Organizational Learning in Cooperative Alliances: Some Case Studies in Biotechnology

Dedicated biotechnology firms (DBFs) have played an important role in commercializing biotechnology. They emerged first in the US and, after a 5-year time lag, they also appeared in Europe. Faced with long and costly product lead times, DBFs raised money by entering into research contracts, mainly with large chemical and pharmaceutical companies. These coopertive research alliances have not vanished as biotechnology has matured and are more in evidence today than they were in the early dasy of the commercialization of biotechnology. This paper investigates how and why large and small companies enter research collaborations, what they learn from working together, and the effects on European competitiveness.     

国际联盟中的学习与当地知识保护:改变知识模糊性

中国企业在利用国际战略联盟获取海外先进技术和管理经验时,常常处于学习和保护当地知识的两难境地。改变联盟双方的知识模糊性可以有效平衡这两个目标。通过降低海外伙伴投入到联盟中知识模糊性,降低其转移的难度,促进中国企业学习;同时通过增加中国企业投入到联盟中当地知识的模糊性,增加其转移的难度,减缓海外伙伴的学习速度,从而达到学习和知识保护这看似矛盾的双重目标。     

基于时间维度的组织学习理论——组织从过去经历中学习的模型

从经历中学习是组织学习的重要方面。从科学、严谨的研究范式出发,结合东方传统的阴阳哲学思想,基于时间维度提出了包含学习主体、经历样本、成功失败经历集、学习主体特征、知和行等要素的组织从过去经历中学习的模型,并对相关问题进行了探究。具体包括:学习主体从经历中学习的认知特性;不同类型经历对应的不同学习方法,成功经历和失败经历对学习效果的差异性影响,经历集影响知和行的7种自动的和有意的学习方式;知与行相互转化及其触发机制;客观世界从时间和空间两个维度客观展开的观点等。该系统模型为未来研究提供了理论框架和实证检验方向。     

基于时间维度的组织学习理论——组织从当前现状中学习的模型

基于组织学习时空理论的时间维度,提出组织从当前现状中学习的模型。该模型包括4个方面:"知",以组织面临的现状、机会和挑战为出发点,运用行动学习的方法,通过团队形式的讨论、反思和质疑、实践的循环,从当前现状中获得知识;"行",将学习到的知识运用于实践,改进自身方案和采取适当行动;知与行的转化,包含知与行的循环;从知和行两个维度评估学习的有效性。最后,总结了理论和实践贡献,并指出存在的不足和未来的改进方向。     

基于空间维度的组织学习理论——组织从内部学习的模型

基于组织学习时空理论的空间维度,认为组织内部是组织学习的重要来源,探索了组织从内部学习的相关问题。建立了组织从内部学习的模型——包括从内部纵向学习和从内部横向学习两个方面,并提出命题。认为:组织从内部学习会产生不同的结论,获得独特的优势,加大学习资源的广度和深度;组织从内部学习的主要方法是知识资源的分享、交换和传播;采取半隔离化子群结构和适当程度的跨群连接两种机制可在更长的时间跨度上达到更佳的学习效果;组织从内部学习类似于某种社会化过程,受到知识资源特征、组织制度政策、个体及环境等的影响;组织从内部学习受到组织内社会网络特征的影响;自我反思、行动学习和情景规划是组织从内部学习的重要方式;要将组织从内部学习与组织从外部学习相结合。该理论模型为未来研究提供了方向。     

基于空间维度的组织学习理论——组织从外部学习的模型

基于组织学习时空理论的空间维度,提出了组织从外部学习的模型。研究内容包括两个方面:一方面,基于外部组织类型的视角,以企业为例,探讨了组织向外部不同类型组织的学习——具体包括组织向政府、供应商、顾客、竞争者和合作者的学习,组织在向外部不同类型组织的学习中获取知识的维度和方式,知识的整合以及从外部学习与从内部学习的结合;另一方面,基于组织嵌入网络的视角,进一步探讨了组织与外部其他组织建立的网络,网络连带的强度、网络密度和组织在网络中所处的位置对组织从外部学习的影响,网络结构的决定因素,以及组织在网络中的权力和地位。最后总结了理论和实践贡献,并指出了存在的不足和未来的研究方向。     

Building Core Competencies in Crisis Management Through Organizational Learning: The Case of the French Nuclear Power Producer

Drawing from the resource-based theory of the firm, we develop a conceptual framework to show how organizational learning helps companies build a set of embedded knowledge assets (core competencies). The evolution of the core competencies over time depends on the ability of the firm to maintain a high level of organizational learning. In this article, we take the case of the French nuclear industry to illustrate how the most powerful French electricity producer and supplier, EDF, had succeeded, for 20 years, in building a core competence in nuclear risk and crisis management. Referring to the future deregulation of the European electricity market and the fierce competition of substitute resources of energy, the article shows that nuclear safety is a crucial issue for the survival of EDF and the European nuclear industry. We explore how EDF has learned from Three Mile Island in 1979 and Chernobyl in 1986 to improve and enrich continuously its core competence in risk and crisis management. We distinguished three phases in the learning process of EDF: the technical phase (1977–1982), the human phase (1982–1989), and the cultural phase (1989–1995). Each phase is analyzed as a step toward a greater awareness of the multidimensional nature of risk and crisis management.     

集群学习模型、外界引导与案例研究

通过对发达国家产业集群和发展中国家产业集群学习的案例研究,指出集群学习的过程不仅仅包括集群内的创新和技术扩散,还应该包括对集群外部的观察和发现过程。基于此构建了外界学习一内部创新的四阶段过程模型,结合集群五个特征对模型进行了分析。     

Small-Firm Strategic Research Partnerships: The Case of Biotechnology

This paper provides an overview of the theoretical motivation and the empirical literature on small firm strategic alliances in biotechnology, an industry where these alliances have proliferated. We begin by examining the alliance strategy for knowledge-based small firms in general and then turn our attention to the case of biotech.     

组织冗余-组织学习-创新意愿三维情境下的组织创新研究

文章通过对组织冗余、组织创新意愿、组织学习与组织创新组成的具有反馈强化机制的分析,建立了由组织冗余、组织创新意愿和组织学习三个情境要素构成的组织创新情境,讨论了不同创新情境下,组织创新的特点并提出了促进创新的对策。     

At the Interfaces of Governance and Competence Perspectives: Discussing Organizational Choices in the Scottish Biotechnology Cluster

This paper focuses on the desirability of different modes of governance in the context of the Scottish biotechnology cluster. The objective is to design theoretical models able to predict organizational choices made by firms seeking access to key complementary assets. Inspiration is drawn from two distinct streams of research: transaction cost economics and the competence perspective. The procedure adopted replicates the static and comparative approach used in several empirical investigations by transaction cost economics. However, as in a competence perspective, 'strategizing' behaviour is taken into account. The data needed to run econometric analysis have been collected via mail surveys based on the completion of a questionnaire. Valid responses were provided by 31.2% of an original sample that was composed of a range of organizations including dedicated biotechnology firms, equipment and service providers, clinical research organizations, etc. Empirical results show that both transaction cost and competence-related consideration help explain the selection of specific governance modes. However, Scottish biotechnology companies seem to be predominantly concerned with enhancing existing competences.     

Network of Collaborations for Innovation: The Case of Biotechnology*

The 'life science' revolution related to the development of biotechnology affects many different markets. In the pharmaceutical business new drugs are continuously developed, tested, and submitted to governmental institutions for the required approval. In the agricultural business the so-called 'green revolution' is well under way with many new products designed in order to appeal to farmers or to consumers. The increasing pace of introduction of new biotech products—particularly drugs and agrochemical (Ag) foods—leads firms to look for collaborations in the different phases of the introduction process. Basing on an empirical study conducted on a sample of 27 organisations involved in the process of introduction of biotech products, the paper aims at comparing and contrasting the nature and the processes involved in inter-institutional collaborations occurring at various stages of new product development and commercialisation of new biotech products (particularly drugs and Ag foods).     

解释天生全球型企业：国际化过程的一个组织学习视角

1.导言在过去的10年内,有关企业国际化发展过程的文献更多的关注“天生全球化企业”或“国际新企业”(Moen,2002;Moen和servais,2002),即那些从其建立开始就通过在许多国家开展经营而取得竞争优势的企业(Oviatt和mcdougall,1994)。事实已经表明天生全球     

Organizational Learning in Successful East Asian Firms: Principles, Practices, and Prospects

Guided by Marquardt’s system-linked organizational learning model, this article investigates the nature of and limits to latecomer–catchup learning engaged in by East Asian firms within the electronics industry over the past three decades. This is basically an adaptive, re-active, single-loop form of learning that emphasizes speed and enlargement of market share at the expense of technological depth and breadth. Challenges for the 21st century revolve around the need to make a transition from reverse engineering to breakthrough engineering; from an efficiency-centered to a creativity-propelled mode of competitive stance; and from knowledge exploitation to knowledge exploration in new critical areas such as design, software engineering, new product/process development, marketing, R&D, management of strategic alliances with international partners, and the development of a vibrant local components and capital goods network.     

Knowledge Management Capabilities for Steel Makers: A British-Japanese Corporate Alliance for Organizational Learning

This paper draws on a detailed case-study of a technical alliance between British Steel Strip Products (BSSP) and a leading Japanese steel company which was established to help the UK producer improve its product quality, its production control management and its customer links with Japanese car company transplants in the UK. The study is one of a series of comparisons of leading UK and Japanese manufacturing companies, from the steel, aerospace, telecoms and chemical industries. The overall project has been funded under the ESRC Innovation Programme. Evidence of the success of the alliance is illustrated in a series of graphs depicting the reduction in scrap and steel losses from particular BSSP mill sites and clear improvements in quality and productivity levels at these sites. The case-study traces these improvements back to specific management practices transferred from the Japanese producer as part of the alliance. Detailed evidence comes from the activities of 'Task Teams' which were assembled, with engineers from the Japanese companies as team members, to identify key quality problems at the mill sites and initiate procedural changes to overcome them. Using this empirical foundation the paper explores and develops a number of key concepts believed to be increasingly important within the broader analysis of organisational change and innovation at the firm level. The corporate 'capabilities' approach and 'knowledge-based' theories of the firm are brought together to help identify differences between the two firms and explain the resulting effects on company performance. The main focus in on 'knowledge management practices', including practices and procedures governing project management, inter-divisional coordination, management roles, budgeting and resource allocation, networking and information exchange, human resource development, employee motivation and so on, in each of the firms. The study highlights important differences between the two firms in terms of how specialist knowledge is developed, deployed, integrated and exploited or 'leveraged' for manufacturing innovation (quality control improvements at the mill sites). This also encourages intra-firm knowledge flows between technical support departments, R&D and production sites. The case study of the alliance represents an unusually clear illustration of how some knowledge management practices are more difficult to transfer between firms because they are more deeply 'embedded', that is, highly dependent on broader contextual factors (knowledge resources, organisational structure, culture etc.,) to operate effectively. Broader changes are more difficult to implement and usually take much longer. Moreover, as shown by other studies looking at the transferability of Japanese management practices, some changes, though leading to performance improvements, are probably not possible and/or desirable. The study therefore provides some insights into the capacity for and limits of various kinds of organisational innovation in the British firm.     

The Internationalisation of Cooperatives: The Case of the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation

Abstract: This paper outlines the internationalisation process of cooperatives in an economic environment determined by economic globalisation. The analysis is focused on the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation (MCC) in the Basque Country which is a point of reference for participatory enterprises all over the world. MCC is currently adapting to changing market conditions and pursuing a strategy of direct investment (joint ventures, greenfield investment and acquisitions) in priority international markets. Thus, the first part of the study is about the current situation: the problems and consequences related to the internationalisation process of the MCC. In the second part, we consider an analytical framework for developing measures and strategies which could facilitate international expansion but in a manner which is more in line with cooperative values. The third part focuses on the presentation and discussion, based on this analytical framework, of a number of proposals made within the MCC on international social‐economic policy.     

Research Networks And Organisational Mobility In An Emerging Technological Field: The Case Of Plant Biotechnology

This paper builds on social network theory to understand technological development. Based on the empirical evidence of 367 research organisations in plant biotechnology over a nineteen-year period, we demonstrate how a structural analysis of the research network within the technological community is used to identify four collaboration-based strategic groups of research organisations. The emergence of these groups can be linked to technological breakthroughs in the field. Analyses of the four clusters point to the influence of research collaborations on stratification within an evolving technological domain. Finally, as archival data sources are used to detect incidences of collaborative research and to trace the evolution of R&D networks in an emerging field, we conclude with a discussion of the potential contribution of bibliometric data to understand the development of new technologies in their early, pre-commercial phases.     

Compatibility Standards And Industry Competition: Two Case Studies

Case histories of two data communication interfaces provide evidence of complex strategic behavior in the setting of voluntary compatibility standards. These cases show how subtle differences in the design of standards development organizations affect incentives to cooperate, giving rise to systematic venue preferences. Dominant firms prefer more bureaucratic procedures offering greater protection for the status quo. The two interfaces, FDDI (under development in X3) and DQDB (under development in the IEEE) shed light on competition between the computer and telecommunications industries and the evolution of our communications infrastructure. They demonstrate the importance of standards for intra- and inter-industry competition.     

The Organizational Embeddedness of Social Capital: A Comparative Case Study of Two Voluntary Organizations

Social capital is a popular, but contested concept. It draws attention to the way in which social relations and constructed forms of social organization can produce outcomes on individual and collective levels. However, it is often founded on individualistic, rational-choice models of human behavior that neglect its embeddedness. I explore the embeddedness of social capital through a comparative case study of two voluntary sport organizations in the UK. Through close analysis of in-depth interviews and longitudinal observation, I look at the processes of social capital development and the way socio-organizational context and identity shape these processes.