Standard–setting processes: evidence from two case studies

In many hi–tech sectors one of the most important dimensions of competition is standardisation. This is particularly true in modular markets (i.e. markets characterised by the existence of modular architectures) and in network markets (i.e. markets where users would like to buy products compatible with those bought by others). Different processes may lead to the standard–setting. Sometimes there are fierce standardisation wars whereas in other cases competitors are able to agree on a common standard before the introduction of the technology on the market. In this paper we endeavour to provide an interpretative framework of the standardisation process and validate such a framework through an in–depth analysis of two case studies in a typical network market (the multimedia sector): the case of the Modem 56k and the case of the Information Appliances–Enhanced TV.
The two case studies offer some evidence of the standardisation process and of the growing importance of super–partes organisations (Standard Development Organisations) in the mediation process between different interests and technologies to impose a common standard on the market.     

The role of digital technologies in open innovation processes: an exploratory multiple case study analysis

Digital transformation has undoubtedly become a key enabler of innovation as evidenced by the numerous firms that use digital technologies to manage their innovation processes. This issue is even more relevant today when innovation processes have become more open and require greater resources in the different implementation phases to capture and transfer knowledge within and outside the firm's boundaries. This implies additional challenges in managing the increasing amount of knowledge and information flows. Accordingly, digital technologies can be used and implemented to manage open innovation processes through easier access and sharing the knowledge created and transferred. Nevertheless, literature in these fields does not provide a structured view of how and why digital technologies are used to manage innovation processes in an open perspective. This paper aims to bridge this gap by adopting the theoretical lenses of change management to identify the managerial actions at organizational and process level that companies perform to implement digital technologies in their open innovation processes. Accordingly, the paper investigates how and why these managerial actions required for and enabled by digital technologies help firms to develop and nurture open innovation. From an empirical point of view, the exploratory multiple case study analyzes nine firms operating in different industries and varying in size, market share, and organizational structure.     

Capturing context: An exploration of service delivery networks in complex case management

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the participation practices of stakeholder networks inform an understanding of context functioning in complex service exchange settings. We adapt the concept of the service delivery network (SDN) as a suitable approach to investigate how context is made within collaborative healthcare projects. Case management reviews in a UK Learning Disability service are the focus of study as an area of significant practical interest, and as suitable exemplars of healthcare case management. Based on a template analysis, we describe the SDN related to stakeholder participation and co-participation at the intersection of patient, commissioner and clinician networks. We identify notable variations to SDN profiles and degrees of participation of the different stakeholder networks involved. Our findings suggest a fresh focus for researching complex service settings and for case management practice. We discuss the impact of this perspective for understanding and researching context functioning and developing service theory based on mid-range empirical studies.     

Interaction processes in long-term relationships in the metal mining industry: Longitudinal case studies of capital equipment buying

This study investigates the development of the relationships between customers and suppliers of capital equipment in the mining industry. The interorganizational relationships were characterized along three sets of variables: context, task characteristics, and interaction processes. Longitudinal case study research was conducted, and four long-term relationships in the Portuguese metal mining industry were investigated. The domesticated nature of the market, compatibility of partners' objectives and strategies, and the choice of a direct channel are significant driving forces for the establishment and development of these relationships. Well-driven interaction processes were found determinant to relationship development and outcomes. Particularly, the extent of supplier-based adaptations and scope of after-sales agreements are core to relationship development and continuity.     

How to manage innovation processes in extensive networks: A longitudinal study

In this paper, we examine the managing of the full innovation process, from visioning to commercialization, in extensive networks. By drawing on the IMP, strategic network, and innovation network literatures, we develop a comprehensive picture of the management activities when ‘mobilizing’, ‘orchestrating’, and ‘involving’ actors in working towards the innovation aim in such network settings. Through using two longitudinal case studies – the one pursuing radical and the other incremental innovation - we provide an empirically refined understanding of seven key management activities (motivating, resourcing, goal setting/refining, consolidating, coordinating, controlling, and leveraging), which are needed throughout the innovation process to turn the diversity of an innovation network into an opportunity rather than an obstacle. We demonstrate how actor diversity and the type of innovation (radical or incremental) shape the management activities, and map a dynamic actor composition that evolves alongside the innovation process. The longitudinal data highlights the consequences of the presence or lack of management activities, and the interlinkages between activities throughout the process. Our findings also provide insights for practitioners on how to cope with the increasing tendency to involve diverse stakeholders in innovation by pinpointing the critical management activities that can be employed.     

Dysfunctional learning in decision processes: the case of employee reciprocity

While traditional economic models characterize individuals as boundlessly self‐interested, decades of empirical findings suggest that individuals' self‐interest motives are constrained by concurrent preferences for fairness. Individuals act on these preferences by behaving reciprocally: rewarding others perceived as behaving fairly and punishing others perceived as behaving unfairly. Successful firms must learn to navigate environments characterized by the reciprocity of their transaction partners. This paper investigates firms' judgments about employee reciprocity and posits a dysfunctional learning process whereby firms that overestimate employee reciprocity learn to correct their beliefs through feedback, while those that underestimate employee reciprocity do not. The result, demonstrated through computer simulation, is a systematic bias toward an overemphasis on employee self‐interest, and a resulting inefficiency in wage choices that hurts firm profitability. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Innovation promoters — A multiple case study

This paper empirically examines the role of innovation promoters in loosely-coupled inter-organisational innovation projects. With a starting point from existing literature on innovation promoters, it seeks to develop a theoretical framework for analysing the particular challenges of inter-organisational innovation projects. Data from seven inter-organisational innovation projects provides the empirical setting of the paper, and these data are analysed on the basis of an inductive, interpretive approach. The paper results in the development of four types of innovation promoters (power, expert, process and relationship). In addition, the results indicate the substantial challenges of dividing the labour between several promoters in inter-organisational innovation projects. The paper concludes with some managerial and research implications.     

From experience: Capturing hard-won NPD lessons in checklists

The application of a good New Product Development (NPD) process is frequently limited by the experience of the user. Avoiding relatively minor errors and omissions that can lead to seriously flawed project results is still an art. Checklists for each stage of a development project can capture this art and their disciplined use can avoid many potentially critical omissions and errors. Development of checklists frequently comes from the hard experiences many of us have had in bringing new products to market. Consequently, benchmarking "trials and tribulations" rather than success stories can be more appropriate to developing a thoughtful checklist.
This article is a partial accumulation of one practitioner's experiences of over three decades of executing, managing, directing and observing these projects. Fifteen NPD case histories are examined to develop learnings from these experiences. These cases are organized around three basic product development issues: managing technical risks, managing commercial risks, and managing NPD personnel. In these examples, NPD project problems have a common theme of poor technical or commercial risk management, as opposed to technical failure. Improved planning and a more disciplined management interface would have avoided many of the problems discussed in these case histories.
Analysis of each of the case histories and learnings is provided from which suggested checklist items are derived. These checklist additions are presented by development stage to allow use by other NPD teams, with the intention of avoiding the repetition of similar problems.     

Implementing market orientation in industrial firms: A multiple case study

The literature on market orientation is silent on the process of change involved in moving firms to a market orientation. Understanding this process is important for commodity sellers or industrial organizations with a traditional sales focus. We examine the change programs of two New Zealand-based agricultural organizations. Drawing upon Lewin's three-stage change process model (unfreezing-movement-refreezing) we identify that the creation of a market orientation involves uncovering long-held assumptions about the nature of commodity products, the nature of production and marketplace power, and the ‘commodity cycle’. Moving the firm towards a new set of values involves changes in the role of leadership, the use of market intelligence, and organizational learning styles. To refreeze these values, supportive policies are needed that form closer relationships between the organization and the marketplace. The degree of refreezing affects the quality of market orientated outcomes, with less effective refreezing leading to sub-optimal market-oriented behaviors.     

Corporate governance failure and contingent political resources in transition economies: A longitudinal case study

This paper explores the dynamic relationship between politicians and entrepreneurs in the governance of business organizations in transition China. A longitudinal case study of Kelon (1984–2001), a product of politician-entrepreneur alliance in China’s household appliance sector, reveals how certain political resources that once assisted the entrepreneurs in creating competitive advantages in transition economies may turn into political liabilities during the course of institutional transition. Drawing upon the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, the rent appropriation literature, and the agency theory, this paper sheds light on the contingent impacts of political resources on corporate governance and firm performance in transition economies.     

Launching new product features: a multiple case examination

The present study investigates the strategies that eight companies employed in launching new product features in a variety of markets. A literature review shows that launching new product features is an under‐researched area. This lack of attention may be detrimental to companies, as in many mature markets—such as those for durable consumer goods like television sets, coffee machines or videocassette recorders—the launch of new product features is perhaps the single most important product development activity that companies employ. We sought to address three research questions, namely what are the current strategies used by managers for launching new product features, how do these strategies differ, and what are the opportunities and pitfalls of these strategies? A multiple case study involving 38 managers from different functional backgrounds was used, thereby investigating the feature introductions of eight companies in‐depth. The study first identifies six feature launch decisions: the feature's position in the feature life cycle, the core technology concerned, the focus on feature or product, the differentiation practices used by the firm, feature diffusion in the product line, and the make‐or‐buy decision. Based on these decisions, four distinct feature launch strategies were distinguished: dictatorship, pioneering, establishing, and following. Dictatorship companies launch feature innovations that are based on fundamentally new technologies. Pioneers are not as powerful as dictators and focus on features that are based on applied and proven rather than on fundamentally new technologies. Establishes copy and improve successful features and launch them quickly and broadly as a standard in mass markets. Followers launch standard features that already existed in the mass market. These four strategies describe how the firms in our sample launched new features in the marketplace. As such, they describe when and where in the product line what feature was introduced. Such a typology of feature launch strategies helps to proactively understand the strategies firms have for launching new product features. The article discusses for each strategy the relevant feature launch decisions, possible applications, and opportunities and pitfalls. We conclude with the implications of our study for research and managerial practice.     

Capturing the Degree of Modularity Embedded in Product Architectures*

This article focuses on integrating various perspectives on product architecture modularity into a general framework and proposes a way to measure the degree of modularization embedded in product architectures. The article addresses trade‐offs between modular and integral product architectures and how components and interfaces influence the degree of modularization. The article identifies the following key elements of product architecture modularity: components (standard and new‐to‐the‐firm), interfaces (standardization and specification), degree of coupling, and substitutability. A mathematical model, termed the modularization function, is applied to measure the key elements and their combined effect on the degree of modularization embedded in product architectures. The application of the modularization function is illustrated by two distinct sets of product architectures: Chrysler Jeep's windshield wipers controllers and Schindler's hydraulic and traction‐pull transmission elevators. The analysis of the Chrysler case shows that the silent‐relay architecture produces more opportunities for modularization than the solid‐state architecture due to the higher substitutability factor and lower new‐to‐the‐firm component composition. The Schindler case captures the dynamics of modularity created by three types of components (standard, customizable, and new to the firm) and two types of interfaces (fundamental and optional). Based on the case studies, the article outlines testable propositions and discusses the managerial and theoretical implications for the modularization function.     

Capturing value creation in business relationships: A customer perspective

Collaborative relationships in business markets are of growing importance to customers and suppliers alike. Customers need to decide whether to invest in a new supplier relationship, to maintain and develop a valued relationship, or to divest from a low-value relationship. Suppliers, in turn, face growing commoditization of products and seek to differentiate themselves through relationships. The measurement of value creation in buyer-seller relationships is still in its infancy, and a sound understanding of how firms create and deliver value in business relationships is needed. Emerging studies investigate relationship value based on dimensions derived from theory and lack a managerial perspective. Therefore, the present research explored relationship value from a grounded theory perspective. In-depth interviews with purchasing managers identified eight value drivers in manufacturer-supplier relationships. Implications for the measurement of the concept are discussed, and directions for further research are suggested.     

Communities and managerial competencies supporting SMEs innovation networking: a longitudinal case study

Over the last few decades, the need for small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) to rely on networking to get access to innovation and larger knowledge bases has become evident. This paper analyzes the birth and evolution of an Italian innovation community created by a group of SMEs searching for innovation. Coming from quite different fields, these SMEs converged around a challenging project in the field of biomedical and rehabilitation devices. The aim of the paper is twofold: (1) to investigate what type of competences and tasks have to be accomplished to effectively manage an innovation community (IC) and what managerial roles (promotors) emerge by crossing competences and tasks; and (2) to what extent community members' absorptive capacity (ACAP) influences their ability to acquire and exploit innovation generated by the community. Using an in‐depth longitudinal case study analysis, we identified three different stages in community evolution. We also studied which promotors' roles that emerged in each stage and determined their relationship both between each other and to community performance. Furthermore, we investigated to what extent an existing knowledge base in a specific domain and previous experiences in networking influenced community members' ability to exploit innovation. We found that a specific correspondence among competences and tasks is needed to guarantee community performance and that promotors should interact among themselves to enable the community to reach its goal. Concerning ACAP, we found that prior experience and familiarity in networking are not predictive of new knowledge exploitation.     

Making sense of network dynamics through network pictures: A longitudinal case study

There have been a number of attempts to describe and analyse networks and company positions in them and to help companies to manage or change their “network position” [ [H?kansson & Snehota, 1995] and [Ford et al., 2003]]. But most of these have confined their attention to a particular point in time or have looked at network evolution over a restricted time period, such as Lundgren (1995) [Lundgren, A. (1995) Technological Innovation and Network Evolution. Routledge, London and New York.] and Andersson (1996) [Andersson, Per (1996), The emergence and change of Pharmacia Biotech 1959-1995. The power of the slow flow and the drama of great events, doctoral thesis, Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm.]. This paper is based on the idea that insights into the dynamics and evolution of networks and companies may be found by taking a longer term perspective. It uses historical documents and correspondence to examine the evolution of a network and of a single company within it over a period of close to a century. The paper highlights the fact that networks and networking are not modern inventions, but are intrinsic to the nature of business activity. The case study also provides illustration of a number of network phenomena, such as network position, networking and the paradoxes that are endemic in networks. Finally, the paper concludes with some lessons that may be drawn from the case for successful management in a network.     

Rural telework: case studies from the Australian outback

This paper examines the effects of infrastructure and isolation on rural telework, and the potential of telework for rural communities. It draws on findings from two Australian case studies: a government initiative and a community-initiated training project. Differences between the experiences of rural and urban teleworkers are highlighted.     

Structural ambidexterity,transition processes,and integration trade‐offs: a longitudinal study of failed exploration

In order to overcome the exploration–exploitation paradox, structural ambidexterity literature suggests establishing differentiated units for exploitation and exploration with a carefully managed exploration–exploitation interface supporting cross‐fertilization without cross‐contamination. Recent research demonstrates the crucial role of integration mechanisms (i.e. how knowledge exchange between exploratory and exploitative units can be organized) and related transition modes (i.e. how exploratory innovations can ultimately be transferred back into the exploitative structures of core business) to deal with this challenge. However, a systematic account of the diverse tensions, risks, and trade‐offs associated with integration which may ultimately cause exploration failure is missing, so far. This paper presents a longitudinal process study uncovering the anatomy of an unsuccessful exploration of (green) technologies by a medium‐sized entrepreneurial firm. We investigated their transition processes to understand how the managers dynamically configured and reconfigured the exploration–exploitation interface over time. Our theoretical contribution lies in providing a framework of six integration trade‐offs (Exploratory‐complementary linking vs. contamination; Seeking legitimacy early on vs. frustration at discontinuation of innovation; Boundary spanning through job rotation vs. carrying over of old culture; Early vs. premature transfer; Reorganization vs. capability mutation; and Improved access to core business resources vs. resource starvation) linked to three phases in the transition process (before, at, and after transfer). We also highlight mechanism, pulling‐forward, and streamlining‐related failures linked to integration trade‐offs in resource‐constrained contexts. Our implication for R&D and top management is that the use of integration mechanisms for structural ambidexterity bears the risk of cross‐contamination between the exploitative and exploratory structures and are therefore inevitably linked to trade‐offs. To minimize negative side effects and prevent exploration failure, organizations have to consciously select, schedule, operationalize, and manage (re)integration mechanisms along the transition process. Our framework of integration trade‐offs systematically supports managers in their organizational design choices for integration mechanisms in the transition processes.     

Service procurement in manufacturing companies: Results of three embedded case studies

An increasing part of companies' purchasing expenditures is being spent on (business) services. At the same time, the interactive character of business services has so far largely been neglected in purchasing and supply management studies. The success of a service purchase is however established during the ongoing production and consumption of that service, which takes place in continuous interaction between buyer and seller.This paper investigates these ongoing interactive processes between buyer and seller after the purchase decision has been made. The specific focus is on services buying by manufacturers, since manufacturers' services spend increasingly encompasses services that eventually become part of the final offering to customers. This is expected to pose specific challenges for manufacturing companies, who have traditionally been involved with purchasing goods.Case studies into ongoing buyer-seller interaction are conducted at three manufacturing companies. Starting from a usage-based classification which contains four types of business services, four services are studied at each manufacturing company. The results show that indeed the different types of services can be associated with distinct patterns of ongoing interaction. Furthermore, the results provide initial support for the idea that having differentiated patterns of interaction contributes to successful ongoing service exchange.     

Configuring the after-sales service supply chain: A multiple case study

After-sales service in firms manufacturing and selling durable goods has a strategic relevance in its potential contribution to company profitability, customer retention and product development. This paper addresses the configuration of the after-sales supply chain. Three configuration choices are analysed: The degree of vertical integration, the degree of centralisation, and the decoupling of activities (i.e. how activities are decomposed and separated organisationally). Exploratory case study research was performed over seven companies belonging to durable consumer goods industries. The empirical findings show that configuration choices vary, suggesting that no “one best way” exists. Moreover, many firms develop multiple configurations. Choices are influenced by drivers, including the attractiveness of the after-sales business, the strategic priorities, the characteristics of the physical product and the services offered, and the configuration of the manufacturing and distribution supply chain. The paper discusses how these drivers may lead to consistent configuration choices, and how choices are related.