Contributions published at Organization and Management (David Seidl)

null

null

Recently there has been an intense debate amongst scholars on how to increase the practical relevance of research. Although the notion of ‘relevance’ is frequently mentioned in the literature, it is hardly ever defined and may have different, even contradictory, meanings in different contexts. This article presents a taxonomy of different forms of relevance, based on a textual analysis of the ‘relevance literature’ and of a set of 450 articles in three leading academic management journals that are renowned for their practical relevance. The main categories of this taxonomy are then discussed against the background of different aspects of the social dynamics of science in order to ascertain the forms of relevance that can justifiably be expected from management science.

The present paper takes a look at the particularities of German strategy research over the last three decades. In contrast to much of the Anglo-Saxon research, which has focused on competition as a guiding concept in theorizing about strategy, German research has typically been concerned with more fundamental questions about the general relationship between organizations and their environments and, as a result, tended to be more conceptual than empirical. Researchers have been particularly influenced by the German sociological and philosophical traditions, specifically by the critical theory of Jürgen Habermas and by the systems theory of Niklas Luhmann. Also, there are authors who draw on the economic tradition of the Austrian School in order to develop a competence-based theory of the firm. Another branch builds on Anthony Giddens's structuration theory and Jacques Derrida's philosophy of deconstruction. As we will demonstrate, much of the research has been concerned with fundamental theoretical tensions: evolution vs. planning, selection vs. compensation, cognitive–instrumental rationality vs. moral–practical rationality, etc. We note that, as a consequence, much of German strategy research shows a particular interest in paradoxa and oxymora (such as ‘planned evolution’, ‘productive misunderstandings’ or ‘unfocused monitoring’). This paper will identify and explore important strands of German strategy research and discuss its particularities compared to mainstream strategy research in the United States.

El artículo propone un examen de diferentes proyectos de reforma de los sistemas de salud de Canadá y de algunas provincias canadienses. Indica ciertas tendencias en la renovación de la gobernanza. El análisis se apoya sobre la hipótesis de que una reforma es per se un ejercicio de renovación de la concepción y de las prácticas de gobernanza. Al buscar renovar la gobernanza, los reformadores esperan encontrar instrumentos suficientes y eficaces para alcanzar los objetivos anunciados en sus reformas. El artículo muestra que la concepción y las modalidades operativas de la gobernanza se transforma a través del tiempo y que ellas muestran ciertas tensiones inherentes al proceso de transformación y legitimación del sistema público de salud. La primera parte discute las relaciones entre reforma y cambio. La segunda describe la noción de gobernanza implícita en el análisis. La tercera parte traza la evolución de la concepción de gobernanza, mediante el análisis de contenido de diferentes informes para propuestas de reformas Se analizan las ideologías y los principios organizadores del núcleo de los proyectos reformistas, para dar cuenta de las nuevas tendencia en materia de gobernanza reveladas por las reformas. Se identifican cinco ideologías: la ideología democrática, la ideología de la "salud poblacional", la ideología privatizadora o de negocios, la ideología gerencial y la ideología de la equidad y del humanismo. Ello permite una discusión sobre el alcance de la perspectiva gerencial de la gobernanza que parece dominar los actuales proyectos de reforma.

The Cambridge Handbook of Strategy as Practice provides the first comprehensive overview of an emerging and growing stream of research in strategic management. An international team of scholars has been assembled to produce a systematic introduction to the various epistemological, methodological and theoretical aspects of the strategy-as-practice approach. This perspective explores and explains the contribution that strategizing makes to daily operations at all levels of an organization. Moving away from a disembodied and asocial study of firm assets, technologies and practices, the strategy-as-practice approach breaks down many of the traditional paradigmatic boundaries in strategy to investigate who the strategists are, what strategists do, how they do it, and what the consequences or outcomes of their actions are. Including a number of detailed empirical studies, the handbook will be an essential guide for future research in this vibrant field

Unternehmenskäufe sind in der Wirtschaftswelt an der Tagesordnung. Dennoch erfüllen sie oft nicht die in sie gesetzten Erwartungen. Im Mittelpunkt dieser Dissertation stehen zwei gegensätzliche Perspektiven, die zur Analyse des Akquisitionserfolgs bzw. -misserfolgs dienen: Einerseits könnte es sein, dass das Management der akquirierenden Unternehmen mögliche Synergien im Blick hat. Andererseits besteht die Gefahr, dass das Management die eigenen Fähigkeiten überschätzt, Synergien realisieren zu können. In diesem Fall wird von einer Hybris des Managements gesprochen. Die Analyse der Hybris am Beispiel von Akquisitionen bildet den Kern dieser Arbeit.

null