Hidden Trends in 90 Years of Harvard Business Review

In this paper, we demonstrate and discuss results of our mining the abstracts of the publications in Harvard Business Review between 1922 and 2012. Techniques for computing n-grams, collocations, basic sentiment analysis, and named-entity recognition were employed to uncover trends hidden in the abstracts. We present findings about international relationships, sentiment in HBR's abstracts, important international companies, influential technological inventions, renown researchers in management theories, US presidents via chronological analyses.Comment: 6 pages, 14 figures, Proceedings of 2012 International Conference on Technologies and Applications of Artificial Intelligenc

The activity-based costing model trajectory: A path of lights and shadows

Purpose: To present a literature review showing the trajectory of the ABC model. Design/methodology: Literature review. Findings: This paper analyzes the history of the ABC model and its dissemination process, in the form of articles published in the specialized press. Research limitations/implications: The bibliometric study has been carried out based on specialized journals. Practical implications: Before a new strategic management tool is adopted, its strategic or operational contribution to the organization should be analyzed. The adoption of new tools based on current trends or as part of mimetic processes, could imply financial investments that do not produce the desired effects. Originality/value: This work is an analysis of the trajectory of the ABC model from its appearance to the present time.Peer Reviewe

Performance measurement : challenges for tomorrow

This paper demonstrates that the context within which performance measurement is used is changing. The key questions posed are: Is performance measurement ready for the emerging context? What are the gaps in our knowledge? and Which lines of enquiry do we need to pursue? A literature synthesis conducted by a team of multidisciplinary researchers charts the evolution of the performance-measurement literature and identifies that the literature largely follows the emerging business and global trends. The ensuing discussion introduces the currently emerging and predicted future trends and explores how current knowledge on performance measurement may deal with the emerging context. This results in identification of specific challenges for performance measurement within a holistic systems-based framework. The principle limitation of the paper is that it covers a broad literature base without in-depth analysis of a particular aspect of performance measurement. However, this weakness is also the strength of the paper. What is perhaps most significant is that there is a need for rethinking how we research the field of performance measurement by taking a holistic systems-based approach, recognizing the integrated and concurrent nature of challenges that the practitioners, and consequently the field, face

The unofficial economy in Croatia: causes, size and consequences

This Occasional Paper reports the research results of a project on the unofficial economy in Croatia conducted by the Institute of Public Finance in Zagreb for the Croatian Ministry of Finance. The project team report was finalized in early 1997 and it includes some 15 papers which can be obtained both in Croatian (“Financijska praksa”, Vol. 21, No. 1-2, June 1997) and English (http://www.ijf.hr/finpraksa/eng/97/1-2/index.htm). This paper is the summary of the project written by Ivo Bićanić (University of Zagreb) and Katarina Ott (Institute of Public Finance)

The American Middle Class, Income Inequality, and the Strength of Our Economy

Analyzes 1979-2007 income growth by income group and how the state of the middle class and level of income inequality affect factors shaping the economy, such as human capital, demand for goods and services, entrepreneurship, and inclusive institutions

Roscoe Pound, Melvin Belli, and the Personal-Injury Bar: The Tale of an Odd Coupling

In the fourth chapter of Patriots and Cosmopolitans: Hidden Histories of American Law, legal historian John Fabian Witt tells the story of a collaboration between storied scholar Roscoe Pound and trial virtuoso Melvin M. Belli, which he calls among the most startling and yet unremarked-upon relationships in the annals of American law. Witt argues that it both shaped and energized the efforts of personal-injury lawyers to oppose proposals that would shift to the administrative branch of government responsibility for compensating auto-accident victims. Entitled The King and the Dean, in reference to the media\u27s coronation of Belli as the King of Torts , and Pound\u27s lengthy term (1916-1936) at the helm of the Harvard Law School, the chapter advances the claim that the two men came together synergistically in the early 1950s and mobilized a campaign by personal-injury lawyers to resist the enactment of automobile no-fault plans and other proposals that would have replaced common-law tort suits with alternative compensation mechanisms. This Article will first take issue with Witt\u27s story of the Pound-Belli relationship and then offer a different version of the interaction between the Dean and the plaintiffs\u27 trial bar

An exploratory study of factors influencing make-or-buy of sales activities

Purpose This paper aims to explore how sales managers make resourcing decisions with particular focus on their perceptions of outsourcing. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on in-depth interviews with 29 senior sales managers from a variety of industry sectors based in the UK. All had more than five years’ experience of making resourcing decisions. Findings The findings are that resourcing decisions are prompted by cost pressure, the need to access skills or to improve flexibility. Outsourcing preferences are strongly moderated by perceived reputational risk. Availability of suitable suppliers and the ability to manage outsourcing are also practical moderators. Research limitations/implications The sample was purposeful in identifying and accessing senior respondents in substantial companies with extensive experience, but it was not random. Practical implications Respondents reported a lack of information available when making resourcing decisions; the model proposed provides a framework by which sales managers can identify the factors which should be taken into account and the information they need to make objective evaluations of resourcing options. Originality/value It has been acknowledged in prior literature that there is relatively little outsourcing of sales activities. This is the first exploratory study of the perceptions of sales managers about resourcing options and the first conceptualisation of how sales resourcing decisions are made

An alternative regional strategy

Regions, this extract suggests, cannot bring about regional inequality without significant national level action. The key, it is claimed, is a ‘national commitment to decentre the economy’. As well as re-examining some current regional policy – such as whether knowledge transfer needs to happen locally or how foreign investment might be better harnessed – this manifesto argues that national policy needs to be made far more sensitive to the regional agenda