Romano Dyerson

• Royal Holloway University of London

The bursting of the “bubble economy” in 1989–1990 brought decades of challenge for Japanese Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), which had assumed the role of subcontractor within production networks dominated by large companies. This article explores the impact of a rapidly altered business environment, due to economic crisis, the decline of...

This paper draws attention to a major issue of Knowledge Management (KM) technology implementation: potential sources of incongruence between KM software and the adopting organization. Using the case of a global consultancy firm, the paper explains KM software-organization incongruences as the consequence of differences between organizational and K...

Purpose – Drawing from the literature, the purpose of this paper is to offer an empirically validated framework for examining information technology (IT) readiness in small firms. Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual framework of IT readiness for small firms is developed and validated empirically using a quantitative survey of 117 UK manufac...

Both industrial organization theory (IO) and the resource-based view of the firm (RBV) have advanced our understanding of the antecedents of competitive advantage but few have attempted to verify the outcome variables of competitive advantage and the persistence of such outcome variables. Here by integrating both IO and RBV perspectives in the anal...

Purpose – The aim of the paper is to explore conceptually and empirically the application of the concept of IT readiness to small firms. Design/methodology/approach – The approach taken was a questionnaire administered to small manufacturing business owners in the Liguria region of Italy. Data were analysed using factor and cluster analysis. Find...

This paper examines the adoption and use of information and communication technology (ICT) in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) across four sectors in the UK. In the paper we report on a survey that explores the factors facilitating or hampering the successful adoption and use of ICT by SMEs. We find that SMEs are generally satisfied with t...

This article analyses the strategic, organisational, and structural conditions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to fully exploit the potential of information and communication technology (ICT). The authors build a conceptual framework relating “ICT readiness” (a new construct) to two more common dimensions: “strategic vision of ICT” and “ICT...

This article analyses the strategic, organisational, and structural conditions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to fully exploit the potential of information and communication technology (ICT). The authors build a conceptual framework relating “ICT readiness” (a new construct) to two more common dimensions: “strategic vision of ICT” and “ICT...

Dynamic capabilities have been widely discussed in the past decade but how the determinants of dynamic capabilities affect a firm's competitive advantage has not been fully explored. This paper develops a quantitative method to investigate how a firm's dynamic capabilities affect a firm's competitive advantage. This study examines the developed hyp...

Purpose The paper aims to report on an exploratory study into how small businesses use Web 2.0 information and communication technologies (ICT) to work collaboratively with other small businesses. The study had two aims: to investigate the benefits available from the use of Web 2.0 in small business collaborations, and to characterize the different...

This paper explores patterns of adoption and use of information and communications technology (ICT) by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in both the North West region of England and the Genoa region of Italy. Here we present the results of this two region survey drawn from two economically significant sectors: high technology manufacturing...

Underpinned by the work of Schultze and Boland (2000) on situated knowledge work context, and using Bourdieu's (1990) theory of practice, this paper draws attention to potential sources of likely misalignment between Knowledge Management (KM) software and the implementing organisation. Using the case of a global IT-Management consultancy firm, the...

Inspired by the proposition that “Enterprise IS configurations chosen by the organisations will encode institutionalised principles into these systems” (Gosain, 2004, p. 169), this study seeks to draw attention to potential sources of misalignment between knowledge management (KM) software and the implementing organisation from an institutional the...

This paper investigates the decisions and factors affecting the implementation of a corporate portal to support knowledge management processes in a global IT-Management consultancy firm. Employing a conceptual framework based on Activity Theory, this study offers some new insights into the implementation of a portal with due consideration of the ca...

This paper explores patterns of adoption and use of information and c ommunications technology (ICT) by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the south west London and Thames V alley region of England . The paper presents preliminary results of a survey of around 400 SMEs drawn from four economically significant sectors in the region : food...

In this paper, we explore some of the results from a survey of 378 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) based in the southeast of England. The objective of this survey was to build a snapshot of the state of play of the information and communications technology (ICT) use by SMEs in economically significant sectors in this region. The sectors c...

Summary form only given. We present the results of a survey of 400 small recognise ICT's strategic potential: the majority of ICT and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) drawn from four applications implemented are at a strictly operational level, economically significant sectors in the UK's most productive SMEs are also generally distrustful of ICT co...

The increasing importance of Knowledge Management (KM) has prompted many researchers to examine facets of the topic. However, understanding the acquisition of KM software in organisations and particularly the factors and conditions that affect the acquisition process has been largely ignored in the literature. Here we argue that incorporating an un...

We present the results of a survey of around 400 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) from the southwest London and Thames Valley region of England, on their adoption and use of information and communications technology (ICT). The SMEs were drawn from four economically significant sectors in the region: food processing, transport and logistics...

Which institution - the Government, the large corporation, or the entrepreneur - can best manage a small high tech firm? This article seeks to answer that question in considering the case of Inmos, a small high tech firm set up with Government funding, that went on to pioneer the field of paraiiel computing through its revolutionary product the Tra...

What happens to entrepreneurial firms as they achieve the growth that they desire? This paper argues that growth brings with it pressures that ultimately contradict the entrepreneurial stance. In particular, the ‘go getting’ competitive internal structure of the firm has to adapt and change to reflect the increased importance of co-operation and te...

The financial sector is full of technological hares attempting, but never quite winning, the business race. This paper explores an alternative - successful - competitor, the business tortoise. Using a recently conducted case study, the Halifax Building Society, this paper considers the value of building organisational skills for lasting competitive...

Turning skills into competitive performance is a difficult, long term process. An understanding of the firm's business needs has to be married to technical skills. Yet technology is often treated in a cavalier fashion by firms. Successful management fosters organisational procedures which can co-ordinate the incremental building of skills and exper...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of the electric vehicle, technological capabilities of incumbents and would‐be new entrants in the auto industry. These are discussed with reference to US regulatory moves towards zero emission standards to provide a new framework for identifying the potential success of various type...

This paper explores the introduction of electric vehicles in response to Californian regulatory pressures as an example of a disruptive technology. The central thesis is that this disruption may open the automobile market to new entrants but only if they collaborate with incumbent automobile manufacturers. This appears to support Schumpeter's argum...

This paper explores the introduction of electric vehicles in response to Californian

For much of the past century, the automobile sector has been dominated by a handful of oligopolistic firms, protected through path dependencies and the build up of complementary assets. But that very dominance built upon years of experience and translated into the periodic release of incrementally innovative new car designs, may now be threatened b...

Here we explore the role of possible disruptive technologies in the US automobile sector and the reaction of established firms to that threat. More specifically, US regulators have signalled a shift towards zero emission vehicles; threatening the hegemony of the high emission car built using conventional technology. This presents an opportunity to...

This paper reports a study into the use of US patents to analyse responses to regulatory change in the automobile industry. Confirming that patents are a rich indicator of technological development, it focuses on the development of the electric vehicle (EV) and, in particular, the identification of networks of firms developing EVs. A key finding of...

This paper explores patenting activity in the development of fuel cell technology. Using American patent data, the paper analyses the flow of information through firms and individuals at a time when the automobile sector sees this technology as a key response to radical regulatory change. This regulation is stimulating incumbent automobile manufact...

Regulatory efforts, notably in the USA, have seen renewed interest in the development of electric vehicles. The innovation and technology demands of these products have necessitated the involvement of a range of technology suppliers that extend beyond existing networks in the automobile industry. This paper explores these emerging relationships by...

Regulatory efforts, notably in the US, have seen renewed interest in the

A new framework is presented for understanding innovation processes within periods of disruptive technological change. Using the development and commercialisation of the electric vehicle, technological capabilities of incumbents and would-be new entrants in the auto industry are discussed and aligned with US regulatory moves towards zero emission s...

We explore patenting activity as an indicator of technological development, using US patents to analyse responses to regulatory change in the automobile industry. We identified the development of complex networks of firms developing electric vehicles and discuss the limitations of defining patent searches in terms of products rather than technologi...

form only given. This paper explores the value and use of patenting activity as an indicator of technological development. We report the use of US patent data to analyse responses to regulatory change in the automobile industry with the development of the electric vehicle (EV). Key findings from this study include the development of complex network...

The paper explores the inherent relationship between stand-alone products

This paper explores patenting activity in the development of the electric vehicle. Using American patent data, the paper analyses the flow of information through firms and individuals at a time when the American automobile sector is responding to radical regulatory change. This is stimulating incumbent automobile manufacturers to change their appro...

Drawing on an extensive case study, we argue that management has to actively manage information flows, both within the organization and between the organization and its environment. Three tasks of knowledge management are, in our view, important in building technological capability: appropriation, teamworking and learning. ‘Appropriation’ includes...

Drawing on an extensive case study, we argue that management has to actively manage information flows, both within the organization and between the organization and its environment. Three tasks of knowledge management are, in our view, important in building technological capability: appropriation, teamworking and learning. 'Appropriation' includes...

Technological change can help to enhance an organization's knowledge base by facilitating communication and information flows. Changing communication and information flows, however, also creates appropriation opportunities for organizational sub-groups. Drawing empirical cases from the ESRC/DTI 'New Technologies and the Firm' initiative, we put for...

As the debate throughout the eighties has concluded, the efforts of governments to intervene at the firm level has largely been disappointing. Using two examples drawn from the British experience, Rover and Inmos, this paper offers an analysis as to why the Government has encountered difficulties when it has sought to intervene in a strategic fashi...