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AbstractPrevious studies of the planning‐performance relationship have produced inconsistent findings, largely because of a neglect of contingency factors. This study aims to advance planning‐performance research by accounting for the role of contingency factors, particularly firm size, industry stability, and generic strategy. In the empirical study, a direct, significant correlation between planning and profitability is found to be spurious, vanishing when firm size effects are removed. The study also finds that planning is more profitable in an unstable industry than in a stable one, and more profitable among cost leaders than among differentiators. These findings and their research implications are discussed.RésuméÀ ce jour, l'étude de la relation planification stratégique‐performance n'a abouti qu'à des résultats contradictoires, dus principalement à la négligence de facteurs de contingence. Cette étude a pour but de faire progresser la recherche en ce domaine en rendant compte du rǒle de facteurs de contingence tels que la taille de la firme, la stabilité de l'industrie et la stratégie générique, dans la relation planification‐performance. L'étude empirique révèle qu'une corrélation significative et directe entre planification et performance est invalide, puisque cette corrélation disparaǐt dès que sont supprimés les effets de la taille de la firme. L'étude montre également que la planification est plus profitable dans une industrie instable que dans une industrie stable, et qu'élle est aussi plus profitable pour les firmes ayant une stratégie de domination par les coǔts que pour celles ayant une stratégie de différenciation. Ces résultats et leurs implications pour la recherche sont discutés.

AbstractThis article integrates principles from decision theory and the behavioral sciences to explain the role of ethics in individual decision‐making. The article formally defines critical concepts–the ethical dilemma, temptation, and the ethical threshold–and describes the decision conditions and behavioral factors that determine whether a decision‐maker chooses an ethical or unethical alternative when faced with an ethical dilemma. The theory is predictive and empirically falsifiable, providing an agenda for theory‐based empirical research into the role of ethics in individual decision‐making.RésuméCet article fait la synthèse de principes des sciences humaines et de la science des décisions pour expliquer le rôle joué par les systèmes éthiques dans la prise de décison au niveau individuel. L'article offre une définition formelle de certains concepts essentiels, tels que le dilemme éthique, la tentation, et le seuil éthique, et décrit le rôle déterminant du contexte de la prise de décision et des facteurs psycholgiques au moment où l'acteur prend une décision éthique devant un dilemme moral. Cette théorie est prédictive et réfutable empiriquement; elle fournit un agenda pour de futures recherches empiriques supportées par une fondation théorique sur le rôle de l'éthique dans la prise de décision individuelle.

AbstractCompetitive advantage is produced by resources that allow a firm to become more profitable than its competitors. Strategic management studies based on Porter's competitive strategy model assume that such resources are based on competitive positioning, i. e., on cost leadership or differentiation strategies, or on strategic group membership bolstered by mobility barriers. The theme of this study is that administrative skills ‐ particularly the ability to align an organization's structure, strategymaking, and environment – provide an important, but neglected, source of competitive advantage. Consistent with a resource‐based view of the firm, it is shown that these skills meet all the criteria for a strategic resource– they not only produce economic value, but are also scarce, imperfectly imitable, and imperfectly tradeable in factor markets. In an empirical study, it is shown that administrative skills account for a significant proportion of profitability variance, over and above the proportions accounted for by industry or strategic group membership.RésuméL'avantage compétitif est produit par des resources qui permettent à une firme de devenir plus profitable que ses concurrents. Pour la recherche en management stratégique basée sur le modèle de stratégie compétitive de Porter, de telles resources sont généralement assumées être soit le résultat d'un positionement compétitif (i. e. par des stratégies de supériorité des coûts ou de différentiation) ou le résultat de l'appartenance à un groupe stratégique magnifiée par des barrières à la mobilité. Le thème de cette étude est que la dextérité administrative – particulièrement la capacité d'aligner la structure, la stratégie, et l'environement d'une organisation – offre une source d'avantage compétitif important mais négligé. Il est démontré que cette dextérité satisfait tous les critères d'une ressource stratégique – non seulement produit‐elle une valeur économique mais aussi est‐elle rare, imparfaitement imitable, et imparfaitement échangeable dans les marchés de facteurs. Dans une recherche empirique, it est démontré que la dextérité administrative est responsable d'une proportion importante de la variance de la profitabilité, bien au‐delà de la proportion dont l'industrie et l'appartenance à un groupe stratégique sont responsables.

It was my thought, when I mis-picked my title, to go with you back a hundred and fifty years to the framing and adoption of the Constitution and assess the wisdom of the Fathers in the light of what has since come to pass. In this thought there was the wisdom that in my barrel there were a number of unpublished papers that might be dusted off for the new occasion if pressure of other duties left no time for more than dusting. These various papers contained much local color that could find no counterpart in the State of Washington. Rhode Island can be given credit for furthering the framing and adoption of the Constitution because she was so pestiferous toward her sisters under the Articles of Confederation that they were the more ready to neglect her and form a new union to which economic necessity would make her submit. But the State of Washington did not make to the framing and adoption of the Constitution even the contribution of cussedness. Not even a shadow of hope of fifty-four-forty moved the welders of the new union. Compelled though I have been to take an oath that I will by precept and example promote respect for the flag and the institutions of the State of Washington, I cannot give you any credit for initiating the institutions of government which have furnished the framework for a hundred and fifty years of national life. Address delivered at the Washington State Bar Association Convention, July 30, 1938.

From Philadelphia in 1787 to Philadelphia in 1937 our minds turn back and forth tonight, to pay tribute to the constitutional contributions of the Fathers and to inquire into the constitutional conduct of some of their sons. If we praise the Fathers as hard-headed realists, we may invoke their example to justify a propensity for realism among ourselves. They were creators. We seek to be scholars. Their aim was to build; ours is to understand and to evaluate. Toward them and their building we may bow in deep piety, but without obligation to let awe or reverence obscure our glance at the work of their successors.Happily, too, our piety need not dim our eyes in looking at the work of the Fathers. Without falsity of fact or of sentiment, we may appraise their achievement. We need not think of them as demigods or as men who met to lay their fortunes on the altar of their country. We can accept to the full the view that their design was to create a government that would serve the interests they had most at heart. If they assumed that what would be best for themselves would be best also for the general good, in this they were not unique. Even today, men sometimes fuse the special and the general, as perhaps some papers on our program may prove.Man need not be noble to be wise, unwise as it may be in the long run not to be noble. The advancement of special interests may at a given time conduce greatly to a wide general interest. The wisdom of the achievement of 1787 may be assessed by an evaluation of results without inquiring whether it was the fruit of sacrifice. The results, of course, may be overestimated.