Change Drivers In The New Millennium: Implications For Manufacturing Strategy Research

Drawing on multiple sources, we identify technological, global and workforce trends that will affect the formulation and implementation of manufacturing strategy in the next decade. We then describe several theories from economics, sociology, and psychology and show how they can be used to enrich our interpretations of the effects of these trends. Throughout, we offer suggestions for future research in manufacturing strategy

Formulating Strategic Direction For A Gated Residential Community

Over the past two decades, a growing number of Americans have decided to live in gated residential communities. Academic research and case studies tend to focus on explaining this growth phenomenon from a range of perspectives, yet surprisingly little has been written about the preservation and growth of existing gated communities. In response to this gap in the literature, the purpose of this paper is to illustrate the use of strategic planning as a means of addressing issues that pertain to sustaining and growing gated residential communities. This paper applies principles of strategic management to the process of planning for residential preservation and growth. The residential context is a golf-focused gated community located in the mountains of western North Carolina. It uses focus groups as a qualitative means of identifying important strategic issues. These issues serve as the basis for designing a survey for community residents. The survey results provide quantitative information that enables development of strategies targeted toward preservation and growth of the community. Results from this paper suggest that traditional strategic planning techniques provide an effective method that common interest housing developments can use to help identify and respond to issues affecting their viability and growth

Technology Clusters Versus Industry Clusters: Resources, Networks, And Regional Advantages

The tendency of firms to cluster within a region has been observed for quite some time. However, it is only over the past two decades that business researchers have focused much attention on clusters, particularly in terms of their entrepreneurial and innovative characteristics and potential. At the same time, regional developers around the world have put much effort in promoting the formation of clusters. A gap in such efforts is an understanding of the differences among types of clusters. This article draws a distinction between two generic types of clusters: technology-based and industry-focused. Using the resource-based view as the organizing framework, we argue that the two generic cluster types create very different regional resource profiles over time, accumulating resources in a different manner, cultivating different capabilities, and deriving different sources of regional advantage. As concluded in the study, these differences are likely to have implications for firms located in the regions as well as for economic developers and public policy officials charged with developing cluster strategies

The Relationship Between Undergraduate Attendance And Performance Revisited: Alignment Of Student And Instructor Goals

We revisit the relationship between attendance and performance in the undergraduate university setting and apply agency theory in the instructor–student context. Building on agency theory propositions in the educational setting advanced by Smith, Zsidisin, and Adams (2005), we propose that the student and instructor must align goals to promote the student’s achievement of performance learning outcomes, and attendance functions as a behavior- based alignment mechanism to encourage the convergence of faculty and student interests. Further, we propose that attendance does not equally affect lower-and higher-performing students and that absences are also negatively related to students’ cumulative grade point average. We test these hypotheses with data from undergraduates enrolled in management courses at a state university in the southeast. Our results show that attendance is positively related to exam performance, there are more pronounced negative effects of an absence for lower-performing students than for higher performers, and absences are negatively related to a student’s cumulative grade point average. We discuss the implications of our findings for students, instructors, and universities as well as practice in teaching and learning

How Unions Affect Shareholder Wealth In Firms Announcing Layoffs

We investigate whether investor anticipation of future performance differs between union and nonunion firms following corporate layoff announcements. Using event­ study methodology and multivariate regression analysis, we find that the stock market reaction to layoff announcements is negatively related to nonunion firms and positively related to union firms

Perspectives On Universal Health Insurance And Coverage Of Traditional Medicine: The Case Of Taiwan

Inclusion of traditional medical therapies is one consideration in determining the range of services to be covered under universal health insurance. Having introduced a single-payer universal health insurance system in the 1990s that covers specified traditional therapies, Taiwan represents a distinctive setting in which to learn about the experiences with traditional therapies. This paper examines the perceptions of health care professionals and insured individuals in Taiwan about their satisfaction with the Taiwanese national health insurance (NHI) system inregards to the coverage of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In-person interviews were conducted with healthcare professionals and a survey was administered to insured individuals to understand the perceived satisfaction with TCM coverage by the NHI system. Results show that perceived satisfaction with TCM is high in the NHI system in Taiwan, which is consistent with previous research. Perceived belief in TCM is seen as being related to perceived satisfaction with NHI. Satisfaction with TCM reimbursement and choice of TCM treatments are associated with overall satisfaction with NHI. The results, combined with previous literature, suggest that the universal health system designed with consent of the populace in mind may lead to better satisfaction with the health system post-development. Practical suggestions based on the experiences in Taiwan could be useful to stakeholders in other countries and economies that are considering the integration of traditional medicines into their universal health insurance system

An Exploratory Study Of How Destination Marketing Organizations Pursue The Sports Tourism Market

In recent years, destination marketing organizations (DMOs) have taken advantage of the opportunities that sports tourism offers their communities. Although researchers acknowledge the important role played by DMOs in pursuing the sports tourism market, little is known about how they actually do so. This study is an exploratory attempt to identify specifically what actions DMOs have taken to seize these emerging opportunities. Using a five-step analytic approach in interviews with DMO officials, four groups of dominant themes that DMOs considered in their pursuit of the sports market were identified. Each of these themes is discussed and their implications for practice and future research are considered

Hot Spots And Blind Spots: Geographical Clusters Of Firms And Innovation

Hot spots are fast-growing geographic clusters of competing firms. Drawing on several literature streams, we develop an evolutionary model that contrasts hot spot and non-hot spot competitors within the same industry. Initially, economies of agglomeration, institutional forces, and managers' mental models create an innovative environment within the hot spot. Over time those same forces create a homogeneous macroculture that suppresses innovation, making hot spot competitors more susceptible than non-hot spot competitors to environmental jolts

The Effects Of Initial Differences In Firms’ Espoused Values On Their Postmerger Performance

Recent studies have concluded that most mergers and acquisitions (M&As) reduce rather than increase shareholder value for the acquiring firm, but understanding of why this occurs is limited. To date, most research has focused on issues of strategic fit, whereas this study examines the effects of organizational fit—specifically the effects of differences in firms’ pre-M&A configurations of espoused values in regards to relationships with employees versus production. The dependent variable of interest is the resulting entities’ subsequent financial performance (return on assets, adjusted for industry). The study analyzed 59 M&As between 1989 and 1996. The authors measured the espoused values of both firms in the transaction by content analyzing presidents’ letters to shareholders in corporate annual reports. Using a longitudinal design, results show an inverse relationship between differences in espoused values and postmerger performance. Results and methodology are discussed in terms of their application beyond the M&A context

Environmental Uncertainty And Product–Process Life Cycles: A Multi-Level Interpretation Of Change Over Time

Product-process life cycle models are often used to describe long-term change in organizations. Such models generally assume a deterministic trajectory of long-run industry evolution and production core transformation that lead to standardization over time. Typical interpretations of these models do not explain the short and intermediate term choices and competitive dynamics that lead to the longer-term changes, or explain viable ‘off- trajectory’ positions and post-stabilization complications that can arise. In this paper, we use multiple theory streams to augment discussions of product-process life cycle models in ways that allow interpretation of the role of uncertainty and management decision-making for the typical trajectory of standardization as well as off-trajectory and post-standardization phases