Browsing Research Output by Title
Now showing items 2325-2344 of 6674
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Extensions of earned value management: Using the earned incentive metric to improve signal qualityThis research introduces novel control metrics for projects that use cost and/or time incentives. The proposed technique extends the traditional earned value management (EV M) methodology for project control. This is done by measuring the deviation in the accrual of incentives, rather than the time and cost performance relative to the planned schedule. The proposed dedicated approach avoids two key issues when controlling incentivized projects using traditional earned value management. Firstly, the impact of variations in the cost and time dimensions are adequately weighted in the control signals. Secondly, the technique is capable of monitoring the potential non-linear accrual of incentive amounts throughout the project. The performance of the proposed technique is tested by means of a computational experiment on 4200 projects of varying size, structure and type of incentive contract. The results show that the proposed technique improves signal quality when compared to traditional EV M metrics.
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Facets and dimensions of organizational identificationIn the area of business processes, modeling is usually a collaborative activity. In it, stakeholders analyze or design business processes, however, one of the challenges is that the group members typically have diverse backgrounds and conflicting interests, which make it difficult to arrive at a model that represents a consensus. Therefore, it is important to study the way in which modeling teams are organized to overcome these problems. To approach this issue, this paper investigates the modeling behavior of such groups with the help of a tool that supports collaborative modeling while allowing for the effective collection of data on modeling activities. This author identifies the roles that the participants play in that process and derive patterns of team organization. Structured observation yields a detailed process model concerning basic modeling activities.
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Facilitating consumer choice through goal-based labelsThere has been little research on how market disruptions affect customer–brand relationships and how firms can sustain brand loyalty when disruptions occur. Drawing from social identity theory and the brand loyalty literature, the authors propose a conceptual framework to examine these issues in a specific market disruption, namely, the introduction of a radically new brand. The framework focuses on the time-varying effects of customers' identification with and perceived value of the incumbent relative to the new brand on switching behavior. The authors divert from the conventional economic perspective of treating brand switching as functional utility maximization to propose that brand switching can also result from customers' social mobility between brand identities. The results from longitudinal data of 679 customers during the launch of the iPhone in Spain show that both relative customer–brand identification and relative perceived value of the incumbent inhibit switching behavior, but their effects vary over time. Relative customer–brand identification with the incumbent apparently exerts a stronger longitudinal restraint on switching behavior than relative perceived value of the incumbent. The study has important strategic implications for devising customer relationship strategies and brand investment
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Failure processes and causes of company bankruptcy: a typologyThis paper describes a typology of failure processes within companies. Based on case studies and considering companies' ages and management characteristics, we discovered four types of failure processes. The first failure process describes the deterioration of unsuccessful start-up companies leaded by a management with a serious deficiency in managerial and industry- related experience. The second process reveals the failure process of ambitious growth companies. Those companies have, after a failed investment, insufficient financial means to adjust their way of doing business to the changes in the environment in order to prevent bankruptcy. Third, we describe the failure process of dazzled growth companies, leaded by an overconfident management without a realistic view on the company's financial situation. Lastly, the failure process of apathetic established companies, describes the gradual deterioration of established companies where management had lost touch with the changing environment. We also found that there is a great difference in the presence and importance of specific causes of bankruptcy between the distinctive failure processes . Errors made by management, errors in corporate policy and changes in the general and immediate environments differ considerably between each of the four failure processes.
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Fair process perspectives on strategy creationIn this dissertation, more efficient and effective methodologies of formulating and implementing strategy are elaborated, relying on the foundations of procedural justice theory, which states that when a decision-making process is considered “fair”, people to whom the process is applied demonstrate higher levels of trust and commitment.