Using cross-functional, cross-firm teams to co-create value: The role of financial measures

Increasingly, the involvement of representatives from all major business functions in cross-functional, crossfirmteams is being viewed as a means to develop and maintain profitable business-to-business relationships.However, if the measurements of the value co-created in these relationships with customers and suppliers donot incorporate the financial outcomes of joint cross-functional initiatives, managers can be led to makedecisions that jeopardize the long-term profitability of the two firms. In this paper, the authors explore thedifferences in value co-creation when a company is linked to key customers and key suppliers through crossfunctionalteams and when it is not. Using a case study approach, the authors measured value co-creation infinancial terms and describe how managers changed their behaviors toward customers and suppliers whenthey were able to compare the value that was being co-created in each relationship. In each pair ofrelationships, one involved cross-functional teams and the other did not. The results indicate that crossfunctional,cross-firm involvement leads to increased value co-creation. The research suggests that marketingscholars and managers should emphasize the use of cross-functional teams that involve all major functions tomanage relationships with key customers, and should incorporate financial measures in the evaluation ofrelationship performance

A Risk Management Model for Merger and Acquisitio

In this paper, a merger and acquisition risk management model is proposed for considering risk factors in the merger and acquisition activities. The proposed model aims to maximize the probability of success in merger and acquisition activities by managing and reducing the associated risks. The modeling of the proposed merger and acquisition risk management model is described and illustrated in this paper. The illustration result shows that the proposed model can help to screen the best target company with minimum associated risks in the merger and acquisition activity

Searching for the Profit in Pollution Prevention: Case Studies in the Corporate Evaluation of Environmental Opportunities

The concept of pollution prevention, or "P2," signifies a new, proactive environmental mindset that targets the causes, rather than the consequences, of polluting activity. While anecdotal evidence suggests that P2 opportunities exist and that many have been pursued, there is also the perception that the pace of P2 is far too slow. To explore that claim—and to shed light on barriers to P2 innovation—this paper presents case studies of industrial P2 projects that were in some way unsuccessful. While based on a very limited sample, the evidence contradicts the view that firms suffer from organizational weaknesses that make them unable to appreciate the financial benefits of P2 investments. Instead, the projects foundered because of significant unresolved technical difficulties, marketing challenges, and regulatory barriers. Based on evidence from the cases, the paper concludes with a discussion of environmental policy reforms likely to promote P2 innovation..

Performance measurement applications within the UK construction industry: A literature review

The significance of performance measurement (PM) in any organisation is long being realised. As a result PM has been incorporated in the management agenda. PM can be defined as a “process which determine how successful organisations or individuals in achieving their objectives”. Limitations of traditional performance measures challenged their application in the modern business environment. This stimulated towards a new era of PM, leading the path to the development of many PM frameworks. Research done during the past decades, revealed many issues in the UK construction industry. Thus, the industry is under tremendous pressure to improve its performance. This paper provides a literature review on the current applications in PM, highlighting the limitations of traditional measures, features of good PM systems. Further, the problems in the UK construction industry and PM applications have been discussed with the aim of identifying the issues which are not addressed from the current PM applications

Management Accounting Practices and Discourses Change: The role and use of Management Accounting Systems

This paper aims to trace the development of management accounting systems (MAS) in a Portuguese bank, where an activity based costing system (ABC) has been trialled for implementation over the past few years, as a means to improving the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of employee activity. This initiative can be located in a wider cultural change in Portuguese banking towards global (i.e. US derived) strategies and processes, but within an organizational world where older traditions remain powerful. The research undertaken here is a longitudinal case study of organisational change in one institution based on a criticalinterpretive model. Although drawing on the interpretive tradition since it is concerned with actors’ perceptions, interpretations and beliefs, it also draws on a more historically focused Foucault-inspired critical framework of the kind developed in the work of Hoskin and Macve (e.g. 1986, 1988, 1994, 2000), and in the research into the financial sector undertaken by Morgan and Sturdy (2000). The particular model developed here is designed to enable the exploration of the effect of accounting practices on change across time from three perspectives – changing structures, changing discourses and the effect of both of these processes on power relations. The research highlights the increase in visibility and perceived importance of accounting in the banking sector, and how accounting is significant beyond its technical roles. The study provides new insights into how management accounting practices, along with other organisational systems, play an important role questioning, visualising, analysing, and measuring implemented strategies. As the language and practice of management have shifted towards strategy and marketing discourses, patterns of work, organisation and career are being restructured, in often under-appreciated ways, by accounting practices.

MODERN INDICATORS OF MEASURING A FIRM’S COMPETITIVITY

The traditional financial ratios reflect the historical performance of the companies, having a limited relevance in the forecasting of their future evolution. The modern financial ratios are based on the concept of value creation, having a high relevance on expressing the real financial performance of the firm. The main modern financial ratios used for the evaluation of the firms financial performances are: Market value added- MVA, Excess return, Economic value added-EVA, Return on Capital Invested–ROCI, Cash Flow Return on Investment–CFROI, Total Business Return–TBR, Total Shareholder Return - TRS.financial ratios, market value, profitability, capital, firm

The Importance of Co-ordination in National Technology Policy: Evidence From the Galileo Public Private Partnership.

Policy makers seek to identify an institutional framework that facilitates the commercialization of publicly funded R&D. In the space industry, the formation of such a framework is complicated by certain non-economic factors, such as national security considerations and the fact that numerous sovereign nations are often included in the commercialization process. In this paper, a model is outlined, that incorporates both economic and non-economic factors. The paper then demonstrates the importance of co-ordination in national technology policy to achieve an optimal result. The benefits of co-ordination are illustrated through a case study of the design of a major European public-private partnership (PPP) in the space industry, referred to as Galileo.