What is the optimum amount of organisational slack? A study of the relationship between slack and innovation in multinational firms

Article Abstract:

A study has found that an excessive amount of slack or too little slack can inhibit the formation of new ideas in multinational companies. The amount of slack necessary to aid innovation was found to be around 5%, although in some firms workers were allowed to spend 20% of their working hours on experimentation. Slack is the amount of company resources which are not required to maintain the organization. Too much slack was found to cause inefficiency whilst too little slack did not allow time for innovation. The study looked at information from some 264 divisions of two multinationals.

Multinational Corporations, Organizing Business, Organizational change, Industrial management, Business creativity, Reengineering (Management)

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Alliances versus acquisitions: choosing the right option

Article Abstract:

Within the European marketplace firms must be prepared to use alliances to increase their access to new markets, as they cost less and have fewer risks than acquiring new companies. European firms can utilize alliances not as a method of suppressing competition or for economies of scale but to use the skills and knowledge their partners to increase trade. Acquisitions have been used to help one firm gain access to anothers resources and skills. Yet studies have found some 80% of company acquisitions in the 1980s have not been beneficial to shareholders.

Acquisitions & Mergers Analysis, Acquisitions and mergers, Financial analysis, Alliances, Alliances (Government relations)

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Environmental citizenship in multinational corporations: social responsibility and sustainable development

Article Abstract:

A number of multinational corporations (MNCs) are becoming involved in corporate citizenship programs and issuing reports on their environmental performance. Firms have become more interested in corporate environmental citizenship because of demands from consumers, other firms and shareholders. A study into citizenship programs in MNCs found the firms had become involved in response to seeing a business need to improve their environmental image. Some 38 firms, employing over 4.4 million workers, were involved in the study.

Diversified Companies, Environmental Management, Analysis, Environmental policy, Big business, Environmental policy research

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