Knowledge Networks and Careers: Academic Scientists in Industry–University Links*

abstract Careers are central to our understanding of the knowledge creation dynamics of network organizations. Based on the example of R&D project collaboration between firms and universities, this paper examines the emerging forms of career models that support knowledge flows between organizations. It explores how some large firms in the high‐technology sectors have sought to break away from the limitations of internal R&D and firm‐based careers for scientists by engaging in external collaborative projects to gain access to the open knowledge networks of university researchers. It examines how the firms seek to forge close institutional ties with their university partners and develop network career structures in order to engage academic scientists in joint knowledge production. It argues that firms have sought to extend their human resource and knowledge boundaries into the established internal labour markets of the universities with which they collaborate, leading to the formation of a pool of joint human resources with work experiences and career patterns straddling the two sectors. The paper develops the concept of an ‘overlapping internal labour market’ to provide a conceptual bridge between internal labour markets and network organizations.     

Achieving voluntary data sharing in cross sector partnerships: Three partnership models

The complex societal problems that we face today require unprecedented collaboration and evidence-based decisions. These collaboration processes are further propelled by the datafication of virtually all spheres of public life. To benefit from this, the data needs to be made available to allow for data analytics. Thus, data sharing becomes a crucial aspect of cross-sector collaborations that aim to create and capture value from information. Compared to collaborations where data sharing is not the main goal, data sharing partnerships face a number of novel challenges, such as mitigating data risks, complying with data protection legislation, and ensuring responsible data use. Navigating these waters and achieving data sharing can be challenging for both governments and businesses, as well as other actors. How do organizations from different sectors manage to achieve data sharing for addressing societal challenges? To address this research question, we apply a framework of three models of cross sector social partnerships developed in the field of organization studies to structure the analysis of six cases. Our analysis suggests that to a certain extent the partnership model determines the types of drivers and challenges to sharing data in a partnership. Leveraging the drivers and anticipating these challenges can help organizations be more aware of key terms of the collaboration and the mechanisms that can be used to succeed in their partnership goals.     

Managing business processes across supply networks: the role of coordination mechanisms

The theory of network coordination provides a theoretical basis to explain how companies can overcome organizational boundaries and constraints to jointly manage business processes across supply networks. In particular, this paper focuses on Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR), a collaboration process whereby supply chain trading partners activate inter-firm coordination mechanisms to jointly plan key supply chain activities, from production and delivery of raw materials to production and delivery of final products to end customers.By discussing three case studies of CPFR implementation in supply networks of different industries–i.e. pharmaceutical, automotive and mechanical–the paper provides a theoretical framework that contributes to explaining the relations between inter-firm coordination mechanisms and the characteristics of interdependence among the actors involved in CPFR implementation.     

Bricolage,collaboration and mission drift in social enterprises

Abstract

Increasingly, social enterprises are relying on collaboration with partners to tackle the resource constraints that they face. In this research we focus on the strategy of bricolage to explore whether and how the different types of partner becoming involved may impact on the mission of social enterprises. Grounded in resource dependency and transaction cost theories, we explore how power asymmetry and the nature of involvement may impact on the outcomes of bricolage. Our findings demonstrate that in the more integrated relationships with high power asymmetry, more instances of mission drift might be observed compared to when social enterprises develop the more collaborative or complementary nature of partnerships with symmetrical power dependency, or when the partners’ involvements are mainly transaction-based.     

Social business collaboration at the bottom of the pyramid: The case of orchestration

Social business orchestrators (SBOs) help social businesses of various sizes to tackle major societal issues by filling gaps in knowledge and resources. However, research has overlooked these types of collaboration. Situated within a bottom of the pyramid context in Bangladesh, the current study sheds light on the process of value creation for SBO–social businesses partnerships by comparing different collaboration partners. Multiple case study research through the lens of the relational view were used to ask how SBOs facilitate value creation in social businesses by flexibly adapting resource inputs and governance mechanisms to the specific endowment and size of partners; this approach was informed by interviews and field note analyses. The combined deductive–inductive analysis enhances knowledge of idiosyncrasies of SBO–social business collaborations. Our study draws attention to the role of large orchestrators, whose model could be scaled and transferred to other world regions, including industrialised countries.     

A Strategic Choice–resource Dependence Analysis of Union Mergers in the British and Australian Broadcasting and Film Industries

Since the late 1980s there has been a marked increase in the rate of union restructuring and merger in both Britain and Australia. This has been particularly prevalent in the film and broadcasting industries in both countries. This organizational change has largely been triggered by environmental turbulence which has altered the availability and control of resources required for organizational survival. Accepting the concept from strategic choice theory that trade unions are able to exercise a degree of choice over the way in which they manage and adapt to changes in their external and internal environments, the paper demonstrates how an integration of strategic choice and resource dependence perspectives can explain why organizations behave in different ways and, in particular, why trade union mergers in the film and broadcasting industries have occurred. Further, the perspective also explains why some trade unions chose not to merge. An integration of resource dependence theory with strategic choice theory explains why trade unions make particular strategic decisions. Conversely, strategic choice explains how organizations acquire resources and manage dependencies. The paper concludes by making the case for an integration of the two perspectives for future studies of organizational behaviour and change.     

Pattern of information technology use: The impact on buyer–suppler coordination and performance

The use of information technologies between supply chain organizations has been shown to promote organizational coordination and have a positive impact on performance. Drawing from organizational theories of learning, we build on this research by proposing a model that relates the pattern of supplier use of IT to specific types of supply chain coordination activities and a comprehensive set of organizational benefits. Specifically, we evaluate how two patterns of IT use by suppliers (exploitation and exploration) relate to two specific types of coordination activities with their buyers (operational and strategic coordination), which in turn are posited to promote specific organizational benefits. Using data from 241 first-tier OEM suppliers in the computer industry, our findings show that each pattern of IT use directly promotes a specific type of coordination activity. Although both types of coordination activities are needed to achieve both strategic and operational benefits, we find each coordination activity to be uniquely promoted by a specific pattern of IT use. IT use for exploitation is found to be an antecedent to operational coordination; IT use for exploration is found to be an antecedent to strategic coordination. No crossover between pattern of use and coordination activities is found. Our findings show that to achieve a complete set of benefits, suppliers must ultimately use IT for both exploration and exploitation. These findings provide a deeper understanding of the mechanism of how the pattern of IT use can result in a comprehensive set of organizational benefits for supplier firms.     

IT-enabled awareness and self-directed leadership behaviors in virtual teams

Despite the pervasiveness of self-managing virtual teams, organizations find it particularly challenging to motivate virtual team members to exhibit and manage their leadership behaviors. This study contributes to virtual team leadership literature by specifically shedding light on how distinct awareness forms enabled by information technology (IT) signal important cues to virtual team members to self-lead, that is, self-direct their leadership behavior in their team. Our results reveal that IT-enabled disclosure awareness is key to inducing several leadership behaviors: directive leadership, supportive leadership and interpersonal helping. Further, for directive leadership and interpersonal helping, the relationship is contingent on IT-enabled task knowledge and IT-enabled presence awareness. At low IT-enabled task knowledge awareness or high IT-enabled presence awareness, virtual team members who perceived IT-enabled disclosure awareness employed directive leadership and interpersonal helping. Opposite results were found at high perceived IT-enabled task knowledge awareness and low perceived IT-enabled presence awareness. This research highlights the critical role played by specific awareness forms enabled by IT in motivating virtual team members to engage in self-leadership.     

How information systems help create OM capabilities: Consequents and antecedents of operational absorptive capacity

In contemporary business environments, the ability to manage operational knowledge is an important predictor of organizational competitiveness. Organizations invest large sums in various types of information technologies (ITs) to manage operational knowledge. Because of their superior storage, processing and communication capabilities, ITs offer technical platforms to build knowledge management (KM) capabilities. However, merely acquiring ITs are not sufficient, and organizations must structure information system (IS) designs to leverage ITs for building KM capabilities. We study how technical and strategic IS designs enhance operational absorptive capacity (OAC) – the KM capability of an operations management (OM) department. Specifically, we use a capabilities perspective of absorptive capacity to examine potential absorptive capacity (POAC) and realized absorptive capacity (ROAC) capabilities – the two OAC capabilities that create and utilize knowledge, respectively. Our theory proposes that integrated IS capability, – an aspect of technical IS design – is an antecedent of POAC and ROAC capabilities, and business-IT alignment – an aspect of strategic IS design – moderates the relationship between integrated IS capability and ROAC capability. Combining data gleaned from a multi-respondent survey with archival data from COMPUSTAT, we test our hypotheses using a dataset from 153 manufacturing organizations. By proposing that IS design enables an OM department's KM processes, i.e., the POAC and ROAC capabilities, our interdisciplinary theoretical framework opens the “black box” of OAC and contributes to improved understanding of IS and OM synergies. We offer a detailed discussion of our contributions to the literature at the IS-OM interface and implications for practitioners.     

Moving beyond a legal‐centric approach to managing workplace romances: organizationally sensible recommendations for HR leaders

The goal of this article is to encourage human resource (HR) leaders to think more strategically about managing workplace romances. The traditional legal‐centric management approach focuses on minimizing risks of workplace romances. We advocate embedding the legal‐centric approach within a broader and more strategic organizationally sensible approach that provides a balanced focus on minimizing risks and maximizing rewards of workplace romances. Drawing from the empirical workplace romance literature, we derive a set of organizationally sensible best‐practice recommendations that HR leaders can adopt to manage risks and rewards of romantic relationships in organizations. Implementing our more strategic recommendations should provide the added benefit of elevating HR professionals' roles as organizational leaders. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Cause‐related events: fulfilling the objectives of social partnerships

• Cause‐related events are growing in frequency and popularity. These events enable corporates and not‐for‐profit organisations to collaborate for mutual benefit, within the strategic framework of a social partnership. However, while anecdotal evidence indicates that millions of dollars are invested in events, less is known about how the strategic objectives of social partnerships are achieved via cause‐related events. We present the findings of an ethnographic study of two social partnerships and contribute insights into how and why events help them achieve their strategic objectives. Case analysis data reveals that the fit between events and partnerships; the people, teams, and relationships; and collaboration of resources all contribute to generating competitive advantage and value. We discuss the managerial implications for those collaborating to organise a cause‐related event.

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A conceptual framework for leveraging team composition decisions to build human capital

Twenty-first century organizations often rely on teams to enact their strategy and to enhance their flexibility in interacting with their external environment over time. Team composition, or the configuration of team member attributes, can influence team effectiveness and is an important consideration in the management of teams. To date, however, there is limited guidance on how seemingly smaller team composition decisions can contribute to organizational effectiveness and competitive advantage. We draw on strategic human resource management (HRM), HRM, and industrial and organizational psychology literatures to develop a conceptual framework for strategic team composition decisions. We describe how organizations use teams to enact their strategy (i.e., fit), and use adaptive teams and networks of teams to achieve fit in a dynamic environment (i.e., flexibility). Using the concepts of fit and flexibility, we develop four guiding principles for strategic team composition decisions.     

Relationship risk perception and determinants of the collaboration fluency of buyer–supplier relationships in public service procurement

Public service procurement effectiveness has been emphasized as a major challenge in recent years. Well-managed partnerships between buyers and suppliers are needed in this domain to achieve collaboration fluency and improve the effectiveness of procurement. The main objective of this study is to determine which issues managerial teams must emphasize when aiming to create a solid partnership based on pre-existing collaborative relationships. The originality of this study lies in the domain approached (public service procurement in social and healthcare services), as well as the variable it attempts to explain (collaboration fluency). The study investigates two major issues: firstly, how collaboration risk perception influences communication, trust, and the governance of a collaboration and, secondly, how these factors (communication, trust, and governance) affect collaboration fluency. The study is performed via a survey regarding the collaboration of the public sector with organizations from the private and third (non-profit) sectors within public service procurement. The empirical evidence was gathered with a structured online questionnaire that was sent to organizations from the private and third sectors that provide services in the social and healthcare domain. The results indicate that in collaborative relationships in public service procurement, the higher the perceived relationship risks are, the more positive effects they will have in terms of increasing trust, communication, and the quality of collaboration management. Furthermore, communication, governance, and administration have strong influences on collaboration fluency.     

Roles, resources and benefits of intermediate organizations supporting triple helix collaborative R&D: The case of Precarn

Triple helix collaborations involving academia, government and industry are believed vital to the success of regional technology development. However, due to differences in culture, organizational functioning and incentive mechanisms as well as the different objectives of the various actors involved, such collaboration is difficult to create and sustain. A case study of the organization called Precarn, a collaborative, which manages a program of triple helix projects, is used here to illustrate how an intermediate organization can help triple helix partnerships towards the successful commercialization of new technologies. The paper contributes to the literature on managing R&D collaborations and innovation networks using organization theories to explain why and how collaborative intermediate organizations can facilitate successful technological adoption and commercialization across innovation networks.     

Urban agglomerations,knowledge-intensive services and innovation: establishing the core connections

This paper investigates how resources available in urban agglomerations influence the organizational form, innovation activity and collaborative linkages of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) firms. Compared with their counterparts elsewhere, KIBS located in Norwegian large city labour market regions are more likely to be independent of multi-establishment business organizations and thus reliant on resources available externally, in their locations. This is most pronounced in the central and Western business districts of the capital, wherein independent KIBS exhibit high turnover of professionals and are less inclined to engage actively in innovation. Yet, those that do engage use the capital region economy as a platform for engaging with both domestic and international collaboration partners. Only by consecutively analysing these aspects and accounting for the selection processes involved is the empirical analysis able to uncover contrasting firm-level responses to the same urban economy resource base.     

Categorizing risks in seven large projects—Which risks do the projects focus on?

In a hierarchy of project objectives, strategic objectives will often be principally different from the operational ones. Operational objectives concern the project outputs/results, and strategic objectives concern the project goal and purpose. In this study, risks are categorized as risks to operational, long‐term, or short‐term strategic objectives, and, by studying a dataset of some 1,450 risk elements that make up the risk registers of seven large projects, we examine how operational and strategic risks are distributed in the projects. The study strongly indicates that risks to a project's strategic objectives rarely occur in the project's risk registers, though project success and failure stories indicate their importance.     

对我国民营航空公司战略联盟伙伴选择影响因素分析

结合我国民营航空公司的经营现状,从潜在伙伴的资源和能力、战略联盟的稳定性两个方面对其伙伴选择影响因素进行了分析,以为其组建联盟提供一定的参考。     

Internal Resource Allocation and External Alliance Activity of Diversified Firms

Prior research suggests that diversified firms are often unable to match resources to the market needs and opportunities of their divisions due to factors such as influence activities. In this research, we propose that when such internal inefficiencies arise, diversified firms may form alliances to access resources externally to support their divisions in their industries and operations. Using a sample of US firms between 1997 and 2006, we find that, on average, diversified firms form more alliances within industries that they currently operate in when compared to single business firms. The alliancing activity in related industries increases when businesses with diverse growth opportunities exist within the same firm, and it decreases with the intensity of internal control and coordination mechanisms. Our study suggests a link between internal resource allocation processes and external alliancing activity, while highlighting that alliances may play an important role in how diversified firms manage the inefficiencies that arise within their boundaries.     

Staffing marketing positions during global hyper-competitiveness: a market-based perspective

As organizations globalize their operations, there appears to be an imperceptible shift in focus from internal tangible resources to those of external intangible relational resources; in other words, economies of scale appear to being replaced by economies of global scope. The strategic implications of this swing in the importance of resource bases can also have a significant impact on the international human resource management area. Identifying managers with local market knowledge and contacts becomes a critical consideration in the selection process. Maintaining on-going personal relations in foreign markets also helps to cement inter-organizational relationships such as strategic alliances. In the ‘think global, act local’ relational networks of global business, inpatriate managers appear to have the necessary characteristics of both organizational trust and local tacit knowledge to be effective global managers.