Management education by the French Grandes Ecoles de Commerce

This essay presents a comprehensive briefing on the past and present of a business educational culture that is significantly different in ethos and structure to the widely known systems in the US and UK. That is the history and culture of the French Grandes Ecoles de Commerce. A brief reminder of extant literature on the utility of business education and its seeming misalignment with the competencies and skills as specified by practitioners is then given. Key pressures and trends on and within this system – such as internationalisation, accreditation and a greater emphasis on publications are identified and discussed. These threads are then combined in a partial replication of the work of Dierdorff and Rubin (2006; 2009). Specifically, collated information on 1582 classes from 542 programmes at the top Grandes Ecoles de Commerce is presented alongside further secondary data and then analysed in respect of alignment with Rubin and Dierdorff’s identified behavioural competencies. We argue that the outcome of these pressures may well be that inherent and historical strengths of great value are being discarded, and that the degree of irrelevance and misalignment between educational provision and required managerial competence will stay the same or even get worse

Co-evolutionary dynamics in strategic alliances : the influence of the industry lifecycle

This study examines the application of the co-evolution literature to strategic alliance formation in SME’s in the UK and Australia in two differing industries at different stages of the industry life-cycle. Extending the framework developed by Das and Teng (2002) and that of Wilson and Hynes (2009), it engages with wider industry and environmental characteristics present in these two countries, specifically examining whether different theories of alliance formation are better suited to different stages of an industry life cycle. The issues discussed above are explored and developed through the use of a qualitative case study approach. Findings indicate strong resource-based drivers for alliance formation in both industries, with firms dependent on the co-evolution of their alliances and indeed selected by the results of their alliance participation. However, differences emerged in the strategic use of alliances in these two industries. The influence of the stage of the industry life cycle on this is discussed

Two-hundred-year record of biogenic sulfur in a south Greenland ice core (20D)

The concentration of methanesulfonic acid (MSA) was determined in a shallow south central Greenland ice core(20D). This study provides a high-resolution record of the DMS-derived biogenic sulfur in Greenland precipitation over the past 200 years. The mean concentration of MSA is 3.30 ppb(σ = 2.38 ppb,n = 1134). The general trend of MSA is an increase from 3.01 to 4.10 ppb between 1767 and 1900, followed by a steady decrease to 2.34 ppb at the present time. This trend is in marked contrast to that of non-sea-salt sulfate (nss SO42-), which increases dramatically after 1900 due to the input of anthropogenic sulfur. The MSA fraction ((MSA/(MSA+ nss SO42-))* 100) ranges from a mean of 15% in preindustrial ice to less than 5% in recent ice. These MSA fraction suggest that approximately 5 to 40% of the sulfur in recent Greenland ice is of biological origin. It is suggested that there is a significant low-latitude component to the biogenic sulfur in the core and that variations in the MSA fraction reflect changes in the relative strengths of low- and high-latitude inputs. The data shown o evidence for a strong dependence of dimethyl sulfide(DMS) emissions on sea surface temperature during the last century. There is also no indication that the yield of MSA from DMS oxidation has been altered by increased NOx levels over the North Atlantic during this period

Colour and Meaning in Corporate Logos: An Empirical Study

Corporate visual identity helps establish and maintain a company ’ s corporate image, of which thecolour and design of a company ’ s logo is central. This study examines the triadic relationshipbetween colour, design and the evoked meanings of logos to understand how these contribute tobuilding a consistent corporate image. Results strongly indicate that consumers make clearjudgements about the image of a fi rm from the logo design and have strong opinions about whichcolours are appropriate for different corporate images

Strategic orientation and its effect on strategic alliance formation and outcomes in dedicated biotechnology firms

Dedicated Biotechnology Firms (DBFs) operate in uncertain, turbulent and ever-changing environments. Product life cycles are decreasing, technological change is increasing, and the marketplace in which these firms operate differs from more traditional markets by the changing nature of competition. DBFs and other technology-based firms depend upon the balance of the skills and resources of marketing and technology to succeed in this environment. They also form many strategic alliances. This thesis set outs to examine the inter-relationships between the strategic orientation of a DBF, the way in which it forms alliances, the outcomes of those alliances, and the effect of these on business performance. Previous research into strategic orientation, market orientation, and technological' orientation and their relationship with business performance is reviewed. In addition, previous research concerning the formation, objectives, and outcomes of strategic alliances is also discussed. This thesis builds on this previous literature to develop two new models which draw together aspects of alliance formation and outcome, strategic orientation and performance. These models were tested using empirical data gathered from the biotechnology industry. A postal survey was used to gather this data from biotechnology firms in four different countries. Each step in the model was tested individually using regression analysis. Some of the key findings include: • The market orientation - performance link was found to be sustained within the biotechnology sector. • Technological orientation was found not to be associated with performance. • Environmental turbulence and previous alliance experience appear to predispose a firm to seek out new alliances. Firms that are more proactive in seeking alliances also tend to form more successful alliances. • Firms which are highly technologically oriented chose partner firms which are either highly market oriented or highly technologically oriented, but firms which are highly market oriented appear to form more successful strategic alliances. • Participation in strategic alliances appears to act as a mediating variable in the market orientation - performance relationship. • The strategic alliances formed by TBFs studied in this thesis did not seem to have been formed to bridge gaps in resources. There is significant overlap in functional input from both alliance partners, and complementarity of partner input, if it does exist at all, must be at a far more subtle level than simple functional areas. The results from this analysis contribute to both the academic literature and have some important managerial implications. Disparate streams of research have been brought together and new relationships between strategic orientation and the way in which TBFs form alliances have been found. A number of new scales and new constructs have been empirically tested within this thesis, namely, technological orientation, strategic alliance pro activity, strategic alliance formality, and the measurement of a strategic alliance partners' strategic orientation. The importance of market orientation is confirmed by the results in this thesis, as is the importance of partner choice when entering into a strategic alliance. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the key implications for academic research and managers within technology based firms, the limitations of this study and ideas for future research

Survival of the fittest or survival of the group? Co-evolutionary dynamics in strategic alliances

This chapter discusses co-evolutionary dynamics in strategic alliances

The Sound of Silence: why music in Supermarkets is just a distraction

Retailers use music in the service environment to try to change consumer behaviour with a view to increasing spend, or improving consumer mood. Previous research has largely focused on music but ignored the effects of other noises within a servicescape: yet all noises can impact consumers' affective states, and their behaviour. This study examines the role of both planned and other sounds within the supermarket environment. In particular, this study investigates the cognizant and emotional reactions of supermarket customers, and explores their shopping intentions in the context of shoppers' understanding of and reaction to the sounds they perceive