Abstract ¡@The research is to find factors influencing HR departments¡¦ strategic involvement in organizational decision making process and understand their effects. This research included the cognitions of HR department and other departments in an organization to test it¡¦s hypotheses. ¡@Questionnaires were issued to enterprises with over 200 employees; 62 dyad questionnaires were issued, and 51 ones returned and were all valid. With statistical analysis including paired-sample t-test, one-way ANOVA and regression, we attempted to examine whether the strategic involvement of HR department is affected by HR services provided, strategic function of HR department, HR service quality and expectations of the other departments toward HR department. ¡@After the empirical analysis, we got the conclusions as follows: 1.The cognitions of HR department strategic involvement between HR department and other departments have a positive relationship. 2.HR services provided by HR department have positive impacts on its strategic involvement. 3.Strategic function of HR department has positive impacts on its strategic involvement. 4.HR service quality has positive impacts on the HR department¡¦s strategic involvement. 5.Expectations from other departments to HR department have insignificant discrepancy on HR department¡¦s strategic involvement. 6.Position level of HR head have insignificant impacts on HR department¡¦s strategic involvement.

Problem: Today’s rapid globalization along with technological improvements force organizations to adapt its strategy to external changes. Companies may undertake strategic renewal in order to cope with these changes (Agarwal & Helfat, 2009). However, there are forces that somehow interrupt a firm’s ability to adapt, which are called strategic inertia (Mallette & Hopkins, 2013). The forces of strategic renewal and strategic inertia do not exist independently from one another rather they coexist and vary in its influence on the company (Melin, 1998). The previous research exploring Strategic Renewal and Strategic Inertia as two co-existing forces appears to be limited, which creates an incentive to explore the phenomena in an innovative company setting. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the existence of the phenomena of strategic renewal and strategic inertia in an innovative firm. Method: In order to fulfill the aim of this research, a qualitative case study was undertaken. The primary data was gathered through interviews with managers from different departments at the company Fagerhult Lighting AB. Conclusion: This research contributes to the academic field of strategy as it proposes six circumstances that foster strategic renewal and strategic inertia in an innovative firm. The circumstances are clarified in the following six propositions, where (1) the encouragement of new ideas, (2) employees that are open to change, and (3) the acquiring of people with different perspectives and backgrounds, are presented as drivers for strategic renewal, while (4) prioritization of resources, (5) differences in interests and attitudes and (6) insufficient understanding and engagement, are sources for strategic inertia. The conclusion of this research is that strategic renewal and strategic inertia can co-exist within an innovative firm.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references.

This research investigates the relationship among the stakeholders during the strategic planning process in an airline company. The concept of involving stakeholders in strategic planning is based on the assumption that engaging stakeholders in a meaningful way will increase the benefits for both the organization and the stakeholders. The growth trend of the company investigated has resulted in complexity due to the growth of its internal and external stakeholders and the influence that their relationships can have on strategic planning. Whereas studies have identified a number of factors that can influence stakeholder relations, it has also been suggested that relationships could further be influenced by host of other stakeholder-related attributes. It is in this context that the study answers the following research questions: (1) how do stakeholders understand their responsibilities in strategic planning?; (2) how do they perceive the importance of communication and coordination to their relationship during the planning process?; and (3) how do the stakeholders‘ expectations shape the challenges faced by the company and their relationship during strategic planning? The study employs the qualitative method of research using the interview technique to collect data to gain insights into how the participants perceive and make sense of their relationships during strategic planning in their company. The conceptual dimension of the study is premised on the two streams of meaning of relationships and the dynamics of stakeholder relations during strategic planning projected in the literature. The methodological dimension is premised on the importance of lived experience as a significant source of knowledge. In this respect, the study draws on phenomenology using narrative analysis and inductive content analysis in the treatment of data. Accordingly, the study found that stakeholders bring to the table a plethora of responsibilities which have significant upward and downward influences during strategic planning. There is a consensus among stakeholders on the general importance of the relational benefits of coordination and communication. Real time coordination and communication with external stakeholders is differentially perceived within the range of poor to excellent. Likewise, there is differential perception of the relational importance of communication in terms of organizational context. Whether the coordination among stakeholders is perceived as excellent or poor, the bottom line is that stakeholder relations in the company remains a challenge. Stakeholders have multiple expectations of the company strategic plan and the strategic planning process which further raises multi-faceted challenges to the company. Based on the findings the study came up with a model that highlights the streams of thought pursued in the study. The findings affirm the view that relationships result from what transpires, happens, or occurs during strategic planning. Likewise, the inherent connectivity that results from the social nature of individuals involved in the planning process is affirmed. The former is on account of the responsibilities of the stakeholders and the latter on account of the inherent value that stakeholders place on strategic planning. The quality and extent of stakeholder relations however is moderated by extent and quality of coordination and communication before and during the planning process.

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ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Historically organisations have had the "luxury" of being able to anticipate future developments and respond to them in good time due to, firstly, the comparatively slow pace of change and, secondly, the past being a relatively good predictor of the future. The second half of the 20th Century bears witness to some of the most dramatic changes and developments experienced by mankind. Most notable of these were globalisation,de-regulation, the emergence of the information/knowledge economy and, perhaps most significant of all, the changes brought about by the Internet. The underlying assertion of this report is that, given the current, complex, dynamic and sometimes volatile nature of changes in the external environment, in order to ensure a sustainable competitive advantage, organisations will be forced to consider carefully the dynamics of the environment in which they operate and to build their plans around these dynamics. This report briefly traces the evolution of strategic planning to its current status prior to providing a detailed analysis of the nature of environmental scanning and its applicability to strategic planning. The report provides a theoretical overview Qf environmental scanning and a discussion of some of the tools and techniques of environmental scanning. Within this context the report provides a brief indication of the extent of the practice of environmental scanning within the financial services sector of South Africa. The conclusion assesses the findings of the current state of the practice of environmental scanning against the theory, with the view to providing an insight into the extent to which environmental scanning is applied in South Africa Possible future directions of research and development of the practice are also identified. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Histories gesproke, het instansies oor die "luukse" beskik om toekomstige ontwikkelinge vooruit te kon waarneem en betyds op hulle te reageer, eerstens weens die betreklike stadige pas van verandering en tweedens, omdat die verlede 'n betreklike goeie voorspeller van die toekoms was. Die tweede helfte van die 20ste eeu getuig van sommige van die mees dramatiese veranderinge en ontwikkelinge wat deur die mens ondervind is. Die mees uitstaande was globalisering, deregulering, die verskyning van die inligting/kennis-ekonomie en, dalk die mees uitstaande van almal, die veranderinge wat deur die Internet teweeggebring is. Die onderliggende stelling van hierdie verslag is dat, gegewe die huidige, komplekse,dinamiese en soms onbestendige aard van veranderinge in die eksterne omgewing, om 'n mededingende voordeel te verseker, sal instansies geforseer word om die dinamika van die omgewing waarin hulle werk, versigtig te oorweeg en om hulle planne om hierdie dinamika te bou. Hierdie verslag speur kortliks die ewolusie na van strategiese beplanning tot sy huidige status gevolg deur 'n omvattende analise van die aard van omgewingsondersoeke en die toepaslikheid daarvan op strategiese beplanning. Die verslag voorsien 'n teoretiese oorsig tot omgewingsondersoeke en 'n bespreking van sommige van die instrurnente en tegnieke van omgewingsondersoeke. Binne hierdie konteks voorsien die verslag 'n kort aanduiding van die omvang van die uitvoering van omgewingsondersoeke binne die finansiele dienstesektor van Suid-Afrika. Die slot som die bevindings op van die huidige toestand van die praktyk van omgewingsondersoeke volgens die teorie, met die oog op voorsiening van 'n insig in die mate waartoe omgewingsondersoeke in Suid-Afrika toegepas word. Moontlike toekomstige rigtings van navorsing en ontwikkeling van die praktyk word ook geidentifiseer.

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With today's rapidly changing business environment, more and more businesses are using competitive intelligence to improve planning efforts, identify threats and opportunities and help avoid unpleasant surprises. However, to be effective, this intelligence must be gathered and communicated between managers. Two research questions will address these issues: (1) can a representation of competitive knowledge be developed that reflects managerial thought and (2) will a graphical computer tool based on this representation elicit a more complete representation of competitive intelligence knowledge in a more efficient manner relative to traditional methods? Various studies have shown managerial thought to be represented in several ways, e.g., conceptual groupings, hierarchically, and causally. However, by proposing that managers represent information about competitors in a story structure and integrating this proposal with the literature from competitive intelligence and strategic planning, a more complete conceptual model results. To validate the proposed conceptual model, an archival case study of three competitors in the computer workstation market was conducted. Following that, interviews were conducted with six MBA students with experience in competitive intelligence and with six managers. The transcripts from these interviews have been analyzed and the conceptual model has been modified based on input from this content analysis. A prototype was developed using the ConceptBase platform, an X-windows tool that provides both graphical and textual access to concepts and their relationships. The prototype will allow managers to create a graphical representation of their competitive knowledge. This representation will allow managers to locate gaps in their knowledge and to communicate their information to others. The prototype was validated by two different groups of MBA students by asking them to represent a given competitive situation. One group used pencil and paper while the second group used the prototype. Both the number of uncategorized concepts and the number of relationships differed significantly. This indicates that a more complete representation was created using the prototype. The two main contributions of this research are: (1) a model of competitive intelligence knowledge based on managerial cognition, and (2) a prototype that will facilitate the elicitation of competitive intelligence knowledge in a graphical and understandable manner.

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