Felix Oberholzer-Gee: The formula for keeping your strategy simple and focused

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Leavy
Keyword(s):  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Value Drivers ◽  
Work Lives ◽  
Content Type ◽  
A Value ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose In his new book Better, Simpler Strategy: A Value-Based Guide to Exceptional Performance, Felix Oberholzer-Gee offers business leaders and strategists guidance on a basic idea: unless an initiative creates value for customers, employees or suppliers, it is a waste of time and resources. Design/methodology/approach In this interview with S&L contributing editor Brian Leavy, Prof. Felix Oberholzer-Gee explains: “All you need to ask is, ‘Can my organization create differentiated value, can we raise customer willingness-to-pay (WTP) or lower employee and supplier willingness-to-sell (WTS)?’”. Findings Value-based strategy is “back-to-basics” in the sense that the approach insists on value creation as the foundation for every activity in the business. Practical/implications A comprehensive understanding of employees’ work lives is likely to reveal many chances to create value. Originality/value The interview explains why and how firms should seek to exceed expectations where it counts, and sustain excellence by diverting resources from lower-ranked value drivers.

Value creation attempts via photographs in sustainability reporting: a legitimacy theory perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Irshad Ali ◽  
Sumit Lodhia ◽  
Anil K. Narayan
Keyword(s):  
Value Creation ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Legitimacy Theory ◽  
Systematic Method ◽  
Content Type ◽  
A Value ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the use of legitimacy strategies via the usage of photographic disclosures in sustainability reporting as an attempt towards creating value. Design/methodology/approach This study used visual content analysis to identify disclosure trends and value creation themes from sustainability-related photographs in the annual and sustainability reports of Fonterra Co-operative Group over a ten-year period. The findings were interpreted using legitimacy theory. Findings The findings show a significant increase in the usage of photographs to legitimise and reinforce the organisation’s sustainability messages. The photographs are dominated by images signalling to stakeholders’ positive sustainability messages, as a systematic method for managing stakeholder expectations to maintain, gain and even repair legitimacy. A majority of photographs have supporting textual narrative, which could be construed as an attempt by the company to make their sustainability messages explicit and provide greater legitimacy of activities and performance with the ultimate aim of enhancing organisational value. Research limitations/implications This study contributes towards an in-depth understanding of attempts at seeking legitimacy and creating organisational value through the systematic usage of photographic disclosures in sustainability reporting. Practical implications This study has the potential to inform stakeholders on linkages between sustainability photographs, value creation and legitimacy. It can help inform and assist report preparers, designers and users on the potential of photographs as a substantive medium to manage legitimacy in sustainability reporting. Originality/value This paper adds to the scant literature on the growing use of photographs as a value adding apparatus in sustainability reporting. This paper also extends the applicability of legitimacy theory to visual disclosure and suggests that legitimacy can be systematically sought to create value.

Why top managements must change their fundamental assumptions

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Denning
Keyword(s):  
Value Creation ◽  
Customer Value ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business People ◽  
A Value ◽  
Current Context ◽  
Purpose Of Business ◽  
Value Creation Process ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Despite today’s profusion of customer-centric rhetoric, most business people still believe that the primary purpose of business is profits. But the most resilient and sustainably successful firms consistently select one primary purpose: enrich the lives of their customers. 10; Design\methodology\approach The article maps how the most valuable and fastest growing firms are paving the way for an era of customer-driven capitalism. Findings In the current digital age, an obsession with delivering value to customers is proving to be the key driving force for success. Practical\implications The goal of customer-value primacy is not a threat to other stakeholders. Originality\value Customer-driven leadership is a hallmark of successful management in the current context. Top management must institute and continuously support a value creation process that works backwards from the future. 10;

The relationship between intellectual capital and big data: a review

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica De Santis ◽  
Claudia Presti
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
A Value ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Decision Making Tool

PurposeThis paper aims to give an integrated framework for analysing the main opportunities and threats related to the exploitation of Big Data (BD) technologies within intellectual capital (IC) management.Design/methodology/approachBy means of a structured literature review (SLR) of the extant literature on BD and IC, the study identified distinctive opportunities and challenges of BD technologies and related them to the traditional dimensions of IC.FindingsThe advent of BD has not radically changed the risks and opportunities of IC management already highlighted in previous literature. However, it has significantly amplified their magnitude and the speed with which they manifest themselves. Thus, a revision of the traditional managerial solutions needed to face them is required.Research limitations/implicationsThe developed framework can contribute to academic discourse on BD and IC as a starting point to understanding how BD can be turned into intangible assets from a value creation perspective.Practical implicationsThe framework can also represent a useful decision-making tool for practitioners in identifying and evaluating the main opportunities and threats of an investment in BD technologies for IC management.Originality/valueThe paper responds to the call for more research on the integration of BD discourse in the fourth stage of IC research. It intends to improve this understanding of how BD technologies can be exploited to create value from an IC perspective, focussing not only on the potential of BD for creating value but also on the challenges that it poses to organizations.

scholarly journals Accounting, performance and accountability challenges in hybrid organisations: a value creation perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Grossi ◽  
Jarmo Vakkuri ◽  
Massimo Sargiacomo
Keyword(s):  
Value Creation ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Performance ◽  
A Value ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Hybrid Organisations

PurposeDrawing upon theoretical insights on value creation perspectives, the authors aim to advance the understanding of performance and accountability in different hybrid organisations.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conceptualise common theoretical origins of hybrid organisations and how they create and enact value, by reflecting on the Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ) special issue articles. Furthermore, the authors propose an agenda for future research into accounting, performance and accountability for hybrid organisations.FindingsHybrid organisations can be conceptualised through their approaches to value creation (mixing, compromising and legitimising). This article provides a more detailed understanding of accounting, performance and accountability changes in hybrid organisations.Practical implicationsThis contribution also has relevant practical implications for actors, such as politicians, managers, professionals, auditors, controllers and accountants, encased in various hybrid organisations, policy contexts and multi-faceted interfaces between public, private and civil society.Originality/valueHybridity lenses reveal novel connections between different types of hybrid organisations and how they create and enact multiple values.

Consumer value creation through WhatsApp use

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-471
Author(s):  
Jorge Cruz-Cárdenas ◽  
Jorge Guadalupe-Lanas ◽  
Ekaterina Zabelina ◽  
Andrés Palacio-Fierro ◽  
Margarita Velín-Fárez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Emotional Support ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Role Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Consumer Value ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand in-depth how consumers create value in their lives using WhatsApp, the leading mobile instant messaging (MIM) application. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts the perspective of customer-dominant logic (CDL) and uses a qualitative multimethod design involving 3 focus groups and 25 subsequent in-depth interviews. The research setting was Ecuador, a Latin American country. Findings Analysis and interpretation of the participants’ stories made it possible to identify and understand the creation of four types of value: maintaining and strengthening relationships; improving role performance; emotional support; and entertainment and fun. In addition, the present study proposes a conceptual model of consumer value creation as it applies to MIM. Practical implications Understanding the way consumers create value in their lives using MIM is important not only for organizations that offer MIM applications, but also for those companies that develop other applications for mobile phones or for those who wish to use MIM as an electronic word-of-mouth vehicle. Originality/value The current study is one of the first to address the topic of consumer behavior in the use of technologies from the perspective of CDL; this perspective enables an integrated qualitative vision of value creation in which the consumer is the protagonist.

Building a new resilience

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Buell Hirsch
Keyword(s):  
Cyber Security ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Human Potential ◽  
Global Business ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business System ◽  
New Business ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of the viewpoint is to examine the various ways in which the pandemic has exposed structural vulnerabilities in global business infrastructures that have long existed and been long ignored. It urges business leaders not to return to a “new normal” but make fundamental changes to ensure that their businesses are truly resilient and can withstand future threats more effectively. Design/methodology/approach The viewpoint looks at the various kinds of vulnerability to which businesses are exposed – such as supply chain, human capital, cyber security and climate change – and proposes ways to ensure that businesses, as well as shareholders and government entities work together to build true resilience. Findings At its core, the viewpoint exposes the various ways in which businesses have turned a blind eye to vulnerabilities that have always lurked just below the surface and suggests. The argument is that to secure the long-term future of our global business system, we can no longer remain oblivious to fundamental weaknesses in our infrastructures. Research limitations/implications The viewpoint looks selectively at the available data and is, therefore, by definition, subjective and non-comprehensive. Practical implications If businesses and shareholders truly take the recommendations of this viewpoint to heart, we can build a more resilient future through long-term investments in risk management infrastructures of all kinds that will secure a more prosperous and stable future. Social implications Developing a more resilient and stable global business infrastructure will help reduce the business volatility deriving from last minute responses to predictable threats. This will, in turn, help provide more stable, fulfilling employment, especially in developing countries that will act as a fly wheel for the secure development of human potential around the world. Originality/value While there has been much speculation of what the “new business normal” will look like once the pandemic has been conquered, this is, the author believes, the first piece to look concretely on how we can not only “build back better” but build back more soundly for the long term.

When, for whom and why expanding single-option offerings creates value: locomotion fit from choice between options

2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-112
Author(s):  
Frank Mathmann ◽  
Mathew Chylinski
Keyword(s):  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Active Control ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Direct To Consumer ◽  
Expert Selection ◽  
Product Value ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Emerging direct-to-consumer brands offer a single option to consumers before expanding their assortment as the business grows. This provides a counterexample to commonly held beliefs concerning consumers’ aversion to single options. The purpose of this paper is to study when, for whom and why offering two product options (vs a single option) is valued by consumers. Design/methodology/approach Across six experiments, this research investigates consumers’ locomotion orientation (a motivation for controlling progress), which affects the valuation of choice (vs single options). Findings Consumers’ locomotion orientation determines perceived product value for products chosen from a two-option set (vs when considering a single option) because choice offers active control, which is engaging for high-locomotion consumers. Expanding the set to six options has no such effect. Research limitations/implications Studies 1, 4a and 4b are set in the context of expert-selected single options, while Studies 2, 3 and 5 do not involve expert selection. However, the authors does not contrast expert vs non-expert conditions directly. Practical implications Managers can increase consumers’ willingness to pay by using advertisements to induce locomotion or segmenting consumers based on locomotion orientations. Originality/value Research suggests that consumers value choice between options, yet many emerging brands succeed with a single option. The authors reconcile this by providing insights into motivations that determine when, for whom and why choice (vs a single option) is valued.

Polish perceptions on changing the world with sustainable entrepreneurship

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-21
Keyword(s):  
Value Creation ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Design Stage ◽  
Model Design ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Coffee Waste ◽  
The World ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings This research paper highlights how circular economy business models focus on the regenerative value creation inherent in reusing resources and waste. Circular startup transformations see founders moving out of sustainability-focused mindsets and into taking specific action to construct innovative circular business models. The purpose-led founders combined environmental and economic goals to produce scalable engines capable of inspiring and educating customers and larger companies on the beauty of reusing waste. Solving universal problems at their business model design stage allowed the Polish startups – for example, EcoBean who make renewable energy coffee briquettes from coffee waste – to offer value to international customers. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The generative role of curiosity in soft skills development for contemporary VUCA environments

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 737-751
Author(s):  
Alison Horstmeyer
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
The Body ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Content Type ◽  
A Value ◽  
Skill Gaps ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThis paper examines the role of curiosity in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) work contexts.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual article relied upon an examination of literature about curiosity, VUCA and soft skills.FindingsCuriosity, when encouraged and supported within the workforce, may aid organizations in closing soft skill gaps and better navigating ambiguity, perpetually changing business landscapes, and rapidly advancing technology.Research limitations/implicationsEmpirical research is needed to validate, confirm and further explicate the specific mechanisms and value of curiosity within VUCA environments.Practical implicationsOrganizations need to move beyond espousing a value of curiosity to deliberately and effectively cultivating and supporting it within their employees.Originality/valueAlthough ample research and literature has examined curiosity, soft skills and VUCA environments independently, the body of literature on the specific role of curiosity in such environments is limited.

Ten questions that make a difference for HR leadership

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 20-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clinton Longenecker ◽  
Laurence S Fink
Keyword(s):  
Human Resource ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Business Partnerships ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Hr Practices ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – Presents the distilled wisdom of two human-resource (HR) award facilitators. Design/methodology/approach – Takes in the form of ten questions that make a difference for HR leadership. Findings – Asks: Are you trusted by the members of your organization? Do you possess a real and comprehensive understanding of how your business makes money? Do you keep yourself up to speed on the legal and compliance issues that are most important to your organization? Do you think strategically and execute operationally? Are you measuring and monitoring the most meaningful metrics that measure mission-driven performance? Are you working hard to create business partnerships with your stakeholders that increase the likelihood of success? Are you taking steps to help all managers in your organization to operate like great HR leaders? Are you using your talents and influence to build teams and solve organizational problems? Do you seek out and apply innovative HR practices that can truly affect your organization’s bottom-line performance? Do you ensure that people have the information they need to perform in an optimal fashion? Practical implications – Urges HR specialists to review, reflect on and assess their response to each of the questions. Social implications – Suggests that each question identifies key behaviors and activities that can become a target for improvement. Originality/value – Provides valuable insight rarely available to HR specialists.

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