Mapping the values in B2B relationships: A systemic, knowledge-based perspective

The management of an enduring relationship between provider and supplier has at its heart an implicit interaction between the valuation systems of the counterparts. We take the view that this interaction is conveniently understood through the lens of knowledge management. Knowledge management informs our treatment of business to business relationships through two mechanisms. It helps us manage better the dissemination and co-creation of knowledge in an organisation and new work in the mapping of knowledge allows us to represent the knowledge aspects of a relationship in a way which allows us to manage it better.We present, therefore, an approach to allow the specific representation of these valuation systems and their interaction, using a case study of the marketing of a nuclear submarine programme to a government. A conclusion is that structures which support the co-creation of knowledge between the companies is critical to winning the contract and we indicate how this co-creation can be engendered.     

股权结构与公司治理绩效实证分析

本文以深、沪两市101家上市公司为样本，分行业竞争环境强弱从股权属性、股权集中度与公司治理绩效的关系进行实证分析，发现行业竞争环境强的上市公司其治理绩效与法人股比例呈三次函数关系，与流通股比例无显著相关关系；行业竞争环境弱的上市公司其治理绩效与国有股比例、法人股比例呈三次函数关系，与流通股比例无显著相关关系；行业竞争环境强的上市公司，股权分散型优于国有控股型，国有控股型优于法人控股型；行业竞争环境弱的上市公司，法人控股型结构优于国有控股型，国有控股型优于股权分散型。最后根据实证分析的结果，提出构建合理股权结构的结论性建议。     

A framework, process and tool for managing technology‐based assets

Technology organisations centre their business on the development of new technology‐based offerings (i.e. products and services). The strategic management of technology‐based assets is therefore crucial for these organisations as an imperative for business success. However, these assets are often intangible and reflect future rather than current value and are therefore difficult to manage when using traditional managerial concepts. This study investigates integrative mechanisms addressing the management of technology‐based assets and offerings in a technology organisation. The approach taken was to study the views and practices regarding the management of technology‐based assets in a number of strategic units of a technology organisation (CSIR, South Africa). The study maintains that the management of technology‐based assets and offerings requires clear strategic management of the process of technological innovation with special emphasis on the management of the intellectual capital (IC) and the intellectual property (IP) of the organisation. The study describes a framework linking the core processes supporting the management of technology‐based assets and offerings with other organisational elements such as leadership, strategy, and culture. Specific key links between the core process of innovation and the strategic management of investment in technology‐based assets using a portfolio approach are discussed.     

Different recipes for success in business relationships

Companies need to manage business relationships successfully in order to stay competitive. Drawing on configurational logic, this study shows that companies can improve their relationship performance through leveraging the structure of their business relationships. However, relationship structures must align with the company's business strategy. To date, research has focused on individual characteristics of business relationships, but little is known about relational configurations, namely the interplay between different business relationship characteristics on the one hand, and the firm's underlying business strategy on the other. We apply Hoffmann's (2007) strategy typology, namely shaping, adapting, and stabilization strategy types, to operationalize different business strategies. Drawing on a sample of 658 business service companies and employing fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this study confirms the existence of different recipes for success, that is, multiple equifinal configurations leading to relationship performance. For each of the three business strategies, different combinations of relationship characteristics are successful, each encompassing a distinct configuration of core and periphery conditions. While firms following an adapting strategy should stress behavioral commitment above all other relationship characteristics, the two remaining business strategies instead rely predominantly on different factors such as trust and communication. This study contributes to business marketing theory and practice by highlighting different ways to develop business relationships successfully.     

The nature of managerial work roles in Malaysian public enterprises

This paper examines the work roles of public enterprise managers, the classifications of the work roles, and the importance of the work roles across hierarchical levels, functional speciality, business sector and the size of the organisation, based on Mintzberg's framework of managerial roles. The result showed that 105 managers ranked the role of entrepreneur as most important and the role of spokesman as most unimportant in performing their jobs. The principal component solution resulted in three interpretable categories of work roles: internal roles; external roles, and internal-external roles. There were also variations in work role importance across hierarchical levels, functional speciality, business sector and size of the organisation. Implications for further research and management practice are also presented.     

Creating value through mutual commitment to business network relationships

A structural model of business relationship development in a business network context is formulated and tested on data from the European International Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) project. The empirical analysis demonstrates a causal chain from business network connection through mutual commitment and mutual dependence to value creation in the relationship. The results show that mutuality in business network relationships is critical in developing interfirm systems of workflow interdependence that promote the creation of value. This also implies that, through their interaction in business network relationships, firms in business markets organize and share an unbounded structure of interdependent activities, enabling them to achieve greater value than would be the case if they did not engage in relationship development. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The relationship between networks,institutional development,and performance in foreign investments

This paper empirically examines the relationship between the external business network of a country business unit (CBU) of a multinational firm, its performance, and the unique institutional characteristics of the foreign market in which it operates. We develop hypotheses about the CBU network structure associated with operating margin given different levels of institutional development, and the categories of network contacts associated with CBU operating margin. We test the hypotheses using social network analysis in 54 CBUs in two different business segments within one multinational company. Results show that the CBU network structure associated with higher operating margin depended partially on the level of the country's institutional development, and that network composition related strongly to CBU operating margin. We identify implications for research. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance impact of middle managers' adaptive strategy implementation: The role of social capital

This article reconciles mixed findings about the performance impact of middle managers' strategy involvement. We propose that the relationship between middle managers' adaptive strategy implementation—through upward and downward influence—and objective business performance can be curvilinear and contingent on formal and informal structures. Applying a multilevel perspective to social networks, we empirically show that reputational social capital enhances the performance impact of middle managers' upward influence while informational social capital elevates the performance impact of their downward influence. The size of a business unit or region has differential moderating effects. The curvilinear effects of middle managers' upward influence and reputational and informational social capital on business unit performance reflect paradoxes. We discuss the implications of these findings for strategy implementation research and practice. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cycles of production: from assembly lines to cells to assembly lines in the Volvo Cab Plant

This paper analyses changes in work organisation at the Volvo Cab Plant in Umeå, Sweden in order to identify those contingent elements that impact upon the choices made in selecting specific production technologies. It suggests that managerial decision making is not necessarily located within rational or business enhancement paradigms.     

Geographic overlap and acquisition pairing

Research Summary: This study examines the role of geographic factors in explaining acquisition pairing using a novel conditional logic methodology. Drawing from information asymmetry arguments regarding acquisition decisions, we theorize that geographic overlap between the acquirer and potential targets’ businesses and operations enables the acquirer to collect more information about the potential target through its multiple business operations that are geographically proximate. We also demonstrate moderating boundary conditions. In particular, we examine acquiring firm characteristics, acquiring firm size and geographic dispersion, which both weaken the relationship between geographic overlap and acquisition pairing. Likewise, we examine two dyadic distance moderators, geographic distance and product dissimilarity, both of which increase information asymmetry between the acquirer and potential targets, which increases the effect of geographic overlap in facilitating acquisition pairing. Managerial Summary: Firms pursuing acquisition activities face severe information asymmetry when evaluating potential targets. This study investigates how acquiring firms leverage geographic conditions to overcome information asymmetry and choose targets that they can better evaluate. We find that acquirers are more likely to choose targets that have subsidiaries or business operations overlapping in the same states as the acquirers themselves. This is particularly true for small acquirers, which lack resources and capabilities to seek external assistance, and acquirers that have business operations in more concentrated locations. We also find that acquiring targets with geographically overlapped business operations is especially salient when the target's headquarters is distantly located from the acquirer or when the target offers dissimilar products from the acquirer.     

Strategic development of third party logistics providers

The growth of the Third Party Logistics (TPL) business has caused many firms from different industries to enter the field. We are interested in how their different strategies develop over time with a special focus on how they balance between general problem solving capability and the degree of customer adaptation. In the development of their strategy the newly entered firms shown to be highly influenced by existing business and its network. However, at a later stage the case firms were all focused on moving into more advanced and complex services (4pl type of services) without considerations to their traditional business strategy. We have also identified some issues of importance when managing the continued TPL business strategy. One issue is about the organisation of the TPL business and its need for neutrality from traditional business. The next issue is about the internationalisation of the TPL business and the need of a partly different pattern and network. Finally, the issue of coping with strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions seems vital for understanding and developing the business.     

Ownership structure, family leadership, and performance of affiliate firms in large family business groups

Utilizing the agency viewpoint, this research attempts to shed light on the issue of family leadership by examining ethnic Chinese family business groups in Taiwan. The study examines the performance implications of this kind of leadership under the ownership structure concern. The research results indicate that the ownership structure of the affiliate firm influences the likelihood that family leadership will be used. Specifically, if the founding family owns more direct ownership of the affiliate firm, the family will be likely to appoint a family leader at the affiliate firm. However, when the founding family has a greater degree of pyramidal ownership of an affiliate firm, family leadership will be less likely at that affiliate firm. Additionally, family leadership mediates the relationship between ownership structure and affiliate firm performance in a family business group. Family leadership positively affects the effect of direct family ownership on affiliate firm performance but does not significantly affect the negative relationship between pyramidal ownership and affiliate firm performance. The implications of these findings for future research on leadership in family business groups are discussed.     

Expert labour as a differentiated category: power,knowledge and organisation

The idea of ‘expert labour’ as a category uniting many kinds of knowledge‐based work has long been of interest. At the same time, existing models often do not differentiate between the many forms of ‘new’ expertise in the main business and technological groups. These tend to be consolidated in single categories of ‘entrepreneurial’, ‘organisational’ or ‘commercial’ professions. This paper built on Reed's seminal account of the expert division of labour. It used his analytic dimensions of power, knowledge and organisation to develop a new framework comparing clusters of expert labour in professional services, business services and knowledge work. It offered a more detailed classification and a comparative view that throws fresh light on key debates around new professionalism and emergent technologically defined occupations.     

Managing innovation in a knowledge intensive technology organisation (KITO)

This study aims to add to the existing knowledge of how innovation works in organisations. By understanding how to assess/evaluate processes that support and enable innovation, managers can better manage innovation as a business process. This paper addresses elements of organisational behaviour that relate to people management where innovation and technology management is concerned. Perception plays a crucial role in driving behaviour and therefore the widely accepted business scorecard methodology has been used to measure innovation practices in the organisation. The research was done in a knowledge intensive technology organisation (KITO) in South Africa. Interviews with managers of R&D were conducted. These interviews were used to adapt an existing audit instrument to suit the technology–based organisation. Thereafter, a comprehensive audit of innovation was conducted at three different management levels using the adapted instrument. Over 100, mostly R&D managers, were asked to complete a scorecard–based questionnaire and to draw a visual representation (VR) of innovation. The results of the interviews, audit and VRs were used to produce a management framework that is not only applicable to a KITO, but can also be used widely to improve innovation through enhanced visual understanding of any technology–based organisation. The results of the study indicate that measuring innovation through a validated instrument is highly valuable. The Holistic System Framework for innovation and the measurement instrument facilitated (1) management of, and (2) organisational learning about innovation. The comprehensive audit indicated, on a strategic level, the strengths and weaknesses of the innovation process as practised in the organisation. The instrument is valuable at a strategic management level as it indicates where in the organisation the gaps exist regarding the management of the process of innovation with the aim to create a competitive advantage.     

Centralization of intragroup equity ties and performance of business group affiliates

Research summary : Although prior research has suggested that equity ties are important for business groups, less attention has been paid to the specific mechanisms through which equity ties create value. We develop a framework that specifies how centralization of intragroup equity ties affects the performance of group affiliates. We use the exogenous shock of the 2008 financial crisis and a difference‐in‐differences analysis of 51,730 observations of business group affiliates in Taiwan to show that centralization of equity ties enhances affiliate performance, but such effects weaken when the environment becomes turbulent. Moreover, we find that listed affiliates obtain fewer benefits from centralization than unlisted affiliates. Overall, our study deepens scholarly understanding of not only how groups create value, but also how value is differentially appropriated among affiliates. Managerial summary : Our research speaks directly to owner‐managers of business groups with respect to creating an optimal equity network structure that binds the affiliated firms of the group. Our findings suggest to managers that the overall structure of equity ties in a business group has major implications for the performance of the affiliate firms of the group, and the network structure within the group should be designed deliberately and thoughtfully on an on‐going basis. In particular, control through centralized equity ties is performance‐enhancing in normal periods, but such control may be counterproductive as turbulence increases in business environments, or as the number of listed group firms increases. Hence, owner‐managers may consider optimizing the network structure by lowering the degree of centralized equity ties under such circumstances, or at a minimum, lowering centralized control. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The allocation of R&D resource

Abstract
The allocation of R&D resource in a multi-business organisation is often based more on current operating performance than on the relative potential for technological development of the businesses. The approach suggested in this paper attempts to overcome these problems by linking R&D allocation very closely to business strategy. The two key concepts are technology leverage, i.e. the extent to which technology can change the business environment in an industry to yield competitive advantage, and business leverage i.e. the current competitive strength of an individual business within an industry. Where technology leverage is weak, competitive advantage will be mainly dependent on factors other than R&D and it is suggested that levels of R&D effort at or below 1 % of turnover are appropriate. Where technology leverage is strong, R&D can be effective in maintaining strong business leverage by achieving technology mastery or in transforming a weak business position by creating a technological discontinuity. R&D intensities ranging from 3 to 15 or more % of turnover are thought to be appropriate in these cases. This framework can be used for policy debates on R&D allocation, for example whether the R&D allocation is appropriate for the business strategy or whether R&D could spearhead a more expansionist business strategy. The framework has been successfully used in ICI Chemicals and Polymers Limited during the annual R&D budget process.     

B2B SME management of antecedents to the application of social media

This paper elucidates how business-to-business (B2B) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can manage antecedents to the application of social media for potential contributions to their business. This in-depth qualitative research study was conducted at four plastic-producing SMEs from October 2013 to October 2014, with follow-up interviews in October 2015.The findings reveal two important antecedents to the application of social media that overcome the gap between acknowledging the usefulness of social media and its actual limited application in practical B2B contexts. First, open collaborative business model innovation is needed to apply social media in local business processes. Second, central and distributed leadership must be integrated to create ownership and responsibility across the SME organisation and beyond to customers and partners. These findings differ from the social media application stages and the gaps between them identified in the previous literature. The developed model makes a contribution to the B2B SME field and to academia by recognising the importance of integrating critical antecedents before social media application can enhance business in B2B SMEs. This understanding is beneficial for the B2B SMEs and for society.     

Opportunism,knowledge, and the performance of franchise chains

An important feature of most franchise chains is that they simultaneously use franchised and company‐owned outlets. In this study, I show that the relationship between the resources provided to outlet managers and the financial performance of franchise chains is contingent on their governance structure. Specifically, opportunism and knowledge considerations seem to prevent chains with a large proportion of franchised outlets from fully leveraging resources such as a valuable brand name and tacit business practices. On the other hand, brand name value and business practices tacitness are not directly related to the proportion of franchised outlets in chains. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

家族企业家双重性特征与家族企业融资决策——来自中小家族上市公司的经验证据

以高阶理论为依据,从管理者的角度研究家族企业家双重性特征与家族企业融资决策的关系。基于2004~2007年在深圳中小企业板上市的家族企业样本的实证研究发现,家族企业家的性别、任职年限、政治身份、企业家的风险倾向、控制权偏好与家族企业融资决策之间存在显著的相关性;实证研究没有发现企业家年龄与融资决策的相关性。本研究对高阶理论在我国中小家族企业中的应用是一个有益的补充,该研究的启示意义在于,研究家族企业的融资决策时,必须考虑到企业家的相关特征。同时,本文对于更好地理解家族企业的融资行为,优化家族企业的融资结构具有重要的指导作用。     

How do business groups’ small world networks effect diversification,innovation, and internationalization?

Small world networks which demonstrate better group cohesiveness have attracted much theoretical attention in enhancing performance and creativity in strategic management. Yet, empirical studies of the benefits that can accrue to business groups’ strategic or economic outcomes remain scarce in the business group literature. Conceptualizing the business group as an embedded group network, we investigate the previously untested role of a small world group structure on relationships with group (industrial) diversification, core firm innovation and its internationalization. We find all these have positive and significant impacts. Group diversification is also found to mediate the relationship between a small world group structure and a group’s degree of internationalization. However, a small world group structure does not directly relate to a group’s degree of internationalization. Drawing on embeddedness and social network perspectives, we find general support for the hypotheses that a small world group structure facilitates strategic and economic outcomes for groups and core firms by virtue of efficiencies in resources exchange in a way that extends the literature on business groups.