Management of hybrid organisations: a case study in retailing

Hybrid organisations present important theoretical and managerial opportunities. We examine a large Finnish multichain retail organisation in order to identify and understand the challenges of hybrids in a retailing context. We are especially interested in how these complex firms try to maintain a balance between the centralised corporate control and the local autonomy and initiative of their retailers. The governance forms and processes identified in the case organisation are discussed with the help of a proposed conceptual framework. We believe that the identified governance problems and practices in the three different retail chains and especially our recommendations will facilitate the understanding of retail hybrid organisations and the management of hybrids in general.     

在位企业非连续性技术变革的技术代际桥研究

非连续性技术变革给在位企业带来巨大挑战,要求在位企业克服新技术研发困难和自身潜在惰性进行积极响应,在与新进入企业市场竞争中获取持续竞争优势,化解熊彼特提出的破坏性创新威胁。整合社会网络理论、知识管理理论及创新管理理论,以65家汽车综合型整车在位制造企业为样本,通过搭建发明家桥、合作研发桥、混合技术桥等3个维度的技术代际桥,探讨在位企业如何在维持两代技术阶段性平衡的前提下提高新技术创新绩效。结果发现：发明家桥与企业新技术创新绩效呈倒U型关系;合作研发桥和混合技术桥对企业新技术创新绩效具有显著促进作用;旧技术创新绩效负向调节发明家桥与新技术创新绩效的倒U型关系。研究旨在为在位企业应对非连续性技术变革,提高新技术创新绩效提供相应的对策建议。     

The three Cs for cultivating organizational culture in a hybrid world

For years we have known that effective organizational culture is critical to ensuring revenue growth, employee retention, and even stock price acceleration. Yet, culture change is hard. Today, in the hybrid world, most employees still spend the majority of their time working within small work teams, but team members are often remote from one another. These employee interactions are essential to sharing and modeling the norms and behaviors necessary to cultivate the desired culture. Combining behavioral data with the use of organizational network analysis helps to overcome these limitations and provides a deeper understanding of the employee cultural experience—even in the hybrid context. In our research, we evaluated 10 attributes critical to an organization’s culture from more than 50,000 employees across three years. Using passive data, we also re-constructed the employee network based on primary interactions. Our research highlighted three critical cultural patterns that will help to more deeply evaluate culture in a hybrid context, but even more importantly,help target local solutions that can be quickly implemented. We call these the three“C’s” of cultivating culture. We show that organizational culture clusters in the employee network, is contagious among employees, and is contextually dependent.We discuss our key insights on the three C’s, concluding with practical applications for leaders applying these insights in their organization.     

基于新兴古典经济学、交易成本经济学的产业集群演进机理探析

新兴古典经济学认为,在专业化经济和交易成本之间总是存在着非常复杂的两难冲突,交易效率的改进将会扩大分工经济与交易成本折衷的范围,从而提高生产者的专业化生产程度。交易成本经济学认为,不确定性、交易频率和资产专用性决定了经济活动主体的治理结构安排,随着三个变量水平的变化,其治理结构由于节约交易成本的原因,将经历市场、企业、网络组织的三种形态变化。文章运用新兴古典经济学与交易成本经济学思想,考察了劳动分工、交易效率与产业集群演进的互动关系,认为产业集群的形成与发展是一个劳动分工深化、交易效率提高(交易成本降低)的过程。在此基础上,文章对杨小凯的基于专业化经济的劳动分工模型进行了拓展和深化,以便对产业集群的演进机制进行深入分析,并通过模型分析支持了本文的观点。因此,产业集群的形成与发展有其自身的内在规律。当前,政府更为紧迫的任务是要注重产业集群软环境的建设,以此降低交易费用,促进产业集群的持续、健康发展。     

Independent travelers’ niche hotel booking motivations: the emergence of a hybrid cultural society

This study attempts to examine travel motivations from a hybrid cultural perspective in the context of Chinese niche hotels. Using an in-depth netnographic methodology, the paper analyzed 659 online reviews on 12 niche hotels from 6 travel websites to identify the motivations of Chinese independent travelers’ hotel selection. The research findings revealed that travelers’ motivations include the following: attractive environment, quality, uniqueness, spiritual well-being, traditional architecture, family togetherness, foreign style offerings and service, luxury amenities, and entertainment. These motivations can be classified into modern Chinese culture oriented motivations, traditional Chinese culture oriented motivations and foreign culture oriented motivations. The study identifies the characteristics of the market segment of Chinese independent travelers and offers valuable insights into the role of this emergent travel group. The theoretical implications suggest a hybridization effect of culturally oriented motivations showing that hotel choice and perhaps domestic tourism destination choice are driven by both Chinese and Western cultures. Management implications are discussed, and marketing suggestions are made to better understand what attracts this growing market segment in China.     

Coherent identities and roles? Hybrid professional managers’ prioritizing of coexisting institutional logics in differing contexts

This article explores how hybrid professional managers relate to coexisting institutional logics in their everyday work. It examines coherence between the logic that informs managers’ identity and that prioritized in their role. By comparing interview data from managers in two settings, a faith-based hospital and a religious organization, this article analyses primary and secondary identities and roles. Findings show that experiences of coexisting logics differ according to the organizational context. Hospital managers identify with a managerial logic in both their identity and role. A professional logic informs church managers’ identity, yet they prioritize a managerial logic in their role. The article proposes a model that links hybrid professional managers’ identities and roles with a framework of coexisting logics proposed earlier.