Are generic strategies 'fit for purpose' in a public service context?

The environment in which public sector organisations operate is becoming ever more volatile, with such organisations increasingly facing the dual pressures of growing customer expectations coupled with significant budget reductions. This study presents an exploratory research model to uncover significant relationships between generic strategies and the business and social performance of public leisure providers, in an attempt to ascertain if generic strategies are fit for purpose in the public leisure sector. The findings suggest that low cost and price-based strategies are inadequate for service delivery. Rather, a hybrid strategy - which seeks to add value while also having a cost base that permits low prices - is deemed fit for purpose in the public leisure sector, satisfying the dual strategic agenda of public leisure providers. This study provides contributions to the strategic management, public management, and leisure services literatures. © The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav

The performance implications of strategic capital for public leisure providers

Strategic capital has emerged as a key source of competitive heterogeneity in the private sector. Despite this, little is known about the performance implications of strategic capital in public organisations. Adopting a resource-advantage perspective, we examine the performance implications of strategic capital for public leisure providers. Analysing data generated from public leisure providers, we find that effective strategy implementation enables leisure providers to exploit comparative advantages, which is itself a source of sustained advantage. Furthermore, high performers are endowed with significantly greater levels of strategic capital - which include 'strategy commitment', 'implementation support', 'implementation effectiveness', and 'learning' - in contrast with low performers. Important differences between internal and external approaches to provision are also identified and discussed, along with the implications of this study for researchers and public policy. © 2012 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Orchestrating managerial ambidexterity: A subcultural paradox

Orchestrating managerial ambidexterity: A subcultural parado

Knowledge management activities and strategic planning capability development

Purpose – While the strategic management literature extols the virtues of engaging in strategic planning for superior performance, how a dynamic strategic planning capability can be developed remains underexplored; a knowledge void addressed by the paper through applying knowledge-based theory. Design/methodology/approach – A mail survey was sent to high technology firms randomly sampled from the Kompass Directory of UK businesses. Firms were sampled at the SBU level, given the focus on strategic planning capability. Findings – An organization’s strategic planning capability derives from extensive information distribution and organizational memory. While learning values is non-significant, symbolic information use degrades the development of a strategic planning capability. Research implications – By investigating the contributory activities that lead to strategic planning capability development, the findings establish how strategic planning materializes in organizations. Further, the differential effects found for knowledge management activities on strategic planning capability development extends empirical studies that suggest knowledge is always a central tenet of strategic planning. Practical implications – A set of key knowledge activities are identified that managers must address for strategic planning capability development: strategic planning routines and values of search, analysis, and assessment should be appropriately informed by investments in knowledge dissemination and memory on a continual basis. Meanwhile, information misuse compromises strategic planning capabilities and managers must protect against out-of-context or manipulated information from infiltrating into organizational memory. Originality/value – Despite the advent of the Knowledge-Based Theory and its core premise that capabilities derive from knowledge management activities, little research has been conducted into demonstrating the knowledge-based antecedents of a strategic planning capability

A level playing field: social inclusion in public leisure

Purpose: The transfer to partnership in public sector management has created significantly new modes of service delivery, and is suggested to be the best means of ensuring that disadvantaged groups are socially included. The purpose of this paper is to examine New Leisure Trust (NLT) structures in public leisure provision relative to direct, in-house managed facilities and privately run Leisure Management Contractor (LMC) facilities. In particular, NLTs receive significant government funds and subsidies through tax breaks that are not forthcoming to rivals, which raises questions as to whether NLTs deserve such aid for delivering upon the social inclusion agenda of the government. Design/methodology/approach: The research involved a national survey questionnaire to 1,060 public leisure service providers in England. Empirical testing through multiple analysis of variance and regression analysis was applied to the dataset. Findings: The authors find that NLTs do not follow social orientation strategies to any significantly greater degree than rivals, nor seem to create social inclusion to any greater degree. Further, NLTs have the least to gain in terms of business performance from creating social inclusion, whilst in-house (in particular) and LMC facilities stand to gain the most. Practical implications: Though each approach to provision examined places a considerable strategic emphasis on being socially oriented, they are not effective at increasing the social inclusion of recreationally disadvantaged groups. Originality/value: This paper calls for the current public leisure management playing field to be levelled in a rebalance of opportunity and investment through the removal of anti-competitive measures. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Absorptive capacity and market orientation in public service provision

The application of market orientation to public organisations does not adequately account for the unique features of this context. Drawing on absorptive capacity literature, this is the first study to examine the role of the organisation's learning environment on the market orientation-performance interface for two opposing public management contexts. The research involved a national survey questionnaire to 1060 internal and external public leisure service providers in England. Empirical testing through structural equation modelling revealed that not all dimensions of market orientation are universally positive and marketing scholars should seek to examine and understand market orientation in the context of the organisation and its learning mechanisms, as absorptive capacity has clear and different moderation effects under different management contexts. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Re-examining the deployment of market orientation in the public leisure sector

This paper examines the moderating effects of market orientation's intelligence generation and dissemination components on the response-performance relationship. We offer valuable insight into the application of, and subsequent returns to, market orientation in the public leisure sector, thereby helping to broaden the appeal, relevance, and usefulness of this important marketing theory to other contexts. The research involved a national survey questionnaire to 1060 public leisure managers of local government leisure facilities in England. Empirical testing through structural equation modelling revealed two important findings. First, intelligence generation efforts of the organisation can in part affect the performance returns to an organisation from its responsiveness to market intelligence. Second, intelligence generation coupled with organisation-wide dissemination of intelligence can have a destructive impact on the response-performance relationship, demonstrated by a negative significant moderating impact on this relationship. This paper provides an alternative explanation to the deployment of market orientation as a means to create value and an explanation that transcends its current linear portrayal in public-service delivery. © 2012 Copyright 2012 Westburn Publishers Ltd

The ambidextrous manager: What role does culture play?

Purpose We know from research that the right context can help managers develop an ambidextrous approach. But just as few of us are naturally ambidextrous, many managers fail to balance conformity and change during strategy implementation. We investigate why. Design/methodology/approach Through a qualitative study of managers of an international airline we examine a series of cultural barriers that constrain managers’ agile decision-making and stop managerial ambidexterity. Findings We identify 6 culturally-ingrained practices that block managerial ambidexterity: Top management’s unwavering emphasis on cost-control when survival hinges on fresh investments; Little or no scanning of the environment for new areas of opportunity; Intensive planning oriented toward efficiency issues; Functional structures characterized by extensive division of labor; Centralized control; Formal hierarchical communication channels. Research implications Managers find it difficult to put into practice new initiatives, particularly when the proposed initiatives counter the underlying cultural world of the organization. We suggest that this dark-side of culture can pose tough barriers for ambidextrous action. Practical implications There is an urgent need for organizations to be aware of the possible misalignments between ambidextrous pursuits and the cultural forces that actually drive action. A deep understanding of their organization’s cultural universe is a crucial first step for managers aspiring to better engage with ambidexterity and outwit and outperform competitors. Originality Different strategic approaches need not be viewed as irreconcilable. If cultural elements don’t block it, managerial ambidexterity can showcase innovative approaches to reconciling trade-offs in strategic decision-making

Foreign competition, domestic knowledge base and innovation activities: evidence from Chinese high-tech industries

Using panel data analysis for a sample of Chinese high-technology industries from 1998 to 2008, this study examines how industry characteristics affect industry innovation activities. Differing from existing studies, our research considers the impact of foreign competition on innovation activities at industry level in a large emerging economy. The results indicate that the intensity of competition from foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) and domestic skill intensity affect industry buy and make activities. Foreign competition is positively associated with the intensity of buy activity, but negatively affects the intensity of make activity. Further, the findings show that domestic skill intensity weakens the impact of foreign competitive pressure on innovation activities. Our empirical evidence has important policy implications

UK public services: do they measure up? An examination of performance management though a lens of public service dominant logic

UK public services: do they measure up? An examination of performance management though a lens of public service dominant logi