Industry Interactions in Innovation Systems: A Bibliometric Study

Assorted interactions among the agents in a territory are considered as key elements for its scientific, technological, and innovation development, thus fostering the competitiveness of its business fabric and enhancing the quality of life of its residents. In this context, this article analyses this phenomenon, specifically industry relations with innovation system players (academic, scientific, technological, financing, and facilitating agents) through a bibliometric analysis. The methodology used progresses in three stages: construction of the scientific papers search strategy (published in the ISI Web of Knowledge reference database between 2001 and 2014); its implementation; and the corresponding bibliometric analysis, using the Vantage Point® software as a support tool. Among other aspects, the findings present progress achieved in the research field, together with leading authors, organizations, and countries, as well as with cooperative efforts among them, highlighting the status of this topic in Latin America. Finally, the article concludes that industry relations in innovation systems is a topic that is steadily expanding worldwide, with large numbers of cooperative projects among countries. However, it also shows that this study theme is still incipient in Latin America, not just Brazil.     

Introducing management models in service organisations in developed and developing countries

The aim of this paper is to examine the application of the European Foundation for Quality Management model for self-assessment as a means to introduce changes in management in services in higher education institutions (HEIs) in Spain and in Jordan. This paper uses the case study methodology on eight administrative services in a public university in Spain and seven university services in two Jordanian universities, a public and a private institution. The findings show the steps that an administrative service may follow in order to apply the questionnaire approach successfully in a reform process, the difficulties, the benefits and the success factors in both countries and the consequences of the changes introduced. The study provides lessons for decision makers and managers from other universities in developed and developing countries, who wish to introduce the practice of quality management by creative means. This paper extends knowledge on self-assessment (steps, difficulties, benefits, success factors and changes in management) to services in HEIs.     

A framework to measure the relative socio-economic performance of developing countries

This research develops a framework to estimate the relative efficiency of developing countries in utilizing both their domestic and external resources to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The analysis highlights distinct efficiency differences across lending groups and geographic regions e.g. between Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. The performance of regions exposed to natural disasters and political violence need to be analyzed individually and risk management ought to be an integrated part of development policy. The gap between the Millennium Development Goals and human rights approaches is then examined. Finally, we qualify a country's performance level as potentially sustainable in terms of human, social and environmental welfare, in turn searching for realistic benchmarks and intermediate targets for the relatively inefficient countries. Principal component analysis in combination with data envelopment analysis was applied to solve the problem of efficiency overestimation with multi-dimensional scaling used to present the issue graphically. In summary, the aim of this work is not to rank countries in a league table rather to provide a framework that combines economic, environmental and social issues in order to search for sustainable, pragmatic benchmarks, pushing the boundaries of the Human Development Index.     

Combining creativity and control: Understanding individual motivation in large-scale collaborative creativity

Recent research has shown that management control systems (MCS) can improve performance in contexts characterized by high levels of task uncertainty. This seems to conflict with a second stream of research, which argues that MCSs risk undermining the intrinsic motivation needed for effective performance in such settings. To solve this puzzle, we build on theories of perceived locus of causality and self-construal and develop an integrative model summarized in 15 propositions. To explicate our proposed solution and to show its robustness, we focus on the class of activities we call large-scale collaborative creativity (LSCC) - contexts where individuals face a dual challenge of demonstrating creativity and embracing the formal controls that coordinate their creative activities with others’. We argue that LSCC requires the simultaneous activation of intrinsic and identified forms of motivation, and simultaneously independent and interdependent self-construals. Against some scholarship that argues or assumes that such simultaneous combinations are infeasible, we argue that they can be fostered through appropriate attraction-selection-attrition policies and management control systems design. We also show how our propositions can enrich our understanding of motivation in other settings, where creativity and/or coordination demands are less pressing.     

Performance management and organizational strategy: How to design systems that meet the needs of confrontation strategy firms

The link between organizational strategy and performance management system design has been examined in numerous studies. Invariably, strategy is conceptualized using archetypes developed in the 1970s and 1980s. Scholars have increasingly questioned the wisdom of relying on strategic archetypes that are plainly dated and conspicuously disconnected from the possibility of firms competing head-to-head, not out of choice but out of necessity. Cooper (1995) calls such a situation the undertaking of a confrontation strategy. Using an exploratory research design, this paper draws on nine qualitative case studies to examine how performance management systems are designed to meet and support the implementation of a confrontation strategy. Initially six firms, spanning a variety of what were expected to be mature, highly competitive industries likely to feature confrontation strategies, were recruited for participation. This initial study was then followed by a more concentrated examination of one particular industry: the banking industry. Findings from the total case study sample of nine firms lead to the presentation of an original table contrasting the unique performance management system designs associated with the three distinct strategies of cost leadership, differentiation, and confrontation. In particular, and in contrast to firms pursuing cost leadership or differentiation strategies, firms with confrontation strategies are likely to feature collaborative organizational cultures, lean organizational structures, and training and development programs that focus on developing empowered, multi-skilled teams of self-governing and coordinating employees. The exploratory intent of the paper, and thus its reliance on a small sample size of nine organizations, may limit the generalizability of the paper’s findings. In spite of this limitation, the findings offer opportunities for researchers to move beyond the exploratory approach presently adopted and empirically test the confrontation strategy and performance management system linkages proposed. Additionally, practitioners are likely to benefit from a clearer understanding of the type of performance management system design needed to support confrontation strategies.     

Valuación de un producto estructurado de compra sobre el SX5E cuando la incertidumbre de los rendimientos está modelada con procesos log-estables

We report the participation level, we pricing a first generation's European call options on the Eurostoxx structured product, when returns’ uncertainty is modeled by log-stable processes, we present the basic statistics of the index's returns, we estimate the α-estable parameters, and we compare the structured products pricing by the both log-stable and log-Gaussian models using inputs of the debt markets. We conclude that investors get higher returns than debt markets using both models and returns’ differences depend of the participation level and the maturity.     

The value of excess cash and corporate governance: Evidence from US cross-listings

We examine whether and how a US cross-listing mitigates the risk that insiders will turn their firm’s cash holdings into private benefits. We find strong evidence that the value investors attach to excess cash reserves is substantially larger for foreign firms listed on US exchanges and over-the-counter than for their domestic peers. Further, we show that this excess-cash premium stems not only from the strength of US legal rules and disclosure requirements, but also from the greater informal monitoring pressure that accompanies a US listing. Overall, because investors’ valuation of excess cash mirrors how they expect the cash to be used, our analysis shows that a US listing constrains insiders’ inefficient allocation of corporate cash reserves significantly.     

Collaborating Smartly: The Role of Open Strategy in Absorptive Capacity

Research on open strategy suggests that shared knowledge through collaboration can generate co‐created value. We explore this idea by assessing it as a predictor of absorptive capacity (ACAP) in cross‐sector partnerships in pursuit of social innovation. The findings of our study indicate that aspects of strategic openness, including a shared sense of interdependence toward a mutual goal, are the primary mechanisms that enhance knowledge accretion in cross‐sector partnerships. The data also suggest that formalized organizational mechanisms are more influential for producing ACAP than informal mechanisms.