David Cray

Breaking the Bounds of Organization in Strategic Decision Making

This paper examines the exercise of power in organizational decision making. Four case studies are presented in the text and are analyzed in terms of the power plays of senior managers who were centrally involved in the decision-making process. In particular, the analysis distinguishes between bounded and unbounded decisions. In the former case the power plays of interests are constrained by preestablished organizational rules and procedures, while in the latter case unbounded decisions are relatively free from such organizational parameters and allow actors to exercise power selectively to secure their own interests. The data suggest that decisions may become unbounded in four ways: through unaccustomed forms of data, individual conflict, and novel topics for decision and where the problem is initiated from an unexpected or unusual source. Where decisions become unbounded the data suggest that those actors who are existing power holders through the control of critical contingencies are also able to take advantage of the rules and procedures of the institution to further their own interests.

Cue incongruity in wine personality formation and purchasing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and interaction effects of brand name (BN) of wine and country‐of‐origin (COO) on perceptions of the personality image of the wine, expected price, and willingness to engage with the wine.Design/methodology/approach – A field experiment in which label information for a fictitious wine was presented to wine consumers with a questionnaire on wine perceptions and response measures. The label information was manipulated across subjects using four BNs and three COOs.Findings – The study confirms BN and COO effects on perceived wine personality and responses to the wine. Findings also indicate the effects of BN and COO as well as a BN‐COO interaction effect on price expectations.Research limitations/implications – Findings link different personality dimensions to the two different cues, suggesting greater independence of the cues than originally expected. However, some BN‐COO incongruity effects are found particularly regarding price perceptions. A sm...

Perspectives on Representation and Analysis of Negotiation: Towards Cognitive Support Systems

The rapid expansion of Decision and Negotiation Support Systems has been built mainly on decision-theoretic approaches. This has resulted in the decision maker being viewed through the lens of the problem. In this article, the focus is on the decision makers view of the problem. Three levels of problem articulation are described. Special emphasis is placed on the needs level and the implications it carries for the cognitive and instrumental levels. The three levels of articulation, the organizational model of making decision in social settings, and the three basic approaches to decision making form the basis for computer support focused on understanding and change rather than preferences and outcomes. We argue that in the dynamic, interactive context characteristic of negotiations, a cognitive support system based on restructurable modeling provides a richer basis for support.

Networks and Australian professional services in newly emerging markets of Asia

Purpose – To understand better how professional services firms (PSFs) use networks to gain entry into newly emerging markets (NEMs), to analyze how such firms are assisted in this process by prior networks and to provide a framework of this process.Design/methodology/approach – The methodology utilised in this study is qualitative and exploratory. Ten interviews across three large firms (legal, finance and media consulting) were used for the data gathering. Analysis incorporated open, axial and selective coding.Findings – Prior networks provide impetus to the foreign entry aspirations of PSFs and are critical to the process. The specific functions of network actors in the entry process are to influence the firm and to provide intelligence‐gathering, arising from their participatory role in the foreign market. A framework is presented, supporting network theory as a key theoretical underpinning of strategy formulation, decision‐making and implementation by PSFs entering NEMs.Research limitations/implicatio...

Trust intentions in readers of blogs

Purpose - The blogosphere is an active arena for the communication of topic-area claims by marketer and non-marketer sources. Determinants of influence in the blogosphere have not been well documented. The purpose of this paper is to investigate trust in bloggers, in a framework involving characteristics of bloggers and blogs and blog reading outcomes. Design/methodology/approach - Blog-reader perceptions of bloggers and blogs are derived and tested on a sample of blog readers for their effects on trust formation. Tests of mediation examine the role of perceived personal outcomes of blog reading in trust-formation processes. Findings - Trust formation is predicted by engagement knowledge of the blogger, unique reading experiences, and belief that the blog improved the marketspace. Blogger authoritative knowledge negatively impacted trust intentions. Positive experiences from blog reading mediate relationships between blog and blogger characteristics and intentions to trust. Research limitations/implications - Blog readers examined in this initial investigation may not be totally representative of the general population of blog readers. Replications with other populations are needed. Practical implications - The papers findings suggest knowledge is an essential characteristic of a trustworthy blogger, but knowledge unrelated to everyday information needs holds little perceived value for readers. Firms operating blogs may wish to de-emphasize their topic-area authoritative knowledge and project a voice of topic-area engagement. Originality/value - The paper identifies salient trust-related blogger and blog characteristics and provides an indication of a domain-specific trust-development process that is applicable to marketer and non-marketer information sources.

Strategic Decision Making in Arts Organizations

Despite the growing economic and cultural importance of artistic institutions, relatively little is known about how aesthetic concerns and the demands of artistic production influence administrative roles. In this article, we investigate the strategic decision-making process in a varied sample of Canadian arts organizations, concentrating on the issues that emerge as crucial for the organization and the individuals and groups that participate in the decision-making process.

Trust building in wine blogs: a content analysis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify trust‐building signals and signaling patterns of commercial and non‐commercial wine bloggers within a trustworthiness framework and assess prominence of balanced versus unbalanced resource‐based or compensatory approaches for the management of consumer trust beliefs and the facilitation of positive trust intentions.Design/methodology/approach – Development and validation of theory‐based signal‐classification scheme and two‐stage content analysis of trust‐building signals embedded in wine blogs.Findings – It is found that wine bloggers manage consumer trust beliefs using an unbalanced signaling approach emphasizing ability over character. Ability sub‐dimension signals vary by commercial orientation. Also, character signaling varies with commercial orientation.Research limitations/implications – Only English‐language wine blogs were studied. Limitations of content analysis procedures preclude direct evaluation of signal efficacy in absolute or contextualize...

Key determinants of the mode of international technology transfer: evidence from India and Turkey

An important issue in international technology transfer research is to explain why firms choose a particular mode of technology transfer. The factors advanced in the literature focus on a firms resource dependencies and transaction cost. We believe the mode of technology transfer is embedded in managerial, political, social and national context. The objective of the study is to identify factors considered for different modes and explain the contingencies under which either set of factors would drive a particular choice. Specifically, in this study we study the factors affecting international licensing agreements and joint ventures in India and Turkey. Results from the study indicate licensing was the mode of transfer, since the recipients firms belief in its absorptive capacity was high, it was endowed with slack resources and technology market competition was high. The contingent factors were government policies and resolution influence of the donor. The joint ventures were established when the recipients resources were weak (resource dependency high), when top management was committed to faster growth and donors had invested significant R&D. An important factor underlying joint ventures, especially for a related technology of technical complexity was that these technologies were bundled together with the participants having past experience of sharing common technology with a recipient.

Career paths for managers in the arts

In this article we examine the career paths of top-level managers in the arts. By analysing the training and work history of 23 managers in a variety of arts organisations we evaluate the utility of several existing theories for understanding careers that are characterised by low levels of initial knowledge, the absence of a clear method of entry and the influence of a central interest in artistic activity. Our findings show that while both boundaryless and protean models shed some light on the career trajectories of arts managers, theories based on personality and identity have a large part to play in explaining their choices. The factors describing patterns of movement exhibited by arts managers are likely to be applicable to other groups emerging into a less structured, rapidly changing employment context.

The Use of Symbols in Multicriteria Decision Making

Much of the literature dealing with multicriteria decision making uses formal or mathematical models to bring order out of the chaos of conflicting opinions, counterposed objectives and contradictory information that most important choices involve. Humans may, of course, use MCDM tools to achieve similar ends. Indeed it is the purpose of the varied approaches embodied in MCDM to help individuals and groups make such decisions more effectively. Alas, many groups do not have access to such decision aids when faced with a decision problem involving many criteria, yet they must still make choices. Simon (1947, 1972, 1978) and his colleagues (March and Simon, 1958; Newell and Simon, 1972) have demonstrated that individuals and groups faced with a complex decision will construct an area of bounded rationality which contains a limited amount of information, a few alternatives and a few criteria. Having simplified the problem in this way a decision can then be taken.