Karlos A. Artto, Hans Georg Gemünden, Derek Walker and Pirjo Peippo-Lavikka
Many literature reviews on project management (PM) research are limited to studies published only in PM journals but some reviews do expand their analysis on PM research published…
Abstract
Purpose
Many literature reviews on project management (PM) research are limited to studies published only in PM journals but some reviews do expand their analysis on PM research published also in journals belonging to the management studies field. However, the authors found no previous literature reviews comparing the PM content in different sectors outside the management studies field. Therefore, the analysis and findings of PM content derived from the sector-specific engineering and technology-focused journals are new. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyze PM content in nine different sectors, where each sector and its inherent research is connected to specific engineering, technological, or industry-related disciplines. The authors conduct an evidence-informed literature review on PM knowledge in the distinct literatures of these nine sectors. The period of analysis is 24 years from 1986-2009. The authors discuss potential consequences of the findings’ sector-specificity for future PM domain development.
Findings
The perspective on different origins of PM leads to a meta-level PM concept covering several different PM domains, each with its own sector specific and separated development path.
Research limitations/implications
The literature analysis purposefully excluded PM journals and management studies, and the authors focused only on sector-specific engineering and technology-focused journals that represent knowledge and wisdom of different PM contents in nine sectors.
Practical implications
The findings have significant potential to contribute to scholarly discussion on the development of a universal PM theory. For applicability across sectors, the authors suggest a modular PM theory with different sector-specific modules for knowledge, concepts, and underlying assumptions.
Originality/value
Currently, this discussion has been mainly focused on theorizing concepts and approaches in management studies only. This study expands the understanding to engineering and technology-focused journals across nine industry sectors/domains.
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Achim Walter and Hans Georg Gemünden
Despite the pivotal importance of marketing‐oriented boundary spanners for successful relationship development, only a few studies have investigated the influence of these…
Abstract
Despite the pivotal importance of marketing‐oriented boundary spanners for successful relationship development, only a few studies have investigated the influence of these boundary spanners on relationship outcomes. Findings of this study show that relationship advancement through a relationship promoter in the supplier or customer firm have a positive significant impact on the growth of sales within the relationship and the supplier’s share of a customer’s business. Relationship promoters are persons who identify appropriate partners of different organizations, bring them together, and facilitate the dialogue and the exchange processes between them. Relationship promoters support interactive learning processes and solve inter‐organizational conflicts. Furthermore, they fulfil an important social task. Relationship promoters overcome existing distances between partner firms and develop an understanding for the situation and objectives of the respective partner.
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Thilo A. Mueller and Hans Georg Gemünden
Developments in the software industry have shown the need for sustainable and effective management strategies, especially for new ventures. Entrepreneurship literature suggests…
Abstract
Purpose
Developments in the software industry have shown the need for sustainable and effective management strategies, especially for new ventures. Entrepreneurship literature suggests marketing to be one of the pivotal predictors of business performance. Previous empirical studies have shown the importance of social interaction and team work quality for new venture performance. The purpose of this paper is to apply founder team interaction quality (IQ), and the customer and competitor orientation concept of marketing research to new software venture performance.
Design/methodology/approach
An empirical study using a fully standardized questionnaire was conducted in 101 young software ventures. Two founders in each company filled out the questionnaire separately allowing superior tests for reliability and validity of the research framework.
Findings
The results show team IQ to be a powerful predictor of both customer orientation and competitor orientation. Furthermore, a positive, linear relationship between competitor orientation and technological performance has been found. There is a curvilinear U‐shaped relationship between customer orientation and all examined success dimensions, i.e. economic, market and technological success.
Originality/value
Based on a theoretical research framework and a comprehensive empirical study, the paper contributes to a limited body of research and provides insight for managers of young ventures in the nature of teamwork and IQ and its effects on market orientation and company performance.
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Ricky Ryssel, Thomas Ritter and Hans Georg Gemünden
To strengthen their position in today's highly‐competitive and fast‐paced business environment, supplier firms often engage in relationships with their customers. Recent advances…
Abstract
To strengthen their position in today's highly‐competitive and fast‐paced business environment, supplier firms often engage in relationships with their customers. Recent advances in information technology offer new ways of managing inter‐organizational relationships. In this paper, a model conceptualizing the impact of information technology deployment on inter‐organizational buyer‐seller relationships is developed. Using an empirical study of 61 German firms engaged in customer‐supplier relationships, this paper also gives some empirical evidence for the developed framework. With regard to relationship management, intra‐ and inter‐organizational information technology deployment has different effects on relationship atmosphere and on the relationship's value creation. The findings give new insight into the role of information technology in value‐creation in business‐to‐business relationships. Managerial implications and future research questions in this area are also discussed.
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Christopher Lettl and Hans Georg Gemünden
To provide first insights into under which conditions innovative users start entrepreneurial activities and finally become manufacturers themselves.
Abstract
Purpose
To provide first insights into under which conditions innovative users start entrepreneurial activities and finally become manufacturers themselves.
Design/methodology/approach
Concrete innovation projects were chosen as the unit of analysis and a multi‐case comparison methodology was applied. In‐depth interviews on the basis of a semi‐structured interview guideline were conducted. Furthermore, archival data were used. A rigorous content analysis framework was applied to analyse the collected data.
Findings
Those users that were the original investors in the innovations established and organized the required innovation networks. A high problem pressure, an active role of users in the idea generation phase, a high degree of innovativeness of the prospective product, and missing competencies as well as missing resources explain the entrepreneurial role of users.
Research limitations/implications
For the empirical study the focus was on the industry of medical equipment technology. This raises questions with respect to the generalizability of the results. Further research in other industries is needed to cross‐validate the results.
Practical implications
One important implication for corporate practice is to systematically identify and leverage entrepreneurial users for their innovation work. Thus, parts of the R&D and marketing function can be outsourced.
Originality/value
A new role for users in the innovation process is identified and an explanatory framework provided to better understand antecedents of this phenomenon.
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Erik S. Rasmussan, Tage Koed Madsen and Felicitas Evangelista
Attempts to consider how a founder has reduced equivocality in relation to support networks and reducing risks, especially in an international environment. Presents the case…
Abstract
Attempts to consider how a founder has reduced equivocality in relation to support networks and reducing risks, especially in an international environment. Presents the case studies of five Danish and Australian born global companies. Considers different global models and their limitations. Presents the findings of recent surveys in this area. Concludes that internationalization has not been the primary objective in the founding process and gives direction for further research.