Management Revue

Introduction

Resource Dependence Theory - How Well Does It Explain Behavior of Organizations?**

This article evaluates to what extent Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) is able to explain organizational processes and structures. The evaluation criteria are the empirical corroboration of the theory, its information content and generality, but also how realistic the assumptions of the RDT are. The evaluation shows that the theory is empirically well confirmed. On the whole, Resource Dependence Theory significantly contributes to explaining behavior, structure, stability, and change of organ...

Rbv and the Road to the Control of External Organizations**

Although primarily focusing on the internal resource endowment of the firm, RBV has the potential to address the firm's embeddedness in the business environment as well. At present, RBV research lacks a sound understanding of the development of competitive advantages in industries. A change regarding the unit of analysis, however, allows for considering causes and effects on the micro and the macro level as well. The paper stresses the entrepreneurial dimension of RBV and the firm's impact on...

Board-Management Relationships: Resources and Internal Dynamics**

This paper investigates directors' relationships with firms' managers, using lenses of resource dependence theory and resource based view. Because of different roles that board members perform in modern organisations we seek to find out what board-management relationships may provide a company with competitive advantage relative to other firms. The paper reports the results from a study conducted in six New Zealand companies. We used multiple respondents from the top management and board memb...

Diversity Strategies Focused On Employees with a Migration Background: An Empirical Investigation Based On Resource Dependence Theory**

In our paper, we develop a typology of diversity strategies through combining elements of strategy research, diversity research, and resource dependence theory. We focus on the question why people with a migration background are (not) employed by organizations. We argue that employment decisions are based on the evaluation of critical resources and the quest to secure their accrual. We identify six diversity strategies, designate each by the importance of respective resources, and derive prop...

The Role of Strategic Alliances in Gaining Sustainable Competitive Advantage for Firms**

This article offers a critical assessment of the role of strategic alliances in gaining sustainable competitive advantage through building knowledge assets. To do so, it develops a conceptual model, in which three key concepts: the role of "knowledge assets" in gaining "sustainable competitive advantage" via "strategic alliances" between firms are defined and related to each other. It argues core competencies and dynamic capabilities of firms depend on knowledge assets of the firm. In turn, k...

Configuring and Contextualising Hr Systems: An Empirical Study of Manufacturing Smes**

Human resource management (HRM) has become for SMEs a critical factor of adaptation to an increasingly complex and uncertain business environment. Founded on open systems and contingency theory, the present study seeks to identify configurations of HR systems in manufacturing SMEs, and to determine the extent to which these configurations are associated to the environmental and organisational context. Survey data analysis of 176 manufacturing SMEs revealed three configurations of HR systems, ...

Viewing the Leadership Narrative Through Alternate Lenses: An Autoethnographic Investigation**

This conceptual-theoretical article revisits the work of Parry and Hansen on the nature of the organizational story as leadership. The present article is written in the autoethnographic style. The original narrative work is re-examined through the lenses of autoethnography, narrative theory, metaphor/discourse, critical realism and conventional quantitative research. The insights provided by this methodological triangulation are examined. The conclusion is that organizational stories will ref...

Richard Sennett: The Craftsman*

The Craftsman, by Richard Sennett, is reviewed.