Strategy in the time of pandemics, climate change and the Kurzweil Singularity

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Camillus ◽  
Shoba Ramanadhan ◽  
Krishnan Ganapathy
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Strategic Management ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Smart Power ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Practical Guidelines ◽  
Daunting Challenge

PurposeThe business environment is increasingly fraught with societal disruptions—caused by factors such as pandemics, climate change and the probability of sentient machines—that are fundamentally different than the industry disruptions that firms have experienced and determined how to overcome. Societal disruptions create chaotic ambiguity and unknowable futures. This paper offers an approach to strategic management in the context of societal disruptions, employing purpose-driven “smart power” to harmonize the organization and the environment and promote both economic and social sustainability.Design/methodology/approachThe paper integrates the construct of smart power that blends hard and soft power, the concepts of purpose and identity that define what is core, aspirational, enduring and distinctive about the organization and the techniques of taming wicked problems in order to design processes and structures that can function in the context of social disruptions.FindingsThe paper offers a strategic management approach that employs purpose-driven smart power to overcome the challenge and thrive in the context of chaotic ambiguity.Practical implicationsThe approach offers practical guidelines for designing processes and structures that can guide strategic decision making in organizations challenged by societal disruptions.Originality/valueThe distinctive and daunting challenge posed by societal disruptions is delineated, and constructs and frameworks from multiple disciplines are uniquely integrated to potentially tame the chaotic ambiguity and unknowable futures created by these disruptions.

Guatemala’s economy on the way to recovery

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Violent Crime ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Containment Measures ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Way

Significance National GDP nevertheless contracted by just 1.5% in 2020 -- less than almost any other country in Latin America. Resilient remittances and exports, coupled with unprecedented policy support, have mitigated the effects of the pandemic and subsequent containment measures, leaving the country better placed for recovery than its neighbours. Impacts Enduring poverty, inequality and violent crime, and the impacts of accelerating climate change, will drive further migration from Guatemala. The government will pursue banking law reforms, to reduce risks to financial activities in the post-pandemic business environment. Infighting and corruption scandals will hinder the opposition's ability to benefit from the decline of the president's popularity.

To downsize or not to downsize: when and how does corporate downsizing create long-term value?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mishari Alnahedh ◽  
Abdullatif Alrashdan
Keyword(s):  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Value Appropriation ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Moderation Effect ◽  
Corporate Downsizing

Purpose How does corporate downsizing contribute to a firm’s long-term value? While the extant empirical findings on this relationship are inconclusive, contradictory and equivocal, the answers to this question remain particularly important in today’s business environment. Considering that downsizing is often directed toward long-term growth and survival, this paper aims to posit that scholars should account for the temporal nature of this strategic decision to understand its economic impact on the firm’s operations. Therefore, this paper provides a more rigorous empirical examination of how a firm’s decision to downsize its workforce affects that firm’s long-term value. Design/methodology/approach This paper used Wibbens and Siggelkow’s (2020) measure of long-term investor value appropriation (LIVA) to directly observe the effects of corporate downsizing on firm long-term value and growth. Using a sample of 3,149 US publicly traded manufacturing firms that operated between 2002 to 2018, this paper tested the main effect of downsizing on LIVA and 3 boundary condition hypotheses. Findings This paper found a positive relationship between corporate downsizing and a firm’s long-term value. Interestingly, this positive relationship is stronger among firms that had high human resource slack and R&D intensity. Contrary to the expectations, this paper did not find support for the moderation effect of the proximity to bankruptcy on the relationship between corporate downsizing and a firm’s long-term value. Originality/value With these findings, the paper sheds light on the long-term implications of a firm’s decision to downsize its workforce.

Deal of the day at Cherry.ee

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Katri Kerem ◽  
Dietmar Sternad
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Strategic Management ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
First Year ◽  
Sustainable Competitive Advantage ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Start Up ◽  
Deal Of The Day

Subject area Marketing, branding, strategic management, online retailing, and entrepreneurship. Study level/applicability Postgraduate courses in: strategic management; marketing management (branding); and entrepreneurship. Case overview The case describes the founding and the first year of an Estonian internet start-up, the “deal-of-the-day” web site Cherry.ee. The focal topic of the case is the analysis of alternative scenarios for the further development of the company after the first year in business: selling the company, entering into a merger with similar businesses, or continuing to develop the brand independently. The case gives an example of creating a new market, introducing a new business model and launching a brand with substantial use of social media marketing. The successful business model was quickly copied by a lot of followers creating a fierce competitive environment and raising a question of sustainability of the competitive advantage. The case provides an opportunity to discuss how to strategically handle the development of a growing start-up company in an increasingly competitive market environment. Expected learning outcomes Understanding the critical success factors and potential pitfalls for an internet start-up; developing skills to critically analyze the concept of sustainable competitive advantage; comprehension of the main factors influencing the strategic decision on whether to follow a growth, cooperation, or exit strategy; and awareness of the relative advantages of online and offline marketing and understanding how social media strategies can be used to build a brand. Supplementary materials Teaching note.

Potential effects of climate change on the habitat in Mexico

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel F. Audefroy
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Political Commitment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social And Economic Development ◽  
History Of ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the potential effects of climate change on the habitat and human settlements in Mexico, through an analysis of three regions that are vulnerable to hydrometeorological hazards such as droughts, floods and hurricanes. Design/methodology/approach – The research process included fieldwork in the states of Oaxaca, Tabasco and Yucatán, and a historical study of hydrometeorological events in each region. The authors sought to identify a means of interpreting these events linked to climate variability, on the basis of the history of disasters, the environment and the habitat. The local climatic indications were compared to the IPCC’s global successes, to show that contradictions do not exist but that it is difficult to apply the IPCC’s findings at a local level, given the considerable margin of uncertainty. Findings – The indications of the effects of climate change make it possible to foresee that the most vulnerable populations will be the ones facing the strongest impact in the future. Practical implications – The research has direct implications on urban and housing policies, offering a roadmap to design climate change adaptation strategies; adaptive capacity not only requires political commitment. Social implications – It is also related to social and economic development and an “integral risk management” approach rather than a “civil protection” strategy. Originality/value – The main interest of this research is to show that a multidisciplinary approach is essential in order to understand the local implications of climate change.

Choice of an authoritative style when implementing a survival urgency-based strategic change

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maheshkumar Joshi ◽  
Sanjeev Jha
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Commitment ◽  
Strategic Management ◽  
Middle Managers ◽  
Strategic Change ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Organizational Survival ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Method Bias

Purpose Extant research suggests that managing strategic change has become a key managerial function and this duty encompasses changes in organizational product-market boundaries and organizational structure among many related organizational activities. The need to achieve strategic change arises because of major shifts in the external environment and the subsequent need for the organization to remain viable and competitive in the changed environment. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate if middle managers are likely to adopt authoritative style while implementing strategic change when they sense organizational survival. Design/methodology/approach “Sensemaking” literature led to development of the authors’ hypotheses and these were tested using the responses of 117 middle managers. The authors used survey-based instrument to collect data and used regression analysis to explicate the responses of the middle managers. Findings Results indicate that when middle managers sense that the survival of the organization is at stake, they are likely to choose an authoritative style. The authors also investigated the moderating role of organizational commitment, strategic posture of the top management team, and hostile business environment on the relationship between perception of survival urgency and the choice of authoritative implementation style. Only organizational commitment moderates this relationship. Research limitations/implications The authors’ data collection was survey based and the authors used a single source for each questionnaire and this process may lead to possibilities of mono-method bias. However, steps were taken to reduce the resultant mono-method bias. The respondents are from a variety of industries and future research may focus on one specific industry. Practical implications The first implication of this study allows us to expand research focus on the adoption of authoritative style, a research area that is not explored very much. The second implication of the study is that middle managers tend to focus on their emotions when it comes to implementing strategic changes. Using arguments from sensemaking the authors show that the perception of need for survival or the perception that business environment is hostile will determine how strategic change could be implemented. Middle managers must be treated as more than just the implementers of the directives/fiats/orders/edicts that originate from the top. Social implications Role of middle managers in strategic change management is critical and the authors suggest that the perception of organizational survival at risk leads to choice managerial style by middle managers. Originality/value The authors have combined ideas from both the strategic management and organizational development fields to understand successfully the implementation of strategic change in a survival urgency situation. In the past, the strategic management literature focused primarily on understanding strategy formulation process, and the process of implementation was generally neglected. The respondents are from a variety of industries. The analysis indicate that membership to any one firm was not impacting the results obtained by the authors and as such allows for results to generalized.

Niyogi books: making a difference in the Indian book publishing industry

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Trisha De Niyogi ◽  
Sushil S. Chaurasia
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Management ◽  
Marketing Strategy ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Publishing Industry ◽  
Publishing House ◽  
Book Publishing ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Book Publishing Industry ◽  
Content Type

Subject area Marketing strategy. Study level/applicability The course is well suited for MBA and Executive MBA class on Strategic Management, Marketing Strategy, Brand Management, Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Change in emerging economies. The case can also be taught to senior undergraduate students to explore the issues mentioned in the case as an integrative case for courses like Strategic Management and Marketing Strategy. Case overview Niyogi Books had positioned itself as an independent publishing house with a focus on the niche area of trade books. Due to the internet, digitalization and globalization the dynamics of the book publishing industry had changed considerably, and the company needed to think and reflect on its current position and future strategy. Niyogi Books had added new products and new markets along with other innovations to succeed in the business of publishing. But the way ahead for Niyogi Books was to innovate in light of fast-paced technological advancement. The company needed to balance the digitization of content as well as retailing with its existing print strategy. A related issue is the need to plan an innovative and cost-effective communication strategy to boost sales. Expected learning outcomes The learning outcomes are as follows: analyze the business environment of the publishing industry, realize the need for a branding strategy for small business and apply communication strategies single/multi-channel setting, understand the need of an organization to purposefully adapt an organization’s (self-) resource base (management capability to effectively coordinate and redeploy internal and external competences) and analyze the role of a growth strategy and how it can be used to devise a product/marketing strategy. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email [email protected] to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.

Healthcare strategic management and the resource based view

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bita Arbab Kash ◽  
Aaron Spaulding ◽  
Larry D. Gamm ◽  
Christopher E. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Management ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Strategic Change ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Strategy Formulation ◽  
Resource Based View ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Strategic Initiatives

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how two large health systems formulate and implement strategy with a specific focus on differences and similarities in the nature of strategic initiatives across systems. The aim is to gain a better understanding of the role of resource dependency theory (RDT) and resource based view (RBV) in healthcare strategic management. Design/methodology/approach – A comparative case study design is used to describe, categorize and compare strategic change initiatives within a children's health and a multi-hospital system located in two competitive metropolitan markets. A total of 61 in-person semi-structured interviews with healthcare administrators were conducted during 2009. Summary statistics and qualitative content analysis were employed to examine strategic initiatives. Findings – The two health systems have as their top initiatives very similar pursuits, thus indicating that both utilize an externally oriented RDT method of strategy formulation. The relevance of the RBV becomes apparent during resource deployment for strategy implementation. The process of healthcare strategic decision-making incorporates RDT and RBV as separate and compatible activities that are sequential. Research limitations/implications – Results from this comparative case study are based on only two health systems. Further, the RBV perspective only takes managerial resources and time into consideration. Practical implications – Given that external resources are likely to become more constrained, it is important that hospitals leverage relevant internal resources, in the identification of competitive advantages and effective execution of strategic initiatives. Originality/value – The author propose a refined healthcare strategic management framework that takes both RDT and RBV into consideration by systematically linking strategy formulation with deployment of resources.

Strategic analysis using SWOT-AHP: a fibre cement sheet company application

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashutosh Ashutosh ◽  
Ashok Sharma ◽  
Masroor Ahmad Beg
Keyword(s):  
Customer Service ◽  
Cement Industry ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Strategic Analysis ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Affecting Factors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Fibre Cement

PurposePurpose of study: Indian fibre cement industry is at crossroads on account of the dropping margins attributed to the dynamic internal and external challenges faced by it. The ever-changing technology, the increasing availability of substitutes and changing demographic consumption profiles have questioned the survival of this industry. Internal and external factors affecting an organization provide inputs to the strategic decision-making. Diversity of factors and prioritization is a major challenge encountered for developing a strategy for the organization.Design/methodology/approachStrategic analysis in the paper proposes to rank important key variables through SWOT-AHP methodology affecting a fibre cement company. Computed priorities of SWOT factor could help in formation of management approach to key decisions facing the firm. It is a descriptive research design. The problem itself has multiple SWOT criteria that have been evaluated in three phases with the help of industry experts and AHP criteria.FindingsSWOT-AHP analysis has been a strategic fit for qualitative analysis of factors. The important ranked factors affecting the organization have been found to be brand name, capability of both the management and technical, quality of the product, and the efficient customer service and marketing reach/distribution.Research limitations/implicationsRanking of key SWOT factors found through AHP methodology will help the firm under study to develop and plan strategic alternatives to counter all challenges faced by them.Practical implicationsThe management of the firm under study shall be benefited in fine-tuning the overall strategy of the organization.Originality/valueThis paper proposes a hybrid SWOT-AHP strategic analysis first time in this sector. The affecting factors have been quantified and ranked to identify priority factors for the firm to focus.

scholarly journals The role of social media in managing supplier attractiveness

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 625-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zsófia Tóth ◽  
Martin Liu ◽  
Jun Luo ◽  
Christos Braziotis
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
The Body ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Senior Managers ◽  
Supplier Relationships ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Specific Investments ◽  
Depth Interviews

Purpose Managing attractiveness is a constant challenge to mobilize relationship-specific investments, especially in a business environment increasingly enhanced by social media (SM) activities. There is limited knowledge on how SM activities contribute to supplier attractiveness, so decisions about strategizing with SM and consequent resource allocations become highly uncertain. The purpose of this paper is to examine how suppliers’ SM activities influence supplier attractiveness. Design/methodology/approach Altogether, 57 senior managers were interviewed: 32 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with senior managers in strategic decision-making roles regarding SM on the supplier side, along with 20 senior managers responsible for purchasing or looking after supplier development; one-to-one interviews were complemented by a focus group with 5 senior managers on the buyer side. Findings The study reveals an inverse U-shaped relationship between the intensity of the supplier’s SM activity and its attractiveness and offers a set of propositions about the influence of SM on supplier attractiveness, with special regard to the perceived risks of increased transparency and becoming “too social” on SM. Practical implications The study highlights SM management results for supplier attractiveness and their impact areas on business growth and supply chain development. Originality/value This paper provides in-depth insights into the role of SM in managing supplier attractiveness. Various effects of SM activities are identified that aim to contribute to the body of literature on supplier attractiveness as well as SM management in buyer–supplier relationships.

FragraAroma – accord in business, concord in family

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Nakul Gupta ◽  
Radha R. Sharma ◽  
Rupali Pardasani
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Management ◽  
Organizational Development ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Family Relations ◽  
Business Management ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Growth Strategies ◽  
Content Type

Subject area Entrepreneurship, internationalization, family-owned business management, strategic management. Study level/applicability MBA/postgraduate management program courses on family business management. The case can be taught at the beginning of the course to acquaint students with the dynamics of family-owned businesses. MBA/postgraduate/undergraduate courses on entrepreneurship. It can be used in the middle of the course to highlight the challenges presented by an entrepreneur due to change in the business environment and macroeconomic scenario. MBA/postgraduate course on strategic management. It can be used at the beginning of the course to introduce strategies for managing and sustaining growth of a business. MBA/postgraduate course on organizational development. It can be used in the middle of the course to help students understand the importance of designing an optimal organizational structure for a family business. Case overview FragraAroma was an Indian fragrance company. Anil Gupta, the Founder and Managing Director of FragraAroma, and his sister Nisha were equal shareholders of the company. With changes in the Foreign Direct Investment Policy in 2013 in India, Anil and Nisha's husband Tarun had different expansion plans for FragraAroma. While Anil was planning to expand FragraAroma internationally, but his sister and her husband wanted diversification of the company's customer segment in the domestic market itself. The case is poised at the juncture, where Anil was facing a labyrinth of critical decisions. Would he go ahead with Tarun's expansion plan or stick to his plan of internationalization? Would his decision affect the harmony of the family? Was there a way that could enable him sailing his family and family business out of the doldrums? Expected learning outcomes This case is primarily about a family business and the dilemmas faced by the owner of that family business. The case captures the challenges faced by a family business in sustaining growth and competitiveness. The case can be used to understand how decisions are taken in a family-owned business. To understand the challenges faced by a family-owned business while developing and implementing its growth strategies. To understand the opportunities and challenges presented to a family-owned businesses when macroeconomic scenarios change. To understand the spillover effects of business decisions on family relations in a typical family-owned business setup. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email [email protected] to request teaching notes.

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