Check-Teck Foo’s research while affiliated with Nanyang Technological University and other places

Purpose Knowledge is often tapped in the process of strategy making. Yet this is rarely explored in the empirical research literature. However, to better understand strategy making in Chinese minds, a new epistemology of strategy is needed. This is the aim of this paper. Design/methodology/approach A unique approach is taken here, one that highlights the differences in Eastern and Western thinking but also draws upon recent empirical results to underlie the discussion. Findings As may be expected, evidence was found that the more business‐oriented a discipline, the more likely ideas from the discipline are being utilized in strategy making. Psychology, sociology and politics are far less relevant for strategy than the other disciplines. Even more intriguing insights are gained as to contextual influences on strategy‐making processes. In terms of economic sectors, the strategy‐making processes are richer in terms of the tapping of ideas than in services. Research limitations/implications Clearly there is a need for an enriched study to develop a deeper epistemology of strategy. For a Chinese epistemology of strategy, this clearly has to include ancient works such as Art of War by Sun Tzu, the Tao Te Ching , historical novels ( Romance of Three Kingdoms ). Practical implications Clearly the process of strategy making and taking is a complex field of research. Yet this paper contributes by showing that often culture has a role to play besides contexts. Also that strategy in corporations is heavily driven by business‐related disciplines. Originality/value This is the first paper of its kind to integrate a discussion of roots to the sources of knowledge and its structures for strategy and reinforcing these arguments with empirical findings of how disciplinary roots of knowledge are tapped in corporate strategy.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate CEOs as leaders in manufacturing organizations. The focus is on the roles of CEOs in organizational adaptations to changing and continuously evolving external environments. Design/methodology/approach The paper is grounded on a conceptual theory of molecular structuring inside organizations. The authors then investigate CEOs' leadership roles. For this purpose a long established Singapore perceptual database of corporate productivity practices is utilized. Two contrasting samples ( N =65) of high and low adaptability manufacturing firms are obtained. Statistical technique of Pearson product correlation yields intriguing, contrasting patterns of findings. On the basis of these results, we then discuss the roles of CEOs in highly adaptive versus lowly adaptive manufacturing firms. Findings The results are seen through the lenses of molecular structuring of organizations suggest a sharp contrast in the nature of the roles of CEOs. In organizations that are highly adaptive, there is much closer interactions. In the lowly adaptive, CEOs seem uninvolved, staying aloof from core operations of their firms. Research limitations/implications Since, the contrasting samples are from within the manufacturing sector, these insights are particularly relevant to China as a global manufacturing centre. Originality/value This is the first paper of its kind to empirically validate the prescriptions of Lao Tzu, the ancient Chinese sage and author of the 2,500 years old Tao Te Ching .

Roles of leadership in coping with uncertainty are explored in this paper. Through an in-depth, empirically (CEOs of top, ASEAN publicly listed corporations) grounded discussion, the authors argued for the presence of a deep cultural divide between Eastern and Western leaders on coping with uncertainty. In the process, the authors devise a two dimensional, organic versus forecastability model of strategy behavior for polarizing East-West leadership styles. Aspects of the Sun Tzu’s Art of War and 5,000 years old, I Ching are discussed with respect to foreknowledge and foresight respectively.

We theorize that organizing learning activities in high-technology firms differs from those in conventional manufacturing. Using controls, we found empirical support for our hypotheses, which are due to market turbulence. High-technology-driven firms had to face a rapidly changing, highly volatile environment with disruptive and destructive changes. Inspired by our findings, we suggest an extension to the Burns and Stalker's idea of the “organic” firm—a neural firm paradigm in interpreting people–technology interactions. For high-technology firms having to cope with market turbulence, we argue for “plasticity” in organizing.

This paper examines corporate identity on three different levels: regional; national and industrial. It then empirically integrates corporate identity with strategy within ASEAN corporations. Multi-leveled analyses are drawn from statistical results obtained from an already established database of 109 ASEAN public-listed companies. It seeks to relate corporate identity to the anatomy of strategic planning within major corporations in the ASEAN region.

Among the major fast developing Asean countries, Singapore is the first to recently launch a national, social movement to promote innovation through nurturing technology-based entrepreneurs. This is anticipated by the first author (Foo, C.T., Hall, K., 1997. Productivity innovation as a social movement: the case of Singapore. International Journal of Human Resource Management 8(5), 720–742), who had argued for a greater need for Singapore to launch a Creativity and Innovation Movement than Productivity Movement. This paper reports an emerging social movement of innovation through cultivating technopreneur in Singapore and argues for large, publicly listed corporations to integrate the socialization of technopreneurism as part of corporate innovation and technology strategy.