Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy: Achieving Sustainability -12/E.

This edition introduce a new theme that runs throughout all 12 chapter: environmental sustainability. This new theme complements the existing global issues theme carried forward from past editions. Environmental sustainability has become a strategic issues and one that will become even more important in the year ahead, as all of you struggle to deal with the consequence of climate change, global warming, and energy availability. Feature new in this edition: • Each chapter contains a boxed insert dealing with an issues in environmental sustainability. • Each chapter and with Eco Bits, interesting tidbits of ecological information, such as the number of plastic bags added to landfills each year. • Each part end with a short case dealing with topic and issues from that part’s chapter on companies ranging from Chiquita Bananas to Boeing and Airbus. • Special section on sustainability have been added to chapter 1 and 3. • A section on the natural environment has been added to the societal and task environments in chapter 4. • A section on managing strategic alliances has been added to chapter 7. • Off shoring has been added to the outsourcing section in chapter 8

Sustainable corporate responsibility : the foundation of successful business in the new millennium

There are many reasons to reconsider the terms "corporate responsibility" and "sustainability". Despite their inflationary use, there is still no convincing concept, which combines these terms. This paper, for the first time, presents a holistic model of "Sustainable Corporate Responsibility" (SCR) mirroring all its different scopes in space and time. It outlines a philosophically founded introduction into the terms of "corporate responsibility" and "sustainability" and how they are interlinked. It, furthermore, emphasises a holistic understanding for what and to whom one should take on responsibility: In order to realise sustainable success in business economic, social and ecologic responsibility has to be taken equally into consideration. The model describes the possible ramifications of SCR constructions, highlighting typical company-profiles and, eventually, allowing better comparability. This way, best practice can be determined and highlighted more comprehensively

Performance measurement : challenges for tomorrow

This paper demonstrates that the context within which performance measurement is used is changing. The key questions posed are: Is performance measurement ready for the emerging context? What are the gaps in our knowledge? and Which lines of enquiry do we need to pursue? A literature synthesis conducted by a team of multidisciplinary researchers charts the evolution of the performance-measurement literature and identifies that the literature largely follows the emerging business and global trends. The ensuing discussion introduces the currently emerging and predicted future trends and explores how current knowledge on performance measurement may deal with the emerging context. This results in identification of specific challenges for performance measurement within a holistic systems-based framework. The principle limitation of the paper is that it covers a broad literature base without in-depth analysis of a particular aspect of performance measurement. However, this weakness is also the strength of the paper. What is perhaps most significant is that there is a need for rethinking how we research the field of performance measurement by taking a holistic systems-based approach, recognizing the integrated and concurrent nature of challenges that the practitioners, and consequently the field, face

Ethical Decision-Making in Islamic Financial Institutions in Light of Maqasid Al-Sharia: A Conceptual Framework

This article develops a conceptual framework for ethical decision‐making in Islamic financial institution based on the Islamic methodological approaches on ethics. While making use of the similarities between the scientific method and the Islamic jurisprudence method, a framework is developed by means of argumentation and reasoning to integrate Sharia doctrines with the “plan, do, check and act” (PDCA) cycle as a managerial tool. Using Al‐Raysuni's analysis of Al‐Shatibi's work on maqasid al‐sharia, this article develops a framework to assess the ethical aspects of Islamic financial operations, which is then applied to hypothetical cases. This approach can help overcome the methodological deficiencies in measuring ethical performance in Islamic finance by focusing on the process of ethical decision‐making that leads to the outcomes of organizational behavior beyond legality of contracts. The framework outlines the conditions under which an activity that is considered legal and permissible contractually could lead to outcomes that can make it ethical or unethical

Going green, going clean: Lean-green sustainability strategy and firm growth

Despite the widespread recognition of the paybacks of “going green” and “going clean,” limited research has focused on the impact of lean‐green strategy on firm growth. In this study, we contribute to strategy and environmental sustainability literatures by investigating the possibility that the influence on lean‐green strategy and firm growth is driven by different levels of industry competition, managerial power, and family ties. Using panel data from 732 firms in four major industrialized economies (the United States, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom), we found that lean‐green strategy positively relates to firm growth and this relationship is amplified at higher levels of competition, managerial power, and family ties. Theoretical and practical implications of the study are also discussed

An exploratory analysis of planning characteristics in Australian visitor attractions

This paper provides an exploratory analysis of the planning practices of 408 Australian attraction operators. The results indicate that attraction managers can be divided into four categories: those that do not engage in any formal planning, those that adopt a short-term planning approach, those that develop long-term plans, and those that use both short-term and long-term planning approaches. An evaluation of the sophistication of attraction planning showed a bipolar distribution. Attraction managers favored a planning horizon of three or five years, and were inclined to involve their employees in the planning process. Managers relied strongly on their own research and tourism industry intelligence when formulating business plans. The content of plans tended to focus on operational activities, financial planning and marketing. The study provides a benchmark for the comparison of attraction planning efforts in various contexts. © 2006 Asia Pacific Tourism Association

Conceptualizing and measuring strategy implementation – a multi-dimensional view

Through quantitative methodological approaches for studying the strategic management and planning process, analysis of data from 208 senior managers involved in strategy processes within ten UK industrial sectors provides evidence on the measurement properties of a multi-dimensional instrument that assesses ten dimensions of strategy implementation. Using exploratory factor analysis, results indicate the sub-constructs (the ten dimensions) are uni-dimensional factors with acceptable reliability and validity; whilst using three additional measures, and correlation and hierarchical regression analysis, the nomological validity for the multi-dimensional strategy implementation construct was established. Relative importance of ten strategy implementation dimensions (activities) for practicing managers is highlighted, with the mutually and combinative effects drawing conclusion that senior management involvement leads the way among the ten key identified activities vital for successful strategy implementation