Hossein Dadfar

Competition by Effective Management of Cultural Diversity

Many of the multinational construction firms working in developing countries and in the Middle East in particular have been facing serious problems managing and carrying out their assignments. Many project managers have returned home from their Middle East assignments with strange stories about sociocultural mishaps that had resulted from misinterpretations, frustrations, and conflicts. For example, project managers experience a cultural shock when appointments are not met, a delay of two hours is not unusual, workers stop work twice a day for prayers (religion has influence in all aspects of life) and intertribal conflicts lead to intergroup conflicts on the work site. These problems have most often resulted not only in wastage of valuable resources but also in delay in completion of the projects. The decade of the 1970s was a booming period for the construction business in the Middle Eastern oil-rich countries, and it created a lucrative market for multinational construction firms, including firms based in Sweden. This was due to the huge oil revenues, the massive and ambitious investment programs in infrastructure, and the lack of local qualified constructors. However, decline in oil revenues turned the propitious into tough competition. As a result of price competition, shortage of a local labor force, and the high cost of Swedish labor, in some countries the construction firms hired labor from Thailand and Pakistan that was several times cheaper than that from Sweden. Furthermore, the consulting engineers came from different countries such as Japan and Britain. Such cultural differences appeared as an important issue in all aspects of project management - from the tendering and negotiation phase to construction operations. The question was, then, how to manage such culturally diversified groups effectively.

Customer involvement in service production, delivery and quality: the challenges and opportunities

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to explore the role of customer involvement in service production and its possible effects on the quality of service delivery as well as customer satisfaction.Des ...

Linkage between organisational innovation capability, product platform development and performance : The case of pharmaceutical small and medium enterprises in Iran

This study examines the relationship between organisational innovation capability, product platform development and performance in pharmaceutical small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Iran, an area which has remained unexplored. The intensive literature review has led us to suggest an empirically tested conceptual model consisting of innovation capability, product platform and performance as well as factors/enablers shaping innovation capability in the pharmaceutical firms. Combinations of quantitative and qualitative methods were used for data collection and analysis. Eight Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) companies that produce about 80% of local manufactured API were studied. The results show that the Iranian firms have chosen an imitative strategy in technology and product development. The common pattern for technology sourcing was external. However, although all companies purchased technologies from well-known suppliers, they demonstrated significant differences in the variety of products produced and performance. The failure firms lacked sound absorptive capability. Furthermore, the firms with high performance used a combination of internal and external sources for technology and product development. The empirical analysis showed a positive relationship between innovation capabilities, technology platform, product platform and performance. The pre-requisite to this relationship was found to be effective innovation management and strength/abilities in strategy, organisational structure, learning, processes and linkage (relationship) with the customers, suppliers and alliances.

The impact of inward international licensing on absorptive capacity of SMEs

Purpose – This study aims to examine the impacts of inward international licensing (IIL) on the absorptive capacity (ACAP) of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in a developing economy. Design/methodology/approach – The study is explorative, qualitative and elaborative in nature. Therefore, a multiple case study was selected and performed as the research strategy. The data were collected from four pharmaceutical SMEs licensed from European pharmaceutical large-scale enterprises. Findings – The results confirm that IIL has a strong effect on acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation as absorptive factors. Furthermore, the results have been enhanced by several contextual factors of ACAP human resources, inter-and intra-firm relationships, internal knowledge and managerial and strategic aspects. These contextual factors have also been influenced by IIL. Originality/value – From the licensee perspective in a developing context, examining the extant literature on non-equity strategic alliance...

Organizational Responses to a Revolutionary Environment

Abstract This study deals with organizational responses to the revolutionary environment, which is one with radical, sudden, unpredictable, multidimensional and rapid changes. A conceptual and theoretical model is developed to facilitate a better understanding of the way in which organizations adapt to these environmental changes. The impact of the environmental changes on the organizational entities is explored, as well as the organizational responses to such changes. The various alternatives that successful organizations have used in order to survive and cope with the environmental changes are explained. The rearrangement of vested interest groups and the configuration of the power systems in the organizations, and the relationship of these systems with power systems in society, are discussed.

International strategic alliances in the Iranian pharmaceutical industry: an analysis of key success and failure factors

This study aims to identify key success/failure factors in international strategic alliances (ISAs) in the Iranian pharmaceutical industry, an area which has remained largely unexamined. The literature review, and an expert panels views, led us to study 33 success factors. These factors, based upon their importance in strategic and structural configuration of the alliance formation process, were grouped as content and process-oriented. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches was used for data collection and analysis. The results confirmed that all 33 factors are effective in alliance success, which is an extension of earlier research. The study reveals 8 of the most important success factors, and 11 of the most prevalent failure factors. The findings also showed that six of the eight most important success factors are process-oriented variables. This confirms that trust, mutual understanding and developing strong inter-organisational relationships are extremely important in the success of alliances in the Iranian Pharmaceutical industry. However, 8 of 11 failure factors are content-oriented, which means that the failed alliances mainly had problems in the alliances’ strategic and structural design. The qualitative study supports the quantitative results and adds to the high importance of the soft aspect of the alliances’ success including: the culture of collaboration, open-mindedness, relationship-building ability, parties’ proper knowledge of each others business culture/working attitudes, and effective communication. Besides, in Iran, the local government and public institutes have significant impact on the success of the alliances. One of the more significant findings that emerged from this study is that ‘success’ can mean different things to different people/partners, so success and failure should be seen from both parties’ perspectives.

Quality, export and domestic market performance: the case of pharmaceutical firms in Iran

This study examines the relationship between export involvement/performance and domestic market performance of pharmaceutical enterprises in Iran, an area which has remained largely unresearched. The study seeks to address the following three research objectives: first, to assess the export performance of Iranian pharmaceutical companies; second, to assess the performance of Iranian pharmaceutical companies in the domestic market; and third, to examine the relationship between export involvement/performance and domestic market performance. Although existing literature claims that local performance (rivalry) leads to export performance, this study reveals that in the Iranian pharmaceutical industry, export involvement and performance enhance local market performance. The study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between export performance and domestic market performance, and adds depth to the understanding of the reasons why the traditional views did not explain the situation. A comprehensive literature review was used to build our conceptual and analytical framework upon the Export Performance (EXPERF) model for export performance evaluation. The European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model and assessment indicators of Innovativeness, Learning and Lean indices were used for measuring domestic performance. By using clustering, six clusters of similar companies were identified and the centroids of the six clusters chosen to verify the relationship between export performance and domestic performance. Correlation analyses confirmed that there was a significant positive relation between export performance and domestic performance. This means that export performance results in better domestic performance, and vice versa.

The role of export clusters in export performance of SMEs : the case of Iranian energy industry

Purpose: This study was carried out with the aim of exploring the effects of export clusters formation on export performance of SMEs in Iranian energy industry. Methodology/Approach: The study was undertaken through having three case studies, each on a different export cluster currently active within Iranian energy industry. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with both managers and members of each export cluster as well as study of their archival documents. Findings: The results confirmed that all three export clusters managed to successfully identify their members’ needs and undertook certain measures within their own authority and control, to mitigate these risks. Moreover, the secondary data showed positive growth rate of export level after the establishment of these export clusters. Interestingly, the strong suits of all three export clusters were mainly related to communication and relationship aspects. These three factors were: ability to create Informal Network within members, Public Relations and Training/Consultation. Research Limitation/implication: This study was limited to the export clusters in Iranian energy industry, and on a cross-sectional time horizon basis. It therefore cannot be generalized to all industries and we might witness certain changes in findings if the study is undertaken at different point in time. However, the study shed light on certain important aspects such as nature of relationships within the members of each cluster, the role of trust management and social power as well as the need to place more focus on SMEs in export clusters. Originality/Value of paper: Even though there are recently many studies on the concept of export clusters and their positive impacts on the growth in export of various countries throughout the world; but so far, there had been no similar study undertaken with a focus on Iran and not enough empirical evidence had previously been provided on export clusters performance in a developing country.

Competition by Effective Management of Multicultural Groups

This study concerns effective management of muticultural groups in construction projects. The impact of the cultural composition of teamwork on the performance of projects, project management, and alternatives that successful managers have used to sustain efficient performance are explored. A case study “project centre approach” is used. The cases studied consist of: six construction projects carried out in the Middle East and Far East by Swedish companies. The actors involved in the various cases were: Arabs, British, Chinese, Japanese, Pakistanis Swedish and Thais. Success or failure of the firms could, to a large extent, be traced in the degree of their knowledge for managing multicultural groups and cultural-mixed work teams.

Manufacturing and Product Development by Symbiotic Cooperation in Small Scale Industries

This paper presents symbiotic cooperation as an effective strategy for manufacturing and product development in small scale industries. The problems of small scale industries are of economic scale and lack of sufficient resources. Technological problems, limited range of products, inadequate personnel, skilled labour and experts, especially at the innovative management level, lack of long run planning, inefficient manufacturing and product development are examples of the prevailing problems of the small scale industries. As a solution to these problems, the utilization of symbiotic cooperation strategy (SCS) is suggested. Its usage creates a synergy effect, and if properly applied, can provide the firms with a pooling of technology, know-how, information, capital and manufacturing facilities. It is argued that symbiotic cooperation strategy can bring the advantages of intercompany JIT. A comprehensive symbiotic cooperation is, in fact, an extension of intercompany JIT. Theoretically, the study bridges theories of interorganizational relation and manufacturing management and strategy. Hence, it has both academic and managerial implication. The data, upon which the paper stands, are collected by case study.