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The Merchant Family as a Business Enterprise

C. A. Bayly

in Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion 1770-1870

This chapter considers the merchant family in north India during pre-colonial and early periods as a business enterprise. It suggests that many of the patterns of behaviour which seem to characterise ... More

This chapter considers the merchant family in north India during pre-colonial and early periods as a business enterprise. It suggests that many of the patterns of behaviour which seem to characterise the family firm of nineteenth-century north India can be understood as tactics to avoid the risks of operating in a peculiarly hostile business climate. It explains that from early youth, children in merchant families were taught that good business involved the constant division of capital into small, manageable portfolios. It also discusses business management practices including double entry bookkeeping and the use of a central daily cash book.Less

Introduction

Alan M. Rugman and Joseph R. D’cruz

in Multinationals as Flagship Firms: Regional Business Networks

Current trends in the business management and international relational strategies require the flagship paradigm or the five partners model to deal with managerial, organisational, and business policy ... More

Current trends in the business management and international relational strategies require the flagship paradigm or the five partners model to deal with managerial, organisational, and business policy issues in the context of multinational enterprises or MNEs. The five partners method features a flagship establishment (most commonly an MNE), major suppliers, leading clients, competitors, and a non-business infrastructure (NBI). The last partner deals with non-traded service providers, state, public services, medical aid, culture, and human capital. Such a model aims to incorporate the innovative ideas regarding corporate networks available and case studies conducted in the North American and European settings. After these, comparative studies will be conducted in Asian countries with parallel (but definitely unique) business links such as the vertical keiretsu of Japan, the chaebol of Korea, and the family-owned firms of China.Less

MTRC's Struggles for Profits and Autonomy

Rikkie Yeung

in Moving Millions: The Commercial Success and Political Controversies of Hong Kong's Railway

This chapter reviews the MTRC's corporate history of struggling for financial survival to high profitability, interactions between the managing board and management, and evolution of corporate ... More

This chapter reviews the MTRC's corporate history of struggling for financial survival to high profitability, interactions between the managing board and management, and evolution of corporate strategies under different corporate leaders. The MTRC is one of the largest local property developers in Hong Kong. It has completed over 33 residential estates, office buildings, shopping centres, hotels, and car parks. The MTRC is innovative and aggressive in other commercial businesses, more so than the KCRC. In early years, the MTRC did struggle hard. For financial survival, it had to be prudent, innovative, and follow international standards in financial and business management. Over the years, the MTRC has developed a strong culture of corporate professionalism, commercial orientation, and autonomy from the government.Less

Professional Transition, Personal Tragedy

Joan C. Tonn

in Mary P. Follett: Creating Democracy, Transforming Management

In the summer of 1924, Mary P. Follett suffered yet another health-related crisis but found renewed strength due to her meditations on spiritual healing and her intimate relationship with Richard and ... More

In the summer of 1924, Mary P. Follett suffered yet another health-related crisis but found renewed strength due to her meditations on spiritual healing and her intimate relationship with Richard and Ella Cabot. Once she regained her strength, Follett continued her work, including a study of employee morale at Henry S. Dennison's paper products manufacturing firm. Both Follett and Dennison were invited by the Bureau of Personnel Administration, headed by Henry Metcalf, to speak to a group of business executives, the Executive Conference Group, in midtown Manhattan early in 1925. Follett delivered four lectures that addressed the psychological foundations of business management and shed considerable light on her assessment of the most widely known and influential management system of her day: scientific management. In her lectures, Follett tackled constructive conflict, giving of orders as a creative experience in the workplace, the worker's role in unifying business organizations, and the role of power in integrating differences between management and labor.Less

“You Have Been Extraordinarily Helpful to Executives”

Joan C. Tonn

in Mary P. Follett: Creating Democracy, Transforming Management

Engulfed in grief over the death of her partner Isabella Louisa Briggs, Mary P. Follett again sought refuge in service. She delivered lectures at the Bureau of Personnel Administration and others ... More

Engulfed in grief over the death of her partner Isabella Louisa Briggs, Mary P. Follett again sought refuge in service. She delivered lectures at the Bureau of Personnel Administration and others between 1926 through 1928, applying the principles articulated in her earlier books and lectures to some of the pressing problems of business management. In these lectures, she argued that the most fundamental idea in business organization was “function,” from which authority and responsibility are derived. She also discussed the implications of employee representation for managers, administrative leadership, the psychology of control, consent and participation, and creating integrations through mediation rather than arbitration.Less

Countries of the Future, Forever?

in Culture and Management in the Americas

This book explores how culture shapes management and the economic development of Latin America. It argues that at least part of the observed lower productivity of Latin American countries such as ... More

This book explores how culture shapes management and the economic development of Latin America. It argues that at least part of the observed lower productivity of Latin American countries such as Brazil and Argentina can be attributed to poor management due to lack of research to adapt managerial practice to local cultures. It discusses culture and its relevance to development and organizations, including business organizations. The book looks at developmental paths and business management options; examines issues such as stereotypes and religion, the political and economic significance of the Black Plague, or the attitudinal proclivities of Spain and Portugal at the time of the Reconquista; and assesses the adequacy of North American management techniques for dimensions in Latin America such as managerial control, teamwork appraisal and compensation, or communication patterns. It also considers cultures of the New World such as the United States, Argentina, and Brazil. Finally, the book delves into the main contributors to the field of cross-cultural management, including Geert Hofstede, Fons Trompenaars, Shalom Schwartz, and Mary Douglas.Less

A Business Management Framework for Addressing Public Health Risk: The Avahan Experience in Scaling-up HIV Prevention in India

Sema K. Sgaier

in India's Risks: Democratizing the Management of Threats to Environment, Health, and Values

Chapter 8 presents the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s ‘game changing’ approach—the Avahan Program—for tackling India’s rapidly escalating HIV/AIDS epidemic in 2003. Its objectives were to ... More

Chapter 8 presents the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s ‘game changing’ approach—the Avahan Program—for tackling India’s rapidly escalating HIV/AIDS epidemic in 2003. Its objectives were to provide HIV/AIDS services to 300,000 High-risk Groups and over five million men at risk, simultaneously across 600 towns in 83 districts within the first 3 years. To effectively roll out this ambitious initiative, they drew on many of the principles underlying the strategy of a large company. These included (1) market analysis and consumer profiling, (2) designing the business package and service delivery approach, (3) managing the delivery chain, (4) balancing supply with demand, (5) continuous and real-time monitoring of data, and (6) integrating a sustainability strategy into the design. This chapter presents Avahan’s ‘business management framework’ and takes us through each of these steps in the delivery of its innovative programme, simultaneously addressing many of its challenges and criticisms.Less

The Davos Man or the Gaucho?

in Culture and Management in the Americas

Contrary to what the Davos Man preaches, modernization does not necessarily mean adopting the Davos culture. Rather, modernization more often than not means a return to indigenous values, as in ... More

Contrary to what the Davos Man preaches, modernization does not necessarily mean adopting the Davos culture. Rather, modernization more often than not means a return to indigenous values, as in Bolivia's Evo Morales, or the popular appeal of Peru's Ollanta Humala. The Davos Man is merely a slim developmental option, and not necessarily the one with the greatest chance of success in Latin America. At the outset of the millennium, there has been a backlash against globalization in Latin America such as Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Panama, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Uruguay. This chapter discusses the impact of culture on development in Latin America, along with stereotypes, national identity, some traits of the Iberian culture that are generally frowned upon by the Davos Men, and business management and development in Iberian America.Less

Applications of Fuzzy Logic

Radim Bělohlávek, Joseph W. Dauben, and George J. Klir

in Fuzzy Logic and Mathematics: A Historical Perspective

The high visibility of fuzzy logic and mathematics based on fuzzy logic is primarily due to their highly successful applications in many areas of human affairs. The aim of this chapter is to ... More

The high visibility of fuzzy logic and mathematics based on fuzzy logic is primarily due to their highly successful applications in many areas of human affairs. The aim of this chapter is to characterize the evolution and current status of these applications. Covered are applications in the various areas of engineering, natural, social and earth sciences, psychology, medicine, management and business, decision making, pattern recognition, image analysis, risk analysis, music, among others. In each of these areas, the significance of using fuzzy logic and the associated mathematics is critically assessed. It is argued that in some application areas, such as psychology or quantum mechanics, a cooperation between researchers in fuzzy logic and those in the application domain, leading possibly to new types of nonstandard fuzzy sets, is essential for further progress.Less

“Listening to the Voice of the Product”: Human Creativity Displaced

Eitan Y. Wilf

in Creativity on Demand: The Dilemmas of Innovation in an Accelerated Age

This chapter argues that although it might appear that Romantic creativity has been eradicated from the innovation process by means of its algorithmic-like structure, in practice such creativity has ... More

This chapter argues that although it might appear that Romantic creativity has been eradicated from the innovation process by means of its algorithmic-like structure, in practice such creativity has become this process’s condition of possibility. Focusing on a specific innovation strategy as it is explained in a business management book, the chapter argues that this strategy transforms human creativity into a manageable and reliable resource by displacing it from the innovator and consumer to the non-human elements of the innovation process, namely the products that are in need of innovation. This strategy stipulates that all the information the innovator needs in order to generate ideas for new products can be found in the history of the evolution of the forms of past successful products. This evolution reveals crucial information about existing products’ “creative potential” to develop into new products that will tap into consumers’ “unmet needs.” The innovator thus transforms the product into a quasi-person endowed with a creative potential for development—a new kind of commodity fetishism, and the consumer into a static, quasi-object whose needs emerge deterministically and can be inferred in advance by the innovator based on the systematic analysis of the product.Less

Keeping Body and Soul Together

Julie A. Nelson

in Economics for Humans

This chapter draws conclusions for the actions as citizens, workers, parents, employers, and shareholders. Bringing—and keeping—body and soul together is critically important for two hugely important ... More

This chapter draws conclusions for the actions as citizens, workers, parents, employers, and shareholders. Bringing—and keeping—body and soul together is critically important for two hugely important areas of life. An aversion to thinking about money when the topic of discussion is care has resulted to a crisis of resources in the caring sectors of the economy. On the other hand, an aversion to thinking about ethics when the topic is business has led to a crisis of responsibility in commercial life. It is believed that it will be people on the ground, working in business management or doing the work of care, who will be most helpful in breaking down the petrified eighteenth-century image of the economic machine. Additionally, it is recognized that the health of living, vital economies depends on the ethical decision making and the willingness to support relationships of care and respect.Less

The Disinherited Society

in The Disinherited Society: A Personal View of Social Responsibility in Liverpool During the Twentieth Century

This chapter suggests that the deterioration in the Granby ward in Liverpool was because of the lack of government action. It explains that the application of business management to local government ... More

This chapter suggests that the deterioration in the Granby ward in Liverpool was because of the lack of government action. It explains that the application of business management to local government led to the take-over of the administration of community affairs by the bureaucracy and highlights the failure of this approach to resolve the deepening crisis in the inner cities. This chapter also describes how Granby has become a society of the unwanted, the left-behind, and a population of rejects.Less