Management and Technology Life Cycle: Bulgarian Case Study on the Technology of Counter-pressure Casting

At IIASA, several researchers have studied and described the cumulative nature of development of technologies and their substitution, using global and macro-economic data. Those processes have their "fine micro-structure" which is interesting and valuable for one country as a whole or for individual companies. Studying this micro-structure can permit us to connect global theory with processes taking place on the micro-level and, based on that, to make recommendations to decision-makers to permit them to select instruments for analyzing and synthesizing their strategy. Small countries often have limited resources (either natural or financial or even both). However, they always have limited human resources which should be used effectively and purposefully. Today, technological developments even outside the sphere of so-called high-tech are very intensive scientifically and intellectually. This once more increases the necessity for small countries to concentrate their scientific human potential in areas in which they can make break-throughs with high economic efficiency. From this point, positioning technological innovations correctly in the international market and forecasting their competitiveness are very important. A picture of the possible future development of a technological innovation gives the small countries and their companies the opportunity to spot market niches and to develop effective strategies for their fulfillment. The application of life cycle theory and use of substitution curves as possible management instruments for strategy development on company level is one of the main goals of the research currently being carried out in Bulgaria under the contract with IIASA's "Management of the Technological Life Cycle" (MTL) activity, part of the "Technology-Economy-Society" (TES) program. The research in Bulgaria is being conducted by the Problem Center "Management of Technological Development" through the Institute for Social Management and has broader goals in the area. These goals are directed towards enhancing instruments for strategic management on company level and methods for accelerating technological development. The Bulgarian study is directed to three main groups of technologies (irrespective of branch of industry): a) original Bulgarian technologies with possibilities on international market; b) new technologies transferred from other countries; and c) traditional mature technologies. Structuring the research in this way not only avoids certain drawbacks inherent in research based on particular characteristics of industrial branches (namely the questionable validity of results and lack of transferability of those results to other branches of industry). It also permits researchers to study the dynamics of these technologies and the dynamics of organizational and management characteristics of the companies independent of branch specification, according to the type of technology described and the degree of its development. In the paper presented, some results of the first stage of the study are discussed. The objects of this first stage are several original Bulgarian technologies. The case study presented here concerns the technology of counter-pressure casting. This original Bulgarian technology is part of a group of technologies based on the method of casting with counter-pressure developed by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The company under study is an interesting integration of a basic research institute, with applied research and production functions. Preliminary results based only on aluminum casting technology are presented in this paper. This method is also being applied to plastic and steel casting technologies which will be addressed in the second stage of the study. Variables and indicators through which technology is studied are developed within the MTL activity, but for the purposes of national study have been adapted, increased in number, and developed according to the specific requirements of a centrally planned economy by the Bulgarian national team

Making Sense of Design Space: Design Perspectives on the Idea of Organization and Strategizing

This dissertation bridges areas of design research with organization and management studies with the aim of increasing interdisciplinary understanding of design. An increasing number of designers in industrial settings, besides designing physical objects, are involved in shaping services and experiences by utilizing evolving information technology. While design approaches have gained increased visibility in managerial realms the position of design managers participating in strategizing and organizational action calls for proliferation of paradigms and reflexivity on frames guiding such action. This research aims at enriching both design theories and areas of research in organization and management studies by bridging perspectives emerging from these fields. It does so by asking whether and how design theories and design managers might influence the idea of organization and its strategic direction. The positivist understanding of an organization is juxtaposed with philosophical perspectives from the traditions of social constructionism, hermeneutics and reflexivity. Qualitative research approaches are combined with sensemaking and design approaches. The research is positioned at the intersection of managerial traditions and frames and general values of design often concerned with human wellbeing. However, instead of embedding design into organizational traditions and structures, the research moves from this pre-understanding towards suggesting and making sense of an evolving design space as a social and linguistic, but also material and embodied phenomenon in which strategizing, sensemaking and design are in a continuous flow of becoming. Through the three sub-studies, the research evolves towards broader understanding of designing in organizational industrial settings. Design managers´ context is addressed by disclosing possible frames while combining micro and macro levels of organizational thinking from partly critical perspectives. The longitudinal research covers interviews among experienced designers in middle or senior management positions working in Silicon Valley between the years 2013 and 2016. Most participants represented large technology-driven multinationals and design consultancies. The first sub-study utilized theory elaboration by combining perspectives on sensemaking, strategizing and design into a preliminary theoretical model. The second sub-study focused on design managers´ language through identification of normalising and denormalising language use. The third sub-study addressed the information technology field as an example to discuss the need for ethics and attention to potential harmful consequences in the domain of design and strategizing for more awareness and responsible future outcomes. Reaching beyond the firm-centric and use-stage specific questions, designers might display more intense participation in strategic decision making concerning pre-use and post-use stage consequences for users, and additionally, for third-parties, locally, globally and digitally. Designers may act as supporters and challengers of evolving strategies while mediating between frame adoption and frame extension. At times, historically developed strategic frames may become reproduced. However, denormalising language used by design managers with material–linguistic strengths could trigger critical reflection on strategic assumptions. The dissertation proposed a way of understanding organizational strategizing differently through the suggestion to rather speak about design space in which strategic action and sensemaking are situated. The design space understood as a continuously evolving social construction in becoming is a site of sensemaking inviting actors from diverse fields into an interdisciplinary dialogue. By questioning the obvious, designers as managers may contribute to increased responsibility, transparency, sustainability and ethics in decision making concerning the rapidly evolving industrial and digitalizing contexts. Future designers as hybrid co-strategists may gain more power through their managerial roles making awareness and critical discussion on frames and taken-for-granted beliefs across occupational domains important. Finally, a suggestion to reframe the concept of meaning innovation was made. The research makes a design contribution to creative and critical streams of organization and management studies, as well as sensemaking studies and suggests some interdisciplinary issues for further research bridging these fields

Mapping the evolutionary stages of asymmetrical supplier-buyer relationships: evidence from the Turkish textile industry

The aim of this paper is to empirically investigate asymmetrical relationship development stages by examining four relationship constructs from small textile suppliers’ perspective and identifying areas for improvement. This study adopted a multiple case study method for investigating the research question. Prior studies into business-to-business marketing have explored asymmetry in dyadic relationships that resulted in limited understanding to our knowledge. The research findings contributed to the understanding of how small suppliers identify critical relationship characteristics that help them to develop symmetries through initial, development and sustainment stages in size asymmetry

Oligopolistic markets: transformation of the essence and forms of competition

Relevance of the research. In the past 20 years the markets in the developed economies demonstrate a trend to concentrate economic agents and their consolidation to optimize economic processes, maximize efficient business performance, and pursue robust communication policy. The markets of raw and ready products, international and interregional services and works are shifting towards oligopolization. Therefore, it is important to analyze and characterize the ongoing significant changes in functioning of oligopolistic markets triggered by globalization, hyper-competition, new technological paradigms, development of innovations and consumer behavior trends in the modern economy. The main aim of the research is to outline the fundamental factors of influence upon changes in modern market performance, intensified competition under globalization and transition to the postindustrial economy summing up the studies in different research areas (strategic management, marketing, the theory of industrial organization, consumer behavior, innovations, etc.); to determine to what extent the oligopoliesstimulating factors encourage intensive competition between market participants and resist cartelization of oligopolistic markets; to describe the main characteristics of the new meaning of the competition model for innovative oligopolistic markets in comparison with the classical model of oligopoly; to identify a trend towards systemwide changes of the form and nature of competition on oligopolistic markets that requires a game-changing review of approaches to the principles of antimonopoly regulation at the modern stage; to systematize and highlight the new substantial content of the competition model on oligopolistic markets and the factors influencing intensified competition on oligopolistic markets. Research methods: systemic analysis, comparative and normative legal analysis. Results. The features of competitiveness within the frame of two models - classical oligopoly and oligopoly changing under the influence of new economic trends - occur in multilevel, poly-structured, inter-sectoral competition of business-systems formed by the market leaders. Cross-competition between participants of different systems creates the conditions for flexible market conduct. Conclusions. System-wide changes in the form and nature of competition on the oligopolistic markets, including the innovative ones, initiate the development of new institutional mechanisms and approaches to substante the principles and methods of antimonopoly regulation at the present stage

Economic liberalization and the antecedents of top management teams: evidence from Turkish 'big' business

There has been an increased interest in the last two decades in top management teams (TMTs) of business firms. Much of the research, however, has been US-based and concerned primarily with TMT effects on organizational outcomes. The present study aims to expand this literature by examining the antecedents of top team composition in the context of macro-level economic change in a late-industrializing country. The post-1980 trade and market reforms in Turkey provided the empirical setting. Drawing upon the literatures on TMT and chief executive characteristics together with punctuated equilibrium models of change and institutional theory, the article develops the argument that which firm-level factors affect which attributes of TMT formations varies across the early and late stages of economic liberalization. Results of the empirical investigation of 71 of the largest industrial firms in Turkey broadly supported the hypotheses derived from this premise. In the early stages of economic liberalization the average age and average organizational tenure of TMTs were related to the export orientation of firms, whereas in later stages, firm performance became a major predictor of these team attributes. Educational background characteristics of teams appeared to be under stronger institutional pressures, altering in different ways in the face of macro-level change

Workforce participation: developing a theoretical framework for longitudinal research

This paper describes and evaluates an action research project on workforce participation at Viewpoint Research Community Interest Company (CIC). By setting out the research protocols devised by Viewpoint to stimulate and study co-operative management, it is possible to abstract a theoretical framework that emerged from a pilot case study. The paper contributes to theory by highlighting not only the potential of action research to catalyse interest in co operative management but also how to engage theoretically with the paradox of a workforce voting to limit its own participation in ownership, governance and management. In this study, the authors interpreted that participants did not automatically equate participatory management with workplace democracy leading to a theoretical perspective that “democratic management is the propensity and capacity of management systems to respond to members’ desires regarding the scope, depth, level and quality of participation in management”. The paper concludes by evaluating the efficacy of Viewpoint’s action research methodology as a strategy for deepening knowledge on workforce participation in co-operatives and employee-owned businesses