Portraying managerial dynamic capabilities : a case study in the fast-moving consumer goods industry

This paper presents a case study describing the managerial dynamic capabilities of a firm in the highly competitive fast-moving consumer goods industry and their effects in the performance of the firm and the industry. Managerial dynamic capabilities are processes of managerial decision-making, extending throughout the firm, to determine which particular resources managers identify as strategically important and how they build them. The case study, which was developed with a management team during a period of one year, involved a detailed analysis of the resources perceived strategically relevant and the operating policies aimed at maintaining an adequate balance of the set of key resources. In other words, this paper describes what Winter (2003) defines as 'how we earn our living now' or 'zero-level' capabilities

Wine tourism : a review of the Chilean case

Wine tourism has become a thriving niche in global tourism industry with successful cases like Napa Valley in the USA with 19 million visitors per year. However, there are important disparities among wine regions. The paper analyses the case of the Chilean wine tourism, which is one of the regions with less wine tourists although it is very important in global wine industry, and its reasons for its low level of development. Chilean wine industry has been developing its infrastructure in wine tourism but behavioural factors like low promotion intensity and local consumers' behaviour hinder the development of wine tourism

Simulating the evolution of industries using a dynamic behavioural model

Investment decisions determine that not only the evolution of industries is hard to forecast with certainty but also industries may have different dynamic behaviour and evolutionary paths. In this paper we present a behavioural framework to simulate the evolution of industries. Two factors determine the dynamic behaviour of an industry: managerial decision-making and the interconnected set of resources. Managerial decision-making significantly affects the dynamic behaviour of firms. Bounded rational managers define rates of asset stock accumulation to achieve a competitive advantage using different mental models. However, the set of interconnected internal and external resources existing at industry level affects the expected performance of the firms. Consequently, the effect of the feedback structure existing in the industry, which consists of managers in competing firms making similar decisions over the interconnected set of resources, determines that the dynamically contingent behaviour of firms influence on the industry evolutionary paths. In our simulations, we found that simple managerial choices, such as the definition of a market share or an expected market size, lead to diverse firm and industry performances even though management of competing firms emphasises different sets of resources required to carry out their strategy

Teaching system dynamics and discrete event simulation together : a case study

System Dynamics (SD) and Discrete Event Simulation (DES) follow two quite different modeling philosophies and can bring very different but, nevertheless, complimentary insights in understanding the same ‘real world’ problem. Thus learning SD and DES approaches require students to absorb different modeling philosophies usually through specific and distinct courses. We run a course where we teach model conceptualization for SD and DES in parallel and, then, the technical training on SD and DES software in sequential order. The ability of students to assimilate, and then put into practice both modeling approaches, was evaluated using simulation-based problems. While we found evidence that students can master both simulation techniques, we observed that they were better able to develop skills at representing the tangible characteristics of systems, the realm of DES, rather than conceptualizing the intangible properties of systems such as feedback processes, the realm of SD. Suggestions and reflections on teaching both simulation methods together are proposed. System Dynamics (SD) and Discrete Event Simulation (DES) follow two quite different modeling philosophies and can bring very different but, nevertheless, complimentary insights in understanding the same ‘real world’ problem. Thus learning SD and DES approaches require students to absorb different modeling philosophies usually through specific and distinct courses. We run a course where we teach model conceptualization for SD and DES in parallel and, then, the technical training on SD and DES software in sequential order. The ability of students to assimilate, and then put into practice both modeling approaches, was evaluated using simulation-based problems. While we found evidence that students can master both simulation techniques, we observed that they were better able to develop skills at representing the tangible characteristics of systems, the realm of DES, rather than conceptualizing the intangible properties of systems such as feedback processes, the realm of SD. Suggestions and reflections on teaching both simulation methods together are proposed

Foreseeing the dynamics of strategy : an anticipatory systems perspective

The paper explores firms as complex anticipatory systems which construct dynamic strategic configurations based on anticipation of their future possible states within the competitive environment. We argue that firm’s performance depends on (a) its strategy making process based on anticipation, and (b) its managerial capabilities which effectuate the anticipatory process in the following four stages: search across anticipated “what-if” resource configurations, the articulation and conversion of their meaning, and the finding and evolution of strategic patterns and courses of action for environmental fit. We performed an in-depth exploratory study with a group of senior managers in a pharmaceutical firm to uncover diverse anticipatory capabilities. The study was based on the development and re-assessment of a product market strategy for a new drug launch without and with the use of a simulation-based learning environment. The results show the existence of heterogeneous anticipatory process, which we name search-articulate-find-evolve of alternative resource configuration sets, determining the managerial dynamic capabilities related particularly to managerial cognition and decision making. We propose anticipation enhanced by modelling and simulation can improve managers’ mental processes and help them to overcome cognitive limitations when dealing with real-world complexities

Market opportunity recognition in the Chilean wine industry : traditional versus relational marketing approaches

The aim of this paper is to examine how wine firms implement their marketing strategies based on the recognition of market opportunities by their Chief Executive Officers (CEO). Firstly, we describe the marketing activities in 69 traditional Chilean wine firms. Then, we had in-depth interviews with CEOs of two wineries which were analysed using cognitive maps to uncover the cognitive process responsible for recognizing and executing market activities. Our findings indicate there is similar set of strategic resources across the wineries but CEOs' different perceptions of resources’ usefulness in the implementation of marketing strategies let them to select diverse strategies to increase both price per bottle and wine sales. The paper provides three contributions. Firstly, we compare the benefit of implementing traditional and relational marketing strategies in the Chilean wine industry. Secondly, we show that CEO’s perception of feedback processes among the available resources affects the recognition of market opportunities and the marketing strategy in wine firms

Unraveling the “black box” of cross-business-unit collaboration : paper presented at the 2014 Academy of Management Conference

Extensive research identified the economic, organizational and social factors that configure the process of cross-business unit (“cross-BU”) collaboration leading to the creation of crossBU synergies. Yet, the inner workings of the “black box” determined by the multiple cause and effect relationships between these factors remains to be determined. Building from current theory, we studied the process of cross-BU collaboration through a simulation model. We found that the initial conditions and patterns of evolution of the different configurations of factors lead to significant differences in the performance of cross-BU collaboration initiatives. Our findings extend previous research, characterizing cross-BU synergy creation as a multidimensional and complex phenomenon, by identifying the drivers of such complexity and its effects on performance. We also shed light on the impact of business relatedness on performance and on the roles of the corporate level in multi-business firms. We finally discuss how managers should manage cross-BU initiatives under different organizational arrangements

Visual merchandising as a tool of in-store marketing communication

The thesis covers the topic of visual merchandising, which is one of the in-store marketing communication tools. The aim of the theoretical part is to put this concept in the context of this type of marketing communication and to define it. The history of visual merchandising and its objectives, principles and aspects are described as well. The thesis shows the individual tools of visual merchandising, which are goods arranging, mannequins, lighting, signs and navigation, windows, working with materials and the use of colour, where the typology and use in practice are showed. Also, the distribution mechanism of goods in a store are described by the author. In the practical part an analysis of visual merchandising at two selected stores, Vans and Manufaktura, was made. The author describes it and compares with the concepts that are illustrated in the theoretical chapter. The practical part also includes structured interviews with representatives of the brands of both the analysed stores, where additional information on the visual merchandising of the entire stores were obtained. The main goal of this thesis is to introduce visual merchandising as a tool of in-store marketing communication, to describe its theoretical roots and to explore its influence on customers' behaviour. An additional aim is to...Práce se věnuje vizuálnímu merchandisingu, který je jedním z nástrojů marketingové komunikace v místě prodeje. Teoretická část má v prvé řadě za cíl tento pojem zařadit právě do kontextu marketingové komunikace v místě prodeje a následně ho definovat. Dále popisuje historii vizuálního merchandisingu a jeho cíle, základní principy a aspekty. Práce se zabývá také jednotlivými nástroji, kterými jsou aranžování zboží, figuríny, osvětlení, nápisy a navigace, výlohy, práce s materiály i využití barevnosti, kdy mapuje jejich dělení, užití v praxi a zároveň popisuje mechanismy v rozmístění zboží v prodejně. V praktické části dochází kanalýze vizuálního merchandisingu u dvou vybraných prodejen, kterými jsou Vans a Manufaktura. Autor tyto prodejny analyzuje, popisuje a porovnává s koncepty, které jsou popsány v teoretické kapitole. Součástí praktické části jsou také strukturované rozhovory se zástupci značek vybraných prodejen, které sloužily kzískání doplňujících informací k vizuálnímu merchandisingu analyzovaných maloobchodních jednotek. Hlavním cílem této práce je představit vizuální merchandising jako nástroj marketingové komunikace v místě prodeje, popsat jeho teoretické základy i prozkoumat jeho vliv na nákupní chování. Cílem je také zjistit, do jaké míry jsou teoretické koncepty dodržovány v praxi a...Department of Marketing Communication and Public RelationsKatedra marketingové komunikace a public relationsFakulta sociálních vědFaculty of Social Science