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Qualitative methods in management research
Book Reviews
131
the academic, rather than managerial, market. Volume 12 in a series of studies on Organizational Behavior and Industrial Relations.
Financial Systems and Development: What Rolefor the Formal and Informal Financial Sectors? DIMITRI GERMIDIS, DENIS KESSLER and RACHEL MEGHIR, OECD (1991), 253 pp., FF160.
Qualitative Methods in Management Research, EVERT GUMMESSON, Sage Publications (1991), 212 pp., A14.50.
Based on case studies in 12 developing countries, the authors analyse the overall framework for financial intermediation in developing countries, including formal and informal sectors, and the economic policy environments within which they operate. The two sectors must be linked. Not an easy task, especially when left to economists-some managerial input might have been helpful.
Focuses on case study research and the use of qualitative methods for data collection and analysis. Relevant to both academic researchers and management consultants. The author is Professor of Service Management and Marketing at the Service Research Center, Karlstad, Sweden.
New Directions in Marketing, (1991), 231 pp., A18.95.
Cultural Knowledge in Organizations: Exploring the Collective Mind, SONJA A. SACKMANN,Sage Publications (1991), A15.99. What does culture mean in an organizational context? How can it be changed? Increasingly important issues, but this study is only likely to be of interest to specialists in the area.
Governments and Small Business, GRAHAMBANNOCKand ALAN PEACOCK,Paul Chapman Publishing (1989), 278 pp., A29.95. Examines the impact of government policies on small firms and how those policies might be improved. Part 1 deals with The Role of Small Business, while the other two parts cover Taxation and Regulation. One hundred and twenty-five pages (2 chapters out of 10 but nearly 50 per cent of the book!) on VAT; enough to put anyone off starting their own business. Pity background data in earlier chapters was not more recent, particularly as avoiding economic stop-go policies must be a first priority for Governments in their relationship with small business.
Developing Managerial Competences, (1991), 240 pp., A24.95.
GEORGE BOAK, Pitman
Designed to help those involved in training and development to understand and employ the Management Learning Contract (MLC) method effectively. Helpful, but surprising to find no mention of Bob Garretts’ work in the chapter on ‘The Learning Organisation’.
The Tin Men: A Chronicle of Crises, RALPH KESTENBAUM, Metal Bulletin Books (1991), 198 pp., A25.00. The collapse of the International Tin Council in 1985 was one of the world’s biggest ever commercial defaults-k900m. The story of how an intergovernmental commodity price stabilization scheme turned into first a nightmare, then a disaster, needs telling. The author has provided a valuable starting point but, like all these scandals, the full story is unlikely to ever be told.
AUBRY WILSON, Kogan
Page
A solid tour through areas of marketing that will become increasingly important in the 1990s. Sixteen chapters organized into five parts: Strategic Partnerships; The Company as a Marketing Organism; The Service Element in Added Value; Distant Markets; and finally Marketing Conundrums, including a chapter on The Myths of Marketing. Sobering to reflect on: ‘The classic example of a firm adopting the marketing concept as set out by the experts and failing is Hoover. Hoover’s research into washing machine markets showed 26 different consumer preferences in just five countries which, in attempting to meet them, led the firm into the most critical of financial situations while their competitors saturated the market-albeit with products that did not fit the customer preference pattern. What Hoover had failed to appreciate was that consumers will abandon or modify preference in favour of some other trade-off, so that a marketing task is not just to find an ideal consumer product, but what compromises they could be persuaded to make by the promotion of other benefits.’ One important area is covered in greater detail in World Class Brands, CHRIS MACRAE, Addison-Wesley (1991), 196 pp., L17.95. This provides a practical and readable account of global branding, distinguishing between the successes and failures; essential reading for anyone involved in that competitive and demanding business.
The New Evolutionary Paradigm, ERVIN LASZLO (Ed.), Gordon and Breach (1991), 204 pp., A36.00. Attempts to apply the theory of evolution to historical, social and natural sciences in a search for common patterns. For the specialist.
Leadership: A New Synthesis, JAMES G. HUNT, Sage Publications (1991), 357 pp., A38.00 hard, Al6.95 soft. As the author, who is a Professor of Management and Director of the Leadership Program at Texas Tech University, recognizes, the book is not a quick read. But it should become a natural source, if not starting point, for any serious scholar of the subject. He mentions that there are now estimated to be more than 10,000 leadership studies and he includes over 800 references, but in the 600 or so words listed in the index the word responsibility was not included.
131
the academic, rather than managerial, market. Volume 12 in a series of studies on Organizational Behavior and Industrial Relations.
Financial Systems and Development: What Rolefor the Formal and Informal Financial Sectors? DIMITRI GERMIDIS, DENIS KESSLER and RACHEL MEGHIR, OECD (1991), 253 pp., FF160.
Qualitative Methods in Management Research, EVERT GUMMESSON, Sage Publications (1991), 212 pp., A14.50.
Based on case studies in 12 developing countries, the authors analyse the overall framework for financial intermediation in developing countries, including formal and informal sectors, and the economic policy environments within which they operate. The two sectors must be linked. Not an easy task, especially when left to economists-some managerial input might have been helpful.
Focuses on case study research and the use of qualitative methods for data collection and analysis. Relevant to both academic researchers and management consultants. The author is Professor of Service Management and Marketing at the Service Research Center, Karlstad, Sweden.
New Directions in Marketing, (1991), 231 pp., A18.95.
Cultural Knowledge in Organizations: Exploring the Collective Mind, SONJA A. SACKMANN,Sage Publications (1991), A15.99. What does culture mean in an organizational context? How can it be changed? Increasingly important issues, but this study is only likely to be of interest to specialists in the area.
Governments and Small Business, GRAHAMBANNOCKand ALAN PEACOCK,Paul Chapman Publishing (1989), 278 pp., A29.95. Examines the impact of government policies on small firms and how those policies might be improved. Part 1 deals with The Role of Small Business, while the other two parts cover Taxation and Regulation. One hundred and twenty-five pages (2 chapters out of 10 but nearly 50 per cent of the book!) on VAT; enough to put anyone off starting their own business. Pity background data in earlier chapters was not more recent, particularly as avoiding economic stop-go policies must be a first priority for Governments in their relationship with small business.
Developing Managerial Competences, (1991), 240 pp., A24.95.
GEORGE BOAK, Pitman
Designed to help those involved in training and development to understand and employ the Management Learning Contract (MLC) method effectively. Helpful, but surprising to find no mention of Bob Garretts’ work in the chapter on ‘The Learning Organisation’.
The Tin Men: A Chronicle of Crises, RALPH KESTENBAUM, Metal Bulletin Books (1991), 198 pp., A25.00. The collapse of the International Tin Council in 1985 was one of the world’s biggest ever commercial defaults-k900m. The story of how an intergovernmental commodity price stabilization scheme turned into first a nightmare, then a disaster, needs telling. The author has provided a valuable starting point but, like all these scandals, the full story is unlikely to ever be told.
AUBRY WILSON, Kogan
Page
A solid tour through areas of marketing that will become increasingly important in the 1990s. Sixteen chapters organized into five parts: Strategic Partnerships; The Company as a Marketing Organism; The Service Element in Added Value; Distant Markets; and finally Marketing Conundrums, including a chapter on The Myths of Marketing. Sobering to reflect on: ‘The classic example of a firm adopting the marketing concept as set out by the experts and failing is Hoover. Hoover’s research into washing machine markets showed 26 different consumer preferences in just five countries which, in attempting to meet them, led the firm into the most critical of financial situations while their competitors saturated the market-albeit with products that did not fit the customer preference pattern. What Hoover had failed to appreciate was that consumers will abandon or modify preference in favour of some other trade-off, so that a marketing task is not just to find an ideal consumer product, but what compromises they could be persuaded to make by the promotion of other benefits.’ One important area is covered in greater detail in World Class Brands, CHRIS MACRAE, Addison-Wesley (1991), 196 pp., L17.95. This provides a practical and readable account of global branding, distinguishing between the successes and failures; essential reading for anyone involved in that competitive and demanding business.
The New Evolutionary Paradigm, ERVIN LASZLO (Ed.), Gordon and Breach (1991), 204 pp., A36.00. Attempts to apply the theory of evolution to historical, social and natural sciences in a search for common patterns. For the specialist.
Leadership: A New Synthesis, JAMES G. HUNT, Sage Publications (1991), 357 pp., A38.00 hard, Al6.95 soft. As the author, who is a Professor of Management and Director of the Leadership Program at Texas Tech University, recognizes, the book is not a quick read. But it should become a natural source, if not starting point, for any serious scholar of the subject. He mentions that there are now estimated to be more than 10,000 leadership studies and he includes over 800 references, but in the 600 or so words listed in the index the word responsibility was not included.