Resource interaction in inter-organizational networks: Foundations, comparison, and a research agenda

The focus of this article is on discussing the foundations, conceptual development, and implications of resource interaction in inter-organizational networks. The article conceptualizes and classifies resources before discussing how resource interfaces enable to utilize, manage, and change resources. In doing so it provides a set of basic principles as to how resources interact at a network level, or how firms combine, develop, mobilize, and manage resources over time. This is in strong contrast to a focus on the acquisition, accumulation, and exchange of resources by the firm. The article further provides a comparison with two other research streams, the Resource-Based view (RBV) and the Service-Dominant logic (S-D logic), in order to better position this perspective on inter-organizational resource interaction. It concludes by discussing an agenda for further research.     

Inter-organizational information systems adoption for service innovation in building sector

The building sector has experienced a significant decline in recent years in Spain and Europe as a result of the financial crisis that began in 2007. This drop accompanies a low penetration of information and communication technologies in inter-organizational oriented business processes. The market decrease is causing a slowdown in the building sector, where only flexible small and medium enterprises (SMEs) survive thanks to specialization and innovation in services, which allow them to face new market demands. Inter-organizational information systems (IOISs) support innovation in services, and are thus a strategic tool for SMEs to obtain competitive advantage. Because of the inherent complexity of IOIS adoption, this research extends Kurnia and Johnston's (2000) theoretical model of IOIS adoption with an empirical model of IOIS characterization. The resultant model identifies the factors influencing IOIS adoption in SMEs in the building sector, to promote further service innovation for competitive and collaborative advantages. An empirical longitudinal study over six consecutive years using data from Spanish SMEs in the building sector validates the model, using the partial least squares technique and analyzing temporal stability. The main findings of this research are the four ways an IOIS might contribute to service innovation in the building sector. Namely: a) improving client interfaces and the link between service providers and end users; b) defining a specific market where SMEs can develop new service concepts; c) enhancing the service delivery system in traditional customer–supplier relationships; and d) introducing information and communication technologies and tools to improve information management.     

Legitimizing the apprenticeship practice in a distant environment: Institutional entrepreneurship through inter-organizational networks

This paper asks how Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) engage in institutional entrepreneurship to successfully transfer the organizational practice of apprenticeship-based training from Continental Europe to the distant host environment of the United States. In our case study, we highlight the important role of inter-organizational networks to coordinate engagement with the cognitive, normative, and regulative pillars of host country institutions. This networked form of institutional entrepreneurship involves the formation of inter-organizational networks for the purpose of bringing about institutional change collaboratively. In the process of transferring apprenticeship, a particular vision of workforce training was created, support gathered, and institutional change was sustained locally around the issue of training. We argue further that networked institutional entrepreneurship is a useful strategic tool to overcome the particular kind of institutional distance between the institutional settings of more coordinated market economies (CMEs) and more liberal market-oriented economies (LMEs). We contribute to existing knowledge by showing how practice transfer is shaped by particular kinds of institutional distance, and highlighting the role of inter-organizational networks as a way of governing collective agency associated with institutional entrepreneurship and the emergence of new local proto-institutions.     

The Benefits of IT-Based Supply Chains-Strategic or Operational?

ABSTRACT

Business relationships are being revolutionized by the use of inter-organizational information systems (IOSs) that connect together separate companies' business processes through the application of Information Technology (IT). The physical value chain is now paralleled by the virtual information chain. Detailed case studies from earlier research suggest that there are huge benefits to be gained from concepts such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), shared product design databases and shared production scheduling systems. However, there is little empirical evidence of the overall usage and outcomes of IOS implementation. In this survey, IOS benefits are evaluated using marketing derived frameworks. Evidence from 89 United Kingdom (UK)-based organizations, a large proportion of which are trading internationally, suggests that IOSs are becoming pervasive across different business processes and across different types of industry. The analysis reveals that marketing activities are now dominated by the management of the information along the supply chain and that significant benefits can be realized. However, the time-scale for implementing such systems is of the order of 5 to 10 years and there are significant barriers to successful implementation.     

Inter-organizational cooperation in buyer-supplier relationships: Both perspectives

Most empirical investigations of inter-organizational cooperation within channel dyads investigate the phenomenon from the perspective of only one partner. However, because investigating from both partners' perspectives is important especially when interdependencies exist between the channel partners, this study attempts to examine both perspectives in buyer-supplier relationships and explain why differences, if any, arise. The data that this study requires were collected from buyers responsible for supplier relationships in a Korean telecommunication service provider and from their partners. The results show that switching costs and inter-organizational trust are significant determinants of cooperation for buyers; technological uncertainty and the reciprocity of the relationship are significant determinants for the suppliers. In both sample sets, goal consistency significantly affects inter-firm cooperation.     

人际关系、人际信任对企业间关系的影响——来自中国家电分销渠道的实证分析

边界管理人员是企业间关系营销的界面,不同企业的边界管理人员之间的人际关系和人际信任对企业间关系的发展具有重要影响。本研究通过选取代表性的关系变量,构建一个结构方程模型,以家电分销渠道中的分销商为样本来源,检验了企业间人际关系和人际信任对企业间关系的影响。     

Collaboration on technological innovation in Danish fashion chains: A network perspective

With brand owners struggling to compete with new products, physical production processes and sourcing logistics, innovation taking place in retail networks is often overlooked. Networks in retailing are comprised by the brand owner, the varieties of single- and multi-brand stores, chains and departments stores, technology and service providers, ownership structures and local level supply chain facilities. This paper analyses theoretical and empirical views of innovation in international retail networks using lead actors in the (Danish) fashion industry as a case to highlight how this industry maintains branded stores as primary retail channels better than other industries. In order to approach the retail network as an important organisational innovation system in relation to brand owners, the aim of this paper is to characterise key elements of innovation in retail networks. The approach of this work is based on four qualitative studies of medium/larger fashion brand owners and their respective retail and service provider networks. The study shows that innovation in retailing has a continuously emergent character with open-ended strategic design requirements and strong utilisation of relations in business networks. The network comprises an innovation system that focuses on organisational learning and iterative development of the intended technologies. Implications of the current study are suggestions to brand owners, network partners and retailers on how to identify, understand, support and promote innovation via this network through systematic management of the network rather than the innovation itself.     

Independent financial advisors: open innovation and business performance

The purpose of this paper is to examine the behaviour of small independent financial advisors (IFAs) in terms of their involvement in networks and open innovation. A mail survey of small IFAs was undertaken utilising previously validated scales to assess business performance in relation to networking and open innovation. Results indicate that IFAs involvement in networks and open innovation can assist business performance. The managerial implications are that IFAs and other financial services organisation sector firms may be able to achieve higher sales growth by participating in networks and engaging in open innovation. This paper provides an original empirical assessment of possible strategies to enhance sales growth in small financial service sector firms facing volatile market conditions.     

Standardisation versus Adaptation: Geographical Pressures to Deviate from Franchise Formats

There is a tension in business format franchising between, on the one hand, standardisation and uniformity and, on the other hand, geographical variations in market conditions and resource availability. Previous research has demonstrated in the case of independent small firms that local geographical conditions influence business strategy. This paper examines whether variations in the local geographical environment, notably in terms of demand and supply side conditions, affect format implementation and whether franchisors permit franchisees to make local adaptations of the format in response to local environmental conditions. The study is based on interviews with 40 UK-based franchisors, all of whom were at the later stages of roll-out or in the consolidation stage of network development. Local variations in the business environment do create a conflict with the need to maintain the uniformity of the franchise format. Adaptation was restricted to peripheral format components. No changes were made to the core format components. Most franchisors recognise that their franchisees are an important source of innovation. However, implementation of franchisee ideas across the system is found in only a minority of cases. These findings link to the franchisee control–autonomy debate, confirming other studies which suggest that franchisees enjoy considerable operational autonomy.     

Trust,authentic pride,and moral reasoning: a unified framework of relational governance and emotional self‐regulation

This conceptual article introduces behavioral perspectives into the governance arena and undertakes a psychological assessment of managerial decision making in organizations by elaborating on the treatment of trust and (authentic and hubristic) pride in the extant literature. While trust is conceived by governance scholars as a device for monitoring relationships with others, we argue that authentic pride, contrary to hubris, could operate as an attribute of emotional self‐regulation allowing corporate leaders to govern the social behavior of their own self. Contrasting the features of trust and authentic pride, we advance several propositions to capture their relevance and simultaneous importance as viable governance mechanisms in light of a manager's level of cognitive moral reasoning. Our study builds a unified theoretical framework of governance which integrates human agency, psychological states, and moral judgment to foster a deeper understanding of complex self‐regulatory processes that are activated by decision makers in the execution of their roles.     

Resource interaction in inter-organizational networks: Introduction to the special issue

This article introduces the special issue of Journal of Business Research on the topic of resource interaction in inter-organizational networks. Both networks and resources receive considerable attention in the field of business studies. As companies specialize further and rely on cooperative agreements with external parties, the importance of networks is gaining increasing recognition. Resources are typically a key factor for identifying a company's competencies, or its sources of growth, profitability, and sustained competitive advantage. This special issue takes a novel approach by directing attention toward the processes of interaction in which companies combine and recombine resources at the network level. This approach provides new insights into the development, production, exchange, and use of resources. The introductory article also reviews the 13 articles in this special issue and concludes by discussing their contributions to the fields of marketing, innovation, entrepreneurship, and logistics.     

Governance and Performance of Strategic Alliances in Africa: The Role of Institutions

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to contribute to the institutional perspective of the governance of strategic intercompany alliances in Africa, through examination and analysis of a typology of informal African institutions. We support the view that interactions in African institutions determine the pertinent choice of governance mechanisms for intercompany alliances. In African institutional environments, the success of strategic alliances is subject to differentiated interactions among the contract, institutional confidence, interpersonal confidence and inter-organizational confidence. In the area of strategic management, this article provides theoretical and managerial contributions to our understanding of the institutional approach to the governance of strategic business alliances in Africa.     

Determinants of early entry: governance choices and syndicate networks in US venture capitals' Internet investments

This research addresses the issues of governance choices and attributes of network participants as determinants of early entry by integrating a network perspective into the strategic management literature. Our arguments are tested using data on 813 Internet portfolio companies' investments by the venture capitals (VCs), one of the most rapidly developing sectors of the financial service industry in the USA. The results provide little evidence that governance choices between sole investments and syndicate networks may affect the decision to invest in early movers in the Internet industry. Nevertheless, the attributes of VC investors in initial investments affect the likelihood of investing in early movers. The propensity for syndicate investments in early start-ups in the Internet industry increases with the presence of heterogeneous investors' attributes but decreases with the presence of homogeneous investors' attributes.     

The dynamics of networked power in a concentrated business network

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dynamics of networked power in a concentrated business network. Power is a long standing theme in inter-organizational research, yet there is a paucity of studies about how power emerges and is constructed over time at the network level. The paper adopts process, systems and network theory to interpret a rich single case study from the food industry. Three power mechanisms are identified, gatekeeping, decoupling and resource allocation, which form the basis of a model of networked power dynamics. Empirically tracing the dynamics of networked power highlights the economic contents of interactions. The paper extends current understandings of power as ‘conflict and coercion’ to include influencing, leveraging and strategic maneuvering in the actual performance of networked power.     

E-service innovation: combining directed and practice-based approaches

This paper aims to contribute to the service innovation literature by analyzing the different phases of e-service innovation in relation to the dichotomic model of practice-based versus directed innovation. In detail, using the case study method, the study investigates the innovation process of an e-service initiative developed by one of the largest universities in Italy and a banking group during the idea generation, design and implementation steps. The study advances service theory by detailing the integration of existing perspectives on service innovation and revealing the coexistence of directed innovation and practice-based changes. Finally, based on the results of this exploratory study, the paper concludes with research propositions.     

模块化生产网络的治理:一个分析框架

在全球化生产背景下,模块化生产网络面临复杂的环境,从而带来一系列的风险.文章针对模块化生产网络中的关系风险、绩效风险和嵌入性风险,提出了一条网络治理的分析路径.它主要包括治理环境、治理模式、治理机制和治理目标,其中治理模式有紧密型治理和松散型治理,治理机制包括合同治理和关系治理,治理目标主要是防止机会主义,提高运作绩效和消除锁定效应.沿着这线索,文章构建了一个模块化生产网络治理的系统分析框架.     

Trust,perception, and managerial use of market information

This study aims to enrich international business theory and practice by being the first study to investigate how both inter- and intra-organizational managerial trust in the source of market information contributes to its’ perception and use and by examining the contingent role of structural fluctuations and market turbulence. Structural equation modelling of cross-sectional survey data of 158 firms in Hungary shows that trust is an important driver of utilization of market information. Perceived information quality mediates the effect of trust on information use partially when it derives from intra- and fully when from inter-organizational source. When unpredictable changes occur due to structural fluctuations of the firm, the role of trust in quality perception of market information becomes more prominent. However, changes in the environment due to market turbulence do not moderate the effect of trust on perceived quality of information from inside, only from outside the firm.     

The Dynamics of Negotiation in a Global Inter-Organizational Network: Findings from the Air Transport and Travel Industry

Networks of interdependent organizations, also known as network-based businesses, are being shaped by many forces. In supporting negotiations between the airlines and travel agencies locked in a principle/agent relationship wrought with tension, this paper uncovers the dynamics of negotiating in a global inter-organizational network. It provides guidelines for supporting such negotiations. Networks, as a form of interorganizational co-ordination, are becoming increasingly predominant. Knowledge on how to facilitate negotiations in global inter-organizational networks will become more valuable.     

Governance and resource interaction in networks. The role of venture capital in a biotech start-up

This paper examines venture capital (VC) governance in innovation processes. The VC literature often presents the relationship between a VC firm and a start-up as dyadic and analyzes it with agency theory. In contrast, this paper deploys the resource interaction framework presented in Håkansson and Waluszewski (2002) to governance and innovation in networks. The paper reports an in-depth case study of Pyrosequencing, a Swedish biotech firm financed with VC. The results from this study reveal how the relationship between a VC and a start-up company is embedded in a wider network and how the governance of the VC spreads in the surrounding network and influences a start-up's possibilities to develop organizational and technical resource interfaces to critical counterparts such as suppliers and customers.     

Technological networks and industrial research in Britain: The London,Midland & Scottish Railway, 1926–47

Large and complex firms combining service and manufacturing functions such as the railways offer an interesting test of the claim that between the world wars British industry sometimes successfully prosecuted industrial research in ways that do not fit the Chandlerian paradigm. In particular, the largest of the inter-war railway companies relied on networks of external technological experts as well as developing its own in-house capability, thereby reducing uncertainties and transaction costs at minimal risk to itself. The chief disadvantage to this approach was the tension generated between the technological community of ‘scientific’ researchers and the engineers who were traditionally responsible for technological innovation.