Strategic Management - International Journal of Strategic Management and Decision Support Systems in Strategic Management

The role of rationality and intuition in creating strategic military documents

Kristýna Binková, Eva Štěpánková — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Background: Managers can plan strategically based on a rational and/or intuitive approach. In the past, intuition and rationality were seen as opposing approaches, one or the other of which was used. Currently available sources confirm the combination of both approaches as effective, and thus their complementarity.

Purpose: The main goal of the paper is to reveal the characteristics of using intuition and rationality in the process of creating the strategic documents of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic (MoD CR). Further, there are two sub-goals: to analyse the proportions, characteristics and consequences of using the revealed ratio of intuition and rationality in the process mentioned.

Study design/methodology/approach: The general research design is a qualitative paradigm. The data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire. The sample amounted to 18 authors of strategic documents of the MoD CR. The data were evaluated using the grounded theory method, which defines the procedures of open and axial coding of the text. The arrangement of relationships between the identified data categories was carried out using a paradigmatic model according to grounded theory.

Findings/conclusions: The conclusions confirm the use of a combination of intuition and rationality in the process of creating strategic documents. However, intuition prevails in the ratio of both approaches, which can be the cause of not quite optimal output. Processed strategic documents suffer from some shortcomings (i.e. inconsistency of formal and content aspects, insufficient measurability, objectivity and comparability), which are related to insufficient or incorrect use of exact methods and a systematic approach.

Limitations/future research: The conclusions are valid for the MoD CR, specifically for the process of creating strategic documents. It would be useful to compare them with other types of organizations in the state, public and private sectors. The use of intuition and rationality in other processes of strategic management can be examined and compared with the processes of middle and lower management.

Investigating the effect of consumer xenocentrism on purchase intention for foreign products

Elif Eroglu Hall, Nurdan Sevim, Gulhan Sabah Najmaldın, Caglar Karamasa — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Background: Broadly defined as preference for another country rather than your own, xenocentrism in the context of consumer and consumption refers to willingness to purchase foreign products even if there are equivalent domestic products that are similar or even better in quality.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to determine the effect of consumer xenocentrism on Iraq-Kirkukian consumers’ purchase intention for Turkish products. In addition, the study also examines the differences between the demographic variables and xenocentrism.

Study design/methodology/approach: To achieve these purposes, a survey was administered to a sampling consisting of 450 individuals selected by using convenient sampling method, and 418 of these surveys were included in the analyses. This sampling consisted of Turkmens, Arabs and Kurds. T-test and ANOVA test were performed to identify the differences between demographic information about the participants and xenocentrism. Factor analysis was done for the scales used in the study, and multiple regression analysis was done later to obtain the effect of consumer xenocentrism on purchase intention for Turkish products.

Findings/conclusions: The results of the study reported a positive and significant effect of consumer xenocentrism on purchase intention for Turkish products. In addition, consumer xenocentrism in Kirkukian consumers did not differ according to gender and ethnic identity.

Limitations/future research: The research was conducted in the city of Kirkuk, Iraq, which was under adverse political and security conditions and face-to-face survey was limited. The results cannot be generalized since Kirkuk has the most diverse ethnic identity in Iraq and is a place where Turkmens live more densely than other cities. Therefore, conducting this research in other countries would yield different results. In particular, examining the structure of consumer xenocentrism in developed economies would provide additional information about the prevalence and impact of xenocentric tendencies in these countries. It is also important to investigate the impact of consumer xenocentrism on other variables such as product decisions, risk perceptions and willingness to pay.

Global minds, local impact: exploring the effect of foreign directors on corporate R&D expenditure

Tingqian Pu, Abdul Hadi Zulkafli — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Background: In the contemporary business environment, corporate research and development (R&D) expenditure is pivotal for fostering technological innovation and advancing technological progress. While much research has focused on the influence of boards of directors on corporate innovation, the role of foreign directors in shaping corporate R&D expenditure, particularly in developing countries, remains underexplored.

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to investigate the pivotal role of foreign directors in corporate R&D expenditure within Chinese listed manufacturing firms. It also provides micro-level evidence of the economic consequences of foreign directors, considering heterogeneity across property rights, industry, regional dimensions, and board positions.

Study design/methodology/approach: This study utilizes the largest and most detailed dataset of Chinese listed manufacturing firms in the CSMAR database, offering comprehensive proxy variables. The sample encompasses 18,273 observations from 2008 to 2021. Multivariate regression models, employing static two-way fixed effects models with clustered robust standard errors and dynamic generalized method of moment (GMM) models, were established to investigate the relationship between foreign directors and corporate R&D expenditure. Sensitivity tests involve the substitution of dependent and core explanatory variables. Moreover, heterogeneity test and situational analysis are conducted.

Findings/conclusions: The results confirmed a significant augmentation in corporate R&D expenditure attributable to foreign directors. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive impact of foreign directors on R&D expenditure is more pronounced in private-owned enterprises, high-tech industries, and economically developed regions of China. Situational analysis further confirms that foreign independent directors are the main driving force behind this effect.

Limitations/future research: This research is confined to a single-country and single-industry sample, without a comprehensive consideration of the individual traits of foreign directors. Future research avenues could involve cross-national comparisons and a more nuanced categorization of foreign directors.

Managerial conflict of interests effects on duopoly market structure

Ilko Vrankić, Tomislav Herceg, Iva Vuksanović Herceg — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Background: Principal-agent problem has been discussed intensively in the recent decade, but this specific case has not yet been analyzed in this manner; one of two companies in Cournot duopoly employs a manager who has a partial ownership of the second company, but without executive power in that company. This kind of conflict of interest changes the market game since the overlapping makes it difficult to determine how many actual players there are on the market, which is crucial to understanding what is about to happen with prices and quantities.

Purpose: This paper will determine which agent’s share in the other company becomes a problem for the principal of the first company and how a change in the share affects market price, both companies’ quantities and profits, and finally how a duopoly grows closer to a monopoly since the number of players is no longer integer.

Study design/methodology/approach: The manager of the first company is paid in that company’s share in profit. As a partial owner of the other company, this manager also receives ownership revenue. Thus the manager (agent) tries to maximize his own revenue which consists of the share in both companies. The agent’s actions in the first company are aimed to maximize his own profit instead of the principal’s profit.

Findings/conclusions: The higher the agent’s share in the competitive company, the greater the agent’s reward has to be in terms of the share in the profit of the first company. Additionally, it also increases the prices, decreases the quantities, turning duopoly into a non-integer oligopoly, the closer to monopoly the higher the agent’s share is in the competitive company.

Limitations/future research: The assumed Cournot game should also be transformed into a game where players do not act simultaneously. Therefore, a Stackelberg oligopoly analysis could bring a novel view of this specific interaction.

Consumerisation of IT – intersection of development streams of business and personal IT

Marijana Petrović, Marton Sakal — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Background: In the age of IT consumerisation, private owned IT artifacts are increasingly used for business purposes. Management's approval is not required, but various approaches are used to create effective management strategies.

Purpose: The historical development trends of business and personal ICT are examined in the paper to understand their intersection - IT consumerisation.

Study design/methodology/approach: The paper provides a preliminary research assessment. The informative outcomes drawn from diverse perspectives and the comprehensive nature of 'gray literature' should serve as guidance for the direction, adjustments, and modifications of future research.

Findings/conclusions: A number of technological and market factors have led to the consumerisation of IT. As a spinout from business IT, personal IT has had a feedback effect on it: the proliferation of computers and mobile devices on the consumer market, combined with affordable Internet-related resources, not only changed personal IT usage patterns, but also redefined the expectations that users have for enterprise software. In order to create an effective IT consumerisation management strategy, it is imperative to understand them.

Limitations/future research: The paper is a starting point for future empirical research in the field of IT consumerisation, and as such, may be amended according to new knowledge that is obtained subsequently.