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Strategic Thinking (strategic + thinking)
Selected AbstractsDilemmas of Policy Innovation in the Public Sector: A Case Study of the National Innovation SummitAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 4 2009Ian Marsh Policy innovation is a significant challenge for the public sector. This article illustrates its magnitude through a case study of the National Innovation Summit. The article concludes that the Summit represented an elaborate process of search and engagement that sanctioned an outcome that was, in most respects, largely pre-determined. Its outreach and deliberations served the political purpose of mobilising industry and media attention and communicating the government's commitment. But there is no evidence that it exercised any substantive influence on policy development. The obstacles confounding any other outcome are considerable. Strategic thinking is inhibited by various organisational factors including lock-in to a present successful strategy, the constraints on policy choices associated with multiple veto points and the need to maintain medium term fiscal and policy discipline across a wide range of agencies and claimants. The article explores ways these inhibitions might be overcome. [source] Supply Chain Strategy, Product Characteristics, and Performance Impact: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturers,DECISION SCIENCES, Issue 4 2009Yinan Qi ABSTRACT Supply chain management has become one of the most popular approaches to enhance the global competitiveness of business corporations today. Firms must have clear strategic thinking in order to effectively organize such complicated activities, resources, communications, and processes. An emerging body of literature offers a framework that identifies three kinds of supply chain strategies: lean strategy, agile strategy, and lean/agile strategy based on in-depth case studies. Extant research also suggests that supply chain strategies must be matched with product characteristics in order for firms to achieve better performance. This article investigates supply chain strategies and empirically tests the supply chain strategy model that posits lean, agile, and lean/agile approaches using data collected from 604 manufacturing firms in China. Cluster analyses of the data indicate that Chinese firms are adopting a variation of lean, agile, and lean/agile supply chain strategies identified in the western literature. However, the data reveal that some firms have a traditional strategy that does not emphasize either lean or agile principles. These firms perform worse than firms that have a strategy focused on lean, agile, or lean/agile supply chain. The strategies are examined with respect to product characteristics and financial and operational performance. The article makes significant contributions to the supply chain management literature by examining the supply chain strategies used by Chinese firms. In addition, this work empirically tests the applicability of supply chain strategy models that have not been rigorously tested empirically or in the fast-growing Chinese economy. [source] ,King of the Sea': The Prince of Wales and the Stuart Monarchy, 1648,1649HISTORY, Issue 308 2007SEAN KELSEY From their outset, the prince of Wales played a politically and symbolically significant part in the English civil wars. But from mid-1646, with Charles I in the hands of his enemies, primary responsibility for the military and diplomatic aspirations of the House of Stuart devolved almost entirely upon the king's eldest son. Indeed, this essential fact was central to the king's own strategic thinking because he had persuaded himself that his opponents must seek an accommodation with him as long as his successor was at large. The threat posed by the prince became violent reality in 1648 when he commissioned a string of mutinies and rebellions across England and Wales and briefly reasserted royal dominion of the seas. Although his martial and maritime escapades came to nothing, they nevertheless gave the prince his first opportunity to wield the instruments of sovereign power in the exercise of an authority independent of his father's. The second civil war also sharpened the contrast between the prince's freedom of action and the king's hapless captivity. The fortunes of the Stuart monarchy had hit rock bottom, but in the eyes of at least some royalists, an obvious solution had also begun to suggest itself. [source] The power of work experiences: Characteristics critical to developing expertise in strategic thinkingHUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2008Ellen F. Goldman The ability to think strategically is an increasingly important requirement for managers at all organizational levels. HRD professionals have attempted to help develop this ability through work experiences. However, research identifying which work experiences are most beneficial is limited. As a result, HRD efforts may be weakened. This paper presents findings indicating the importance of nine categories of work experiences to developing the ability to think strategically, and specifies their required characteristics. The characteristics vary with the experience but do follow some general themes. [source] Knowledge management practice in Scottish law firmsHUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 2 2002Laurie Hunter Law firms, as part of the professional services sector, are increasingly engaged in strategic thinking about business growth and development. The management of partners, staff and their knowledge is critical to this strategic development. This study of a sample of Scottish law firms engaged in commercial and corporate law finds that organisations are at different stages of progress, and that change has focused more on technical solutions than on organisational and HR issues. Based on evidence from partners and management, and on attitude data from salaried staff, the article suggests that, although the traditional professional firm's interest in building and leveraging its human capital is still present, the underlying social and cultural processes involving motivation, sharing of experiences, coaching and mentoring are relatively underdeveloped. The implications for HR strategy and practice, and for the role of the HR manager, are considered. [source] Performance measurement: a critical analysis of the literature with respect to total quality managementINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT REVIEWS, Issue 2 2000David Sinclair This paper represents a comprehensive review of the literature on performance measurement. The roadmap used for this analysis is from the evolution of performance measurement, to the way it is currently defined and how it is applied from a corporate-wide perspective. One useful contribution of this review is a special focus on performance measurement in a non-financial, non-traditional sense. This discussion was further amplified by referring to newly developed tools and techniques and by highlighting critical factors of success in the application of performance measurement. The key factors from this literature review reveal that, although interest in the area of measurement is growing significantly, this is not reflected by the tangible and credible experiences in the organizations concerned. There is a concurrent view amongst various writers that there are both hard and soft issues reflecting, for instance, the lack of strategic thinking and goal clarity, putting measurement systems in the driving seat and therefore trusting unreliable designs and not focusing on the true ethos of modern measurement towards continuous improvement and thereby not engaging employees and neglecting the culture change aspects. The paper concludes by highlighting the dearth in research in the important field of performance measurement and, in particular, the design and implementation of performance measurement systems that cover all the essential aspects through an integrated perspective. [source] Can relationship marketing enhance strategic thinking in the public sector?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NONPROFIT & VOLUNTARY SECTOR MARKETING, Issue 4 2004A study of the perceived relationship between subsidised theatres, their government funders/regulators This paper reports on the findings of research into the perceived relationships between publicly funded theatres and their key funders/regulators. This is part of a wider study into whether successful publicly funded arts organisations are more likely to apply a relationship marketing approach. Relationship marketing may help to remove a short-term tactical focus that tends to exist in public sector organisations generally and publicly funded arts organisations particularly. Three UK producing theatres' relationships with the Arts Council and their respective local authorities are analysed and findings suggest that building relationships with this stakeholder type may well produce more strategically focused and successful theatres. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications [source] Internationalization, Strategic Behavior, and the Small Firm: A Comparative InvestigationJOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2004Christos Kalantaridis Previous research on the internationalization of the small firm explored the relationship between the adoption of a global orientation and strategic thinking. However, there was difference in opinion between those arguing that there is a positive relationship between the two variables and others who contended that small firms may internationalize by adopting a passive or reactive approach to the external environment. Within this context, this study sets out to further the discussion by comparing the experience of small enterprises with their medium and large-scale counterparts. In doing so, it draws upon the findings of survey of 1,000 internationalized enterprises located in the main urban conurbations of England. The results suggest that overall there is little disparity in strategy development among internationalized enterprises of different sizes. However, whereas the incidence of strategic behavior among medium and large businesses increases with the complexity of international operations, this is not the case for small firms. [source] Mediating Among Scientists: A Mental Model of Expert PracticeNEGOTIATION AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT RESEARCH, Issue 4 2009Kenneth Kressel Abstract Despite the considerable research on mediator behavior, the cognitive structures and processes that presumably guide the strategic and tactical choices of professional mediators are poorly understood. The current study made use of a reflective case study method to explore in considerable detail the strategic thinking of five experienced mediators. The project was conducted at the National Institutes of Health whose Office of the Ombudsman (OO) mediates disputes among the institute's scientists. Eighteen cases were studied. The thinking of the mediators in these cases displayed regularities that are described in terms of the ombuds team's working mental model of mediation. The mental model consists of two strongly contrasting intervention scripts: a deep problem-solving script (DPS) focused on identifying and addressing latent issues of an interpersonal or systemic kind and a tactical problem-solving script (TPS) focusing instead on the issues as presented by the parties. The tactical script was applied in either an integrative bargaining mode or a more distributive quasi-arbitration approach. The choice of which script to follow in a given case is determined by first order decision rules concerning the existence and nature of any latent problems that may be present, and second order decision rules concerning the parties' capacity to engage in "deep" problem-solving. Despite their very different foci, both DPS and TPS appear to follow the same metascript of problem-solving stages, beginning with an intensive diagnostic phase during which the decision rules are applied and a script "selection" is made. DPS is the preferred intervention mode of team members. Every case began with at least a preliminary effort to search for and address latent causes, and team members expressed dissatisfaction if they could not apply DPS in cases where latent problems were thought to be fueling the conflict. However, ombudsmen used the scripts flexibly and switched to TPS if DPS was unnecessary or impractical. Both scripts produced agreements that were useful to the parties and to the institution's scientific purposes, particularly the fostering of scientific competence. The mental model is heavily shaped by the social context in which the ombudsmen function. Thus, the primacy of DPS in the model appears to be due to the fact that the ombudsmen are "repeat players" in the life of the NIH and therefore in a position to become adept at recognizing the latent sources of its dysfunctional conflicts, are under a strong role mandate as ombudsmen to pay attention to covert patterns of organizational dysfunction, and deal with disputants pressed to address latent issues blocking scientific work. [source] The ecology of games between public policy and private action: Nonprofit community organizations as bridging and mediating institutionsNONPROFIT MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP, Issue 3 2003Stuart C. Mendel The conception of nonprofit organizations as institutional bridges that mediate within an environment of interrelationships is a useful device for informing strategic thinking by nonprofit professionals and volunteers. The bridge metaphor neatly explains not only the rise in number of nonprofit community organizations, but also the process by which leaders of the private and public sectors have formed partnerships to project the wealth and assets of communities. [source] The US National Intelligence Council on Growing Global MigrationPOPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, Issue 4 2001Article first published online: 27 JAN 200 The National Intelligence Council, a body reporting to the Director of Central Intelligence, brings together expertise from inside and outside the US government to engage in strategic thinking on national security issues. Some of its reports, known as National Intelligence Estimates, are now issued in unclassified versions. One of these published in December2000, was entitled Global Trends 2015: A Dialogue about the Future with Nongovernment Experts. It discussed what it termed the key drivers of global change and presented a generally bleak set of scenarios of the medium-term future. (See the short review in PDR 27, no. 2, pp. 385,386.) Demographic factors,in particular, mass migration,were seen as one of the drivers. This topic is investigated further in a subsequent NIC report, Growing Global Migration and Its Implications for the United States, issued this year. The initial section of the report, headed Key Judgments, is reprinted below. The report emphasizes the economic advantages of liberal immigration policies to the advanced economies, "despite some initially higher welfare costs and some downward pressure on wages." Resistance to liberalization in European countries and Japan is seen as putting them at a competitive disadvantage to the United States. Their levels of illegal immigration, however, will inevitably increase in scale. Expectations for the US are for rises in both legal and illegal immigration. Mentioned as one of the "difficult issues" that are minor offsets to the broad gains offered by immigration is its use as a vehicle for "transnational terrorist, narcotrafficking, and organized crime groups." The full report is available online at http://www.cia.gov/nic/pubs/index.htm. [source] Corporate psychopathy: Talking the walk,BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES & THE LAW, Issue 2 2010Paul Babiak Ph.D. There is a very large literature on the important role of psychopathy in the criminal justice system. We know much less about corporate psychopathy and its implications, in large part because of the difficulty in obtaining the active cooperation of business organizations. This has left us with only a few small-sample studies, anecdotes, and speculation. In this study, we had a unique opportunity to examine psychopathy and its correlates in a sample of 203 corporate professionals selected by their companies to participate in management development programs. The correlates included demographic and status variables, as well as in-house 360° assessments and performance ratings. The prevalence of psychopathic traits,as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist,Revised (PCL-R) and a Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL: SV) "equivalent",was higher than that found in community samples. The results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that the underlying latent structure of psychopathy in our corporate sample was consistent with that model found in community and offender studies. Psychopathy was positively associated with in-house ratings of charisma/presentation style (creativity, good strategic thinking and communication skills) but negatively associated with ratings of responsibility/performance (being a team player, management skills, and overall accomplishments). Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Inquiry-based learning and technology,supporting institutional TEL within one pedagogical contextBRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Issue 3 2008Sabine Little Following the establishment of Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in England and Northern Ireland in 2005, several institutions have used these to pursue specific pedagogical approaches at a strategic level, in line with and building on existing institutional strategic thinking. Technology-enhanced learning is often one of the vehicles to implement these pedagogical approaches, leading to institution-wide attempts to identify and support suitable technologies. This paper discusses the role of the educational developer in this process and what impact this particular role might have at strategic level, bearing in mind the numerous simultaneous developments that take place in an institution at any one time. [source] | |||||||||||||