Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy (E-Journal)
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Exploring the Economic Impact of Private Equity in Emerging Industries – An Analysis of the Dutch Life Sciences Sector
Get PDFThe aim of this paper is to discuss the competitive effects of the private equity industry in emerging industries, with a focus on the Dutch Life Sciences cluster located in West Holland, a Dutch region. As this analysis shows, the circumstances which favored the early success of this industry include factors such as education, infrastructure, governmental support, the existence of key industrial players, as well as the investment strategies of private actors. What this paper underline is the significant influence of private equity investments for the financial support of innovative products, on one side, and the growing opportunities through, on the other side. The paper is structured in two parts. The first reviews the literature regarding the evolution of emerging industries and the impact of geographic locations on their attractiveness to private investors. The second part highlights the way in which an emerging industry (i.e. life sciences industry in West Holland region) has upgraded its competitive advantage under the influence of private capital.
Game Theory in Strategic Management-Dynamic Games. Theoretical and Practical Examples
Get PDFGame Theory provides an analysis tool for describing the decision-making process of one or more players, their behavior when there are plenty of possible outcomes. Strategic behavior is a generic term that designates all concerted and consistent actions promoted by an enterprise in order to influence the competitive environment or at least to adapt to its evolution. This paper aims at exploring the real potential of strategic management based on dynamic game theory decisions and illustrates that the usefulness and power of game theory applied in strategic management lie in its ability to provide insights on competitive climate and strategies. In this paper, we will investigate some potential contributions of game theory to strategic management, especially with regard to applications in individual industries. The examples presented in the second part of the paper are based on strategic management decisions that involve dominant strategies
Emotional Intelligence and Occupational Stress in Romanian Organizations
Get PDFThe research aims to analyze the relationship between emotional intelligence and occupational stress in the Romanian banking sector. Therefore, a case study strategy is developed and a quantitative approach is employed. Data are collected from a subsidiary of one of the most profitable banks from Romania and are processed using structural equation modelling – partial least square (SEM-PLS). The results prove that all four dimensions of emotional intelligence have a positive impact on reducing the stress experienced by employees. In other words, those who have a high level of emotional intelligence are less stressed at the workplace; due to the fact that they manage to understand and control their own emotions and the emotions of others, they (i) are more goal-oriented, (ii) focus on what they are doing, and (iii) use their emotions in a constructive way. These findings have both theoretical and practical implications. At the theoretical level, it extends the literature regarding the nexus between emotional intelligence and occupational stress by providing valuable insights from a Romanian banking institution. Furthermore, it helps the policy-makers understand why their employees perceive differently the occupational stress. Besides, it sheds light on how important it is for the managers to develop their ability to recognize their own emotions and using them appropriately in the decision-making processes.
Consumer Life and User Generated Content in the Age of Social Media
Get PDFThe rise of social media and the emergence of globalization has changed the relationship between brands and consumers. The aim of this paper is to discuss how is this relationship affected by user generated content (UGC) and user generated brands (UGB). Consumers tend to look for products and brands in order to construct and sustain their social self. In this regard, the brand can define a person with respect to others. The brand constitutes a vital entity in the consumer’s mind, acting as an enlivened partner in a relationship, and contributing to the initiation, maintenance, and destruction of the consumer-brand bond. In this context, the paper insists on the idea of brand personality, as developed by Jennifer Aaker (1997), connecting it to consumer culture studies. The research is based on a set of semi-structured interviews with 10 advertising creatives working at some of the most important Romanian advertising agencies. The investigation instrument used was the computer-assisted interview (CASI). The results point in the direction of a constructed brand personality, promoting an active and involved consumer. Advertisers have the power to define brands personality, inviting users to create content as well. The meaning of the brand is linked with the culture in which a particular sign is decoded. Advertisers give people hints of who is the brand, what is its core activity, its cultural references, set of values or personality traits. Brands have a personality and by communicating it, the character is build up gradually. In fact, brands tend to build a reflection or an image of the consumer which it seems to be addressed through the advertising messages
Project Management Evolution to Improve Success in Infrastructure Projects
Get PDFThis document provides an overview of the infrastructure megaproject industry (IMPI), the financial implications of cost and schedule overruns, and the trend towards the future impacts these may have on the global infrastructure sphere. Definitions of project management and procurement delivery models provide a framework for understanding the relevance of the subject matter. A sample of methodologies and best practices for project management indicate the breadth of diverse approaches available in the industries. A cause analysis of megaproject overruns with accompanying solutions suggests areas of industry improvement, supported by the first-hand experience by the author. The paper concludes that the IMPI and the associate methodologies must evolve to meet the demands of future infrastructure to be able to deliver the projects successfully and with the positive impact on the outcome. This evolution will be through improving and expanding knowledge, experience and intellectual capital of public and private industry Project Managers while determining some next steps to progress the industry.
Dynamic Externalities, Universities and Social Capital Formation in the EU Biotechnology Industry
Get PDFThe paper investigates the role of dynamic externalities, university-industry linkages and role of social networking in the biotechnology industry in the European Union (EU). Universities act as platforms for local knowledge spillovers and university-industry cluster development in the biotechnology field. The R&D activities at universities contribute to successful business innovations. However, the relationship between the universities and the local innovation capabilities is much more complex and therefore requires more in-depth analysis. The following study derives from the knowledge of the new economic geography, endogenous growth theory, biotechnology, as well as theories of social capital and social networks. The quantitative research elaborates contemporary literature and databases to find channels of interdependence between local university-based knowledge flows, social capital, and biotechnology cluster performance. The results of the study show that the biotechnology industry relies very much on university-business R&D partnerships and research mobility (e.g. pharmaceutical firms that performed basic research in close cooperation with academia produced more patents). In addition, social networking and informal contacts seem to be a more important for the diffusion of knowledge, especially at the beginning of R&D process, as they allow for building credibility between potential partners
Some Factors Hindering Acceptance of Three Gamification Solutions in Motivation Systems, in Small and Medium Enterprises
Get PDFGamification, understood as a use of chosen game mechanisms for motivating actors in non-game contexts, is increasingly popular and has become one of the “hot topics” of managerial practice and science. Despite its widespread use in HRM, several barriers preventing its progress in certain types of organizations have been identified. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), where employees are not accustomed to formal procedures are a specific example, as gamification is based on formal procedures. The goal of the text is to analyze employees’ opinions concerning the incorporation of chosen gaming mechanisms into their motivation systems, to check if not being accustomed to formal procedures is a barrier. Beside “typical” SMEs where the entrepreneur is present, direct relations within a team are also characteristic of company departments which achieve their goals almost without contact with the rest of the organization – as in the case of a discount stores chain. The study bases on two samples to check if being accustomed to formal procedures in the small team facilitates acceptance of gamification. Two questionnaires (one on a sample of 100 employees of a discount store chain, and the second on 73 “typical” SME employees) asked respondents to declare their preferences for different types of rewards in motivation systems, including readiness to be involved in two gamification-type solutions: based on (i) lotteries, or (ii) BLAP gaming with non-material and material prizes. The effects of chosen factors: psychological (risk aversion) and situational (dissatisfaction with current incentive system) on the perception of two different ways of incorporating gamification into motivational systems, were analyzed. The results show that dissatisfaction with the current incentive system and not being risk-averse favor accepting the incorporation of gamification solutions into motivational systems. The responses of discount store employees and SME employees were similar to each other.
Rethinking Public Organizations as Knowledge-Oriented and Technology-Driven Organizations
Get PDFPublic organizations should rediscover the role of knowledge as a source for designing and implementing internal processes and adopt a knowledge management approach by using and managing technology as means and enabler for building a citizen-centered public management, sustaining democratic and civic values by promoting openness and fostering participation in order to encourage collaboration with citizens for co-producing public services and co-creating public value. Information and communication technologies are driving public organizations as responsive institutions in front of the citizens to proceed towards sustainability as a principle of governance for promoting the public interest and sustaining active citizenship, enhancing both collaboration and interaction between citizens and public administration. Introducing and actively implementing technology in government helps rethink public organizations as knowledge oriented and information based organizations seeking sustainability by involving citizens, businesses and other stakeholders for public value creation, enabling access to information, sustaining openness, transparency and accountability in order to engage citizens and encourage them to be included and actively participate in democratic public life, involving citizens to assume the responsibility for co-production of public services and fostering citizen participation in public policy choices. Technology opens up new opportunities for public organizations seeking sustainability by rediscovering knowledge as source and strategic asset following a knowledge management approach for designing and implementing democratic and administrative processes, redesigning the relationship with citizens, building public trust, encouraging citizen participation and sustaining co-production of public services
Institutional Co-Creation Interfaces for Innovation Diffusion during Disaster Management
Get PDFThis paper discusses the concept of Resilient and Green Supply Chain Management (RGSCM) implementation in South Eastern Europe (SEE) from the point of view of understanding the structure of the inter-organizational (institutional) interfaces involved in this process as well as how are these interfaces evolving and transforming over time. As social and environmental concerns are growing in importance through normative and coercive directions, all the regional actors (triple/quadruple/quintuple helix) that supply chains interact with need to bridge their inter-organizational interfaces to properly ensure co-creation at the entire stakeholder level towards increasing the chances of a homogenous implementation of RGSCM. In this context, this paper adopts a three-stage mixed methodology of interviews, survey, focus groups, modelling and simulation case studies. The results show that the key pillars of inter-organizational interface integration and evolution reside in the proper identification of the key goals (performance indicators) of the involved institutions, which will maintain market-optimized competition levels. Then, institutions will steadily adhere to the market trends as explained by the ST and INT and in the process of adopting the RGSCM eco-innovation (DIT), the new entrant institutions will transform their inter-organizational interface to properly bridge with the core market stakeholder group. Finally, the key driver of interface alteration resides in the ability of disruptive (eco) innovators to set new standards. This research has core academic implications by extending the INT, DIT and ST under the context of RGSCM, policy implications in terms of proper policy making to support the required co-creation as well as practical implications by helping organizations to manage their inter-organizational interfaces.
Municipal Bonds in Developing Countries. Case Study: Municipality of Stip, Republic of Macedonia
Get PDFThe developing countries, especially in the Balkans, barely use the municipal bonds as an alternative way of financing their activities. This paper is part of the project “The municipal bonds as an alternative source of financing municipals activities and the effective management of funds, with a special emphasis to the Municipality of Stip, R. Macedonia”. The paper has an important impact, according to both academic and practical perspective. It combines the experts’ academic analysis with the municipals potential in order to facilitate a successful municipal bond emission that would support the local economic growth. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ability and willingness of the Municipality of Stip to issue municipal bonds. The main hypothesis states that the Municipality of Stip is able to issue a municipal bond as an alternative way of financing its investment activities. The research includes the classical SWOT analysis regarding the Municipality of Stip and continues with a statistical analysis based on correlation and regression relationships within the accounts of the Municipality’s annual reports. The methodological framework is based on quantitative research methods (correlations and regression methods) which result in acceptance of the main hypothesis in the paper - the municipal bonds as an alternative source for funding municipal’s activities are justified, especially if the funds are associated with a specific revenue-generating project. The findings would serve as a basis for the municipal bonds prospect, which would be the ultimate goal of combining the academic knowledge with the practical potential of the Municipality of Stip. The conclusions reveal that this would be the first municipal bond emission in the Republic of Macedonia. However, this fact can serve as an advantage in the market in terms of introducing financial instrument innovation. This paper suggests that the usage of municipal bonds is far away from a risky activity, especially if the funds are invested in revenue-generating projects. Municipal bonds can be a less expensive source of funds for the municipal’s projects, rather than different forms of domestic or foreign borrowings. In this way, municipalities can use this financial instrument to initiate and support local economic growt