Strategic Management

UK business school rankings over the last 30 years (1980-2010): trends and explanations

by Stephen Wilkins

Business schools globally operate in a market-driven environment and rankings are very much part of that environment.... more Business schools globally operate in a market-driven environment and rankings are very much part of that environment. Rankings have a significant impact on a school’s ability to attract the top scholars, the most able students and research funding. Schools use rankings to support claims of their excellence and ‘world class’ status. The purpose of this study is to explore whether an analysis of the historical development of business schools and business/management education in the UK, supported by reference to institutional theory, can help explain trends in rankings and the positions of different types of school. The analysis is based on a selection of undergraduate, MBA and research rankings published between 1984 and 2010. The findings of the study fit with the expectations of institutional theory: particularly regulations and normative path dependencies determined the rankings of different categories of university, e.g., ancient, plateglass, technology and post-1992. 

The Art of CIIP Strategy: Taking Stock of Content and Processes

by Myriam Dunn Cavelty

in: Javier Lopez, Roberto Setola, Stephen D. Wolthusen (eds), Critical Infrastructure Protection: Information Infrastructure Models, Analysis, and Defense (Springer 2012) (co-authored with Manuel Suter), pp. 15-38.

This chapter analyses and compares CI(I)P and cybersecurity strategies to discover key issues, developments, and... more This chapter analyses and compares CI(I)P and cybersecurity strategies to discover key issues, developments, and trends and to make recommendations about strategy making in the field of CIIP. To this end, it will first define CIP, CIIP and cybersecurity. It will then show what kind of protection goals – statements about a desired state of security of a particular object/asset that is seen in need of protection from one or a variety of threats – are defined and what kind of countermeasures are foreseen. Third, it will move from the content to the process and will make recommendations about how an optimal strategy process in the field of CIIP should look like

The international branch campus as transnational strategy in higher education

by Stephen Wilkins

The international branch campus is a phenomenon on the rise, but we still have limited knowledge of the strategic... more The international branch campus is a phenomenon on the rise, but we still have limited knowledge of the strategic choices underlying the start of these ventures. The objective of this paper is to shed light on the motivations and decisions of universities to engage (or not) with the establishment of international branch campuses. As a point of departure, institutional theory has been selected to frame the potential motives for starting an international branch campus. Secondary literature, including professional journals and university reports and websites, has been analysed to obtain information that alludes to the motivations of universities for adopting particular strategies. It was found that university managements’ considerations can be explained by the concepts of legitimacy, status, institutional distance, risk-taking, risk-avoidance and the desire to secure new sources of revenue. We argue that universities should avoid decisions that are based largely on a single dimension, such as legitimacy, but rather consider a broad spectrum of motivations and considerations.

The identification of important intangible resources in hospitals

by Krystin Zigan

The current research literature has little on the understanding and use of intangible resources in hospitals, and... more The current research literature has little on the understanding and use of intangible resources in hospitals, and given the importance of people in the delivery of health care organizations, the objective of this research was to identify what managers
perceived to be the key intangible resources that were used in this setting. The supplementary objective was to explore whether known intangible resources were managed
in any systematic way. A qualitative research approach was followed and this allowed for the identification and description of key intangible resources in the hospital setting.
In particular we found that social capital and staff attitude were identified as important by hospital managers and clinicians. The findings contribute to current research as they theoretically allow the extension of the concept of intangible resources to the hospital sector. They also lead to a number of recommendations for the strategic management of intangible resources in hospitals, and other health care organizations.

Keywords: intangible resources, intellectual capital, hospitals, strategic management

Misyurov D.A. Dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas // Credo New. 2012. №2

by Dmitry Misyurov

The article suggests dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas: formula with... more The article suggests dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas: formula with dominant and the non-dominant elements; universal formula; formula with symbolic weight of elements; tautological formula. For example, it suggests an opportunity to use the dialectical formulas for modeling and artificial intelligence creation, etc.

Platform Competition: Strategic Tradeoffs in Platform Markets

by carmelo cennamo

joint with Juan Santaló. Forthcoming in the Strategic Management Journal

Because the literature on platform competition emphasizes the role of network effects, it prescribes rapidly expanding... more Because the literature on platform competition emphasizes the role of network effects, it prescribes rapidly expanding a network of platform users and complementary applications to
capture entire markets. We challenge the unconditional logic of a winner-take-all (WTA) approach by empirically analyzing the dominant strategies used to build and position platform systems in the U.S. video game industry. We show that when platform firms pursue two popular WTA strategies concurrently and with equal intensity––growing the number and variety of applications while also securing a larger fraction of those applications with
exclusivity agreements––it diminishes the benefits of each strategy to the point that lowers platform performance. We also show that a differentiation strategy based on distinctive positioning improves a platform’s performance only when a platform system is highly distinctive relative to its rivals. Our results suggest that platform competition is shaped by important strategic tradeoffs, and that the WTA approach will not be universally successful.

Unravelling the complexity of collective mental models: A method for developing and analysing scenarios in multi-organisational contexts

by Chris Goodier

The futures of construction: a critical review of construction future studies

by Chris Goodier

A competitive future for UK construction?

by Chris Goodier

Causal mapping and scenario building with multiple organisations

by Chris Goodier

Synthesising emerging issues within key futures study reports in construction

by Chris Goodier

Future scenarios for the European construction industry

by Chris Goodier

Anticipating tomorrow: the future of the European construction industry

by Chris Goodier

Scenario planning for construction companies

by Chris Goodier

Briefing: challenging lock-in through urban energy systems

by Chris Goodier

Skills and training in the UK precast concrete manufacturing sector

by Chris Goodier

The future of UK housebuilding

by Chris Goodier

Enhancing strategic planning in the UK construction industry

by Chris Goodier

Leveraging dynamic capabilities: A contingent management control system approach

by Brian Gordon

Co-authored with Ian McCarthy.
Published in 2010.
In Wall, S., Zimmerman, C., Klingebiel, R., & Lange, D. (Eds.) Strategic Reconfigurations: Developing dynamic capabilities in rapid-innovation based industries pp. 13-33. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Dynamic capabilities help explain why some organizations survive overtime. However, they have been mostly viewed as... more Dynamic capabilities help explain why some organizations survive overtime. However, they have been mostly viewed as abstract phenomena with limited attention given to the mechanisms that managers might use to create and direct them. In this chapter, we present a model that explains how contingent management control systems leverage the organizational behaviors necessary for dynamic capabilities. We focus on how variations in environmental velocity affect the characteristics of the feedback that these systems receive. This in turn, influences control system emphasis and the paradoxical forces of exploitation and exploration that guide and direct the capability processes of coordination/integration, learning and reconfiguration.

A multidimensional conceptualization of environmental velocity

by Brian Gordon

Co-authored with Ian P. McCarthy, Thomas B. Lawrence, and Brian Wixted.
Published in 'Academy of Management Review', 2010

Environmental velocity has emerged as an important concept but remains theoreti- cally underdeveloped, particularly... more Environmental velocity has emerged as an important concept but remains theoreti- cally underdeveloped, particularly with respect to its multidimensionality. In re- sponse, we develop a framework that examines the variations in velocity across multiple dimensions of the environment (homology) and the causal linkages between those velocities (coupling). We then propose four velocity regimes based on different patterns of homology and coupling and argue that the conditions of each regime have important implications for organizations.