Aimé Heene

A Competence Perspective on Strategic Learning and Knowledge Management

The growing prominence of accelerating change in the environments of organizations has brought processes for managing change within firms into the forefront of concerns in strategic management. As competition between firms increasingly takes on the character of a contest to identify, create, and leverage new competences (Hamel and Heene, 1994; Heene and Sanchez, 1996; Sanchez, Heene and Thomas, 1996a), effecting significant organizational change increasingly requires changing both the knowledge base within a firm and the way the firm uses its existing knowledge to compete more effectively. Consequently, improving a firms strategic flexibility (Sanchez, 1993, 1995; Sanchez and Heene, 1996) to create new competences in response to environmental change is likely to require rethinking the ways a firm can create and acquire new knowledge and may require entirely new concepts for applying new knowledge to greatest strategic effect.

Toward stakeholder responsibility and stakeholder motivation: systemic and holistic perspectives on corporate sustainability

Scholars in corporate sustainability have widely used negative examples of industrial accidents and poor (social and environmental) corporate performance to illustrate that companies have a significant impact on the alarming social and environmental developments. Besides, the extreme ecocentic management view on sustainability leaves the impression that full responsibility for sustainability, i.e. responsibility for the solution of existing social and environmental problems, should be awarded to business. However, we show that, in general, responsibilities are characterized by systemic interdependence, holism, subjectivism, and dynamics. In the context of sustainability, these four characteristics imply that awarding full responsibility to business is inappropriate. Organizations and all their stakeholders are responsible for sustainability. As this indicates the necessity for joint efforts to advance sustainable development, we attempt to integrate the responsibilities for sustainability of organizations, scientists, consumers, and policy makers. Overall, we believe that views on corporate sustainability should be perceived as an “alarm bell,” which managers need to consider in the process of stakeholder motivation in order to secure the organizational survival.

The level and determinants of mission statement use: a questionnaire survey.

BACKGROUND Although mission statements are one of the most popular management instruments, little is known about the nature and direction of the presumed relationship between mission statements and organizational performance. In particular, empirical insights into the degree of mission statement use by individual organizational members are insufficient. OBJECTIVES We address the observed knowledge gap by (a) measuring the level of mission statement use (e.g., explaining the mission statement, making linkages to extant programs or practices, communicating enthusiasm, and adapting the mission statement to the personal work situation) by individual organizational members, and (b) identifying the antecedents that influence mission statement use. DESIGN Questionnaires were used to collect data from a sample of 510 nurses from three Flemish hospitals. Mission statement use was measured by means of Fairhursts Management of Meaning Scale. Antecedents of mission statement use were derived from the Theory of Planned Behavior and the mission statement literature. RESULTS The findings indicate that mission statement use is low on average. Attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and formal involvement in mission statement communication proved to be significant determinants of mission statement use and accounted for 43% of the variance. The results of the conducted regression analyses indicate that nurses (a) who have a positive attitude towards the mission statement, (b) who perceive pressure from superiors and colleagues to use the mission statement, (c) who feel they are in control of performing such behavior, and (d) who are formally involved in the mission statement communication processes are more likely to use the mission statement. Furthermore, the results indicated that demographic characteristics are not associated with mission statement use. CONCLUSIONS To effectively increase mission statement use, investments should focus on redesigning a work environment that stresses the importance of the organizational mission statement and provides detailed information on the ways that individual organizational members can contribute in realizing the mission statement.

Mission statement perception: Are we all on the same wavelength? A case study in a Flemish hospital.

BACKGROUND Although it is widely recognized that the effectiveness of mission statements is contingent upon the extent to which they are communicated to the organizations members, there is virtually no literature on how organizational members perceive the mission statement. PURPOSES To address these shortcomings, a research project was set up to seek (a) to assess how managers and nonmanagers perceive the mission statement and (b) to determine if there is a perception gap between both groups. METHODOLOGY/APPROACH In total, 102 nurses, nurse managers, and senior managers in a 217-bed Flemish hospital filled up a questionnaire, based on the Competing Values Framework for Managerial Communication, to assess their perception of the organizational mission statement. FINDINGS There is a mission statement perception gap between managers and nonmanagers. The scores of the management group are, in almost all cases, significantly higher. These findings suggest that managers have a more positive attitude toward the mission statement. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS To optimize the impact of the mission statement, managers should measure the perception of the mission statement and try to remediate possible mission statement perception gaps. The Competing Values Framework for Managerial Communication is offered as a tool to assess (a) the presence, (b) the direction, and (c) the intensity of possible mission statement perception gaps.

Competing for resources and capabilities in dynamic factor-markets

This paper analyzes the dynamics in resource development and the complexity of resource origin. Three factors – stakeholders, interactions, and scarcity – prove helpful to explain both dynamics and complexity of factor-markets. We build on these three factors and propose a systemic model on dynamic interactions to illustrate the structural characteristics of a factor-market. We suggest to managers to analyze first factor-markets separately, so they can collect as much information as possible on resource relationships with strategic importance. Then this information is incorporated in a “resource matrix,” which facilitates analyzing the interdependencies of various resource relationships and helps practitioners develop an integrated strategy to compete in factor-markets.

Price transparency as a prerequisite for fair competition: the case of the European food prices monitoring tool

In this chapter we examine the European Food Prices Monitoring Tool as a case study to improve price transparency and, as a result, competitiveness in the European food system. We first analyze the relation between price transparency and fair competition from a theoretical point of view. We then investigate agricultural and food prices evolution in the EU over the last decade, with a specific focus on the price transmission along the food supply chain. We follow with an assessment of the rationale for the price monitoring tool and analyze its functioning as a case study. We conclude with a few comments on how this tool can contribute to fair competition through an increase in price transparency.

Introduction to the Focused Issue on New Industry Dynamics

This focused issue (Volume 6) of Research in Competence-Based Management provides a number of research papers – both theoretical and empirical – on what we have characterized in the volume title as “new industry dynamics.” It also contains papers that might just as accurately be described as providing “new competence perspectives” on industry dynamics. In effect, this volume both applies existing competence theory to the analysis of new industry dynamics, and provides new conceptualizations for representing and analyzing industry dynamics that are now emerging in many industries and product markets. While much competence theory has been developed through analysis of micro-level phenomena in individual organizations, we expect that the papers included in this volume will help point the way to further development of competence theory relevant to the macro-levels of industry and product-market phenomena.

Corporate social responsibility and the strategic management process

The adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR) principles in strategic management is propagated in the relevant literature as a criticism of reckless corporate misconduct or as an appraisal of business resources and power. At the same time, the business logic and management challenges of adopting CSR principles in the strategic management of companies remain fairly underdeveloped. To study its management challenges and business logic, we have conducted an explorative case study that investigated the management of a CSR proxy, viz. Health Safety and Environment (HSE), in a multinational company in the petrochemicals. Our study suggests that the adoption of CSR principles in strategic management is a challenging task even for well prepared companies, which requires a portfolio of activities and resources, i.e.: symbolic actions (e.g. commitment), intangible resources (e.g. communication and training), tangible resources (e.g. equipment), and incentives (e.g. financial benefits, audits). These are apparently based on plausible strategic logic, since their purpose is to minimize risks, save costs, and enhance intangibles such as reputation, trust and social capital. Overall, corporate social responsibility is not only an ethical issue but also a strategic one and therefore it requires a comprehensive managerial approach.

Introduction: identifying, building, and linking competences

Part I of this issue begins with a paper by Colin Eden and Fran Ackermann on “Competences, distinctive competences, and core competences.” Eden and Ackermann draw on their extensive work with top management teams in workshops focused on identifying the competences of an organization. They describe an interactive process of engagement with managers through which an organizations competences are identified, some of which are further judged to be “distinctive competences” of the organization. Analysis of the interrelationships among a firms identified competences then leads to the discovery of a pattern of competence interactions in which some competences appear to be at the “core” of the organizations distinctive competences. The paper presents an interesting perspective on how the capabilities and competences of a firm are often interrelated in ways that invite special attention and development by managers. Further, the paper explains the systems methodology that the authors have developed for use with managers to help identify and assess an organizations competences.