this paper are adapted from Hofstede (1994). ing about successful new products in organizations with centralized authority (Parry and Song 1993). One way top management contributes to new product suc- cess is to facilitate communication and coordination among functional areas and to resolve NPD inter func- tional conflicts. Because authoritarian behavior by su- periors and passive obedience by subordinates are expected in cultures with high power distance, the cost of implementing top-down decisions may be relatively low. Therefore, we expect the hierarchical method of conflict resolution to be more productive in cultures with higher power distance scores than in cultures with lower power distance scores. Third, a high score on uncertainty avoidance implies that people are reluctant to take risks and that they work better in a more structured and formalized environ- ment. Since the hierarchical method uses authority to resolve interfunctional conflicts, it leads to a less risky and more structured decision-making process than the competition method. Thus, we expect that the hierar- chical method of conflict resolution will be more effec- tive in cultures with higher levels of uncertainty avoidance, and that competition will be more effective in cultures with lower levels of uncertainty avoidance. Fourth, cultures with a long-term orientation place a high value on the future. Managers with a long-term orientation may prefer decisions that preserve relationships for the future at the cost of an inferior short-term decision. As we have observed, competition--with its emphasis on imposing one's own view by force without considering the interests of others--and accommodation --a willingness to give up one's own interests to satisfy the wishes of others--often lead to one-si...

The cognitive diversity of top management teams has been shown to affect the performance of a firm. However, most approaches to measure cognitive diversity never attempt to open the "black box" to understand what makes up the cognitive diversity of the team. This research reports on an approach that identifies diverse belief structures, i.e., cognitive subgroups, through the use of causal mapping and cluster analysis. The procedures of the approach are automated using group support systems technology resulting a Group Cognitive Mapping System (GCMS). The results from a study of 13 top managers on a strategic planning team for an information services firm show that the use of causal mapping provides an efficient and effective way to identify idiosyncratic and shared knowledge among members of a top management team.

Export performance as an antecedent of export commitment and

This paper offers a refined conceptualization of consensus formation and demonstrates in three organizations how this conceptualization enables us to uncover new patterns of consensus building. It describes a longitudinal study which investigated consensus formation in three organizations undergoing major strategic change. The study explored whether consensus building occurred during the strategic change, and if so, how. Initial participants of consensus were also investigated as well as changes in the scope of participants in consensus. Consensus building did occur, but contrary to some views, less through an increase in the strength of consensus and more through an increase in the scope of consensus. Additionally, initial consensus was not located among members of the top management team, but more within an interest group whose members benefited from the given direction of the change.

“Rich and poor countries alike look to export subsidies to enhance their presence on world markets. But they may be doing more harm than good.” “Going too far in support of trade”, The Economist, Dec 16, 2000, pp: 88 The increasing amount of export assistance provided to firms of rich and poor countries, shows the high priority given by national and international policy makers to the encouragement of international trade. Despite this, relatively few international business researchers have discussed the effectiveness of such export assistance. This paper provides an empirical foundation for simultaneously analyzing the effects of export assistance, together with management international experience/expertise and competition in the industry/commerce, on the decision to adapt or standardize the domestic pricing strategy to the main foreign market and ultimately improve a firm’s annual export performance. Surprisingly, the findings reveal that the total effects of export assistance on export performance are nonsignificant because exporters use the support they receive to develop inaccurate pricing strategies (i.e. although support has a direct positive impact on performance, there is a negative indirect impact of support on performance through pricing strategy). These and other surprising results have important implications for both public policy and marketing management decision-making, and suggest several potentially fruitful streams of research.

Over the last three decades a significant volume of academic interest has been evident in the market orientation construct. The proposition established from much of this research is that where a significant degree of market orientation is displayed by a firm, then an improved payoff in business performance terms, other things being equal, is likely to accrue. However, it is further affirmed that the implementation of market oriented processes and practices is but the first step toward developing the norms and mechanisms for sustainable levels of improved business performance. Evidently the principles of market orientation require complementary internally and externally derived activities that support the firm's ability to learn from its environment; to enable ‘higher-order ’ learning to occur. In this regard, it is only recently that substantive discussion of organizational learning within a marketing context has taken place, as either an independent or combined imparter of enhanced business performance. This paper reviews the extant literature surrounding both market and learning orientations and conceptualizes their inter-relationship as market-based organizational learning. This derived construct and its power of discrimination between groups of high and low business performance firms are empirically tested using data generated from a survey of UK-based financial services providers. A number of significant findings are reported from these data and the results indicate that six key dimensions of market-based organizational learning discriminate between groups of high and low business performance firms. From these results, several fertile avenues for future research are revealed along with a number of valuable executive implications. Address for Correspondence:

An important fundamental determinant of a firm’s profitability and growth is what Porter describes as ‘industry attractiveness or structure’. A review of the empirical studies on inter-industry performance differentials reveals that most of the work in this area has been undertaken in industrially advanced and big countries, notably in the US. This paper empirically examines this issue on which little work has been done in New Zealand. Apart from industry effects, impact of various other firm specific variables on the financial performance has been studied. The results are based on the analysis of 74 listed companies spread over four broad industry groups. Company performance, the dependent variable in the analysis, is represented by two composite measures – derived by factor analysis reflecting the growth and profitability dimensions of performance. Our results indicate that both industry effects and firm characteristics play significant roles in influencing profitability but not on growth. The paper discusses the implications of these results for strategic managers.

The consequences of conflict between the venture capitalist and the entrepreneurial team in the United Kingdom from the perspective of the venture capitalist

The role of organizational reputation (OR) was studied as a source of sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) and superior performance, theoretically and empirically, among local authorities in Israel. Using the LISREL VIII program, we proposed a mediation model that argued for a relationship between OR and financial performance, mediated by three tests for SCA: OR-value, OR-rareness and OR-inimitability. The effects of demographic and environmental variables on financial performance were also examined. Strong support was found for the resource-based view (RBV), maintaining that to achieve superior performance, organizations need to acquire SCA, which is dependent upon the core resources it possesses.

support of the Warwick Business School (UK) in conducting the survey and the helpful comments of Albert Menkveld and Carmen Lages. The collaboration of over 600 Portuguese managers and the help of many researchers who kindly provided copies of the questionnaires used in their own research were also invaluable to the completion of this project.