The videotex marketplace: A theory of evolution

Prospects for videotex in general and for business videotex applications in particular, are still highly controversial and speculative. There is growing agreement, however, that the future of videotex as a mass medium may hinge on its initial acceptance as a business tool. The authors present their views on the factors that will influence the use of videotex in business; how it may evolve as a business tool; and how its early impact in the business environment may eventually be the cause of its acceptance as a mass consumer medium.     

Walloon & Flemish videotex trials

This article focuses on the problems surrounding ‘compunication’, ie the growing imbrication between electronic computers and telecommunications. (The corresponding French term is télématique). More precisely, the specific problems of videotex systems thrown up by different experiments in Belgium are examined. The CCITT of the ITU uses the term videotex as the generic name referring to all systems that make it possible to gain information through telecommunication networks (Hertzian waves, cable TV distribution networks or telephone lines). Requested information appears on a TV screen (at home, in a place of work or in a public place).     

The public service potential of videotex and teletext

There are many public service applications for videotext such as closed captioning, librabry resources, educational aids, and dissemination of agricultural, community, and government information. Because videotext developed in a commercial environment, these applications have not yet been fully realized. However, a number of small scale experiments are being conducted in several countries. The author reviews the most noteworthy of these experiments. He also raises a number of policy questions concerning future use of vodeotext for public service.     

The Green thumb videotex experiment: Evaluation and policy implications

The authors report on an evaluation of Green Thumb, a videotex experiment carried out by the Cooperative Extension Service and the US Department of Agriculture. Green Thumb provided marketing, weather and other information to 200 farm families in Kentucky. The experiment was a successful demonstration of the concept of providing farming information via new communication technologies, but the specific configuration and organizational arrangements will have to be improved in future systems. Policy issues concerning the role of USDA in future agricultural systems are discussed.     

A government point of view

The prime responsibility of government is to try not only to foresee but also to prepare the future. As far as possible, it must anticipate developments and encourage those that favour the general wellbeing, and discourage the others if it can. Scientific and technological progress constitutes one of the determining factors, if not the principal factor, in the development of our society. The subject of the responsibility of research and development towards society must therefore be of the greatest interest to a politician.     

A resource-based view of the firm

The paper explores the usefulness of analysing firms from the resource side rather than from the product side. In analogy to entry barriers and growth-share matrices, the concepts of resource position barrier and resource-product matrices are suggested. These tools are then used to highlight the new strategic options which naturally emerge from the resource perspective.     

A utopian view of R&D functions

Technology management research appears to have a much longer history than is commonly assumed. In this short paper attention is drawn to some of Francis Bacon's writings which appeared in the early seventeenth century, and which contain ideas on laboratory organization that still have relevance today. In fact, it is only recently that the same broadness of laboratory functions described in the earlier text has been re–discovered.     

Dark side of relationships: A tensions-based view

By drawing on the tensions-based view to depict the components of the dark side of relationships, this study presents a conceptual model explaining how the dark side of relationships can moderate the positive relationship between relationship quality and relationship function. The authors test the hypotheses via a mail survey involving 136 manufacturing firms. The results support the hypotheses, which posit that relationship quality is positively associated with relationship function. Moreover, the empirical results partially support the argument of the author that the influence of relationship quality on relationship function is strengthened or weakened when three relationship tensions (namely, behavioral, structural, and psychological tension) are balanced or imbalanced. Theoretical and managerial implications are extracted from this study, and potential future research directions.     

Agribusiness and FAO: A critical view

The author seeks to redress the balance of views expressed about the role of industry in the UN system. He does this through a redefinition of the links in the Industry Cooperative Programme of FAO and its perceived role and a critique of the article by Kimberley Albright et al in the February 1977 issue of Food Policy.     

A sociological view on why firms differ

Much theory and research that apparently seeks to explain why firms differ actually addresses the question of why successful firms differ. This article explains why the two questions are different and explores some of the implications of this difference for the field of strategic management. A wide variety of organizational and economic theories are reviewed in this context, including contingency theory, resource dependence theory, process models, dispositional models, transaction cost economics, organizational ecology and institutional theory. Further discussion considers why heterogeneity persists at the firm level when it becomes apparent that only certain types of firms will succeed.     

The cornerstones of competitive advantage: A resource-based view

This paper elucidates the underlying economics of the resource-based view of competitive advantage and integrates existing perspectives into a parsimonious model of resources and firm performance. The essence of this model is that four conditions underlie sustained competitive advantage, all of which must be met. These include superior resources (heterogeneity within an industry), ex post limits to competition, imperfect resource mobility, and ex ante limits to competition. In the concluding section, applications of the model for both single business strategy and corporate strategy are discussed.     

Uncertain prospects for ISDN : A Spanish view

Operators of telecommunications networks, network systems manufacturers and policy markers have placed their hopes on ISDN for a stable and brilliant telecommunications future. However, non-voice service providers, customer premises equipment manufacturers and large users fear that the envisaged network approach will not serve their future requirements. Telecommunications networks will have a strategic importance in national economic development. It is important not to constrain that development by tying them to an inappropriate and inflexible network structure. In this article the uncertainties of the ISDN network are reviewed, questions are raised and the evolution of the network is examined, from the perspective of the actors involved in the sector: large users, equipment manufacturers, policy makers and service providers.     

Industrial global brand leadership: A capabilities view

We examine the global branding programs of five New Zealand industrial firms and identify the salient components and capabilities underpinning these programs. The cases built their respective brand identities around adaptability to customer needs and the provision of a total solution. This identity was built around five capabilities: relational support, coordinating network players, leveraging brand architecture, adding value, and quantifying the intangible. Underpinning these identity promises were five organizational level supportive capabilities: entrepreneurial, reflexive, innovative, brand supportive dominant logic, and executional capabilities. This approach resulted in global brand leadership, but also reflected the fundamental differences between the B2C and B2B realms.     

A Bayesian operationalization of the resource‐based view

This paper argues that the gap between the theoretical utility and the practical utility of the resource‐based view (RBV) may be narrowed by operationalizing the theory more consistently with Penrose's original framework. The operationalization proposed here is a twofold approach. First, the RBV may be enhanced by the explicit recognition of Penrose's two classes of resources, namely, administrative resources and productive resources. This distinction suggests a focus on the administrative decisions of managers that lead to economic performance. Second, we argue that the RBV is a theory about extraordinary performers or outliers—not averages. Therefore, the statistical methods used in applying the theory must account for individual firm differences, and not be based on means, which statistically neutralize firm differences. We propose a novel Bayesian hierarchical methodology to examine the relationship between administrative decisions and economic performance over time. We develop and explain a measure of competitive advantage that goes beyond comparisons of economic performance. This Bayesian methodology allows us to make meaningful probability statements about specific, individual firms and the effects of the administrative decisions examined in this study. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reconceptualizing the elements of market orientation: A process-based view

Market Orientation (MO) was originally introduced with a reflective second-order scale, but much recent research has conceptualized MO as a formative second-order construct. However, either the reflective or the formative approach to measuring MO may have issues that obscure relationships between both the individual dimensions and their relationships with other variables. Thus, the current research disaggregates the MO construct into three sub-constructs in an effort to explore relationships between the three dimensions of MO and its implementation process within the firm. The proposed Market Intelligence Implementation Process (MIIP) model suggests both a direct path from intelligence generation to responsiveness and an indirect path through a company-wide focus on dissemination. The process model suggests that firms may select two distinctly different paths to responsiveness when applying market intelligence. Explicating this dual process model allows us to understand how firm characteristics impact the process of MO through the individual elements. If the three sub-constructs do not vary in concert with each other, researchers cannot simply conclude that a firm characteristic (i.e., centralization or international experience) positively or negatively impacts MO's relationship to important marketing variables. The results indicate that for centralized and experienced firms, a high level of intelligence dissemination may actually hinder responsiveness. However, in decentralized and inexperienced firms, high levels of dissemination are linked to increased responsiveness. Using conditional process modeling, our study disaggregates the temporally distinct process of MO to reveal internal relationships among its dimensions. The current research also shows that the mediation of intelligence dissemination on the link between intelligence generation and responsiveness depends on the firm's levels of both centralization and international experience.     

Venture capital in China: A view from Europe

This article provides commentary on the analysis of venture capital in China by Ahlstrom, Bruton, and Yeh (Venture capital in China: Past, present, and future. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 2007). The article considers issues relating to the scope of venture capital and private equity, the nature of venture capital and private equity organizations, the life-cycle process of VC investing, internationalization, and foreign venture capital firms. The paper identifies areas for future research and compares the Chinese VC context with those in Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe.