Competing Research Joint Ventures

Research and development (R&D) competition among firms has recently been extended to R&D competition involving research joint ventures. It was previously shown that in an industry conducting cost-reducing R&D followed by competition in the product market, if all firms both fully share R&D information and coordinate investments to maximize pint profits, final products prices are lower, and firms' profits are higher than with information shriving alone, joint profit maximization alone, or no cooperation. In this paper we question whether a single research joint venture (RJV) cartel is the best form of industry R&D coordination. We show that there are circumstances in which splitting a single RJV cartel into several competing ones yields lower product prices. Moreover, we show that in these circumstances, splitting the industry into exactly two competing RJV cartels would be best.     

Resources,Knowledge and Influence: The Organizational Effects of Interorganizational Collaboration*

ABSTRACT Inter‐organizational collaboration has been linked to a range of important outcomes for collaborating organizations. The strategy literature emphasizes the way in which collaboration between organizations results in the sharing of critical resources and facilitates knowledge transfer. The learning literature argues that collaboration not only transfers existing knowledge among organizations, but also facilitates the creation of new knowledge and produce synergistic solutions. Finally, research on networks and interorganizational politics suggests that collaboration can help organizations achieve a more central and influential position in relation to other organizations. While these effects have been identified and discussed at some length, little attention has been paid to the relationship between them and the nature of the collaborations that produce them. In this paper, we present the results of a qualitative study that examines the relationship between the effects of interorganizational collaboration and the nature of the collaborations that produce them. Based on our study of the collaborative activities of a small, nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Palestine over a four‐year period, we argue that two dimensions of collaboration – embeddedness and involvement – determine the potential of a collaboration to produce one or more of these effects.     

Effects of enterprise technology on supply chain collaboration: analysis of China-linked supply chain

Supply chain collaboration has received increasing attention from scholars and practitioners in recent years. However, our understanding of how enterprise information technology facilitates supply chain collaboration is still very limited, especially with regard to Chinese enterprise ownerships such as state-owned firms, joint-venture firms and local village-owned firms. This paper extends the theory established in enterprise information technology (IT) and supply chain collaboration literature and relates it with coordination in China-linked supply chain. Drawing upon an empirical study from 177 Chinese companies, we provide three major findings: (i) uncovered the importance of leveraging enterprise IT through supply chain collaboration; (ii) identified the relationship between enterprise ownership and enterprise technology use and supply chain collaboration in China-linked supply chain and (iii) illustrated effects of supply chain collaborative activities on operational and market performance.     

Inter-organizational Collaboration and the Dynamics of Institutional Fields

While many aspects of the collaborative process have been discussed in the management literature, the connection between collaboration and the dynamics of institutional fields has remained largely unconsidered. Yet, collaboration is an important arena for inter–organizational interaction and, therefore, a potentially important context for the process of structuration upon which institutional fields depend. In this paper, we argue that institutionalization and collaboration are interdependent; institutional fields provide the rules and resources upon which collaboration is constructed, while collaboration provides a context for the ongoing processes of structuration that sustain the institutional fields of the participants.     

Navigating through firm–environmental groups' relationships: The impact of societal trust on corporate environmental strategy

This study examines the impact of societal trust on corporate environmental strategy with particular reference to the firm–environmental groups' relationship, which has received very little attention in trust literature. Using data on 2332 firms from 16 countries, we find that societal trust exerts a negative effect on the likelihood of ISO 14001 certification. The negative relationship between societal trust and the likelihood of ISO 14001 is more pronounced for firms having intense collaboration with environmental groups. However, this effect appears to be weak in higher market uncertainty. These findings, besides significantly adding to the literature, have practical and managerial implications.     

How can organizations use wikis for innovation?

Wikis were first developed over 15 years ago. Research has shown that organizational or corporate wikis are sustainable and can be beneficial to organizations particularly in improving work processes, collaboration and knowledge management. However, there has been little research done to show how organizations can use wikis to support innovation processes. To bridge this gap, this paper explores how wikis can be used in different stages of innovation. We review existing literature as well as analyze case studies of wikis deployed in four organizations in order to highlight how wikis can be used to address challenges of knowledge management and collaboration in different stages of innovation from idea generation to commercialization. In particular, we propose a model that explains how wikis require a clear purpose for their use, a culture of collaboration, and integration within a formal innovation process.     

Assessing the contingent effects of collaboration on agility performance in buyer–supplier relationships

Several studies in the buyer–supplier relationship literature have addressed the impact of collaboration on agility performance. While some studies have concluded that collaboration leads to beneficial effects, others have questioned the positive effects of collaboration on relationship performance. Drawing on contingency theory and transaction cost economics (TCE), we seek to better understand the linkage among collaboration, trust and agility performance in a buyer–supplier relationship. Further, we study the contingent influence of requirements certainty and supplier asset specificity, two key TCE constructs in buyer–supplier relationships, on the collaboration–agility performance relationship. We show that while trust mediates the impact of collaboration on agility performance, the indirect effect of collaboration on agility performance via trust is significant only beyond a threshold level of collaboration. The theoretical implication of this result is that the performance relationship is non-linear, a result that has not been recognized in current literature. The practical implication is that organizations need to establish a certain level of collaboration before its positive impact can be realized. In addition, we show that the impact of collaboration on agility performance in buyer–supplier sourcing relationships can be positive, negative or neutral depending on the levels of trust, supplier asset specificity and requirements certainty, emphasizing the need to develop contingency theories.     

An empirical study of the impact of e-business technologies on organizational collaboration and performance

The use of e-business technologies between supply chain organizations has been thematic in recent literature. Organizational collaboration, the foundation of supply chain management, has been enabled by the development and use of e-business technologies. Organizational collaboration and information sharing, in turn, are expected to improve organizational performance. We propose and test a model of the relationship between organizational use of e-business technologies, organizational collaboration, and performance, using empirical data. Our model differs from past studies in that collaboration is viewed as two unique constructs, differentiating between intra- and inter-organizational collaboration. Our findings show that use of e-business technologies impacts performance both directly and indirectly by promoting both measures of collaboration. Intra-firm collaboration is also found to have a direct impact on organizational performance. However, the impact of inter-organizational collaboration on performance is found to be only indirect, through the impact of intra-organizational collaboration. These findings reveal the complexity of organizational collaboration, underscore the importance for companies to promote internal collaboration, and invest in information technologies that facilitate it.     

The effect of collaboration network on inventors' job match,productivity and tenure

It has been argued in the economic literature that job search through informal job networks improves the employer–employee match quality. This paper argues that inventors' research collaboration networks reduce the uncertainty of firms about the match qualities of inventors prior to hiring. We estimate the effect of inventors' collaboration networks on their productivity and mobility using the U.S. patent application database. It is found that networked inventors are more productive and have longer tenure than non-networked inventors. The evidence from fixed-effect regressions shows that the higher productivity and longer tenure of networked inventors are not solely attributable to unobserved ability of inventors or unobserved characteristics of firms. These results are consistent with the job match hypothesis between inventors and firms through their collaboration networks.     

University-industry innovation collaboration: Reconceptualization

This study investigates university-industry (U-I) innovation collaboration and proposes a renewed and empirically tested conceptual approach to analyse it. The motivation for the research emerged from the realisation that the majority of studies on university-industry innovation collaboration on organisational level present limited verification of why some seemingly similar collaboration projects fail while others thrive. Therefore, we aimed for reconceptualization of the way university-industry collaboration is analysed by developing the respective approach that was empirically tested via multiple case-study research of 12 cases. The approach combines elements of the U-I collaboration literature with a model of interaction from semiotics and boundary-crossing ideas from organisation theory. The novelty of this approach lies in explaining the heterogeneity and variation of U-I collaboration on individual level. The interaction model from the semiotics enables distinct U-I collaboration patterns to emerge. In a two-dimensional model it becomes clear that choosing the appropriate partner for potentially successful collaboration means matching the levels of preconditions between partners. The main contribution of this study is twofold: an interdisciplinary approach for analysing U-I collaboration using a multiple case-study research design and the explanation of relevant preconditions – individual rather than institutional levels of motivation and absorptive capacity – as critical aspects that determine the likelihood of the success or failure of such collaboration.     

V-ROOM: a virtual meeting system with intelligent structured summarisation

With the growth of virtual organisations and multinational companies, virtual collaboration tasks are becoming more important for employees. This paper describes the development of a virtual meeting system called V-ROOM. An exploration of facilities required in such a system has been conducted. The findings highlighted that intelligent systems are needed, especially since information that individuals have to know and process is vast. The survey results showed that meeting summarisation is one of the most important new features that should be added to virtual meeting systems for enterprises. This paper highlights the innovative methods employed in V-ROOM to produce relevant meeting summaries. V-ROOM’s approach is compared to other methods from the literature, and it is shown how the use of metadata provided by parts of the V-ROOM system can improve the quality of summaries produced.     

RJVs in product innovation and cartel stability

Abstract. We characterise the interplay between firms' decision in product development undertaken through a research joint venture (RJV), and the nature of their ensuing market behaviour. Participant firms in an RJV face a trade-off between saving the costs of product innovation by developing similar products to one another, e.g., by sharing most of the basic components of their products, and investing higher initial efforts in product innovation in order to develop more distinct products. We prove that the more the firms' products are distinct and thus less substitutable, the easier their collusion is to sustain in the marketing supergame, either in prices (Bertrand) or in quantities (Cournot). This gives rise to a non-monotone dependence of firms' product portfolio upon their intertemporal preferences. Received: 1 October 1998 / Accepted: 14 December 2002 We thank the seminar audience at Centre for Industrial Economics, University of Copenhagen, where all three authors were affiliated at the time we presented the first draft of this paper, and also the two anonymous referees for Review of Economic Design for their detailed comments. The usual disclaimer applies.     

External stakeholder engagement: Complementary and substitutive effects on firms' eco-innovation

In this paper, we investigate whether firms' engagements in collaboration agreements with different types of external stakeholders produce complementary effects on the likelihood of eco-innovation. Although collaboration network and open eco-innovation theories affirm that the combination of external partners such as scientific partners, suppliers and customers produces complementary effects on the firm's likelihood of eco-innovation, several empirical studies found the existence of substitutive effects between them. To bridge this gap in the literature, we shape the nature of the interaction between different external partners, analysing an unbalanced panel sample of 10,918 innovative Spanish firms, covering the period 2008–2016. Consequently, we can show how firms benefit the most from collaboration with external partners. Our results show that firms that simultaneously collaborate with scientific partners, suppliers and customers generate partial complementary effects, which increase the firm's likelihood to eco-innovate the most, and that the combination of customer-collaboration with scientific partners, or supplier-collaboration, produces partial substitutive effects. Taking this in account, our results also confirm that engaging with scientific partners, suppliers or customers, independent of one another, increases firms' likelihood of eco-innovation more than noncollaboration. These results have important implications for managers, researchers and policy designers. For managers, this study provides a correct understanding of the benefits that they can expect to obtain from multi-partner external collaboration. For researchers, it introduces the marginal analysis to estimate interaction on nonlinear models. Finally, for policy designers, it shows the need for sponsored R&D collaboration to encourage coordinated ecosystems in which sustainability goals are pursued together.     

支持过程协同的敏捷化制造执行管理案例研究——以东北特钢集团为例

制造执行过程协同管理是增强企业快速市场响应能力的关键环节。本文以钢铁企业为研究对象,从支持制造过程协同的视角,系统地研究了敏捷化制造执行管理模式的运作机理及其构建问题。针对具有代表性案例企业的生产制造特点和实际管理问题,通过深入分析敏捷化制造执行管理模式的应用架构、实现过程及实施成效,分别从微观运行背景、协同关系及演化、关键构成要素三个方面阐明敏捷化制造执行管理模式的协同运作机理。案例研究表明：支持过程协同的敏捷化制造执行管理模式,能够有效地解决制造资源的快速动态配置和制造过程的业务协同运作问题,对提高企业的快速响应制造能力具有支撑作用。     

政策网络的结构与治理:以我国房地产宏观调控政策为例

房地产的宏观调控是我国政府公共管理能力的核心体现,然而,近年来其调控效果并不显著.作为一种新兴的分析工具--政策网络能较好地掌握与处理多元角色参与公共政策制定的议题.因此,本文从政策网络的视角,通过理论研究和案例分析,探讨房地产政策网络的结构特征及其治理机制.研究发现:我国房地产宏观调控的困境关键在于政策网络的开放度太...     

Transdisciplinary Research in Sustainable Operations – An Application to Closed‐Loop Supply Chains

This contribution provides implications for academic research and practitioners, as it identifies the lack, necessity and major benefits of transdisciplinary research and the collaboration of academics and industry in order to fulfill the goals of a sustainable supply chain. Closed‐loop supply chain management is a major contributor to implementing sustainable operations. An essential prerequisite for successful realization is the expertise and cooperation of representatives from engineering, management and natural sciences as well as practice. We identify a need for transdisciplinary collaboration within two steps. First, a literature review points out that various research disciplines as well as practice mostly operate in isolation. Second, we develop a framework that highlights the benefits of collaboration between these research areas. This paper provides an overview to better understand current trends in this complex field, which is a rich area for research that is still in its infancy. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

The effects of inter-industry and country difference in supplier relationships on pioneering innovations

Innovations are critical driving forces for firms to engage in corporate growth and new business development. Innovating firms are increasingly generating new knowledge in collaboration with partners. In this paper, we analyze how the knowledge differences between the innovating firms and their suppliers in Canada are likely to result in pioneering innovations. The knowledge difference is decomposed into two dimensions: the inter-industrial dimension and the geographic dimension in national context. Using the Canadian Innovation database, we found the inter-industry difference has a positive effect and the country difference has a negative effect on the likelihood of generating pioneering innovation. The findings of this paper suggest that for generating pioneering innovation, it is important not only to search for suppliers from different industries to get access to various complementary external knowledge sources but also to find suppliers from the same or nearby countries for the sake of communication and coordination.     

Base-of-the-Pyramid-Strategien in Emerging Markets: Interorganisationales Lernen zur Kreation von Innovationen in sektorübergreifenden Partnerschaften

Cross-sector partnerships are essential to enter market segments at the “Base of the Pyramid” (BoP). Co-creation of innovative products, services, and inclusive business model are desired outcomes of collaboration. However, this is rarely achieved. BoP research still lacks empirical analyses of preconditions and the process of cross sector collaboration. Based on interorganizational learning literature this paper develops a research model for empirical evaluations. Motivation, receptiveness, and transparency are identified as major preconditions of interorganizational learning. Without an interorganizational learning process co-creation of pioneering solutions is unlikely to occur in cross-sector partnerships.     

THEORY AND EVIDENCE IN PSYCHOLOGY AND ECONOMICS ABOUT MOTIVATION CROWDING OUT: A POSSIBLE CONVERGENCE?

The empirical relevance of motivation crowding out is a controversial issue in economics and psychology. As already pointed out by Frey and Jegen ( 2001 ), this is partly due to the historical development of two distinct and parallel strands of literature that stem from different theoretical traditions, have radically different tenets and therefore, are difficult to reconcile. In this survey, we go back to the details of the debates that took place independently among psychologists and economists, and sketch an integrative interdisciplinary approach likely to favor a more fruitful collaboration between economics and psychology. From this perspective, experimental economics (both field and laboratory) is viewed as a major research field shedding new light on the conditions of relevance of motivation crowding out.     

Innovator networks and regional knowledge base

Although network analysis has gained increasing attention over the last years, the literature on Regional Innovation Systems thus far has not embraced network methods. This study is an attempt to enrich the Regional Innovation System concept by applying social network methods to quantitatively assess the extent to which innovating actors in a region engage in systemic forms of knowledge exchange and collaboration. On the basis of a comparison of three rather different regional innovator networks, the paper suggests that regions with a strong knowledge base that are specialized in broad technology fields tend to have relatively fragmented network structures.