Cultural Influences On The Process Of Strategic Management

This unique book is positioned at the crossroads of strategic management and international business. Based on an in-depth literature review, the author empirically assesses the widely shared, implicit assumption that strategic management processes can be globally applied in a standardized, i.e., culture-free, manner. So far, a variety of tools have also been recommended but without incorporating cultural differences. As many organizations observe that this ethnocentric view is more an illusion than reality, strategic management research has started to focus on the cultural sensitivity of its theories, tools, and processes to provide practitioners in a multicultural setting with adequate know-how and tools. To foster long-term decision-making despite uncertainty, scenario planning is frequently applied by practitioners. Up until today, scenario planning has however gained little attention from the academic community. Through this book, the author presents a newly developed framework for strategic management that combines the cultural value scale to test the cultural sensitivity of the long-term planning tool called “scenario planning.” The different process steps of scenario planning have been individually examined for their sensitivity toward the cultural dimensions of uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation. The investigation is based on a unique, global set of management consultants working for a leading professional service firm. The results of this research show the cultural sensitivity of scenario planning, with different degrees of the process steps and the tested cultural dimensions.

Going beyond the traditional application of strategic planning, this book also addresses issues for the nonprofit sector and global aspects of strategic planning.

This book challenges the universal applicability of strategic management concepts. It argues that it is necessary to pay attention to contextual facets of the environment, in particular to societal culture. It also depicts the current planning situation in the banking industry. The culture-boundness of strategy formulation and implementation is challenged and advocated trough discussing planning systems, processes, and heuristics, and contextual influences both an a theoretical basis and with empirical research. The book is based an my doctoral dissertation, which was completed at the Marketing and Banking Departments of the Vienna University of Economics under the auspices of Fritz Scheuch and Gustav Raab. Their teaching, constructive criticism, and encouragement provided the intellectual stimulation for bringing this dissertation to completion. This applies equally to several professors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Harry Triandis and Anant Negandhi introduced me to cross-cultural research and inter national management. Howard Themas, Marjorie Lyles, and Irene Duhaime helped me to crystallize thoughts. Hanns-Martin Schönfeld, Seymour Sudman and Gerald Salancik challenged my thoughts about organizational behavior and methodology. Richard Watson, Univer sity of Georgia, and Louis Flores of Northern Illinois University were very helpful in providing address material for Australia and Latin America, as well as through assistance with translations. Norihiro Suzuki of Int'l Christian University, Tokyo, and Hiro Matsusaki of Tokyo University helped with Japanese translations.

The strategy team have technology ideas and frameworks that represent the best body of knowledge for creating real business value from technology, but only other teams not the strategy team can create the value, by broadly completing the strategy team s ideas. The delivery teams often ignore the ideas. Sometimes real conflict emerges. It feels like the other teams think differently in a deeply rooted way. Could differences in organisational culture be to blame? This dissertation examines the organisational culture perceived within BP's energy trading technology team known as Integrated Supply and Trading Digital Business (ISTDB). The focus is on the Strategy and Architecture team (S&A) who are responsible for assuring the long-term viability of technology delivered to the business by setting and enforcing technology standards with the technology delivery teams (Regional Businesses or RBs). S&A relies on influence and persuasion to build compliance with the standards as it does not have line management responsibility for the other teams. This research concludes the perception of organisational culture is different between S&A and the RBs, and that it is a cause of conflict. The research also identifies that perceived organisational culture in ISTDB technology team as a whole is non-cohesive and not well aligned with the BP business strategy.This is a suboptimal arrangement for value creation. The author recommends both short-term and long-term shifts in working practices to correct this imbalance. The changes include a new emphasis on communications, new personnel hiring procedures and cross-cultural awareness training.

This indispensable guide for the creative manager takes readers on a powerful, comprehensive, and illuminating tour through the fields of strategic management. The result is a brilliant, penetrating primer on business strategy that is, at the same time, immensely readable and fun.

This book looks at the unique characteristics of cultural organizations and shows readers how to tailor a strategic plan to help these organizations meet their objectives. Including examples, cases, questions and suggestions for further reading, this book is designed to accompany classes on strategic planning, cultural management or arts management.

Strategic Management has a unique approach goes beyond the traditional application for the for profit sector to address issues for the non-profit sector. It is the only graduate-level text that approaches strategic management from a global cultural perspective.

For businesses to remain competitive, managers must continuously update their leadership methods. By attempting to learn from foreign experiences and approaches, managers can gain significant value in cross-cultural comparisons in the business realm. Examining Cultural Influences on Leadership Styles and Learning From Chinese Approaches to Management: Emerging Research and Opportunities is an informative scholarly reference source that examines the cultural aspects of management styles and techniques. Highlighting relevant topics such as leadership development, value systems, validity tests, and organizational communication, this publication will benefit all academicians, professionals, practitioners, managers, and business owners that are interested in discovering a more inclusive way to hone their leadership skillsets.

Taking a truly international approach, Strategic Management offers you comprehensive coverage of all the core areas of business strategy in a reader-friendly way. Thoroughly updated and with the addition of four brand-new authors, the tenth edition features: • Balanced treatment of prescriptive and emergent models of strategic management. • Application of strategic theory to key areas such as technology and innovation, sustainability, entrepreneurial and public sector strategy. • Cutting-edge content on navigating change in the strategic environment, digital transformation strategies and the role of strategic groups. • 15 brand new case studies showcasing real-life examples from recognisable brands such as Coca-Cola, Airbnb, Apple, Tesla, Toyota, Alibaba, Samsung, Starbucks and UK banks, plus updated case material throughout. • A range of practical tools to support your learning, including summaries of key strategic principles, strategic project ideas, critical reflections, questions and further reading. Suitable for both undergraduate and postgraduate study. Professor Richard Lynch is Emeritus Professor of Strategic Management at Middlesex University, London. Dr Oliver Barish is Lecturer in Management at Birkbeck Business School, Birkbeck, University of London. Dr Vinh Sum Chau is Senior Lecturer in Strategy at Kent Business School, University of Kent. Dr Charles Thornton is Lecturer in Service Operations Management and Business Strategy at Plymouth Business School, University of Plymouth. Dr Karl Warner is Lecturer in Strategy at Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow.

Today, there are a growing number of business schools, law schools, and continuing education programs in executive development and management training that offer leadership classes. Despite the growing curricular recognition of this area, there is a shortage of strong college-level texts. Leadership, second edition—a completely up-to-date anthology of key writings by well-known contributors—meets this need for a textbook that encompasses the major theories in the field of leadership. Leadership is divided into six sections. Part I provides an overview of the subject with readings that examine what leaders actually do, as well as the many myths surrounding the notion of leadership. Part II focuses on the fundamentals of leadership by taking a close look at the specific tactics people use to get their own way. These readings analyze the political games people play and the two-way nature of leader-subordinate influence. Part III considers problems that can arise from leadership gone wrong—when power and influence are abused. The major formal models of leadership that have been offered over the years are reviewed in Part IV. The next section looks at contemporary views of leadership, emphasizing reliance on maturity of subordinates for success, including leadership in the context of self-directed work teams, entrepreneurial leadership, the notion of the leader as servant, and examples of leaders who are recognized for having empowered others or for providing moral leadership. The final section examines the roles of societal and organizational cultures as they pertain to leadership. Robert P. Vecchio has updated the second edition with six new articles. Aimed at upper-level undergraduate and graduate-level courses, Leadership continues to provide classic essays by the major figures in the field of leadership along with topical essays on current and emerging issues.