve higher financial performance than similar firms without such …

Social Entrepreneurship In Singapore, Wee Liang Tan, Teck Meng Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Social entrepreneurship is a new phenomenon in Singapore. Unlike the US, where there are entrepreneurship programs offered at various ACCSB accredited universities such programs do not as yet exist in Asia. The motivations for social entrepreneurship in Asia differ from those in developed countries. While as social entrepreneurship often stem from the social agenda of successful entrepreneurs who are motivated to repay society, the recent trend of social entrepreneurship in Asia may stem from initiatives directed at political liberalisation and the development of civil society on the part of existing governments. The Singapore government in 1997 introduced a series of …

Laughing With The Gurus, David Greatbatch, Timothy Adrian Robert Clark

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Management gurus are among the most influential public orators of the day. But mastery of age–old rhetorical devices, including the use of humour, is central to their effectiveness.

Solving The Pickup And Delivery Problem With Time Windows Using "Squeaky Wheel" Optimization With Local Search, Hongping Lim, Andrew Lim, Brian Rodrigues

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The Pickup and Delivery Problem with Time Windows (PDPTW) is an important problem in fleet planning where decisions can involve not only dispatching company fleets but also the selection of carriers on certain routes. In this problem, vehicles travel to a variety of locations to deliver or pick up goods and to provide services. The increasing costs for additional vehicles motivate managers to optimize fleet usage. Managers also seek to achieve economical use of fuel, maintenance and overtime costs by minimizing travel distance and duration. As such, PDPTW impacts the interface of supplier-customer relationship management in the supply chain process …

Trying To Understand The Different Pieces Of The Construct Validity Puzzle Of Assessment Centers: An Examination Of Assessor And Assessee Effects, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study examined the effects of assessor-related factors (i.e., type of assessor) and assessee-related factors (i.e., type of assessee profile) on the construct validity of assessment center ratings. In particular, 3 types of assessors (26 industrial/organizational [I/O] psychologists, 20 managers, and 27 students), rated assessee performances that varied according to cross-exercise consistency (i.e., relatively inconsistent vs. relatively consistent) and dimension differentiation (relatively undifferentiated vs. relatively differentiated). Construct validity evidence was established for only one assessee profile and only in the I/O psychologist and managerial samples. More generally, these results indicate that 3 factors (poor design, assessor unreliability, and especially cross-situational …

Trust In Leadership: Meta-Analytic Findings And Implications For Research And Practice, Kurt T. Dirks, Donald L. Ferrin

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this study, the authors examined the findings and implications of the research on trust in leadership that has been conducted during the past 4 decades. First, the study provides estimates of the primary relationships between trust in leadership and key outcomes, antecedents, and correlates (k = 106). Second, the study explores how specifying the construct with alternative leadership referents (direct leaders vs. organizational leadership) and definitions (types of trust) results in systematically different relationships between trust in leadership and outcomes and antecedents. Direct leaders (e.g., supervisors) appear to be a particularly important referent of trust. Last, a theoretical framework …

On Uncertainty, Ambiguity, And Complexity In Project Management, Michael T. Pich, Christoph H. Loch, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This article develops a model of a project as a payoff function that depends on the state of the world and the choice of a sequence of actions. A causal mapping, which may be incompletely known by the project team, represents the impact of possible actions on the states of the world. An underlying probability space represents available information about the state of the world. Interactions among actions and states of the world determine the complexity of the payoff function. Activities are endogenous, in that they are the result of a policy that maximizes the expected project payoff.

A key …

Making Justice Sense Of Local-Expatriate Compensation Disparity: Mitigation By Local Referents, Ideological Explanations, And Interpersonal Sensitivity In China-Foreign Joint Ventures, Chao C. Chen, Jaepil Choi, Chu-Cheng Chi

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examined how local employees of international joint ventures (IJVs) perceived disparity between their compensation and foreign expatriates' compensation from equity theory and social justice perspectives. Chinese locals perceived less fairness when comparing their compensation with expatriates' than when comparing it with other locals'. However, fairness vis-a-vis expatriates increased if the locals were compensated higher than their peers in other IJVs or endorsed ideological explanations for expatriates' advantage. Furthermore, expatriates' interpersonal sensitivity toward locals reduced the effect of disparity on perceived fairness. Finally, perceived compensation fairness was related positively to compensation satisfaction but negatively to intentions to quit.

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

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

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 …

Culture And Its Consequences For Entrepreneurship, Gerard George, Shaker A Zahra

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This special issue of the Journal "Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice" focuses on the relationship between culture and entrepreneurship. It adopts a broad definition of both culture and entrepreneurship. Culture is used to refer to the enduring set of values of a nation, a region, or an organization. Entrepreneurship is defined as the act and process by which societies, regions, organizations, or individuals identify and pursue business opportunities to create wealth. The articles in this special issue highlight opportunities for future research, both theoretical and empirical. These studies offer a preliminary roadmap for conducting influential and insightful research that can enrich …

National Culture And Entrepreneurship: A Review Of Behavioral Research, James C. Hayton, Gerard George, Shaker A. Zahra

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Conceptual arguments for the association between cultural characteristics and entrepreneurship have existed for decades but only in the last 10 years has this relationship been the focus of empirical scrutiny. In this article, we review and synthesize the findings of 21 empirical studies that examine the association between national cultural characteristics and aggregate measures of entrepreneurship, individual characteristics of entrepreneurs, and aspects of corporate entrepreneurship. The study concedes that a predominant number of empirical studies have used Hofstede's conceptualization of national culture and that other domains have been underdeveloped. A preliminary model that integrates past findings is extended. The review …

Human Resource Development Programs For Overseas Assignments In The Asia-Pacific: A Study Of Managers In Singapore, A. Ahad M. Osman-Gani, Wee Liang Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Asia-Pacific region form a major arena of increasing interest for overseas business operations. In this regard, human resource development (HRD) issues are found to play significant roles in major international business decisions. Yet little is known about the international HRD programs and practices employed by companies to train and develop managers for this dynamic region. This paper presents the empirical findings of a study on the relative importance of training on several key factors that are crucial to companies for their managers to succeed in overseas assignments in the Asia Pacific region. The study is based on a sample of …

An Innovative Public-Private Partnership: New Approach To Development, Ramina Samii, Luk N. Van Wassenhove, Shantanu Bhattacharya

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper is focused on the development of new services by nonprofit organizations for groups of companies within a particular sector in industry. It is based oil a case study of ail actual implementation by United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in collaboration with a number of other organizations to upgrade the capabilities of automotive component suppliers in India, to enable them to supply to world-class Manufacturers. We draw upon the traditional literature available on new product and service development for firms introducing new products and services for maximizing profit, and contrast those approaches with the approach adopted by nonprofit …

Investing In Hedge Funds: Risks, Returns And Pitfalls, Francis Koh, Winston T. H. Koh, David Kuo Chuen Lee, Kok Fai Phoon

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Hedge funds are collective investment vehicles fast becoming popular with high net worth individuals as well as institutional investors. These are funds that are often established with a special legal status that allows their investment managers a free hand to use derivatives, short sell, and exploit leverage to raise returns and cushion risk. Given that that they have substantial latitude to invest, it is instructive to examine the performance of hedge funds compared to other forms of managed funds. This paper provides an overview of hedge funds and discusses their empirical risk and return profiles. It also poses some concerns …

Investing In Hedge Funds: Risks, Returns And Pitfalls, Dong Hong, David Kuo Chuen Lee, Kok Fai Phoon

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Hedge funds are collective investment vehicles fast becoming popular with high net worth individuals as well as institutional investors. These are funds that are often established with a special legal status that allows their investment managers a free hand to use derivatives, short sell, and exploit leverage to raise returns and cushion risk. Given that that they have substantial latitude to invest, it is instructive to examine the performance of hedge funds compared to other forms of managed funds. This paper provides an overview of hedge funds and discusses their empirical risk and return profiles. It also poses some concerns …

Client Perspectives Of Multicultural Counselling Competence: A Qualitative Examination, Donald B. Pope-Davis, Rebecca L. Toporek, Lideth Ortega-Villalobos, Daniela P. Ligiero, Christopher S. Brittan-Powell, William Liu, Michael R. Bashshur, Jamila N. Codrington, Christopher T. H. Liang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Multicultural competence is a burgeoning area of research in counseling psychology. However, there has been little focus on understanding multicultural competence from the perspective of clients. This study used qualitative interviews and grounded theory to develop a model of clients’ perspectives of multicultural counseling. The resulting model suggested that clients’ experiences of multicultural counseling were contingent on their self-identified needs and on how well they felt the counselor met these needs. Moreover, clients appeared to actively manage and moderate the extent to which culture was broached in counseling based on a host of conditions including counseling relationship, salience of identity, …

Microscopic Chaos And Gaussian Diffusion Processes, L. Y. Chew, Christopher Ting

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this paper, we construct and analyze a prototypical model of microscopic chaos. In particular, we extend the results of Beck and Shimizu to the case where the microscopic time scale r is no longer small. The upshot is that a non-Ornstein-Uhlenbeck deterministic process can generate a Gaussian diffusion process.

An Evaluation Of Hedge Funds: Risk, Return And Pitfalls, Francis Koh, David K. C. Lee, Kok Fai Phoon

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Hedge funds are collective investment vehicles fast becoming popular with high net worth individuals as well as institutional investors. These are funds that are often established with a special legal status that allows their investment managers a free hand to use derivatives, short sell and exploit leverage to raise returns and cushion risk. Given that they have substantial latitude to invest, it is instructive to examine the performance of hedge funds as compared to other forms of managed funds. This paper provides an overview of hedge funds and discusses their empirical risk and return profiles. It also poses some concerns …

Absorptive Capacity: A Review, Reconceptualization, And Extension, Shaker A. Zahra, Gerard George

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Researchers have used the absorptive capacity construct to explain various organizational phenomena. In this article we review the literature to identify key dimensions of absorptive capacity and offer a reconceptualization of this construct. Building upon the dynamic capabilities view of the firm, we distinguish between a firm's potential and realized capacity. We then advance a model outlining the conditions when the firm's potential and realized capacities can differentially influence the creation and sustenance of its competitive advantage.

Technology Selection And Commitment In New Product Development: The Role Of Uncertainty And Design Flexibility, V. Krishnan, Shantanu Bhattacharya

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Selecting the right technologies to incorporate in new products is a particularly challenging aspect of new product definition and development. While newer advanced technologies may offer improved performance, they also make the product development process more risky and challenging. In this paper, we focus on the problem of technology selection and commitment under uncertainty, a major challenge to firms in turbulent environments. We argue that the ''pizza-bin'' approach of rejecting prospective technologies outright may not serve firms well when the pressure to differentiate products is enormous. After motivating the challenges and decisions facing firms using a real-life application from Dell …

Social Entrepreneurship In Singapore (German Version), Wee Liang Tan, Teck Meng Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

No abstract provided.

A Dynamic It Adoption Model For The Soho Market: Pc Generational Decisions With Technological Expectations, Namwoon Kim, Jin K. Han, Rajendra K. Srivastava

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The small-office/home-office (SOHO) professionals comprise the fastest growing segment in the labor force today. Typically being a one-person business based at home, SOHO owners mostly rely on office information technology to single handedly run their entire operation. Despite the segment's ostensibly growing dependence and influence on the information technology industry, still very little is known about the dynamics between SOHO and IT products. With the purpose of addressing this void, the SOHO professionals' adoption patterns of multigenerational IT products are ivestigated. Accordingly, an individual SOHO-level initial- and repeat-purchase logit model that captures the procurement patterns for successive generations of technological …

Scaling Up Information Services For Development: A Framework Of Increasing Returns For Telecenters, Ted Tschang, Mathurot Chuladul, Thuy Thu Le

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Telecentres are an important type of information and communication technology (ICT) system particularly assisting rural and urban communities in developing countries, but the focus is often put on social development, sometimes on static economic returns, and rarely on dynamic economic aspects. This paper develops a basis for understanding the factors behind financial success in a dynamic setting based on the concept of increasing returns. This is applied to telecentres according to the stage of maturity of their information services. The framework is illustrated with literature- and interview-based cases, and will help an understanding of ways in which telecentres can scale-up …