Organizational culture and adoption of high‐technology products

Research on organizational adoption of high‐technology products has concentrated on two major elements. Researchers have primarily examined whether organizations adopted innovations and whether there are differences between organizations that adopt or do not adopt innovations. In contrast, the present research examines the decision‐making process of adoption of high‐technology products in organizations. Specifically, the paper examines the concept of organizational culture and its relationship with the adoption decision process. A survey of firms that had recently made an adoption decision for a high‐technology product is reported. The results suggest that adoption decision processes are distinct within organizational cultures. The paper explains these results and discusses the implications.     

Drivers of Adoption and Continued Use of E-Procurement Systems: Empirical Evidence from China

ABSTRACT

This article develops and empirically tests a research framework that models the role of technological, organizational, and environmental factors in organizational intention toward using e-procurement systems. The partial least square analysis of survey data from 211 firms in China demonstrates that technological factors including perceived efficiency benefits and perceived ease, organizational factors including business to business commerce expertise, information sharing culture, and top management support, and an environmental factor, business partner pressure, shape in different ways organizational intention to adopt and to continue with e-procurement. The findings of the study not only offer valuable insights for stimulating the diffusion of e-procurement systems but also provide important guidance to systems vendors in strategizing their marketing campaigns and focusing limited resources on relevant strategic components.     

New technology in UK retailing: Issues and responses

Technology application in retailing has a considerable history, with applications for the most part aimed at labour cost reduction. The technologies now being applied in retailing and distribution however differ from these earlier ones in a fundamental way. The new technologies in micro‐electronic based computing and micro‐electronic communications differ by being general purpose and flexible and by developing very rapidly. The new technology is enabling changes to take place in the distribution channel. The areas of applications of the new technology and the applications and reasons of technology introduction are analysed in this paper.     

Information Technology Use and Firm's Perceived Performance in Supply Chain Management

Purpose: This article proposes a theoretical model to investigate (a) a positive direct relationship between the specific use of ITs (applied to management) and the firm's performance as perceived by retailers and (b) a positive indirect relationship through information quality and information sharing.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The theoretical model proposed in this paper is contrasted using structural equation modelling of the retail distribution channel for home appliances.

Findings: The research shows that there is no positive direct relationship between the specific use of ITs and the retailer's perceived performance in the relationship with the provider. The results do, however, provide evidence for a positive indirect relationship through both information sharing and satisfaction obtained from the relationship with the provider.

Research Limitations: The analysis has been developed from the retail perspective. We suggest that future research focus on the retailer's and the provider's perspectives.

Practical Implications: In the context of SCM, the competitive advantages achieved through IT use derive from a better network of relationships between the firms involved as a result of greater information quality and information sharing. Specific use of ITs stimulates greater information sharing between retailer and provider and thus greater satisfaction and better perceived performance of the retailer in the relationship with the provider. However, the effect of IT use on information sharing occurs only through the quality of the information shared.

Originality/Value: The study shows that information quality is an antecedent of information sharing and that both information quality and information sharing act as necessary conditions for improving the retailer's perceived performance in the relationship with the provider. This article develops a measurement scale to evaluate the intensity of IT use. Finally, the research confirms that firm performance can be modeled as a second-level latent variable composed of three different dimensions (economic benefits, marketing benefits, and adaptation benefits).     

Will enterprise social networking systems promote knowledge management and organizational learning? An empirical study

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, enterprise social media practitioners and researchers are keen to know how the enterprise usage of social media can be converted into the improved organizational performance. Meanwhile, organizational learning has long been considered as one of the measures of organizational performance. This article investigated the impact of enterprise social networking systems (ESNS) usage on knowledge management processes and organizational learning; in particular, we examined the mediating role of knowledge creation and knowledge sharing. Four theories from sociology and strategic management were used to build the hypotheses in the research model. An online survey was conducted to empirically test the model. Our study results showed that ESNS usage directly and indirectly influences organizational learning; and that knowledge management processes (knowledge creation and sharing) mediate the path between the two. This study contributes to the existing literature on enterprise social media for three reasons. First, it is among the first to connect the three independent concepts (social media, knowledge management, and organizational learning) and explore their relationships in one theoretical framework. Second, this work also specifically examines the influence of ESNS (Yammer in this case) on organizational processes and outcomes. Third, this is a pioneering study that employs multiple theories to address the research questions under the organizational social media context. Therefore, the research gives implications for both practitioners and scholars who are interested in understanding the effectiveness of ESNS usage in the modern organizations today.     

Technology support for cooperative work: A framework for studying introduction and assimilation in organizations

This article draws on published research on the nature of the innovation process and exploratory field research in 10 companies to develop a framework for research on organizations’ introduction and assimilation of computer‐supported cooperative work technologies. The research reported in this article, part of a much larger study of the general process of innovation in organizations, focuses specifically on the transfer and assimilation of new technology innovations.

Technologies to support group process, communication, and coordination in face‐to‐face group meetings [electronic meeting support systems (EMSS)] were chosen to illustrate the use of the research framework. The article focuses on the transfer of these technologies from R“D units to target organizational units and the alignment of group, technology, and task during assimilation by end‐user groups. Research propositions are developed and discussed. Future articles will present the findings from current research that utilizes the frameworks presented in this article to study the introduction, transfer, and assimilation of EMSS in organizations.     

The Role of Buyer Trust in Outsourced CRM: Its Influence on Organizational Learning and Performance

Purpose: Company outsourcing of customer relationship management (CRM) functions is increasing (Kalaignanam and Varadarajan 2012). Although outsourcing CRM may provide financial benefits, the tasks of developing and utilizing the complex, cross-functional processes needed to gain enhanced customer knowledge from CRM may be more difficult when some or all CRM activities are outsourced. Trust in the information provided by the outsourced CRM supplier is vital. In this study, the authors examine the influence of buyer trust in its outsourced CRM supplier on cross-functional learning processes and firm performance within the buyer firm.

Methodology: Data were collected from a survey of marketing managers in 221 firms. LISREL 9.2 was used to assess convergent, discriminant, and nomologic validity using the two-step approach (Anderson and Gerbing 1988). Convergent and discriminant validity were evaluated in the measurement model phase, whereas the structural model provided an appraisal of nomologic validity.

Findings: The results provide evidence of buyer firm trust in the outsourced CRM supplier playing a critical role in the buyer firm’s success with information sharing, and both trust and information sharing strongly influencing information interpretation and information access in the buyer firm. All three organizational learning processes positively influence buyer firm customer satisfaction/retention and market performance.

Research implications: An important area for future research is the possibility of varying levels of trust needed for success with outsourced CRM depending on the buyer firm’s goals for its CRM system. It is possible that the simpler CRM functions could be outsourced effectively through efficiency strategies that do not require significant levels of trust, whereas the more complex CRM activities that affect organizational learning require more stringent coordination and inter-organizational development. Varadarajan’s (2009) cost versus quality classifications of outsourcing could be a useful starting point for this type of analysis. Considering the finding in this study that information sharing is critical for information interpretation and information access in the buyer firm, another area for future research is possible differences in the extent of information sharing required by firms that are outsourcing CRM versus those that conduct the CRM function in-house. One starting point could be possible differences in relevance among Maltz and Kohli’s (1996) factors affecting information dissemination.

Practical implications: For effective use of CRM data, it is important for buyer firms to develop trust in their outsourced CRM supplier. Managers can assist in this by communicating qualifications of the outsourced CRM supplier, such as any trade-specific certifications, awards, information about the supplier’s number of years in business, and examples of other companies the supplier has assisted. Managers can also help employees develop confidence in the supplier’s integrity by sharing the supplier’s code of ethics and serving as a champion for the supplier. In addition, firms engaged in outsourced CRM are encouraged to develop reward systems that motivate employees to build relationships with their counterparts in the supplier firm, and it would be useful for the buyer firm to help its employees understand the importance of the CRM outsourcing relationship to the buyer firm’s success. Finally, it is important for management to provide opportunities for interaction between the outsourcing partner and key buyer firm employees who will use the CRM data, to encourage effective processes in information sharing, information interpretation, and information access.

Contribution of the article: This article addresses the significance of outsourcing the CRM function and provides evidence that buyer trust in its CRM supplier is a critical factor in its utilization of CRM data for organizational learning and firm performance. It also demonstrates that effective sharing of information, cross-functional integration of customer data, and CRM information accessibility are critical for firm success.     

Improving New Product Quality: An Empirical Study of Product Development Teams in Taiwan

ABSTRACT

The role of team and organizational factors affecting new product quality and their interactions as moderating the effects are examined. Results from a domestic study suggest that new product quality is positively affected by information capability in the team and quality orientation in the firm; in contrast, it is negatively related to the innovativeness of the new product as seen by the firm and speed-to-market pressure in the team. However, teams' information capabilities alleviate the negative effect of innovativeness on quality. Quality orientation lessens the relationship between information capability and new product quality. Functional diversity and tenure diversity do not affect new product quality. In addition, managerial implications and directions for future research are proposed.     

Cooperation and Information Sharing versus Job Satisfaction in Some International Environments

Abstract

This study examines relationships between country and general job satisfaction, workplace cooperation, information sharing and managerial willingness to help promote employees in Bolivia, Hungary and Poland. The paper also reports on main and second order interactions between country effects and managers' willingness to promote versus information sharing and cooperation. Important national differences are reported on perceived country values held and anomalies found in practice on information sharing and cooperation. Recommendations are offered using information technology.     

Virtual organizations: Computer conferencing and organizational design

Computer conferencing systems link groups of users who “meet”; in the virtual space of a computer and interact around a common purpose or topic. These electronically constituted and mediated groups can mirror, cross‐cut, or hive off from existing organizational structures. This article reports a study of organizational structuring processes that accompany the introduction of a computer conferencing system in six industrial organizations. The relationships among technological capabilities and constraints, existing organization structures, managerial intent, and the unanticipated consequences of implementation for structural change are discussed. Employing the same software system in each case, organizational outcomes are radically different.

Earlier analysts have focused on a contingency model of the organization‐to‐technology relationship. Computer conferencing systems, however, confound the distinction between technical and organizational systems; they exist in an overlapping border domain between their two parent systems. This article explores the character of this overlapping domain and proposes the terms “virtual group”; and “virtual organization”; to evoke the special status of groups created through computer conferencing. Virtual organizations are semiotic entities in Weick's [1] sense of equivoque and their essentially ambiguous, interpretable character is important in shaping organizational outcomes. Virtual groups become part of the ongoing process of structuration [2], while also providing a new tool for organizational design.     

Value creation by company‐consumer interaction

Company‐customer interaction is becoming increasingly widespread in industrial markets, bringing benefits that are both productive and strategic. This paper looks at the prerequisites for applying the same logic in consumer markets.

The conclusion is that due to new technology and the emergence of more qualified and demanding consumers, the logic is already appearing in a wider range of industries, with interaction in one or more activities in the value‐creating process; in design, production and marketing as well as in the consumption and later destruction of products. But, up to now, the benefits are mainly on the consumer side. There seems to be some potential for considerable strategic advantages for companies, however, provided that their organizational structure is modified, new communication channels are built, the competence of the front‐line staff is developed, and the company culture becomes more consumer‐oriented.     

Embodiment--the Aesthetics of Incorporation

This paper examines contemporary developments in 3D immersive data and experience as a method of information and organizational design. With particular attention to its historic forbearers, contemporary theorists and current graphical tools, this paper anticipates specific concerns and possible technological developments in virtual organizational design. As artists, new developments in technology present opportunities to restructure organizational life both virtually and materially. Computer animation industry growth leaped 30% in fiscal year 1998 topping $20 billion in annual revenues. As the animation and 3D immersive industry expands platforms and applications shift. The most successful of these adapt while others dissipate. Nonetheless current management and organizational structures are challenged to engage a world that increasingly visualizes and communicates in 3D.     

Strategic Aspects of Organizational Culture of Czech Companies

ABSTRACT

The paper presents the results of the research into organizational culture which was carried out at the Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Business and Management. Respondents of the research were representatives of top and middle management working in 54 Czech manufacturing companies. The organizational culture was looked at on the level of organizational values, five empirical types of the organizational culture of Czech manufacturing companies were identified. Research outcomes bring information which could be useful for further research in this area and also for the management practice.     

New product adoption by pharmacists

The objective of this paper is to report a study into the new product buying behaviour of retail pharmacists in Britain and their ways of handling product and marketing information. The research was of an exploratory and qualitative nature, involving in‐depth personal interviews with a relatively small sample of 37 retail pharmacists within the Greater Manchester and Mersey area.

The results show that retail pharmacists in general are indifferent to and reluctant to accept new pharmaceutical products. Retail pharmacists normally are too busy to attend any professional meetings but those who do attend meetings regularly seem to be more innovative, which indicates the existence of opinion leadership in the pharmaceutical community.

With respect to the sources of information, commercial sources are useful for creating awareness, but personal channels are more influential in the later stages of the decision‐making process. Finally, the results indicate that lack of information and poor communications amongst retail pharmacists, physicians and manufacturers are possibly a major reason for new product failure. Using these findings the authors highlight important lessons which may apply to a wide range of product marketing. In particular the risks/opportunities of new product development and marketing are discussed.     

Virtual customer environment design and organizational innovation: An exploration–exploitation perspective

ABSTRACT

Many firms are developing virtual customer environments (VCEs) that provide customers the opportunity to submit, discuss, and vote for new ideas. Some studies show that VCEs promote the development of incremental improvements in existing products and services (i.e., exploitative innovation). However, other studies find that customers working in VCEs will often suggest radical ideas for brand new products and services (i.e., exploratory innovation). Exploration and exploitation are often incompatible; thus, we address this paradox by investigating whether the design of a firm’s VCE architecture is related to the firm’s exploratory innovation activity and exploitative innovation activity. Using matched data collected from VCEs and managers, we show that two-way information exchange VCE tools facilitate exploratory innovation, and one-way information exchange VCE tools enhance exploitative innovation. We also find that absorptive capacity positively moderates the latter relationship. Our findings have implications for research and practice in VCEs, organizational innovation, and organizational learning.     

The Benefits and Barriers Associated with the Use of the Internet Within the Non-Profit Sector

ABSTRACT

In the last few decades, advances in new information technologies in general and the adoption of the Internet in particular have attracted the attention of many academics and practitioners alike. Much of current research, however, is focused on for-profit organizations, and less emphasis has been placed on other organizational contexts, such as the non-profit sector. The purpose of this article is to analyze the attitude of NPO managers towards the Internet, the extent to which non-profit organizations are adopting this information technology and the perceived benefits and obstacles associated with its use. A sample of three hundred and ninety two non-profit organizations in Portugal was examined. The statistical analysis indicated that the existence of a favorable attitude towards the Internet was positively correlated with the perception of Internet benefit dimensions. Conversely, the study found no empirical evidence linking perceived Internet benefits with the various NPO fields of activity. The article concludes with a series of limitations and implications for both theory and practice.     

Learning-Oriented Sales Management Control: The Case of a Pharmaceutical Company

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The primary goal was to identify organizational conditions for developing a learning-oriented behavioral control system, an issue that has been neglected in previous studies.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The authors conducted a case study of Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim (NBI).

Findings: We found that a behavior-based sales management control system facilitates learning by salespersons when 1) the focus is on skill development, 2) fewer key performance indicators are being used, and 3) supportive supervision and knowledge sharing are promoted.

Research Limitations: Because this was a single case study, it is necessary to investigate other cases in other countries and to compare the results with those of NBI to develop theories about learning-oriented behavior control systems.

Practical Implications: In the early stages of sales reform, sales managers and medical representatives should not use multiple process indicators for multiple evaluations; rather, they should use a small number of process indicators (e.g., number of visits per day) so that all individuals concerned about a problem can share information and promote improvement.     

Innovation diffusion: The emerging role of suppliers versus the traditional dominance of buyers

This paper evaluates and extends some of the recent ideas of Robertson and Gatignon regarding the importance of supply‐side factors in the organizational diffusion of innovations. We develop arguments for the premise that diffusion theory should not only take buyer characteristics and behaviour into account but should also view the suppliers’ new product development and marketing activities as pro‐active variables.

A typology of supply‐side factors is presented based on empirical evidence from salient fields of inquiry which cover sociology, industrial economics, new product development, marketing and industrial buyer behaviour. From this, we present some issues for further research in the form of eight key propositions.     

Exploring Factors Influencing the Use of Enterprise Social Networks in Multinational Professional Service Firms

ABSTRACT

Organizations are increasingly implementing enterprise social networks (ESNs) for improved communication and collaboration, as well as enhanced knowledge sharing and innovation among employees. However, the paradoxical relationship between ESN implementation and the promised benefits has been attributed to employees’ underutilization. Our research focuses on factors influencing employees’ decision to use ESN in their work role and draws on case studies of two multinational professional service firms (PSFs) based in Australia. Qualitative data were collected during ten semi-structured interviews with employees from both organizations, to determine their perceptions of ESN usage and capture the factors that influence their use behavior. The findings illustrate that the likelihood of ESN use is significantly influenced by technological, organizational, social and individual factors. A successful ESN use within an organization involves the nexus between these four factors and recommendations are made, as guidelines for organizational actors about how ESNs usage can be increased.     

Organizational memory influences new product success

Prior research on the impact of organizational memory on new product success has divergent perspectives. Such inconsistency has accrued mainly from not considering memory's multifaceted aspects, which interact with specific project characteristics. This paper tries to sort out this paradox by proposing that project innovativeness moderates the relationship among variables of organizational memory and new product success. An empirical study of 169 NPD projects of Korean manufacturing firms finds that memory sharing and the use of external information and formal procedures enhance new product success, whereas organizational memory has no effect. Project innovativeness is found to moderate memory's effect, despite some tradeoffs. As innovativeness increases, the effect of organizational memory and use of external information become stronger whereas the effect of memory sharing and use of formal procedures weaken. This suggests that firms must activate organizational memory more carefully according to project characteristics and the memory level to maximize its positive effects.