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1 – 10 of 19Michael Rothgang and Bernhard Lageman
This study, a conceptual paper, aims an answer the question, how significant cluster ambidexterity is for the resilience of individual clusters.
Abstract
Purpose
This study, a conceptual paper, aims an answer the question, how significant cluster ambidexterity is for the resilience of individual clusters.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors draw up an abductive synopsis of empirical information and relevant theoretical sources. A case study is used to illustrate some of the findings.
Findings
The results of the analysis show that the ambidexterity of a cluster can contribute to its resilience when adverse external developments arise. Ambidexterity proves to be simultaneously a common strategy of key cluster actors and a mechanism for coping with critical situations and developments that can be activated by the cluster actors and may – eventually – lead to cluster resilience. While ambidexterity does not guarantee cluster survival, it can contribute significantly to their economic resilience under adverse conditions.
Research limitations/implications
The concept is developed on a limited empirical basis and would need to be tested and deepened by comparing a wide range of case studies from different clusters.
Practical implications
A better understanding of the importance of ambidexterity for the development of industrial clusters contributes to a better fine-tuning of cluster support policies.
Originality/value
Ambidexterity as a concept originating from business administration has so far only been rudimentarily tapped for empirical and theoretical cluster research. The paper identifies and develops a path how this could be accomplished to a greater extent in the future.
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The development of Research Management and Administration (RMA) in Europe is strongly connected with the development of the Science and Technology (S&T) policy of the European…
Abstract
The development of Research Management and Administration (RMA) in Europe is strongly connected with the development of the Science and Technology (S&T) policy of the European Union (EU). These policies were the result of a continuous debate between the member states and the European Commission and European Parliament.
Although there is no data on the early development of RMA, there are some publications on the history of the development of the S&T policy in Europe: the excellent publication ‘A History of European Union Research Policy’ by Luca Guzzetti (Guzzetti, 1995). Guzzetti’s book investigates the history of EU research policies from 1948 up to the preparation of the Fourth Framework Programme (FP) (1994–1998).
The RMA aspects are constructed mainly by oral history complemented with some written sources. The history shows a gradual development of the profession unevenly spread in time and European geography. This has mainly with the EU enlargement in the same period, when new member states were connected to the FP. The profession started with a few colleagues’ way back in the eighties of the last century as financial people were dealing with the first European financial reporting up to the present day where RMA is becoming a field of work attracting many new colleagues.
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Sergio Takahashi and Vania Passarini Takahashi
The purpose of this paper is to study the organizational processes in co-creation with multiple stakeholders within the scope of innovation networks. It consists of analyzing the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the organizational processes in co-creation with multiple stakeholders within the scope of innovation networks. It consists of analyzing the necessary adaptation of organizational processes and to structure a proposal of an integrated process.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is a review article, an analysis of relevant articles in the areas of co-creation with multiple stakeholders, innovation networks, dynamic capabilities and organizational aspects linked to network organization which reflect on the main differences by relating them to the relevant literature.
Findings
Identification of related processes: Innovation development, knowledge integration/sharing, Co-evolution, Value Co-creation, Value Capture, Stakeholders capabilities, and elements of an integrated process in an innovation network.
Originality/value
Proposition of an integrated co-creation process with multiple stakeholders in an innovation network based on dynamic capabilities with the elements of literature and an analysis of the model variables. This process makes it possible, before reconfiguring the network itself, to create and to define the Project in an integrated manner. They also promote an evolution in the commitment, in the relationship and in the sharing of knowledge among the stakeholders and in the anticipation and evaluation by the stakeholders.
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Nina Steinhauer, Michael Gros, Martin Ebner, Markus Ebner, Anneliese Huppertz, Mike Cormann, Susanne Biermeier, Lena Burk, Konstanze Edtstadler, Sonja Gabriel, Martina Wintschnig, Christian Aspalter and Susanne Martich
Due to the important role of orthography in society, the project called IDeRBlog presented in this paper created a web-based tool to motivate pupils to write text as well as to…
Abstract
Purpose
Due to the important role of orthography in society, the project called IDeRBlog presented in this paper created a web-based tool to motivate pupils to write text as well as to read and to comment on texts written by fellow students. In addition, IDeRBlog aims to improve student’s German orthography skills and supports teachers and parents with training materials for their students. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
With the aid of learning analytics, the submitted text is analyzed and special feedback is given to the students so that they can try to correct the misspelled words themselves. The teachers as well as the parents are benefiting from the analysis and exercises suggested by the system.
Findings
A recent study showed the efficiency of the system in form of an improvement of the students’ orthographic skills. Over a period of four months 70 percent of the students achieved a significant reduction of their spelling mistakes.
Originality/value
IDeRBlog is an innovative approach to improving orthography skills combining blogging and new media with writing and practice.
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Eon-seong Lee and Ho-yeol Bang
Effectively managing an intermodal logistics network has become a significant strategic consideration in international logistics. This study aims to empirically examine the way in…
Abstract
Effectively managing an intermodal logistics network has become a significant strategic consideration in international logistics. This study aims to empirically examine the way in which intermodal logistics network coordination can be successfully developed and sustained, and to analyze whether the highly coordinated intermodal logistics network may facilitate the greater logistics performance of network players as well as of the entire intermodal logistic network system. This study adopts social network embeddedness perspective to examine the determinants facilitating the higher level of coordination of the intermodal logistics network. An explorative interview method is being employed for the empirical analysis, and the results show that strong, dense and bridging ties within the network mechanisms facilitate a greater intermodal logistics network coordination. As a result, this helps to enhance the logistics performance of the intermodal logistics network system and its players by facilitating the enhancement of logistics services effectiveness and operational efficiency.
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Anna-Karina Schmitz, Tim Oliver Brexendorf and Martin Fassnacht
Vertical line extension is an attractive growth strategy that allows brands to address heterogeneous consumer needs and react to competitive pressure. The purpose of this paper is…
Abstract
Purpose
Vertical line extension is an attractive growth strategy that allows brands to address heterogeneous consumer needs and react to competitive pressure. The purpose of this paper is to systematically review and summarize vertical line extension research to derive general insights into vertical upward and downward line extension.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on a systematic review of 536 academic articles and predefined inclusion criteria, this research identifies and evaluates all articles that add knowledge to the topic of vertical line extension (n = 64).
Findings
This research derives general insights in several vertical line extension-specific issues. Different forms of vertical line extension, conceptual differences between upward and downward extensions, as well as the role of perceived fit, extension degree and the parent brand are crucial for the study and evaluation of extension and parent brand feedback effects. Those effects are complex and often work in opposing directions not only for the parent brand but also for the extension. Future research needs to face that complexity as well as methodological issues and different research contexts to further advance the literature stream.
Originality/value
This paper provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art review of vertical line extension research characteristics and results. It provides new insights on the characteristics and effects of vertical line extensions and guides future research on the topic.
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This paper aims to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on the trade of goods and services in Spain.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on the trade of goods and services in Spain.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses monthly trade data at the product, region and firm level.
Findings
The COVID-19 crisis has led to the sharpest collapse in the Spanish trade of goods and services in recent decades. The containment measures adopted to arrest the spread of the virus have caused an especially intense fall of trade in services. The large share of transport equipment, capital goods, products that are consumed outdoors (i.e., outdoor goods) and tourism in Spanish exports has made the COVID-19 trade crisis more intense in Spain than in the rest of the European Union.
Practical implications
The nature of the collapse suggests that trade in goods can recover swiftly when the health crisis ends. However, COVID-19 may have a long-term negative impact on the trade of services that rely on the movement of people.
Originality/value
It contributes to understand how COVID-19 has affected the trade in goods and services in Spain.
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Che-Yuan Chang, Yi-Ying Chang, Yu-Chung Tsao and Sascha Kraus
This paper aims to explore the relationship between top management team bricolage and performance and also examines unit ambidexterity's mediating role. More essentially, to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the relationship between top management team bricolage and performance and also examines unit ambidexterity's mediating role. More essentially, to understand the black box of organizational knowledge dynamism, a multilevel moderated mediating model is established by exploring the effects of two firm-level moderators, namely, potential absorptive capacity and realized absorptive capacity.
Design/methodology/approach
To test the cross-level moderated mediation model, this study used multisource data from 90 R&D units in 45 Taiwanese manufacturing firms through two-wave surveys and retrieving the archival data for assessing unit performance.
Findings
This study’s evidence revealed that unit-level ambidexterity mediates the effect between firm-level top management teams’ (TMT) bricolage and unit-level performance. This study also found that firm-level potential absorptive capacity positively moderates the effect between firm-level TMT bricolage and unit-level ambidexterity. Moreover, firm-level realized absorptive capacity strengthens the indirect relationships between firm-level TMT bricolage and unit-level performance via unit-level ambidexterity. The findings shed light on how and why TMT bricolage influences unit ambidexterity and performance in knowledge-intensive sectors.
Originality/value
This paper adds to the existing knowledge-based theory literature by disentangling the association between top management team bricolage and unit performance and identifying the pivotal role of absorptive capacity at both the firm and unit levels.
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Carlos Larrinaga and Jan Bebbington
The aim of this paper is to provide an account of the period prior to the creation of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI): a body that was critical to the institutionalization…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to provide an account of the period prior to the creation of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI): a body that was critical to the institutionalization of sustainability reporting (SR). By examining this “pre-history,” we bring to light the actors, activities and ways of thinking that made SR more likely to be institutionalized once the GRI entrepreneurship came to the fore.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper revisits a time period (the 1990s) that has yet to be formally written about in any depth and traces the early development of what became SR. This material is examined using a constructivist understanding of regulation.
Findings
The authors contend that a convergence of actors and structural conditions were pivotal to the development of SR. Specifically, this paper demonstrates that a combination of actors (such as epistemic communities, carriers, regulators and reporters) as well as the presence of certain conditions (such as the societal context, analogies with financial reporting, environmental reporting and reporting design issues) contributed to the development of SR which was consolidated (as well as extended) in 1999 with the advent of the GRI.
Research limitations/implications
This paper theorizes (through a historical analysis) how SR is sustained by a network of institutional actors and conditions which can assist reflection on future SR development.
Originality/value
This paper brings together empirical material from a time that (sadly) is passing from living memory. The paper also extends the use of a conceptual frame that is starting to influence scholarship in accounting that seeks to understand how norms develop.
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