Value Chain Analysis: A Brief Review

Elvira A. Zamora

Published: Aug. 31, 2016

Value chain analysis has been applied in various fields, from the time the concept of “value chain” was introduced by Porter in 1985. Several frameworks have emerged and have been used to study individual firms, entire industries, industry clusters, as well as global production networks. The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief review of these frameworks, identify factors that influence the performance of value chains, and suggest areas for future research. Since there is a wide range of value chain literature, this paper focuses on a selective set of earlier works within the value chain model as …

When one size does not fit all: a literature review on the modifications of the balanced scorecard

Rainer Lueg,

Ana Luisa Carvalho e Silva

Published: Sept. 24, 2013

Robert Kaplan and David Norton emphasize that the four perspectives of their standard balanced scorecard (BSC) need to be adapted to the organizational context. Yet, we lack a coherent body of knowledge on these adaptations. 20 years after the implementation of the BSC, a literature review is warranted to investigate if and how the original BSC has been modified in practice. The authors conduct a systematic literature review of leading academic journals from 1992 to 2012 to identify and analyze the extant empirical evidence on the BSC. The authors find 117 empirical studies on the BSC, of which 27 deal …

Perceived problems associated with the implementation of the balanced scorecard: evidence from Scandinavia

Dag Øivind Madsen,

Tonny Stenheim

Published: April 1, 2014

The balanced scorecard (BSC) is one of the most widely used and discussed management concepts in the world. Although many BSC success stories have been cited in the practitioner-oriented literature and in the business media, researchers have shown that the implementation of BSC can be a complicated process. There are many pitfalls and dysfunctional consequences associated with the implementation and use of the BSC. Still, little research is conducted on BSC implementation issues. This paper reports on a qualitative study of Scandinavian BSC users. Based on interview data, the paper identifies four main problem areas associated with the implementation of …

Doing research on ‘management fashions’: methodological challenges and opportunities

Dag Øivind Madsen,

Tonny Stenheim

Published: Dec. 1, 2013

Management fashion theory is a growing research area in management studies. The focus of this management fashion literature is to understand why some management concepts spread quickly and widely, while others do not. However, doing research on fashionable management concepts is a difficult task, and many commentators have pointed out the limitations of the research methods used in extant research. A consequence of these difficulties is that the theory has many understudied areas and ‘blind spots’. This paper aims at providing a review of the research methods typically used in management fashion research, and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of …

Activity based costing (ABC) in the public sector: benefits and challenges

Emmanuel K. Oseifuah

Published: Dec. 16, 2014

Peter Drucker (1986), in “Management: Tasks, responsibilities, and practices” states that business enterprises and public-service institutions, are organs of society which do not exist for their own sake, but to fulfil a specific social purpose and to satisfy need of society, community, or individual. To achieve the above objectives, managers of these institutions must plan, control and make decisions about the resources entrusted to their care. A key element of efficient organizational decision making is to use reliable information, both operational and managerial accounting data for analysis and decision support. This can be achieved by using activity-based costing (ABC) method. …

A model to measure employee engagement

Lailah Imandin,

Christo Bisschoff,

Christoff Botha

Published: Dec. 16, 2014

The objective of this article is to develop a model to measure employee engagement. In doing so, the article firstly develops a theoretical model by identifying employee engagement constructs from the literature. Secondly, identifying measuring criteria of these constructs from the literature, and thirdly, to validate the theoretical model to measure employee engagement in South Africa. The theoretical model consists of 11 employee engagement constructs, measured by a total of 94 measuring criteria. The empirical process of validation employed data collected from 260 respondents who study towards an MBA degree at two private business schools in KwaZulu-Natal. The validation process …

Linking CSR and financial performance: an empirical validation

Namita Rajput,

Geetanjali Batra,

Ruchira Pathak

Published: July 5, 2012

The escalating demand of stakeholders’ interests in social performance has put pressure on corporations to embark on social responsibility reporting and practices in order to gratify the demands and to gain public support. Some organizations have already responded well to this perspective, either by publishing a separate report regarding their social activities, or by providing such information in their annual report or on their web site. The aim of this study is to better understand the relationship between CSR and financial performance in Indian context. Previous research on the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance has largely been …

The impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on commercial bank performance: evidence from South Africa

Adekunle Oluwole Binuyo,

Rafiu Adewale Aregbeshola

Published: Sept. 18, 2014

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate regarding the contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to firm’s performance. As the ICT impact on bank performance is beyond the scope pf most similar studies, this study further investigates the impact of Information and Communication Technology Cost Efficiency (ICTCE) on the performance of banks as well. The study assessed the impact of ICT on the performance of South African banking industry using annual data over the period 1990-2012 published by Bankscope – World banking information source. Data analysis is carried out in a dynamic panel environment using the orthogonal transformation approach. …

The impact of management board diversity on corporate performance - An empirical analysis for the German two-tier system

Marc Eulerich,

Patrick Velte,

Carolin van Uum

Published: Feb. 25, 2014

For the last two decades, board diversity is increasingly considered as a significant mechanism of good corporate governance. Thus, the question arises whether a heterogeneously or rather a homogenously composed board contributes to the efficiency of a company’s management and monitoring. Especially national and international regulators and standard setters consider board diversity to be associated with an increasing firm performance. Therefore, the economic impact of board diversity aspects needs to be investigated empirically. This study examines the relationship between diversity within management boards and corporate performance for the German two-tier system by presenting a comprehensive literature analysis as well as …

The impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth: case of post communism transition economies

Leonid Melnyk,

Oleksandr Kubatko,

Serhiy Pysarenko

Published: Feb. 20, 2014

The study investigates the impact of foreign direct investing on economic development of post Comecon transition economy countries. Neoclassical growth theory model is used to analyze the effects of FDI on economic growth. The results show significant FDI influence on economic growth of host countries. The paper concludes with explaining the results and suggesting some policy recommendations