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The predominant focus in research on organizations is on private or public institutions without consistent consideration of their interdependencies. The emphasis in scholarship on private or public interests has strengthened [...]

The four trajectories of change are intermediating change, radical change, creative change, and progressive change. The traits of each are described, and suggestions for appropriate and successful corporate navigation of each are offered.

In this paper, we analyze the variance of accounting profitability among a broad cross section of firms in the American economy from 1981 to 1994. The purpose of the analysis is to identify the importance of year, industry, corporate-parent, and business-specific effects on accounting profitability among operating businesses across sectors. The findings indicate that industry and corporate-parent effects are important and related to one another. As expected, business-specific effects, which arise from competitive positioning and other factors, have a large influence on performance. The analysis reconciles the results of previous studies by exploring differences in method and data. We also identify the broad contributions and limitations of the research, and suggest avenues for further study. New approaches are necessary to generate significant insights about the relationships between industry, corporate-parent, and business influences on firm profitability. (Performance; Sustainability; Industry Structure; Corporate Strategy), 1. Introduction Researchers in the economics and strategy fields have long been interested in understanding the determinants of firm profitability. During the 1960s and 1970s, a large empirical literature in [...]

Evidence is provided on a broad cross-section of publicly traded companies to discuss the turnaround as business phenomenon. Several exceptional businesses that remained independent, survived and accomplished turnarounds during the 1980s and 1990s are also identified.

The Merck and Company $6.6 billion acquisition of Medco Containment Services, a prescription-benefits-management company (PBM), has inspired similar acquisitions of PBMs by other pharmaceutical companies. The pharmaceutical companies claim that such acquisitions provide invaluable drug-research information from PBM customers, but others are critical of the fact that PBMs may be put in the position of offering incentives to doctors who use products produced by their parent companies.

What drove business profitability during the 1980s and early 1990s? Management consultants, business academics, investment analysts, and the business press have all offered managers a range of theories. However, managers have not had access to much data about aggregate trends and broad influences on business profitability over time. With new reporting requirements in place in the United States around 1980, the problem was partly solved. This article uses the new data to categorize the performance of U.S. businesses based on the trajectory in their accounting profitability. It offers information on the average size, growth, financial-market premium, and sectoral affiliation of businesses within each of the groups. Finally, this article describes the broad strategic issues that arise for a subset of the businesses within each group. The result is a series of suggestions about shifts in the strategic issues that face businesses across the economy. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Edited T. R. Gourvish and R. G. Wilson New York: Routledge, 1998. xv + 294 pp. Figures, tables, maps, bibliography, and index. $75.00. ISBN 0415147050. Reviewed by Anita M. McGahan [...]

The way in which firms can improve their performance by tailoring investments to track industry trends is examined.