No abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.Abstract The paper uses a procedure called data envelopment analysis (DEA) to compare internal against external (outsource) efficiency in the delivery of finance function activities. The approach allows a direct comparison between the in-house efficiency of UK small, medium and large companies in managing their accounting activities both with UK outsource contractors and also against the rather larger and more numerous contractors observed in Italy. The paper finds that, through comparative advantages, outsourcing presents a more efficient solution for the management of very small firm accounting than internal provision. Furthermore, there is evidence that substantial scale benefits continue to be available to outsource contractors, while inefficiency on internal provision is mainly technical. The paper concludes that outsourcing provision is likely to offer worthwhile savings to small firms, allowing them to shed competitive weaknesses and operate at efficient or best practice levels. At the same time, by converting an internal fixed cost, fixed capacity activity into a flexible, variable cost activity, SMEs have the potential to transform a previously unmanageable activity into an efficient or best practice activity that can grow or contract with the business.The research register for this journal is available at

Innovation specialists from the largest British companies discussed what they wanted to know about innovation, and asked the academic community to suggest some answers. Some, but by no means all, of their questions had already been answered in the published literature. The behaviours that support a culture of innovation include a market orientation, an innovation‐friendly ruling coalition, and organisational structures that propel novelty. These behaviours also encourage creativity if the risk‐taking employees are rewarded for success and if they are asked to explain their personal mission at intervals. Several methods which researchers have found effective for the identification of ideas which may become market winners are discussed, as are methods building organisational competencies for innovation. Some of their remaining questions are being addressed by research projects currently in progress.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to test the positive effect of strategy‐technology integration on performance in comparison with the impact of other types of strategies.Design/methodology/approachGeneral conclusions are drawn and strategic implications derived from a survey of 355 UK manufacturing companies which had expressed interest in the introduction of new computer‐based technology.FindingsIt was found that the companies with strategy‐technology integration showed better financial and operational performance. Strategies of technology leadership and market orientation were also associated with enhanced financial performance. However, a number of organisational conditions were found to be necessary for the pursuit of these strategies.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is needed to examine the process and structure in which strategy technology can be better integrated.Practical implicationsFirms should strive to achieve strategy‐technology integration to maximise the benefits of adopting new technologies.Originality/valueThe empirical research presented in this paper fills a gap in the existing literature.

Knowledge and learning play a major part in the successful implementation of process technologies. We suggest that managers of implementation projects can improve the initial performance levels of the process in which a new technology resides by ensuring that useful knowledge, present in the organization at the start of the implementation project, is employed to greatest effect during the design of the modified process and that new learning is not lost. This does not necessarily require major investment in computerized systems ± merely exploring what potentially useful knowledge is already available within the organization, or can readily be obtained from external contact, may improve the efficiency of technology implementation. Use of available knowledge can also help to speed up the implementation process by reducing the number of, and time required for, the adaptations necessary to get the process to the desired performance level.