Why are so many Dutch companies relocating abroad?

For much of the 20th century, most western multinationals had two somewhat separate identities: a vast multicultural, multi-country enterprise that stretched around the world, and a home office that tended to be very homogenous and even somewhat cosy, like the capital city of a sprawling empire

Inside the Black Box of Strategy: Sequential Synthesis

The hallmark of strategic decisions is their interdependence: competitive advantage requires that these decisions reinforce each other. However, mutual reinforcement requires a synthesis of decisions. There are many strategy tools for analysis but not for synthesis. Performance landscape modeling of decision combinations has its value for academic research but is too complex for practice. This working paper proposes a sequential, judgment-based, qualitative modeling process for strategy synthesis. Whereas performance landscape models use binary, quantitative decision values, and computer simulations, the proposed process uses qualitative values and managerial judgment. By simplifying the synthesis, this working paper contributes to strategy practice

Is blijvend ondernemingssucces mogelijk? Naar een geïntegreerd evolutionair raamwerk van strategie

Dit artikel onderzoekt de vraag of in dynamische omgevingen ondernemingen op lange termijn duurzame concurrentievoordelen kunnen behouden. Vanwege het longitudinale karakter van deze vraagstelling is voor een evolutionair perspectief gekozen. Vanuit dit perspectief wordt een geïntegreerd raamwerk van strategie geïntroduceerd voor de analyse van de dynamische interactie van een onderneming met haar omgeving. Vervolgens presenteren we beknopt de resultaten van een empirisch longitudinaal onderzoek naar succesvolle ‘Fortune Global-500’ ondernemingen. Op dit onderzoek wordt het evolutionaire raamwerk van strategie toegepast teneinde een aanzet te geven tot een verklaring van de vraag waarom verreweg het merendeel van de onderzochte ondernemingen er niet in is geslaagd om de opgebouwde concurrentiepositie te handhaven in het dynamische proces van interactie met hun omgeving

How Management Consulting Firms Influence Building and Leveraging of Clients’ Competences: Towards a conceptual framework

The focus in research upon resources, dynamic capabilities and competences has challenged firms to apply these concepts to improve their competitive position. Management consulting firms may assist clients in these efforts. However, the roles that management consulting firms fulfill in these processes can differ considerably and are under-researched. Therefore, insight in these different roles and the impact of these roles on clients’ competitive positioning in their industries is required. The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework that highlights the importance of distinguishing both roles and the implications for management consulting firms and for their clients. We illustrate the framework by elaborating on the relationship between both roles and the strategic renewal context of client firms. We conclude by pointing out the increasing importance of the competence leverage role of management consulting firms and how this development might contribute to a more hypercompetitive context for their clients

How Knowledge Accumulation changed the Competitive Advantage of Strategy Consulting Firms

Research evidence confirms that the accumulation of knowledge contributes to the competitive advantage of firms. In the strategy consulting industry, one of the most knowledge-intensive professional services industries, however, established firms that exploited their knowledge accumulation by adding exploitative consulting practices have found their performance has deteriorated. To investigate this phenomenon, this paper will describe how the increasing share of exploitative practices in the strategy consulting industry has attracted both established ICT-related consulting firms and new entrants, and enabled clients to expand their problem-solving abilities. We will argue that these developments in terms of competitiveness and client competencies have reduced the attractiveness of exploitative practices for established strategy consulting firms. To analyse these developments and to provide strategic options for the established strategy consulting firms, a conceptual framework will be proposed. Based on this framework, three strategic option are identified: ‘Follow the herd’, ‘Become ambidextrous’ and ‘Back to the original focus.’ In summarizing our argument, we highlight the pros and cons of these options and the implications for top management