External corporate venturing modes as new way to develop dynamic capabilities

Today, firms encounter scarce resources and rapid technology change which render formerly successful business models obsolete. Research shows that some firms perform better than others in continuously discovering, evaluating, and exploiting opportunities in volatile environments and that this is dependent on firm’s dynamic capabilities. Besides obtaining dynamic capabilities through internal R&D activities, firms have open up their innovation process to pursue dynamic capabilities outside their organizational boundaries through external corporate venturing by accessing startup's technological capabilities necessary to innovate. External corporate venturing is a means to develop new distinctive capabilities and businesses by exploring and exploiting business opportunities outside a firm’s existing boundaries. Drawing on the dynamic capability literature, we use a multiple case study approach to examine the contribution of external corporate venturing to firms’ dynamic capabilities. Our results reveal that firms indeed use corporate venturing to identify and exploit startup’s technological knowledge and competencies to increase firm’s dynamic capabilities. But our empirical data also shows that not every firm is fully profiting from all dynamic capability phases as their corporate venturing modes are not linked with each other and cumulative effects are not realized.     

基于云计算技术的铁路调度集中系统架构设计研究

为使铁路调度集中系统更好地满足运输组织需求,提升运输组织效率,阐述我国铁路调度集中系统运用现状,针对存在的系统功能区域化割裂、系统部署灵活性较低、系统建设和运用成本高等问题,结合铁路调度集中系统运用特点,提出基于云计算技术的铁路调度集中系统架构方案,将铁路调度集中系统部署在由云平台资源层、云平台服务层、云平台用户与接口层组成的云平台上,按需分配系统资源并动态扩充系统边界,提升系统资源利用率,提高业务协调性和计划编制的统一性,减轻运输人员的劳动强度,保障铁路运输生产的安全稳定。     

Corporate Multinationality and Acquirer Returns

This paper provides evidence on how corporate multinationality from the perspective of acquiring firms relates to M&A returns. Using multivariate regressions and a large dataset of over 6,000 M&As (both cross-border and domestic) by UK firms during 1987 to 2014, the paper finds multinationality to be associated with significantly higher short-run announcement returns and long-run operating performance. While the multinationality premium (higher M&A returns for multinationals) persists over time, it seems to be restricted to firms with superior resource/managerial capabilities and minimal agency problems. Finally, the multinationality premium appears to be driven by foreign acquisitions into advanced economies. The results are robust to correcting for sample selection bias and controlling for several firm and deal characteristics, as well as accounting for firm-, industry-, and year-fixed effects. Collectively, the findings imply that multinationality could be a source of value creation for acquiring firms, particularly in foreign acquisitions, which tend to be complex, and, thereby, require superior managerial capabilities to succeed.     

Does foreign direct investment expand the capability set in the host economy? A sectoral analysis

Most empirical studies examining the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic development use aggregate monetary-based measures such as GDP or TFP growth as indicators for development. We deviate from this approach and use instead the recently developed economic complexity index; this measure summarises the complexity of the productive structure of an economy, and its values can be interpreted as the number of capabilities present in a country. These capabilities are units of productive knowledge necessary for the production of goods, and goods differ in the number of necessary capabilities. Furthermore, we use sectoral FDI data to take differences between sectors of an economy into account, since the number of necessary capabilities also varies between the sectors. In our empirical analysis, covering 63 developing and developed countries over the period 2005–14, we find that FDI in the tertiary sector has a statistically significant and robust positive effect on the number of capabilities, whereas FDI in the primary and secondary sectors generally does not increase the capability set of an economy.     

高速铁路站台雨棚运维管理系统可视化监测E-BIM应用研究

高速铁路站台雨棚结构监测是保证列车行车与旅客候车安全的重要环节。为提高站台雨棚的运维管理与监测效率,针对高速铁路站台雨棚运维管理系统可视化监测进行设计,建立高速铁路站台雨棚运维管理系统可视化监测实施流程。以广州局集团公司海南环岛高速铁路海口东站站台钢结构雨棚为依托,引入基于BIM技术的E-BIM结构进行可视化监测,开发适用于大跨度空站台雨棚运维管理系统的可视化监测模块,实现高速铁路站台雨棚的结构风险管控,确保高速铁路列车与旅客的安全。     

Change or perish: Examining the role of human capital and dynamic marketing capabilities in the hospitality sector

Many researchers have endeavored to explain which factors contribute to sustainable competitive advantage. Toward this end, this study contributes to the marketing and hospitality management literature by providing empirical evidence on how human capital, dynamic marketing capabilities, and market dynamism influence competitive advantage in the hotel sector. We collected cross-sectional survey data from marketing and sales managers in 165 hotels, along with in-depth interviews in three hotels, based in four Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, namely, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The findings reveal that human capital directly, and indirectly through dynamic marketing capabilities, plays a critical role on developing competitive advantage. To contextualize this role, our research reveals that market dynamism moderates the mediated relationship between human capital and competitive advantage via market sensing capabilities. We discuss how the findings offer theoretical and managerial implications for the development of competitive advantage in the hotel sector.     

Marketing capabilities and innovation. How do they affect the financial results of hotels?

From the point of view of firms’ managers, the knowledge of the factors which explain their firms’ financial results is considered of great usefulness to propose the most appropriate and profitable marketing strategies and actions. This research sets out from this central idea and proposes a model of relationships that considers the marketing results, the marketing capabilities, and the innovation capability as key factors for achieving good financial results. This model is verified via an empirical investigation carried out among 200 directors of hotel establishments in Andalusia, a region in the south of Spain which is one of the country's main tourist destinations. The results indicate that innovation capability is strongly conditioned by marketing capabilities and resources and that this innovation capability affects the financial results of the firms analyzed. Likewise, it is deduced that a market-oriented management philosophy contributes to the development of these marketing capabilities. The implications for management are considered very relevant as they must lead these firms to invest in the development of marketing resources and capabilities, and apply a market-oriented management philosophy if they wish to improve their financial results.     

Wholly owned foreign subsidiary relation-based strategies in volatile environments

Drawing from dynamic capability, institutional, nonmarket strategy, and social-network literatures, we detail wholly owned subsidiary (WOFSs) relation-based strategies (RBSs). We explain how deploying RBSs with key nonmarket and market actors will create competitive advantages for WOFSs operating in volatile emerging market environments. We posit that dynamic capabilities will drive the deployment of RBSs by WOFSs, and argue that the positive relationship between dynamic capabilities and RBS deployment will strengthen as perceived institutional uncertainty increases. We further suggest that the greater the strength and frequency of RBS deployment, the more likely that a WOFS will establish a combination of nonmarket-based and market-based embedded assets. Also, our theory proposes that greater integration of nonmarket-based and market-based assets will enhance WOFS financial performance outcomes. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Bibliometric analysis of absorptive capacity

This study contributes to our understanding of absorptive capacity (AC) by reviewing AC articles systematically using two types of blibliometric co-citation analysis – bibliometric co-citation and bibliometric cartography – for the last 25 years. In total, we analyzed 336 articles (using HistCite) and 2088 articles (using VOSviewer), respectively, finding five research streams in AC: (1) intra-organizational learning; (2) inter-organizational learning; (3) knowledge transfer; (4) dynamic capability; and (5) micro-foundations. This integrative literature review of AC adds to the categorization of the literature, links the international business research to AC, and provides promising future research directions. Our study gives detailed information about the development of each research stream by measuring the number of publications in each stream over 25 years using bibliometric cartography analysis. Based on the literature, we propose 26 future research questions for these five research streams.