Organizational buying in the offshore oil industry

A model of organizational buying is advanced based on interview data from the offshore oil industry. The variable linking complexity and organizational participation was the criteria of evaluation in the buying process.     

A LITERATURE REVIEW OF CLUSTER THEORY: ARE RELATIONS AMONG CLUSTERS IMPORTANT?

Having reviewed 1259 papers on cluster theory, we find that current cluster studies primarily discussed cluster phenomena from either a microlevel or mesolevel. We argue that studying relations among clusters would increase our understanding of clusters, and such a research topic is worth becoming a new research orientation for cluster theory.     

THE EVOLUTION PROCESS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP STUDIES IN THE 21ST CENTURY: RESEARCH INSIGHTS FROM TOP BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS JOURNALS

The present study involves a literature survey of 1710 entrepreneurship papers published in 28 top business and economics journals in 12 research disciplines. This paper finds that despite increased recognition of the importance of entrepreneurship, the research literature on entrepreneurship remains fragmented. Studies of entrepreneurship processes have been the dominant theme, but new issues of entrepreneurship are emerging. Based on the entrepreneurship reviewed, this paper summarizes potential research directions.     

Sustainable entrepreneurship: regional innovation cultures in the ecological food sector

How do regional innovation cultures in the eco-food sector develop? And how can they be supported and empowered within a national strategy for sustainable agriculture? Based on three case studies, this paper explores key characteristics and dynamics of ongoing regional innovation cultures within the ecological food sector in Norway. The common denominator of each case is a strong community of innovative practitioners that shape their activities around intentional interaction, dialogue and inquiry with a long term commitment. They sustain and develop common tasks by uniting individual commitment to shared questions. Thereby, the intensity and ecology of the shared questions build the carrying capacity and structure of the innovation culture. Each case is unique by being rooted in personal incentives and shared ownership to tasks. Structurally their uniqueness demonstrates three modes of activity and roots of identity, related to the three concepts of institutional entrepreneurship, market entrepreneurship and cultural entrepreneurship. Four implications are finally drawn for regional innovation strategies within the eco-food sector: (1) build strategies on the activity of pioneering local/regional cultures of practice; (2) analyse their entrepreneurial uniqueness and social ecology; (3) facilitate a broader entwining of institutional, market and cultural entrepreneurship; and (4) develop competency and cultures of inquiry linked to entwined entrepreneurship. A corresponding research strategy should acknowledge, build on and strengthen the culture of inquiry embedded in the regional communities of practice.     

Transaction Cost Analysis in Marketing: Looking Back, Moving Forward

Contributions to the theory and application of the Williamson's transaction cost framework by scholars in Marketing are reviewed. From its initial appearance in the late 1970s, the Williamsonian approach has moved from a theoretical curiosity to the workhorse model in one subfield of marketing; viz. channels. Possible reasons for this success are traced here. The consistent empirical support for the core model, its applicability to a broad range of managerially relevant problems, its successes in horse races against competing theories, and its co-existence with complementary theories are unpacked. The paper closes with speculation about future trends about transaction cost analysis in marketing.