<p>The existing literature dealing with corporate growth in relation to lower level management is limited; instead the main focus in the past has been put on the top management perspec-tive. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to investigate and describe middle management in four growth companies. Middle management can be defined in many different ways, and the definition that has been applied in this thesis is; middle managers are working below the CEO and have a managing and/or leading position including responsibility for lower level managers and/or employees.</p><p>From the theoretical section we have created a model that connects the theories about cor-porate growth and middle management. Corporate growth includes growth strategies and growth influencers, whereas middle management discuss the managerial roles, leadership in connection to growth and modern leadership in connection to organizational structure, as well as communication, motivation, and organizational change.</p><p>Regarding the method used to fulfil the purpose of our thesis, we decided to conduct a qualitative study with face-to-face semi-structured interviews with ten middle managers at four companies. Our scientific approach is thus interpretive and our research approach is abductive. The selected companies have experienced an increase in the number of employees and turnover per year during five to ten years.</p><p>Finally, our findings resulted in a thorough description of the perceived growth strategies used at the respective companies resulting from the perceptions of the middle managers. In addition, we confirmed that most challenges in relation to growth that middle managers encountered are related to restructurings, changes in culture, uncertainty among employees, pressure to achieve profitable growth, as well as how to attract competent and highly edu-cated employees.</p><p>Moreover, in regards to the leadership styles practiced among middle managers, the mod-ern features seemed to dominate at all the investigated companies, and these could in some cases also be connected to a loose, idea based organization. Lastly, we believe that the mid-dle managers in our study have the possibility to influence growth either directly or indi-rectly depending on their positions. Directly through participating in the executive group for example, and indirectly though motivating and engaging the lower level managers to be innovative and reach the set out growth goals of the organization.</p>

The existing literature dealing with corporate growth in relation to lower level management is limited; instead the main focus in the past has been put on the top management perspec-tive. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to investigate and describe middle management in four growth companies. Middle management can be defined in many different ways, and the definition that has been applied in this thesis is; middle managers are working below the CEO and have a managing and/or leading position including responsibility for lower level managers and/or employees. From the theoretical section we have created a model that connects the theories about cor-porate growth and middle management. Corporate growth includes growth strategies and growth influencers, whereas middle management discuss the managerial roles, leadership in connection to growth and modern leadership in connection to organizational structure, as well as communication, motivation, and organizational change. Regarding the method used to fulfil the purpose of our thesis, we decided to conduct a qualitative study with face-to-face semi-structured interviews with ten middle managers at four companies. Our scientific approach is thus interpretive and our research approach is abductive. The selected companies have experienced an increase in the number of employees and turnover per year during five to ten years. Finally, our findings resulted in a thorough description of the perceived growth strategies used at the respective companies resulting from the perceptions of the middle managers. In addition, we confirmed that most challenges in relation to growth that middle managers encountered are related to restructurings, changes in culture, uncertainty among employees, pressure to achieve profitable growth, as well as how to attract competent and highly edu-cated employees. Moreover, in regards to the leadership styles practiced among middle managers, the mod-ern features seemed to dominate at all the investigated companies, and these could in some cases also be connected to a loose, idea based organization. Lastly, we believe that the mid-dle managers in our study have the possibility to influence growth either directly or indi-rectly depending on their positions. Directly through participating in the executive group for example, and indirectly though motivating and engaging the lower level managers to be innovative and reach the set out growth goals of the organization.

Orientador: Maria Carolina de Azevedo Ferreira de Souza / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-18T02:27:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vasconcelos_LuizAntonioTeixeira_D.pdf: 2932468 bytes, checksum: 90cbafa08d901db1a6f754cdab3ed063 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: O movimento das empresas, nas estruturas produtivas e segmentos de mercado em que estão inseridas, é resultado da influência de um conjunto numeroso de fatores de diversas naturezas, origens e abrangências. A ação desses fatores determinantes se concretiza de diferentes formas e geram distintos impactos nas empresas. Para a identificação dos efeitos desses determinantes e, simultaneamente, a verificação do poder e dos graus de autonomia da gestão para manejá-los é proposto um método de análise. A fundamentação conceitual, a estruturação e a formalização deste método compõem os principais objetivos deste trabalho. A base teórica essencial para o desenvolvimento desse método foi estabelecida a partir do processo de acumulação de capital na empresa que se manifesta concretamente na forma de um ciclo de investimento produtivo. O fator realimentador autônomo crucial é a acumulação interna na unidade. Os alicerces do modelo proposto estão assentados no desdobramento do ciclo do investimento produtivo em processos específicos e encadeados: geração do lucro ¿ apropriação do lucro ¿ formação do fundo de acumulação interna através da retenção parcial ou total do lucro líquido ¿ crescimento da firma. Tais etapas e processos do ciclo de investimento produtivo podem ser vislumbrados concretamente através dos componentes técnicos do ciclo do investimento produtivo: o ciclo de vigência do arranjo técnico específico da firma, referido a um padrão tecnológico, os ciclos de vida dos produtos da empresa assentados em padrões qualitativos de oferta e demanda do mercado e o ciclo operacional determinado no interior da cadeia produtiva pelos padrões produtivos e de relações mercantis. Esses desdobramentos explicitam os processos técnicos e decisórios, a estruturação de seus componentes, as relações de determinação entre componentes de processos internos, os fatores determinantes originados de relações estabelecidas em âmbitos externos de determinações. Tais determinações afetam as ações gestão das empresas dependendo da forma com que elas estabelecem relações em transações mercantis na cadeia produtiva ou relações de poder no interior dos espaços concorrenciais ou ainda, conforme o modo de inserção nos espaços institucionais sócio-econômicos e geopolíticos. O exame do grau de autonomia das empresas nesse cenário de determinações e a formalização dos processos econômicos, através das grandezas e indicadores relevantes, tendo em vista as formas e as possibilidades de manejo dos seus componentes, completam a metodologia proposta. Dispõe-se, assim, de uma visão panorâmica dos fatores que afetam o campo de ação da gestão abrindo possibilidades e impondo limites às suas funções, como se propôs mostrar neste trabalho / Abstract: The movement of companies in the production structures and market segments in which they operate is influenced by a broad and diverse set of factors. The action of these factors impacts companies in different ways and cause different effects. In order to identify these determinants and their effects, while simultaneously analyzing the power and the degree of autonomy that the business administration have to manage them, we propose an analytical method. The reasoning, structuring and formalization of this model are main objectives of this study. The theoretical framework that supports the analytical model is the process of capital accumulation in the company which is manifested concretely as a cycle of productive investment. The autonomous and essential feedback of this cycle is the internal accumulation of capital into the firm. The foundations of the proposed method rely on the cycle of productive investment decomposed in its elementary steps: process of generating profit ¿appropriation of the total profit and retained net profit ¿ constitution of the internal fund for capital accumulation ¿ firm growth. Such steps and processes of the capital productive cycle of investment are split into their technical components: the economic life cycle of the specific technical arrangement of the firm endorsed by a technological standard, the life cycle of the company's products based on qualitative patterns of supply and demand in the market and the operacional transaction cycle within the supply chain which depends on the standards of production and of market relations. These developments explain the technical processes and decision-making, the structuring of its components, the determination relations between components of internal processes, the determinants arising from other areas covering commercial transactions in the supply chain, power relations within the market and competitive forms of insertion in the socio-economic and geo-political spaces, within the institutional orbit. The investigation of the management process and yours autonomy in this scenario of determinations and the formalization of relevant economic processes, through measurements and relevant indicators, in view of the forms and possibilities to manage its components, complete the proposed methodology. This provides us with a panoramic view of factors affecting the management purview, opening opportunities and setting limits to their roles, as proposed in this thesis / Doutorado / Teoria Economica / Doutor em Ciências Econômicas

Orientador: Ruy de Quadros Carvalho / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociências / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-21T12:46:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Julio_LuizMariano_M.pdf: 3161752 bytes, checksum: 304550773dfbbfa379846e627f9c8920 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: O objetivo do trabalho é entender as estratégias adotadas pelas empresas sediadas em países de industrialização recente para poderem competir nos segmentos mais dinâmicos da economia mundial. Inicialmente se estabeleceu uma contextualização, apresentando a relevância econômica e a representatividade dos setores dinâmicos em termos de participação na economia, com isso demonstrando a lógica inerente a buscar um espaço de competição nesses segmentos. Uma vez determinados esses pontos, identificamos dentre os setores mais dinâmicos um setor particularmente relevante, o de Computação Pessoal, o qual foi analisado quanto à sua estrutura e cadeia de valor. De sua compreensão partimos para a identificação de quais são os países cuja indústria é dominante nesse segmento, onde identificamos Taiwan como um exemplo marcante de país em desenvolvimento que tem domínio tecnológico no setor. Partimos para o estudo de caso da indústria taiwanesa de computadores pessoais, estudando sua evolução histórica, ações governamentais e ações empresariais do segmento, identificando as maneiras como obtiveram seu aprendizado tecnológico e como isso influenciou seu sucesso empresarial. Além de recorrer à literatura entrevistamos executivos de diversas empresas ODM taiwanesas e com isso obtivemos uma visão interna do segmento, suas dificuldades e suas estratégias (antigas e atuais) para prosseguir evoluindo e se mantendo na vanguarda tecnológica do setor. A partir desses dados elaboramos um resumo das estratégias mais bem-sucedidas empregadas por tais empresas para atingirem seu (atualmente) elevado nível de competência tecnológica no segmento e apontamos estratégias e práticas que possivelmente poderão ser úteis a empresas que busquem similar evolução em outros segmentos onde a importância do domínio tecnológico seja significativa / Abstract: The objective is to understand the strategies adopted by firms in newly industrialized countries to compete in the more dynamic segments of the world economy. We initially established a context, presenting the economic relevance and representativeness of the dynamic sectors in terms of participation in the economy, thereby demonstrating the inherent logic to search a way to compete in these segments. Once determined these points, we identified among the most dynamic sectors a particularly important one, the Personal Computing segment, which was analyzed for its structure and value chain. From this point of understanding we proceed identifying which countries dominate this segment identifying Taiwan as a striking example of a developing country that has technological dominance in the sector. We left for the case study of Taiwanese Personal Computer Industry, studying its historical development, governmental and corporate actions of the segment, identifying the ways in which they acquired their technological learning and how it influenced their business success. Besides the available literature we interviewed executives from several Taiwanese ODM companies and therefore got insider view of the segment, their difficulties and their strategies (past and present) to proceed evolving and staying at the technological forefront of the sector. From these data we developed a summary of the most successful strategies employed by such companies to achieve their (currently) high level of technological competence in the segment and pointed out strategies and practices that could possibly be useful to companies seeking similar development in different segments, where the importance of technological mastery is significant / Mestrado / Mestre em Política Científica e Tecnológica

本研究利用1970年至2014年之美國公司為樣本探討公司之成長性是否會影響公司之股利政策。實證結果與股利訊號理論相符，公司會利用現金股利之發放降低公司與外部投資者間的資訊不對稱，以達到較低的股東權益成本。然而，當面對較高不確定性時，高成長公司之股東權益成本較高，因此較不會發放股利。本研究亦發現發放股利之高成長公司相較發放股利之低成長公司於未來有較好的營運績效，代表高成長公司發放股利有較好的訊號理論效果。而市場能夠有效率地反應較好的訊號理論於公司股價上。 / The main purpose of this study is to investigate how the corporate growth affects the corporate payout policy. Using U.S. firms during 1970 to 2014 as the sample, we demonstrate that, consistent with signaling hypothesis, firms tend to pay dividends to reduce the information asymmetry, and therefore the cost of equity will be lower. However, considering the higher cost of equity, high growth firms will not pay dividends if they face higher uncertainty. We also find a better future operating performance for high growth firms paying dividends, indicating a good signaling occurs when high growth firms pay dividends. The market is efficient enough to give a price appreciation for those good signaling firms.

由實務現象可觀察到有愈來愈多的企業採取在同一個產品類別裡，推出多個品牌的模式，亦即以品牌組合的策略來和競爭對手抗衡。而進一步分析這些擁有多個品牌的企業歷史可發現有三項因素會影響到其品牌組合的內涵，即其所採行的企業成長策略、所累積的企業品牌之品牌權益，以及品牌組合所欲追求的目標。 本研究以三種企業成長策略：密集式、整合式、多角化，與五項目標追求：綜效、槓桿運用品牌資產、維持和消費者的相關性、打造強勢品牌、創造產品的明確性，分別檢視六家多品牌企業的品牌組合內涵。 研究方法採用個案研究法，選定六家個案企業：黑松、味全、王品、花王、郭元益、豐田等進行深入訪談並蒐集各類型的次級資料，整理出各個品牌的市場表現及形成背景，還有目前各企業品牌的品牌權益表現，以及從創立到現在採行過的成長策略、策略選擇的背景、所要追求的目標，以及達成的效果；此外更進一步了解個案企業如何將有限資源分配到各品牌以及各品牌如何發揮其角色與功能。 研究發現：(1)成長策略會直接影響品牌組合策略之內涵;(2)「成長策略影響品牌組合策略」之關係會受到企業品牌之品牌權益調節；(3)品牌組合目標之設定有優先順序之別；(4)企業的成長策略會直接影響品牌組合目標之達成；(5)品牌組合目標會直接影響品牌組合策略之內涵；(6)品牌組合目標之追求會直接影響企業成長策略之選擇；(7)企業品牌擔任背書品牌的前提為企業品牌擁有高品牌知名度與極佳的知覺品質認知；(8)形成「共同推動之副品牌」的前提為此副品牌擁有高品牌知名度與極佳的知覺品質認知；(9)主品牌、副品牌、品牌差異者、策略性品牌、增色品牌、品牌活化者愈多時，愈能提升企業品牌之品牌知名度；(10)一企業採行密集式之成長策略有先後關係。 / From practice can observe there is more and more companies take multi-brand strategy in a single product category. In other words, they compete with others by brand portfolio strategy. Further analyze these companies can find there are three factors will influence the content of their brand portfolio strategy: corporate growth strategy, brand equity of corporate brand, and the brand portfolio objectives. This study is trying to examine the content of brand portfolio strategy of six multi-brand companies with three kind’s corporate growth strategy: intensive, integrative, and diversification. And with five types of brand portfolio objectives: synergy, leverage, relevance, strong brand and clarity. This investigation is based on a case study research. The cases include Hey-Song, Wei-Chuan, Wang-Steak, Kao, Kuo-Yuan-Ye, and Toyota. By depth interview and gathering multi-kinds of secondary data, the study gets each company’s contents of brand portfolio, such as current performance, background, brand equity, corporate growth strategy, and brand portfolio objectives. Besides, this study also finds out each case how to allocate the limited resource and how to define each brand’s role and function. The result reveals: (1) growth strategy will directly influence the content of brand portfolio strategy; (2) the relationship between growth strategy and brand portfolio will be adjusted by equity of corporate brand; (3) the brand portfolio objectives have priority; (4) growth strategy will directly influence the effectiveness of brand portfolio objectives; (5) brand portfolio objectives will directly influence the content of brand portfolio strategy; (6) brand portfolio objectives will directly influence the choosing of growth strategy; (7)the premise of corporate brand as endorser brand is that the corporate brand owns high brand awareness and excellent quality perception; (8)the premise of being co-brands is this sub-brand owned high brand awareness and excellent quality perception; (9)the more master brand, sub-brand, brand differentiation, strategic brand, silver brand or brand energizer, the higher brand awareness of corporate brand will be; (10) there is priority when a company taking intensive corporate growth strategy.