Anisya S. Thomas

The chief executive officer and corporate social performance: An interdisciplinary examination

This paper attempts to cross the disciplinary boundaries of strategic management and social issues management to demonstrate the relationship between managerial characteristics and corporate social performance (CSP). Drawing on studies in strategic leadership research we develop and test hypotheses about linkages between top management attributes and different levels of CSP. Our results add credence to the argument that organizations are a reflection of their top managers, and encourage further systematic research of the influence of key executives in developing and implementing socially responsible policies and programs.

Predicting expatriate job satisfaction: the role of firm internationalization

This study is based on the premise that, as organizations gain experience in the international marketplace, the determinants of job satisfaction for expatriate managers will vary. It is hypothesized that significant learning, manifested in firm international experience, will moderate the effects of work/life experience, mentorship, training and environmental benevolence. Findings partially support this theoretical argument and confirm the expectation that the impact of mentoring on satisfaction will lessen over the course of firm internationalization. Further, the impact of training on expatriate satisfaction was more pronounced for highly internationalized firms than for those with limited exposure abroad. Results of the empirical tests are provided, and their implications are discussed.

The Business Policy Course: Multiple Methods for Multiple Goals

The field of business policy and strategy has evolved and changed over the past 30 years. The accumulation of a body of scholarly work based on empirical and theoretical investigation, the shift in the type of student, and a transformation of the business arena through technological and global forces have all changed the context of the course. As a consequence, sole reliance on the traditional case method is no longer sufficient. Instead, multiple methods that encourage participation, critical thinking, communication, integration, and the translation of theory to practice are necessary. This article suggests that an assessment of the congruence of the outcomes of different methods with the stated goals of the course should be a crucial factor in the choice of pedagogical tools.

The cyclical effect of expatriate satisfaction on organizational performance: the role of firm international orientation

This study explores the role of expatriate satisfaction in organizational performance. It also posits that international transfer of knowledge and corporate learning are determinants in the overall satisfaction of expatriate managers. Moreover, as organizations gain international experience, their expatriate managers contribute to the global learning of the firm. This corporate learning provides the tools (e.g. foreign market experience and know‐how) for future expatriate managers and increases the likelihood of positive overseas experiences. Results from 132 expatriates of Fortune 500 firms indicate that satisfaction is significantly related to the performance of the organization as a whole and, further, that this relationship will vary depending on the international orientation of the organization.

Matching Managers to Strategy: An Investigation of Perfor Mance Implications and Boundary Conditions

This paper explores a series of relationships between top managers, strategic direction and financial perfor Mance. Building on previous studies, it was hypothesised that: (a) firms pursuing different strategies would be led by managers with different profiles; and, (b) firms which aligned the profiles of their top managers with the requirements of their strategies would outperfor M those that did not achieve such alignment. Further the importance of the strategy-manager alignment under various environmental and organisational constraints was also investigated. The results of the empirical examination of a sample of U.S. companies from three industries suggest that matching managers to strategy is a significant component of superior perfor Mance.

Environmental Change and Management Staffing: A Comment

This article comments on Guthrie, Grimm and Smith’s (1991) examination of the impact of environmental change on top management team characteristics. Specifically, we argue against their approach of predicting directional changes in top executive attributes without first studying the nature of changes that are transforming the context. Since the impact of environmental shifts such as deregulation can vary by industry, we suggest that it is first necessary to examine changes in the dominant mode of competition, before investigating organizational adaptation. We empirically illustrate the value of this method in a study of the U.S. domestic airline industry before and after deregulation. Our results are dramatically opposed to those reported by Guthrie et al. (1991) in the railroad industry.

Introducing Students to Business Policy and Strategy: Two Exercises to Increase Participation and Interest

This article describes two exercises that can be used to introduce the undergraduate student to the organization-wide perspective of the capstone Business Policy and Strategy course. Each of these exercises creates an environment for broad participation by the students in the class while conveying important lessons about analyzing cases and understanding the synergy that can be created by integrating the functional dimensions of an organization. In addition to providing an effective vehicle for communicating the content of the course, these exercises sensitize students to issues of process, which is a crucial element in strategic planning.

Becoming a Manager: Mastery of a New Identity

This article presents a review of the book Becoming a Manager: Mastery of a New Identity, by Linda A. Hill.