Said Elbanna

The Influence of Decision, Environmental and Firm Characteristics on the Rationality of Strategic Decision‐Making*

This paper develops an integrated model of strategic decision-making rationality. The model is informed by three perspectives that respectively identify decision, environmental and firm characteristics as influences on the rationality of decision processes. The results of a study in Egypt indicate that the rationality of strategic decision-making processes is shaped by variables identified by all three perspectives, and that such decision processes cannot adequately be modelled in terms of a single perspective only. However, the study also suggests that the three perspectives do not contribute in equal measure to explaining strategic decision making, and that the national setting is relevant for the extent to which strategic decision-makers take account of environmental characteristics. The location of the investigation in Egypt highlights some deviations from previous research that could be attributed to nation-specific factors, both cultural and institutional. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2007.

The relationships between the characteristics of the strategy process: evidence from Egypt

Purpose – Strategy process research has made considerable progress over the last 20 years and has produced a vast body of literature. This valuable contribution, however, has not adequately examined the relationships between the characteristics of the strategy process. This study aims to fill this gap by providing evidence on the relationships between the characteristics of the process of making strategic decisions (SDs) in a new setting.Design/methodology/approach – The study uses quantitative and qualitative methods.Findings – Based on quantitative and qualitative evidence from a sample of Egyptian companies, it was found that decision makers could be simultaneously rational, political and/or intuitive.Research limitations/implications – The study recommends further research to develop new constructs of the SD making process the way in which the multi‐dimensional nature of this organic process can be considered.Practical implications – The SD making process can be multi‐dimensionalOriginality/value – Th...

Strategic planning in the United Arab Emirates

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on the nature and practice of strategic planning in organizations working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).Design/methodology/approach – Given the nature of the data, questionnaires are collected from managers only. Personal delivery and pick‐up system is used to collect the questionnaire. Sampled organizations are divided into 47 percent from the public sector and 53 percent from the private sector.Findings – A high percentage of organizations in the sample have moved beyond daily managing and are strategically planning for the future. Surprisingly, the findings indicate that there are relatively few significant differences among the four groups included in the paper, public versus private organizations and small versus large organizations. The paper also shows that the resources required for adopting a strategic planning approach do not form a significant obstacle; and the higher the position, the more likely is participation in the strategic planning pr...

How much does performance matter in strategic decision making

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of two aspects of firm performance: financial and business performance and organizational effectiveness, on three dimensions of the strategic decision‐making process, rationality, intuition, and political behavior.Design/methodology/approach – The empirical study goes well beyond the common anecdotal observations or reflections on strategic decision‐making by utilizing a mixed‐methods approach. Based on a multi‐method field study, 286 Egyptian managers who participate in making strategic decisions are surveyed; and 36 semi‐structured interviews are conducted.Findings – The results suggest that strategic decision‐making in high‐performing firms is more rational and less intuitive and political. Interestingly, they also show that organizational effectiveness is a stronger predictor of strategic decision‐making process dimensions than of financial and business performance.Research limitations/implications – In Egypt, a widespread suspicion of ac...

Assessing the perceptions of the quality of reported earnings in Egypt

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to assess respondents perceptions of the quality of reported earnings in Egypt. To this end, three main issues are investigated: first, the potential incentives for engagement in earnings manipulation; second, the techniques most frequently used in manipulating earnings; and finally, the actions required to improve the quality of accounting information, including the reported earnings. Design/methodology/approach - A total of 16 semi-structured interviews are conducted in order to uncover any undisclosed issues and to supplement the results provided by a questionnaire survey distributed among three groups of respondents, namely, accounting academics, external auditors, and financial managers. Findings - The results indicate that the main incentives for manipulating earnings in Egypt are to enhance the chances of obtaining a bank loan; to sustain last years profit performance; to report profits and to avoid reporting losses; and to achieve high-share valuation. The results also demonstrate that making inadequate provisions; capitalising rather than expensing expenditures; and overestimating the inventory value are the most frequently used techniques in earnings manipulation. Practical implications - The results could be of assistance to Egyptian external auditors and regulators in their attempt to limit the incidence of earnings manipulation. Originality/value - With a few exceptions, most of the literature on earnings management has been based on the US data. Therefore, research undertaken in a country such as Egypt, where the environment in many respects is different, may reveal a different perception of the quality of reported earnings and help determine how preparers in Egypt can further improve the quality of reported earnings.

Processes and Impacts of Strategic Management: Evidence From the Public Sector in the United Arab Emirates

This study presents the first substantial exploration of the processes and impacts of strategic management in the public sector of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is designed to survey the way in which public organizations formulate, implement, and evaluate their strategic plans, and to identify which particular strategic management elements are most closely related to their perceived impacts. Based on an analysis of 172 usable questionnaires from 67 organizations, the results show that the practice of strategic management has become regular and standard and can be considered the centerpiece of the public management reform in UAE public organizations over the last few years. Moreover, there is relatively high awareness of strategic planning tools and the balanced scorecard is used as the framework for strategic planning by both federal and local organizations. The study also shows that there is very little variation in the practice of strategic management between federal and local organizations and the impacts of this practice are largely beneficial. The implications of these results for practitioners and public management research are discussed.

Conflict in strategic decision making: do the setting and environment matter?

Purpose – There are two goals of this study. First, it seeks to offer a cultural perspective with regard to the aspects of conflict in strategic decision making in Egypt. Second, it aims to examine the impact of conflict on decision effectiveness, taking into account the moderating effect of environmental uncertainty and environmental munificence.Design/methodology/approach – The study is a multi method one in which both semi‐structured interviews and survey questionnaires were utilized. In total, 36 semi‐structured interviews were conducted and 135 usable questionnaires were collected from manufacturing firms. Various statistical techniques were used to validate the instrument and analyze the data.Findings – This article offers new insights into the perception of conflict in Egypt. It also corroborates prior research in that conflict was found to significantly influence decision outcomes and strategic decision‐making process matters.Practical implications – Both task and affective conflicts are treated i...

Determinants of strategic planning effectiveness: extension of earlier work

Purpose – This paper aims to report the results of a study which extends the research of Elbanna by testing the relationship between strategic planning practice and participation on the one hand and the effectiveness of strategic planning on the other.Design/methodology/approach – The paper extends the work of Elbanna by conducting the study in a new setting, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with a broader sample: private and public organizations. The study tries to control for the possible impact of the methodology on research results by adopting the same methods and measures as the initial study had adopted.Findings – The conclusions of the combined studies show that, in Arab countries, strategic planning practice enhances strategic planning effectiveness; unexpectedly, and contrary to previous research in developed economies, management participation does not contribute here to the effectiveness of strategic planning.Originality/value – Although previous research provides valuable knowledge concerning st...

The impact of affective conflict on firm performance

Purpose – This paper aims to develop and test an integrative model of the relationship between affective conflict and firm performance considering the control effects of four contextual variables, namely, decision motive, firm size, type of ownership and environmental hostility.Design/methodology/approach – This paper focuses on empirical data gathered from the Egyptian manufacturing sector. The measures of this study enjoy a significant degree of reliability and validity.Findings – The results suggest that affective conflict is a significant predictor of firm performance.Research limitations/implications – The most serious limitation of the study is that data on the study variables are collected from one respondent in each firm. Another important limitation is that different kinds of conflict are not examined in order to explain the different roles which they can play in strategic decision making (SDM).Originality/value – The paper contributes to knowledge in the area of SDM by developing a richer model ...

Miller's environmental uncertainty scale: an extension to the Arab world

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to employ a mixed methods design to assess the applicability, reliability and validity of Millers scale of environmental uncertainty.Design/methodology/approach – Using 759 questionnaires and eight personal interviews from three countries throughout four phases of scale assessment, the authors re‐operationalized Millers scale to be more applicable to Arab countries. Phase 1 refines the scale with reference to the new context in which the authors applied it. Phase 2 eliminates poor performing items, using exploratory factor analysis. Phase 3 examines the generalizability of the modified scale in the Arab world. Finally, Phase 4 assesses the criterion‐related validity of the scale.Findings – The authors assessment of Millers scale suggests that several changes in the scale are necessary to be more applicable in Arab countries. The results of the combined sample are consistent with the hypothetical structure of constructs and have four factors: product, competition,...