THE RESURGENCE OF INVENTORY RESEARCH: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

Abstract. Recent empirical and theoretical research on business inventories is surveyed and critically evaluated. While most inventory research has had macroeconomic motivations, we focus on its microtheoretic basis and on potential conflicts between theory and evidence. The paper asks two principal questions. First, how can inventories, which are allegedly used by firms to stabilize production, nonetheless be a destabilizing factor at the macroeconomic level? Second, why, if firms are following the production-smoothing model, is production more variable than sales in many industries? We suggest that the so-called (S,s) model may help answer both questions.     

Commitment Strategies for Sustainability: How Business Firms Can Transform Trade‐Offs Into Win–Win Outcomes

This paper addresses a fundamental problem in corporate sustainability: How can corporations transform trade‐offs through win–win‐oriented governance strategies aimed at creating value? Drawing on new strands of research in business ethics, we employ an ‘ordonomic’ perspective and proceed in four steps. First, we sketch how sustainability semantics has evolved historically from a societal searchlight to a heuristics for business practice. Second, we discuss how business firms can make strategic use of moral commitments as governance contributions by deploying individual or collective self‐commitments as well as commitment services in their stakeholder relations. Third, we combine these four governance strategies with the three ESG (‘ecological, social and governance’) criteria of sustainability. We derive and illustrate with real‐life examples a 12‐box matrix as a tool for the strategic management of corporate sustainability. Fourth, we discuss the specific contribution of our ordonomic approach to the literature. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Boosting environmental management: The mediating role of Industry 4.0 between environmental assets and economic and social firm performance

The adoption of new innovative ecosystems linked to Industry 4.0 (I4.0) in industrial firms has created new opportunities for performance. In this study, we investigate whether I4.0 can reinforce environmental asset management in achieving firm economic and social performance. We intend to contrast the existence of I4.0-based reward mechanisms for being green. Using a panel of 1028 Spanish industrial firms in 2009–2016 period and a partial least squares structural equation modelling econometric methodology, the research has obtained two main results. First, the management of environmental assets generates positive effects on the economic and social performance of the industrial firm. Second, research findings confirm the mediating role of I4.0, which ends up reinforcing the relationship between environmental assets and the economic and social firm performance. The results obtained highlight the importance of complementary relationships between digital and environmental transformation to promote firm performance. Implications for firm strategy and business models are also discussed.     

Do industries matter?

This paper poses the question ‘Do Industries Matter?’ in order to shed light on what observation-based Industry Studies researchers can offer empirical economists using large-scale datasets. I argue that industries matter from three distinct perspectives. First, the methodological approach in Industry Studies adds value to economists' normal activity of testing and generating theory. Data collected using Industry Studies methods can lead to new ideas and theory-building. Second, industries matter as they provide an institutional and historical context in which to study firms and workers. Such context improves the interpretation of how and why different practices and institutions fit together in specific industries. Third, recognizing differences in what is meant by an industry improves our ability to interpret specific ‘industry dummies’ in regressions.     

Justice served: Mitigating damaged trust stemming from supply chain disruptions

This research examines the mitigation of damaged trust stemming from supplier-induced disruptions. We used the critical incident technique on 302 buying firms in China to capture two (one successful, one unsuccessful) supplier-induced disruptions (yielding a total of 604 incidents) to test our theorizing grounded in justice theory. We find evidence that different aspects of trust damage (ability, benevolence, and integrity) can be mitigated through the supplier's selective use of appropriate justice approaches (procedural, interactional, or distributive justice), which, in turn, foster relationship continuity intentions. Within this realm, we make a number of contributions. First, we find that procedural justice is the most effective mechanism (followed by distributive justice and interactional justice) to recoup the damage to buyers’ trust in the suppliers’ ability, benevolence, and integrity. Second, we find that mitigating damaged ability is the most powerful precursor (followed by recuperating damaged integrity) for locking in future business. Conversely, the mitigation of damaged benevolence is not found to affect future business intentions. Third, our post hoc results suggest that disruptions and consequent mitigation efforts pose relational threats as well as opportunities—yet the “double-edged” nature is affected by the “base” level of trust (i.e., the trust level prior to the disruption). Broadly, our study suggests that suppliers can overcome the negative relational repercussions of disruptions (that they caused) by employing well-developed, but nuanced, mitigation efforts and, in doing so, repair, solidify or even enhance the relationships.     

Disruptive technology adoption,particularities of clustered firms

ABSTRACT

This article explores to what extent the internal attributes of a clustered firm influence its capacity to adopt disruptive innovations. A multidimensional approach to the absorptive capacity (ACAP) model is used to distinguish between potential (acquisition and assimilation domains) and realized (transformation and exploitation domains) internal firm capabilities. Our evidence comes from an empirical analysis of the population of firms belonging to the Spanish ceramic tile cluster which have adopted a disruptive innovation – the so-called digital printing technology – on a massive scale. The econometric estimations suggest the relevance of the Exploitation dimension of ACAP for early adoption of a new technology. In contrast, the other dimensions do not seem to play a decisive role when it comes to adopting one novelty earlier than others. In conclusion, and contrary to what was expected for non-clustered firms, the results revealed an uneven effect of the potential and realized domains of ACAP of clustered firms regarding the rate of adoption of distant technologies.     

Searching for big data: How incumbents explore a possible adoption of big data technologies

Big data is often described as a new frontier of IT-enabled competitive advantage. A limited number of exemplary firms have been used recurrently in the big data debate to serve as successful illustrations of what big data technologies can offer. These firms are well-known, data-driven organizations that often, but not always, are born digital companies. Comparatively little attention has been paid to the challenges that many incumbent organizations face when they try to explore a possible adoption of such technologies. This study investigates how incumbents handle such an exploration and what challenges they face. Drawing on a four-year qualitative field study of four large Scandinavian firms, we are able to develop a typology of how incumbents handle the exploration of and resistance to adopting big data technologies. Directly affecting the incumbents’ exploration are two aspects that separate the adoption of big data technologies from that of other technologies. First, being an elusive concept, big data technologies can mean different things to different organizations. This makes the technologies difficult to explain before an investing body, while it simultaneously opens up possibilities for creative definitions. Second, big data technologies have a transformative effect on the organization of work in firms. This transformative capability will make managers wary as it might threaten their position in the firm, and it will create ripple effects, transforming other systems besides those directly connected to the technology.     

The importance of design for firms׳ competitiveness: A review of the literature

Scholars dedicated increasing attention towards appreciating how design has changed individuals? perception of new products, firms? understanding and formulation of strategy, or other relevant actors? approach to innovation and technology management. By emphasising the importance of design for the definition of consumers? needs, the restructuring of firms? organisational structures and strategies, and the evolution of firms? value creation processes, this review paper identifies relevant research gaps and questions that would benefit from future scholarly attention. In particular, it is suggested that such effort should address the analysis of how design consumption can help better comprehend consumers? needs; what are the implications of design thinking on the skill sets of design professionals; the organisational structure of firms, including the reconfiguration of other business functions, and their strategy; and whether and how design thinking can shape firms? value creation processes and contribute to the formalisation of design tasks.     

DETECTING AND REMOVING DISCRIMINATION UNDER EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES POLICIES

Abstract. This paper surveys part of the recent voluminous literature on the economics of discrimination, focusing on two key questions. First, how should discrimination be measured and can in fact unambiguous estimates be derived, as the basis for detecting where discrimination is present and setting in train measures to eliminate it? Second, to what extent has the implementation of equal opportunities legislation improved the relative standing of women and minority workers in the labour force? This section includes a discussion of the likely effects of recent changes in the law such as the equal value amendment in the UK or the introduction of comparable worth in the USA. The survey concludes that our ability to detect discrimination at all precisely is still rudimentary and consequently policy measures are likely to be inefficient for this reason.     

Human resource competencies: An empirical assessment

With data from 12,689 associates of human resource (HR) professionals in 1500 businesses in 109 firms, this research represents an extensive assessment of HR competencies. It extends current HR theory and practice in two ways. First, it proposes specific competencies HR professionals may demonstrate to add value to a business. Second, it offers an empirical assessment of how these competencies affect the performance of HR professionals as perceived by their Associates. The results indicate that when HR professionals demonstrate competencies in business knowledge, delivery of HR, and management of change, then HR professionals are perceived by their associates as more effective. © 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

基于破坏性创新的企业竞争力提升研究

论文首先对破坏性创新及企业竞争力理论进行分析,提出了破坏性创新的独特价值:一方面为企业提供新的技术发展方向,另一方面为企业核心竞争力的形成与培养提供一种新的机会。最后具体分析了基于破坏性创新的提升企业竞争力的方法,包括破坏性技术创新、破坏性产品创新和商业模式创新等。     

Revolutionary innovation and the incumbent business: Patterns of relationship and coping strategies

Revolutionary innovations bring about drastically new ways of doing business that potentially challenge the dominance and even the survival of many powerful incumbent firms. The choice of the incumbent firms’ strategies in coping with a revolutionary innovation depends on the specific patterns of relationship between the revolutionary innovation and the incumbent firms’ core business, be it substitutive, complementary, or parallel. In the situation of a substitutive relationship, the incumbent firms could exit from the incumbent business through swift divesting or gradual harvesting before it is eventually displaced or eroded. In a complementary relationship, the incumbents could absorb the innovation into the incumbent business by embracing the innovation that enables them to add entirely new functions to their incumbent business or assimilating the innovation to enhance the value of the incumbent business. In a parallel relationship, the revolutionary innovation either results in the retrenchment of the incumbent business or leaves it undisturbed, which, respectively, calls for specializing in certain niches of the incumbent business or further solidifying the incumbent business. In addition to the above coping strategies focusing primarily on the incumbent business, the incumbent firms also need to deal simultaneously with the new businesses inspired and propelled by the revolutionary innovation. They could fend off the potential disruptions of the innovation by engaging in a competitive fight in the market domain or a nonmarket fight in the sociopolitical domain. They could also enter those new businesses through greenfield entry or merger and acquisition.     

Outsourcing and strategic alliances for product development: a case of Banta Digital Group

Banta Digital Group (BDG) is a pre media company needing to fill a void in the market it serves. This need could be met by an application that consisted of software and database development. A problem arose due to two conditions. First, the company was late getting to the market with this product. Second, the company did not have dedicated resources to work on this project. BDG needed to adopt a solution that comprised of outsourcing and strategic alliances to fill this market need. The study reports how the company selected and managed strategic alliances through the creation of a virtual team. It also reviews details of the new business operating system instituted to foster an environment for further product and process innovation. Finally, the proposed approach used in this unique type of product development is described, which is also applicable in many business situations.     

An analysis of environmental corporate social responsibility

This article investigates corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices while taking into account their product substitutability and environmental responsibility. CSR firms, integrating environmental and social concerns into its business operations, are introduced. The effects of the firms' social concerns, environmental responsibility, and product substitutability are all captured. First, firms' social concerns improve both outputs and CSR firms' objective function value, while reducing the profit maximization firm's profits. Second, environmental responsibility has the contrary effects. Both the outputs and the objective function values of both firms decrease with their product substitutability. Finally, social concern effects on CSR firms' performance are uncertain.     

Templates for financial control? Management and employees under the private equity business model

The term ‘private equity business model’ (PEBM) refers to private equity investors that delist publicly quoted firms, managing them as private equity‐controlled portfolio firms. But how and in what form do these investors diffuse a preferred template for the PEBM in portfolio firms? Is diffusion codified, institutionalised or merely tacit? What is the difference between these forms of diffusion? As a method of financial control, how is diffusion evident for managers and workers? Theoretically, while ‘financialisation’ is a contemporary pressure on the British economy, there is a ‘disconnection’ between competitive pressures for financialisation and the diffusion of practices to manage these pressures in portfolio firms. Forty‐two interviews in eight portfolio firms and five associated private equity firms concludes that potentially transformative and decisive restructuring for managers and workers is more evident than a defined template.     

System‐Spanning Values Work and Entrepreneurial Growth in Family Firms

Culture and values are key drivers of corporate entrepreneurship in early stages of family firm development, but value conflicts often arise over time that progressively inhibit their entrepreneurial efforts. How can family firms reconcile conflicting values to sustain corporate entrepreneurship over time? Our 45‐year longitudinal case study of a large global family firm shows that family business leaders’ practices of invoking and flexibly using family and business values were crucial to achieve sustained entrepreneurial behaviour and growth over an extended period of time. We theorize these efforts as system‐spanning values work enfolding through specific family, business, and temporal mechanisms. By identifying and elucidating three types of values work (i.e., rooting, revitalizing, and spreading), our study advances current understanding of the micro‐foundations underpinning the relationship between values and entrepreneurship in family firms.     

The path to outcome delivery: Interplay of service market strategy and open business models

Firms in a variety of manufacturing sectors as well as the software industry have increasingly embraced services alongside their product portfolios in order to improve financial performance. Yet, the key question “How do service market strategy change and the accompanying business model change interact, and how does their interplay affect value creation?” remains open. Relying on twelve case studies of firms that have shifted towards providing highly advanced services (e.g. outcome-based contracts), theoretical propositions concerning the interplay of market strategy and business model on value creation are derived. The firms studied report two interdependent changes: first, they evolve the market strategy from provision of pure products to provision of services and then outcomes, in order to achieve a better fit with customer needs and to grow their service businesses. Second, they rely increasingly on partners and suppliers to provide new activities that are outside their competence base. This 'open business model' allows them to grow their new service businesses effectively and efficiently. At the same time, however, the shift to a service market strategy requires enhanced accountability to customers and increases the threat of penalties in the case of failure, while reliance on partners and suppliers leads to loss of control over the activity system and increases the threat of failure due to third party dependency. Thus, this paper finds that the success of firms that shift to services and outcomes hinges on their ability to balance the trade-off between increased value (i.e. growth, efficiency and effectiveness) and increased uncertainty associated with service market strategy/open business model interplay.     

Business model innovation in cultural and creative industries: Insights from three leading mobile gaming firms

This paper contains an exploratory analysis of the business model innovations (BMIs) that firms in cultural and creative industries (CCIs) undertake along their life-cycle. Despite the role that creative and cultural and creative firms (CCFs) have in the economic development of industrialised countries, they tend to remain small and often fail due to industry-specific constraints and tensions, such as the lack of managerial capabilities and complexity in nurturing value chain relationships. However, there has been relatively limited scholarly interest into the specific conditions and processes that enabled CCFs to overcome these liabilities, and in particular into the identification of the business models they have adopted along their life-cycle. In this paper, this issue is analysed by using the concept of BMI, which sheds light on how the reconfiguration of the activity system through which a CCF creates, delivers and captures value enables the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities over time. This paper builds on an in-depth historical study of three leading firms operating in the mobile gaming industry, namely Rovio, Zynga and King Digital Entertainment. Three main results emerge from this study. First, in the ramp-up phase of their life-cycle, CCFs organize their resource architecture to build a strong and recognized reputation. Second, in the development phase, BMI is used to leverage new distribution paradigms. Finally, in the maturity phase, firms dedicate resources to innovate their product portfolios by providing platforms that support the development and testing of new creative ideas and solutions. Findings and implications are then discussed.     

Regulating employment relations through workplace learning: a study of small employers

Using data from two employer samples, the article develops our understanding of small business employee skill formation and development processes in three main ways. First, it focuses on learning (what employees do) rather than on providing training (what employers do), as it is employee learning which influences individual and organisational performance. Second, it challenges the dominant focus on external training by presenting data on employer enablement of workplace employee learning and their motives for this. The diversity of workplace learning practices and their importance in smaller businesses are highlighted. Third, it situates workplace learning processes firmly within the context of the employment relationship, one in which employers and employees pursue distinctive interests in enabling/participating in learning.     

Investment timing decisions under threat of potential competition: Why firm size matters

We study the value of the option to wait when other firms are looking at similar opportunities and may enter while one firm is waiting for uncertainty resolution. There are two important results. First the value of an investment project is affected by a firm’s assets-in-place, giving some firms a comparative advantage in competitive situations. Second, when two firms with different sized assets-in-place are looking at similar investment decisions, in the unique sub-game perfect equilibrium, the smaller firm invests earlier and also exits before a competing firm with larger assets-in-place. This makes an otherwise identical investment more valuable for the smaller firm. The larger firm optimally foregoes first-mover advantage because of higher expected exit costs.