Richard W. Pouder

Change drivers in the new millennium: implications for manufacturing strategy research

Drawing on multiple sources, we identify technological, global and workforce trends that will affect the formulation and implementation of manufacturing strategy in the next decade. We then describe several theories from economics, sociology, and psychology and show how they can be used to enrich our interpretations of the effects of these trends. Throughout, we offer suggestions for future research in manufacturing strategy.

Formulating strategic direction for a gated residential community

Purpose – Over the past two decades, a growing number of Americans have decided to live in gated residential communities. Academic research and case studies tend to focus on explaining this growth phenomenon from a range of perspectives, yet surprisingly little has been written about the preservation and growth of existing gated communities. In response to this gap in the literature, the purpose of this paper is to illustrate the use of strategic planning as a means of addressing issues that pertain to sustaining and growing gated residential communities.Design/methodology/approach – This paper applies principles of strategic management to the process of planning for residential preservation and growth. The residential context is a golf‐focused gated community located in the mountains of western North Carolina. It uses focus groups as a qualitative means of identifying important strategic issues. These issues serve as the basis for designing a survey for community residents. The survey results provide qua...

Effects of explanations communicated in announcements of alleged labor abuses on valuation of a firm’s stock

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to gauge the impact of the following on the share price of a firm that has allegedly committed labor abuses: the allegation itself, explanations (justifications and excuses) offered by the company spokesperson, and denials of responsibility for the alleged abuse. Design/methodology/approach The study uses archival data and an event study methodology. Findings Labor abuse allegations have a negative impact on the firm’s share price. Allegations that are accompanied by an explanation (a justification or excuse) have a less negative impact than those that are not accompanied by an explanation. Denials of responsibility have a negative influence on the share price. Practical implications If managers want to avoid a negative hit on the share price from an allegation of wrongdoing, they should provide an explanation (a justification or excuse) and avoid the use of denials. Originality/value Prior research has shown a negative impact from several types of labor abuse. This study extends prior research by showing a negative impact for all forms of labor abuse as a general category; it also extends findings from lab research on the impact of explanations on fairness judgments to a new context and a new dependent variable (the financial performance of the firm), which is on an organizational scale. It adds to the extreme paucity of empirical findings relative to the impact of denials and also adds to a small but growing literature on fairness judgments by third parties and their consequences.

Highland brewing company: A case of product and experience design

In this chapter, we dissect the complex product and experience entanglement that is craft beer, highlighting that this product is about much more than what goes into the bottle. In doing so, we anchor our investigation within a real-life case study of Highland Brewing Company (HBC), the first legal craft brewery in Asheville (est. 1994). Through in-depth interviews with HBC’s executive team, brewmasters, and functional leaders, along with rigorous analysis of the industry context, we show how HBC has wrestled with these issues and how their perception of value has evolved from the bottle to include, and even emphasize, the HBC experience. Doing so will not only provide a company-centric perspective of the craft beer tourism industry and the opportunity it affords, but will also help managers across varied contexts conceptualize the multidimensionality of a firm’s value proposition and experience. In today’s world, great products are not enough to differentiate brands and compete in hyper-competitive industries (Kilian, Sarrazin, & Yeon, 2015). Instead, organizations must encapsulate them with great services and experiences to create heightened levels of value to achieve long-lasting competitive advantage. Furthermore, representatives from the local tourism industry can benefit from a deeper understanding of the opportunities and challenges that craft brewers face, so that they might more effectively package their own value propositions to support richer interactions and facilitate higher levels of value co-creation. We begin the chapter by providing needed background information on HBC, its founder Oscar Wong, and the craft beer industry. We then begin the exploration into the HBC experience in an effort to appreciate its complexity and multidimensionality.