Most R&D projects are confronted with high levels of uncertainty. The management of these projects requires a different approach than the traditional network techniques would prescribe. The project management literature recognises this and offers a series of methods to master uncertainty, in order to extend the domain of application of...
This paper applies insights from Edith Penrose's work to extant theory of the MultiNational Enterprise MNE as enveloped by John Dunning's Ownership, Location, Internalization OLI Paradigm. The authors suggest that Penrose's knowledge-based approach has important implications on the nature of, and the interactions between, O, L and I. Importantly, the...
Starting and growing businesses has been the subject of much research and investigation over many years. A critical view of this research is that they tend to be one off studies, sometimes using inappropriate samples; they are rarely longitudinal in scope or scale. Meanwhile, there is an endless stream of...
This paper explains the moderating roles that corporate reputation and business strategy have on the impact that a firm's branding strategy has on its financial performance. Drawing on the brand management, strategic management, and corporate reputation literatures, we investigate whether brand strategy has an impact on a firm's financial performance,...
While the concept of Supply Chain Responsiveness SCR has received considerable attention in the operations management literature, mostly under the auspices of concepts such as build-to-order, mass customisation, lean and agility, so far we lack a comprehensive definition of SCR, as well as a defined relationship between 'Responsiveness' and 'Flexibility'....
There is a growing concern over continuous reliance of our economic and energy systems on conventional electricity sources and their long-term environmental, climate change, and security of supply implications. At the same time, much hope and belief is vested in the ability of future technological progress to tackle these issues....
This paper argues that the gains from ICT Information and Computer Technology at the individual business level depend upon the implementation of a range of complementary 'Investments' and organisational changes appropriate to the competitive and institutional context of particular sectors. To support the proposition a brief overview of a emerging...
The globalisation phenomenon has induced a considerable shift in manufacturing and supply chain strategies across many industry sectors. In a quest for cost efficiency, manufacturers and service operators alike are considering the relocation of their operations to, and the sourcing of components from, low-labour cost countries. While the underlying trend...
Quality of service is of major economic significance in natural monopoly infrastructure industries and is increasingly addressed in regulatory schemes. However, this important aspect is generally not reflected in efficiency analysis of these industries. In this paper we present an efficiency analysis of electricity distribution networks using a sample of...
This paper explores the impact of management characteristics and patterns of collaboration on a firm's innovation performance in transforming innovation resources into commercially successful outputs. Both Data Envelopment Analysis DEA and Stochastic Frontier Analysis SFA are employed to benchmark a firm's innovative efficiency against best practice. Quality and the variety...
This paper explores the impact of management characteristics and patterns of collaboration on a firm's innovation performance in transforming innovation resources into commercially successful outputs. These questions are investigated using a firm level survey database for 465 innovative British Small and Medium Enterprises SMEs over the years 1998-2001. Both Data...
Universities are confronted with new demands for change. In short, this transition can be described as a transition from a European state-financed Humboltian tradition emphasising free research and self-government - to a postmodern tradition introducing strategic management, marketisation, performance measurement and privatisation to both research and teaching. In these transition...
This paper focuses on the role of production operations within firms and regions. It is found that whilst there is increasing pressure for firms to offshore and outsource their activities, there is only a poor understanding of the longer-term implications of these movements in theory and practice. Definitions and conceptualisations...
We propose a novel and plausibly realistic application scenario for mobile ad hoc networks in the form of a radio dispatch system. We evaluate the system from both financial and technical perspectives to gain a complete picture of its feasibility. Using a realistic mobility and propagation model drawn from real...
This paper provides the first large-scale study measuring the bias in favour of going concerns induced by court-administered bankruptcy procedures. Although it is found that the large majority of bankrupt firms in the authors sample of Hungarian firms are kept as going concerns, the evidence suggests that the going concern...
This paper focuses on the role of production operations within firms and regions. It is found that whilst there is increasing pressure for firms to offshore and outsource their activities, there is only a poor understanding of the longer-term implications of these movements in theory and practice. Definitions and conceptualisations...
Outsourcing of manufacturing and distribution operations has a longstanding history as a means of minimizing operational risk in a dynamic marketplace is a well-established strategy. In particular in fast-clockspeed industries such as electronics, we have observed how responsibility for manufacturing and distribution operations has increasingly been handed to third parties,...
The key analytical and policy question examined in this paper is whether multinational companies and their overseas investment need to be regulated at the national or the international level, in order to address market failures, and to enhance their potential contribution to world welfare. This paper examines two kinds of...
This paper is concerned with changing processes of knowing in contemporary organizations, supported in part by Information and Communication Technologies ICTs. A new conceptual framework is developed, drawing and synthesising from previous work in the knowing-in-practice literature. This conceptual approach is illustrated through a longitudinal, interpretive case study of a...
Economists know how to calculate optimal prices for electricity transmission. These are rarely applied in practice. This paper develops a thirteen node model of the transmission system in England and Wales, incorporating losses and transmission constraints. It is solved with optimal prices, and with uniform prices for demand and for...
