Managing information sharing: Interorganizational communication in collaborations with competitors

A key challenge for managing interorganizational relationships in high-tech sectors is to design information sharing practices for supporting cooperative activities without leaking competitive proprietary information. In this paper, we use a qualitative multi-case study to explore the role of communication in supporting cooperative information sharing while keeping competitive information concerns at bay. We study two contrasting dyads of a Taiwanese buyer and Korean supplier in the digital home entertainment industry --- one which was a successful interorganizational relationship and led to further collaboration and the other which was unsuccessful and thus terminated. Drawing insights from Media Synchronicity Theory (MST), we develop a process model that explores the combination of communication media with communication content and processes for effective (ineffective) communication that promotes trust, information sharing and open communication in successful (unsuccessful) interorganizational relationships.     

Exploring the cargo and eco‐efficiencies of international container shipping companies: A network‐based ranking approach

This study aims to evaluate the cargo and eco‐efficiencies of international container shipping companies (CSCs) for the period 2013–2017 for benchmarking purposes. An integration of two‐stage network directional distance function and network‐based approach in data envelopment analysis is utilized to distinguish the efficient operators. Results show that most CSCs are highly ranked in the cargo efficiency stage but lowly ranked in the eco‐efficiency stage and vice versa. This study emphasizes the strengths and weaknesses of each factor of every CSC. Results can help the inefficient CSCs find the areas for improvement by learning from their peers.     

城市文艺复兴:新竹旧城的城市竞争策略

新竹是台湾最早开发的城市之一,拥有一百七十多年建城历史,具有独特的都市纹理.市中心拥有两大核心:其一是以清朝时期的城隍庙为中心,环绕着东门、西门、南门、北六四条街道;其二是以日据时期的东门圆环为中心,放射出九条老街,俗称‘九龙抢珠',此两大核心围塑出新竹旧城的繁荣地带,为新竹市民与游客最重要的活动空间.自1980年新竹科学园区设立后,高科技产业词发展,迄今十万名高科技从业人员与高消费族群,造成东南亚最大的购物中心、各大百货公司以及连锁卖场的兴起,使得新竹旧城所围塑的传统购物空间,以及传统产业与历史建筑,面临逐渐没落的危机.研究在整合传统街区的商业及历史资源,进行街道、建物、店面、商家及游客的调查与问卷,提出重建城市资源,包括密集的公共运输系统、传统建筑及人文景观、历史老店的专业服务品质、传统美食、公共空间、人情味、及文化气息与历史古迹等,具体拟定"新竹旧城City Mall"的城市竞争策略,并发展都市更新与都市景观的规划及设计构想,包括地区环境改造、城市中心管理(Town Center Management)、交通需求管理(Transport Demand Management)、以及观光旅运管理(Tourism Transport Management)等,以达成新竹城市文艺复兴的目标.     

National and regional dose escalation and cost of tumor necrosis factor blocker therapy in biologic-naïve rheumatoid arthritis patients in US health plans

Objective:

This study examined the proportion and magnitude of dose escalation nationally and regionally among rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated with TNF-blockers and estimated the costs of TNF-blocker therapy.

Methods:

This retrospective cohort study used claims data from US commercially-insured adult RA patients who initiated adalimumab, etanercept, or infliximab therapy between 2005–2009. Biologic-naïve patients enrolled in the health plan for ≥6 months before and ≥12 months after therapy initiation were followed for 12 months. Dose escalation was assessed using three methods: (1) average weekly dose?>?recommended label dose, (2) average ending dispensed dose?>?maintenance dose, and (3) average dose after maintenance dose?>?maintenance dose. Annual cost of therapy included costs for mean dose and drug administration fees.

Results:

Overall, 1420 etanercept, 874 adalimumab, and 454 infliximab patients were included. A significantly lower proportion of etanercept-treated patients had dose escalation using the average weekly dose (3.9% vs 21.4% adalimumab and 69.6% infliximab; p?p?p?Limitations:

Exclusion of patients not on continuous TNF-blocker therapy limits the generalizability; however, ～50% of patients were persistent on therapy for 12 months. The study population comprised RA patients in commercial health plans, thus the results may not be generalizable to Medicare or uninsured populations.

Conclusions:

In this retrospective study, etanercept patients had the lowest proportions and magnitudes of dose escalation across all methods compared to adalimumab and infliximab patients nationally and regionally. Mean annual cost was lowest for etanercept-treated patients.     

How to Encourage Customers to Use Legal Software

This study attempts to identify customer retention strategies for legal software and discusses their effectiveness for three consumer groups (stayers, dissatisfied switchers, and satisfied switchers). Although previous studies propose several antipirating strategies, they do not discuss how to enhance customer intentions to use legal software, which is crucial for software companies. The authors provide four generic retention strategies developed from both antipiracy and customer loyalty literature. The results indicate lower-pricing, legal, communication, and product strategies all enhance customer purchase intentions toward legal software. The lower-pricing strategy is more useful for stayers and dissatisfied switchers, and the communication strategy is most useful for dissatisfied switchers. Both the legal and product strategies have similar impacts on purchase intentions across the three segments. From a firm perspective, a product strategy is most worthwhile and useful across all segments.     

The IMF and the Liberalization of Capital Flows

We evaluate the claim that the International Monetary Fund precipitated financial crises during the 1990s, by pressuring countries to liberalize their capital accounts prematurely. Using data from a panel of developing economies from 1982–98, we examine whether the changes in the regime governing capital flows took place during participation in IMF programs. We find evidence that IMF program participation is correlated with capital account liberalization episodes during the 1990s. We verify the robustness of our results using alternative indicators of capital account openness. To determine whether decontrol was premature, we compare the economic and financial characteristics of countries that decontrolled during IMF programs with those of countries who did so independently, and find some evidence of IMF-led premature liberalizations.     

The Relationships between Resource Configurations and Launch Strategies in Taiwan's IC Design Industry: An Exploratory Study

Within the last decade, the link between launch strategies and new product performance has been widely investigated. However, the relationship between resource configurations and launch strategies has received little attention. This study endeavors to fill that void by examining the relationships between resource configurations and launch strategy selections. In addition, this study investigates the moderating effects of market growth and competitiveness on the relationship between resources and launch strategies. Drawing on contingency theory and strategic studies, this study proposes that resource contingencies affect changes in launch strategies. This study also suggests that market characteristics play a contingent role in the relationships between the configurations of resources and launch strategy choices. Based on extensive studies reporting on market characteristics and their links to strategies, this study proposes that two market characteristics—market growth and competitiveness—are relevant for launch strategy decision making. Taiwan's integrated circuit (IC) design industry has been used as the analytical sample, as it has been identified as a promising sector for new product development. Based on the result of investigating 90 firms, four resource configurations are identified: (1) strategic and organizational abilities; (2) technological capabilities; (3) societal assets and goodwill; and (4) physical assets. Furthermore, two different launch strategies—innovative and product advantage and cost oriented—also are discovered. The results from a seemingly unrelated regression model reveal that technological capabilities and societal assets and goodwill contribute to the variation in the firms' choices of launch strategies. This study further conducted the simple slope analysis to observe the effect of the technological capabilities on the innovative and product advantage strategy under different levels of the market growth rate. The results interestingly showed that firms with technological capabilities demonstrated different degree of tendencies in employing this strategy in alignment with various market growth rates. The finding sheds some lights on the moderating role market characteristics play on the relationships between resource configurations and launch strategy selections. Academic implications and suggestions for practitioners also are provided.     

Managing Key Account Portfolios across the Process of Relationship Development: A Value Proposition–Desired Value Alignment Perspective

Purpose: While extant key account management (KAM) research provide considerable insight into specific aspects of KAM, no studies have yet offered a process model that concurrently addresses the three important characteristics of KAM (i.e., temporality, dyadic interactions, and account heterogeneity). To fill this void, the present research investigates an industrial seller's KAM practice from the alignment perspective to develop a comprehensive process model that depicts the important underlying characteristics of focal firm–key accounts dyadic relationships.

Methodology: Employing a case study approach, the present study adopts in-depth interviews with eleven informants involved in four dyadic relationships, respectively. Multiple dyads interviews helped us determine whether the emergent themes are resonant across dyads. On the other hand, cross-dyad analysis helped us identify idiosyncratic KAM treatment among heterogeneous key accounts.

Findings: Drawing upon the literature and the field data, this study reveals four different patterns of alignment (i.e., opportunistic alignment, passive alignment, mutualistic alignment, and compensatory alignment) that may be enacted in accordance with the different relationships developed with the individual key accounts. Across the four focal firm–key account dyads, this study further uncovers how various factors (i.e., idiosyncratic investment, power structures, behavioral norms, and commitment) precipitate different alignment patterns and drive alignment transitions over time.

Practical Implications: This article suggests that a focal firm should manage its key accounts by aligning its value proposition with the specific desired value of each individual account and adjust its management approach based on different phases of dyadic relationship development.

Originality Value: This article extends knowledge of KAM by concurrently addressing its dyadic and heterogeneous nature in a process model. The alignment-oriented view of KAM sheds light on the underlying characteristics of focal firm–key accounts relationships and contributes to our understanding of managing key account portfolios throughout the process of relationship development.     

Insolvency practice in the field of football

This paper is concerned with UK insolvency practice. It considers how the field of insolvency has developed since the passing of the Insolvency Act 1986 through a Bourdieusian theoretical lens. The case of the administration of Gretna football club is presented as a “special case of what is possible” to enable one to consider “the deepest logic of the social world” (Bourdieu, 1998, p. 4). Football is a field with its own complex insolvency rules which are incommensurable with the Insolvency Act. The case therefore presents an opportunity to reveal that whether insolvency laws are applied or not is determined by a complex socio-political process. Through revealing the socio-political process the paper problematises the notion that insolvency practice is neutral.