Network capability,innovativeness, and performance: a multidimensional extension for entrepreneurship

Abstract

Small- and start-up firms in the high-tech industry usually engage in networking to overcome resource, knowledge, and competence constraints in creative, innovation-based competition. Quite often, however, network relationships fail due to lack of network capability (NC), defined as the ability to manage and gain benefits from external relationships. In the present study, we propose and examine an updated five-dimension NC construct and test its effect on innovativeness and performance. Two independent high-tech samples of small firms and start-ups support measurement properties of the proposed NC construct and suggest that the often-overlooked dimension in NC research of network relationship building is important to include in a complete NC construct. Doing so can help explain organizational innovativeness and effects on the customer, sales, and innovation performance more effectively. As a result, we find support for the proposed NC scale and the importance of network capabilities for small companies and start-ups to remain competitive.     

De‐Essentializing the Knowledge Intensive Firm: Reflections on Sceptical Research Going against the Mainstream

This paper provides an updated summary and discussion of my 1993 JMS paper ‘Organization as rhetoric: knowledge‐intensive firms and the struggle with rhetoric’, and relate this to my own and others' later work in the area explored in the paper: knowledge‐intensive work and discourse. A key aspect of knowledge work is the ambiguity of what it stands for, what people working with ‘knowledge’ are doing, and what they accomplish. This fuels identity uncertainties, which is also addressed and reflected upon in the paper. As part of my broader reflections, I also provide a brief overview of some methodological ideas on how to do problematization: a key theme in the original piece but which is more generally a research approach that may lead to contributions that generate interest.     

Corporate communication, ethics, and operational identity: a case study of Benetton

This article investigates conceptual and strategic relationships between corporate identity, organizational identity and ethics, utilizing the Benetton Corporation as an illustrative case study. Although much attention has been given to visual aspects of Benetton's renowned ethical brand building efforts, few studies have looked at how Benetton's employees, retail environments and trade events express ethical aspects of their well-known corporate identity. A multi-method case study, including interviews at retail outlets and trade events, sheds light on several important yet under-studied components of corporate identity, including stakeholders such as retail managers and contract employees. Analysis of Benetton's operations revealed disconnection and inconsistency, as well as a failure to communicate ethical values and socially responsible attributes throughout organizational identity. Operational identity emerged as a useful complement to models of corporate identity. We demonstrate the way in which organizations may fail to capitalize on positive aspects of their organizational identity by neglecting their operational identity.     

A Contingency‐Based Approach to the Use of Product Platforms and Modules in New Product Development

To face the challenges of increasing demand for variety, more specific customer demands and shortening product life cycles, firms increasingly adopt mass customization techniques. Two important such techniques are product modularization and product platform development, which allow firms to reach high levels of product variety, and at the same time, keep complexity and its related costs at a limited level. Often modularization and product platform development are treated as variants of the same basic idea. However, even if the concepts are closely related, they also have some fundamental differences, which influence their usefulness and applicability in different settings. One potential shortcoming of existing literature on modularization and product platforms is the present lack of research on their limitations and potential negative effects. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify and explore contingencies influencing the applicability of modularization and product platforms, respectively, taking their different economic effects as a starting point. Moreover, the paper addresses how different organizing solutions are interrelated with the use of modularization and product platform approaches. The empirical observations originate from studies of three Swedish manufacturing firms. The study reveals that important contingencies affecting the applicability of modularization and product platforms are demand side characteristics and the speed of environmental change. Furthermore, it is seen that firms need to organize themselves differently with respect to how they combine modularization and platforms, for example, in terms of degree of centralization, formalization, and allocation of decision‐making authority, and that this poses challenges to the combined use of the two approaches.     

Unveiling the role of risk-taking in innovation: antecedents and effects

This study addresses innovation development with a focus on risk-taking, widely considered a relevant driver for the exploration and exploitation of new ideas. The study empirically examines the effects of risk-taking propensity on innovation performance and its antecedents. We consider the role of several key antecedents related to the organizational structure and the activities of firms aimed at encouraging employees to take risks in innovation. We performed an empirical survey within a global and innovation-oriented Swedish company to test our hypotheses. Correlation and linear regression analyses were used to analyze the collected data. The results highlight the significant effect of risk-taking on innovation performance and show that the availability of organizational resources, innovation support activities, clear innovation goals, and collaboration have a significant positive effect on risk-taking. However, contrary to the hypothesis, well-established innovation processes have a significant but negative effect on risk-taking and innovation performance. This study contributes to existing knowledge on the role of risk-taking for innovation, providing insights into designing organizational contexts that encourage an appropriate risk appetite in employees.     

Does Fathers’ Care Spill Over? Evaluating Reforms in the Swedish Parental Leave Program

The aim of reserving months for fathers in the Swedish parental leave system was to increase fathers’ use of leave as well as encourage gender equality in the home and labor market. Using data from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, this study investigates the effects of the reform – reserving one month of leave for fathers in 1995 and a second month in 2002 – on gender equality in the home. The study uses the take up of the parental benefit for the care for sick children (CFSC) as a proxy for gender equality and follows parents’ use of CFSC for twelve years for the first reform and ten years for the second reform. Results indicate the first reform led to more equal leave sharing, mainly because use of the benefit decreased among mothers with low education, and at least in part fulfilled the aim of increasing gender equality in the home.     

Headquarters involvement and efficiency of innovation development and transfer in multinationals: A matter of sheer ignorance?

We compare two theoretical perspectives on the knowledge situation of headquarters (HQ) in multinational corporations: the bounded rationality perspective and the sheer ignorance perspective. We claim that these perspectives lead to different expectations when it comes to HQ's role and the effects of HQ involvement in innovation processes at the subsidiary level. More specifically, we examine the impact of HQ involvement on the efficiency of 71 subsidiary innovation projects. The findings show that HQ involvement in innovation development and transfer has a negative rather than a positive impact on efficiency in both processes. We contribute by showing and suggesting that the sheer ignorance perspective might provide a more accurate portrayal of the HQ knowledge situation than the bounded rationality perspective does. This study furthers understanding of the role of HQ in the contemporary, knowledge-creating multinational.     

Exploring the role of front-line employees as innovators

This article aims for a deeper understanding of front-line employees (FLEs) and their boundary-spanning role in service organizations’ innovation processes from the vantage points of creativity and service innovation theory. It explores in particular FLEs’ processes of creativity by focusing on how ideas emerge and how these ideas are further managed in the organizations’ innovation processes. It draws on an in-depth empirical study of three units at a large spa and resort hotel. The article demonstrates how FLEs’ ideas are related to the assimilation and utilization of knowledge gained in the customer–supplier interface. Furthermore, it introduces the concept of ‘management by weaving’, which encompasses the middle managers’ roles in the complexity of leading diverse innovation processes in the service organization. By having the roles of facilitator, gatekeeper, and translator, middle managers hold the key position for letting FLEs play the role as innovators.