The existential mindset for corporate survival and growth: innovation and resilience

Purpose The author addresses the looming question in the digital era: Can long-established firms adopt an existential mindset that enables them to survive and prosper? Design/methodology/approach Disruptors take advantage of significant changes in the traditional value drivers in an existing market. The success of long-established companies often inhibits innovation, and most mature organizations struggle to excel. Findings Greater reliance on controlled experiments can mitigate the failures of innovation based primarily on focus group research. Practical/implications Competitors can be transformed into collaborators in many parts of the value chain, and alliances are outperforming the more conventional business development approaches. Originality/value The author’s powerful message: Today’s leaders must adopt a new mindset in which bureaucracy is repudiated and responsiveness and adaptability are rewarded.

Adopting International Learnings to Improve the Performance of New Zealand’s Infrastructure Supply Chain

Growing interest in the productivity of the infrastructure sector has increased due to cost and time overruns in major projects. In this regard, many developed countries have failed to implement a framework to ensure that project success is met through newly available technologies and business initiatives to ensure the user is the most important beneficiary. This review paper provides a review of international research relating to the life cycle, firm-level operations, and collaborative business models of infrastructure projects. The review initially identified the importance that understanding key phases and procurement models has on the efficiency of a project’s life cycle. A key indicator of the likelihood of good performance across a supply chain lies with the ability to understand the efficiencies of the firm-level operations. The literature has noted that successful projects are able to perform well across an organizations end-to-end involvement and be able to share risks among mature organizations. This paper provides a review of how a collaborative business model can benefit a project lifecycle and firm-level operations. The global research currently has identified the need for a collaborative approach that reduces the risk within all organizations through common goals, effective end-to-end project systems and consideration of the entire project lifecycle. The paper provides a detailed review of international practices in an infrastructure supply chain that have the potential to address New Zealand’s infrastructure project failures.

Presenting an environmental performance evaluation model for gas refineries: A case study in the South Pars Gas Complex, Iran

Background: Controlling and validating the environmental performance of organizations, is a major problem that has been stated in the international standard ISO 14031. The aim of this study was to present a model for evaluating the environmental performance of Iran’s gas refineries using the environmental performance evaluation (EPE) method, based on the operational performance index (OPI) and management performance index (MPI). This case study was conducted in the ninth refinery of the South Pars Gas Complex (SPGC), Bushehr province, Iran, during 2019-2020. Methods: The research method comprises two stages. The first stage was distinguishing the standards and markers of the MPI and OPI using the Fluffy Delphi strategy and the second one was focusing on and relegating loads to the measures and pointers using the logical analytical hierarchy process (AHP) prior to confirming the outcomes by applying the TOPSIS. Results: The total normal scores of the total OPIt and OPTt were obtained to be 2.3409 and 2.2647, respectively. Considering these coefficients, the organization is balanced in terms of the environmental performance. The implementation steps of the TOPSIS method in the ninth refinery (A1 ) with the first (A2 ), second (A3 ), and third (A4 ) refineries, which had the same extraction indices of OPIt and MPIt, were ranked as A1 > A3 > A4 > A2 , respectively. Conclusion: Petrochemical industries have the potential to cause adverse effects on the environment due to the nature of activities and effluents production, emissions, and hazardous wastes. However, they can increase their weight to be more competitive and reach the ranks of mature organizations by planning on important indices.

Explaining use and non-use of policy evaluations in a mature evaluation setting

Governments worldwide have intensified their efforts to institutionalize policy evaluation. Still, also in organizations with high evaluation maturity, the use of evaluations is not self-evident. As mature organizations already meet many of the factors that are commonly seen to foster evaluation use, they constitute an interesting research setting to identify (combinations of) factors that can make a key difference in minimizing research waste. In this article, we present an analysis of the use of evaluations conducted between 2013 and 2016 by the Policy and Operations Evaluation Department (IOB) of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a typical case of relatively high evaluation maturity. Methodologically, we rely on Qualitative Comparative Analysis as an approach that is excellently suited to capture the causal complexity characterizing evaluation use. The analysis provides useful insights on the link between knowledge production and use. We highlight the relevance of engaging policy makers in developing the evaluation design, and fine-tune available evidence as to what is perceived a good timing to organize evaluations. Contrary to existing research, we show that the political salience of an evaluation does not matter much.

Exploring the Relevance of Intrapreneurship and Innovation in Mature Organizations

This study intends to explore the phenomenon of intrapreneurship and the relevance of the innovation processes in mature organizations by conducting three case studies on traditional industry sectors such as the textile, metalworking, and electronic components sector. The aim is to explore the role of entrepreneurial teams in such companies, to understand the inhibiting factors of innovation, and to find the essential conditions for these organizations to continuously innovate and promote intrapreneurship within their organizations. The findings reveal that several factors constrain employee participation in this process, including lack of qualifications levels, limited resources, corporate bureaucracy, and reduced time and budget. In the conditions necessary to support the innovation process emerge the support given by the management team, the qualification of individuals and teams, and the existence of an organizational culture that promotes communication, collaboration, and tolerance to risk.

Fighting organizational decline: a risk-based approach to organizational anti-aging

Purpose Most mature organizations face a major decline in performance at some time during their existence. For more than three decades, it has been suggested that the management practices that could cure a troubled company could have also kept it well. Inspired by this concept, this paper is proposing a preventive approach to early implementation of turnaround strategies as an alternative for otherwise traumatic rescue efforts, further along the downward spiral. Design/methodology/approach Corporate turnaround strategies and associated risks are integrated with a risk-based approach, along with a proactive decision-making process. The link between turnaround research, resource-based view, the sources of organizational decline, and the governance of organizational-decline-related risks – is explained. Findings The integrated model streamlines a preventive organizational process for considering the suitability of commonly used turnaround practices – for the non-crisis business routine of a mature company. By considering and adjusting the risks associated with such practices, it addresses risk aversion at the early stages of decline and determines the optimal sequence and timing of retrenchment and recovery activities. As such, it encourages mature companies to take actions for reducing their exposure to organizational decline. Accordingly, the model is named the “Anti-Aging” framework. Research limitations/implications Empirical testing of the suitability of turnaround strategies for non-crisis situations is proposed as a direction for future research. Practical implications The Anti-Aging framework opens an opportunity for the senior management of a mature organization to respond earlier to organizational decline and avoid the trauma associated with otherwise more challenging conditions, for the benefit of all stakeholders. Originality/value The Anti-Aging framework proposes an innovative way of bridging the gap between the benefits of early implementation of turnaround strategies, and major obstacles faced by willing, traditional management teams of mature organizations.

Assessing Organizational Maturity in Predictive Analytics of Telecommunications Companies in the Republic of Macedonia

Data analytics and predictive analytics are among major trends companies are facing worldwide. In a highly digitalized environment it is not only to question the usage of data analytics, but how analytically mature organizations are. The goal of this paper is to assess organizational maturity in predictive analytics of telecommunications companies in the country. In order to assess the level of organizational maturity in predictive analytics we use Predictive Analytics Maturity Framework Assessment (PAMFA) (Capgemini, 2012), since it best describes maturity levels in telecommunications sector. The method of analysis is based on interviewing managers with questionnaire that guides respondents through all dimensions and levels proposed by the framework. According to the PAMFA five dimensions are analyzed (Vision and strategy, Enablers, Competence, Deployment and Governance). For each dimension, four maturity levels are defined: Level 1: Impromptu, Level 2: Solo, Level 3: Ensemble and Level 4: Symphony. Survey results confirmed that analysed companies fully understand the benefits of predictive analytics as valuable source of gaining competitive advantage from data. The overall level of predictive analytics maturity is set between levels 2 or 3 for almost all dimensions. This research is the first attempt to analyze organizational maturity in predictive analytics in the country. Its originality derives from the specific characteristics and development of the telecommunications sector. This sector is one of the most advanced service sectors in the country and hence represents a benchmark concerning digital transformation. Results of this survey provide useful information needed to design a roadmap for migrating towards higher maturity levels.

Translating customer needs into project decisions: identifying knowledge brokers in project networks

Purpose It is essential for projects to fulfil a wide spectrum of customer expectations including social, psychological, technological, and physical ones. The purpose of this paper is to identify roles within project networks that act as transmitters and linkers of this important knowledge, thereby resulting in appropriate and timely on-ground decision-making. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative case analysis coupled with social network analysis (SNA) is used to map project actors and identify key knowledge brokers within a complex co-location project. The project network comprised 91 actors from a range of project partners from public and private sectors. Findings The research identifies key knowledge brokers where selection appears to reflect their “heavyweight” stature, high social capital, technical expertise, and personality. The research recommends early identification of brokers from within and outside the parent organization/s. Research limitations/implications The research covers a single, inductive, and interpretive study of a co-location project involving mature project organizations. Wider generalizability of findings to less mature organizations or those operating in vastly different sectors may be limited. Practical implications This study contributes to the existing body of literature on knowledge brokerage in projects and assists project managers in identifying and developing relevant brokers. Originality/value The study provides further evidence behind the argument that customer needs are translated into appropriate project decisions through key knowledge brokers.