D. K. (SKIP) SMITH
Once a year, senior sales and marketing executives of many of America’s largest companies gather at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City for the Conference Board’s Annual Marketing Conference. Participants spend two days discussing evolving issues relating to the successful marketing of consumer and industrial goods and services. This paper is based on topics discussed at the Conference Board’s November 2000 Annual Marketing Conference.
As the title indicates, the two primary foci of this conference in New York were "marketing" and e-business." Of the two, it seems likely that the second is less well-known in Nigeria. Therefore, Part #1 of this paper overviews the different types (that is, a typology or taxonomy) of e-business models. Part #2 of the paper will consider a number of issues relating to the intersection of marketing on the one hand and the e-business environment on the other. Part #2 of the paper concludes with a short mini-case designed to stimulate readers’ appreciation of the ways the issues raised could relate to a business in Nigeria.
MANAGING YOUR ORGANISATION’S ETHICAL CLIMATE
OGBONNA IKE
This article explains how the level of ethical practice in an organisation can be influenced by the core values of the organisation and its internal and external environment. The author argues that to ensure high ethical standards in an organisation, it is important to clarify and reinforce core values, and to ensure that the organisational systems, policies and procedures support and contribute to ethical conduct. The article also explores the impact of the external environment on ethical conduct and goes further to give some practical ideas on managing all these influences to ensure the institutionalisation of high ethical standards within organisations.
HOW CEOs GET IN THE WAY OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AND WHAT THEY CAN DO ABOUT IT
FRANCA OVADJE
Environment changes are forcing many organizations to adapt or die. In the banking industry for example, structural adjustment led to deregulation and the influx of new players. The Structural Adjustment Programme, which was introduced in the mid 1980s, brought real competition into some sectors. The stunted growth of the economy increased the intensity of competition. As the rules of the game changed, there was a need to change systems, organizational culture and processes among others. Many organizations initiated change programmes to increase their competitiveness. However, the results have not been good. Many reasons have been given for the failure of these change initiatives. They vary from people’s natural resistance to change to the lack of involvement of people in the change process. This article focuses attention on the barriers Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) themselves put in the way of change. The article also proposes ways CEOs can drive change successfully in their organizations.
MANAGEMENT IN THE SERVICE OF THE PERSON. A NEW ATTITUDE FOR A NEW MILENNIUM
J. FONTRODONA
Any discussion of management in relation to the teachings of Blessed Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer must necessarily take its cue from the message he proclaimed from 1928 onward concerning the universal call to sanctity in and through work. The teaching which from that moment on he toiled to disseminate, and which was subsequently ratified by the Second Vatican Council, is that for the ordinary faithful who live immersed in earthly realities work, done competently and in a spirit of service, is the sphere in which the pursuit of personal sanctification takes place.