› › The Flexible Firm

Building the Flexible Firm

Author : Henk Wijtze Volberda

Publisher :

Page : 388 pages

File Size : 12,46 MB

Release : 1999

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 9780198295952

Get eBook

Book Description

How do firms cope with changing environments? Is flexibility really the solution? Based on an Igor Ansoff Award winning study, Building the Flexible Firm shows how flexibility has become the new strategic challenge for contemporary firms. Offering a wealth of insights and based on extensive interviews with practitioners, Henk Volberda provides a strategic framework which explains what types of flexibility are effective under different organizational conditions and environmental characteristics. He also demonstrates an integrated method for diagnosing a firm's flexibility and for guiding the transition to greater flexibility and responsiveness.



Flexible Firm

Author : Jakob Krause-Jensen

Publisher : Berghahn Books

Page : 324 pages

File Size : 40,87 MB

Release : 2010

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 9781845456689

Get eBook

Book Description

Bang & Olufsen, the famous Danish producer of high-end home electronics, is well known as an early exponent of value-based management: the idea that there should be consistency in what the organisation does, a certain continuity between what the company develops and sells, and the beliefs and practices of the employees. This study investigates how company values are communicated and the collective identity is articulated through the use of such concepts as 'culture', 'fundamental values', and 'corporate religion', as well as how employees negotiate these ideas in their daily working lives. As this book reveals, the identification of values, meant to create cohesion and solidarity among employees, came to symbolise and engender a split between the staff and the other parts of the company. By examining the rise and fall of the value-based management approach, this volume offers the indispensible insight of anthropological enquiry to expose how social realities challenge conventional management strategies and therefore must be considered in the development of new management techniques.



The Flexible Firm

Author : Julian Birkinshaw

Publisher : OUP Oxford

Page : 250 pages

File Size : 50,18 MB

Release : 2000-03-16

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 0191584061

Get eBook

Book Description

The pace of change in the business world is becoming faster. This book provides a detailed account of the network-like organization forms that some firms are adopting to make themselves more flexible and responsive to changing technologies and customer demands. As these organizations become more pervasive, the winners will be those firms that develop the specific capabilities that are needed to thrive in a networked world. Paradoxically, such capabilities are developed not only at the firm level, but also in the relationships the firm has with its external network and in the operating units within the firm. This perspective has implications for the 'resource-based view of the firm' in the field of strategic management, suggesting that the development of capabilities is a more complex and multi-level process than was traditionally thought. This book brings together eleven chapters, each focusing on a particular aspect of capability development in the networked firm. It is based on research in five big Swedish firms (Ericsson, Volvo, Skandia, Pharmacia & Upjohn, SE Banken) as well as a number of other well-known firms such as HP and ABB. The book will be essential reading for advanced students in strategy and international business wanting to keep abreast of current thinking and company practices.



Despotism on Demand

Author : Alex J. Wood

Publisher : Cornell University Press

Page : 191 pages

File Size : 49,11 MB

Release : 2020-05-15

Category : Political Science

ISBN : 1501748904

Get eBook

Book Description

Despotism on Demand draws attention to the impact of flexible scheduling on managerial power and workplace control. When we understand paid work as a power relationship, argues Alex J. Wood, we see how the spread of precarious scheduling constitutes flexible despotism; a novel regime of control within the workplace. Wood believes that flexible despotism represents a new domain of inequality, in which the postindustrial working class increasingly suffers a scheduling nightmare. By investigating two of the largest retailers in the world he uncovers how control in the contemporary "flexible firm" is achieved through the insidious combination of "flexible discipline" and "schedule gifts." Flexible discipline provides managers with an arbitrary means by which to punish workers, but flexible scheduling also requires workers to actively win favor with managers in order to receive "schedule gifts": more or better hours. Wood concludes that the centrality of precarious scheduling to control means that for those at the bottom of the postindustrial labor market the future of work will increasingly be one of flexible despotism.



Gung Ho!

Author : Ken Blanchard

Publisher : Harper Collins

Page : 216 pages

File Size : 14,38 MB

Release : 1997-10-08

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 068815428X

Get eBook

Book Description

Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles, co-authors of the New York Times business bestseller Raving Fans, are back with Gung Ho! Here is an invaluable management tool that outlines foolproof ways to increase productivity by fostering excellent morale in the workplace. It is a must-read for everyone who wants to stay on top in today's ultra-competitive business world. Raving Fans taught managers how to turn customers into full-fledged fans. Now, Gung Ho! brings the same magic to employees. Through the inspirational story of business leaders Peggy Sinclair and Andy Longclaw, Blanchard and Bowles reveal the secret of Gung Ho--a revolutionary technique to boost enthusiasm and performance and usher in astonishing results for any organization. The three principles of Gung Ho are: The Spirit of the Squirrel The Way of the Beaver The Gift of the Goose These three cornerstones of Gung Ho are surprisingly simple and yet amazingly powerful. Whether your organization consists of one or is listed in the Fortune 500, this book ensures Gung Ho employees committed to success. Gung Ho! also includes a clear game plan with a step-by-step outline for instituting these groundbreaking ideas. Destined to become a classic, Gung Ho! is a rare and wonderful business book that is packed with invaluable information as well as a compelling, page-turning story. Management legend Ken Blanchard and master entrepreneur Sheldon Bowles are back with Gung Ho!, revealing a surefire way to boost employee enthusiasm, productivity, and performance and usher in astonishing results for any organization. Raving Fans brilliantly schooled managers on how to turn customers into raving fans. Gung Ho! now brings the same magic to employees. Here is the story of how two managers saved a failing company and turned in record profits with record productivity. The three core ideas of Gung Ho! are surprisingly simple: worthwhile work guided by goals and values; putting workers in control of their production; and cheering one another on. Their principles are so powerful that business leaders, reviewing the manuscript for Ken and Sheldon, have written to say, "Sorry. Ignored instructions. Have photocopied for everyone. I promise to buy books, but can't wait. We need now!" Like Raving Fans, Gung Ho! delivers.



Flexible Working Practices and Approaches

Author : Christian Korunka

Publisher : Springer Nature

Page : 292 pages

File Size : 47,72 MB

Release : 2021-10-25

Category : Psychology

ISBN : 3030741281

Get eBook

Book Description

Modern workplaces are following a strong trend of increasing flexible working practices and approaches, offering more flexibility in working times, working places, work organization, and work relations as the result of new information and communication technologies. This book brings together a group of internationally recognized experts in the field of flexible work to examine the psychological and social implications of these practices, describing the current state of research and empirically-based practices in this field. It focuses on organizational, job, and individual factors related to the quality of working life, and identifies potential risk groups where the benefits of flexible work are suppressed or not realized. Ideal for organizations implementing or considering implementing flexible work, for professionals and researchers in work and organizational psychology, and for HR professionals, this volume is an invaluable overview of rapidly changing work norms and their impact on working life.



Positive and Negative Aspects of Outsourcing

Author : Mario Franco

Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand

Page : 134 pages

File Size : 47,63 MB

Release : 2018-03-21

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 9535139339

Get eBook

Book Description

Outsourcing has been seen as a phenomenon allowing competitive advantages for organizations, but some studies do not include the causes and consequences of this particular strategy. Consequently, the objective of this book is to fill this gap by combining several studies from different perspectives. The various chapters presented here follow several approaches, which researchers explore in different contexts. This book intends, therefore, to add to the body of knowledge about outsourcing. Furthermore, it shows how the outsourcing strategy can stimulate organizations' development in various countries and regions worldwide.



The Flexible Firm

Author : Julian Birkinshaw

Publisher : Oxford University Press on Demand

Page : 230 pages

File Size : 27,94 MB

Release : 2000

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 9780199248551

Get eBook

Book Description

The pace of change in the business world is becoming faster. This book provides a detailed account of the network-like organizational forms that some firms are adopting to make themselves more flexible and responsive to changing technologies and customer demands. As these organizations become more pervasive, the winners will be those firms that develop the specific capabilities that are needed to thrive in a networked world. Paradoxically, such capabilities are developed not only at the firm level, but also in the relationships the firm has with its external network and in the operating units within the firm. This perspective has implications for the 'resource-based view of the firm' in the field of strategic management, suggesting that the development of capabilities is a more complex and multi-level process than was traditionally thought. This book brings together eleven chapters, each focusing on a particular aspect of capability development in the networked firm. It isbased on research in five big Swedish firms (Ericsson, Volvo, Skandia, Pharmacia and Upjohn, SE Banken) as well as a number of other well-known firms such as HP and ABB. The book will be essential reading for advanced students in strategy and international business wanting to keep abreast of current thinking and company practices.



A Flexible Future?

Author : Paul Blyton

Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Page : 384 pages

File Size : 27,22 MB

Release : 2017-11-07

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 3110863340

Get eBook

Book Description



Smart Flexibility

Author : Andy Lake

Publisher : CRC Press

Page : 407 pages

File Size : 42,21 MB

Release : 2016-04-01

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 1317054210

Get eBook

Book Description

Smart Flexibility: Moving Smart and Flexible Working from Theory to Practice is an engaging and practical management book to help organisations implement Smart Working, and take a business-focused approach to ’Flexible Working’. Written for managers at the leading edge of change, Andy Lake takes a strategic, comprehensive and integrated approach to Smart and Flexible Working. Taking an evidence-based approach, he sets out how to achieve measurable benefits across the Triple Bottom Line. Starting from the underlying principles and the compelling context for change, he takes a pragmatic approach to delivering change in each of the key areas of People (HR), Property and Technology. The book is designed to help professionals understand the vital connecting points across disciplines as well as innovations in their own fields. And there are separate chapters that look at the real impacts for sustainability, the impacts for ’Smart Government’, how to manage the ’Anywhere Anytime Team’ and how to take people on the journey towards a Smart Flexibility organisational culture. The book includes many insights based on the author’s experience and the latest research, many practical techniques for implementing change plus ten new case studies. Smart Flexibility is essential reading for anyone involved in workplace change and increasing the efficiency of organisations. It is aimed at managers who need to deliver change, and will be of great interest to consultants in the fields of workplace design, new technologies and HR/OD/Training.