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Learning to Reduce Interorganizational Learning: An Analysis of Architectural Product Innovation in Strategic Alliances*
Abstract
There is wide agreement in analyses of strategic alliances that, regardless of the purpose of the alliance, members of the partner organizations should engage in intensive mutual learning to make the alliance a success. In contrast to this view, the present article shows that in strategic alliances aimed at product innovations by recombining partners' extant technologies, learning between specialists can be reduced considerably without jeopardizing success. This is made possible through four interconnected mechanisms integrated into the concept of transactive organizational learning (TOL): (1) modularization, which allows specialists of different domains to develop modules to a large extent independently of each other and to concentrate communication between themselves on the design of interfaces between modules; (2) storing of knowledge in artifacts instead of in organizational members' memories; (3) localization of knowledge not present in the project team but for which a need has arisen through transactive memory; and (4) knowledge integration by prototyping (i.e., by repeated testing of modules and of interactions between modules until a satisfactorily working end product is achieved). Although these four mechanisms reduce the need for cross-learning between specialists of different domains, some common knowledge and some cross-learning between the partners' specialists is still required. Case studies on four of SAP's strategic alliances for product innovation with different partners lend empirical support to this study's concept. The article concludes with implications for practice: Companies should find out whether the TOL mechanisms that reduce time to market are present, to what extent their potential is exploited, and how well they work together.
... The tenets of KBV suggest that an organisation's efficiency in external knowledge absorption depends upon its ability to add new knowledge to existing knowledge (Grant, 1996). Extant research alludes that IKCC could build the firm's ability to transfer, transform and integrate suppliers' knowledge (Grunwald and Kieser, 2007, Camisón and Forés, 2010, Grimpe and Kaiser, 2010. Researchers also highlight that high internal knowledge capability is not only effective for the transmission of supplier's knowledge into the buyer firm (Azadegan et al., 2008, Wu, 2008, Bengtsson et al., 2013, but also promotes further R&D outsourcing (Grimpe and Kaiser, 2010). ...
... This view of absorptive capacity highlights the interactive aspects of knowledge sharing in OI (Dyer and Singh, 1998, Janowicz-Panjaitan and Noorderhaven, 2008, Grimpe and Kaiser, 2010. Accordingly, SMEs with high absorptive capacity could participate in an intensive knowledge sharing process (Grunwald andKieser, 2007, Forés andCamisón, 2016). ...
... Consequently, absorptive capacity also signals the SME's motivation to continue learning from its offshore supplier as long as good quality knowledge sharing is offered by the supplier (Grunwald and Kieser, 2007). Although the SME's satisfaction with the OI relationship is not a sufficient condition for generating high OI performance, it is a necessary condition for the continuation of long and strategic OI relationships. ...
Purpose
In spite of the increased attention on knowledge management processes as important variables for firms to generate performance benefits within supply chain literature, little is known about how these variables could impact offshoring innovation (OI) relationships held by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Considering their growing importance, this study aims to investigate the interplay between the internal knowledge creation capability, absorptive capacity and formal knowledge routines in attaining OI performance benefits for SMEs.
Design/methodology/approach
Grounded in the knowledge-based view theory, this study forwards various hypotheses between the variables of interests. The authors test the hypotheses using survey data collected from 200 European SMEs that engage in offshore supplier relationships.
Findings
The findings suggest that internal knowledge creation capability is positively associated to absorptive capacity. Not only is absorptive capacity positively associated to OI performance outcomes but it also positively mediates the effect of internal knowledge creation capability on OI performance. Additionally, formal knowledge-sharing routines negatively moderate the relationship between absorptive capacity and OI performance.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the supply chain as well as SMEs innovation literature by empirically showing that through enhanced internal knowledge creation capability, absorptive capacity goes beyond merely accessing and assimilating the supplier’s knowledge to achieve innovation gains. The results suggest that to succeed in gaining knowledge and subsequent performance benefits within OI, it is essential for SMEs to create and retain knowledge internally.
... Their results from a study in the photolithographic industry, underscores that simply rearranging components in a new way can lead to break-through innovations. Interestingly, organizations that are part of a strategic alliance with the aim of producing architectural innovation can oftentimes successfully carry out such recombinations without in-depth knowledge exchange between experts from each company (Grunwald and Kieser 2007). While a certain amount of shared knowledge is still necessary, factors such as modularization and prototyping allow to cut down time to market considerably by avoiding extensive learning cycles (Grunwald and Kieser 2007). ...
... Interestingly, organizations that are part of a strategic alliance with the aim of producing architectural innovation can oftentimes successfully carry out such recombinations without in-depth knowledge exchange between experts from each company (Grunwald and Kieser 2007). While a certain amount of shared knowledge is still necessary, factors such as modularization and prototyping allow to cut down time to market considerably by avoiding extensive learning cycles (Grunwald and Kieser 2007). ...
... Davis et al. 2013;Grigoriou and Rothaermel 2014;Gruber et al. 2013;Hwang et al. 2014;Nerkar and Paruchuri 2005;Singh and Fleming 2010 Intra-Organizational:Berchicci et al. 2019;Beverungen et al. 2018;Brown and Duguid 2001;Brown and Eisenhardt 1997;Carlile and Rebentisch 2003;Choudhury 2017;Dong and Yang 2019;Eisenman and Paruchuri 2019;Galunic and Rodan 1998;Grunwald and Kieser 2007;Hansen and Løvås 2004;Kaplan and Vakili 2015;Karim and Williams 2012;Kogut and Zander 1992;Kogut and Zander 2003;Kok et al. 2019;Lahiri 2010;Leonardi 2014;Madsen et al. 2003;Miller et al. 2007;Nerkar 2003;Nerkar and Paruchuri 2005;Persaud 2005;Rosenkopf and Nerkar 2001;Scalera et al. 2018;Tsai 2001;Tsur and Zemel 2007;Wang et al. 2014;Wang and Libaers 2016;Yayavaram and Ahuja 2008 Inter-Organizational:Ahuja and Katila 2004;Balachandran and Hernandez 2018;Carlile 2004;Carlile and Rebentisch 2003;Cirillo 2019;Cowan et al. 2007;Dokko et al. 2014;Duerr et al. 2017;Flath et al. 2017;Fleming and Sorenson 2004;Germonprez et al. 2017;Grunwald and Kieser 2007;Hund et al. 2019b;Karamanos 2016;Katila and Ahuja 2002;Kogut and Metiu 2001;Lyytinen et al. 2016a;Majchrzak and Malhotra 2013;Rhyn et al. 2017;Rosenkopf and Almeida 2003;Rosenkopf and Nerkar 2001;Von Hippel and von Krogh 2003;von Krogh et al. 2012;Wang and Libaers 2016;Wirsich et al. 2016;Xie and Li 2018; Yang et al. Zollo Davis and Eisenhardt 2011;Duerr et al. 2017;Eisenhardt and Brown 1999;Fleming et al. 2007;Galunic and Eisenhardt 1996;Galunic and Eisenhardt 2001b;Girod and Karim 2017;Helfat and Eisenhardt 2004;Karim 2009; Creation:Carnabuci and Operti 2013;Fleming 2001;Fleming and Sorenson 2004;Ghosh et al. 2014;Hargadon and Sutton 1997;Mukherjee et al. 2016;Petruzzelli and Savino 2014 Recombinant Reuse:Carnabuci and Operti 2013;Grunwald and Kieser 2007;Henderson and Clark 1990;Mukherjee et al. 2016 Digital Recombination: ...
Recombination is central to innovation. Stated in simple terms, recombination is the idea that new things are created by combining existing things in new ways. Over time, the application of recombination to different contexts and the influence of pervasive digitali-zation led to increasingly specialized conceptualizations of recombination. This review takes stock of current research by reviewing 90 articles across 49 different outlets and four leading IS conferences. Building upon the findings, this review makes three key con-tributions by: (1) Organizing existing knowledge on recombination by inductively devel-oping a typology of four different types of recombination, (2) Addressing the missing fo-cus on digital technology with four propositions that theorize how pervasive digitaliza-tion affects recombination, (3) Highlighting new directions for future research by devel-oping specific research questions.
... Because complexity goes hand in hand with interorganizational complementarity, to coordinate the interorganizational alignment of action partnering firms need to establish stable cooperation patterns (Gulati et al. (2005)), i.e., the coordination of highly interdependent tasks (Gulati and Singh (1998)). Grunwald and Kieser (2007) point to the role of boundary spanners, e.g., dedicated alliance or network managers that work on both sides of a relationship. Cooperation patterns could involve not only more or less standardized procedures to coordinate the joint production or sales process, the joint project management or the ongoing training, and the evaluation of existing partners, but also the selection procedures of appropriate new partners and the re-selection of old partners (Sarker, Sahaym, and Bjorn-Andersen (2012); Schreiner, Kale, and Corsten (2009)). ...
... In rigidity in cooperation barriers, cooperation patterns in interorganizational relationships such as strategic networks act as common agreements necessary to reassemble these different but complementary parts. Grunwald and Kieser (2007) compare this with the coordination of concert musicians who do not need to know everything about their colleagues' instruments: ...
... In rigidity in asset specialization (intraorganizational barriers), the division of labor between firms causes local learning processes. Thus, the different partnering firms with their bounded rationality (Simon (1979)) and limited resources engage in specialist learning and focus mainly on the development of their own assets (Grant and Baden-Fuller (2004); Grunwald and Kieser (2007)). Therefore, organizational assets might become increasingly different as they grow increasingly cospecialized (Nakamura, Shaver, and Yeung (1996)), especially when we think of assets and capabilities that are characterized by ongoing change, specialization, or life cycles (Hansen, McDonald, and Mitchell (2013); Helfat and Peteraf (2003)). ...
By taking advantage of interorganizational complementarity effects (cospecialization), firms utilize strategic networks to gain relational advantages. Nonetheless, in the Long run, firms are sometimes found to be unable to adapt their interorganizational Arrangements because of path dependencies. We investigate different effects of cospecialization with a qualitative case study of a strategic network in the software industry. Thereby, we are able to specify how cospecialization contributes to the success of a strategic network. Further, by analyzing multiple data sources, we identify boundedness and asynchronicity as two specific pitfalls for change initiatives in strategic networks.
... Knowledge combination in alliances refers to knowledgecreation processes, including co-experimentation and leveraging each other's unique but complementary knowledge (Grant and Baden-Fuller, 2004). Empirical studies indicate that combining specialized knowledge in this fashion improves innovation, as it encourages the co-discovery of novel solutions and new connections among product elements in alliances (Bouncken and Kraus, 2013;Grunwald and Kieser, 2007). In international alliances, partners' culture-specific knowledge about foreign markets and customers supports the development of innovative products that will fulfill customers' preferences. ...
... Critically challenging each other's expertise supports the identification of complementarities and promotes learning on how to combine the specialized knowledge innovatively. In addition, Grunwald and Kieser (2007) emphasize that combining knowledge requires an awareness of who knows what in the alliance, which in turn enables members to contact the right expert when a specific problem occurs. Through task discourse alliance, a partner's employees can identify the relevant experts and recognize recombination potentials. ...
... Lubatkin et al. (2001) highlight trust as a precondition of knowledge of combination. Due to bounded rationality, firm's employees have only a limited potential to understand and evaluate the other party's specialized knowledge and NPD activities (Grunwald and Kieser, 2007). Without trusting in the other party's reliability and fairness, the willingness to combine the firm's own specialized knowledge with the partner will be low (Lui, 2009). ...
Purpose – Whileprevious studies have primarily assumed dysfunctional effects of cultural distance in joint ventures and M&A, this paper elucidates from a positive organizational scholarship perspective how perceived cultural distance can advance firms’ new product development within non-equity alliances. The purpose of this paper is to explain how perceived cultural distance stimulates task discourse that supports alliance partners’ employees in recognizing and applying culture-related differences as complementary problem-solvingpotentials.Duetoalowerintegrationlevelinnon-equityalliancescomparedtojointventures or M&A, this paper assumes that the positive effects outweigh the negative effects of cultural distance.
Design/methodology/approach – This study applies structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized effects on a sample of 246 international alliances in the manufacturing industry. Findings – The analysis mainly supports the hypothesized model and unravels how positive effects can emerge from perceived cultural distance.
Practical implications – The findings provide managerial implications. Alliance managers should note that cultural distance can have positive and negative effects, and thus it is not a barrier per se in alliances. Firms can benefit from cultural distance if they are able to leverage culture-specific complementarities through task discourse among partners in alliances.
... It is typical for these architectural innovations that (1) some modules of the technologies in question can be transferred to the innovation without any changes; (2) some modules have to be modified, and; (3) new modules have to be added. Grunwald and Kieser (2007) take as an example the development of a mobile phone with an integrated MP3 player. Some modules of the phone and the player can be adopted without changes, some others, for example the head set, require adaptations, while still others, like a relay which interrupts the player upon the arrival of a phone call, have to be designed from scratch. ...
... This communication typically concentrates on interfaces. Ideally, the designers of each module can make sure that all input/output requirements of interacting modules are met without having to learn what the designers of other modules know (Grunwald and Kieser, 2007). Prototyping is an iterative trial and error process and a highly efficient mechanism for aligning the components that different specialists are working on (Iansiti, 1997;Pisano, 1996;Thomke, 1998;Wheelwright and Clark, 1992). ...
... In the following we call feedback processes iterations. This concept that integrates transactive memory, modularization and prototyping has been labelled Transactive Organizational Learning (TOL) (Grunwald and Kieser, 2007;Kieser and Koch, in press). ...
... This study is part of a larger research project on the collaboration of specialists with different disciplinary backgrounds (Kieser & Koch, 2008;Grunwald & Kieser, 2007;Schmickl & Kieser, 2008) whose different subprojects apply qualitative studies as the main methodology (Kieser & Koch, 2008;Schmickl & Kieser, 2008). The reason for choosing a qualitative approach is that studying processes and mechanisms that enable specialists from different disciplines to collaborate with each other means investigating cognitive processes that are very difficult to study quantitatively (Miles, 1979). ...
... The following quote demonstrates that often there is no fit between the perspectives of the consultant and that of the client, which leads to differing evaluations of alternative solutions. The project team members' capacities-the consultancy's and the client organization's-are not only restricted with regard to the knowledge they are capable of absorbing but also with regard to the different perspectives they can take (Grunwald & Kieser, 2007;Kieser & Koch, 2008). ...
... As already mentioned by Grunwald & Kieser (2007), the integration of perspectives through prototyping is limited. If it is not possible to agree on compromises between consultants and the client's managers, the hierarchy will make the final decision. ...
Managers often collaborate with members of consultancies with the aim of improving the performance of their organizations. It is astonishing that, after the completion of such consulting projects, both parties in most cases express satisfaction with the results. It is astonishing because, as we show in this article, consultants and the managers of client organizations, when engaging in joint projects, have to overcome severe communication barriers. These communication barriers originate from different frames of reference the collaborators refer to, different goals they pursue, and different logics they follow. As we demonstrate on the basis of an empirical analysis, the communication barriers are overcome predominantly through the use of boundary objects and prototyping.
... Mutual learning is the primary purpose of strategic alliances (Grunwald & Kieser, 2007). Additionally, reciprocal learning alliances have been investigated by Lubatkin et al. (2001). ...
... When companies get involved in R&D alliances, typically their goals are to bring a new product to the market by making use of the synergies of research in new technologies, products and/or processes from the market as demonstrated by Hagedoorn (1993). Grunwald & Kieser (2007) analyzed the way that strategic alliances result in product innovation through a recombination of technologies and learning. Based on a dataset from the period between 1994 and 1999, Frankort (2016) investigated manufacturing firms from the technology sector that were engaged in R&D alliances. ...
This monograph investigates the involvement of firms in strategic alliances and the interplay with organizational absorptive capacity and organizational ambidexterity. The theoretical work highlights the positive aspects, as well as the negative aspects, for firms engaging in strategic alliances. The main contribution relates to the evaluation of both positive and negative outcomes of various types of strategic alliances. This monograph presents different avenues for firms regarding how to benefit from strategic alliances in terms of innovation, while avoiding threats such as unintended knowledge spillovers.
... Extant research also suggests that relational norms are easier to create and sustain in alliances intent on knowledge combination than in those engaged in organizational learning (Grant & Baden-Fuller, 2004;Grunwald & Kieser, 2007). The reason for this is, in part, that in the former type of alliance, partners are likely to display a lower priority placed on knowledge protectiveness (Simonin, 1999). ...
... While both control and cooperation cost considerations are present in any alliance and influence its governance and evolution (Koza & Lewin, 1998), their relative weight is related in part to the purpose of the alliance. Alliances intent on the combination of the existing knowledge bases of the partners will be less vulnerable to opportunism (Grant & Baden-Fuller, 2004;Grunwald & Kieser, 2007); alliance performance is largely a function of the costs of cooperation. 3 Knowledge transfer is conceptualized (Teece, 1977) as a process whereby technical and managerial staff from the transferring and receiving organizations engage in explaining and understanding know-how and utilizing it in the production process of the receiving organization. ...
In the information age, the firm’s performance hinges on combining partners’ specialist knowledge to achieve value co-creation. Combining knowledge from different specialties could be a costly process in the international technology alliances (ITAs) context. We argue that the combination of different specializations requires the development of ‘trans-specialization understanding’ (TSU) instead of the internalization of partners’ specialist knowledge. This paper examines the extent to which inter-firm governance in ITAs shapes TSU, and whether the development of TSU is endangered by cultural distance. We hypothesize that relational governance, product modularity, and cultural distance influence TSU development, which in turn influences firm performance. We collected data from 110 non-equity ITAs between software and hardware firms participating in the mobile device sector. We analyzed the data using partial least squares path modeling. Our findings suggest that TSU largely depends on product modularity and relational governance in alliances. However, while cultural distance negatively moderates the path from relational governance to TSU, it has no effect on the relationship between product modularity and TSU. Based on this, we conclude that product modularity can substitute for relational governance when strong relational norms are not well-developed in international alliances. Thus, cultural distance does not invariably amount to a liability in ITAs.
... The success with which existing products, processes and services are innovated motivates innovation participants to elevate their self-efficacy. On the grounds of the abovementioned connections between self-efficacy and innovation, we found that strong self-efficacy helps team members acquire knowledge of components, modules or systems in a given domain (Grunwald and Kieser 2007). According to the literature, we defined exploitative innovation as the improvement of products, processes and services based on existing technologies and established the following hypothesis: ...
This research is constituted by interview and quantitative research and it intends to explore the connections among behavioral competence diversity, motivation mechanism, exploitative innovation, and exploratory innovation. It puts great efforts on how to gain the capabilities on exploitative and exploratory innovation in interdisciplinary teams via motivation mechanism, which comprises reward, commitment, and self-efficacy. A total of 400 questionnaires were filled out to the people who participate Cross-field innovation value-added promotion plan in green technology and 159 vali responses. First, we found out that behavioral competence diversity has positive relationship with reward and commitment. Second, Commitment has significantly influence on self-efficacy. Third, self-efficacy positively affects exploitative innovation. However, there are no significant influence among reward, self-efficacy, and exploratory innovation.
... Wineries may create marketing campaigns, promotions, and suggestions using data-driven insights and innovative technology, improving consumer engagement and brand perception in the competitive wine sector (S anchez-G omez et al., 2020). According to Grunwald and Kieser (2007), product innovation is the act of changing or modernizing a current product to introduce something new to the market. However, research on consumers' responses to innovations in products with a long history and high symbolic Motor themes include Customisation, Social media, Assortment, Cross-culture, environmental responsibility, and Technology. ...
Purpose
The wine market has witnessed intensified competition across all aspects. However, there is a limited systematic assessment of wine marketing literature. This study employs bibliometric and thematic content evaluation methodologies to present a comprehensive summary and trend of the existing research in wine marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
This integrates bibliometric and thematic content analytical techniques to trace the evolutionary arc of wine marketing research, underpinned by a framework-based evaluation - the 4 Ws (what, where, why, and how) to give a thorough overview of wine marketing literature. We draw on the thematic structure of wine marketing research by conducting keyword co-occurrence, thematic, social network, and cluster-based content analyses. A total of 291 publications from peer-reviewed journals, spanning the years 2001–2023, were examined in the present study.
Findings
The bibliometric analysis is used to determine the most notable journals, authors, nations, articles, and themes, thereby offering a comprehensive understanding of the publication trends within the sphere of wine marketing. Based on the findings, this study advocates a research agenda to extend further contributions to the field of wine marketing.
Originality/value
The study performs a comprehensive analysis of the publication patterns, influential authors, and emerging trends within the wine marketing research field. It provides a unique insight into the evolution and development of wine marketing as a scholarly discipline, facilitating future research directions and knowledge advancement.
... post-formational directives. Even though the modules and components of the concept of product innovation require some synergistic specificity (Schilling, 2000), many strong post-formational directives oppose the modularity principle behind knowledge combination (Grunwald & Kieser, 2007) and limit autonomous experimentation by the supplier, thereby negatively affecting product innovation. Additionally, post-formational directives force the supplier to engage in adaptive behavior specific to the buyer in the relationship. ...
Innovation processes in alliances require ongoing clarifications, discussions, and adaptations among the allying firms. Especially buyer firms that configure the final product innovation from supplier components need to advise them about changes in innovation functionalities, designs, and features that emerge as necessary during the innovation process. A vehicle to do so is post-formational directives. These directives have ambivalent effects that explicate by sub-mechanisms of post-formational directives informed by speech-act theory. In short, post-formational directives can increase the control and clarity of the product innovation components. Yet, they can limit suppliers' autonomy and creativity and, as such, might reduce innovation. Our study clarifies the ambivalent effects of post-formational directives. Our empirical findings of 470 suppliers in alliances indicate that post-formational directives improve product innovation when associated with inter-organizational learning from the buyer. On the contrary, product innovation decreases when directives are not included in suppliers' learning processes from the buyer or when suppliers focus on a mere knowledge combination with their buyers.
... Our study contributes to the literature on knowledge processes that reveal a real setting of the "ba" concept in New Work (Gourlay, 2006;Grunwald & Kieser, 2007;Nonaka, von Krogh, & Voelpel, 2006). Additionally, our findings contribute to understanding the physical contextualization of sustainability targets in New Work (Berglund, Bousfiha, & Mansoori, 2020;Obloj & Zenger, 2017). ...
New Work, such as in coworking-spaces, offers greater task autonomy alongside permeable spatial, task, team, and leadership boundaries as compared to traditional work structures. New Work in coworking-spaces provides several advantages for sustainability and knowledge creation, yet it also faces competition and knowledge leakage risks. To understand the nexus of knowledge transfer and sustainability in New Work, we study the processes in coworking-spaces through interviews, observations, and secondary data. We compare environments with low- and high-sustainability targets of coworking-spaces. The results reveal that coworking-spaces can prime their audiences by exposing sustainability in their manifestos, communities, and physical spaces. Knowledge-sharing occurs in different zones of coworking-spaces in the forms of inspiration, problem-solving, synthesizing, and co-creation. The sustainability of coworking-spaces and knowledge-sharing therein is influenced by a shared community nested in the local environment. We develop a model of knowledge creation processes depending on the exposure of a coworking-space’s sustainability targets.
... Such context-related FIKS include ambiguousness and complexity of the knowledge (Reagans and McEvily 2003); time availability (Ardichvili, Page, and Wentling 2003;Moore and Miles 1991); IT systems (Bradfield and Gao 2007;Ives, Torrey, and Gordon 2000;Peng, Heim, and Mallick 2014); knowledge organisation methods (Wu et al. 2014;Zhang et al. 2017); coordination activities (Bendoly, Bharadwaj, and Bharadwaj 2012;Bradfield and Gao 2007;Jayaram and Pathak 2013;Zhang et al. 2018a); and physical spaces to interact (Gold, Malhotra, and Segars 2001). Contextual FIKS may also concern the inter-relational context of the knowledge provider and receiver, which includes language barriers (Grunwald and Kieser 2007); cultural differences (Bhagat et al. 2002); match between knowledge provided and needed (Schmidt et al. 2021); incompatible educational or qualification characteristics (Alam, Khan, and Ali 2012;Wendling, Oliveira, and Maçada 2013;Zhen et al. 2011); and trust issues (Ghobadi and Mathiassen 2016;Szulanski 2000;Zhang, Zhao, and Lyles 2018b). ...
Knowledge sharing is considered an important promotor of new product development (NPD) performance. However, studies have shown that making experts share knowledge in new product development (NPD) projects is often a challenging task. Consequently, this topic has attracted substantial attention in academic research. However, although studies have produced valuable insights, more detailed accounts of the mechanisms shaping knowledge sharing processes in NPD projects are sparse. To add to the knowledge on this topic, this study conducts a series of interviews with NPD professionals at manufacturers of high-tech industrial products to identify ‘factors influencing knowledge sharing’ (FIKS). The identified FIKS are explained through the socio-physiological theory, the ‘reasoned action approach’ (RAA). This involves several contributions. First, the study provides a detailed explanation of the role of FIKS by describing how they affect the behaviour of knowledge providers and receivers in NPD processes. Second, by identifying 161 FIKS in NPD processes, organised under 18 categories, the study offers the so far most extensive account of FIKS in NPD processes. Third, the findings suggest a special characteristic of knowledge sharing in NPD contexts concerning the relatively high importance of knowledge receiver behaviour.
... Another question linked to this cluster concerns culture and stimulating innovation in R&D, as most firms tend to use various types of R&D collaboration partners simultaneously, and partnerships between different types of partners have different characteristics (Bianchi et al., 2016). This cooperation with a diversified set of partners leads to learning opportunities related to cooperation and innovation skills (Van Beers and Zand, 2014;Wang and Han, 2011;Grunwald and Kieser, 2007). So it is expected that there will be improved performance in the firm according to its capacity to absorb knowledge and develop new products (Harris, Coles and Dickson, 2000) as knowledge transfer mechanisms in the presence of highly competitive markets (Feller et al., 2009). ...
Purpose: The formation of alliances between organisations is increasingly common, allowing firms to discover and ensure competitive advantages. This research makes a critical analysis of studies in order to understand the role of communication between partners in the process of strategic alliances.
Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review (SLR) was carried out, using the Web of Science (WoS) database to obtain data, associating the terms “communication” and “strategic alliances”, which resulted in 240 scientific articles (published between 1993 and March 2021). After data treatment using VOSviewer software and reading of the contents, the final sample consisted of 179 articles on the subject in question.
Findings: The conceptual limits, exploratory descriptive analysis of the data and content analysis of research methods are presented, with five clusters being identified. The results show growing academic interest in studying Communication associated with Strategic Alliances and authors’ main interest lies in understanding the Critical Success Factors and the relation between Communication and Knowledge.
Practical implications: The study corroborates understanding of the future of alliances, assuming that learning is the main objective; trust is the factor determining success or failure; technology is the aggregating tool; culture affects the relation and communication is not an end but a means to construct consolidated, long-lasting and high-performing strategic alliances.
Originality/value: This study is innovative in strategic alliances area. The research confirms that the main factor in forming alliances, in both emerging and international markets, is the learning intention. This fact reinforces the relevance of the learning made possible by this transfer of know-how through communication. In addition, the study gives critical understanding of how the process of communication between partners in an alliance must be distinct, i.e., it must be flexible enough to adjust to the stage in the alliance’s life-cycle.
... • Finding a balance between the accumulation and retrieval of technological knowledge to further learning in research and development alliances (Ernst et al., 2011) • Management of innovation by modularization of design components (Grunwald & Kieser, 2007), ...
... Such adjustments may be related to the contamination effects of alliances, where incompatible resources may erode the properties that make the alliance valuable (Gander et al. 2007) or increase learning risks by alliance partners (Bakker and Knoben 2014; Fang and Zou 2010). Grunwald and Kieser (2007) posit that learning between partners can be successfully mitigated by some interconnected transaction mechanisms. ...
In many industries, the traditional sources of competitive advantage tend to evaporate fairly rapidly. Therefore, managers need to continually rethink and reformulate their firm strategies. Likewise, scholars have felt compelled to shift the traditional centre of attention from competitive advantage that is sustainable over time to a focus on how firms compete by achieving a series of temporary advantages. However, the proliferation of research on temporary competitive advantage, far from building a solid body of literature, has produced a series of fragmented studies. This condition calls for detecting the state of knowledge in this realm of strategic inquiry. By leveraging the present status of the literature on temporary competitive advantage, we offer a conceptual map of the current inquiry of the antecedents, management, and consequences of temporary competitive advantage. Then, we identify the key implications for strategy theory and discuss the major challenges for cultivating fertile territories in this intriguing area of research.
... Strategic alliances are developed to access missing knowledge and capabilities (Emden, Calantone, & Droge, 2006;Harrison, Hitt, Hoskisson, & Ireland, 2001;Chesbrough, 2003), and their main purpose is to enable mutual and reciprocal learning (Grunwald & Kieser, 2007;Lubatkin, Florin, & Lane, 2001), so alliance modes must be chosen to facilitate the effective transfer of knowledge (Cantwell & Colombo, 2000;Gulati & Singh, 1998;Mowery, Oxley, & Silverman, 1996;Sampson, 2004;Collins & Hitt, 2006;Kale et al., 2000;Lane & Lubatkin, 1998). Strategic alliances are widely used in the global economy (Grant & Baden-Fuller, 2004;Anand & Khanna, 2000;Dyer, Kale, & Singh, 2004). ...
This dissertation is dealing with different topics such as ecosystem, absorptive capacity and radical innovation. From our systematic literature review of ecosystems based on a selection of 104 articles and books, we identify the invariants across the four diverging streams from the ecosystem approach and the seven diverging streams from the territorial approach toward the proposition of a new research framework. Our contribution aims at enriching the field of ecosystem with the strong theoretical background of the territorial approach. From our study of a joint venture in the Iranian context, our findings indicate that radical innovation is characterized by safety, quality, and planning challenges which engender delays, non-conformity to specifications, and additional costs. Our contribution aims at further developing the concept of “learning dyad” by characterizing a two-way learning between two organizations playing both roles of teachers and students. From our study of technological spin-offs in Grenoble context, our findings show the importance of spin-offs developing both potential and realized absorptive capacities to internalize customer knowledge and technology emergence awareness and to simultaneously offset customers’ lack of technical knowledge in formulating their needs. Our contribution aims at providing new insights to the area of customer involvement in the radical innovation process by examining how the level of customer involvement at different stages has improved or hindered the process of developing radical innovations.
... • Finding a balance between the accumulation and retrieval of technological knowledge to further learning in research and development alliances (Ernst et al., 2011) • Management of innovation by modularization of design components (Grunwald & Kieser, 2007), ...
This study contains a systematic literature review and synthesis on the various perspectives, and provides the connection and mechanisms of inter-organisational learning and innovation with a theoretical model.
... Strategic Change, In press. Architectural innovation (AI) is increasingly highlighted as an important driver of new product development (Henderson and Clark, 1990, Baldwin and Clark, 2006, Grunwald and Kieser, 2007. AI is defined as rearranging the way components are linked together while leaving the core design concepts (and thus the basic knowledge underlying the components) untouched (Henderson and Clark 1990). ...
Knowledge creation modes (especially socialization and internalization) enhance architectural innovation (AI) capability of U.K. manufacturing firms. AI is the reconfiguration of product or process components and creating completely new interfaces between them. Knowledge creation modes enhance firms' AI to create new products while utilizing their architectural knowledge. Knowledge socialization and internalization are the most important modes that affect AI. Socialization helps to share tacit knowledge while internalization enables individuals to absorb and embody accumulated know‐how to envision new product ideas.
... Kieser and Grunwald have investigated the appearance of knowledge bridging, which they call "Transactive Organizational Learning (TOI)". According to the authors, TOl enables an expert in an innovation cooperation to use the knowledge from other experts without passing on its own knowledge to them (Kieser and Grunwald, 2007). Mattes defines knowledge bridging as a means for building a bridge between two individuals who stay single experts in their particular area. ...
This paper provides input on the use of information from Big Data analytics for innovation development in a Smart Grid cooperation. This research should show an approach on how to handle Big Data after analytics have filtered relevant information for an organizations. Thus, the research investigates the further processing of information from Big Data that can become knowledge and that can be used for innovation development. For this purpose, it has to be found out if project partners in the Smart Grid learn or bridge new knowledge from Big Data. The research aims at understanding innovation development between different actors in the Smart Grid and is therefore of great relevance in order to promote energy transition.
... Such adjustments may be related to the contamination effects of alliances, where incompatible resources may erode the properties that make the alliance valuable (Gander et al. 2007) or increase learning risks by alliance partners (Bakker and Knoben 2014; Fang and Zou 2010). Grunwald and Kieser (2007) posit that learning between partners can be successfully mitigated by some interconnected transaction mechanisms. ...
... Strategic alliances are developed to access missing knowledge and capabilities (Emden et al., 2006;Harrison et al., 2001;Chesbrough, 2003), and their main purpose is to enable mutual and reciprocal learning (Grunwald and Kieser, 2007;Lubatkin et al., 2001), so alliance modes must be chosen to facilitate the effective transfer of knowledge (Cantwell and Colombo, 2000;Gulati and Singh, 1998;Mowery et al., 1996;Sampson, 2004;Collins and Hitt, 2006;Kale et al., 2000;Lane and Lubatkin, 1998). Strategic alliances are widely used in the global economy (Grant and Baden-Fuller, 2004;Anand and Khanna, 2000;Dyer et al., 2004). ...
We investigate the collaboration between an Iranian and a French company in a joint venture aimed at developing radical innovation in the construction sector. We identify the challenges involved, the barriers to technological change, and the difficulties of transferring knowledge related to absorptive capacity. We conduct an in depth case study of a joint venture created by Freyssinet and Azaran to build a new roof to the Mashhad stadium. We conducted 41 interviews over a 19 month period. Our findings indicate that radical innovation is characterized by safety, quality, and planning challenges which engender delays, non-conformity to specifications, and additional costs. Freyssinet was unsuccessful in transferring explicit and tacit knowledge because Azaran suffered from poor organizational absorptive capacity. Its high absorptive capacity allowed Freyssinet to adapt its operations to Azaran's tacit knowledge routines. Our research is meaningful to the construction sector, an economically and socially significant sector in Iran that faces serious issues. Our study has practical implications for Iranian firms and for foreign firms operating in Iran. We contribute to strengthen the understanding of Iranian technology development by focusing on radical innovation standards, joint venture specific learning dyads, and complex knowledge transfer.
... The members of the ad hoc groups that form in open-source projects or participate in contests are mirrored in the sense of having dense communication linkages while they are working. Also, although they are not members of the 6 In the within-and across-firm studies, most software organizations were mirrored, but three were not (Grunwald and Kieser, 2007; Herbsleb et al. 2005; Srikanth and Puranam, 2011). 7 In effect, these regimes provide contestants with no property rights in their designs. ...
The mirroring hypothesis predicts that organizational ties within a project, firm, or group of firms (e.g., communication, collocation, employment) will correspond to the technical dependencies in the work being performed. This article presents a unified picture of mirroring in terms of theory, evidence, and exceptions. First, we formally define mirroring and argue that it is an approach to technical problem-solving that conserves scarce cognitive resources. We then review 142 empirical studies, divided by organizational form into (i) industry studies, (ii) firm studies, and (iii) studies of open collaborative projects. The industry and firm studies indicate that mirroring is a prevalent pattern but not universal. However, in technologically dynamic industries, partial mirroring, where knowledge boundaries are drawn more broadly than operational boundaries, is likely to be a superior strategy. Firms can also strategically ‘break the mirror’ by implementing modular partitions within their boundaries, or by building relational contracts across their boundaries. Finally, studies of open collaborative projects, most of which focused on software, were not supportive of the hypothesis. We argue that digital technologies make possible new modes of coordination that enable groups to deviate from classical mirroring as seen in firms.
... showed that while product modularization decreased the need for cross-firm communication, digital artifacts and repositories and routine testing served the same function (Grunwald and Kieser, 2007). ...
... In contrast, architectural innovation changes the way modules of different innovation network partners interface and function together (Henderson and Clark, 1990) and thus it can only be realized if complementary innovations take place in separate firms. Therefore, architectural innovation requires explicit coordination and increased information exchange across organizational boundaries of the different module suppliers (Grunwald and Kieser, 2007). For example, if a building company decides to change the tolerances of a floor element from .6 00 to .2 00 , this requires a similar adaptation to components such as columns and walls that are all connected to this floor. ...
This study examines the impact of different degrees of organizational coupling among the members of innovation alliance project networks on the commercial performance of collaborative innovations. Specifically, we study how type of innovation (modular vs. architectural innovation) moderates this relationship. Using data from 664 product innovation networks from five different industries in the United States, we find that the degree of organizational coupling among innovation network members significantly affects the commercial performance of collaborative innovations and that the type of innovation has a significant moderating effect. More specifically, the impact on commercial innovation performance of organizational coupling is positive for modular innovations and negative for architectural innovations.
... Yet, differences in communication patterns can induce a constructive dialogue and interchange of ideas through which alliance partners adapt their mind-sets and even create new ones to develop a mutual understanding (Li, 2006;Selnes and Sallis, 2003). A better understanding about the alliance and its environmentparticularly the customers and their preferences -allows the combination of complementary resources to arrive at novel and creative solutions and thus to innovative products (Grunwald and Kieser, 2007) that are more likely to fit customers' expectations. Hence, divergent communication schemes can enhance product innovativeness. ...
Purpose
– Firms build new product development alliances to cope with the demands of continuous and rapid new product development. Such alliances allow surplus access to complementary capabilities and knowledge. However, the successful use of specialization advantages requires coordination and effective communication between alliance partners. Communication is vital to alliance success, as it allows a timely flow of information and resources across partners and supports the coordination within the alliance. The aim of this study is to research how divergent communication schemes influence firms’ new product development performance in alliances.
Design/methodology/approach
– A paper-and-pencil survey about firms’ collaborative new product development performance in the German medical device industry was conducted. Results are derived from a survey of n = 184 new product development alliances in the medical device industry. To test the hypotheses, structural equation modeling (SEM) using the Mplus 7.0 software was applied.
Findings
– The empirical results indicate that divergent communication schemes enhance product innovativeness and speed to market in new product development alliances. The development of new insights and solutions through joint sensemaking builds the theoretical fundament for the supportive effects of divergent communication schemes. Divergent communication schemes go hand in hand with ambiguity, that is, the source of joint dialogues and discussion through which alliance partners refine and adapt their different perspectives and interpretations. However, the supportive effect of divergent communication schemes on speed to market declines with increasing collaboration intensity.
Research limitations/implications
– The assessment of divergent communication schemes and new product development performance of the dyadic relationships in this survey is only based on one respondent. Furthermore, the study’s focus on a specific industry sector, albeit one fitting particularly well to the research question, may further limit the generalizability of the empirical findings. Future research should thus strive to take both firms of the dyadic relationship into account and moreover attempt to investigate mediating effects such as joint sensemaking or creativity.
Practical implications
– The results indicate that alliance managers should become aware that different ways of communication are not per se dysfunctional. To achieve beneficial effects, they should enhance dialogues and constructive discussions through which the alliance partners develop novel insights and solutions on the fundament of occurring misunderstandings that root in divergent communication schemes. Regular meetings and conferences as well as inter-organizational teams should be applied because they stimulate joint dialogues and discussions in alliances. These instruments also enable learning processes and the development of trust that are both crucial for sensemaking processes in alliances.
Originality/value
– Prior research has stressed the importance of interorganizational communication for the success of alliances. However, little is known about the effect of divergent communication schemes in alliances. This study shows theoretically and empirically that divergent communication schemes can improve new product development performance in alliances. The supportive effect of divergent communication schemes is contrary to the argumentation that communication problems and misinterpretations hamper alliance success.
... Empirical findings suggest that a firm's resource interdependence is significantly correlated with the propensity to ally and alliancing activity (Gulati, 1995). Many managers therefore are convinced that through cooperation they are able to attain ends that could not be attained alone at all, would be more costly, risky and considerably slower (Grunwald, Kieser, 2007). Other academics claim, on the network governance grounds, that the underlying logic for creating networks instead of one hierarchical structure is seen by academics in that the relative independence of members has greater value and does not impede resource access across organizational borders (Dhanaraj, Parkhe, 2006). ...
Interorganizational relationships field of research has long focused on learning, competence, skills and knowledge management issues. Studies have been performed from many theoretical stances bringing up findings difficult to compare. This paper provides a broad overview of the literature focusing on three issues: the rationale for collaborative knowledge management, the interorganizational knowledge management capability perspective and the need for a comprehensive theoretical framework for future research. Extant literature often suggests a dialectical tension between competition and cooperation in collaborative knowledge management, yet a dynamic, intentional strategy perspective allows an in depth understanding of firms behaviours.
... Organizations acquire and create relevant knowledge through engaging in strategic alliances (Dussauge et al., 2004; Grant, 1996; Spender, 1996a Spender, , 1996b Mowery et al., 1996; Reuer et al., 2002). Strategic alliances are developed to access missing knowledge and capabilities (Emden et al., 2006; Harrison et al., 2001; Chesbrough, 2003 ), and their main purpose is to enable mutual and reciprocal learning (Grunwald and Kieser, 2007; Lubatkin et al., 2001), so alliance modes must be chosen to facilitate the effective transfer of knowledge (Cantwell and Colombo, 2000; Gulati and Singh, 1998; Mowery et al., 1996; Sampson, 2004; Collins and Hitt, 2006; Kale et al., 2000; Lane and Lubatkin, 1998). Strategic alliances are widely used in the global economy (Grant and Baden-Fuller, 2004; Anand and Khanna, 2000; Dyer et al., 2004). ...
We investigate the collaboration between an Iranian and a French company in a joint venture aimed at developing radical innovation in the construction sector. We identify the challenges involved, the barriers to technological change, and the difficulties of transferring knowledge related to absorptive capacity.We conduct an in depth case study of a joint venture created by Freyssinet and Azaran to build a new roof to the Mashhad stadium. We conducted 41 interviews over a 19. month period.Our findings indicate that radical innovation is characterized by safety, quality, and planning challenges which engender delays, non-conformity to specifications, and additional costs. Freyssinet was unsuccessful in transferring explicit and tacit knowledge because Azaran suffered from poor organizational absorptive capacity. Its high absorptive capacity allowed Freyssinet to adapt its operations to Azaran's tacit knowledge routines.Our research is meaningful to the construction sector, an economically and socially significant sector in Iran that faces serious issues. Our study has practical implications for Iranian firms and for foreign firms operating in Iran. We contribute to strengthen the understanding of Iranian technology development by focusing on radical innovation standards, joint venture specific learning dyads, and complex knowledge transfer.
... In this sense, Lee et al. (2008) coined the notion of 'collateral learning' and argued that there is a parallel learning process which coincides with project-based learning. Osland and Yaprak (1995) and Grunwald and Kieser (2007) the learning process by suggesting the notion of transactive organizational learning, whereby cross-partner learning can be kept to a minimum to increase knowledge complementarity and synergy in new product development. ...
Alliance and NPD evolve in a dynamic and interrelated manner so that the management of collaborative NPD alliances becomes the management of an evolving cycle of two interrelated process loops.
Despite growing numbers of corporate venture capital (CVC) deals and alliances, their effectiveness is not guaranteed. This paper investigates the positive and negative impacts of CVC and alliance activity on product safety under different levels of market turbulence. Using a resource-based learning perspective and panel data from large U.S. firms, we find that both CVC and alliance activity have inverted U-shaped relationships with product recall likelihood. Market turbulence moderates both relationships, but differently. We discuss how learning theory complements the resource-based view to understand why no or rather bold external venturing are less harmful than small-scale “stuck-in-the-middle” initiatives.
A useful theoretical lens for understanding innovation in the strategy and entrepreneurship literatures is knowledge recombination. According to a recombination logic, innovations come about by recombining knowledge components, each of which is associated with a core scientific or technological concept. Interactions among a set of recombined components give rise to new meanings and functions that become the basis of an innovation. The singular focus on the components of knowledge underlying an innovation makes knowledge recombination stand out from other theoretical approaches. The rapid growth in research utilizing a recombination logic suggests that the time is ripe for stepping back and assessing its key insights. Therefore, this review provides a framework for a recombination perspective and considers how the literature using a recombination approach has progressed over time, including identification of key features of knowledge components, influences on how components are recombined, and the outcomes of recombination. Finally, a number of new directions for research are proposed.
Modularity literature proposes the ‘mirroring hypothesis’: firms achieve better product development performance when their organisational design and scope of knowledge at the firm level correspond to product architecture. For component firms, it is difficult to adapt architectural change from the modular phase to the integration phase because they specialise in a limited component area. Recent studies have suggested that ‘partial mirroring’ or ‘misting’ can be efficient for coping with a change in product architecture, proposing that firms should hold broader knowledge boundaries beyond their firm’s boundaries. However, the R&D organisational structure that enables component firms to acquire a broad knowledge base that extends beyond their component business is unclear. We conducted a case analysis of the hard disk drive industry, investigating the R&D activities of single-component firms that have survived architectural change. We used patent data focusing on three levels of analysis: organisation, group, and individual. The results showed that partial mirroring in component firms can be realised based on boundary spanning structures in R&D organisations. Integrating engineers occupy a central position in the collaboration network and coordinate component knowledge based on their understanding of technology that had a common foundation among components.
Purpose
Despite the significance, no study examines the relationship between supply chain (SC) learning components and focal firm performance. This study aims to investigate different types of SC learning (supplier, customer and internal learning) and their influence on the focal firm’s operational and financial performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Grounded in knowledge-based view and absorptive capacity theory, this study applies structural equation modeling to test the conceptual model based on data collected from 213 manufacturing firms in China.
Findings
The findings indicate that supplier and customer learning improve internal learning. Customer and internal learning have direct influence on operational performance, whereas internal learning mediates the relationship between supplier learning and operational performance. Moreover, all three dimensions of SC learning do not affect financial performance directly but operational performance plays the mediating role in their relationship.
Research limitations/implications
This study only investigates SC learning outcomes without exploring its antecedents. In addition, SC learning and their impacts on firm performance are tested empirically with cross-sectional data collected only from manufacturing firms in China.
Practical implications
The findings furnish managers to seek for competitive advantages through different types of SC learning.
Originality/value
This study offers new insights concerning the performance implications of SC learning. It divides SC learning into dimensions and shows the distinctive impacts of these dimensions on focal firm’s performance using an empirical method.
While existing research has shown the impact modularity can have on organizations, how firms themselves manage the interdependencies underlying modular designs is less well understood. This study addresses this, first by analyzing the role of architectural and systemic knowledge in changing product and organizational modularity. It then focuses on the extent to which development of modules takes place within or across firm boundaries and considers the drivers and outcomes of such decisions. In so doing, the paper connects research on modularity to the classic literature on product lifecycles, and extends this to current work on systems integration and platform ecosystems. Overall, the paper emphasizes the importance of intra and inter-firm modularity in terms of product and organizational mirroring, opportunities that emerge along the product life cycle, and how these can benefit systems integrators or modular firms.
Strategic Alliances (SAs) have been formed by firms to attain strategic objectives which alone firms were unable to secure. Typically, firms formed SAs to gain market share or to seek innovation and research and development capabilities form the partnering firm. In the extant literature, market seeking SAs have been viewed as defensive while innovation and research and development capabilities seeking SAs as an aggressive strategy. In this research, the authors conducted a study of 165 strategic alliances cases in the Indian business scenario to study the motives of SAs. This study classified SAs formed by the top 50 firms listed on India's National Stock Exchange (NSE) (NIFTY50 index) into different categories. Inferences and findings have been drawn using content analysis of the available dataset. It was observed that, out of the 165 unique cases of SAs, a substantial number of SAs could be classified as ‘business alliances' focusing on the market seeking from the alliance partner.
To succeed in today’s knowledge economy, startups and public research organizations collaborate for inter-organizational learning. Affected by different influencing factors, this work investigates the relationship between teaching capabilities and knowledge transfer success in startup-researcher dyads.
In particular, this study combines the infant literature on disseminative capabilities with findings on organizational particularities of both startups and public research organizations. Investigating how disseminative capabilities relate to the learning of startup and researcher teams respectively, I empirically approach a technologically
diverse set of 24 startup and 28 researcher teams affiliated with the largest European public research organization, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft für angewandte Forschung e.V.
Multiple linear regression shows that startup teams’ learning positively relates to the ability of researcher teams to provide knowledge application support. In contrast, researcher teams’ learning positively relates to the startup teams’ ability to provide knowledge abstracted from their local context including all background information.
The work contributes to the few studies on teaching characteristics in inter-organizational knowledge transfer partnerships and the so far neglected setting of startup-researcher collaborations. For theory, the results expand prior findings in large companies to the startup-researcher context highlighting the importance of organizational particularities to shape the influence of disseminative capabilities.
For practice, startup and researcher teams are advised to seek for partners with the concluded disseminative capabilities. In running collaborations, startup and researcher teams should push their allies to show the respective advantageous disseminative capabilities. Moreover, practitioners in the field of startup cooperation are advised to train their collaboration-involved personnel in knowledge application support to improve knowledge transfer efficacy towards entrepreneurial endeavors.
Nas últimas duas décadas foram formadas centenas de redes de empresas, alianças e parcerias no Brasil. Especialmente pequenas e médias empresas adotaram estratégias de cooperação para se tornarem mais competitivas em mercados ocupados por empresas de grande porte e corporações multinacionais. No entanto, gerenciar a cooperação de maneira profissional é uma tarefa complexa e que exige ferramentas e práticas diferentes daquelas utilizadas pelas empresas individuais. Neste livro apresentamos um conjunto de ferramentas que gestores de empresas e gestores de redes, alianças e parcerias podem utilizar para tornar a cooperação efetiva e alcançar os resultados esperados. Também são apresentadas vinte e quatro práticas de gestão adotadas por redes bem-sucedidas de diversos setores, no Brasil e na Alemanha, que servem de inspiração para profissionalizar a gestão da cooperação. Organizado em quatro partes, o livro apresenta uma abordagem inovadora que combina aspectos conceituais com dicas e ferramentas práticas que facilitam a formação e gestão de redes, alianças e parcerias em qualquer setor de negócios. A última parte lança um olhar sobre o futuro da cooperação, indicando desafios e oportunidades que as redes brasileiras devem enfrentar nos próximos anos, servindo de guia para tornar esse modelo de negócios cada vez mais bem sucedido.
Purpose
In the contemporary business environment, companies must constantly consider methods to enhance their competitive advantage and create value for their customers. The purpose of this paper is to develop a research model based on a business ecosystem view. Within a business ecosystem, the authors identified the key factors of co-development and the manner in which these factors affect a company’s innovation performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical hypotheses are confirmed by partial least squares analysis of survey responses collected from information and communication technology (ICT) and hotel industries in Taiwan.
Findings
In both industries, the results suggest that a firm’s co-development within its own ecosystem has positive effects on innovation performance. For companies in the ICT industry, collaborative networks and partner selection have significant impacts on the firms’ co-development, but their information technology (IT) capability does not; in contrast, in the hotel industry, partner selection and IT capability have significant impacts on firm co-development, but their collaborative network does not.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature of business ecosystem and co-development by offering a co-development model. As both conceptual and empirical research on this topic is still underdeveloped, this study provides fresh insights into collaboration management and offers significant theoretical and managerial implications from a business ecosystem perspective.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to recognition and understanding of the inter-organisational learning processes in the public safety management system.
Design/methodology/approach
The findings presented in this paper are based on empirical data including: first, desk research in the scope of inter-organisational learning; second, participant observation conducted in the Provincial Headquarters of the State Fire Service in the Silesia Province in the years 2013–2014; third, hermeneutic process within a focus group of scholars conducted in December 2014 within a four-person group of researchers. The carried out studies have shown the usefulness of the three-loop learning model appliance.
Findings
The paper analyses the course of inter-organisational learning in dynamic and uncertain operating conditions. As a result, the main methods and effects of inter-organisational learning in the public safety management system are identified.
Originality/value
The paper adds a new value to understanding of inter-organisational learning in the framework of public safety management by driving attention to the importance of inter-organisational learning and its practical use. It also provides a useful research model for investigating inter-organisational learning and effective public safety management.
Keywords:
Inter-organisational collaboration, Inter-organisational learning, Public safety management, Three-loop learning model
Research on transactive memory systems (TMS) has been conducted in a variety of teams, a range of task types and increasingly, in settings around the world. Despite this proliferation, there has been relative inattention to contextual factors that produce TMS and explain heterogeneity in the TMS to team performance relationship. TMS studies are typically conducted in homogeneous settings (i.e., teams located in a single country) and often with sources of potential variation (i.e., environmental volatility, leadership, team human capital, and diversity) in TMS development controlled. Collating these individual studies, we use meta-analytic techniques to illuminate key contextual factors that may shape TMS and influence the TMS-performance association. Using 76 empirical studies representing 6,869 sampling units, we find that the strength of the TMS to performance relationship varies, depending on features of the national cultural context—the impact of TMS is stronger in cultural contexts where power distance and in-group collectivism are higher. Our results also suggest that environmental volatility, leadership effectiveness, and team human capital are positively associated with TMS, and informational and gender diversity are negatively associated with TMS development. Our findings also indicate fruitful areas for future research specifically aimed toward disentangling the effects of environmental, team, and national cultural context on TMS and team performance.
In this chapter we seek to analyze how firm innovativeness is related to individual cooperation events and the structure and dynamics of firms’ ego networks. On the one hand, we analyze to what extent individual cooperation events have a direct effect on firm innovativeness. On the other hand, each cooperation event changes the structural configuration of a firm’s portfolio of cooperative relationships. Evolutionary network change processes at the micro-level – i.e. tie-formation as well as tie-termination – shape the structural configuration of firm-specific ego networks which are assumed to have an indirect effect on innovation output. Consequently, the aim of this second empirical section is to disentangle these two cooperation-related innovation effects. To shed some light on the questions raised, we apply the longitudinal panel dataset described above (cf. Sect. 6.1.2). Network measures are calculated on the basis of 570 knowledge-related publicly funded R&D cooperation projects. Firm innovativeness is measured by patent grants with a 1 and 2 year time lag. Several robustness checks are performed on the basis of patent application counts. The following empirical analysis is organized as follows. We start in Sect. 10.1 with a short introduction. In Sect. 10.2 we provide a theoretical foundation, present our conceptual framework and derive a set of testable hypotheses. A description of the data sources together with a brief presentation of the variables used follow in Sect. 10.3. In Sect. 10.4 we discuss some methodological issues, specify the econometric estimation approach and present our empirical results. Finally the paper closes with a brief discussion of our main findings.
Strategic alliances have fascinated academic research throughout the last decades. As a dominant transactional form, they can create substantial firm value through the transfer, recombination and creation of knowledge. Few firms, however, excel at managing their strategic alliances successfully (Parise and Casher 2003).
China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has become a popular area of research as its impact has widened. Buckley and colleagues (2007) investigate the determinants of Chinese OFDI and suggest that capital market imperfections, special ownership advantages, and institutional factors are potential arguments to be nested in the general theory of FDI. From the political economy point of view, institutional escapism and governmental promotion are logically complementary to each other to offset the disadvantages of emerging market enterprises in global competition (Luo et al., 2010). A recent empirical study shows that the entry mode choice of Chinese firms for OFDI depends largely on a firm’s strategic fit and its strategic intent (Cui & Jiang, 2009). Cross-border merger and acquisition (M&A) has become the primary mode of entry for Chinese firms (Alon & McIntyre, 2008).
Der Einsatz von Freelancern bringt aus Sicht der Unternehmen primär einen Gewinn an Flexibilität, da sich hierdurch spezifische Kompetenzen ad hoc am Markt beschaffen lassen. Dies ist essentiell für die Bewältigung dynamischer Umfelder. Unternehmen können durch den Einsatz von Freelancern beispielsweise die Anzahl der Beschäftigten kurzfristig an Nachfrageschwankungen anpassen (numerische Flexibilität) oder durch den Zugriff auf externes Expertenwissen neue Aufgabenanforderungen und Problemstellungen schneller bewältigen als es durch den Aufbau interner Kompetenzen möglich wäre (funktionale Flexibilität) (Kaiser und Roßbach 2003; Kaiser et al. 2007; Atkinson 1984). Damit ist die Zusammenarbeit mit Freelancern Bestandteil eines Trends hin zu flexiblen Organisationsstrukturen, der spätestens seit Beginn der 90er Jahre, unter anderem, aufgrund der gestiegenen Wettbewerbsintensität durch die Öffnung globaler Märkte, immer deutlicher in Erscheinung tritt D’Aveni 1998; Hitt et al. 1998 Für Unternehmen ergeben sich daraus zahlreiche Herausforderungen. Die Leistungserstellung findet aufgrund des Dienstleistungscharakters in den meisten Fällen in Interaktion mit anderen Beschäftigten statt. Der Einsatz des Freelancers bedarf deshalb der Integration mit den vorhandenen internen Beschäftigten oder anderen externen Leistungserstellern. Hierbei geht es zunächst um die Koordination, d. h. die zeitliche und örtliche Abstimmung des Einsatzes des externen Mitarbeiters mit den Aufgaben anderer Beschäftigter, aber auch ganz allgemein um das Management und die Führung intern-extern gemischter Teams. Hierzu liegen in der betriebswirtschaftlichen wissenschaftlichen Literatur bisher so gut wie keine nennenswerten Erkenntnisse vor.
So far, results from three distinct but interconnected research phases of this study have been presented. This chapter briefly reiterates the purpose of this study and integrates the distinct phases’ findings into one coherent picture with regard to the relations between team cognition and the application of collaborative quality assurance techniques in ISD teams. Subsequently, contributions to theory and managerial implications of this study are discussed in the light of prior and possibilities for future research. This chapter concludes by pointing out the limitations of this study.
This chapter outlines and discusses the research strategy underlying this study. First, critical realism is introduced and put forward as the central epistemological and ontological stance of this study. Subsequently, this study’s sequential mixed-methods research strategy is delineated from traditional positivist quantitative and interpretive qualitative approaches. This strategy encompasses a sequence of research activities ranging from an initial exploration followed by four in-depth case studies in ISD teams to a questionnaire-based survey of more than 600 participants. In their sequence, these distinct activities mesh to provide answers to this study’s research questions: (1) the phase of initial exploration first serves to elicit the functional affordances of collaborative quality assurance techniques. It shows that there is a bounded set of functional affordances of these techniques, but not all teams perceive the same subset of affordances. In fact, this phase finds hints toward the influence of team cognition on the perception of functional affordances of collaborative quality assurance techniques in teams. (2) The phase of in-depth case studies serves to provide an explanation why teams differ in the subsets of affordances they perceive. It finds that their transactive memory restricts them in the application of collaborative quality assurance techniques. Moreover, this phase serves to find and explain the emergent effects of collaborative quality assurance techniques on a team’s transactive memory. (3) The questionnaire-based survey serves to corroborate this explanation and tests the economically relevant consequences implied by the explanation. In the following, the single research steps are discussed with respect to their internal consistency, rigor, and validity. Lastly, this section also examines the validity of the integrated research design.
This chapter presents the findings from the three empirical investigations conducted in this study. An initial exploration yields insights into the structure of collaborative quality assurance techniques and shows that different teams use the same techniques for distinct tasks and towards various ends. That is, on a task level, the techniques provide distinct functional affordances to different teams. Subsequently, an in-depth analysis of four ISD teams and their collaborative quality assurance practices provides a detailed understanding why different teams perceive distinct functional affordances. Qualitative differences in teams’ transactive memory systems can be seen as a major driver of these perceptions. The in-depth case studies also yield insights into the emergent effects of continuously applying collaborative quality assurance techniques on a team level. While pair programming fosters knowledge transfer and creates redundant knowledge in a team, peer code review fosters the task-based retrieval and application of specialist knowledge by supporting transactive memory processes. A questionnaire-based survey of 81 ISD teams with more than 600 individual respondents corroborates these findings and relates them to software quality as an outcome variable. Results show that frequent and team-wide peer code review can partially substitute for extensive transactive memory structures in producing high-quality software. In teams with distant personal relationships, pair programming can help team members build the common ground to access one another’s expertise while teams with already close relationships can harm their transactive memory with too much pair programming. Peer code review helps directly improve software quality and reduces the dependence of software quality on existing transactive memory structures.
In the following, this chapter provides the conceptual and theoretical foundations to investigate how team cognition affects the application of collaborative quality assurance techniques in ISD teams and how continued use of collaborative quality assurance techniques affects team cognition and team performance in turn. In a first step, core concepts of the investigation are defined. Subsequently, analyses of extant research on collaborative quality assurance techniques and team cognition in ISD teams are conducted. Based on these analyses, the theoretical lenses are selected that constitute the basis for the further investigations, namely the theory of transactive memory systems and the concept of functional affordances.
This chapter examines the specific interplay of rules and routines in organizational learning. It is argued that rules and routines provide media of organizational learning. Organizational learning based on rules and routines comes about only when there are organizational members who actively pursue changes in rules and routines, when these members overcome the learning barriers and thus complete the learning cycle, and when the organization succeeds in correctly interpreting feedback from the environment.
Organizational capability of adopting countermeasure when facing frequent environment changes is the key to industrial survival. This study mainly aims to explore the relationships among product innovation, organizational culture, strategic alliance, and organizational performance in the tourism industry. Research participants were Taiwan travel agencies. A stratified random sampling approach on senior managers with decision-making power and familiar with internal strategies was utilized to collect data. Out of 1987 distributed questionnaires, 507 usable responses were received. SPSS 12.0 and LISREL 8.7 were used to analyze data. The results show that the degree of industry investment positively influences strategic alliance tendency and strategic alliance tendency positively affects organizational performance. However, organizational culture has no impact on strategic alliance. This study provides deep understanding of product innovation and strategic alliance in the tourism industry and offers the industry with useful implications for sustainable development.
As we approach the beginning of the 21st century, we are beginning to see the emergence of knowledge management as a natural evolution of the focus and importance of quality in the 1980s and reengineering in the I 990s. Quality placed a huge emphasis on getting all employees to use their brainpower better. Reengineering emphasized the use of technology to streamline business processes and take out costs. With the lessons of quality and reengineering firmly embedded in our everyday operations (continual cost containment and higher quality is a way of life), businesses are now turning their attention to growth. Growth is a common pursuit. Customers are calling for it. Financial markets are calling for it. Employees are asking for it because they want an exciting and stimulating environment in which to work. If a business doesn't grow, it will eventually die because knowledge workers of the 21st century won't want to work with or for a business that's not growing. Skilled workers have plenty of options to choose from as demand for knowledge workers escalates around the world.
Much of the prior research on interorganizational learning has focused on the role of absorptive capacity, a firm's ability to value, assimilate, and utilize new external knowledge. However, this definition of the construct suggests that a firm has an equal capacity to learn from all other organizations. We reconceptualize the Jinn-level construct absorptive capacity as a learning dyad-level construct, relative absorptive capacity. One firm's ability to learn from another firm is argued to depend on the similarity of both firms' (1) knowledge bases, (2) organizational structures and compensation policies, and (3) dominant logics. We then test the model using a sample of pharmaceutical-biotechnology RED alliances. As predicted, the similarity of the partners' basic knowledge, lower management formalization, research centralization, compensation practices, and research communities were positively related to interorganizational learning. The relative absorptive capacity measures are also shown to have greater explanatory power than the established measure of absorptive capacity, R&D spending. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Successful networks of partners are typically guided by a strong strategic center which is far more than a broker and organizer of contacts. This article examines three special features of the activities of successful central firms: their ability to create value for themselves and their partners, the agenda and core competencies they develop, and the capacity to be innovative by simultaneous strategizing and structuring.
This paper advances the understanding of absorptive capacity for assimilating new knowledge as a mediating variable of organization adaptation. Many scholars suggest a firm's absorptive capacity plays a key role in the process of coevolution (Lewin et al., this issue). So far, most publications, in following Cohen and Levinthal (1990), have considered the level of prior related knowledge as the determinant of absorptive capacity. We suggest, however, that two specific organizational determinants of absorptive capacity should also be considered: organization forms and combinative capabilities. We will show how these organizational determinants influence the level of absorptive capacity, ceteris paribus the level of prior related knowledge. Subsequently, we will develop a framework in which absorptive capacity is related to both micro- and macrocoevolutionary effects. This framework offers an explanation of how knowledge environments coevolve with the emergence of organization forms and combinative capabilities that are suitable for absorbing knowledge. We will illustrate the framework by discussing two longitudinal case studies of traditional publishing firms moving into the turbulent knowledge environment of an emerging multimedia industrial complex.(
This article reviews the processes involved in interfirm learning and identifies an alternative form of alliance in which the objective is knowledge creation, not knowledge acquisition or transfer. Grounded on theories from sociology (relational governance) and educational psychology (jigsaw), the article develops an evolutionary model in which successive learning cycles of convergence, divergence, and reorientation facilitate knowledge creation and innovation.
Abstract In this paper, we examine the implications of two competing assumptions in the innovation literature. On one hand, product lifecycle theory assumes that technological innovation is propelled and stabilized by increasing synergistic specificity (Schilling, 2000) between organizations, technologies, and markets. On the other hand, modules in modular products are flexibly reconfigurable or synergistically non-specific. In this paper, we ask whether changes in synergistic specificity within the product spills out to undermine the linkages between organizations, technologies and markets, and hence the product lifecycle. We find that progressive modularization,of products undermines product lifecycle theory. Instead, the product lifecycle is replaced by the interactions among lifecycles of
Our paper develops a dynamic theory of alliances by examining certain outcome and process discrepancies that may emerge as the partners interact, highlighting issues that are especially relevant in knowledge intensive alliances, such as joint R&D or product development. Firms enter into these types of alliances to create economic value and to acquire knowledge to enhance their competencies. The degree to which the partners can realize their objectives is dependent on their absorptive capacities and the collaborative strategies adopted by the partners. Outcome and process discrepancies may emerge as collaboration unfolds. Outcome discrepancies concern the ability of the partners to achieve their economic and learning objectives. Process discrepancies relate to the partners' satisfaction with the pattern of interaction, and affect their feelings of psychological attachment to the relationship. How the partners assess and react to discrepancies shapes the developmental path of an alliance. The alliance flourishes in certain states but may collapse in others as the collaboration is subjected to environmental changes or shifts in the grand strategies of the partners. Guidelines for assessing and managing outcome and process discrepancies are suggested.
This paper examines interfirm knowledge transfers within strategic alliances. Using a new measure of changes in alliance partners' technological capabilities, based on the citation patterns of their patent portfolios, we analyze changes in the extent to which partner firms' technological resources ‘overlap’ as a result of alliance participation. This measure allows us to test hypotheses from the literature on interfirm knowledge transfer in alliances, with interesting results: we find support for some elements of this ‘received wisdom’—equity arrangements promote greater knowledge transfer, and ‘absorptive capacity’ helps explain the extent of technological capability transfer, at least in some alliances. But the results also suggest limits to the ‘capabilities acquisition’ view of strategic alliances. Consistent with the argument that alliance activity can promote increased specialization, we find that the capabilities of partner firms become more divergent in a substantial subset of alliances.
In an era of far-reaching changes, issues of Organizational Learning are high on the agenda of social scientists, managers and consultants worldwide as they seek to adapt to new environments. The Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge provides a comprehensive overview of how the concept of Organizational Learning emerged, how it has been used and debated, and where it may be going. It summarizes the state of the art and provides a full account of the diverse approaches, themes, issues, and debates of the field. The handbook unites a distinguished team of international authors, who examine both the central themes and emerging issues. The coverage extends beyond the American tradition to include the experiences of Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The book opens with chapters drawing insights from various social science approaches. The following Sections examine fundamental issues concerning the external triggers, factors and conditions, agents, and processes of Organizational Learning. Subsequent chapters review the subject within a global context, looking in particular at inter-organizational collaboration. The next sections examine the development of learning practices and provides case studies to illustrate Organizational Learning and knowledge creation. The book concludes with an analysis of the state of the art and an agenda for the future. This handbook will be an invaluable reference tool for scholars and students in the social sciences, as well as for professionals involved in organizational development, learning, and change.
How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.
In 1937, Ronald H. Coase published The Nature of the Firm, a classic paper that raised fundamental questions about the concept of the firm in economic theory. Coase proposed that the comparative costs of organizing transactions through markets, rather than within firms, are the primary determinants of the size and scope of firms. This volume derives from a conference held in 1987 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Coase's classic article. The first chapter gives an overview of the volume. It is followed by a re-publication of the 1937 article, and by the three lectures Coase presented at the conference. These lectures provide a lively and informative history of the origins and development of his thought. Subsequent chapters explore a wide range of theoretical and empirical issues that have arisen in the transaction cost economic tradition. They illustrate the power of the transaction cost approach to enhance understanding not only of business firms, but of problems of economic organization generally. Contributors: Ronald H. Coase, Sherwin Rosen, Paul Joskow, Oliver Hart, Harold Demsetz, Scott Masten, Benjamin Klein, Oliver Williamson, and Sidney Winter.
Perspectives on Technology consists of papers written by Nathan Rosenberg over a ten-year period, from the early 1960s to the early 1970s. Their origin was in Professor Rosenberg's interest in long-term economic growth processes and, especially, in the behaviour of industrializing societies. The form and direction which this book has taken reflect two basic influences: (1) a growing awareness of the centrality of technological phenomena in generating economic growth, and (2) a growing sense that, in spite of the basic and genuine insights into technological phenomena provided by the neo-classical economics, a deeper and richer understanding of the phenomena can only be achieved by a willingness to step outside the limited intellectual boundaries of this mode of reasoning.
We show how the tension between cooperation and competition affects the dynamics of learning alliances. ‘Private benefits’ and ‘common benefits’ differ in the incentives that they create for investment in learning. The competitive aspects of alliances are most severe when a firm's ratio of private to common benefits is high. We introduce a measure, ‘relative scope’ of a firm in an alliance, to show that the opportunity set of each firm outside an alliance crucially impacts its behavior within the alliance. Finally, we suggest why firms might deviate from the theoretically optimal behavior patterns. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This paper investigates the outcomes and durations of strategic alliances among competing firms, using alliance outcomes as indicators of learning by partner firms. We show that alliance outcomes vary systematically across link and scale alliances. Link alliances are interfirm partnerships to which partners contribute different capabilities, while scale alliances are partnerships to which partners contribute similar capabilities. We find that partners are more likely to reorganize or take over link alliances than scale alliances. By contrast, scale alliances are more likely to continue without material changes. The two types of alliances are equally likely to shut down, at similar ages. These results support the view that link alliances lead to greater levels of learning and capability acquisition between the partners than do scale alliances. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article reviews the processes involved in interfirm learning and identifies an alternative form of alliance in which the objective is knowledge creation, not knowledge acquisition or transfer. Grounded on theories from sociology (relational governance) and educational psychology (jigsaw), the article develops an evolutionary model in which successive learning cycles of convergence, divergence, and reorientation facilitate knowledge creation and innovation.
We show how the tension between cooperation and competition affects the dynamics of learning alliances. 'Private benefits' and 'common benefits' differ in the incentives that they create for investment in learning. The competitive aspects of alliances are most severe when a firm's ratio of private to common benefits is high. We introduce a measure, 'relative scope' of a firm in an alliance, to show that the opportunity set of each firm outside an alliance crucially impacts its behavior within the alliance. Finally, we suggest why firms might deviate from the theoretically optimal behavior patterns. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Individuals in organizations often need to access knowledge that is outside their own area of expertise. Doing so requires "know-who" knowledge-knowledge of who knows what inside (or outside) the organization. This paper develops the concept of a knowledge directory, a database that can be searched via query. The knowledge directory returns a list of individuals rank ordered by the mutual affinity between their own areas of expertise and the content of the query. The technology behind the matching of person and query is centering resonance analysis, which develops a knowledge map, representing objects embedded in text as a network graph. We also present a way to analyze a collection of knowledge maps so that clusters of people who have similar expertise may be identified. We apply these techniques to a group of ten university faculty from the areas of industrial engineering, operations management, and supply chain management. Experiments attempting to match queries to specific faculty members are presented and discussed, and clustering techniques are used to show how the faculty aggregate into cliques of similar content and methodological expertise. Extensions of the method are discussed.
Global competition is forcing firms to rethink the question of how new organizational knowledge is acquired. New knowledge provides the foundation for new skills, which in turn can lead to competitive success. However, few firms systematically manage the process of knowledge acquisition. This paper explores international strategic alliances and their potential for learning and knowledge acquisition. In bringing together firms with different skills, knowledge bases, and organizational cultures, alliances create unique learning opportunities for the partner firms. Based on the assumption that organizational learning is both a function of access to new knowledge and the capabilities for using and building on such knowledge, the paper focuses on alliance knowledge accessibility and firm learning effectiveness.
Interfirm cooperation and its performance implications are examined in the context of two widely cited theoretical approaches to organizations. Broadly speaking, the resource-based view suggests that firms seek to capitalize on and increase their capabilities and endowments, whereas organizational economics asserts that firms focus on minimizing the costs of organizing. Although these perspectives agree on managers' likely actions in many areas, their predictions diverge when interfirm cooperation is considered. We take a step toward reconciling these differences by positing that firms place resource-based concerns in front of considerations from organizational economics when deciding whether or not to engage in interfirm cooperation. We examined this prediction using data from 94 publicly held restaurant chains. The results support our integrated view, but also suggest that giving primacy to resource concerns detracts from the performance of some firms. We derive several implications of these findings in an effort to guide subsequent inquiry.
Experimentation, a form of problem-solving, is a fundamental innovation activity and accounts for a significant part of total innovation cost and time. In many fields, the economics of experimentation are being radically affected by the use of new and greatly improved versions of methods such as computer simulation, mass screening, and rapid prototyping. This paper shows that a given experiment (and the related trial and error learning) can be conducted in different "modes" (e.g., computer simulation and rapid prototyping) and that users will find it economical to optimize the switching between these modes as to reduce total product development cost and time. The findings are confirmed by a large-scale empirical study of the experimentation process in the design of integrated circuits containing either (1) electrically programmable logic devices (EPLDs); or (2) application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). In comparing their different experimentation strategies for analogous design projects, I found that the former (EPLD) - an approach that utilizes many prototype iterations - outperformed the latter (ASIC) by factor of 2.2 (in person-months) and over 43 percent of that difference can be attributed to differences in experimentation strategies. The implications for managerial practice and theory are discussed and suggestions for further research undertakings are provided.
Unstable market conditions caused by innovation and increasing intensity and diversity of competition have resulted in organizational capabilities rather than served markets becoming the primary basis upon which firms establish their long-term strategies. If the strategically most important resource of the firm is knowledge, and if knowledge resides in specialized form among individual organizational members, then the essence of organizational capability is the integration of individuals' specialized knowledge. This paper develops a knowledge-based theory of organizational capability, and draws upon research into competitive dynamics, the resource-based view of the firm, organizational capabilities, and organizational learning. Central to the theory is analysis of the mechanisms through which knowledge is integrated within firms in order to create capability. The theory is used to explore firms' potential for establishing competitive advantage in dynamic market settings, including the role of firm networks under conditions of unstable linkages between knowledge inputs and product outputs. The analysis points to the difficulties in creating the "dynamic" and "flexible-response capabilities" which have been deemed critical to success in hypercompetitive markets.
Several of the design factors that must be considered in linking computers together into networks are also relevant to the ways in which individual human memory systems are linked into group memory systems. These factors include directory updating (learning who knows what in the group), information allocation (assigning memory items to group members), and retrieval coordination (planning how to find items in a way that takes advantage of who knows what). When these processes operate effectively in a group, the group's transactive memory is likely to be effective.
The procedures and the nature of “technologies” are suggested to be broadly similar to those which characterize “science”. In particular, there appear to be “technological paradigms” (or research programmes) performing a similar role to “scientific paradigms” (or research programmes). The model tries to account for both continuous changes and discontinuities in technological innovation. Continuous changes are often related to progress along a technological trajectory defined by a technological paradigm, while discontinuities are associated with the emergence of a new paradigm. One-directional explanations of the innovative process, and in particular those assuming “the market” as the prime mover, are inadequate to explain the emergence of new technological paradigms. The origin of the latter stems from the interplay between scientific advances, economic factors, institutional variables, and unsolved difficulties on established technological paths. The model tries to establish a sufficiently general framework which accounts for all these factors and to define the process of selection of new technological paradigms among a greater set of notionally possible ones.
This paper provides an overview of the literature on interorganizational relationships. Although the literature on interorganizational relationships is extensive, a pervasive theme that is either explicit or implicit in the majority of the articles is the simple notion of whether interorganizational relationships make sense and whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. This article reviews six widely used theoretical paradigms that explain interorganizational relationship formation, including transaction costs economics, resource dependency, strategic choice, stakeholder theory, organizational learning, and institutional theory. Although each paradigm alone is insufficient to capture the complexities of interorganizational relationship formation, the fact that interorganizational relationships can be justified from such diverse theoretical backgrounds is impressive. The paper also reviews the six forms of interorganizational relationships most commonly pursued in practice and discussed in the literature, including joint ventures, networks, consortia, alliances, trade associations, and interlocking directorates. Through these discussions, we elaborate on the potential advantages and disadvantages of participation in interorganizational relationships.
Modular product architectures am being adopted as the basis for new product designs in a growing number of markets. In this article, the author explains how adoption of modular product architectures makes possible new kinds of processes for creating and realizing products, as well as new approaches to identifying and managing organizational knowledge used in product creation and realization. When managed strategically, modular product, process, and knowledge architectures enable firms to create greater product variety, introduce technologically improved products more rapidly, bring new products to market more quickly, and lower costs of product creation and realization. This article investigates the ways in which the strategic use of modular architectures can affect the marketing process. It explains ways in which modular architectures change the technologically determined possibilities for product creation and realization in the marketing process, create new market dynamics, and lead to new objectives and methods for the marketing process.
Experimentation, a form of problem-solving, is a fundamental innovation activity and accounts for a significant part of total innovation cost and time. In many fields, the economics of experimentation are being radically affected by the use of new and greatly improved versions of methods such as computer simulation, mass screening, and rapid prototyping. This paper shows that a given experiment (and the related trial and error learning) can be conducted in different "modes" (e.g., computer simulation and rapid prototyping) and that users will find it economical to optimize the switching between these modes as to reduce total product development cost and time. The findings are confirmed by a large-scale empirical study of the experimentation process in the design of integrated circuits containing either (1) electrically programmable logic devices (EPLDs); or (2) application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). In comparing their different experimentation strategies for analogous design projects, I found that the former (EPLD)-an approach that utilizes many prototype iterations-outperformed the latter (ASIC) by factor of 2.2 (in person-months) and over 43 percent of that difference can be attributed to differences in experimentation strategies. The implications for managerial practice and theory are discussed and suggestions for further research undertakings are provided.
Strategic alliances are an important source of resources, learning, and thereby competitive advantage. Few firms have all of the resources needed to compete effectively in the current dynamic landscape. Thus, firms seek access to the necessary resources through alliances. We examine the management of strategic alliances using the theoretical frames of transactions cost, social network theory and the resource-based view. Alliances must be effectively managed for their benefits to be realized. Effective alliance management begins with selecting the right partner. Furthermore, alliances must be managed to build social capital and knowledge. To maximize cooperation among the partners, a trust-based relationship must be developed. Therefore, we conclude that managing alliances is crucial for firms to gain competitive advantage and create value with strategic alliances.
This paper proposes a co-evolutionary theory of strategic alliances. The paper proposes a framework which views strategic alliances in the context of the adaptation choices of a firm. Strategic alliances, in this view, are embedded in a firm's strategic portfolio, and co-evolve with the firm's strategy, the institutional, organizational and competitive environment, and with management intent for the alliance. Specifically, we argue that alliance intent may be described, at any time, as having either exploitation or exploration objectives. We further discuss how the morphology of an alliance-absorptive capacity, control, and identification-may be isomorphic with its intent, and, in the aggregate, drive the evolution of the population of alliances.
The ubiquity of information makes it easy to overlook the local character of innovative knowledge. Nowhere is this local character more overlooked yet paradoxically more evident than in Silicon Valley. The Valley persists as a densely interconnected innovative region, though its inhabitants loudly proclaim that the information technology they develop renders distance dead and place insignificant. It persists, we argue, because of the local character of innovative knowledge, which flows in social rather than digital networks. The locality of innovative knowledge highlights the challenge of developing other regions for the modern economy. Should these abandon traditional local strengths and strive to become another Silicon Valley? Or should they concentrate on their traditional strengths and rely on Silicon Valley and the other established high-tech regions to provide the necessary technology to survive in the digital age? We argue that they should do neither, but instead develop new technologies in service of their existing competencies and needs. Finding new ways to address indigenous problems is the right way, we believe, to tie to the region expertise, talent, and capital that might otherwise be lost to the lure of existing high-tech clusters.
The authors use evidence from more than 200 organizations to demonstrate how companies which invest in alliance structures to co-ordinate alliance activity and systems to capture, codify, communicate and coach alliance-related know-how, definitely reap benefit in a number of ways. They also provide guidance on alternative ways to organize alliance structure and learning and co-ordination systems. The path to these benefits is not easy and companies need resources, people, and caution in managing the dedicated alliance function.
Part I: Elements of a Theory of Competence-Based Competition. A systems view of competence-based competition (R. Sanchez, A. Heene). Strategic goals (R. Sanchez, H. Thomas). Industry dynamics in competence-based competition (P. Gorman, H. Thomas, R. Sanchez). Part II: The Market Test for Competence . From skills to competences: the play-out of resource bundles across firms (W. Bogner, H. Thomas). Competitive-analysis and competence-based strategies in the hotel industry (M. Rispoli). Part III: Identifying and Building Competences. Developing and applying a process approach to competence analysis (M.A. Lewis, M.J. Gregory). Competence development by small firms in a vertically-constrained industry structure (O. Jensen). Characterizing organizational competences: an industrial networks approaches (G. Easton, L. Araujo). Spinning-off capabilities: competence development in knowledge-intensive services (T. Elfring, G. Baven). Part IV: Leveraging Existing Competences. Flexible configuration strategies within Philips semiconductors: a strategic process of entrepreneurial revitalization (H.W. Volberda). From national to global product development competence in the telecommunications industry: structure and process in leveraging core capabilities (B.C. Winterscheid, S. McNabb). "Quick-Connect" technologies for product creation: implications for competence-based competition (R. Sanchez). Part V: Competence-Building as the Driver of Industry Dynamics. The role of imitable vs. inimitable competences in the evolution of the semiconductor industry (R.W. Wright). Competence-based competition and the evolution of strategic configurations (S. Tallman, D.L. Atchison). The role of international R&D in the competence-building strategies of Japanese pharmaceutical firms (T. Roehl).
Past research has consistently shown that companies, which have close relationships with customers, suppliers, research institutions, and competitors are more likely to have higher product and process innovation success. But why and how are these firms able to build up and use technology-oriented interorganizational relationships, which give them a competitive advantage? The authors postulate that the underlying reason is a company-specific ability to handle, use, and exploit interorganizational relationships. We call this skill network competence. Drawing upon a sample of 308 German mechanical and electrical engineering companies, results of a LISREL analysis reveal that network competence has a strong positive influence on the extent of interorganizational technological collaborations and on a firm's product and process innovation success. Furthermore, four organizational antecedents have an impact on a company's network competence: access to resources, network orientation of human resource management, integration of intraorganizational communication, and openness of corporate culture.
Interfirm cooperation and its performance implications are examined in the context of two widely cited theoretical approaches to organizations. Broadly speaking, the resource-based view suggests that firms seek to capitalize on and increase their capabilities and endowments, whereas organizational economics asserts that firms focus on minimizing the costs of organizing. Although these perspectives agree on managers’ likely actions in many areas, their predictions diverge when interfirm cooperation is considered. We take a step toward reconciling these differences by positing that firms place resource-based concerns in front of considerations from organizational economics when deciding whether or not to engage in interfirm cooperation. We examined this prediction using data from 94 publicly held restaurant chains. The results support our integrated view, but also suggest that giving primacy to resource concerns detracts from the performance of some firms. We derive several implications of these findings in an effort to guide subsequent inquiry. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Khanna, Gulati, and Nohria (1998) examine the dynamics of alliance learning and develop a conceptual framework designed to capture the tension between cooperation and competition. Based on the concepts of private and common benefits and relative scope, the authors explore firms' learning behavior patterns. This note comments on the framework and suggests that although the framework introduces some interesting concepts, the reliance on simple models from economic theory leaves the framework somewhat disconnected from the process of alliance management. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This paper investigates interrelationships of product design, organization design, processes for learning and managing knowledge, and competitive strategy. This paper uses the principles of nearly decomposable systems to investigate the ability of standardized interfaces between components in a product design to embed coordination of product development processes. Embedded coordination creates 'hierarchical coordination' without the need to continually exercise authority - enabling effective coordination of processes without the tight coupling of organizational structures. We develop concepts of modularity in product and organization designs based on standardized component and organization interfaces. Modular product architectures create information structures that provide the 'glue' that holds together the loosely coupled parts of a modular organization design. By facilitating loose coupling, modularity can also reduce the cost and difficulty of adaptive coordination, thereby increasing the strategic flexibility of firms to respond to environmental change. Modularity in product and organization designs therefore enables a new strategic approach to the management of knowledge based on an intentional, carefully managed loose coupling of a firm's learning processes at architectural and component levels of product creation processes.
Based on an intensive and inductive study of a Fortune 100 corporation, this article describes how dynamic capabilities that reconfigure division resources - that is, architectural innovation - may operate within multibusiness firms. We suggest envisaging corporate divisions as combinations of capabilities and product - market areas of responsibility (charters) that may be recombined in various ways, highlighting the interplay of economic and social imperatives that motivate such recombinations. We detail the microsociological patterns by which such recombinations occur and then theorize about an organizational form, termed "dynamic community," in which these processes are embedded.
The most influential theory of group behavior that has ever been developed is currently in disfavor. This is the theory of the group mind. Social commentators once found it very useful to analyze the behavior of groups by the same expedient used in analyzing the behavior of individuals. The group, like the person, was assumed to be sentient, to have a form of mental activity that guides action. Rousseau (1767) and Hegel (1807) were the early architects of this form of analysis, and it became so widely used in the 19th and early 20th centuries that almost every early social theorist we now recognize as a contributor to modern social psychology held a similar view. McDougall, Ross, Durkheim, Wundt, and LeBon, to name just a few, were willing to assume that the group has a mental life that plays a part in the patterning of group behavior.
Since firms are knowledge institutions, or well-springs of knowledge, they compete on the basis of creating and using knowledge; managing a firm's knowledge assets is as important as managing its finances. A firm's expertise is acquired by employees and embodied in machines, software, and institutional procedures. Management of its core or strategic capabilities determines a firm's competitiveness and survival. Through decision-making and action, core technological capabilities can be built and changed. The author proposes to (1) help managers think about the knowledge-building consequences of their technology-related decisions and (2) provide academics materials usable in training managers to think about knowledge building. All aspects of product or process development must be viewed in terms of knowledge management and growth. Knowledge cannot be managed the same as tangible assets; to manage knowledge assets, one must understand them. Successful adaptation is an incremental re-direction of skills and knowledge. A set of four core technological competencies bestows competitive advantage on firms; these are the firm's skill and knowledge bases, physical technical systems, managerial systems, and values and norms that create a firm's special advantage. These may reside at any line-of-business level. Core capabilities must be managed to foster, not inhibit flow of critical knowledge. There is a dilemma: core capabilities are also core rigidities when carried to an extreme or when the competitive environment changes. Limited problem solving, inability to innovate, limited experimentation, and screening out new knowledge can undermine the development of competencies. Four key activities create and sustain flows of knowledge and direct them into core capabilities: (1) Integrated, shared creative problem solving across cognitive and functional barriers - shared problem solving achieves new level of creativity when managed for "creative abrasion." (2) Implementation and integration of new internally generated methodologies and technical processes and tools. These can move beyond merely increasing efficiency when managed for learning. (3) Formal and informal experimentation. Experimental activities create new core competencies that move companies purposefully forward and are guards against rigidity. (4) Importing and absorbing technological knowledge expertise from outside the firm. Technology alliances, for example, develop outwise wellsprings of knowledge (identify, access, use, and manage knowledge from external sources). Well managed, these enable companies to tap knowledge wellsprings consistently and continuously. Many dysfunctional attitudes and behaviors within firms inhibit these activities. These activities are oriented to present, internal, future, and external domains, and involve managers at all company levels and all functions. Specific managerial behaviors that build (or undermine) capabilities are identified. Managers must design an environment that encourages enactments of these four activities to create an organization that learns. Thereby, organizations and managers can create an atmosphere for continuous renewal; application to commercial ends is as important as managing it internally. The growth and nurturing of core capabilities (expressed in successful product development) requires learning from the market (understanding user needs), or feeding market information into new-product development. Identifying new product opportunities depends on empathic design, actual observed customer behavior, and technological capabilities. Technology transfer can also be understood as transferring technological capabilities to a new site, which is examined at four levels (assembly or turnkey, adaptation and localization, system, redesign, product design). Transfer of production development capability is illustrated with the cas