The relationship between national culture and the use of professional services: Evidence from two cross-country studies

Each year, clients spend large sums on professional services, such as accounting services, legal services and consulting services. While research has found significant cross-country differences in organizations’ spending on professional services, we do not know why they occur. Inspired by the organizational buying behavior literature, this paper investigates the influence of national culture on the use of professional services, particularly management consulting services. As the use of professional services involves considerable uncertainties—particularly for the buyer—it can be assumed to be influenced by cultural differences regarding the level of Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism and Masculinity. By drawing on two independent cross-country studies, we show that organizations in high uncertainty avoidance and individualistic cultures use professional services less than organizations in low uncertainty avoidance and collectivist cultures. We found no relationship between Hofstede's dimension of Masculinity and the use of professional services. The findings contribute to the theorizing on how the cultural context influences organizational buying behavior and the purchasing of professional services.     

Customer Involvement in Product Development: An Industrial Network Perspective

Purpose: In business markets, working with customers and users has become increasingly important to get knowledge about customer needs and to develop new products. The purpose of this article is twofold: (1) to develop a framework for analyzing customer involvement in product development in a business market context, and (2) to apply this framework to a particular company to describe and analyze how it practices customer involvement.

Methodology/approach: The article takes its main theoretical starting point in the industrial network approach, but also uses other literature from the innovation and product development field. The empirical study applies a qualitative case study approach and focuses on one company in the truck business.

Findings: The suggested framework deals with four key aspects of customer involvement: Why, when, how, and who. The observed pattern of the truck manufacturer shows how dealers, hauliers, and truck drivers are all part of the overall understanding of the customer. These actors are involved for different, typically very clear, purposes at different points in time through surveys, product clinics, and field testing. The pattern, referred to as mixed facilitative, is not one of close collaboration with individual customers, but one of broad involvement of several customers through business intelligence and direct involvement.

Research implications: First, the article provides researchers with a framework and method for studying customer involvement in product development. Second, the case study provides an illustrative example of the customer involvement pattern pursued by a leading company in a major industry. This enhances the understanding of the focal phenomenon, leads to managerial implications, and gives ideas for future research.

Practical implications: There are several managerial implications related to the why, when, how, and who questions. For example, it is pointed out that managers should consider involving customers more extensively than what seems to be common today—for example, by using customers as codevelopers, working with them throughout the entire development process (i.e., not only early and late), and including different types of users (with different requirements and wishes).

Originality/value/contribution of the article: The contribution lies in the development of a framework centered on the four key questions of customer involvement in

product development and using this framework for observing a pattern, and finding explanations and relating this pattern to how other firms are doing.     

Teaching business ethics: Questioning the assumptions,seeking new directions

An examination of leading textbooks suggests the predominance of a principle-based model in the teaching of business ethics. The model assumes that by teaching students the rudiments of ethical reasoning and ethical theory, we can hope to create rational, independent, autonomous managers who will apply such theory to the many quandary situations of the corporate world. This paper challenges these assumptions by asking the following questions: 1. Is the acquisition of principle-based ethical theory unproblematic? 2. What is the transferability of classroom learning to the business context? 3. Is it appropriate to consider complementary models in the teaching of business ethics? The last question is approached from the perspective of virtues-based ethics, from the insights of feminist ethics, and from a culturally grounded orientation to moral values and norms.     

Commitment to Sustainability in Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises: The Influence of Strategic Orientations and Management Values

Ecosystem degradation and social sustainability have become important issues in the corporate sphere during the last few decades. However, research discussing corporate social responsibility and related concepts has often focused on larger companies, sometimes neglecting the specifics of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between two common strategic orientations, market orientation (MO) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO), in relation to sustainability commitment, sustainability practices and management values in SMEs. Questionnaire responses from 450 Swedish SMEs were analyzed, confirming the influence of MO, EO and sustainability practices on commitment to sustainability, implying that firms committed to sustainability see both market and entrepreneurial advantages of sustainability. The results also show that different parts of MO and EO differ in importance for commitment to sustainability among SMEs. Implications concern the importance for firms and policymakers to work with sustainability issues using both internal and external perspectives. © 2015 The Authors. Business Strategy and the Environment published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

Moving resources across permeable project boundaries in open network contexts

This paper discusses how firms develop and use resources across a permeable project boundary and conceptualizes how a project can create value for a focal parent organization. Inspired by ideas on interaction and open innovation, we suggest a framework for analyzing the flow of resources based on the two dimensions; direction, whether the resource starts inside or outside the project, and mode, whether the resources cross the boundary once (uni-directionally) or twice (bi-directionally). The dimensions lead to four situations: Inside-out, Outside-in, Boomerang and Passing on. The framework is based on a single case study of an inter-organizational research project in plant biotechnology in a Swedish context. Through these four situations, the results show that a focal parent organization can create direct, indirect, relational potential and transactional potential value. The complex pattern of value creation in an open network context, raises the challenging question of how to capture the value created.     

Balancing centripetal and centrifugal forces in the entrepreneurial university: a study of 10 research centres in a technical university

In the recent interest for the so-called entrepreneurial university, there is a strong emphasis on academic (i.e. theoretical) knowledge to be used more effectively as a source of innovation and renewal in industry. Drawing on a theoretical framework developed by the literature theorist Mikhail Bakhtin and a study of 10 research centres in a major technical university, this paper suggests that rather than representing something radically new, the entrepreneurial university is a domain wherein traditional academic research interests and industry objectives are continuously negotiated and mutually adjusted. Seen in this view, the entrepreneurial university is what is always in a process of becoming, in flux and change, continuously under the influence of opposing and complementary goals and objectives. Therefore, the entrepreneurial university is not a solid state or an entrenched position but the effect of an attitude towards the role and purpose of the university in the so-called knowledge society.     

Analysis of U.S. theme park selection and international implications

ABSTRACT

Theme parks face stiff competition in local and international markets. Theme parks tend to create competitive advantages in the market by investing in different factors which influence visitors’ selection of a theme park. Theme parks attract visitors from all nationalities. The purpose of this study was to explore six influencing factors on U.S. theme park visitors’ choice that can be applicable in different geographic positioning parks. A choice-based conjoint (CBC) model was designed with respective levels for six considered influencing factors: type of park, price, distance from accommodation, children friendly, and online reviews. The findings revealed that online reviews were the most important relative factor followed closely by price and type of theme park. The other factors shared a lower relative importance. CBC analysis results generated the best and the worst profile for theme parks, which can serve as a guide theme park managers as they invest and plan strategically for success. Results of this study of U.S. parks but as theme parks are targeted toward similar populations the results could have implications internationally.     

Modelling the Equity Beta Risk of Australian Financial Sector Companies

In this paper we apply the generalised auto-regressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) and Kalman Filter approaches to modelling the equity beta risk of a sample of fifteen Australian financial sector companies. A de-regulated environment in which strong competitive forces are at play typifies the period of investigation. Consistent with the existing literature, we find that these modelling techniques perform well and, in particular, that the Kalman Filter approach is preferred. Further, we find that considerable variability of risk occurs throughout the sample period. Thus, extending the evidence of Harper and Scheit (1992); Brooks and Faff (1995) and Brooks, Faff and McKenzie (1997), we find evidence consistent with the hypothesis that deregulation has impacted the risk of banking sector stocks.     

The division of responsibility for project supply

Activities undertaken at project sites, such as construction work and festivals, regularly generate substantial material flows. Management of these flows is important to ensure project success, e.g. by avoiding delays, but is seldom discussed in literature. To advance knowledge on these issues, a study was undertaken to determine the need for coordination of the often numerous project participants’ logistical activities. The division of responsibility for procurement, transport and handling of the project supply was, therefore, examined. Based on three cases, findings show that considerable coordination needs exist due to extensive use of system sourcing and significant outsourcing of logistical activities.