Strategiewechsel für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung – Möglichkeiten und Grenzen

Corporate activities and strategic decisions cause several ecological and social problems. However, companies also develop solutions, products and services to face these problems and to create social and ecological development proactively. Against the background of the far-reaching economical and societal change we need sustainable development. Implementing sustainable requirements in corporations necessitates strategic change. Thus, the question arises which influencing factors initiate pro-active or intensive sustainable strategic changes. This question will be addressed on the basis of an empirical analysis of three companies in the business fields chemistry, recycling and information & communication. The study examines the internal (organisational, cultural) and external conditions for pro-active and intensive corporate strategic change. It can be shown that there are various, but different patterns to initiate sustainable strategic changes. The findings highlight the role of visions and options, the companies’ interactions, the role of change agents and management as well as their values and norms, the companies’ history, and the history of business fields.     

Der Markteintritt multinationaler Unternehmungen in Märkte an der Basis der Einkommenspyramide

It has been widely accepted that poverty alleviation can’t be achieved without including the private sector. Especially, foreign multinational companies (MNCs) are highlighted in this context and are considered as a key to unlock the economic potential of low-income markets by linking them with more developed markets and facilitating the transfer of financial and technological resources. The international business literature, however, lacks of theoretical insights and systematic empirical evidence of MNCs entering low-income markets. Therefore, this study sheds light on the questions why MNCs enter low-income markets, how MNCs operate and how they gain knowledge in these markets. Using a multiple case study approach, we analyze MNCs with business activities in low-income markets by taking recourse to the internationalization process model of Johanson and Vahlne. The results reveal that companies develop knowledge by enlarging their mode of market commitment to a new level that exceeds investments of foreign manufacturing and production facilities.     

Interorganisationale Routinen – Entstehung, Implikationen sowie Möglichkeiten und Grenzen einer zielorientierten Gestaltung

The article reviews how inter-organizational routines emerge, how they are refined by agents, and how this influences the trajectories of inter-organizational patterns of action, which are also relevant for emergent activities in dynamic environments. Motivated by empirical results in the “New Media Services” area, an understanding of routines and their precise modeling potential is reflected and conceptually grounded in the context of the (co-)evolutionary competence-based theory of the firm. First implications for a necessary, but also possible routine management are deduced. The self-strengthening effects that occur during the emergence of routines must be recognized and the (limited) possibilities of purposeful control applied, to prevent the danger of unreflecting persistency and narrowed decision capabilities.     

Mythen und Symbole in der Internetökonomie: Das Beispiel Web 2.0

In jüngerer Zeit erfolgen hohe Investitionen in so genannte Web 2.0-Unternehmen, obwohl ihr wirtschaftliches Potenzial ?u?erst unklar ist. Die Ursachen dieser Diskrepanz erschlie?en sich bei Berücksichtigung der Einflüsse des institutionellen Kontextes sowie symbolischer Funktionsmechanismen der Internet?konomie. So verdeutlicht der Beitrag, dass Web 2.0-Gesch?ftsmodelle durch einflussreiche (Rationalit?ts-)Mythen und eine spezifische soziale Symbolik getragen werden. Diese erfüllen zentrale Funktionen für die Weiterentwicklung und ?konomische Durchdringung des von Web 2.0-Gesch?ftsmodellen getragenen Internets. Sie leisten eine Vermittlungsfunktion zwischen den Akteuren der Internet?konomie, indem sie Aufmerksamkeit richten, Interessen bündeln und den Ressourcenzufluss sichern. Ihr funktionaler Beitrag wirkt offensichtlich deutlich st?rker als kritisch kalkulierte Erfolgsprognosen. Angesichts dessen erweist sich die Auseinandersetzung mit Symbolsystemen und Sinnstiftungsprozessen gerade für Internet-Unternehmen als in hohem Ma?e betriebswirtschaftlich relevant.     

Messung und Wirkung von Netzeffekten in der ökonomischen Forschung

Network externalities influence marketing strategies for many innovative goods. We show how network externalities have been measured for specific industries in prior research and compare the various theoretical and empirical results in this paper. Our analysis focuses on research explicitly addressing the effects of network externalities on consumer’s behaviour. Based on the overview of empirical findings we develop implications for managers and scientists and discuss shortcomings of the prior research. Our analysis separates the findings in the respective industries to synthesize the various effects of direct and indirect network externalities. We find strong empirical support for the existence of network externalities, but identify substantial research opportunities.     

Explikation von implizitem Wissen: Stand der Forschung zu Barrieren und Lösungsansätzen

Knowledge management is essential to successful modern organizations. Often times uncovering hidden knowledge is seen as the central challenge in strengthening a company’s competiveness. Therefore a lot of knowledge is collected in extensive storages today. But a substantial part of knowledge is concealed in the minds of staff. That is why the explication of tacit knowledge becomes more and more important. A lot of companies are confronted with a lot of barriers when trying to uncover implicit knowledge, though. As a result the goal of this paper is to identify these barriers structurally to unveil the hidden skills and present different solutions to negotiate these barriers and to be competitive on the market.     

Wissenstransfer in der Betriebswirtschaftslehre: Eine Untersuchung anhand ausgewählter akademischer Zeitschriften in Deutschland und Frankreich

Reviewing and analyzing new research outcomes are important prerequisites for scientific progress. If one interprets science as a universal pursuit of knowledge development, transparency and communication between national scientific systems are indispensable in order to realize international knowledge transfer and diffusion. This article examines on the basis of scientific journals in business administration in Germany and France how and to what extent such a transfer is currently taking place. The results show a high degree of isolation.     

Die Wirkung von Akzent und Dialekt in der internen und externen Kommunikation: Stand der betriebswirtschaftlich orientierten Forschung und Forschungsdirektiven

With growing interest, the importance of speech characteristics is being discussed in business literature. Particularly speech varieties such as a regional dialect or a foreign accent of a speaker affect the success of business interaction significantly. The present paper systematically depicts these effects by conducting a literature review. The underlying processes of accent and dialect effects are discussed and empirical findings of business research are presented. Since this topic is highly interdisciplinary, findings of peripheral research disciplines such as linguistic science and social psychology are integrated. Having given a comprehensive state-of-art review, the present paper develops a theoretical framework, which integrates previous partial theories and the fragmentary empirical findings. Based on this framework, the paper suggests directives for future research.