A THREE‐STAGE IMPLEMENTATION MODEL FOR SUPPLY CHAIN COLLABORATION

Leading companies know that collaboration and creativity in supply chain (SC) relationships are critical to future competitiveness. Yet, many companies struggle to collaborate effectively. This reality raises the question: “How can managers overcome the cultural and structural impediments to SC collaboration?” Through a series of in-depth, semi-structured interviews, we identify core practices and key requirements to successful SC collaboration. Contingency and force field theories help transform our field study findings into a three-stage model for improving SC collaboration. The constant challenge of persuading other managers and companies to pursue SC collaboration highlights the need for a proven-path approach to SC collaboration.     

Riding the Rapids

In this second of the 1997 Stockton lectures, Martin Sorrell uses his experience as Chief Executive of the communication services group WPP to describe how to ride the rapids of the new technology without falling in. A key challenge is communication and integration within companies. The author assesses the opportunities offered by the new media for building brands and sales – and their limitations.     

"Make or break" strategy: the great Channel 3 licence race

The Channel 3 licence auction provides a classic case of a "make or break"strategy decision. For the Government, it was a mixed success – with successful companies carrying away valuable licences by making the minimum bids – although a fairly exacting test of the principle. For the companies, a world where cost control, and its relationship with quality, was of secondary importance became one in which a cost conscious culture could afford the players powerful advantages – both in winning a franchise and in profitably operating it afterwards. Positioning to survive and prosper in this new world often needs to start well before the make or break point. The key role is understanding the behaviour of competitors, governments and auctioneers or other parties involved.     

Distribution: Japan's Hidden Advantage

For the exporter the distribution channel is critical. It determines the presentation of products to the customer. It is often argued that the complexity of Japanese distribution channels is an important barrier to Western exporters. Whilst this is true, Japanese exporters faced an equal hurdle in exporting to the West. The key to overcoming this hurdle has been a strategy of significant investment by Japanese companies in distribution. This strategy is a central – although often unrecognised – factor in the success of Japanese exporters to the West. It is Japan's "hidden advantage".     

Risk and Return in the 20th and 21st Centuries

The single most important contemporary issue in finance is the equity risk premium. This drives future equity returns, and is the key determinant of the cost of capital. The risk premium – the expected reward for bearing the risk of investing in equities, rather than in low-risk investments such as bills or bonds – is usually estimated from historical data. This article starts by summarising new evidence on historical returns in twelve major world markets from the authors' recent book, 'The Millennium Book: A Century of Investment Returns'. The authors show that the historical equity risk premium has been lower than previously believed, and argue that the future risk premium is likely to be lower still. They discuss what this implies for the cost of capital, stock market values, and companies' target rates of return. They suggest that many companies are seeking too high a rate of return and thus run the risk of under-investing.     

Realization of Open Innovation: A Case Study in the Manufacturing Industry

Continuous innovation is regarded as an imperative for most companies. In this regard, open innovation suggests a successful approach to new product development, wherein the emphasis is on external collaboration. Previous research has provided examples from some industries, whereas mature and traditional companies such as manufacturing firms have gained limited interest. Thus, this paper seeks to answer two critical questions: why should manufacturing companies shift toward open innovation approaches and how can they adopt open innovation for product development. Based on case study in two companies, a list of opportunities, challenges, and efforts for organizational change toward open innovation are discussed.     

Entrepreneurship and strategic thinking in business ecosystems

Success in business ecosystems that include well-established companies and new ventures requires collaboration and competition, a task that demands strategic thinking to leverage a firm's resources and capabilities. Strategic thinking and the entrepreneurial activities in an ecosystem influence one another in a cycle that perpetuates and even sparks innovation. These interactions vary significantly across four types of business ecosystems—Orchestra, Creative Bazaar, Jam Central, and MOD Station—and determine the success and failures of new ventures and established companies. The nature and effect of the dynamic interactions in a business ecosystem can have profound implications for organizational success.     

The social and ethical alchemy: an integrative approach to social and ethical accountability

In recent years there has been an explosion of interest by companies in developing approaches to instill values in their decision-making processes and to manage and report on their social performance. The emerging field of social and ethical accounting, auditing and reporting (SEAAR) is characterised by considerable differentiation not only in terminology, but also in methodology and focus. This article aims to analyse the key conceptual and methodological differences between internally focussed approaches to SEAAR, dealing with ethics (behavioural) issues, and externally focussed approaches to SEAAR, dealing with social (stakeholder) issues.
In their discussion of the benefits and potential pitfalls of exclusively internally or externally focussed approaches the authors suggest two organisational metaphors as heuristics – the Cultish and the Chameleon organisation. The authors then propose an integrative approach to SEAAR which will overcome this dissonance and initiate a mutually reinforcing process that, in the long-term, can build both internal trust and cohesiveness and external credibility. The suggested approach is characterised as social and ethical alchemy since the aim is to achieve more than the sum of the two separate parts – a business ethics programme and a social reporting process – by creating leverage and synergy between the key components.     

Coworking spaces: Understanding,using, and managing sociomateriality

Companies increasingly embrace the new types of work associated with coworking spaces. Coworking spaces started with the idea of a melting pot of open social interaction, collaboration, entrepreneurship, and innovation for freelancers, new ventures, or solo entrepreneurs. Companies may use coworking spaces to invigorate targets and further motivate and inspire their employees. Fundamental to achieving those targets is the coworking space’s interior design and architecture that incorporates emotional and social values that may benefit companies. Our sociomateriality perspective helps to analyze conditions in coworking spaces and guides suggestions on how companies revitalize by using coworking spaces. The purposeful design of the different social and work areas in coworking spaces can improve communication, collaboration, and innovation in companies.     

Channel Collaboration,Market Orientation and Performance Advantages: Discovering Developed and Emerging Markets

Abstract

Channel collaboration has occupied an increasingly prominent role in contemporary business strategy, and has been considered a key driver for providing value for the partnering firms involved. Drawing on the resource based theory of the firm, the present study aims to explore the effects of collaborative capability and market orientation on firms' performance advantages in the context of marketing channels. We also investigate whether the firms in developed and emerging markets significantly differ in their capability profiles. The data consists of 545 responses to a survey of small, medium-sized and large companies representing the grocery goods sector (manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers) in nine countries. In line with the theory, channel collaboration enhances positional and performance advantages of firms, and this collaboration is shaped by the type of economy adopted.     

Made in Europe: Small Companies

This is the third report on the 'Made in Europe' research programme. Earlier reports concentrated on the maturity of implementation of 'best practice' in both the design and manufacturing processes of larger European companies. Here, the authors shift the focus to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) particularly in Britain and Italy. While few SMEs are in the world-class category, small company practices are customer-oriented, responsiveness-focused and concerned with new products. SMEs' competitive edge typically comes from speed, responsiveness and closeness to customers. SMEs exhibit a greater level of confidence than larger companies in their ability to make change, but neglect training and education. Within the SME sector there are sharp differences between micro (5–20 employees), small (21–50) and medium-sized (51–200) companies while those which are subsidiaries of larger companies have significantly higher levels of best practice. There are differences between countries and regions.     

European and U.S. managers: breaking down the wall

Here, the author describes some key differences between European and U.S. managers and provides a strategy for successful collaboration. These differences could prove crucial for U.S. companies seeking to take advantage of the newly emerging opportunities in Europe.     

Challenges and Opportunities in European Utility Markets

This article calls on companies – and governments – in Europe to welcome competition in their markets. Liberalisation of Europe's utility sectors has lagged behind the Single Market generally, to the detriment of consumers and industrial users – except in telecommunications where new technology has forced the pace. The author argues that the potential advantages for incumbents of loss of domestic market dominance are outweighed by the advantages of embracing competition and access to overseas markets: they benefit from the discipline of benchmarking, lessened regulatory pressures and fewer barriers to access to markets abroad. He compares the strategies of Electricité de France and British Telecom to illustrate this.     

Implementation, communication and benefits of corporate codes of ethics: an international and longitudinal approach for Australia, Canada and Sweden

This paper examines the implementation, communication and benefits of corporate codes of ethics by the top companies operating in Australia, Canada and Sweden. It provides an international comparison across three continents. It is also based on a longitudinal approach where three national surveys were performed in 2001–2002 and replications of the same surveys were performed in 2005–2006. The empirical findings of this research show in all three countries that large organisations indicate a substantial interest in corporate codes of ethics. There are, however, differences in the ways that the companies in each country implement and communicate their corporate codes of ethics and the benefits that they see being derived from them. The longitudinal comparison between 2001–2002 and 2005–2006 indicates changes in the implementation, communication and benefits of corporate codes of ethics in the three countries.     

An integrated approach to managing extended supply chain networks

In an effort to improve their competitive position in a rapidly changing marketplace, many companies have replaced their traditional supply chains with extended supply chain networks built on a foundation of supply chain collaboration. These extended networks require the use of decision support tools and technologies to improve both operating efficiencies and customer service, but many companies have struggled to realize the expected benefits of these tools and the increased collaboration. This article recommends that companies adopt an integrated strategy of people, processes, and technology to achieve their competitive supply chain goals. Our recommendation is backed by the results of a survey we conducted of senior-level practitioners concerning the importance and challenges of supply chain collaboration. The article concludes with a set of managerial recommendations to improve a company’s collaborative efforts within its supply chain.     

Social Media in Organizations: Leveraging Personal and Collective Knowledge Processes

By using social media, many companies try to exploit new forms of interaction, collaboration, and knowledge sharing through leveraging the social, collaborative dimension of social software. The traditional collective knowledge management model based on a top-down approach is now opening up new avenues for a bottom-up approach incorporating a more personal knowledge management dimension, which could be synergized into collective knowledge using the social-collaborative dimension of social media. This article addresses the following questions: (1) How can social media support the management of personal and collective knowledge using a synergetic approach? (2) Do the personal and collective dimensions compete with each other, or can they reinforce each other in a more effective manner using social media?

Our findings indicate that social media supports both the personal and collective dimensions of knowledge, while integrating a social collaborative dimension. The article introduces a framework that classifies social software into four categories according to the level of interaction and control. With certain tools, individuals are more in control. With other tools, the group is in control, resulting in a higher level of interaction and a diversity of knowledge and mindsets brought together. However, deploying and adopting these new tools in an organizational context is still a challenging task for management, owing to both organizational and individual factors.     

Interorganizational Trust and Technology Complexity: Evidence for New Technology‐Based Firms

Integrating the transaction cost economics and relational perspectives, this paper puts forward that technology complexity within new technology‐based firms negatively influences the level of interorganizational trust in key partner relationships. Using a data set of 105 key partner relationships of 59 new technology‐based firms, we find that the new technology‐based firm's level of trust in its key partners is lower when the level of technology complexity is high. Findings further show that both relationship and partner characteristics moderate the technology complexity—trust relationship. These results show that technology complexity as an appropriability mechanism becomes endogenous to collaboration, thereby extending the Teece framework.     

Global competitive conditions driving the manufacturing location decision

Given today's rapidly shifting global competitive conditions—including customer location, natural disasters, currency valuation, labor and transportation costs and availability—many U.S. companies are revisiting decisions about their preferred manufacturing location(s). The purpose of this research is to understand some of the trends that affect whether U.S.-based companies bring their production back to the United States or relocate it to different geographical locations (reshore). The focus is on the key factors that affect companies’ manufacturing location decisions, the importance of these factors, and how the importance has changed over time. Because of the complexity involved in the manufacturing location decision, key risk factors inherent in the manufacturing decision are also assessed. Survey responses from 319 companies that currently manage offshore manufacturing plants are analyzed. Among other insights, this study found that 40% of these companies perceived a trend toward reshoring to the U.S. in their industries. The companies involved in this study also place an increasing importance on where their customers want them to locate, as well as how the location could help expand into new customer markets. These and further results and implications for U.S. manufacturing companies are presented herein.     

Collaborative Strategies in the Event of Technological Discontinuities: The Case of Nokia in the Mobile Telecommunication Industry

The paper examines the extent to which collaboration between large and small companies has been able to deal with the effects of discontinuous technological change. In applying an evolutionary perspective, the paper examines the process by which technological competencies and resources of large firms evolve and its effects on the characteristics of their collaboration with smaller companies. In focusing on the issue of complementary between local and international sourcing of capabilities and resources in the mobile telecommunication industry, it combines an empirical analysis of the structure of Finnish Science Parks with an examination of internationalisation strategies of large Finnish companies. The papershows that Nokia has increasingly become engaged in sourcing capabilities internationally, this might, however, pose some long-term problems for the local embeddedness of the company in Finland.     

Practice creation in multinational corporations: Improvisation and the emergence of lateral knowledge

Lateral collaboration across subsidiaries is beneficial for innovation in multinational corporations (MNCs), such as the creation of new organizational practices, because it helps working towards shared, rather than subsidiary-centric, objectives and creates new knowledge. To instill lateral collaboration, prior research has mainly focused on coordination mechanisms that rely on interpersonal exchanges among dispersed individuals across subsidiaries. However, due to rising concerns over coordination cost and sustainability of international travel, MNCs are increasingly challenged to search for other approaches that require less direct interpersonal interaction across subsidiaries. We, therefore, ask: How can MNCs elicit lateral collaboration during practice creation in a less space-time sensitive way? Drawing on a longitudinal case study, we develop a model of practice creation in MNCs. Our model offers two main insights. First, it details a novel approach for unleashing the benefits of lateral collaboration in globally-linked innovation processes in MNCs. In contrast to emphasizing coordination mechanisms that focus on interpersonal interactions across subsidiaries, our study contributes by detailing the emergence of lateral knowledge through a shared technological artefact as key enabler. Second, our model illuminates how MNCs can innovate new organizational practices that reflect both MNC and local subsidiary needs by adopting an improvisational approach.