Cleaning up after the Cold War: management and social issues

Article Abstract:

For many years the primary focus of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex was the production of nuclear materials and weapons, but, with the end of the Cold War, its mission has been changed to one of environmental cleanup. This dramatic shift in mission means that the complex is facing new internal and external problems that are forcing organizational change. In this article we examine the weapons complex through the lens of systems-based models of organization, and we find that the complex has moved from a closed to an open system. We also deduce that by remaining with a rational system, rather than moving to a natural system, the transition to the new mission is being made more difficult than it perhaps should be; this point becomes apparent through discussions on the specific problems that the complex is facing in the related areas of organizational-culture change, the public's health-fears, and the management of risk. Our intent in this article is to draw attention to these management and social issues and to identify areas where there is a need for theoretical and empirical research. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Other Ordnance and Accessories Manufacturing, Nuclear Ordnance & Equip, Ordnance and accessories, not elsewhere classified, Management, Organizational change, Weapons industry, Cold War, 1945-1991

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Causal ambiguity, barriers to imitation, and sustainable competitive advantage

Article Abstract:

This article addresses the issues of competitive advantage and competitor imitation. It is argued that tacitness, complexity, and specificity in a firm's skills and resources can generate causal ambiguity in competency-based advantage, and thus raise barriers to imitation. Reinvestment in causally ambiguous competencies is necessary to protect the advantage. Without reinvestment, attritional effects of continued competitive action will cause decay in the carriers to imitation. From this theorizing, research propositions are suggested, which, ultimately, will lead to an improved understanding of competitive advantage sustainability. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Research, Competition (Economics), Management research

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Beyond process: TQM content and firm performance

Article Abstract:

Authors of the literature on total quality management (TQM) have been much more concerned with process than content. This article considers TQM in relation to firm orientation and identifies market advantage, product design efficiency, process efficiency, and product reliability as the key features of its content. Performance expectations for TQM, in the form of increased revenues, reduced costs, and their time lags, are addressed in the context of environmental uncertainty. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Performance, Organizational effectiveness, Total quality management

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