How will digitalization influence the role of corporate headquarters (CHQs) and their relationships with their operating units? We recently asked 67 senior CHQ managers this question. The results suggest that CHQs expect to become more powerful and more involved in their operating units. These conclusions seem to be driven by perceptions that the ongoing digitalization will provide CHQ managers with more timely and better information. In this "Point of View", we discuss the potential pitfalls of such a narrative. We also offer ideas for how to avoid mistakes and ensure that CHQs increase their value-added in times of digitalization. In particular, we suggest that CHQs place emphasis on social interactions for data to be effectively collected and analyzed, for decision-making power to be adequately allocated, and for CHQ involvement to be informed and necessary.

Este estudo procura contribuir com as discussões sobre gestão estratégica corporativa para a sustentabilidade, procurando responder ao seguinte problema de pesquisa: \"Como se dá a inclusão, nas estratégias corporativas para a sustentabilidade, das externalidades ambientais negativas geradas pela cadeia de valor em que a organização está inserida?\" São objetivos deste trabalho: (i) analisar de que forma as organizações pesquisadas consideram, no processo de formulação de suas estratégias, o diagnóstico de suas externalidades negativas ambientais para também fazer gestão de risco estratégico socioambiental e aproveitar eventuais oportunidades; (ii) analisar como o processo de formulação de estratégias para a sustentabilidade dialoga com o processo de formulação estratégica geral das organizações pesquisadas; (iii) contribuir para o avanço do conhecimento da Administração no campo da gestão estratégica para a sustentabilidade, particularmente do ponto de vista da argumentação econômica teórica do tema da sustentabilidade. O referencial teórico consiste dos seguintes macro temas: estratégia corporativa, desenvolvimento sustentável, externalidades e estratégia corporativa para a sustentabilidade. O referencial teórico orientou a realização de uma pesquisa empírica, de natureza qualitativa, exploratória, do tipo estudos de casos múltiplos, envolvendo três grandes empresas brasileiras. Os resultados da pesquisa apontam para a observância, pelas empresas pesquisadas, com distintos níveis de formalização do processo, das externalidades ambientais negativas geradas por suas cadeias de valor. Consistente com a natureza dos estudos exploratórios, com base no referencial teórico e nos casos empíricos estudados, são feitas reflexões sobre as relações entre estratégias corporativas, estratégias para sustentabilidade, externalidades, serviços ecossistêmicos, riscos e oportunidades para as organizações. / In order to contribute to the contemporary discussions regarding corporate sustainability strategies, this research seeks to answer the following question: \"In what ways are the negative environmental externalities generated by a company\'s value chain considered in the sustainability corporate strategies?\" This research aims at: (i) understanding how organizations that are sustainability-oriented take into consideration in their sustainability strategy making process the diagnosis of their value chain\'s negative environmental externalities as to manage risks and create business opportunities; (ii) understanding the links between the sustainability strategy and the company\'s overall strategy; (iii) contributing to the body of knowledge in Management Sciences, particularly by making the economic argument for sustainability strategy. The theoretical basis includes: corporate strategy, sustainable development, externalities and sustainability corporate strategies. The theoretical basis guided the empirical research, which is qualitative, exploratory, multiple case study, involving three large Brazilian companies. Results point out to the consideration in their sustainability strategies - with different adherence and formalization levels - of the negative environmental externalities generated by their value chain. Consistent with exploratory studies, and based on the literature review and the cases studied, considerations are made regarding the relationships among corporate strategies, sustainability corporate strategies, externalities, ecosystem services, business risks and opportunities.

Now, private and public service industries accounted for 68%GDP. It's almost the same as developed countries. Further, the service industries will be more and more important in Taiwan. Because, a service marketing and management filed has evolved that views the management of service firms differently from the management of manufacturing firms, the HRM of service industries is also different from that of manufacturing firms. In this article, I propose that ¡§HR practices¡¨ would yield increased¡§organization performance",and get increased ¡§organization performance¡¨through the fit of ¡§corporate strategy¡¨. In this article, the questionnaires were summarized the studies about HRM practice and corporate strategies in the service. Then, I implemented the empirical survey. The sample were the service firms that having sustainable competitive advantage. The survey had a response rate of 29 per cent, with a useable sample of 80 establishments. I examine the data using hierarchical regression, ANOVA analysis. In the article, the empirical survey shows that: 1. HR practices in service firms are of seven factors: (1) self-directed team operation (2) To use technologies or software to support employees's tasks. (3) To value employee security (4) multiple and elaborate assessment policy (5) the selection of preferring the candidates that having high skills and knowledge. (6) To value the training, coaching and mentoring. (7) The incentive policies depend on the performance. 2. There is a positive relationships and effect between HR practices and organization performance. 3. Differences of human resource management practices due to the differences of organization performance. 4. The corporate strategy has the moderating effects on the relationship between human resource management practices and organization performance. The main contribution of this article is that I try to discover the relationship between HR practices and organization performance through the two perspectives: universalistic perspective and contingency perspective. I find out the core HR practices and the HR practices that fit the corporate strategy.

<p>This dissertation examines what drives firms' divestiture activity and how it impacts their performance. Divestitures is defined here as the sale, spin-off or liquidation of assets from an ongoing organization. This dissertation seeks to understand what drives firms' reconfiguration activities via divestitures, and in turn how the divestiture activity impacts the future performance in terms of survival and growth. The dissertation identifies differences in the performance of a firm relative to their prior performance as a driver for divestitures, as well as other financial constraints. Moreover, it shows that, counter-intuitively, divestitures are a tool for growth and helps strong firms continue to grow and helps them avoid becoming a target for acquisitions; whereas in the case of weak firms, divesting does not help them avoid shutting down. This dissertation argues that divestitures are tools firms use to reconfigure and reallocate their financial and managerial resources; in the case of weak firms, divestitures are a mode used primarily to free the necessary monetary funds necessary for firms to address problems and regain competitiveness, whereas for strong firms divestitures are a tool to free scarce managerial resources that can be more efficiently allocated in areas that can provide further growth. This dissertation contributes to our understanding of what drives firms divestitures and corporate strategic decisions in general, and provides evidence that even firms coming from positions of strength can eliminate parts of the organization as a way to grow.</p> / Dissertation

Este estudo procura contribuir com as discussões sobre gestão estratégica corporativa para a sustentabilidade, procurando responder ao seguinte problema de pesquisa: \"Como se dá a inclusão, nas estratégias corporativas para a sustentabilidade, das externalidades ambientais negativas geradas pela cadeia de valor em que a organização está inserida?\" São objetivos deste trabalho: (i) analisar de que forma as organizações pesquisadas consideram, no processo de formulação de suas estratégias, o diagnóstico de suas externalidades negativas ambientais para também fazer gestão de risco estratégico socioambiental e aproveitar eventuais oportunidades; (ii) analisar como o processo de formulação de estratégias para a sustentabilidade dialoga com o processo de formulação estratégica geral das organizações pesquisadas; (iii) contribuir para o avanço do conhecimento da Administração no campo da gestão estratégica para a sustentabilidade, particularmente do ponto de vista da argumentação econômica teórica do tema da sustentabilidade. O referencial teórico consiste dos seguintes macro temas: estratégia corporativa, desenvolvimento sustentável, externalidades e estratégia corporativa para a sustentabilidade. O referencial teórico orientou a realização de uma pesquisa empírica, de natureza qualitativa, exploratória, do tipo estudos de casos múltiplos, envolvendo três grandes empresas brasileiras. Os resultados da pesquisa apontam para a observância, pelas empresas pesquisadas, com distintos níveis de formalização do processo, das externalidades ambientais negativas geradas por suas cadeias de valor. Consistente com a natureza dos estudos exploratórios, com base no referencial teórico e nos casos empíricos estudados, são feitas reflexões sobre as relações entre estratégias corporativas, estratégias para sustentabilidade, externalidades, serviços ecossistêmicos, riscos e oportunidades para as organizações. / In order to contribute to the contemporary discussions regarding corporate sustainability strategies, this research seeks to answer the following question: \"In what ways are the negative environmental externalities generated by a company\'s value chain considered in the sustainability corporate strategies?\" This research aims at: (i) understanding how organizations that are sustainability-oriented take into consideration in their sustainability strategy making process the diagnosis of their value chain\'s negative environmental externalities as to manage risks and create business opportunities; (ii) understanding the links between the sustainability strategy and the company\'s overall strategy; (iii) contributing to the body of knowledge in Management Sciences, particularly by making the economic argument for sustainability strategy. The theoretical basis includes: corporate strategy, sustainable development, externalities and sustainability corporate strategies. The theoretical basis guided the empirical research, which is qualitative, exploratory, multiple case study, involving three large Brazilian companies. Results point out to the consideration in their sustainability strategies - with different adherence and formalization levels - of the negative environmental externalities generated by their value chain. Consistent with exploratory studies, and based on the literature review and the cases studied, considerations are made regarding the relationships among corporate strategies, sustainability corporate strategies, externalities, ecosystem services, business risks and opportunities.

Corporate Social Responsibilty has increased in importance over these decades. Due to several drivers it is important for companies to initiate and communicate these CSR initiatives, in order to benefit from them. This increased demand on responsibility from companies creates an urgency for the company to satisfy this need. This has led to the concept of “Greenwashing” which is a miscommunication of CSR values. This opposes the integration of CSR into the corporate strategy which is a more effective method of initiating CSR. This study will examine CSR initiatives alignment with corporate strategy, composing a case study on Electrolux Professionl Laundry Ab.

The thesis focuses on a medium-sized software company providing services for the largest financial companies and telecommunications operators in the Czech Republic since 1998, the corporate strategy formulation and representation of the strategy as the Balanced Scorecard. The strategic business units are identified, then analyses of different macro-environmental factors, resources and competencies elaborated. The analyses are used to formulate the strategies for the strategic business units. The corporate strategy is formulated based on discussed synergies between the strategic business units. The corporate strategy is expressed as the Balanced Scorecard system, the strategy map and the strategic actions are introduced. Finally, several aspects of the strategy are discussed from the system dynamics perspective.

This master´s thesis suggests a business plan for further progress of an existing company “i-Studio Ltd”. It is looking at opportunities in already operating branch. It is trying to suggest a project which would lead to better profitability, expenditure and stabilizing of current market share and also strengthen the company name. The aim of thesis therefore is, on the base of an analysis, to propose such a project, where previous results and experiences are going to be used, to make competitiveness and further progress of the company better.

The influence of corporate culture on the strategies used by firms to meet the environmental sustainability challenge has been explored in this dissertation. This was investigated through web-based questionnaires that were administered to employees in companies who would have knowledge of both their employer‟s corporate culture and corporate sustainability practices.To determine this, the respondents were requested to rate both the corporate strategies undertaken to meet the environmental challenge, as well as the corporate culture where they work. The corporate strategies were evaluated using a bespoke instrument which was constructed from various strategy instruments found in the literature. The corporate culture was evaluated using a well-known organisational culture instrument available in the literature. Potential contextual variables pertaining to the perceptions of the respondents, as well as to the business and industry sector characteristics, were evaluated as well.The findings indicated that the contextual variables had little or no effect on either the corporate culture or the corporate strategies undertaken by the firm, and that a strong comprehensive culture correlated strongly with positive corporate strategies. Corporate cultures that emphasise social coordination (or organic culture forms) exhibited stronger correlations with positive corporate strategies than those which emphasise formal control methods (or mechanistic forms). The focus of the firm, whether on internal dynamics or the external environment, did not show a significant effect on the corporate strategies that were undertaken by the firm.A sustainability culture was synthesised from the findings of the research, which concludes with recommendations regarding further research into this topic. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

No