7 Editorial
11 Contributors to this issue
15 Empirical etude within a sub-Saharan firm. Myth or reality of an informal management?
Marie-Christine Chalus-Sauvannet, Florence Noguera
This research performed within a private hospital deprived in the Benin has as objective to include the local specificity of smes of sub-Saharan Africa (geopolitical, cultural, sector) and to identify the practices of management.
What are contextual variables? What are the practiced management systems? Is there a specific management of human resources? Are the models of management and of management transposable in these contexts and these organisations? Results highlight main dysfunctions in management in this organisation and their repercussions on the quality of care and the performances of the private hospital.
33 Can an organizational culture permit intercultural differences to be overcome?
Helena Karjalainen
Today, faced with the internationalization of the workplace, managers are forced with a new challenge. They need to identify the most effective management strategies and practices for a multicultural environment and teams composed of individuals from different cultural backgrounds. This article presents an example of an international business organization that has successfully put in place managerial practices adapted to the operating environment of the company, notably with the establishment of a specific organizational culture.
53 The 1990s merger and acquisition wave in the United States:
an analysis of the results through the agency theory Patrick Navatte, Guillaume Schier
During the 1990s merger wave in the United States, few gains and some important losses were observed for bidding firms. These mitigated results may stem from the agency relationship binding shareholders and managers of
issue 204 may 2010
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acquiring firms with dispersed shareholdings. This paper proposes a panorama of managerial motives of both acquirer and target firms, which drive to decisions not in favour of shareholder wealth, and highlights the relative insufficient power of the governance mechanisms to align both stakeholders interest. Some guidelines for future research are also proposed.
69 Which human alternative to SME’s offshore?
Virginie Gallego, Florence Gangloff, Lynda Saoudi
The goal of this paper was to identify a human alternative to the SME off-shore strategy. The theoretical framework is based on the Resource Based View theory with the notions of human competency and expertise. The concept of human expertise is proposed and defined according to the literature. The aim is to consider this type of expertise (when it is valued) as a source of strategic advantage that can help the upholding of the activities on the territory. A case study has been conducted in three SME that are more interested in remaining on the territory rather than relocating. The results show that the valuing of human expertise can be considered as an alternative to the off-shore strategy.
File: Resources, competences, dynamic capabilities
Guest Editors: Franck Brulhart, Gilles Guieu, Lionel Maltese, Frédéric Prévot 83 Resource-based theory: Theoretical debates and applications
Franck Brulhart, Gilles Guieu, Lionel Maltese, Frédéric Prévot 87 Resource-based perspectives: Proposal of a synthesis
Franck Brulhart, Gilles Guieu, Lionel Maltese, Frédéric Prévot
This article presents five perspectives in strategic management: resource-based theory, competence-based strategic management, knowledge based-view, dynamic capabilities and relational-view. Despite being linked; these perspectives offer specificities. For each one, we identify theoretical foundations, key concepts and recent developments, and we connect to the the main authors. We therefore propose to go beyond possible confusions in between these perspectives, without forgetting to take into consideration the diversity of the approaches.
105 Grand theory and mid-range theory in strategy: An epistemological perspective
Ron Sanchez, Aimé Heene
In this paper we examine some fundamental epistemological issues in building grand theory (intended to be applicable to all cases and contexts) and mid-range 188 Revue française de gestion – N° 204/2010
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theory (intended to apply to defined kinds of contexts) in strategy. We illustrate the epistemological challenges in building grand theory in strategy by considering important differences in the abilities of two “grand theories” in strategy – industry structure and firm resources theory – to support development of conceptually consistent models and propositions for empirical testing and refinement of theory. We then suggest how the Competence-Based Management (CBM) perspective may provide the foundational concepts needed to integrate and revitalize development of strategy theory addressing both industry structures and firm resources.
127 On the firm’s raison d’être and competence-based nature of the firm Jörg Freiling
Why do firms exist? The standard answer of economic theory is that firms offer protection against highest levels of uncertainty. The paper employs the competence-based theory of the firm as a branch of market process theory to develop answers that go beyond this traditional viewpoint by emphasizing that firms are institutions that allow for taking the opportunities of the market process different from alternate institutions. Centrepiece of the paper is the notion that firms have an organizational ambiance that protect firms from threats in competition and nurtures the development of resources and competences.
141 A resource-based view of drivers of co-operation between competitors Anne-Sophie Fernandez, Frédéric Le Roy
Firms are increasingly adopting strategies of coopetition, i.e.strategies in which they combine the advantages of both competition and cooperation. The drivers that can explain the implementation of these strategies of coopetition are still not well understood. In order to identify those drivers a qualitative study was undertaken within the European space industry. The study focuses on the existence of cooperative space programmes carried out by the two leading European competitors, located in Toulouse, Astrium (EADS Group) and Thales Alenia Space (Thales Group). The study of these projects makes it possible to highlight two explanatory factors for the adoption of coopetitive strategies: the will to conquer new markets and the innovative character of the project, where one firm alone does not have the resources to achieve its goals.
155 Sustainable integration variability: A theoretical framework combining the stakeholders theory and the resource-based theory Sandrine Gherra
Sustainable integration variability (economic efficiency, environmental respect, social equity) is assessed by a theoretical framework combination of the Summary 189
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resource-based theory and the stakeholders theory. Where resource-based theory highlights the firm’s strengths/weaknesses in the sustainability field, stakeholders theory underlines the sustainability perception as opportunities/threats. The combination of these two theoretical frameworks offers a model of strategic management and sustainability which suggests four environmental strategies: reactive (end of pipe), defensive (pollution prevention), cooperative (eco-design), proactive (sustainability).
177 The role of resources in the hub firm’s degree of dependence within innovation networks
Élodie Gardet, Caroline Mothe
Firms are collaborating with other organizations for resources and competences they lack internally. For SMEs, it is very difficult to complete alone an innovation project. The implementation of interorganizational networks enables the SME to exploit its invention by putting the innovation on the market. While some research has examined the link between resources and dependence, this article does so by examining the dynamic evolution of the hub firm dependence within innovation networks. The main objective is to understand the influence of resources and competences necessary for the project on the hub firm’s degree of dependence. A longitudinal qualitative empirical study was conducted on six cases innovation networks driven by SMEs. Our results show that the hub firm’s dependence evolves according to the resources and competences needed by the hub firm, which depend on the stage of the project.
187 Summary
190 Revue française de gestion – N° 204/2010
APPELS À CONTRIBUTIONS
(pour plus d’informations : http://rfg.revuesonline.com) – Dossier « Le Balanced Scorecard à l’épreuve de l’expérience »
Date limite de soumission : 30 juin 2010 – Dossier « Management et santé au travail »
Date limite de soumission : 1erseptembre 2010 – Dossier « La recherche responsable »
Date limite de soumission : 1erseptembre 2010
– Dossier « Le management responsable : de la gestion des risques à l’innovation stratégique »
Date limite de soumission : 15 septembre 2010
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