Abstract not found

This paper begins to answer the call to broaden current theories of individual decision-making by including in them the effects of human mood. Grounding our arguments in psychological literature on the effects of mood on information processing, motivation, and decision heuristics, we develop hypotheses about how mood can significantly affect individuals' use of structured decision protocols. In support of our hypotheses, results from an experimental study of complex decision-making suggest that, in situations where a structured decision protocol is the usual method of decision-making, individuals in moderately negative moods are significantly more likely than those in moderately positive moods to: (1) carefully execute all the steps of a structured decision protocol, (2) execute the steps of a structured decision protocol in the correct order, and (3) rely on the outcome of the structured decision protocol as the primary basis for the decision. We discuss these findings in terms of the...

Strategic decision makers are working in dynamic environments that are increasingly difficult to address using rational analysis. Specifically, the onslaught of great amounts of information that is increasingly sophisticated, conflicting, or even distracting for making plans about the future has led to the promotion of a more creative and action-based model of decision making. While technology has played a part in building this confusing information environment, it also offers tremendous advantages for boosting creative action-based decision making because of its unique capabilities at 1) randomizing and generating output; 2) iterating input "millions " of times;3) accessing "millions " of inputs instantly; and 4) recreating exact conditions in a simulated environment. This paper offers four propositions about how technology can uniquely improve creative action-based decision making. 1.

We extend the Western strategic management literature on environmental scanning to the entrepreneurial context by surveying business owners in two countries. Specifically, using the framework of Daft, Sormunen and Parks (1988), we test how perceived environmental uncertainty in seven environmental sectors and information accessibility influence scanning frequency of venture owners in the U.S. and India, two dissimilar entrepreneurial settings. Overall, entrepreneurs in India scan more frequently than do U.S. entrepreneurs, and the perceived rate of environmental change and accessibility of information are associated with their scanning. In the U.S., only perceived information accessibility prompts scanning. These results, which depart from inferences drawn from samples of managers in the Western literature, offer potential for extending scanning theory by cross-culturally broadening the theoretical nexus between organization theory, strategy and entrepreneurship in more fully understanding scanning behavior. Key Words: entrepreneurship, scanning, strategy 2 The literatures of organization theory and strategic management are replete with discussion of the influences of environmental complexity and volatility on organization decision-making, structure and

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

This paper is work in progress and I am thankful for any comments and suggestions regarding it. Errors and omissions might remain in the paper and the intention is not to implicate any of them to the many scholars that have moved the field forward. Please do not quote without prior permission from the author. This paper examines how managers create and develop strategy in practice. It reports findings of an in-depth investigation of managerial activities and associated learning dynamics in strategy creation, the generation and development of radically new strategies. Managerial and learning activities on different organizational levels, their influence on strategy development, and relationship to strategic change are examined. A dual longitudinal case methodology, including a single in-depth case study combined with a multiple retrospective case study is used, involving four multinational companies. The findings show a twofold character of strategy creation including an adaptive and a creative strategy motor of strategic change involving fundamentally different learning dynamics, reflecting their diverse location and social embeddedness. Adaptive learning dynamics were based on exploitation and refinement of prevailing industry and resource structures and involved a deductive reasoning or sensemaking as regards strategy, including knowledge assimilation activities such as formal intelligence and routine experiences. Creative learning dynamics evolved in the periphery of the organizations and were more remote from existing values and beliefs. They predominantly involved exploration and inductive sensemaking, including activities like informal noticing and creative experiments. The exploration/exploitation trade off interaction between the two strategy motors resulted in tension, which finally triggered strategic change.

“Hypercompetition ” has been theorized to make competitive advantage increasingly more difficult to sustain in a wide range of industries. Further, sustained competitive advantage is now held to be less a matter of a single advantage maintained over time and more a matter of concatenating over time a sequence of advantages. This research examines 6772 firms in 40 industries over 25 years to discover which industries, if any, exhibit performance that is consonant with hypercompetitive behavior.

IT spending has been recognised as representing a large percentage of the budget for organisations. Research has shown that significant value can be derived from IT investments if organisations actively and effectively manage their IT investments using a portfolio management approach. The goal of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of how IT portfolio management affects strategic IT investment decision making. First, an IT Portfolio Management Maturity Index is developed so that IS managers can readily assess the level of maturity of their organisation’s IT portfolio management. Second, a structural model is presented to examine the influence of IT portfolio management on decision rationality and organisational political behaviour. Next, we examine how these two outcomes of IT portfolio management impact firm performance. The proposed framework can be used as a benchmark for managers to understand how to allocate IT resources most effectively. It also serves as a foundation for further research in IT portfolio Management and other IT governance mechanisms.

Earlier studies in 1980s found no causal links between IT investments and productivity, since then a growing body of research has been investigating such links at a much finer-level of analysis. Yet the results have been inconclusive. We attribute the mixed findings to an incomplete causal chain analysis, specifically the exclusion of key constructs such as strategic alignment which would allow a better understanding of how organizations can leverage IT to positively influence firm performance. In this paper, we propose a framework that conceptualizes strategic alignment as the directional linkages between business and IT strategy, and examine how previously identified antecedent variables affect the linkages. And to complete the model, we also integrate two intermediate variables that link strategic alignment with firm performance. The framework provides insights into guiding further empirical research. For practitioners, they can use the present framework to walk through their investment decisions and understand the required resources and conditions to realize the potential values of their IT investments.