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Risk is an integral component of strategic management decisions and often appears as an element of empirical studies reported in the strategic management literature. Recent methodological research in the financial economics and management science literatures has, however, raised serious questions about the strategic management literature's two most widely used measures of firm and business-level risk: beta (or its derivatives) from the Capital Asset Pricing Model and simple variance (or its variants). This research reviews risk studies published in leading management journals in the past 15 years and summarizes the recent methodological findings in the adjacent literatures. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of risk in strategic management and assess alternative measures of risk and conclude with a discussion of directions for future strategy research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reanalyzes Miller and Friesen's (1984a) life cycle data by statistically assessing their conclusions regarding the life cycle imperative. Three separate models were tested: a three-phase model, a four-phase model and a five-phase model. Using the del procedure for the prediction analysis of cross-classification tables, a sensitivity analysis showed that there is support for the life cycle progression hypothesis, but only when firms that stay in the same phase are not treated as errors. When firms that stay the same are increasingly weighted as errors, del values drop significantly. In general, the three- and four-phase models show better support for the life cycle hypothesis than the five-phase model originally used by Miller and Friesen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community-based research (CBR) represents a particularly timely approach to rural research. Rural areas in industrialized nations are undergoing dramatic and rapid processes of economic, social and political restructuring. These forces, combined with a trend towards place-based development and territorial policy make CBR an appropriate rural method given its flexibility and sensitivity to local context. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the use and methods of CBR in the rural setting, drawn from our collective research experience in northern British Columbia. There has been increased attention paid to CBR, signalling a form of acceptance within the academy towards community-based and participatory methods. However, gaps exist in addressing the various approaches to conducting CBR and in considering the relevance of CBR in different contexts. Researchers also note the need for better training in the use of community-based methods. We reflect upon our rural CBR experience to offer insights and pragmatic lessons on effective methodological practices using a simplified framework of the key research process stages: preparing for community engagement, doing community-based research and after the fieldwork. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of a range of management science methodologies (MSMs) such as ‘soft’ operational research (OR) has been a feature of the UK OR practice over the last decades. This paper suggests that the increasing number of soft approaches developed in the UK is a direct consequence of the pragmatism in management education and management practice in Britain; and of the development of a robust British systems movement that has been engaged with the British OR community. Rationalism prevalent in French management education has kept OR/MS practice biased towards the hard end of MSM. We explore the usage of hard and soft methods and present results of a mailed survey administered to a small sample of British and French MBA graduates working in consultancy. Results reflect features of British and French business culture and management education; and indicate the different directions taken by the MS/OR movements in these two countries. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined average-, high- and top-performing US fourth graders' rational number problem solving and their understanding of rational number representations. In phase one, all students completed a written test designed to tap their skills for multiplication, division and rational number word-problem solving. In phase two, a subset of students sorted cards that showed part-whole, ratio, quotient, measure, and operator perspectives of rational number representations. Each perspective was shown in numerical notational, word-problem, and visual formats. The results indicated that top-performing students scored significantly higher in problem solving and showed more effectively linked rational number representations than the other groups. The results imply that successful rational number problem solving is intertwined with representational knowledge for a wide range of rational numbers and that the bulk of US students do not possess effective skills for working with rational number representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper introduces a textual analysis methodology which utilizes a systemic concept and a modified version of the systems modelling language from soft systems methodology (SSM). For ease of reference, the methodology is referred to as the systemic textual analysis methodology (STAM). Following trends in hermeneutics and linguistics, STAM balances objective and subjective aspects of the process of textual analysis by using the notion of a ‘recoverable’ textual analysis. STAM can be used in a wide range of Management Science and qualitative research projects, but is presented in this paper in a form suitable for the analysis of texts which constitute formal descriptions of processes or methodologies. Such analysis supports critical evaluation of texts in terms of characteristics such as content, descriptive quality, logical structure, overall coherence and completeness. The basic tenet of STAM is that textual data can be represented as a set of activities, and therefore conceptualized as an activity system. STAM opetationalizes this approach in the form of a six-step process. The paper includes a simplistic exemplification of STAM where it is used to analyze a short piece of text. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extraordinary importance of the services sector for the economy both in production and employment cannot be denied. As a result, there have been both demands for an increase in Service Operations Management (SOM) research since the 1980s on the one hand, and, on the other, predictions that such an increase will take place [e.g.: Buffa, E.S., 1980. Research in Operations Management. Journal of Operations Management 1 (1), 1–8; Miller, J.G., Graham, M.B.W., Freeland, J.R., Hottenstein, M., Maister, D.M., Meredith, J., Schmenner, R.W., 1981. Production/Operations Management: agenda for the 80s. Decision Science 12 (4), 547–571; Mabert, V.A., 1982. Service Operations Management: research and application. Journal of Operations Management 2 (4), 203–209; Amoako-Gyampah, K., Meredith, J.R., 1989. The Operations Management research agenda: an update. Journal of Operations Management 8 (3), 250–262; Chase, R.B., 1996. The mall is my factory: reflections of a service junkie. Production and Operations Management 5 (4), 298–308; Pannirselvam, G.P., Ferguson, L.A., Ash, R.C., Siferd, S.P., 1999. Operations Management research: an update for the 1990s. Journal of Operations Management 18 (1), 95–112; Roth, A.V., Menor, L.J., 2003. Insights into service Operations Management: a research agenda. Production and Operations Management 12 (2), 145–164; Slack, N., Lewis, M., Bates, H., 2004. The two worlds of Operations management research and practice. Can they meet, should they meet? International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 24 (4), 372–387]. And yet, the amount of SOM research done in OM research has still only been minimal. This contradiction calls for an in-depth study of the state of affairs of SOM research, and we have conducted just such a study in 10 of the most relevant and representative outlets in the OM field, as well as in pipeline research (Proceedings of the POMS, DSI and EurOMA Conferences). Our results aim to provide answers to the following questions, amongst others: (1) Is greater importance now attached to SOM research within OM research? (2) What are the main topics of research? Are they the same topics that have been proposed in SOM research agendas? (3) What methods are used in SOM research? (4) What are the most commonly studied sectors of economic activities? (5) Are there any differences from OM research in terms of content and methods? Some of our findings show that although a growth in SOM research had been predicted in earlier studies, there is still only a minimal amount done (7.5% of OM research); seven topics command 61.5% of SOM research, which (with some exceptions) is consistent with SOM research agendas; there is more research done on strategic issues than on tactical/operational issues; models and simulations are still more common than empirical research, but trends point to a shift to the latter; the majority of research focuses on a specific sector, and three sectors account for 50% of the total; there is a clear connection between type of journal and type of research, research method and sector of activity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Thirty years ago sociological research began to discover what workplace romance might mean for the participants. Since then management research has tended to adopt a functionalist approach, using survey methods, or third-party approaches to ask about company policy and negative consequences of workplace romance, warning of the dangers and consequences of romance and offering solutions for managers on how to deal with this potential problem. Drawing on the sexuality of organization and critical literature, and adopting a position of constructivist structuralism with a qualitative research method, this research looks at how the concept of workplace romance is defined and negotiated within a public-house setting. It examines the ‘rules of engagement’, the personal experiences and views of both managers and workers, as well as first-hand stories of workplace romance. Romance was conceptualized as ‘natural’ and something that could not be legislated for, where unwritten rules were defined but often ignored. However, the ‘rules of engagement’ emerged as favouring particular groups depending on gender, position in the hierarchy and sexual identity. Subjective value judgements are made, often resting on gendered assumptions of male and female behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the findings from a recent study of nurse leavers at eight large hospitals in the National Health Service (NHS) of England and Wales. The study develops and extends an influential theory of employee turnover by describing how for some leavers a single, jarring event orshocktriggers the decision to quit. By elaborating on the nature of shocks for this sample of 352 nurse leavers, the paper allows for improved understanding of nursing turnover and thus offers an example of relevant management research. The analysis of shock illustrates how conventional research methodologies can lead to a distorted picture of turnover. This has wider implications, both for any organization wishing to manage turnover effectively and for future research. The paper adds to the limited body of empirical analysis on actual leavers, thereby contributing to an ongoing methodological debate concerning the use of proxy variables. By highlighting flaws in the dominant methodology used to study turnover, the paper offers an example of management research that is also rigorous, and thus‘pragmatic’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper provides a comprehensive assessment of 285 survey research articles in operations management (OM), published between 1980 and 2000. Six OM journals are included in this study; they are, in alphabetical order: Decision Sciences (DS), International Journal of Operations & Production Management (IJOPM), International Journal of Production Research (IJPR), Journal of Operations Management (JOM), Management Science (MS), and Production and Operations Management (POM). In this paper, we reflect upon the state and evolution of survey research in the OM discipline across a 21-year time span and the contribution of OM journals that have published these studies. Major changes have occurred in the last 5 years of our sampling period, and two topics stood out as showing fastest ascendancy to prominence—operations strategy and supply chain management. Furthermore, over the years, the Journal of Operations Management appears to have been publishing more survey research articles and a greater variety of OM topics compared to the other five journals in our study. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper recognizes the failure of management research to communicate with practitioners, and speculates over the reasons why this may be the case. It is possible that the researchers' interests may not always coincide with management practitioners'; however, even when such interests are congruent, it seems that relatively little management research is published in practitioner journals. We suggest that this is because academic research is written in a style that tends to alienate most practitioners. This paper isolates the stylistic conventions associated with research targeted to academics (typically published in academic journals) and research targeted to practitioners (typically published in practitioner-oriented journals). Such stylistic differences are illustrated through a study of organizational change whose findings have been published in both academic and practitioner format, namely in the Administrative Science Quarterly and the Harvard Business Review. We suggest that the gap between these two types of research could be narrowed through processes of translation (i.e. academic jargon could be translated in practitioner language). In addition we might consider greater use of Mode 2 research over Mode 1 research (academic). Mode 2 research presupposes that teams of academics and practitioners assemble to define the research problem and methodology in terms appropriate to a particular context and in a way that accounts for all existing interests so that translation processes are seamless. However, Mode 2 creates its own gap in that the knowledge is more contextual and may not reach a wide audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reprints the article "Soft Systems Methodology: A Thirty Year Retrospective," by Peter Checkland, which appeared in the September to October 1994 issue of "American Behavioral Scientist." Role of modelling in soft systems methodology; General shape of organization theory; State of thinking in management science.

Due to the heritage and history of operations management, its research methodologies have been confined mainly to that of quantitative modeling and, on occasion, statistical analysis. The field has been changing dramatically in recent years. Firms now face numerous worldwide competitive challenges, many of which require major improvements in the operations function. Yet, the research methodologies in operations have largely remained stagnant. The paradigm on which these methodologies are based, while useful, limits the kinds of questions researchers can address. This paper presents a review and critique of the research in operations, itemizing the shortcomings identified by researchers in the field. These researchers suggest a new research agenda with an integrative view of operations' role in organizations, a wider application of alternative research methodologies, greater emphasis on benefit to the operations manager, cross-disciplinary research with other functional areas, a heavier emphasis on sociotechnical analysis over the entire production system, and empirical field studies. Some of the alternative research methodologies mentioned include longitudinal studies, field experiments, action research, and field studies. Following a description of the nature of research, three stages in the research cycle are identified: description, explanation, and testing. Although research can deal with any stage in this cycle, the majority of attention currently seems to focus on the explanation stage. The paper then discusses historical trends in the philosophy of science, starting with positivism, expanding into empiricism, and then leading to post-positivism. The impacts of each of these trends on research in operations (which remains largely in the positivist mode) are described. Discussion of the importance of a plurality of research methods concludes the section. A framework for research paradigms is then developed based on two key dimensions of research methodologies: the rational versus existential structure of the research process and the natural versus artificial basis for the information used in the research. These dimensions are then further explored in terms of thirteen characteristic measures. Next, research methodologies commonly used in other fields as well as operations are described in reference to this framework. Methodologies include those traditional to operations such as normative and descriptive modeling, simulation, surveys, case and field studies as well as those more common to other fields such as action research, historical analysis, expert panels, scenarios, interviewing, introspection, and hermeneutics. Examples from operations or allied fields are given to illustrate the methodologies. Past research publications in operations are plotted on the framework to see the limitations of our current paradigms relative to the richness of other fields. We find that operations methodologies tend to lie on the more rational end of the framework while spanning the natural/artificial dimension, though the majority of research is at the artificial pole. Last, recommendations arc made for applying the framework and paradigms to research issues in operations management. The topics of quality management and technology implementation are used as examples to illustrate how a wide variety of methodologies might be employed to research a much broader range of issues than has currently been researched. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laboratory research has long been a common method of inquiry in the behavioral sciences. In recent years, however, laboratory methodologies appear to have fallen from favor with many management researchers. This paper summarizes reasons for this trend including limited external validity and appropriateness of using laboratory methodologies. Additionally, a number of situations in which laboratory research may hold considerable promise and utility are identified such as using multiple samples or multiple studies in one paper, or when sensitive topics are the focus of research. The paper concludes with the reminder that the questions asked should dictate the methodology selected, not the preferences of a reviewer or editor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Case studies of firms attempting to adopt a particular type of technological innovation have demonstrated that the process of technological innovation may be mediated by decision-makers' access to knowledge and by their cognitions - reflected in belief systems. This paper highlights the importance of cognitions in decisions about technological innovation. However, cognitive processes have been under emphasized in empirical work on technological innovation and part of the problem may have been lack of availability of research tools and techniques with which to explore cognitions. Cognitive mapping methodologies are reviewed in terms of their potential to fill this gap in the research into technological innovation. The paper discusses these methodologies, evaluates their limitations and argues that a distinction should be made between cognitive maps and the output of mapping techniques. The paper concludes that cognitive mapping may provide a useful addition to existing management research tools provided researchers are clear about what is revealed by the particular methodology used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been assumed that strategic decision making and implementation are both achieved through managers' sharing homogeneous cognitions of competition (e.g. Porac and Thomas, 1990). This paper tested the assumption of homogeneity of cognitions of competition, using a sample of 24 managers from the off-shore pumps industry. A variety of cognitive mapping techniques were used and maps were compared using a self-rating methodology. The results indicated that managers' mental models of competition are diverse, rather than homogeneous, but that this diversity increases as company boundaries are crossed and as functional boundaries are crossed. Therefore, it is concluded that future cognitive studies of competitive industry structures should assume diversity of cognitions rather than homogeneity. Specific propositions with regard to such research are drawn from the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The symbolic meaning of brands of trainers is explored using a free-response stimulus-bound methodology. Gender differences in the meaning of brands are related to thresholds of elaborative processing of advertising messages. Age differences are related to transformational aspects of advertising for fashion products. The implications for meaning research and strategic brand concept-image management are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relations between a firm and organizations in its political and economic environment are increasingly seen as crucial for the successful functioning of that firm, both in the narrow economic sense, and at the broader level of reaching sustainability. However, attention seems to be focused on the positive qualities of such networks of organizations. In this paper it is argued that networks of organizations have a dual nature, and do not just provide possibilities for collective learning and problem solving. At the same time, such networks consist of dependency relations that provoke power strategies, which result in outcomes reflecting the distribution of power rather than leading to an optimal result. By means of a case study, this dual nature is explored. It is shown that the actors involved in the process of developing an alternative to the disposable milk carton in the Netherlands are embedded in dependency relations. Several of these actors attempt to create problem solving networks, and succeed. However, the already existing dependency relations between the actors involved influence the direction, outcome, and timing within these networks. Using criteria for network performance, this dual nature of networks is assessed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the authors' opinion on managing applied research in federal employment policy. They say that less rigorous evaluations may suffice for new programs, whereas random assignment evaluations are better suited and most needed for mature employment and training programs. It is suggested that the largest employment programs consisting of bigger budgets and affective for many participants, should be considered for random assignment evaluations.

This article focuses on the editorial policy of the "Journal of Operations Management" (JOM). The mission of the JOM is to publish original, high quality, operations management (OM) empirical research that will have a significant impact on OM theory and practice. Regular articles accepted for publication in the JOM must have clear implications for operations managers based on one or more of a variety of rigorous research methodologies. The JOM's distinctive emphasis is on the management of operations. Accordingly, the aim of the JOM is to enhance the field of operations management and develop generalizable theory, typically through the identification, analysis, and resolution of real OM problems. JOM's primary audience includes researchers interested in advancing the field as well as educators and practitioners who wish to keep abreast of the state of the art in OM research. The JOM seeks research that can help the audience develop a better conceptual base for understanding OM. The focus of articles for the JOM should be on the managerial situation or the theory being studied rather than the solution techniques being developed or used.

This article focuses on the editorial philosophy of the "Journal of Operations Management" (JOM). The mission of the JOM is to publish original, high quality, operations management (OM) empirical research that will have a significant impact on OM theory and practice. Regular articles accepted for publication in the JOM must have clear implications for operations managers based on one or more of a variety of rigorous research methodologies. The JOM's distinctive emphasis is on the management of operations. Accordingly, the aim of the JOM is to enhance the field of operations management and develop generalize able theory, typically through the identification, analysis, and resolution of real OM problems. JOM's primary audience includes researchers interested in advancing the field as well as educators and practitioners who wish to keep abreast of the state of the art in OM research. The JOM seeks research that can help the audience develop a better conceptual base for understanding OM.