Presents real-life and day-to-day examples of service delivery problems which will be familiar to all readers. Then provides practical re-engineering solutions to remedy the problems. The vignettes illustrating the problems are all real-life cases based on the experiences of the authors, and the solutions they propose are also based on their encounters with service providers as educators and consultants, and talks to business audiences by both parties.

A historical review of the ways business organizations in the United States have responded to demands that they improve their environmental performance reveals two clear outcomes: firms that effectively institutionalize improved environmental performance can garner significant strategic advantages for their efforts, and firms that do not often suffer severe legal consequences. Thus, institutionalization is a pivotal organizational process which determines whether a firm's environmental performance results in improved operating efficiency and market opportunities or in increased legal and regulatory hassles. In this paper, we use a survey and case-law review to investigate the degree to which improved environmental performance is being institutionalized in US firms and to determine what the potential legal consequences are for firms that fail to achieve such institutionalization. Our findings suggest that firms in US industry have made considerable efforts to institutionalize improved environmental performance, but they still have a long way to go. Unfortunately, our findings also suggest that failing to effectively institutionalize environmental performance has the potential for dire consequences, such as jail terms for strategic managers for environmental violations by subordinates.

This article investigates the antecedents and consequences of source credibility within the context of the relatively new but growing phenomenon of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) endorsers. The study results indicate that source credibility is a central determinant of a CEO endorsers’ ability to effect desired outcome states. Results also indicate that the effect of message source credibility on purchase intentions, though strong, is not direct because beliefs about critical product attributes mediate the effect of a message source’s credibility on behavioural intentions. The results of the study also indicate that models of source credibility derived from the celebrity endorser literature do not generalize to the CEO endorser context. Specifically, the attractiveness and expertise of the message source had no significant impact on receivers’ perceptions of credibility.

To turn today’s challenges and threats into fruitful opportunities, marketing organizations must move away from their traditional modus operandi of closed system approach to an open system where employees, customers, procedures, processes, vendors, and strategies are viewed interdependently. This article presents a systematic and synergistic practical framework grounded in an open system. A case study is employed to illustrate the application of the framework and to demonstrate how it can benefit organizations in attaining desirable outcomes.

This study empirically examines the impact of quality effort orientation on the financial performance of certified Portuguese firms. The results of factor analysis revealed four quality efforts orientation factors. The results of cluster analysis revealed the existence of three distinct groups of firms with regard to quality efforts orientation and performance. The analysis of variance results revealed that firms with a quality efforts orientation focusing on the customer tends to outperform firms utilising other quality efforts orientation with regard to net profit after taxes.

A multicriteria approach to assess the ranking performance of Portuguese companies is utilized. In the process, the research methodology which utilizes ELECTRE III. a fuzzy set theory based procedure, and the SFR Software is illustrated using a conceptual research framework. The results derived from the application presented in this study, are used to propose a set of economical and financial benchmarks indicators to guide Portuguese managers in pursuing a strategy of excellence.

The objective of this study is to examine the applicability of process reengineering in a healthcare operational environment. The intake process of a mental healthcare service delivery system is analyzed systematically to identify process-related problems. A methodology which utilizes an open system orientation coupled with process reengineering is utilized to overcome operational and patient related problems associated with the pre-reengineered intake process. The systematic redesign of the intake process resulted in performance improvements in terms of cost, quality, service and timing.

An empirical investigation of the Portuguese crystal industry focused on the current strategies of the 12 firms in the industry that produce 98 percent of the industry's output. The chief executive officers in each firm completed the survey instrument. The research discovered that the two groups of firms with positive returns on equity pursued a cost leadership strategy based on efficiency of production and cost leadership strategy based on production innovation.

Some researchers have found that unionized firms are less likely to pursue automation because high wage demands deprive them of the necessary capital required to invest in advanced manufacturing technology (AMT). It has also been suggested that stringent work rules and technology agreements can make the substitution of new technology for union labor too expensive. Others have found, however, that the pursuit of high wage policies and the resultant requirement for improved worker and machine productivity can create a positive environment for technological change. This exploratory study examines the relationships between firm-level union status and the adoption and performance of AMT in the discrete parts durable-goods manufacturing industry. Analyses of our sample, which included Chi-square tests, t-tests, correlation analyses and multiple linear regression analyses, revealed a union effect on the adoption of just-in-time technology and a moderately positive union effect on performance. Results of analyses of the impact of union status, firm size and several human factor variables on firm performance are also presented and discussed.

Issues surrounding the contextual environment in which strategic decisions are made are difficult concepts to grasp, particularly for undergraduate students with little business experience. They are also problematic for graduate students that have not been called on to make such decisions within their career. The authors propose an exercise that blends many elements of decision making under uncertainty and risk. Students are placed in an environment in which their own choice may differ from that of the team, but in which the team's performance will have explicit implications on their individual performance and rewards. The exercise incorporates team dynamics and problem-solving capabilities in a temporally and competitively constrained environment.