Search

This paper investigates the ownership and location strategies as contingency factors, which affect the relationship between SMEs’ open innovation activities and innovation performance in the context of emerging economies. Drawing from the corporate strategy and open innovation literature, we argued that SMEs with state and foreign ownership can more effectively capture economic rents from open innovation in a weak intellectual-property-rights regime. Meanwhile, the subnational environments in which SMEs locate their businesses is also crucial for them to capture value from open innovation. Using the data of 1050 SMEs in China, we found that state ownership positively and significantly moderates the relationship between openness and innovative performance, while foreign ownership partially supports the same effect. By disentangling the pro-business environment and the market development, we found that for SMEs that are located in a region with a stronger pro-business environment and a higher level of market development, open innovation can bring more value than it does for those located in regions with lower levels of those factors. Overall, this paper also contributes to our understanding of the complementary relationships between ownership and location strategies and open innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to understand the underlying mechanisms by which relational ties influence firm innovation. Companies in China rely much on relational ties to implement business strategies. Combining social network theory with dynamic capability perspective, we build a model that analyzes the direct and indirect impact of relational ties (business ties and service ties) on innovation performance through supply chain adaptability. We further analyze that technological turbulence and dysfunctional competition influence the relationships between relational ties and supply chain adaptability. We test these relationships using data collected from 300 manufacturers in China. The results show that service ties plays a relatively more important role than business ties in enhancing innovation performance directly. Interactions between business ties and service ties significantly influence innovation performance. Moreover, our results demonstrate that supply chain adaptability fully mediates the relationship between business ties and innovation performance but partially mediates the relationship between service ties and innovation performance. Our results show that technological turbulence positively moderates the relationships between business/service ties and supply chain adaptability. In addition, dysfunctional competition negatively moderates the relationship between business ties and supply chain adaptability. Overall, our findings contribute to the understanding of the roles of relational ties in supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research argues that alignment between business and information systems (IS) strategies enhances organizational performance. However, factors affecting alignment have received relatively little empirical attention. Moreover, IS strategic alignment is assumed to facilitate the performance of all organizations, regardless of type or business strategy. By using two studies of business firms and academic institutions, this paper: 1) develops and tests a model relating alignment, its antecedents, and its consequences and 2) examines differences in these relationships across organizational types and strategies. Findings indicate that alignment depends on shared domain knowledge and prior IS success, and also support the expected positive impact of alignment on organizational performance. Differences across Prospector, Analyzer, and Defender business strategies are examined. A key research contribution is the empirical demonstration that the importance of alignment, as well as the mechanisms used to attain alignment, vary by business strategy and industry. In past alignment studies, controlling for industry has not been uncommon. The findings suggest that future research studies should also control for business strategy. The article also empirically demonstrates that past implementation success influences alignment. In addition, it highlights the influence of a process variable, strategic planning, on the development of shared knowledge and, consequently, on alignment. This paper examines strategic issues related to the management of technology. Data from multiple surveys are used to test the extent to which strategic planning, shared business-IS knowledge, prior IS success, and other variables consistently enhance IS alignment. The study also provides empirical support for the popular argument that IS alignment improves organizational performance. It extends the current literature by examining the extent to which these findings hold across firm strategies and industries. The authors argue that not all firms are equally well served by allocating scarce resources to improve IS alignment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business process reengineering (BPR) has made a significant impact on managers and academics. Despite the rhetoric surrounding BPR, articulated mechanisms, which support reasoning on the effect of the redesign activities to the performance of the business model, are still emerging. This paper describes an attempt to build and operate such a reasoning mechanism as a novel supplement to performance-driven change (PDC) exercises. This new approach proposes the utilization of the fuzzy causal characteristics of fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) as the underlying methodology in order to generate a hierarchical and dynamic network of interconnected performance indicators. By using FCMS, the proposed mechanism alms at simulating the operational efficiency of complex process models with imprecise relationships to quantify the impact of performance-driven reengineering activities. This research also establishes generic maps that supplement the strategic planning and business analysis phases of typical redesign projects in order to Implement the integration of hierarchical FCMs Into PDC activities. Finally, this paper discusses experiments with the proposed mechanism and comments on its usability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a contingency model that examines the external links between the business environment and supply chain strategies, and the internal links between supply chain strategies and supplier management practices. The research model theorizes that flexibility and low-cost oriented supply chain strategies should fit with the underlying business environments, and, in turn, supplier management practices (i.e., long-term relationships, supplier assessment, and integration) should fit with the chosen supply chain strategies. The dataset to test the research model was drawn from a survey of managers from 232 Australian manufacturing firms, and comparative path analyses were employed to assess the fit among different business environments, supply chain strategies, and supply chain practices. The findings show that dynamic environment has a better fit with flexibility strategy than low-cost strategy, while competitive environment surprisingly does not show a stronger fit to low-cost strategy than flexibility strategy. Additionally, the results show that while supplier assessment is important for both flexibility and low-cost oriented strategies, long-term relationship and logistics integration are more important for flexibility strategy than for low-cost strategy. The implications for theory and practice are discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to determine factors crucial for the performance of new ventures by performing a meta-analysis. It evaluates the performance of machine learning and statistical models by selecting 19 studies through preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA). The results obtained were graphically represented using forest plots. A subjective analysis of the studies revealed “business plan,” “market scope,” “team size,” “service timing,” “market growth,” and “age of the entrepreneur” as crucial factors for deciding the performance of the new ventures. In machine learning model-based studies, the combined model was found to be statistically significant. The variables, namely, “seed funding,” “funding rounds,” “location,” “social media presence,” “team size,” “number of founding members,” and “defunct date” affect the predictive capability of these models. The implications of this article can be applied by start-ups to reduce uncertainty and enhance performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterprise ontologies (EOs), introduced in the mid 1990s, were expected to have a significant impact on enterprise computing, especially integration. However, despite a great deal of academic research on EOs, the actual use of EOs in real-life integration and planning projects is almost nonexisting. This paper describes an approach to build and use EOs for information system (IS) planning and integration projects with particular focus on real-life eBusiness applications. The approach is based on firsthand practical insights gained through construction and use of an IS planning and integration environment that needs to capture business processes, enterprise applications, integration technologies, and computer-communication platforms. The planning model with the aforementioned information is based on an EO and is populated by a set of intelligent advisors while they guide the users through various stages of the planning process. This ontology has been used to support over 40 real-life business scenarios in the telecom, manufacturing, financial services, retail, healthcare, and insurance industries. The practical contribution of this paper is that it connects ontologies to the practice of IS planning and integration, links ontologies to decisions such as enterprise application selection, and provides tools for automatically creating and maintaining ontology repositories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the upper echelon theory, this paper studies the relationship between the individual characteristics of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and organizational innovative usage of information technology (IT) by examining both the CIO's demographic characteristics and personality traits. Survey results from 89 CIOs strongly support our proposition. A CIO's personality traits of openness and extraversion and CIO's demographic characteristics of educational level have strong impact on the organizational innovative usage of IT even after controlling for organizational variables such as the organization's business strategy, outsourcing of IT operations, IT department age, and IT budget relative to revenue. This paper contributes to the age-old debate on whether managers matter in deciding an organization's strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including "Manufacturing Strategy and Business Startegy in Medium-Sized Enterprises: Performance Effects of Strategic Alignment," by L. Raymond and A. M. Croteau, "Maintenance Outsourcing Contracts for New Technology Adoptations," by F. S. and Tseng, K. Tang, and "Practical Profiles for Managing Systems Engineering R&D," by W. W. Agresti and R. M. Harris.

Drawing on new institutional economics and the innovation literature, this paper examines how subnational institutions can impact corporate research and development (R&D) investment in emerging economies. The study further investigates a key contingency of this institutional effect: a firm's country/ownership identity. Using China's pharmaceutical sector as the empirical context, we find that the quality of subnational institutions, such as the degree of government deregulation and the effectiveness of local contracting institutions, has a significantly positive impact on corporate R&D intensity. Moreover, this institutional effect is more salient in indigenous firms and international joint ventures than in wholly owned foreign subsidiaries. This study serves to shed light on future research on how multifaceted subnational institutions shape innovation activities across different types of business organizations in emerging economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many U.S. government agencies and their contractors have subscribed to using the prescriptive metric of technology readiness level (TRL) as a measure of maturity of an individual technology, with a view toward operational use in a system context. A comprehensive set of concerns becomes relevant when this metric is abstracted from an individual technology to a system context, which may involve interplay among multiple technologies that are integrated through a system development life cycle. This paper proposes a system-focused approach for managing system development and making effective and efficient decisions during this life cycle. A system readiness level (SRL) index that incorporates both the current TRL scale and the concept of an integration readiness level is presented with methods for determining current and future readiness of a system. Using techniques in evolutionary algorithms, the SRL index is optimized based on resource allocation to provide a decision support approach that enhances managerial capabilities in the system's development life cycle. The optimization model for the SRL is then executed with a case example and resource constraints of 75%, 60%, 45%, 30%, and 15% to demonstrate how it can be used to make strategic planning decisions in the system's development life cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many organizations have very limited information about the supply networks in which they are involved. For the purpose of planning business strategies, tracing products, and assuring product quality, organizations are eager to know their entire supply networks, i.e., who are their suppliers' suppliers and who are their buyers' buyers. However, because an organization's higher-tier suppliers and buyers are not directly connected to the organization, it is difficult for the organization to obtain the information about all entities and their relationships in its supply networks. This paper aims at providing an innovative solution for organizations to discover their supply networks. We first propose a new taxonomy of supply networks, which provides a necessary and systematic framework for mapping supply networks based on the mapping purpose and available information. We then develop a methodology for discovering and mapping supply networks by means of radio frequency identification (RFID)-enabled capture and sharing of the information about the movement of products throughout supply networks. This research solves a real-world supply chain management problem of what supply networks can be discovered using RFID and Internet technologies and how to discover them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many software projects fail, whether failure is measured in terms of budget, schedule, or some other requirement. The causes of such failures are many, but are not always easily recognized. This is not the least due to the human dimension of corporate activities, as spurious or misdiagnosed issues in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) projects can take on a life of their own and become a magnet for company politics. This paper reports an industrial case in which the senior management attempted to deal with a troubled ERP implementation (SAP R/3) in an international fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company during 2001 and 2002. This paper reflects this dimension as it uses original emails and PowerPoint slides to recount a number of representative episodes in a troubled but ultimately successful project. At the heart of this success is the realization that whereas it can be difficult and time-consuming to do root-cause analyses, it is relatively simple to identify problem owners. In this case, the senior management without IT backgrounds turned around a failing project by reorganizing the team structure according to process areas so that issues in each process area had one problem owner. We summarize the management's actions into a troubleshooting framework, and in addition, suggest three actions for rescuing troubled projects: keep the project manager but narrow down the manager's scope of responsibility to one or two process areas; assign the right people to be responsible for other process areas; and have the General Manager chair the ERP meetings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful utilization of the firm's information technology (IT) investments continues to be a difficult but important task for senior business and information systems managers. This paper focuses on one potentially important determinant of IT investment outcomes—integration of business and IT planning. Integration is examined using three kinds of participation: business managers' participation in IT planning, IT managers' participation in business planning, and top managers' participation in IT resource allocation. Based on considerations of knowledge sharing and commitment, a theoretical model linking these three aspects to three potential consequences—quality of IT plans, IT project problems, and IT-based organization performance—and two antecedents—top managers' perception of IT importance and environmental heterogeneity—is developed. The model is tested using data collected through a survey of 274 chief information officer (CIO) respondents. Results of structural equation modeling analysis support 12 of the 15 hypotheses. Surprisingly, top managers' participation in resource allocation had a stronger association with IT-based organizational performance than either quality of IT plans or the absence of IT project problems. This implies that the role of IT planning and alignment might be weakened when investments reflect top managements' selection. Implications of the study for practice and future research are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of knowledge management (KM) efforts is well recognized in the popular and academic press. However, KM efforts do not always lead to improved firm performance. This paper argues that different kinds of KM efforts may be appropriate for firms pursuing different business strategies, and the impact of a KM effort on firm performance would depend on whether the effort is aligned with the firm's business strategy. Prior literature on organizational learning, KM, and business strategy is used to develop these arguments, and also to identify the nature of KM efforts that would be most appropriate for firms pursuing Defender, Analyzer, and Prospector business strategies. An event study is used to evaluate the stock market reaction to a firm's public announcement of the KM effort. The empirical results, based on 103 KM announcements from 1995 to 2002, are consistent with the theory-based expectations, showing alignment between the KM effort and business strategy to be positively associated with impact on firm value. Some of the implications of these results for practice and future research are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discursive strategy is important in engaging users when an organization-wide strategic change, such as an enterprise system (ES), is introduced. Although some information system (IS) studies have suggested the use of discursive framing, little is known about how such framing is conducted. Hence, our study aims to conceptualize discursive framing strategies by taking into account user diversity. A qualitative case study of China's largest food conglomerate, with its diversified subsidiaries, is presented. Specifically, the pre-implementation phase of an ES implementation is examined. Based on a spatiotemporal analysis of the IS context that could give rise to user diversity, this paper makes two contributions. It addresses a gap in the literature by conceptualizing discursive framing strategies in managing user diversity during ES pre-implementation and it extends organizational discourse analysis through a spatiotemporal analysis of users’ IS context. We conclude with guidelines for managers to anticipate and overcome potential conflicts, and offer suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-business successes in traditional organizations have prompted much interest among researchers in many disciplines such as strategic management, information systems, and economics. However, the complexity of e-business implementation process has been overlooked, and it remains unclear. This paper investigates causal relationships among strategic initiative, information technology (IT)-related resources, and e-business capabilities; and their roles in the implementation process. From the resource-based view (RBV) of a firm and e-business strategic stand-point, we propose a model of e-business implementation process. We divide the process into four stages, and 11 hypotheses are developed in seeking relationships among six proposed constructs. Drawing from a sample of 56 enterprises within Hubei Province in China, we provide theoretical support for a critical causal link from e-business strategic initiatives to utilization of IT-related resources, and consequently, creating distinctive e-business capabilities. We find that information sharing capabilities are intermediate and transferable forces that help translating IT-related organizational resources into the collaborative process capabilities. The causal relationships expand our understanding of the dynamics of organizational transformation enabled by the Internet. The practical implications offer managers guidelines to the roles played by strategy, resource, and capabilities for e-business success. It helps in recognizing the value of their potential contributions to the organization as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agility has been widely accepted in manufacturing industry as a new competitive concept. However, how to develop a manufacturing strategy based around agility is not fully understood. This paper proposes a framework for the implementation of agility as a manufacturing strategy and describes the development and analysis of a numerical taxonomy of agility strategies using the framework. The taxonomy was developed with cluster analysis based on the relative importance attached to seven agility capabilities by a number of U.K. manufacturing companies. Three distinct clusters of strategy groups were observed across the industry studied: Quick, Responsive and Proactive Players. Quick Players are oriented towards a strong customer focus and quickness. They do not emphasize flexibility and responsiveness to changes and they give low priority to proactiveness and partnership. Responsive Players are preoccupied with flexibility and responsiveness to changes. They do not emphasize proactiveness and partnerships and they attach low importance to quickness. Proactive Players are characterized by high priorities on proactiveness and customer focus, high values attached to all capabilities, and high importance given to partnerships. The underlying dimensions of agile capabilities along which the three strategy groups differ were investigated based on factor analysis and canonical discriminant analysis. Changes/uncertainties in the business environment experienced by members of different strategic groups were compared, and ‘manufacturing strategy choices,’ in terms of manufacturing practices for achieving agility, employed by members of different strategic groups were studied. Business characteristics and typical cases for each strategy group were investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information system (IS) leadership is a critical area for many organizations because of their increasing dependence on ISs both for operational stability and for enablement of process innovation and business strategy. IS Leadership is distinctive from leadership in general because the Chief Information Officer (CIO) is expected to combine IS technical skills with an in-depth understanding of the organization across all functions from operational to strategic. Thus, unique leadership challenges arise due to the technology/business interface. The breadth of the IS Leadership role implies that IS Leadership research needs to cover a wide range of topics concerning the role and characteristics of the CIO, the CIO's interface with the top management team, and the CIO's organizational impact. This essay discusses the distinctive aspects of IS Leadership, identifies the dominant themes in prior IS Leadership research, and introduces five papers on IS Leadership in this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key issue in enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation is how to find a match between the ERP system and an organization's business processes by appropriately customizing both the system and the organization. In this paper, we advance a framework for supporting management decision-making about customization choices and the capabilities required to accomplish them. In this framework, we identify various customization possibilities for business processes as well as ERP systems. We also identify technical and process change capabilities required for system and process customization. Combining customization options with change capabilities, we present a useful way for managers to identify feasible customization options for their particular organization. Such a framework also helps managers to recognize the gap between desired customization options and change capabilities. A case study is used to illustrate the application of the framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business plan, psychological factors, and operational issues are three major reasons that Internet-based businesses fail. This paper considers why operational concerns occur and illustrates how they can be avoided, by demonstrating the application of techniques that were pioneered in manufacturing automation and service management. The use of process mapping and failure mode effect analysis (FMEA) can assist the development of e-commerce business processes in a manner similar to the way these tools have proven valuable in manufacturing. The use and value of process mapping and FMEA are demonstrated through the development of an online auction process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic spin-off facilitators support high-tech academic spin-offs and help them to navigate various barriers and critical junctures during their growth stages. In this article we draw on stage-gate models, the path-dependency, and resource based view to identify start-ups' resource needs as perceived by both facilitators and by entrepreneurs. Using qualitative data based on in-depth interviews with 18 academic spin-off facilitators and nine spin-off founders, from three technical universities in the Netherlands, we explore the critical junctures and key support activities. The results show that founders appreciate milestones and direct interface regarding business support, business plan development, and legal support during the early growth stages. In all stages, in particular during the later stages, founders appreciate different type of network support (e.g., start-up network and industry) and when facilitators act as intermediaries to guide them in the network. This helps spin-offs to gain credibility and reach out to the market. This article adds to current research on academic facilitators and in particular incubators by providing a more comprehensive explanation for the low usage of the incubator's resources. By matching key resources and support activities that can navigate particular critical junctures, we try to promote the successful transition from one stage to the other. Our findings offer significant implications, both theoretical and practical, for academic entrepreneurship literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of how companies can best prepare for the future to maintain or improve their existing position in the market place has increased its momentum. This article aims to analyze future preparedness as a joint construct consisting of a company's exploitation and exploration capabilities. In this article, we thereby consider exploitation as a firm's strategy to prepare for the future by focusing on its organizational structure and resources, and exploration as its strategy to engage in corporate foresight to anticipate changes in their environment. Previous scholars centered their research on large companies and single industries. In this article, we close this gap by analyzing future preparedness of large companies as well as of small and medium-sized enterprises from 12 different industries. Data were obtained from a heterogeneous sample of 602 companies of the German economy. For data analysis, the measured variables were classified using principal component analysis and compared by means of variance analysis. Our results indicate that companies rather build on exploitation of internal resources than on exploration of their environment. We further present firm size and industry as predictors for future preparedness strategies and found that the scope of future preparedness augments with firm size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past decade, manufacturers have invested heavily in the use of advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs). The results of these investments have been mixed, as some organizations have seen significant returns while others have experienced major problems in implementation. As yet, the returns and complementarities between AMT have not been determined. Using complementarity assumptions developed by Milgrom and Roberts [P. Milgrom and J. Roberts, "Rationalizability, learning, and equilibrium in games with strategic complementarities," Econometrica, vol. 58, no. 6, pp. 1255-1277, 1990.1, [P. Milgrom and J. Roberts, "Complementarities and fit - strategy, structure, and organizational-change in manufacturing," J. Accounting Economics, vol. 19, no. 2-3, pp. 179-208, 1995], combined with the Survey of Advanced Technology in Canadian Manufacturing (a comprehensive AMT survey), a model of manufacturing plant productivity was developed. Constrained regression analysis reveals that the effective use of AMT depends on the types of AMT used in combination and that analysis done with a high level of aggregation of either size classes or industries will result in ambiguous conclusions. Insight into the impact of complementarities on optimal AMT adoption strategies is provided through solution lattices for medium plants and the vehicle industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strategic buckets method is often posited as an approach to ensure the strategic alignment of an research and development (R&D) portfolio with firm's strategy. Despite its popularity, crafting the right set of buckets to allocate resources is not a straightforward task. We consider the question of how to establish a set of buckets that aligns the R&D portfolio with the business strategy. We carried out a case-based research and investigate seven companies in order to propose a framework to assist decision makers in designing this set of buckets. Our framework is composed of four strategic constructs, namely, technology, market, capabilities, and organizational processes. In addition to these four constructs, we suggest that the external environment also be taken into account. We discuss the key benefits and offer theoretical insights concerning the strategic constructs, which can be combined and divided, resulting in a set of buckets that better suits a company's strategy. In addition, we acknowledge the idiosyncratic nature of firms and, as opposed to prescribing a static approach for companies, we suggest the design of buckets as a dynamic process to be performed according to the four different constructs, together with a firm's interaction with the external environment. We close by discussing the implications of our approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Project planning is widely thought to be an important contributor to project success. However, there is a little research to affirm its impact and give guidance as to how much effort should be spent on planning to achieve best results. We aim to rectify this omission. Data was collected on 1386 projects from 859 respondents via a global survey. A significant relationship was found between the quality of the planning deliverables and success. Detailed analysis of the data collected revealed an inverted-U relationship between the percentage of effort spent on planning and project success. After correcting for key moderator effects, a significant relationship with an R2 of 0.15 was revealed. Further analysis showed that the fraction of planning effort that maximized the project success was 25% of project effort. This was substantially more than the 15% mean value reported by respondents. The greatest impact was found to be on the broad success measures with a lesser effect on project efficiency: time; budget; and scope. The inverted-U relationship between effort spent on planning and project success indicates that projects can spend too much time in planning, as well as too little. But we found that projects are spending less time in planning than the optimum to achieve best results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A well-planned service innovation strategy is recognized as a prerequisite for successful service innovation in organizations. However, prior studies on service innovation strategies struggle to provide guidance on successful service innovation, because they do not consider the alignment between service innovation strategy and business strategy. Furthermore, they did not consider conditions, such as industries, that affect the alignments to improve firm performance. By using empirical data collected from 175 service firms in Korea, this study aims to investigate the effect of alignments between service innovation strategy (i.e., service creation-focused [SCFS], service delivery-focused [SDFS], and customer interaction-focused [CIFS] strategies) and business strategy (i.e., cost leadership [CLS], innovative differentiation [IDS], and focus [FS] strategies) on firm performance, which is assessed using both nonfinancial and financial measures. We then examine how the effect of alignments differs depending on industry types (i.e., scale intensive [SCIS], technology-based knowledge intensive [TKIS], and professional-based knowledge intensive service industries [PKIS]). Empirical evidence indicates that three alignment patterns (i.e., SCFS-IDS pattern, SDFS-CLS pattern, and CIFS-FS pattern) have synergistic effects on firm performance. Results also confirm that the effects of the alignments on firm performance differ according to the types of industry. The SCFS-IDS alignment performs well in the TKIS group, the SDFS-CLS alignment in the SCIS group, and the CIFS-FS alignment in the PKIS group. The implications for practice highlight the idea that successful service innovation requires judicious alignment between service innovation strategy and business strategy with the consideration of industries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A buyout option allows a bidder to acquire an auctioned product immediately at a posted price without going through the hassle of monitoring the auction process and submitting bids. This study examines the influence of three forms of buyout options, namely, temporary without reserve price (TempNR) (i.e., option ceases to exist once the first bid is received), temporary with reserve price (TempR) (i.e., option ceases to exist once the bid received is equal to or more than the reserve price), and permanent (Perm) (i.e., option is available until the end of the auction or when a bidder chooses to buy out) on the decision of a bidder in Internet auctions. The first two auction forms can be labeled as temporary buyout options. By using two studies, we demonstrate that a bidder is more likely to be averse to losses and exhibits a higher propensity to buy out in the presence of Perm. However, when faced with temporary buyout options (i.e., TempNR or TempR), a bidder would prevent other bidders from prematurely ending the auction by attempting to “remove” the buyout option. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Profiting from technological innovation requires both the development of new products and the capture or appropriation of profits from them. For new product development, the interplay of marketing and R&D has been intensively researched. In contrast, for capturing value, this interplay has been largely neglected in the literature. To fill this gap, we study choices by marketing and R&D managers regarding activities aimed at appropriating profits from new products. We study, in detail, how managers perceive the effectiveness of product-related patents, overall patent portfolio size, marketing, sales and services quality, lead time, and contributions to open standards. We conducted discrete choice experiments with 143 managers working in R&D or marketing functions in upper and middle management in a leading communications equipment firm, and analyzed the resulting data by comparing marginal effects of rank-ordered mixed logit models between the two groups. We find that choices of R&D and marketing functions on how to capture the most value differ strongest on the mechanism that is perceived as most important by R&D managers, “lead time advantages.” Top management needs to consider and deal with these diverging perceptions when formulating business strategies on value capture. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The lack of knowledge on 1) how Web technologies support the business strategies of an organization and 2) how Web technologies enhance organizational performance are gaps in the existing literature that may account for the inability of the majority of Web-based firms to leverage their investments in Web technologies. To address these knowledge gaps, a theoretical lens is constructed from five core logics in organizational literature that represent the different possible ways of enhancing organizational performance. Applying the lens to analyze the case of a successful Singaporean dotcom, the ways through which Web technologies enhance organizational performance are identified. Specifically, our study reveals that the process through which Web technologies enhance organizational performance is contingent on the state of the organizational environment. When the environment is in a state of equilibrium, Web technologies can enhance organizational performance by facilitating the attainment of competitive advantage through three distinct mechanisms: the logics of positioning, leverage, and opportunity. Conversely, when the environment is in a state of revolution, Web technologies can give rise to performance gains by supporting the attainment of legitimacy through two distinct mechanisms: the logics of optimality and social congruence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examine the significance of formal processes for market information acquisition and use as antecedents to success of Chinese new ventures. Building on insights from the entrepreneurial planning literature, the authors construct a theoretical model in which formal processes for market information and market utilization have direct, positive main effects on new venture financial performance, and in which the existence of an established technology standard has a direct effect on performance and also affects the relationship between market information processes and performance. The authors test hypotheses derived from the model using a dataset comprising 222 Chinese new ventures. Consistent with expectations, the authors find that new venture financial performance was positively associated with the use of formal processes for the generation of market information. However, the impact on performance of formal processes for market information utilization depended on the firm's technological environment. In particular, for firms facing an established technology standard, the use of formal processes for market information utilization did not significantly affect performance. In contrast, the use of formal processes for market information utilization had a significant impact on performance among ventures that faced an emerging technology standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates why certain enterprise resource planning (ERP) system adopters have pursued high levels of software customization during implementation despite the generally accepted best-practice heuristic of limiting customization. Qualitative data from ERP adoption projects and consultants working with ERP implementations have been collected. This study empirically identifies customization drivers and explains their relationship to customization. The results suggest that high customization may occur because of: unnecessary redevelopment of functionality that is available in the ERP system standard, resistance to change based on cultural issues and low project acceptance, insufficient weight given to the implementation team's recommendations, and the implementation team's lack of opposition to customization requests. The results of this study also explain how these problems occur and why they lead to over-customization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scale and complexity of change in software process improvement (SPI) are considerable and managerial attention to organizational culture during SPI can therefore potentially contribute to successful outcomes. However, we know little about the impact of variations in organizational subculture on SPI initiatives. On this backdrop, we present an exploratory study of a large-scale SPI project in a Danish high-technology company, Terma. Two of its business units—Integrated Systems (ISY) and Airborne Systems (ASY)—followed similar approaches over a three-year period, but with quite different outcomes. While ISY reached capability maturity model integration (CMMI) level 2 as planned, ASY struggled to implement even modest improvements. To help explain these differences, we analyzed the underlying organizational culture within ISY and ASY using two different methods for subculture assessment. The study demonstrates how variations in culture across software organizations can have important implications for SPI outcomes. Furthermore, it provides insights into how software managers can practically assess subcultures to inform decisions about and help prepare plans for SPI initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the numerous reasons for software project failure, coordination problems are especially salient. Prior studies on coordination in software development are confined to team internal coordination and do not explicitly differentiate team internal and external coordination processes. This study presents a research model to explain the antecedents of coordination effectiveness of software developer dyads from interacting teams. Dyads in this study refer to software developer pairs where each member comes from a different team. We explore the antecedents by integrating interpersonal and technology-based coordination. We test this model using data collected from 59 software developer dyads from interacting teams as well as from software developer leaders. The results reveal that the implicit knowledge sharing has a significant positive impact on coordination effectiveness. The use of explicit knowledge sharing and coordination technology have no statistically significant impact on coordination effectiveness although the teams studied were working predominantly in a collocated mode. Mutual trust and project commitment have a significant impact on knowledge sharing with mutual trust directly affecting both implicit and explicit knowledge sharing. Project commitment also has a direct impact on explicit knowledge sharing and mutual trust, but it does not directly affect implicit knowledge sharing. Theoretical and practical contributions are discussed. Limitations of this study are identified. Future research directions are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software projects are increasingly geographically distributed with limited face-to-face interaction between participants. These projects face particular challenges that need careful managerial attention. While risk management has been adopted with success to address other challenges within software development, there are currently no frameworks available for managing risks related to geographical distribution. On this background, we systematically review the literature on geographically distributed software projects. Based on the review, we synthesize what we know about risks and risk resolution techniques into an integrative framework for managing risks in distributed contexts. Subsequent implementation of a Web-based tool helped us refine the framework based on empirical evaluation of its practical usefulness. We conclude by discussing implications for both research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scope of e-business standards today goes beyond the level of infrastructure and incorporates broader issues concerning business processes. e-Business standards are increasingly developed via open initiatives, in order to counter lethargic, formal standardization efforts. While previous research has identified factors that motivate industry standards, little is known about the processes by which a standard emerges. Using an inductive, process-centric research approach we examine the process of standards development for the ebXML standard. Results indicate that standards development involves requirements analysis, design, internal validation, and external validation; however, the sequence of activities differs between business-process-focused standards and technology-focused standards. For business-process-focused standards the inherent uncertainty causes the process to iterate and focus on requirements refinement; technology focused standards exhibit a higher level of structure and tend to have lower levels of iteration that are design focused. These findings allow us to align standard' development and strategic decision making, a departure from the typical "development" orientation used in the standards literature. The finding especially holds out for business-process-centric standards. Finally, this study reveals the importance of "openness" as a contributor to iterations evidenced in the process patterns related to standards development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When business strategists use option-like thinking to inform investments in physical infrastructure, developers need to operationalize leaving the options open at project implementation. This study defines safeguard as the design and physical development work for ensuring, or enhancing, the embedment of an option in the project outcome. Safeguards account for design changes stemming from option exercising if the environmental uncertainties resolve favorably in the future. They range from a design effort to secure space in a master plan (passive) to the construction of an integral component (active). A multiple-case study on the expansion of Heathrow airport shows how the confluence of two contingencies underscores decisions to safeguard under a limited budget. Safeguarding is more attractive when: 1) the assumed uncertainty that the option will get in the money is low because the outlay sunk on safeguards is more likely to pay off; and 2) the infrastructure architecture is modular because only the interfaces between components may require safeguarding. Irreversible investments on safeguards increase the option cost and reduce the exercising costs in the future. Safeguards therefore play out as a control point for strategic option-like thinking at project implementation. The empirical findings are summarized in a conceptual framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally recognized that a firm's manufacturing strategy is effective to the extent that it is "aligned" with the business strategy and provides the firm with a competitive advantage. Given a conceptualization of business strategy through Miles and Snow's typology (prospectors, analyzers, and defenders), the aim of this research is threefold. First, one seeks to identify the performance outcomes of strategic alignment in terms of the productivity and profitability of medium-sized enterprises (ME). Second, this research aims to verify if these outcomes are valid for all strategic types or only for some. Third, to find out what manufacturing strategy is the most appropriate for each business strategy type. A research model and hypothesis are tested with survey data obtained from 150 Canadian MEs. Significant performance out. comes of alignment are found, thus validating the research model and confirming the main research proposition. Differences between strategic types are also found in terms of performance outcomes. Results indicate that each type of business strategy deploys advanced manufacturing systems (AMS) differently by assimilating and integrating various types of manufacturing technologies. Results suggest that ME owner-managers must assess their firm's level of AMS assimilation in light of their strategic objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this study is to investigate whether the likelihood, frequency, and information content of conference calls are positively associated with innovation. The study is based on 534 conference calls conducted in 340 firm-years from 1997 to 2001 in Taiwan. Our findings indicate that more innovative firms are more likely to conduct conference calls and conduct them more frequently than less innovative firms. Consistent with prior research, high-growth firms and larger firms are more likely to hold conference calls, and hold them more frequently, than other firms. Low price-earnings firms are, nonetheless, more likely and frequent to host conference calls when their stock price has been undervalued. We also find supporting evidence that cumulative abnormal returns surrounding the event dates of conference calls are positively associated with the level of and change in innovation investments. In addition, our empirical results of market reaction driven by conference calls are still robust after controlling the effect of selection bias, market expectation, and timing of conducting conference calls. Finally, we also find that firms that are more innovative are more likely to discuss innovation activities during conference calls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid global deployment of electronic business (e-business) and information systems has required managers to make decisions that seek to balance technical factors with strategic business goals. This research utilizes the analytic network process (ANP) to provide insight into optimum-seeking decision processes by managers, as investments are made to utilize e-commerce technologies. The nonlinear network approach of ANP was used to study the ‘systems with feedback’ where the e-commerce strategy may both dominate and be dominated, directly and indirectly, by the business-level strategy. This study analyzes e-business decisions in organizations, based on management heuristics and perceptions of expected contributions of e-commerce strategies, as well as the business-level strategies. The ANP research methodology process is employed since it is well suited for the study of a multi-attribute decision problem to explore qualitative and quantitative preferences of top managers in independent, nondiversified firms involved in e-business. ANP is used to model decision complexities involved in integrating e-commerce innovation into the overall strategic planning of firms. Optimal e-business strategies are chosen by using systems-with-feedback, where interdependencies between four virtual e-commerce domains and two generic business level strategies are explored. This study obtained significant results and identified several important avenues for further research. Implications for theory and research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study that developed a model for incorporating long-range planning for component reuse in product design. Background on product take-back and recycling legislation in the Netherlands; Application of a product portfolio approach in the study; Results and implications.

Presents a study that developed a framework for determining the features of the process change strategy of a firm. Background on the fundamental process change strategy elements; Analysis of several categories of process change; Implications for business planning and management.

Presents a study that examined strategies for corporate governance in engineering corporations in the U.S. Discussion on the influence of corporate governance on the long-term strategy of a firm; Analysis of changes in corporate governance in the U.S.; Results and implications.

Presents information on a study which investigated the management of communication in global new product development teams (GNPDT). Relationship between various communication mechanisms and GNPDT performance; Business practices which have an important impact on communication; Communication needs.