Linking learning and knowledge creation to project success in Six Sigma projects: An empirical investigation

This study investigates the impact of two organizational antecedents, (1) Six Sigma resources (technical) and (2) team psychological safety (social), on learning behaviour and knowledge creation and, in turn, on the success of Six Sigma process improvement projects. The paper proposes an integrated model to explain process improvement implementation success through two learning activities undertaken by Six Sigma project teams: Knowing-what and Knowing-how. The conceptualization of these knowledge types in this research is different from usual conceptualization as it represents the knowledge brought into projects through various phases of Six Sigma projects. The three hypotheses proposed in the model were tested using the data collected from 52 Six Sigma project teams from a single organization. Regression analysis showed psychological safety affects project performance through knowing-how. Regression and bootstrapping analyses showed resources influence project performance through the combined mediation of knowing-what and knowing-how.The paper provides an interdisciplinary treatment of knowledge management in process improvement teams, and offers a research model demonstrating how Six Sigma project teams promote deliberate organizational learning. By doing so, this study empirically establishes the notion that technical and social supports jointly impact the success of operations management initiatives such as Six Sigma through learning. The limitations of the study along with the future research directions are highlighted.     

Measuring the commitment to reduce hunger: A hunger reduction commitment index

Can an index be constructed to assess governments’ commitment to reduce hunger? This paper argues for the need for such an index and outlines one way of constructing it. We use secondary data to construct the Hunger Reduction Commitment Index (HRCI) for 21 developing countries.We operationalise commitment around 3 themes: legal frameworks, policies and programmes and government expenditures, to find Malawi, the Gambia, Guatemala, Brazil and Senegal heading the list, with China, Nepal, Lesotho, Zambia and Guinea Bissau coming bottom. Rankings were robust to our choices about weighting and ranking methods.The paper demonstrates a viable method to measure political commitment and highlights the analytical importance of disentangling hunger commitment from hunger outcomes. Cross-tabulations of HRCI scores with hunger, wealth, administrative capacity and voice and accountability scores can guide action from different stakeholders (governments, civil society, donors). Finally, we show how primary data collection might be used to assess areas of strength and weakness in country specific commitments to reduce hunger.     

Anticipated regret and escalation of commitment to failing,new product development projects in business markets

Escalation of commitment, defined as the continuation in a failing course of action, is a persistent problem for decision makers in business markets, especially those involved in new product development (NPD). To address this issue, we use Anticipated Regret Theory to develop a model and then empirically test it to demonstrate how forward-looking emotions can lead decision makers to continue failing NPD projects in business-to-business (B2B) markets. We recognize that there are two countervailing types of anticipated regret (i.e., keep regret and drop regret) and test both in our model by adopting a mixed-methods empirical approach. In a quantitative study, a total of 280 subjects completed a NPD decision-making exercise in which various antecedents of persistence with a losing new, business-to-business NPD project were examined. The results suggest that anticipated drop regret plays a significant role in commitment to a failing course of action, whereas anticipated keep regret actually reduces commitment. In a second, qualitative study, twenty experienced NPD professionals operating in high-technology, B2B markets were interviewed either in-person or by telephone. The results suggest that anticipated drop regret is a more serious problem than anticipated keep regret, supporting the quantitative study.     

The fuzzy front end of Japanese new product development projects: impact on success and differences between incremental and radical projects

This study of Japanese New Product Development (NPD) projects explores the fuzzy front end of innovation. The goal of the paper is twofold: First, we analyse the impact of the fuzzy front end on the success of all the NPD projects. We develop a conceptual model based on the information-processing approach. A structural equation model was fitted to data from 497 NPD projects in Japanese manufacturing firms to test the proposed model. The empirical analysis suggests that an early reduction of market and technical uncertainty as well as an initial planning before development have a positive impact on NPD project success. The model accounts for 17% of the variance of the efficiency and 24% of the variance of the effectiveness-dependent variable. Thus, the front end phase is an important driver of NPD project success. Second, we compare the fuzzy front end of incremental to radical NPD projects. Although these projects differ in many aspects of newness, we found only a few differences with regard to the fuzzy front end. For instance, it was more difficult to estimate the market size and price sensitivity of the customers during the fuzzy front end of the radical NPD projects compared with the incremental projects. Implications of the empirical results and limitations of the study are discussed.     

Criteria for selection of venture capital projects: reasons behind successes and failures in the past

This paper looks at the area of venture management from the viewpoint of a company which is interested in providing financial support for new areas of activity. It discusses the problems associated with entering new markets and argues that many investments have not been the success that was hoped for because insufficient profit margin was obtainable or built in at the outset. However, by far the most crucial criterion for a venture capitalist is the calibre of the people who are to manage the risk funds, and the motivation of the entrepreneur or team wishing to establish the new enterprise.     

Nutrition research policy : US progress in the past decade

Human nutrition research is receiving a great deal of attention from the media, consumers and the US government. This article focuses on policy problems facing the government in the development and implementation of the federal human nutrition research programme: establishment of priorities, organization and funding. The background leading up to the present situation is developed, and the political bodies and federal agencies participating in the debate are described. The authors identify the policy issues, and discuss progress towards their resolution.     

R&D management responses to the environment: current theory and implications to practice and research

The environmental problems faced by society are often regarded as global in importance. The global imperatives linked to environmental concerns pose critical questions about the international management of R&D. This theme is developed in this paper which was initially written as the basis for a workshop on R&D management responses to the environmental challenge held as part of the 1992 Conference on Managing R&D Internationally at Manchester Business School.
The paper considers recent literature on R&D management responses to the environmental challenge drawn primarily from English language sources out extending beyond traditional R&D management literature. The intention was to identify current theories about R&D management and the general business context for R&D and to consider the implications of environmental concerns for R&D management practice.
The paper suggests that R&D management and the environment is still at a relatively early stage of development. Nevertheless, there is a demonstrable gap between the approaches to environmental problems adopted by R&D practitioners and those chosen by R&D theoreticians. This mirrors a more general gap between theory and practice seen in the basic R&D management literature.
In general, R&D management and the environment has been constructed in the literature as a set of tools and techniques, rather than a strategic management issue. However, there is a developing body of literature which links R&D management and environmental management in a more strategic way and focuses on the need to consider organizational as well as technological change.
The paper concludes that an important way forward for research in this area is to establish an R&D Management and Environment Focus Group to bridge the gap between theory and practice and to explore the application of environmental concepts to R&D management.     

知识管理环境下如何加强档案编研工作

改革开放以来，我国的档案工作得到迅速发展，档案信息的存量日益丰富，存储方式呈多样化，开发档案信息的工作也越来越受到人们的重视。作为一名档案工作者，应当努力在深度开发档案信息资源上下功夫，使丰富的档案信息资源发挥更大的作用。深度开发档案信息资源有许多方法和途径，而做好档案编研是其中一条十分重要的途径。     

Antecedents and consequences of commitment in marketing research services: The client's perspective

Commitment is one of the most frequently studied variables in business-to-business relationships and several researchers propose it is the main antecedent of customer loyalty. However, while marketing relationships researchers agree on the importance of the construct, differences remain in its conceptualization and operationalization. This study examines commitment from the customer's perspective, consisting of three components: calculative, affective and normative. Relationships were tested between the three dimensions of commitment and social bonds, trust and satisfaction in the context of professional business services providers and their clients. The results of the model that was tested in Central and Eastern European companies show that affective commitment is the only one of the three components that significantly influences customer loyalty. Trust and social bonds have no significant relation either to normative or to calculative commitment while a relation of overall satisfaction with normative and calculative commitment is negative. The theoretical and managerial implications for the model to assist in the development of appropriate strategies to achieve affective commitment and loyalty in business relationships are discussed.     

Qualitative aspects of the evaluation and control of research and development projects

Decisions in research and development are usually based on a variety of data inputs. Some of these will be concerned with the returns offered by projects in money terms. Others will relate to more qualitative aspects of research work such as, perhaps, the establishment of a base in a new area of technology or the achievement of a stronger market position. This paper describes and illustrates how checklists may be used to assemble qualitative data for purposes of decision. These were formulated in an industrial R & D laboratory and the illustrative examples in the text make reference to real projects. The checklists described are an integral part of a comprehensive system of project evaluation and control in R & D which includes an analysis of the financial implications using net present value or discounted cash flow rate of return of the project risk, analysis and sensitivity tests. The detail of this part of the scheme is conventional and is therefore omitted from the paper.     

The impact of psychological contracts upon trust and commitment within supplier-buyer relationships: A social exchange view

Central to this study is the emerging body of knowledge describing how social exchange relationships are being nurtured. A random sample of 343 Australian distributor firms from within the motorized vehicle industry was used to test a model developed on the basis of social exchange theory. Psychological contracts are perceptual in nature and were found to encompass reciprocal obligations stemming directly from the relational orientation between suppliers and distributors. This construct was also shown to have a positive impact upon the level of trust and commitment within the relationship. These findings have significant managerial implications for the manner in which managerial decision makers are modelling the firm-customer relationship because trust and commitment are essential elements in the development and maintenance of such relationships. The theoretical and managerial implications discussed have highlighted the need for further studies because there are deficiencies in the marketing literature pertaining to this important construct.     

Inter-organizational collaborations for social innovation and social value creation: Towards the development of new research agenda and theoretical perspectives

The intensifying poverty and poorer living conditions, the need for greater social welfare along with ongoing damages to the natural environment in several contexts of the world have proved the increasing importance of social innovation for creating positive social and environmental change. This special issue addresses to the limitations in social innovation literature by providing insights into the role of inter-organizational collaborations in the process, practice and outcome of social innovation. Thus, the papers published in this special issue advance current knowledge and scholarship on different aspects of the social innovation phenomena occurring in inter-organizational contexts. The current paper reviews existing perspectives and studies on social innovation undertaken inter-organizational contexts, develops the future agenda for improving scholarship on social innovation occurring through inter-organizational collaborations, and provides the development of new theoretical ideas by focusing on some key studies in the literature and papers published in this special issue. With a focus on subsistence contexts that are characterized by limiting institutional environments, this paper identifies the types of partnerships that are being formed by social enterprises and individual social entrepreneurs, and how they may facilitate and foster social innovation practice and performance through social value creation.     

Top executive commitment to the status quo: Some tests of its determinants

Some top executives are more committed to the status quo—particularly to their organization's current strategy and leadership profile—than are others. Most empirical research on upper echelons treats psychological phenomena as a ‘black box’—the unobserved intervening mechanisms—that causes associations between more observable executive characteristics and organizational outcomes. In contrast, this paper attempts to directly examine the determinants of an important element of an executive's psychological orientation—commitment to the status quo (CSQ). We focus on a select set of variables which have been posited in prior research as determinants of executive CSQ, but which have not been directly tested for such a relationship. Based on a large-scale survey methodology, results suggest that an executive's tenure in an industry is a pronounced determinant of CSQ, and has significantly more impact than organizational tenure. As expected, the firm's current performance was found to be positively related to CSQ; this relationship was stronger in high-discretion than in low-discretion industries. Finally, the project reaffirms a well known human tendency: incumbent CEOs tend to believe that their eventual successors should be just like them.     

Denmark's contribution to the world food programme: a success story

The Danish government has achieved a six-fold increase in the number of people who could be fed with Danish development food aid from 1990 to 1997, at a reduced total cost. A change in the composition of the Danish food basket from high-value commodities of animal origin toward basic vegetable commodities produced this dramatic increase in the cost effectiveness of Denmark's regular contribution to the World Food Programme. The decision to change the food basket was strongly opposed by the very well organized Danish meat and dairy industries and their interest organizations. Notwithstanding the substantial opposition from these organizations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintained its commitment to phase animal commodities out of the Danish food basket. The World Food Programme was very supportive of Denmark's initiative to promote a more flexible approach to the determination of donor food baskets. The outstanding partnership between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the World Food Programme has been instrumental in the successful implementation of the new Danish food aid policy.     

Governance and uncertainty: the trade-off between administrative control and commitment

This study elaborates upon the motives for initiating equity-based collaborations vs. acquisition of another firm already having a desired technology. We characterize both minority direct investments and joint ventures as options to defer either internal development or acquisition of a target firm. In domains where learning about growth opportunities dominates investment activity, this incremental mode of governance economizes on the cost of committing resources to a technology with an uncertain value. Using a sample of 402 transactions in the biotechnology industry, we find strong support for the theoretical model. The findings suggest that the cost of commitment in the face of technological uncertainty may offset the administrative benefits of hierarchical governance. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

People matter: commitment to employees,strategy and performance in Korean firms

The human element of enterprise is argued to be a vital resource for strategy execution. We show in a study of Korean businesses how an organization’s commitment to its employees’ well‐being (OCE) can aid in the profitable execution of its positioning strategies. We found that OCE, by itself, sometimes has a weakly positive association with return on assets (ROA). But far more important, we found that ROA is strongly and positively influenced by the interaction between OCE and the dedicated pursuit of Porter’s (1980) strategies for achieving competitive advantage: these are cost leadership, marketing differentiation and innovative differentiation. In short, dedicated positioning strategies appear to be executed more effectively where organizations exhibit a high level of commitment to their employees; and conversely, OCE is apt to have a strong impact on ROA only in the context of a dedicated, that is intensive and thorough, positioning strategy. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.