Strategic tensions within the smartphones industry: the case of BlackBerry

This paper reviews some aspects of corporate strategy in a well-known smart phone provider. Two approaches to strategy are analysed: one concerning the industry and the other related to the organization. A general introduction on the smart phones industry is given followed by specific background on BlackBerry. Two perspectives are explored: the first talks about the paradox of compliance and choice within the industry and the second discusses the paradox of control and chaos in BlackBerry. The paper concludes with a brief overview on the company performance from 2006 to 2012 leading to some recommendations

Assessing the Generalisability of Managerial Discretion:An Empirical Investigation in the Arab World

The purpose of this paper is to examine the generalizability of national-level managerial discretion and to assess whether the national context play a role in changing mainstream research findings. Based on a sample of three Arabian countries and using a panel of prominent cross-cultural scholars who provided 138 discretion scores for the sampled countries, we replicate the national framework of Crossland and Hambrick (2011) in a new cultural context. The cultural dimensions were measured via survey responses of 375 middle-managers based on House et al. (2004) cultural practices scale. Consistent with Crossland and Hambrick (2011), we demonstrate that individualism and uncertainty tolerance have the same positive effect on CEOs discretion even in a different cultural setting. In contrast, we show that power distance has a positive and significant effect on managerial discretion. Our results indicate that executives can take idiosyncratic and bold actions to the extent to which the cultural environment allows them to do so. Accordingly, we contribute by showing the importance of the national setting in affecting the generalizability of discretion findings

Strategizing in a Focused Context:Managerial Discretion in the Arab World

The purpose of our study is to broaden the national-level construct of managerial discretion and to investigate the effect of cultural practices on executive discretion. Based on a sample of six Arabian countries and using a panel of prominent cross-cultural scholars who provided 262 discretion scores for the sample countries, we replicate and extend the national framework of Crossland and Hambrick (2011) in a new cultural context. The cultural dimensions were measured using survey responses of middle-managers based on House et al. (2004) cultural practices scale. We extend the national-level framework of managerial discretion and find that an encompassing array of cultural practices play a crucial role in shaping the degree of discretion provided to CEOs. We empirically demonstrate that power distance, future and performance orientation along with gender egalitarianism and assertiveness has positive relationships with managerial discretion. However, institutional collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and humane orientation negatively affect the degree of discretion provided to CEOs. Our study fills a gap in the literature regarding the national-level framework of managerial discretion. Our results indicate that executives can take idiosyncratic and bold actions to the extent to which the cultural environment allows them to do so. Also, we discover new national-level antecedents of managerial discretion that haven’t been considered in earlier studies and confirm the context dependency of this concept

The effects of inter- and intra-cultural variations on managerial discretion and the implications for national competitiveness

This thesis examines cross-cultural differences in managerial discretion and the extent to which variations in inter- and intra-cultural practices affect the degree of freedom in decision-making that is afforded to executives. Research into the degree of discretion, or ‘latitude’ of executive action, has primarily focused on individual-, firm-, and industry-level factors which, either enable or otherwise constrain the freedom of executive action. However, research into its national-level antecedents and consequences remains limited. This thesis further develops and extends the extant literature into the topic of managerial discretion by seeking to adopt a broader interpretation of national culture in relation to its effect on executive discretion across 18 countries from 6 different regional clusters. The research entails a quantitative assessment to examine the relationship between cultural practices, managerial discretion and national competitiveness. The investigation into the national-level antecedents, consequences and the role of managerial discretion is studied using a mixture of primary and secondary data. Primary data consists of measurements of the degree of managerial discretion that is derived from survey responses of a panel of senior management consultants, who provided 792 discretion scores for the sampled countries. Secondary data consists of cultural practices derived from GLOBE cross-cultural project and national competitiveness scores operationalized using the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI). The thesis presents three empirical analyses of socio-cultural dynamics. The research first addresses how cross-national variations in cultural practices impact managerial discretion. The findings reveal that institutional collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, future-, humane-, and performance orientations, together with gender egalitarianism, assertiveness and cultural looseness, all influence the degree of discretion. In the second dimension, the notion that intra-cultural variation plays a crucial role in shaping managerial discretion is critically discussed. An empirical analysis supports such a proposition and demonstrates a strong and positive association between these two constructs. For the third aspect, the relationship between managerial discretion and national performance is measured and evaluated by determining the impact upon national competitiveness. The data demonstrate that the degree of discretion directly influences national competitiveness and effectively mediates the relationship between cultural practices and national competitiveness. Overall, this PhD contributes to the field of strategic management, by discovering for the first time new national-level antecedents and consequences of managerial discretion, offering new theoretical insights and practical implications

How Formal and Informal Institutions of Middle Eastern Countries Influence Managerial Discretion: An Empirical Investigation

Managerial discretion is the focal theme bridging the clash between two schools of thoughts; whether executives have greater influence on their firms’ outcomes or other factors restrain their actions (Hambrick & Finkelstein, 1987). It is argued that constraints come from inertial, normative and environmental forces (e.g. DiMaggio & Powell, 1983). Of these restraints is the institutional environment in which a firm is headquartered. Our paper falls within this research stream and provides an extension for Crossland and Hambrick (2007, 2011) work. We investigate the national level of discretion in new cross-cultural contexts, provide deeper understanding of its concept, and shed the light on undiscovered discretion’s antecedents and consequences. We adopt a quantitative approach in which questionnaires represent our data collection instrument. We anticipate that in high discretion countries firms tend to follow what Miles & Snow (1978) labeled ‘Prospector’ strategy as opposed to low discretion countries in which firms incline to implement a ‘Defender’ strategy

Assessing Miles and Snow Typology through the Lens of Managerial Discretion: How National-Level Discretion Impact Firms Strategic Orientation

Studies on the implications of managerial discretion have mainly focused on the firm, executive or industry level attributes. Little work has tackled the national-level aspect of this construct and its potential implication on firm strategies. We seek to theoretically establish an association between the construct of managerial discretion and firm strategic orientation from a national-level. Our theoretical analysis strongly suggests that the degree of managerial discretion available to executives in each country could have a strong influence on companies’ competitive strategy. We contribute to the strategic management field and the discretion literature by uncovering new national-level implications

Intra-Cultural Variation, Zone of Acceptance and Managerial Discretion: A Theoretical Discussion

This paper examines the theoretical relationship between intra-cultural variation and managerial discretion. Research into the degree of discretion, or latitude of actions, has primarily focused on the individual-, organizational-, and industry-level factors, which either allow or constrain executives to take strategic actions. Despite, the recent attempt to discover the impact of national culture, mainly values, on managerial discretion, culture has been studied on an aggregate level by assuming spatial homogeneity within a country. However, recent evidences have shown that intra-cultural variation could be as salient as or sometimes even more than inter-country variation, yet there has been no discussion on its potential association with managerial discretion. As such, we address this gap and investigate the relationship of this cultural aspect with managerial discretion. Using institutional, stakeholder and upper echelons theories, our study proposes a strong relationship between intra-cultural variation and managerial discretion. Therefore, our study contributes to the strategic management and culture literature by providing a more nuanced understanding of such relationship and most importantly by introducing a new national construct that could play an important role in the strategic decision making of business executives

Managerial discretion and corporate governance: The bonded relationship

Our study aims to demonstrate the importance of managerial discretion to corporate governance research and deepen our understanding of managerial discretion. Adopting theoretical frameworks and definitions from 93 conceptual and empirical studies on managerial discretion and corporate governance, we argue that extant studies have presented explicit empirical and theoretical definitions of managerial discretion; and have proved the validity, reliability, and replicability of the concept. We argue that corporate governance scholarship cannot move forward without managerial discretion as it provides shareholders and board of directors’ essential guidance on how much freedom in decision-making is to be granted to top managers by deeming the different dimensions of the internal and external environment into consideration. We reinstate our original argument that corporate governance research is not better off without managerial discretion. We also provide a new vantage for corporate governance and managerial discretion scholars to distinguishing between the latitude of actions and latitude of objectives

The path to entrepreneurship: The role of social networks in driving entrepreneurial learning and education

This research aims to examine the extent to which the way entrepreneurs learn is reflected in entrepreneurship education, highlighting the existing gap between the literature on entrepreneurial learning and the practice of entrepreneurship education. To explore entrepreneurial learning in-depth, we adopted an interpretivist-constructivist approach that involves participant observation at coworking spaces and semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs. Data were subsequently analysed using thematic analysis. Major findings indicate that social networks play a vital role in facilitating entrepreneurial learning, with context and network serving as essential learning mechanisms. However, these elements are often disregarded in traditional entrepreneurship education approaches. This study highlights a gap in the literature where the focus of entrepreneurial learning is primarily on entrepreneurs, while entrepreneurship education primarily focuses on students and educators. The study's contribution is its emphasis on the importance of social networks in entrepreneurial learning and its potential for redesigning entrepreneurship education. By bridging the gap between entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurship education, it is possible to create educational approaches that more closely mimic how entrepreneurs learn in real life, potentially leading to more impactful entrepreneurial activity