What if you could rub your computer three times and get the answers to all your pressing questions? That isn't possible yet, but the new Djinni (Dow Jones International Network…
Abstract
What if you could rub your computer three times and get the answers to all your pressing questions? That isn't possible yet, but the new Djinni (Dow Jones International Network for News and Information) service comes close. More than simple information retrieval, Djinni allows you to follow topics of interest, compile historical backgrounds to important events, make your own connections between new stories, and share that information with co‐workers worldwide.
Jisun Kim, Hyun-Soo Woo, Rachel Balven and Glenn Hoetker
Decades of research offer mixed results regarding the relationship between green product strategies and corporate financial performance. On the one hand, many scholars put forward…
Abstract
Purpose
Decades of research offer mixed results regarding the relationship between green product strategies and corporate financial performance. On the one hand, many scholars put forward green product strategies as a source of competitive advantage and in turn enhance financial performance. On the other hand, some studies suggest the opposite – that green product strategies may encounter managerial difficulties or are too costly, consequently leading to meager, if any, financial gain. This study explores cross-country contextual differences as a contingency to resolve this inconsistency. Thus, the research question is, “Do stakeholders of a country affect the link between green product strategies and financial performance?”
Design/methodology/approach
Using a meta-analytic approach, the authors examine three country-level contingencies related to stakeholders: the impact of regulatory (stringency of environmental regulators), economic (consumer economic wealth) and political conditions (democratic vs. authoritarian governments) of a country in which the effects of a green product strategy on financial performance may vary.
Findings
Consistent with our predictions, the meta-analysis of 26 studies published over a 20-year period reveals that green products positively relate to financial performance in countries with lax environmental regulation, low consumer economic status and authoritarian regimes.
Originality/value
The authors applied both (natural) resource-based and resource dependence theories by focusing on the interactions between firms' internal resources/capabilities and the external resources that firms can access. By doing so, the study adds to our understanding of stakeholders as resource providers to enhance financial benefits of green product strategies and provide insight into key boundary conditions of the link.
Details
Keywords
Our understanding of Japanese supply relationships comes primarily from studying the automobile industry. This paper identifies three elements of the automobile industry that…
Abstract
Our understanding of Japanese supply relationships comes primarily from studying the automobile industry. This paper identifies three elements of the automobile industry that, although generally assumed to be widespread, are largely absent in the notebook computer industry, leading to a different pattern of supply relationships: a sizable pool of external suppliers; the feasibility of shukko and cross-shareholding to strengthen supply relationships; and the adequacy of these means to manage external supply relationships. This finding debunks the myth of a monolithic model of “Japanese-style” supply relationships and illustrates the importance of idiosyncratic elements of an industry’s environment on its supply relationships.
Martin Ganco and Glenn Hoetker
We discuss recent methodological advances in the NK modeling in the Strategy literature and analyze issues related to its current use including different implementation…
Abstract
We discuss recent methodological advances in the NK modeling in the Strategy literature and analyze issues related to its current use including different implementation algorithms, relative versus absolute performance, establishing significance of simulation results and long- versus short-term performance measurements. To facilitate cross-pollination of ideas, we point to advances and extensions of the model developed in other fields that could be effectively utilized to answer Strategy-related questions. These include modeling the strength of interaction, varying the importance of decision elements, utilizing alternative functional forms, incorporating endogeneity in N and K parameters and embedding the NK model in a broader dynamic framework.
Bongsun Kim, Minyoung Kim and Eonsoo Kim
The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate knowledge replication-imitation speed differentials in the context of patents as the target knowledge.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate knowledge replication-imitation speed differentials in the context of patents as the target knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyzes patent citations in the electric digital data processing class employing an accelerated failure-time model.
Findings
This study finds that replicators can turn the private aspect of knowledge into an advantage against imitators with respect to the speed of knowledge transfer, even after the knowledge is codified in a patent. Specifically, being a replicator provides no knowledge transfer speed advantage over imitators. Instead, a joint consideration of knowledge characteristics and organizational boundaries is necessary when explaining knowledge replication-imitation speed differentials. Thus, “organizational advantage” in knowledge transfer is knowledge characteristic-specific rather than general.
Originality/value
This study illuminates the differential effects of organizational boundaries on knowledge transfer by investigating both replication and imitation in conjunction with each other, which has been a weakness in previous studies. This study also investigates knowledge transfer speed, another void in extant research.
Details
Keywords
Stefan Grunwald-Delitz, Erik Strauss and Juergen Weber
This paper aims to advance understanding of the role of informal controls for governing day-to-day interactions in the execution phase of interfirm collaborations. It explores the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to advance understanding of the role of informal controls for governing day-to-day interactions in the execution phase of interfirm collaborations. It explores the nature of these informal controls and how they are used by the firm’s partners during this phase.
Design/methodology/approach
In-depth case study of a lateral relationship between a car manufacturer and its suppliers, based on interviews, observations and archival material, and using concepts from the field of psychology.
Findings
The results reveal an interfirm collaboration in which the supplier, in particular, relies on so-called informal interpersonal controls for micro-contracting and solving the control problems of its day-to-day interactions. Specifically, the study finds that the collaboration partners rely on interpersonal influence tactics for influencing behavior, coordinating the activities of the collaboration partners, and mitigating collaborative risks. Depending on the specific individual, in terms of, for example, their “mood”, and the contingencies of the explicit interaction, such as contradicting flanking contractual agreements, the actors engage in different activities, including ingratiation, pressure or rational persuasion.
Originality/value
This study illuminates the role of informal controls in interfirm settings by distinguishing analytically between interpersonal and interorganizational informal controls. By mobilizing the psychological concepts of interpersonal influence tactics, the extant research in this field is complemented through the illustration of how the actors use informal control mechanisms, depending on their corresponding counterpart, and the specific situation of the interaction. The findings thereby highlight the situated nature of governance, suggesting that governance between collaboration partners is not a static condition, rather an ongoing process in which the actors use, and alternate between, distinct tactics in their daily interactions.
Details
Keywords
Swayam Sampurna Panigrahi, Bikram Bahinipati and Vipul Jain
The business enterprises are increasingly focusing on buying and supplying of products and services in a manner to reduce the adverse impacts on the environment, society, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The business enterprises are increasingly focusing on buying and supplying of products and services in a manner to reduce the adverse impacts on the environment, society, and economy. In view of the above, the concept of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has received attention of the industry and academia due to its importance on environmental, social and corporate responsibility through economic performance. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The structured literature review attempts to map the various theories in the SSCM literature from the perspectives of economic performance, environmental dimensions, and social values and ethics.
Findings
As supply management is vital for enhancing organizational competitiveness, the present work attempts to investigate the theoretical perspectives in SSCM to develop an understanding of the current research activities and future potentials.
Practical implications
This work aims to gain a number of valid insights for the practitioners and the researchers. It also focuses on the perspectives of governance mechanisms for successful implementation SSCM practices in the business enterprises.
Originality/value
As the theory building initiatives with implications on the conceptualization of SSCM is limited in literature, this work has also been able to identify the trends and relevant research gaps to define the potential areas for future research.