Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

A Double-Edged Sword: Organizational Culture In Multicultural Organizations, Mary G. Trefry

WCBT Faculty Publications

The primary premise explored in this paper is that organizational culture has the potentialfor even greater impact in multicultural organizations than mono-cultural ones because an organization's culture can intensify both the benefits and the challenges of employee cultural diversity, and thus indirectly, affect organizational performance, organizational learning and competitive advantage. The assumptions underlying this contention and relationships among variables that contribute to the impact are explored in this paper, along with practical organizational implications.

This study analyzes the dimensions of the 'vitality of development' of banking systems. Fuzzy synthetic decision analysis was used to construct and evaluate an index of …

World Wrestling Entertainment: Achieving Continued Growth And Market Penetration Through International Expansion, Joshua Shuart, Peter A. Maresco

WCBT Faculty Publications

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is best known for its promotion of professional wrestling as sports entertainment. Today, World Wrestling Entertainment is an integrated media and entertainment company principally engaged in the development, production, and marketing of television programming, pay-per-view programming, and live events, and the licensing and sale of branded consumer products featuring the highly successful World Wrestling entertainment brand. As the WWE brand continues to grow, a strategic decision has been made to place a greater emphasis on the expansion of the WWE brand globally. This paper will present an overview of WWE from its beginnings as the WWWF …

Is Support For Strategic Flexibility, Environmental Dynamism, And Firm Performance, Michael J. Zhang

WCBT Faculty Publications

Increasingly, strategic flexibility has been viewed as a critical organizational competency that enables firms to achieve and maintain competitive advantage and superior performance. In this study, the relationship between IS support for strategic flexibility and the bottom-line performance of firms is investigated, as well as the moderating effects of environmental dynamism on that relationship. Using both survey and archival data, IS support for strategic flexibility was positively associated with profitability and labor productivity only when there was a high degree of environmental changes and uncertainty.

Introducing The Balanced Scorecard: Creating Metrics To Measure Performance, Andra Gumbus

WCBT Faculty Publications

This experiential exercise presents the concept of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) and applies it in a university setting. The Balanced Scorecard was developed 12 years ago and has grown in popularity and is used by more than 50% of the Fortune 500 companies as a performance measurement and strategic management tool. The BSC expands the traditional financial measures into three other dimensions to capture a balanced approach to measure performance in an organization. These additional dimensions are as follows: Customer Focus, Competence/Employee Learning and Growth, and Operational Efficiency. The exercise uses an analogy of a race car driver who relies …

Ricardo Semler: Creating Organizational Change, Christopher York, Peter A. Maresco

WCBT Faculty Publications

A review of "Creating Organizational Change" by Ricardo Semler.

Designing And Implementing A Balanced Scorecard: Lessons Learned In Nonprofit Implementation, Andra Gumbus, Tom Wilson

WCBT Faculty Publications

The balanced scorecard has been referred to as the management innovation of the century, and extensive articles have been written using case studies of organizations that use this performance measurement system. This article addresses the key issues of design and implementation with a step-by-step guide to how to design a balanced scorecard and lessons to avoid implementation problems in government and nonprofit settings.

Just Tell Me The Rules! Or When Did The Rules Change?, Valerie Christian

WCBT Faculty Publications

Anne is an experienced direct marketer. Just promoted to CEO, Anne proves to be naïve in managing The ABC Catalog Company, despite her twenty years of experience with the company. She prefers to set simple, straightforward rules for her direct reports to follow. Her management philosophy has been influenced by advice from her mentor and by her personal experiences working with her direct reports when they were her colleagues. According to Anne “The big picture is for her (and perhaps her newly-appointed and trusted CFO, Jeff) to worry about.” Anne feels that many of her direct reports are incapable or …

How Unilever Hpc-Na Sold Its Employees On The Balanced Scorecard, Bridget Lyons, Andra Gumbus

WCBT Faculty Publications

Unilever Home & Personal Care-North America (HPC-NA) not only takes marketing its products very seriously, but it heavily promotes its balanced scorecard to employees as well. No wonder Unilever HPC-NA successfully designed a unique strategy to communicate awareness of the BSC while encouraging its participation and use. Their experiences should prove valuable to other organizations implementing a balanced scorecard and to those just beginning to formulate a communications approach to internal stakeholders about its role, significance, and use. The Unilever HPC-NA marketing campaign provides an effective strategy that other firms may consider when marketing a balanced scorecard internally. The HPC-NA …

Designing A Strategy To Effectively Communicate The Balanced Scorecard, Andra Gumbus, Bridget Lyons, Tom Wilson

WCBT Faculty Publications

As increasing numbers of organizations adopt the balanced scorecard (BSC) to align strategy with operations and measure progress toward meeting strategic goals, the importance of successful communication of the scorecard throughout the organization has become apparent. Successful implementation and effective use of the BSC occurs when organizational stakeholders recognize its role, use, and benefits. In the March/April 2003 issue of Cost Management, we detailed how Bridgeport Hospital, a member of Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS), adopted the BSC and used the scorecard to align capital investment decisions with strategy.1 In this article, we will profile how the hospital designed …

No Mulligans: When Good Entrepreneurs Make Bad Decisions, Joseph E. Levangie

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Some of the best entrepreneurs fail early and often. Less talented or less committed entrepreneurs do not even get a second chance. Failure and setbacks, however, can be instructive. What lessons can be learned from these experiences? How can the entrepreneur (and investors) navigate around the potholes on the New Venture Highway? Read on.

Seeking God (In The Details), Joseph E. Levangie

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs tend to be self-styled “idea” people. They often believe they have the next “Big Concept”—one which could change the world, reaffirm their self-worth, and, of course, make them and their venture team a fortune. In contrast, as they build a company to implement their business dream, entrepreneurs also tend to eschew or trivialize administrative details. Why should they waste their creative juices on minutia? As a result of this insensitivity to detail, these captains of capitalism often trip in their entrepreneurial journey. For example, they might:

• Forget to remit payroll taxes on schedule.

• Fail to document the …

The Balanced Scorecard At Futura Industries, Andra Gumbus, Susan D. Johnson

WCBT Faculty Publications

Most companies use the balanced scorecard (BSC) to focus on the financial aspects or the operational metrics required by ISO quality certification. But that is not all one unique company uses the BSC for. At Futura Industries, President Susan Johnson built the enterprise's success over the past 3 years on the BSC's foundational level - the learning, innovation, and growth dimension. This dimension provides the building blocks that generate success in the remaining 3 quadrants: customer service, financial, and internal operations. And the results have followed: a 50% increase in revenue without adding personnel from 1996 to 1999. This organization …

The Impact Of Increasing User Expectations On Machine Replacement, Robert F. Marsh, Seong-Hyun Nam

WCBT Faculty Publications

This study explores the traditional equipment maintain or replace decision under scenarios of increasing customer expectations, loss due to process deviation, and process drift. Customer expectations are operationalized by tighter product specifications. The Taguchi loss function is employed to estimate the loss due to target deviation. In this paper we characterize the machine drift, uncertainty about future technological change, and the learn-and-break-in process by a generalized Brownian-Motion-Ito-Process. The photolithography process is analyzed in numerous scenarios varying demand, rejection levels, and quality losses.

Aligning Capital Investment Decisions With The Balanced Scorecard, Andra Gumbus, Bridget Lyons, Dorothy E. Bellhouse

WCBT Faculty Publications

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) has evolved from a measurement tool to a strategic management tool used by thousands of organizations. The Balanced Scorecard has proven to be a powerful tool in translating strategy into action in the for-profit sector and has recently been adopted by increasing numbers of not-for-profit organizations as well.

University of Bridgeport Hospital, part of the Yale-New Haven Health System, has been using the BSC for over three years to effectively translate strategy into dayto-day operations. The hospital has also linked the capital budgeting process to the BSC to ensure that resource allocation is aligned with strategic …

Cewa: An International, Interdisciplinary, Educational, Environmental Partnership, Brenda Bushell, Pratibha Dangol, Beverly Kracher, Bridget Lyons

WCBT Faculty Publications

This chapter reports the international, interdisciplinary partnership that supports the Creative and Educational Welfare Affiliation (CEWA). We begin by describing CEWA, its various projects, and the genesis of the partnership that supports the CEWA card project. We describe the first year's achievements as well as the difficulties with the CEWA card project. We conclude with recommendations for how to create successful international, interdisciplinary educational partnerships.

A Three Year Journey To Organizational And Financial Health Using The Balanced Scorecard: A Case Study At A Yale New Haven Health System Hospital, Andra Gumbus, Dorothy E. Bellhouse, Bridget Lyons

WCBT Faculty Publications

The article focuses on health care facilities. These facilities are facing financial pressures as the federal government, managed care, and the shift to outpatient care forces downsizing and hospital closures across the nation. This financial pressure translates for many institutions into an increased emphasis on financial metrics to the exclusion of other parameters. This article explores the three year journey to organizational and financial health of Bridgeport Hospital, a member of the Yale New Haven Health System, using the balanced scorecard as a strategic tool.

The Balanced Scorecard At Philips Electronics, Andra Gumbus, Bridget M. Lyons

WCBT Faculty Publications

The drive to implement the balanced scorecard at Philips Electronics came from the top down - as a directive from the Board of Management in Europe to all Philips divisions and companies worldwide. The directive went to each of the companies and their quality departments, with the effort in the medical division headed by the Quality Steering Committee that reports to the president of Philips Medical Systems. Philips Electronics has used the balanced scorecard to align company vision, focus employees on how they fit into the big picture, and educate them on what drives the business. An essential aid to …

Journey To Destination 2005, Andra Gumbus, Bridget M. Lyons, Dorothy E. Bellhouse

WCBT Faculty Publications

Bridgeport Hospital and Healthcare Services (BHHS) in Bridgeport, Conn., a part of the Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS), embraced the balanced scorecard because it had been experiencing a loss in revenue and income due to managed care penetration in the local marketplace. This hospital is not alone in facing financial pressures. The balanced scorecard provides the framework for measuring performance in a complex and changing medical environment. Still retaining financial measures, the following drivers of financial success are incorporated into Bridgeport's scorecard: quality clinical outcomes; expert clinical care providers; satisfied patients, doctors, and staff; and volume and market-share growth. …

Pitney Bowes Calls For New Metrics, Mark Green, Jeanine Garrity, Andra Gumbus, Bridget Lyons

WCBT Faculty Publications

The importance of measuring strategy and action plans is here to stay. That is why savvy companies are using a scorecard. Pitney Bowes Inc. is one company that believes in the balanced scorecard. At PBI the basis is in place with a newly defined mission statement, individual objectives linked to the mission, and metrics designed to measure progress toward achieving those objectives. The company has been successful on several fronts. In fact, the balanced scorecard approach helped PBI to improve a process in its core business and ultimately saved the company millions.

Someone Old Or Someone New? The Effects Of Ceo Change On Corporate Entrepreneurship, J. L. "Bert" Morrow Jr.

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Boards of directors often attempt to foster corporate entrepreneurship by replacing a firm’s chief executive officer (CEO). Compelling theoretical arguments and anecdotal evidence suggest that when firm performance has suffered, a new CEO is best suited to lead the firm’s creative endeavors. On the other hand, among firms that retain their existing CEO after a decline in performance, manipulating the CEO’s compensation package is a common governance practice used by boards to encourage innovation. In these cases, some have argued that increasing the CEO’s pay will encourage corporate entrepreneurship, because the CEO has been compensated for assuming additional risk. Counter …

Issues Raised In Cross-Border Mergers, Karen Cascini, Abdel M. Agami

WCBT Faculty Publications

There has been a significant increase in the number and value of cross-border mergers among multinational businesses in recent years. Some of the reasons for this increase are due to an increase in competition, the growth in global markets, and the rapid changes in technology. In order to justify a merger, management usually claims that the merger will produce synergy. It claims that the merger will increase revenues, earnings, cash flows, the value of stockholders' equity, and will benefit society. The purpose of this article is to discuss some of the issues involved in cross-border mergers among multinational businesses, suggest …

The Relationship Between Transitory Organizational Structures And Non-Linear Environments, Valentin H. Pashtenko, Matthew H. Roy, Sanjiv S. Dugal

WCBT Faculty Publications

Examines non-linear adaptation to change in the high-technology environment of the computer industry. These environments are defined, and the efficacy of different organizational adaptations is assessed with respect to these environments. Results from our analyses show that there is a direct and causal relationship between the employment of non-linear organizational archetypes and organizational effectiveness within high-technology industries.

Multinationality-Performance Relationship: A Review And Reconceptualization, Madan Annavarjula, Sam Beldona

WCBT Faculty Publications

Numerous empirical investigations have attempted to study the relationship between multinationality and firm performance. Results from these studies have produced conflicting findings about this relationship. It is argued that one of the causes of the conflicting findings may be an imprecise conceptualization of multinationality. A multidimensional conceptualization is proposed based on a methodological review of previous research.

The Effect Of Technological Environment And Competitive Strategy On Licensing Decisions, Matthew H. Roy, Sanjiv S. Dugal

WCBT Faculty Publications

The expectation that firms that have a high differentiation strategy will also have low levels of licensing is not supported. For business units (BU) with products in the growth stages, the competitive strategy of the BU did not significantly affect licensing decisions. The results are not too surprising when one considers new technological advancements and global competition. A company may perceive its technological advantage as transitory and expect rapid imitation by competitors. In such a case, the company might want to license the innovation as quickly as possible to gain global acceptance. It is shown that when products mature, the …

Organizational Culture, Tqm, And Business Process Reengineering: An Empirical Comparison, Edward W. Gore Jr.

WCBT Faculty Publications

The results of this study underscore the importance of organizational culture and suggest that TQM provides a way to build a culture that supports improvement. Top managers must focus on this role for TQM. Too often the need for quick returns on the effort leads to a focus on the "tools" and specific improvements and this emphasis can work against developing a supportive culture. Reengineering is an example of this phenomenon. Frustration with the time it takes to carry through on a TQM initiative caused firms to try reengineering, which, with its emphasis on outsiders and specialized personnel, works against …

Towards Relevancy In Financial Reporting: Mark-To-Market Accounting, Eunsup Daniel Shim, Joseph M. Larkin

WCBT Faculty Publications

The objectives of this paper are to: discuss the relevancy vs. reliability of current financial reporting practices, survey the literature that describes the impact of mark-to-market accounting, critically examine current GAAP financial statements by comparing them to market value financial statements. With theoretical discussions and a case study, this paper shows that the mark-to-market accounting could present better about the economic reality of transactions and, therefore, tends to provide more useful and relevant information than does historical cost financial reporting. This study suggests that if the objective of financial reporting is to provide "useful" information to the users, existing GAAP …

The Entrepreneur, Stanley I. Mason Jr.

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Stanley I. Mason, Jr. has had an incredible impact on our lives. This feature article describes his journey to becoming an inventor and entrepreneur.

Franchising And Entrepreneurship: High Reward Or High Risk?, Gad J. Selig

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

According to the Department of Commerce, start-up, small, and family businesses are among the fastest growing areas of employment. Even under the best economic environment, starting a business is risky. To reduce the risks and to establish their own businesses, an increasing number of entrepreneurs and corporate converts are buying franchises.

Franchising has enjoyed a major increase in popularity during the early 1990s, fueled largely by the growing pool of available candidates made possible by significant corporate and government downsizing. According to the Department of Commerce, franchising accounts for nearly one-third of all U.S. retail sales and employs over 7 …

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.

Redefining Loyalty: Motivational Strategies And Employee Loyalty In An Era Of Downsizing, Sandra Obilade

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Retaining employee loyalty after restructuring is a problem for all types of businesses. The major issue concerns how management and employees can establish a new, mutually acceptable "psychological contract" which ensures employee loyalty but not lifelong employment. Eighteen small businesses in Fairfield County, Connecticut were surveyed to investigate loyalty and motivation after downsizing. A significant correlation was found between loyalty and motivation. Furthermore, several motivational techniques employed were inconsistent with employee needs. Suggestions are offered on how to retain employee loyalty.