The ineffectiveness of R&D subsidies—An oligopoly theoretic insight

In several European countries, governments subsidise private firms in their product development. Existing empirical literature indicates that these subsidies do not have much impact on firms' R&D efforts. It is suggested that this inefficiency may reflect strategic, oligopolistic behaviour: not to apply for subsidies is a strategic commitment to non-aggressive behaviour. Firms may be willing to apply for subsidies mainly when they know they are not going to affect their R&D efforts significantly.     

European Integration and Transnational Management-Union Relations in the Enterprise

The Single European Market has generated considerable interest in the prospects for European-level management-union arrangements in transnational companies. European works councils have emerged in a small but growing number of transnationals. The circumstances in which companies might promote such arrangements are analysed. Attention is paid to whether companies are organized along international product or territorial lines and to their product diversification strategies. Transnationals will also be influenced by trade union pressure at European level and by aspects of the industrial relations system in their home country.     

Strategic focus of incumbents in the European telecommunications industry: The cases of BT,Deutsche Telekom and KPN

This study investigates the internal and external strategic choices that telecommunications firms, operating in a dynamic network environment, make to adapt to changes and to respond quickly in order to create or to sustain their competitive advantage. In particular, in the European telecommunications industry incumbent firms have faced important challenges from new technologies, liberalization and the convergence of markets. The leading European telecommunications companies initially focused on new markets and new businesses, emphasizing their plans to become major players in relevant markets. However, after the telecommunications euphoria companies were more restrained due to their huge burden of debt and their market value. Through refocusing or restructuring, these companies have tried to streamline their businesses in order to restore their value and to improve their competitiveness. Insight into the specific strategic actions of traditional telecommunications companies in Europe to the recent developments in the industry is provided from the analysis of three leading traditional telecommunications companies: BT, Deutsche Telekom and KPN.     

Corporate social responsibility as an employee governance tool: Evidence from a quasi‐experiment

Research summary : This study examines whether companies employ corporate social responsibility (CSR) to improve employee engagement and mitigate adverse behavior at the workplace (e.g., shirking, absenteeism). We exploit plausibly exogenous changes in state unemployment insurance (UI) benefits from 1991 to 2013. Higher UI benefits reduce the cost of being unemployed and hence increase employees' incentives to engage in adverse behavior. We find that higher UI benefits are associated with higher engagement in employee‐related CSR. This finding suggests that companies use CSR as a strategic management tool—specifically, an employee governance tool—to increase employee engagement and counter the possibility of adverse behavior. We further examine plausible mechanisms underlying this relationship. Managerial summary : This study examines whether companies employ corporate social responsibility (CSR) to improve employee engagement and mitigate adverse behavior at the workplace (e.g., shirking, absenteeism). We find that companies react to increased risk of adverse behavior by strategically increasing their investment in employee‐related CSR (e.g., work‐life balance benefits, health and safety policies). Our findings have important managerial implications. In particular, they suggest that CSR may help companies motivate and engage their employees. Hence, companies dealing with employees that are unmotivated, regularly absent, or engage in other forms of adverse behavior, may find it worthwhile to design and implement effective CSR practices. Further, our findings suggest that CSR can be used as employee governance tool. Accordingly, managers could benefit from integrating CSR considerations into their strategic planning. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does it pay to acquire technological firms?

Abstract The paper focuses on several research questions: How do the firms differ in terms of their strategic objectives for foreign acquisitions? What are the determinants of ‘success’ of acquisition? What are the differences between the American and German firms in terms of their acquisition strategies and successes? Our special interest was to get a closer look into the technological motive of the foreign acquisitions. This made a two-step procedure necessary. A first survey of 86 firms had to identify those acquisitions which were motivated by technological interests through a questionnaire. Findings: There are four classes of companies with different motives for acquisitions: Market oriented entrepreneurs, Short-term profit seekers, Technological acquirers, Preemptive market protectors. The second survey investigated the process and the results of acquisitions with a special view on the role of research and development through 60 interviews in 30 acquisition cases in both acquiring and acquired units. Findings: A network of variables explains the success. The most important are context variables (uncertainty, cultural differences), size of both firms, low degree of formalization, expertise, and lack of conflicts about technological philosophy.     

Applications of quantitative techniques in Hong Kong: An empirical analysis

A survey was conducted to examine the usage of quantitative techniques among companies in Hong Kong. Results show that, although 74% of the respondents reported using one or more techniques, usage was confined to relatively few and simple techniques. These techniques, however, were used in a rather wide spectrum of application. The lack of understanding among top management of quantitative techniques was cited by respondents as the major barrier to their use. The results of this study are compared to a comparable survey in the United States, and the implications of the findings for the training of managers are discussed.     

The role of e-marketplaces in supply chain management

Electronic marketplaces (e-marketplaces) have a profound influence on the way in which organizations manage their supply chains. Proponents of the e-marketplace concept suggest that web-based trading systems, such as World Wide Retail Exchange (WWRE) and GlobalNetXchange (GNX), would enable companies to more efficiently buy, sell, and manage their supply chain processes on a global scale. This study investigates the extent to which e-business tools of the e-marketplace are used by channel members in the retail sector for business-to-business supply chain management (SCM). The study is based on a survey involving food service companies, retailers, and wholesalers in the UK. It is shown that the e-marketplace supply chain applications enable the majority of companies to automate transaction-based activities and procurement-related processes rather than strategic supply chain activities. The results also indicate that full participation in e-marketplaces requires companies to integrate their internal and external supply chain activities and share strategic information.     

Differentiation strategies in ‘stalemate industries’

Empirical studies conducted at the Institut de Recherche de l'Entreprise (Lyon, France) show that, in ‘stalemate industries’ (cf. the BCG's typology, 1981), differentiation strategies are effective and profitable alternatives to the usual strategic recommendations. The knowledge of customers' behavior shows up several opportunities for differentiation, hidden by some kind of ‘strategic presbyopia’. Total quality or ‘zero default’ strategy (product quality regularity, punctuality of deliveries, quick response to unexpected orders, quick and correct answers to requests, short delivery times) is the major opportunity for differentiation. Such strategies are compatible with a low-cost position; excellent companies which succeeded in building this ‘total advantage’ (diferentiation + low cost) over their competitors enjoy the highest market share growth and profitability.     

七家国际大石油公司使用衍生金融工具的研究

20世纪 70年代以来 ,各国的汇率、证券利率等都大幅变动 ,对各国和各企业的金融资产、负债等产生重大冲击。因此 ,七家主要石油公司纷纷采用期货、远期、期权、掉期等各种衍生工具防止金融风险 ,进行贸易活动。各公司对衍生工具的态度和管理方法均存在较大差异 ,其经验值得我国石油石化公司借鉴。     

Strategic planning as a complex and enabling managerial tool

Research summary : The role of the strategic planning process in the ongoing generation of innovative knowledge is vital to the survival and growth of a firm, especially when technologies and market conditions are rapidly changing. We analyze data from a survey of firms in high‐technology industries to determine whether it is possible to break the commonly experienced trade‐off between strategic planning's positive influence on firm profitability and its negative influence on firm innovation. We draw on Adler and Borys's (1996) conceptualization of bureaucratic process types to identify several firm characteristics that have the potential to affect whether employees perceive strategic planning as enabling to their creative endeavors. We find that contingent effects between strategic planning and the identified firm characteristics exist that can break the trade‐off. Managerial summary : A tension exits in the literature about whether strategic planning hurts or helps innovative activity. Our analysis of data from 227 business units in high‐technology industries indicates that strategic planning is a complex process that can be perceived by employees as enabling or coercive. Our results confirm that strategic planning negatively affects innovative activity but positively affects profitability for average firms. We find, however, controllable firm characteristics—risk‐taking and knowledge‐based reward systems—affect the trade‐off. Given the higher levels of risk‐taking and knowledge‐based reward systems, firms can use strategic planning to achieve both high returns on investment and a high level of innovative activity. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Large European manufacturers and the management of R&D

At the end of 1984, for the third consecutive year, a research team from INSEAD administered a survey of the largest manufacturers in Europe. This survey attempts to provide an insight into the technological and manufacturing strategy designed and implemented by these large manufacturers.
Each year since 1982 about 150 companies have completed the questionnaire, and of these 150 replies about one third are repeat answers. The database thus covers about 350 companies. As a consequence this allows us not only to analyse the static picture for a single year, but also to draw a dynamic picture of how thinking about technological and manufacturing strategy is changing within the European Manufacturing Industry.
An analysis of the questionnaire's results allows us to assert some hypotheses about:
a. Changes in the length of the product lifecycle.
b. The importance of process engineering and proprietary process know-how.
c. The interface between manufacturing and research and development as perceived by the manufacturing side.
Since a similar survey is conducted for North America and Japan at the same time, it is possible to posit the European manufacturers vis-à-vis their global competitors for some of these issues.     

Strategic repertoire variety and new venture growth: The moderating effects of origin and industry dynamism

New ventures (companies eight years or younger) face an important choice in attempting to achieve growth: Should they follow “strategic simplicity” by relying on a few similar competitive actions, or emphasize “strategic variety” by implementing multiple different competitive actions? Data from 140 new ventures in Spain suggest that new ventures benefit from pursuing strategic variety, especially when their industries are highly dynamic. Further, although new ventures in general gain from strategic variety in highly dynamic industries, independently owned ventures achieve higher growth rates than their corporate counterparts. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

When the glass is half full and half empty: CEOs' ambivalent interpretations of strategic issues

Organizational scholars have highlighted the importance of interpretive ambivalence for mindfulness, creativity, and strategic change. Ambivalence occurs when an issue is seen simultaneously as positive and negative. We examine organizational factors that influence the propensity of organizational leaders to evaluate a new strategic issue ambivalently. Data come from a survey of 220 German CEOs confronted with the enlargement of the European Union. We find that CEOs of firms with a more ambidextrous strategic orientation and a moderate sense of organizational control over their environment are most likely to be ambivalent about this issue. Our findings affirm the prevalence of interpretive ambivalence at the executive level and suggest ways for organizations to promote or prevent ambivalence in strategic sensemaking. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Grosse Stadtwerke – theoretische und empirische Exploration eines besonderen Akteurs in der Energiewende Deutschlands und der Schweiz

Urban utility companies are key players in the Swiss and German energy sector. Due to the federalist and subsidiary governance structure of the two countries’ energy sector, they perform highly system relevant tasks, as e.?g. managing the distribution grids or ensuring the public services for “their city”. In the public and scientific discourse on the role of different actor groups in the energy transition, however, not much attention is paid to urban utility companies. This contribution aims at a theoretical and empirical exploration of these particular actors by analysing their characteristics, specific challenges and strategic answers in the context of the energy transition. For this purpose, the article derives analytical dimensions for the analysis of urban utility companies from scholarly literature on transition studies, network industries and public corporate governance and empirically analyses characteristics and the current situation of urban utility companies in Germany and Switzerland. Methodologically, this article is based on an explorative, qualitative study, which synthesises results from a literature analysis, a document analysis, 38 expert interviews in both countries (in 2017) and two expert workshops conducted in Switzerland (in 2018). The study shows, how the characteristics of urban utility companies can be explained based on public corporate governance and network industries literature. This also allows to identify and understand their particular challenges, as e.?g. the fields of tension among public and private interest in the firms and the multi-dimensional relationship of owner or the particularities of network industries. Finally, this article points out, that the role of urban utility companies in the Swiss and German energy transition is neither just “inhibitor” nor pure “innovator”, but can be labelled as “intelligent follower” and “engineer of the energy transition”.     

Weak links and the management of reputational interdependencies

This paper builds on a growing literature that takes into account the fact that firms in an industry may be interdependent with regard to their corporate reputations, thus sharing a “reputation commons.” We argue that the theory of public goods can help us to understand the interdependencies that link corporate reputations and to frame the contexts and requirements for collective action that they induce. In particular, we suggest that more and more frequently these interdependencies make industry reputation a “weak link” public good. We show that this raises new challenges for the strategic management of industry reputation by communities of firms. The discussion of these challenges is based on the case study of the collective action of the European chlorine companies towards restoring their reputation after being accused of not being safe, and on a model of the production of reputation by companies. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling the incentive to participate in open source biopharmaceutical innovation

The open source model provides a valuable framework for collective knowledge production and dissemination. Open knowledge networks and other cooperative strategies (classified as open source discovery initiatives) are enabling biopharmaceutical companies to access disembodied knowledge‐based resources critical to downstream drug development. The objective of these cooperative strategic alliances is to preserve the downstream technological opportunities for multiple firms. When upstream discovery research cannot yield commercial products and when the costs associated with excessive upstream competition are too high, companies jointly benefit from cooperative knowledge production and open knowledge dissemination. An analysis of 39 open source initiatives (consortia) provides us with information on: the likely participants in such initiatives, the focus of knowledge production activities, the characteristics of the knowledge generated, and the management of joint knowledge assets. Based on this analysis, we use game models to understand the decision to participate in such strategic alliances better. Our game models provide a simple but elegant framework for understanding the impact of changing knowledge structures on the payoffs associated with cooperation and defection in knowledge production, and therefore on behaviour.     

A methodological approach to the marketing process in the biotechnology-based companies

The article addresses the commercialization activities of biotechnology-based companies in a European context and discusses whether these companies are able to gain adequate market perceptions and set adequate marketing processes, taking into account three analytical steps: strategic marketing definition, marketing implementation, and evolution of strategy and implementation. A methodological approach was developed, considering the specific nature of the technology and the companies. The case of Portuguese companies was used to test this methodology.The findings support the hypothesis that marketing issues constitute a problem for these companies, since most of them had serious difficulties in going through the marketing process. Marketing deficiencies were largely connected to the access to human resources with relevant management and marketing capabilities and were particularly felt by companies introducing discontinuous innovations.The research confirms that this methodology is useful in the assessment of the marketing management process in biotechnology-based companies.     

Chief executive scanning,environmental characteristics,and company performance: An empirical study

Chief executives in 50 manufacturing companies were interviewed about the perceived strategic uncertainty in six environmental sectors, and the frequency and mode of scanning used for each sector. The findings suggest that customer, economic and competitor sectors generated greater strategic uncertainty than technological, regulatory and sociocultural sectors. When sector uncertainty was high, executives reported greater frequency of scanning and greater use of personal information sources. Chief executives in high-performing companies scanned more frequently and more broadly in response to strategic uncertainty than their counterparts in low-performing companies.     

Taking a hit to save the world? Employee participation in a corporate social initiative

Research Summary: Companies often justify their corporate social initiatives by citing talent management benefits. We examine the extent of, and the reasons for, employee interest in such an initiative in a global management consulting firm. We find a large fraction of employees to be interested in participation in the initiative even when participation requires a personal sacrifice in the form of a salary cut. However, this interest is driven not just by prosocial motivation: Expectations regarding private benefits, such as improved career prospects from new skills acquired, also play a role. Considerations of social impact and private benefits are equally salient when no salary cut is required, but private considerations become more prominent when participating employees are asked to accept a salary cut. Managerial Summary: Many companies are moving from stand‐alone corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects to social initiatives integrated into strategy. Providing employees with the opportunity to participate in such initiatives is said to help attract, motivate and retain talent. In this study, carried out in collaboration with a management consulting firm, we examine how much and why employees value participation in a corporate social initiative. Based on interviews and survey data, we find that employees are not only interested in, but often even willing to accept, a temporary salary cut for the opportunity. However, altruistic motivation is not the only driver of this interest: Employees also expect and value the possibility that the experience would lead to private benefits, such as developing skills likely to enhance their career prospects.     

电力多经企业可持续发展的战略思考

逐步推进电力主辅分离的改革是"十一五"深化电力体制改革的重要任务之一。实施改革后,电力多经企业面临新的战略环境。电力多经企业要实现可持续发展,必须深入分析其战略发展条件,应建立现代企业的法人治理结构、真正建立市场化的用人机制、树立积极开拓的市场观念、培育形成企业核心竞争力。电力多经企业可持续发展的战略举措是:实施集团化运作、集约化发展,优先发展主导产业,协同发展和建立企业战略联盟等。