Business strategy and earnings quality

ABSTRACT: Using the Miles and Snow (1978) strategy typology, this study investigates whether business strategy is associated with the quality of reported earnings. In a sample of U.S. listed firms, we predict and find that defender strategy firms are associated with higher levels of earnings management and prospector-strategy firms are associated with higher levels of accounting conservatism. However, this relation between business strategy and earnings quality is altered during high and low economic growth periods. In high-growth periods, while prospector firms exhibit lesser accounting conservatism, defender firms exhibit lesser earning management. In low-growth periods, the prospector firms become more conservative in reporting while the defender firms engage in more aggressive earnings management. Our findings provide direct evidence of the link between business strategy and earnings quality

An E-business Strategy

On the last decade the integration of e-business into organizations has increased, but there are still difficulties during this process. In the present environment any organization must include into their business plan the possibility of identifying the e-business integration method, the implementation cost, and the expected results. The article's aim is to analyze the necessary means and steps in e-business integration into the business plan of an organization.e-business, e-strategy, business plan, digital economy

An investigation of aligning project management to business strategy: A review and conceptual framework

Copyright (C) 2011/12 ISEing.This paper discusses in depth the factors that lead to misalignment between the project management and the business strategy by investigating four case studies in the telecomunications industry in Saudi Arabia. Project management has been an important issue for many years and for many companies worldwide. Many implementations of project management (PM) have been successful, while others have failed to deliver the outcome of the project. The literature indicates that misalignment between large projects and the business strategy leads to 30% of all projects failing. Indeed, the literature highlights few internal factors (e.g. effective communication, executive support, involving the project manager in the business strategy development, and the project manager leadership competence) that may tie the project management to the company's business strategy. However, this study indicates very important external factors that affect the implementation of the company's business strategy. A framework will be developed to provide a clear guide to the project management efforts towards a competitive business strategy

Software acquisition: a business strategy analysis

The paper argues that there are new insights to be gained from a strategic analysis of requirements engineering. The paper is motivated by a simple question: what does it take to be a world class software acquirer? The question has relevance for requirements engineers because for many organisations market pressures mean that software is commonly acquired rather than developed from scratch. The paper builds on the work of C. H. Fine (1998) who suggests that product, process and supply chain should be designed together, i.e., 3D concurrent engineering. Using a number of reference theories, it proposes a systematic way of carrying out 3D concurrent engineering. The paper concludes that the critical activity in supply chain design is the design of the distribution of skills and the nature of contract

The integration approach: Integrating technology strategy with business strategy in the airline industry

Technology has emerged as a key component in solving complex strategic issues. Much of the relevant literature recognises technology as the driving force behind the fast rate of change in many markets. Consequently, organisations are becoming increasingly dependent on advanced technology to improve their performance. At the same time organisations need to be extremely flexible in order to meet the demands of customers quickly, accurately and cost-effectively. To benefit from the potential of technology in highly dynamic environments, there is a need to integrate technology strategy with business strategy. This research explores the integration between technology strategy and business strategy in the airline industry. The literature on technology, technology strategy, corporate strategy, business strategy, competitive advantage and the integration of technology strategy with business strategy is critically evaluated and shortcomings of the literature are identified. The literature review was evaluated and identifies gaps and possible future directions. This indicated a need for a systematic way of linking technology and business strategies. Thus an Integration Model is proposed consisting of three stages involving business strategy, competitive strategy and technology strategy. The literature review and the Integration Model identified the importance of technology assessment in formulating a technology strategy and the need for a supportive tool to aid this process