Ray V. Montagno

An Interactive Model of the Corporate Entrepreneurship Process

A review of the intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship literature suggests that there may be consistent organizational and Individual characteristics that lead to intrapreneurial behavior. To date, very little research exists which attempts to establish a theoretical framework or model that outlines the various components, Including Individual and organizational characteristics that affect the corporate entrepreneurship process. This paper proposes a model that explains the intrapreneurial process based on a review of past theoretical and empirical research.

Transformational and Servant Leadership: Content and Contextual Comparisons

The purpose of the study is to examine conceptual similarities of transformational and servant leadership theories and analyze the contribution both theories make to the understanding of leadership. The paper examines the extent the domains of the two theories overlap, and looks at the motivation of managers to create organizational cultures using one or the other perspectives. It is suggested that servant leadership leads to a spiritual generative culture, while transformational leadership leads to an empowered dynamic culture. The paper also addresses contextual factors which might make one or the other models more appropriate for organizational objectives. It is suggested that high change environments require the empowered dynamic culture of transformational leadership, while more static environments are better served by the servant leadership culture.

Perception of Internal Factors for Corporate Entrepreneurship: A Comparison of Canadian and U.S. Managers:

The purpose of this study was to expand on the previous research conducted by Kuratko, Montagno, and Hornsby (1990) and Hornsby, Montagno, and Kuratko (1992), which was limited to two American samples. The main hypothesis is that, due to the cultural differences that exist between the U.S. and Canada, there will be differences in responses of U.S. and Canadian managers to factors perceived to be part of an organizational culture that fosters entrepreneurial behavior. The findings suggest the following: U.S. and Canadian managers perceive the workplace similarly in terms of entrepreneurial climate; levels of intrinsic satisfaction of Canadian managers are lower than in the U.S.; overall levels of entrepreneurial behaviors are similar between the U.S. and Canada; but for Americans, entrepreneurial behavior is significantly related to the existence of particular organizational factors.

Operations strategy and organizational performance: an empirical study

Presents the result of a survey of US firms examining the effect of operations strategies on organizational performance. Seven commonly used operations strategies were considered. Eleven criteria were used to measure organizational performance. The results suggest that companies which are using various operations strategies have higher performance than those which are not using those strategies. While using more than one strategy improves organizational performance, the benefits become marginal after several successive additions. This suggests that for an organization to be competitive, it only has to employ a few appropriate and effective strategies. Also, except for just‐in‐time strategy, large firms are more likely to employ various operations strategies than their smaller counterparts.

Organizational performance and environmental consciousness: an empirical study

This study investigates the relationship between environmental strategy and company performance using samples from a nationwide survey. The companies were classified into two groups; environmentally conscious and non‐environmental companies. Environmental companies reported better performance scores and also are more inclined to incorporate various performance improvement strategies and techniques into their operations.

A comparative study of US manufacturing firms at various stages of just-in-time implementation

This study explores whether there are differences among the companies at various stages of just-in-time (JIT) implementation based on factors which were considered relevant in the literature. The factors are categorized as internal and external. Internal factors relate to questions involving product, equipment and process, work-force and top management commitment. External factors deal with supplier and customer issues. Responding firms were categorized into five groups based on their status of JIT implementation, ranging from totally non-JIT to partial and full implementation. The findings of this study suggest that some of the issues such as supplier proximity and the lead-time of the supplier, which have been traditionally considered to be important, are not major impediments to JIT implementation. However, there are some issues such as top management commitment which may facilitate or inhibit the move toward JIT implementation.

Perception of Entrepreneurial Success Characteristics

What do bank officials look for in entrepreneurs seeking capital for small businesses? Do entrepreneurs perceive these same characteristics as important or are there perceptual differences between bankers and small business owners on what constitutes characteristics for entrepreneurial success? This paper examines these issues through a survey of midwestern bankers and small businesspeople. The survey demonstrated significant differences in the dimensions or characteristics that contribute to entrepreneurial success as viewed by each group. The implications of this research may illustrate the difficulties prospective small business owners have in obtaining capital from banks for new ventures.

Using neural networks for identifying organizational improvement strategies

Abstract The struggle to remain competitive in the global marketplace occupies much of the energy of todays firms. Although there are many performance improvement strategies that can be implemented by an organization, it is yet to be determined which strategy or combination of these strategies, if any, is most helpful in improving performance. A genetic algorithm trained neural network is used to identify such combinations to provide direction to managers as to which performance improvement strategies are associated with increases in performance as reported by operations managers. This study shows that this neural network approach can identify combinations that result in better approximations of performance, as compared to standard statistical techniques, and should be considered as an appropriate tool for performance improvement strategy selection.

Environmental Concerns, Effort and Impact: An Empircal Study

This study investigates the relationship between environmental concern, environmental effort and their impact on company performance. Results based on survey data from sixty companies indicate that there is a positive correlation between environmental concern and effort. In addition, positive correlations between effort and operations efficiency and company image were found. No significant correlation between environmental effort and profit was found. It was observed that top management concern is a key to environmental initiatives. Manufacturing companies seem to have higher concern than those of service companies and expend more effort in reducing pollution, waste recycling etc. However, there is no significant difference in impact on performance between manufacturing and service companies relative to environmental efforts.

THE EFFECTS OF COMPARISON OTHERS AND PRIOR EXPERIENCE ON RESPONSES TO TASK DESIGN

The article discusses the influence of knowledge of other organizational tasks and prior experience on responses to task design or job enrichment. The study demonstrated that comparison group manipulation affected the quantity of job performance. Comparison group manipulation also impacted error rates in task performance. Comparison group manipulation did not affect job satisfaction although prior experience affected job satisfaction. Participants who had prior knowledge of other organizational tasks were less satisfied compared to those who had no prior experience.