Strategy Research (strategy + research)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Strategy Research in Emerging Economies: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom*

JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 1 2005
Mike Wright
ABSTRACT This review and introduction to the Special Issue on ,Strategy Research in Emerging Economies' considers the nature of theoretical contributions thus far on strategy in emerging economies. We classify the research through four strategic options: (1) firms from developed economies entering emerging economies; (2) domestic firms competing within emerging economies; (3) firms from emerging economies entering other emerging economies; and (4) firms from emerging economies entering developed economies. Among the four perspectives examined (institutional theory, transaction cost theory, resource-based theory, and agency theory), the most dominant seems to be institutional theory. Most existing studies that make a contribution blend institutional theory with one of the other three perspectives, including seven out of the eight papers included in this Special Issue. We suggest a future research agenda based around the four strategies and four theoretical perspectives. Given the relative emphasis of research so far on the first and second strategic options, we believe that there is growing scope for research that addresses the third and fourth. [source]


Strategies for Success: Profiling the Effective Learner of German

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 3 2001
Jennifer Bruen
The primary objective of this study is to identify the language-learning strategies associated with the achievement of higher levels of oral proficiency in German for 100 Irish students about to complete their second year at Dublin City University. It also investigates the way in which these strategies are used by those with higher and lower levels of proficiency. The methodology combines quantitative assessment (using questionnaires)with in-depth, qualitative interviews. The article begins by explaining key concepts in the field of language learning strategy research and then reviews a selection of relevant studies. An experiment designed to achieve the above objectives is then described. The results indicate that more-proficient students use more language-learning strategies, in particular more cognitive and metacognitive strategies. Furthermore, ten. strategies correlate with higher levels of oral proficiency at a significant level. These provide a tentative strategic profile of the more effective learner of German. Finally, the qualitative findings suggest that more-proficient students use language-learning strategies in a more structured and purposeful manner and apply them to a wider range of situations and tasks. Finally, implications for future research and for the language classroom are discussed. [source]


Self-Serving Attributions in Corporate Annual Reports: A Replicated Study

JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 1 2002
Eric W. K. Tsang
This study is a replication of Bettman and Weitz (1983) in the Singapore context. Data from Letters to Shareholders in 208 annual reports published in 1985 and 1994 were used to analyse the patterns of causal explanations for corporate performance outcomes. The general self-serving pattern of attributions found in the original study was also identified in this study. However, the data of the original study do not unequivocally support either the motivational or informational explanation for the existence of self-serving attributions, whereas the latter explanation is strongly supported by the data of this study. This finding is consistent with the growing evidence provided by cross-cultural psychological research indicating East Asians' greater sensitivity to situational influences when making causal attributions. In short, the present study clearly illustrates the important role of replication in the knowledge accumulation and theory development of strategy research. [source]


Test-taking Strategies of 12- and 13-year-old Hungarian Learners of EFL: Why Whales Have Migraines

LANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 1 2006
Marianne Nikolov
This paper gives an account of a project exploring 12- and 13-year-old children's uses of strategies while solving reading and writing test tasks in English as a foreign language (EFL). The study was conducted to provide insights into how learners go about solving tasks and what they think and rely on while doing them. The first part provides an overview of strategy research and test-taking strategy research. The second part provides the background of the project and describes the 52 participants, the data collection instruments, and the procedures. The discussions include four case studies of two high achievers and two low achievers and explore what role individual differences played, what strategies learners applied, and how the findings have contributed to a better understanding of what we mean by test-taking strategies. This exploratory qualitative study raises several questions. The analyses of the particular strategies and case studies might provide valuable insights into learners' uses of strategies and useful feedback for test designers and teachers. [source]


Strategies for Language Learning and for Language Use: Revising the Theoretical Framework

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 3 2006
ERNESTO MACARO
Since the late 1970s, there has been widespread research interest in the strategies that learners use in learning and using second languages. This interest has generated a parallel research effort in language learner strategy instruction. The body of work to date suggests a possible relationship between strategy use and second language learning success. It also provides some evidence that learners can be helped to use strategies more effectively. Several criticisms, however, have been made of this field of research, particularly pertaining to a lack of theoretical rigour. This article reviews the problems related to strategy research and proposes a revised theoretical framework in which strategies are differentiated from skills, processes, and styles. Rather than offering an all-encompassing definition of a strategy, the article proposes a series of features essential to describing a strategy. The framework aims to enhance current theory. [source]


Dynamic or Static Capabilities?

THE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 5 2009
Process Management Practices, Response to Technological Change
Whether and how organizations adapt to changes in their environments has been a prominent theme in organization and strategy research. Within this research, there is controversy about whether organizational routines hamper or facilitate adaptation. Organizational routines give rise to inertia but are also the vehicles for change in recent work on dynamic capabilities. This rising interest in routines in research coincides with an increase in management practices focused on organizational routines and processes. This study explores how the increasing use of process management practices affected organizational response to a major technological change through new product developments. The empirical setting is the photography industry over a decade, during the shift from silver-halide chemistry to digital technology. The advent and rise of practices associated with the new ISO 9000 certification program in the 1990s coincided with increasing technological substitution in photography, allowing for assessing how increasing attention to routines through ISO 9000 practices over time affected ongoing responsiveness to the technological change. The study further compares the effects for the incumbent firms in the existing technology with nonincumbent firms entering from elsewhere. Relying on longitudinal panel data models as well as hazard models, findings show that greater process management practices dampened response to new generations of digital technology, but this effect differed for incumbents and nonincumbents. Increasing use of process management practices over time had a greater negative effect on incumbents' response to the rapid technological change. The study contributes to research in technological change by highlighting specific management practices that may create disconnects between firms' capabilities and changing environments and disadvantage incumbents in the face of radical technological change. This research also contributes to literature on organizational routines and capabilities. Studying the effects of increasing ISO 9000 practices undertaken in firms provides an opportunity to gauge the effects of systematic routinization of organizational activities and their effects on adaptation. This research also contributes to management practice. The promise of process management is to help firms adapt to changing environments, and, as such, managers facing technological change may adopt process management practices as a response to uncertainty and change. But managers must more fully understand the potential benefits and risks of process management to ensure these practices are used in the appropriate contexts. [source]