Beyond enterprise resource planning projects: innovative strategies for competitive advantage

ABSTRACT A rapidly changing business environment and legacy IT problems has resulted in many organisations implementing standard package solutions. This 'common systems' approach establishes a common IT and business process infrastructure within organisations and its increasing dominance raises several important strategic issues. These are to what extent do common systems impose common business processes and management systems on competing firms, and what is the source of competitive advantage if the majority of firms employ almost identical information systems and business processes? A theoretical framework based on research into legacy systems and earlier IT strategy literature is used to analyse three case studies in the manufacturing, chemical and IT industries. It is shown that the organisations are treating common systems as the core of their organisations' abilities to manage business transactions. To achieve competitive advantage they are clothing these common systems with information systems designed to capture information about competitors, customers and suppliers, and to provide a basis for sharing knowledge within the organisation and ultimately with economic partners. The importance of these approaches to other organisations and industries is analysed and an attempt is made at outlining the strategic options open to firms beyond the implementation of common business systems

Re-conceptualising strategy in design management education

The aim of this paper is to explain the current place of ‘strategy’ in design management education in the UK. The research questions concern the extent to which design management education meets the needs of future strategic roles in management and secondly the ways in which design management education is keeping abreast with current theory and practice of management strategy. The paper draws on research from a UK research council project, The Metamorphosis of Design Management Network (MDMN).The methodology uses a qualitative approach to analyse the transcripts and activities undertaken in symposia over a five year period from 2007-2012, with a focus on four events held from 2010-12. The findings on education and strategic designer development were matched against the content analysis of strategy in conference papers presented at British Academy of Management from 2009-13. The findings demonstrate the exposure of students to organisations and different design contexts. However other strategic management developments in strategy-as-practice, dynamic capabilities and scenario building provide new opportunities to extend design management education. The conclusion summarises the opportunities for design education and the development of students as strategic designers through new interdisciplinary approaches

DETERMINANTS OF STRATEGIC RISK MANAGEMENT IN EMERGING MARKETS SUPPLY CHAINS: THE CASE OF MEXICO

Risk mitigation in global supply chains has grown in importance in recent years, in tandem with globalization and both the commercial and security threats faced by firms both large and small. This study hypothesizes that a firm’s ability to manage risk strategy—and therefore support its competitiveness—is determined by a symbiotic triad of factors: the resources it utilizes; network systems; and performance criteria it employs. The study, comprising 24 in-depth interviews with electronics and IT firms, examines resource utilization through the Resource-Based View (RBV), assesses firms’ proclivity to engage in networks for risk mitigation and competitiveness; and highlights the importance of performance evaluation as a critically important component in supply chain management. Findings reveal that both buyers and suppliers believe that the symbiotic triad can provide them with a competitive advantage in addition to improving operational efficiency, effectiveness and quality. Future research should also extend this pilot investigation to other countries and industries, and utilize a larger sample of firms for quantitative as well as qualitative assessment.Risk management; emerging markets; Supply Chain Management; IT

Strategic Marketing Management in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry:a Theoretical Framework

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on strategic marketing management .. This study adopted a expost facto research methodology to examine the strategic marketing management literature in an attempt to attain their desired level of performance. The overall findings suggest that strategic marketing is a driver of organizational positioning in a dynamic environment, and that it helps to enhance the development of new product/service for existing markets. These findings, along with other interesting findings of the study, are discussed. From the empirical and anecdotal managerial evidence as well as from the literature implications are drawn for the efficient and effective strategic marketing practices in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. Based on the findings of the study, the concepts and principles of total quality management within a holistic framework it is recommended that (i) efforts should be made by organizational marketers towards understanding the relevant economic factors that affect both clients’ behaviour and the strategic options that may be adopted to cope with such behaviours; ((ii) in a constantly changing business environment, firms can adopt different strategic marketing practices since the yardstick is the enhancement of business performance

Accounting for competitive advantage: The resource-based view of the firm and the labour theory of value

This article uses accounting concepts to assist the field of strategic management in its search for a theory of value, competitive advantage and superior profitability. Specifically, it argues that the resource-based view of the firm requires a labour theory of value creation. Using the circuit of capital as an organizing framework this article integrates RBV and Marx's value theory, by introducing the notion of value as socially necessary labour time, into the analysis of resource-based advantage. This enables us to identify the impact of particular sources of competitive advantage as they become diffused through an industry. Some resource-based advantages, when eventually imitated lead to an overall reduction in industry profitability, and other advantages lead to increases in industry average profitability

Critical review of strategic planning research in hospitality and tourism

Strategic planning remains one of the most popular management tools, but theoretical and empirical developments in the academic literature have been a slow burn. This paper addresses this gap and provides an up-to-date review of hospitality and tourism strategic planning research. We review strategic planning research from 1995 to 2013 in seven leading tourism academic journals, and adopt a modern and broad conceptualization of strategic planning. While there is some awareness of effective tourism strategic planning processes, academic research has not kept pace with practice. To stimulate a resurgence of research interest, we provide future research directions. We observe a methodological introspection and present some new research methodologies, which are critically important in researching the turbulent, chaotic and nonlinear tourism environment

A managerial perspective of how resource-based view theory leads to competitive advantage

A clear business strategy is often emphasized by managers as vital to achieve a sustainable performance. However, when asked concerning its strategy in place, many of them cannot provide an answer. (Collis and Rukstad, 2008) Many researchers defend that considering the turbulence of today’s business environment, the resource-based view is the most suitable theoretical starting point in a strategic analysis (Guo, 2007). The aim of this project is to understand how the theoretical frameworks analyzed can be combined in order to understand from a resource-based view standpoint to what the degree the theory can be improved and to assess the proper understanding between the organizational structure and strategy, performance and resources/capabilities. This research is intended to contribute to a better understanding of the theory so as to help firms to achieve a competitive edge since these results aim to be essential, particularly to researchers and scholars, as a source of reference material for further research. To do so, it was adopted a qualitative research that comprised the collection of data through interviews a key individual (professors and experts on the topic) in order to reach a better understanding of the topic. Using also secondary data, the researcher intends to develop a conceptual/extended framework of the VRIO-Framework current in place. In accordance with above research purpose following conclusions have been obtained: (1) the comparison between relevant strategic management theories and tools that are attributed as key factors to surmise a sustainable competitive advantage; (2) the actual status of resource-based view theory as a starting point in strategic analysis, it main criticisms and it relation with dynamic capabilities; (3) the impact of managerial organizational characteristics, individual dynamics and organizational values as factors that influence the mode of strategy.Uma estratégia bem definida é frequentemente enfatizada por gestores como sendo vital para o desenvolvimento e alcance de uma performance sustentável. No entanto, quando questionados acerca da estratégia em prática, muitos deles não alcançam uma resposta (Collis and Rukstad, 2008). Diversos investigadores defendem que tendo em consideração a turbulência atual no setor empresarial e de gestão, a visão baseada nos recursos é o ponto de partida teórico mais adequado na análise estratégica (Guo, 2007). Desta forma, tendo em consideração este pressuposto, procedeu-se a uma análise de diferentes referenciais teóricos por forma a clarificar os prós e contras de cada um deles. Esta investigação pretende contribuir para uma melhor compreensão da teoria, de modo a ajudar as empresas a alcançarem uma vantagem competitiva, uma vez que os resultados advindos visam ser essenciais, particularmente para investigadores e académicos, como fonte de material de referência para futuras investigações. Para o efeito, adotou-se uma pesquisa qualitativa que consistiu na colheita de dados, através da realização de entrevistas, a indivíduos-chave (professores e especialistas no tema), a fim de se obter uma melhor compreensão do tópico. Com recurso a dados secundários, o investigador pretende suportar o desenvolvimento de uma estrutura conceptual face ao modelo atual. Em concordância com os objetivos de pesquisa acima referidos, as seguintes conclusões foram obtidas: (1) comparação entre as teorias e ferramentas de gestão estratégica relevantes enquanto fatores-chave na aquisição de uma vantagem competitiva sustentável; (2) o status atual da teoria da visão baseada nos recursos como ponto de partida na análise estratégica, bem como, das suas principais críticas e relação com as capacidades dinâmicas; (3) o impacto das caraterísticas organizacionais de gestão, as dinâmicas individuais e os valores organizacionais como fatores que influenciam o modo de estratégia

Goal Congruence, Trust and Organisational Culture: Strengthening Knowledge Links

Collaboration between organizations benefits from knowledge links -- a form of strategic alliance that gives organizations access to the skills and capabilities of their partner and opportunity to create new capabilities together. Using the example of alliances between two universities and SAP AG, the market leader in Enterprise Software, the paper suggests some management practices to improve goal congruence, trust and alignment between different organizational cultures. For example, face-to-face interactions are critical for building a close relationship over time. A theoretical framework of the five phases of partnership development and the three challenges faced by knowledge link partnerships is proposed, along with implications for management, universities and research

Workshop series on the role of institutions in East Asian development: Institutional foundations of innovation and competitiveness in East Asia

The discussion paper summarizes the results of a workshop that focussed on the institutional foundations of innovation and competitiveness in East Asia. The following papers are contained: 'Transitional Institutions, Institutional Complementarities and Economic Performance in China. A "Varieties of Capitalism" Approach', 'The Current State of Research on Networks in China's Business System', 'Recent Changes to Korea's Innovation Governance', 'Standardization and Institutional Complementarities in Japan - Empirical Results from SAP R/3 Implementations in Japanese Automotive Suppliers'. --East Asia,Japan,China,Korea,institutional change,competitiveness,innovation