Competence and Governance in Strategic Collaboration: The Differential Effect of Network Structure on the Creation of Core and Noncore Technology

Whereas most of the literature on the benefits of alliances for learning and innovation has taken on a competence perspective, this paper provides an alternative integrated framework based on both a competence and governance point of view. The former focuses on the role of knowledge flows as means to access new knowledge, whereas the latter is centered around the core concepts of opportunism and freeridership in knowledge exchange situations. Although it has generally been acknowledged that competence‐based benefits of collaboration may come at a price of elevated risks due to knowledge spillovers and freeridership, such a governance view remains understudied. This paper explains how a firm's alliance network structure affects benefits as well as risks of collaboration in the context of the creation of core and noncore technology. In the case of core technology, firms attach more value to reducing governance‐based risks relative to obtaining competence‐based benefits. The opposite is found when firms develop noncore technology. This paper contributes to the existing literature by going beyond the common idea that competence and governance perspectives are either complementary or competing. Instead, this study shows that for technology‐based collaboration, they can both apply at the same time, implying a trade‐off in some cases and offering synergy in other cases. Based on an empirical test in three different industries (pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and automotive), there is support for most of our hypotheses. Direct ties have an inverted U‐shaped effect on both core and noncore technology, and the effect is relatively stronger for the former. The results furthermore show that indirect ties play a positive role in noncore technology development and that this effect is not hampered by the number of direct ties a firm has. In contrast, indirect ties seem to hamper core competence development when companies have a lot of direct ties. Finally, firms are found to benefit from nonredundancy in their alliance network in their efforts to strengthen their core technology. The joint effect of these three network characteristics leads to optimal results for core and noncore technologies under quite different alliance network structures. This poses a problem for the ambidexterity of companies, when they simultaneously try to strengthen core and noncore technologies.     

Transferability of private food marketing success factors to public food and health policy: An expert Delphi survey

Public policy activities to promote healthy diets have been criticised for their lack of success. Applying a marketing approach to non-commercial policy objectives such as healthy eating, termed social marketing, is an emerging but as yet underdeveloped field. An earlier study conducted a case analysis of recent successful commercial food marketing and identified key success factors that may be further transferred to the public sector. Six of these factors (trend awareness, endorsement, emotion, common value, media coverage, and ‘why and how’) were presented to and discussed by 31 experts in a two-round Delphi survey. The objective was to determine to what extent these factors are used in public information and social marketing campaigns for healthier eating, and what is required to successfully transfer those factors into the public arena.     

On the proportionality of EU spatial ex ante coexistence regulations: Reply

Desquilbet and Bullock (2010) criticize some aspects of our analysis of the European Union’s (EU) spatial ex ante coexistence regulations (SEACERs) of genetically modified (GM) and non-GM crops presented in Demont et al. (2009). We argue that, besides misinterpreting some of our original arguments, the authors propose a policy analysis framework which is inconsistent with the main goal of the EU’s SEACERs. Their example incorrectly suggests that SEACERs play an additional role of regulating non-GM crop supply on the market. This would be inefficient from a policy economics perspective, especially in an open economy where global trade is taken into account. Therefore, we argue that analyzing flexibility of SEACERs in a market framework could lead to erroneous conclusions and in that case a simple farm level analysis such as presented in Demont et al. (2009) is preferred.     

Health-related attitudes as a basis for segmenting European fish consumers

This paper identifies and profiles consumer segments based on health-related attitudes. Cross-sectional data were collected in 2008 through a pan-European consumer survey (n = 2400) with samples representative for age and region in France, Poland and Spain. Four distinct consumer segments based on health-related attitudes are identified: low interest in healthy eating consumers (29.4%), positive health enthusiasts (28.2%), health strivers (35.0%) and health uninvolved (7.4%). The segments differ significantly with respect to fish consumption, attitudes and knowledge about the health benefits of fish, interest in potential informational cues when purchasing fish, and individual socio-demographic characteristics. The segment low interest in healthy eating is characterised by younger age, more males, higher BMI, low fish consumption and low interest in information, and herewith emerges as a relevant though difficult to reach segment from a food and health policy perspective. Positive health enthusiasts and health strivers have a strong involvement with food, and a strong interest in healthy eating. Both segments have a very favourable disposition towards fish consumption, which would fit with their focus to either stay healthy (positive health enthusiasts) or improve their current health status (health strivers). Health uninvolved consumers do not care strongly about health in general; though attach high importance to eating healthily.     

Reviewing the relations between teachers’ knowledge and pupils’ attitude in the field of primary technology education

This literature review reports on the assumed relations between primary school teachers’ knowledge of technology and pupils’ attitude towards technology. In order to find relevant aspects of technology-specific teacher knowledge, scientific literature in the field of primary technology education was searched. It is found that teacher knowledge is essential for stimulating a positive attitude towards technology in pupils. Particularly, teachers’ enhanced Pedagogical Content Knowledge is found to be related to pupils’ increased learning and interest in technology. Six aspects of technology-specific teacher knowledge that are likely to play a role in affecting pupils’ attitude are identified and schematically presented in a hypothetical diagram. It is concluded that more empirical evidence on the influence of technology-specific teacher knowledge on pupils’ attitude is needed. The hypothetical diagram will serve as a helpful tool to investigate the assumed relations between teacher knowledge and pupils’ attitude empirically.     

Does education promote social capital? Evidence from IV analysis and nonparametric-bound analysis

This study uses the British National Child Development Study to examine the effect of educational attainment on social capital at the individual level. Social trust and membership of voluntary groups are considered as two basic indicators of social capital. We employ the IV analysis and nonparametric bound analysis to tackle the problem of education endogeneity. Both the approaches reveal that the OLS estimator of the educational effect suffers from an upward bias in the study of group membership. We do not observe any significant bias in the educational effect on social trust. Our empirical findings indicate that education has a positive influence in promoting social trust and membership of voluntary groups.     

What nutrition label to use in a catering environment? A discrete choice experiment

Worksite and university canteens are increasingly used for daily main meal consumption. Following the use of front-of-pack nutrition labels on pre-packed foods, the provision of easily accessible nutrition information on foods prepared and consumed out of home is a highly topical policy issue with the potential to help consumers making better informed and more healthy food choices when eating out. Information that is presented in a format preferred by the target group is more likely to be used. A sample of 1725 university canteen users participated in a web-based choice experiment designed to identify and understand individual preferences for alternative nutrition labels on canteen meals. Participants valued the presence of nutrition labels on canteen meals and showed a preference for more detailed formats. Ability and motivation to process information as well as socio-demographics explained differences in label preferences. Observed decreasing marginal utility from combinations of two simple label formats as well as from combinations of two detailed formats, signalled information insufficiency versus information overload, respectively. In order to satisfy most canteen users’ information needs, a nutrition label that contains basic Guideline Daily Amount (GDA)-type of numerical information in combination with familiar visual aids like stars and colour codes is proposed to be used in university canteens.     

The effect of spatiotemporal resolution on predictive policing model performance

Being able to anticipate crime such that new crime events can be dealt with effectively or prevented entirely, leads police forces worldwide to look at applying predictive policing, which provides predictions of times and places at risk for crime, such that proactive preventative measures can be taken. Ideally, predictive policing models predict crime at a high spatio-temporal level, while also providing optimal prediction performance. The main objective of this paper is therefore to evaluate the impact of varying grid resolution, temporal resolution and historical time frame on prediction performance. To investigate this, we analyse home burglary data from a large city in Belgium and predict new crime events using a range of parameter values, comparing the resulting prediction performances. Given the potential prediction performance costs associated with prediction at a high spatio-temporal resolution, consideration should be given to balance practical requirements with performance requirements.     

National differences in incentive compensation practices: The differing roles of financial performance measurement in the United States and the Netherlands

This paper describes the findings of a study aimed at providing an international replication of a US-based study by Gibbs et al. [Gibbs, M., Merchant, K., Van der Stede, W., & Vargus, M. (2004). Determinants and effects of subjectivity in incentives. The Accounting Review, 79(2), 409–436; Gibbs, M., Merchant, K., Van der Stede, W., & Vargus, M. (2006). The structure of incentive contracts: Evidence from auto dealerships. Working Paper, University of Chicago, University of Southern California, London School of Economics and University of Texas-Dallas] focused on the incentive compensation practices of firms in the automobile retailing industry. The purpose was to determine the extent to which these practices and their effects were similar across countries. Theory provides conflicting predictions as to whether international practices should reflect a situational “best fit” or “global best practices.” We collected a dataset comparable to that of Gibbs et al. from Dutch automobile retailers. The findings reveal dramatic differences in practices across the two countries. As compared to the US firms, the Dutch firms are much less likely to provide their managers with incentive compensation in any form. Where Dutch firms do offer incentive compensation, the payouts are smaller and their bonus awards are less likely to be based on profit measures of performance. But where the Dutch firms use incentive compensation, their performance/reward functions are more complex. Moreover, unlike in the US firms, in the Dutch firms the effects of the use of incentive compensation on net profit and pay satisfaction are negative.     

Collateral,relationship lending and family firms

Prior research suggested that relationship lending could play a role in solving asymmetric information problems between borrower and lender. Other studies suggest a relationship between family ownership and the shareholder–bondholder agency conflict. The present paper investigates the impact of relationship characteristics, family ownership and their interaction effects upon the use of collateral in SME lending. We examine the determinants of collateral as well as the determinants of the choice between business and personal collateral using decision tree analysis. The results reveal that relationship characteristics have a significant influence, but not always in the direction as expected. Moreover, they do not seem to be the primary determinants in our classification models. The most important determinants in both classification models seem to be the loan amount, total assets and the family versus non-family firm distinction. In addition, we differentiate between line-of-credit and non-line-of-credit loans and find significant differences between these decision trees.