Baan Company’s Corporate Web Strategy – An Effort To Reach Main Street

During the 1990s Baan Company became a market leader in the enterprise applications industry. Its mission was to become an independent software manufacturer, serving a global market. To speed up growth, Baan developed its Baan Web strategy which implied a far-reaching renewal of its corporate strategy. Burgelman and Grove (1996) define the moment of choosing a new strategy as a strategic inflection point. Their framework named “Dynamic Forces in Firm Evolution†explains that ssuccessful development and implementation of a new corporate strategy is a process of aligning five dynamic forces. The focus of this study is on the vital role of the internal selection environment. This force regulates the allocation of the company’s scarce resources – cash, competences/capabilities and senior management attention – to strategic action. It is the crucial force in the continuing alignment processes that have to take place. Every company has a unique combination of distinctive competences (Burgelman) or dynamic capabilities (Teece). The study explains that to execute a new strategy successfully new competences/capabilities have to be developed based on existent ones. The development of Baan’s corporate strategy is analyzed and discussed with reference to the Technology Adoption Life Cycle (Moore). The study concludes with the management implications of a strategic inflection point.globalization;growth;dynamic capabilities;ERP;software;business web;corporate strategy;distinctive competences;strategic inflection point

The effect of core competence building on companies performance

This paper contributes to the understanding of the importance of dynamic firm capabilities for corporate performance in isolating the effect of core competences on the performance of companies. It discusses and tests the assumed relation between core competences and economic performance, including the effect of the external appropriation of these competences through mergers and acquisitions as well as through strategic technology alliances. A major conclusion is that, particularly in high-tech sectors, a specific set of endogenous technological core capabilities is needed to generate performance differentials. Also, the external appropriation of competences does not seem to be an easy solution through which companies can improve their existing capabilities.research and development ;

Knowledge management techniques for know-how transfer systems design : the case of an oil company

This paper presents a research in progress on the use of knowledge engineering and knowledge management techniques for the development of a strategic approach for the transfer of professional know-how. This transfer is based on the design of devices for sharing and learning clearly identified knowledge in the oil industry domains. This work is based on a pilot study which was carried out in the PED department (Petroleum Engineering & Development) and it deals with upstream activity of the oil group Sonatrach. A mapping of this know-how was established using a method based on mapping strategy. The main steps of the current approach are the strategic analysis for required competences, the processes analysis for professional know-how and a cross analysis for strategic competences and critical know-how. Emphasis is put on the strategic and critical aspects in the areas of knowledge where efforts are to be made in terms of capitalising, sharing, learning and transfer.Learning, E-learning, Knowledge management, Knowledge map, Strategy map, Knowledge engineering, Knowledge servers, Computer assisted human learning

Development of Strategic Consultancy to Farm Managers: Experience from an Action Research Approach

A Danish action research approach to the development of strategic consultancy to farm managers is presented. The development principles adopted include separate investigations of the content and process of strategic consultancy resulting in the formulation of a development matrix and a procedure for knowledge transformations. The project activities were carried out by a self-organised team group with participants from both consultancy and research organisations. The produced knowledge and strategic tools have been tested in a number of farm cases by local consultants and the implemented evaluation programme indicates that the needs of farmers have been fulfilled and the local consultants have increased their strategic competences. Key words: Action research, strategic consultancy, process and content, development matrix, self-organisation, knowledge transformations, complex learning and consultancy processes.Farm Management,

Dynamic Capabilities and their Indirect Impact on Firm Performance

This paper investigates the relationship between dynamic capabilities and firm performance. In particular it addresses the question of whether dynamic capabilities impact directly or indirectly on performance. Using data from manufacturing firms, the paper articulates and measures dynamic capabilities as a multi-dimensional construct with three underlying factors: coordination, learning and strategic competitive response. Then, structural equation modelling is employed to explore the relationships among dynamic capabilities, functional competences and firm performance. Empirical findings suggest that dynamic capabilities are antecedents to functional competences which in turn have a significant effect on performance. Direct effects on performance are found to be insignificant. Furthermore, similar effects seem to hold for both higher and lower levels of environmental dynamism. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.Dynamic capabilities; functional competences; firm performance; indirect impact

Intellectual evolution of strategic management and its relationship with ethics and social responsibility

The main purpose here is to present an overview of the historical development of strategic management, through a critical review of the most relevant theoretical proposals, and to consider its links to ethics and corporate social responsibilities. From the very beginning of strategic management thought attempts have been made to fuse ethical aspects such as values of senior management or social values or social expectations to strategic management. More recently the stakeholder view of the firm has permitted the introduction of ethical theories into strategic management, and the resources-based view of the firm has lead to the consideration of competences, including moral virtues. Here it is argued that in spite of some advances, the integration of ethics into strategic management is not yet entirely satisfactory. Thus, it is suggested that new directions to focus the integration of ethics and strategic management are necessary.Strategic management; Integrating ethics in management; Business ethics; Corporate social responsibility;

Strategic competences for pricing quantity surveying consultancy services

Professional quantity surveying (QS) services are critical to successful delivery of construction projects within planned budget, quality, and duration. The supply of QS professional services is largely dependent on the price level of services and the willingness of clients to pay. The pricing of professional QS consultancy services has been confronted with a myriad of pricing challenges due to rapid changes in the business environment; the pervasive influence of information technology; and the complexity of clients’ expectation. It isthereforenecessary for QS consultancy firms to develop strategic competence for the pricing of their services. In addition, numerous studies have not given the pricing the pricing of professional services the requisite attention. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the strategic competence for pricing professional QS services. The study was positioned within the positivist tradition. As a result, the quantitative approach was adopted using a survey questionnaire to collect data from QS consultants. The sample size of the study was 79 professional quantity surveyors chosen by using simple random sampling technique from a population of 372 registered professional QS of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors. Using the χ2 test and factor analysis, the study established a relationship between strategic competences and pricing of QS services. The study found that strategic competences for pricing QS professional service is significantly related to the managerial and professional competence of QS consultants. The strategic competences of QS consultants identified by this study include business management, services cost management; and production capabilities. This study provides an empirical basis for QS consultancy firms to focus on strategic direction of their contractual arrangement with clients. Practically, resource configuration and strategic competences for professional service pricing would create price leadership. The study advances the pricing knowledge within the QS practice by demonstrating the nexus between strategic competences and the pricing of QS professional services which hitherto this study have not been effectively investigated

Stakeholder engagement as a facilitator of organizational learning

This paper examines the relationship between stakeholder engagement and competence building. Following the dual perspective of the firm, which indicated that managers deal with both transactions and competences concurrently, we argue that stakeholder interactions also concern both transaction cost reduction and value creation. Based on a review of the extant literature, we incorporated a micro-macro connection between organizational learning and competence building. Further to this, we developed a conceptual framework by linking stakeholder engagement and organizational learning. This framework demonstrates that stakeholder relations may have significant effects on organizational learning and thus stakeholder engagement can play the role of facilitator in building firm competences

To what extent are students as middle managers at a training hotel involved in strategic decision making?

Research has shown that middle managers can exert major upward or downward influence on their organisation’s strategy. Inthe practice department of our hotel school, senior students act as managers to train managerial competences. To analyse if thisreflects reality, I have researched whether student managers do have strategic influence. The research indicates that studentscarry out a substantial number of strategic tasks as part of their practical training. However these tasks do not fit with existingtheoretical frameworks regarding middle managers’ strategic influence. This might be explained by the fact that putting studentsin a training situation stimulates non-routinised sensemaking behaviour of student middle managers.Keywords: managerial competences, middle management, sensemaking, strategic influenc