Management Models for the Future

Citation

Freudenthaler, K. (2010), "Management Models for the Future", Journal of Modelling in Management, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 81-82. https://doi.org/10.1108/17465661011026185

Jan Jonker and Jacob Eskildsen edited a book entitled Management Models for the Future. Using 11 real‐world business cases – and not ten or 12 as stated on the back cover, in the introduction and elsewhere in the text – the authors present how companies are addressing current challenges and which business models they implement to face those challenges.

The individual cases included are the following:

1. 1.

   Cilag AG (Switzerland). Pharmaceutical industry.

2. 2.

   Henkel (Germany). Home care; personal care; and adhesives, sealants, and surface treatment.

3. 3.

   Danske Bank (Denmark). Financial institution.

4. 4.

   AgroFair (The Netherlands). Food retail sector.

5. 5.

   ABN AMRO Real (Brazil). Private bank.

6. 6.

   Danish Post (Denmark). Postal service.

7. 7.

   Western Australian Water Cooperation (Australia). Water utility.

8. 8.

   Triodos Bank (The Netherlands). Financial institution.

9. 9.

   Vandemoortele (Germany). Food manufacturer.

10. 10.

    Gaz de France (France). Energy.

11. 11.

    Lloyds TSB (England). Banking and insurance group.

In the introduction, Jonker and Eskildsen (2009) define the term “management model” as:

[…] a broad range of informal and formal models that are used by organizations to represent various (functional, social and emotional) aspects of a business, such as operational processes, organizational structures, and financial forecasts (p. 3).

In the following paragraph, the authors go on to use the term business model and do not clearly delimit this term from “management model.” Overall, the authors claim that the use of management models leads to a “higher level of performance and excellence” (p. 3), where “outcomes should by definition create value” (p. 3), and “profit is a reward for creating value” (p. 4). While they take into account the wellbeing of organizational members and the environment, it becomes apparent that the main mission is to implement models that help maximize profits.

Jonker and Eskildsen claim that “fundamental societal and business developments” require companies to adopt and use new business models – yet they fail to describe the circumstances and conditions that force businesses to employ new management models. What are those fundamental developments that require the implementation and use of new management models? Why do businesses need to react and adopt? Only in the concluding chapter, the authors clearly introduce the double context “business and society” and diverse and far‐reaching problems such as “climate change, social inequality, use of scarce resources, copyrighting [of] natural DNA for commercial purposes and long‐term pollution” (p. 186). It does not become entirely clear how the business cases relate to these challenges and how they address the challenges mentioned. Also, some of the concepts and constructs that are introduced in the concluding section of the book should have been presented in the introduction already. It would have helped the reader to understand the framework that is used to evaluate and compare the cases.

The cases themselves allow the reader valuable insight into business practice and vary in context and content according to the respective case. Some of the cases, such as CILAG AG (pharmaceutical industry), yield a detailed account on a very elaborate model that is based on mathematical and academic knowledge while others almost read like the summary of the company's advertisements and/or branding brochures.

To sum up, I can say that the book is a useful accumulation of business cases that might be interesting to managers and consultants but lacks an overarching red thread so that the results could be evaluated and generalized. Furthermore, the current financial crisis and the debate on corporate social responsibility are not even mentioned in the book (which I expected to be the departing point for the need of new management models).

With regards to formatting some improvements could be made: obviously, there was a mix‐up with the description of Cases 9 and 10 in the introduction as Case 9 is listed as the tenth case and vice‐versa in the table of contents and the remainder of the book. To make things even worse, the cases are again arranged in a different order in the concluding chapter. The missing numbering of the individual chapters in the table of contents as well as the lack of company names (as subheadings) adds to the confusion of the reader. There is no index, no list of abbreviation, no list of tables and figures and there are, in parts, many spelling and grammar errors.