The research uses the resource-based paradigm and a typology of markets (consisting of consumer, business and governmental markets) to investigate the notion of fit between the firm and its environment and the links of this notion to performance. Based on a sample of 69 firm managers, the results reveal that firms develop resources and capabilities that match the attributes of the market. High-...

Network pictures are perceived as providing a picture of a company’s position within a network and as providing managers with a framework for strategic decision making. This exploratory paper set out to investigate the application of network pictures of individuals from two companies involved in a business relationship. More specifically between companies and between individuals, it examines th...

Considering the particular nuances of the nurses who exert management function, the following problem was delimited: what is the profile of the nurse leader in a management role? The objective of the study was to delineate the profile of the nurse in a management position according to personal and professional characteristics. The research was performed in 2007, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, using...

This article reports the second stage of exploratory study regarding the adoption of information technology outsourcing (ITO) by Mexican companies. The article aims to answer the following questions: What are the managerial practices of ITO used by Mexican companies? And what is the impact of those practices on the results and benefits of ITO? Based on a survey of 152 companies, the study repor...

In this chapter, we discuss how lack of coordination leads to a degradation of responsiveness and an increase in cost within a supply chain. We describe various obstacles that lead to this lack of coordination and exacerbate variability through the supply chain. We then identify appropriate managerial levers that can help overcome the obstacles and achieve coordination. In this context, we also...

This paper on Application Service Providers investigates why organizations select an ASP as a form of IS sourcing. To achieve this, we set the ASP within the context of literature on Neoclassical and Resource-Based View (RBW) theories. The results revealed that costs matter little in ASP sourcing decisions. The ASP is chosen not simply as a cost reducing alternative, but moreover, when companie...

We consider a common managerial problem where an agent strives to achieve a prescribed target. We use this problem as a vehicle for comparing and discussing two approaches to decision making: optimising and “satisficing” (where the latter is a neologism due to H. Simon, 1976 Economics Nobel PrizeWinner).We compute the optimising and satisfactory strategies for the problem at hand and highlight ...