Beginning in the 1950's, research on organisations emphasised the importance of understanding the wider meso- and macro-economic environment in which organisations operate. An organisation on its own cannot affect environmental factors, nor can environmental factors affect the profitability of an industry or an organisation. Conducting a strategic analysis...

Firms that want to internationalise must decide on a fitting mode of entry into a foreign market in order to make the best use of their resources. Once an entry mode has been chosen, multinational organisations limit their tactical flexibility by developing skills and knowledge to support the chosen arrangement.  The entry mode selection...

The Canadian academic, Henry Mintzberg who had trained as a mechanical engineer, wrote his PhD thesis at the MIT Sloan School of Management analysing the actual work habits and time management of chief executive officers (CEOs). In 1973, Mintzberg's thesis on the nature of managerial work was adopted as a study and published for a wider audience. Mintzberg's...

In the mid 1970's, Marvin Weisbord, an organisational design consultant, created his six boxes model as a diagnostics tool of organisational effectiveness. He identified six key areas in which 'things must go right' and be internally consistent for an organisation to be successful. The result of the diagnosis is a prioritised list of ready to be...