Ronaldo Parente, Janet Y. Murray, Yue Zhao, Masaaki Kotabe and Ricardo Dias
This study aims to investigate how relational resources, such as the buyer’s trust in its suppliers and the level of supplier involvement, affect the level of tacit knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how relational resources, such as the buyer’s trust in its suppliers and the level of supplier involvement, affect the level of tacit knowledge integration capabilities (TKICs) of the firm, which, in turn, is hypothesized to affect business performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the dynamic capabilities theory and the relational view, this paper examines how TKIC, a special case of dynamic capability, influences business performance. The research context is the Brazilian automobile industry, in which firms are currently experimenting with modular production and increasing their interactions with suppliers. Using a sample of automobile suppliers, this investigates how relational resources, such as the buyer’s trust in its suppliers and the level of supplier involvement, affect the level of TKIC, which, in turn, is hypothesized to affect business performance. In addition, this paper examines the moderating effect of various communication media on the TKIC-business performance relationship. The findings confirm the importance of relational resources and TKIC on business performance. Finally, this paper explores various theoretical and managerial implications to encourage future research.
Findings
The results suggested that the two relational resources (supplier involvement and buyer’s trust) are important drivers of TKICs and that the level of supplier involvement in the production process mediates the relationship between buyer’s trust and TKIC. Moreover, this study found that TKIC leads to superior firm performance, but the degree of media naturalness does not seem to facilitate knowledge transfer. The results confirm that supplier involvement is a pivotal process in that the buying firm’s internal resources and the major suppliers’ resources and capabilities are combined to achieve a competitive advantage – TKIC.
Research limitations/implications
This study is subject to the typical limitations inherent in cross-sectional research designs using subjective measures. That said, this still has some important implications indicating that relational resources, such as buyer’s trust and supplier involvement, are critical in developing TKIC that “seize” opportunities from interfirm relationships and integrate knowledge across and within firm boundaries. Moreover, while knowledge management tools can resemble face-to-face interactions to the largest extent, the research suggested that it cannot substitute face-to-face communications in transferring tacit knowledge.
Practical implications
Managers deal with complex interactions and linkages due to tacit knowledge from components, systems and modules, which are critical in developing organizational capabilities. Relational resources are important strategic assets facilitating resource combination and coordination. Managers must coordinate among multiple sources of learning and partner with their suppliers at an earlier stage to develop the relational capabilities and efficiently steer the process of boundary redefinition. Finally, managers must have the ability to manage tacit knowledge within the interface with suppliers using organizational mechanisms (i.e. TKIC) to help them absorb external knowledge from their supplier network and integrate it with specific internal competences.
Social implications
Recent disruptive technological developments pressure organizations to become more flexible by requiring firms to adapt quickly to constantly changing markets and to have the ability to apply different resources and capabilities to specific unique situations. All this with a huge impact on the firm’s employees and society in general. Thus, interfirm relationships and the role of knowledge integration is especially crucial, given the current industry trend in favor of experimenting with innovative production methods (e.g. flexible manufacturing and modular production) that can help managers to rethink work conditions in a more meaningful and flexible for society.
Originality/value
While prior research treats integrative capability mainly as a mechanism that explains superior firms’ performance in an interfirm relationship, few research efforts have explicated what shapes TKICs. By examining the relationship between relational resources, TKIC and performance, this study fills this research gap and develops and tests a theoretical framework.
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Masaaki Kotabe, Janet Y. Murray and Michael J. Mol
Increased global sourcing of manufacturing and service activities has been a prominent part of the restructuring of firms’ supply chains in the 1990s and beyond. Academics and…
Abstract
Increased global sourcing of manufacturing and service activities has been a prominent part of the restructuring of firms’ supply chains in the 1990s and beyond. Academics and consultancy firms have largely supported the view of global sourcing as one of the key drivers of superior performance. As we are now increasingly discovering, the drawbacks of offshore outsourcing – or, put differently, the advantages of vertical integration – have been underestimated or even neglected. In this chapter, we first discuss the need to balance sourcing levels and then how global sourcing levels must achieve a strategic fit with the environment. Finally, we synthesize these balance and fit perspectives to suggest how, over time, changes in the fit alter the required balance in global sourcing. From this synthesis, we develop a number of future research questions related to important conceptual perspectives on sourcing. For managers we provide indications of how they can achieve a balance and a fit of their sourcing strategies.
Masaaki Kotabe and Janet Y. Murray
Global procurement of service activities has received an increasing amount of managerial attention in recent years. Service firms seem to have begun sourcing part of their service…
Abstract
Global procurement of service activities has received an increasing amount of managerial attention in recent years. Service firms seem to have begun sourcing part of their service activities from abroad in much the same way as manufacturing firms have sourced components and finished goods in the past 30 years. However, little is known about the nature of service global sourcing strategy. In this study, we examine the differences in the characteristics of core service activities provided by service firms that market pure service activities versus those service firms that market service activities which involve tangible goods, and the extent to which both types of service firms engage in internal and foreign sourcing of core service activities before the service activities are provided to their customers. The results show, among others, that the level of inseparability of core service activities performed and/or sourced by “pure” service firms is significantly higher than that of “non‐pure” service firms and that “non‐pure” service firms consider foreign sourcing drivers as much more important factors in influencing the decisions in selecting potential suppliers for core service activities. Managerial and theoretical implications are explored.
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A survey of US‐based European and Japanese multinational firms, examining: the similarities and differences in product strategies used by these firms, and the relationship of…
Abstract
A survey of US‐based European and Japanese multinational firms, examining: the similarities and differences in product strategies used by these firms, and the relationship of their product strategies to a product’s sales growth rate in the US market. Shows that Japanese multinational firms used a higher level of specific assets, transaction frequency, process innovation, and crucial component sourcing internally than their European competitors. Furthermore, a product’s sales growth rate was positively related to the degree of product innovation, process innovation, and crucial component sourcing internally.
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Based on the US Department of Commerce′s survey data of US directinvestment abroad for 1977 and 1985, this study examines the shift inglobal market share of US multinational…
Abstract
Based on the US Department of Commerce′s survey data of US direct investment abroad for 1977 and 1985, this study examines the shift in global market share of US multinational manufacturing firms for the 1977‐1985 period. Consolidated global market shares of US multinationals for 26 industries are estimated for 1977 and 1985. The shift in their global market share is analysed from a perspective of three alternative, if not independent, strategic thrusts: namely, home market orientation, export orientation, and foreign production orientation. Contrary to the commonly stated claim that the competitiveness of US manufacturing firms has been declining, findings of this study indicate that, on average, US manufacturing multinationals have maintained global market share on a consolidated basis fairly well.
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This chapter explores how virtual reality (VR) distinguishes itself in terms of immersion within the field of video games. Central to this inquiry is whether VR represents a…
Abstract
This chapter explores how virtual reality (VR) distinguishes itself in terms of immersion within the field of video games. Central to this inquiry is whether VR represents a revolutionary new gaming paradigm or merely the latest medium falling short of gamers’ expectations. The discussion begins by examining the concepts of immersion and presence, highlighting their overlapping properties and how VR's capability to merge perspective and interaction enhances these experiences. Immersion involves sensory stimulation, narrative attachment and player agency within virtual environments (VEs), while presence is defined as the sensation of inhabiting a virtual universe. The chapter addresses VEs, diegesis and fictional worlds, building on the narratology and ludology debate. It chapter assesses the roles of environmental storytelling and the world inhabiting effect in games, particularly open-world role-playing games set in fantasy and science fiction universes. These games offer players active participation in narrative construction, enhancing immersion. Furthermore, the analysis compares third-person and first-person points of view (POV) in flat-screen games with VR's unique integration of POV, point of action and point of interaction. VR's intuitive interface fosters a profound emotional response and a heightened sense of presence, breaking the fourth wall and blurring the line between gameworld and reality. This chapter concludes that while VR offers a distinct form of representation, it does not constitute a new gaming paradigm yet. However, advancements in the medium may soon bring VR closer to the immersive experiences envisioned by Janet Murray's holodeck.
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Emma Elizabeth Curry and Panoraia Andriopoulou
The aim of this study is to explore the dual-experiences of AN recovered service providers. Prognoses for anorexia nervosa (AN) and anorexia nervosa-like (AN-like) presenting…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to explore the dual-experiences of AN recovered service providers. Prognoses for anorexia nervosa (AN) and anorexia nervosa-like (AN-like) presenting patients remain poor, and notably, no current treatment approach is reliably successful. Past research into AN has focused on singular experiences, those of either AN patients or those of practitioners providing treatment, but has yet to explore the experiences of recovered AN service users now working as AN service providers.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, four UK-based female participants shared their dual experiences of treatment for AN or AN-like presentations through individual semi-structured interviews. Data collection and analysis were conducted in accordance with an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology.
Findings
Analysis revealed four primary themes, including barriers to accessing services; the impact of treating professionals’ approaches; displacement of responsibility for treating AN; and the value of dual-experience of AN.
Research limitations/implications
This study focuses on AN and AN-like presentations and does not address the other eating disorders. Additionally, only female-identifying individuals volunteered their participation. As such, this study is notably lacking the voices of individuals of other genders.
Practical implications
Participant narratives suggest that improvements in the treatment of AN lie in improving professionals’ understanding of – and compassion towards – this patient group to optimise the power of the therapeutic relationship across all AN-treating professions.
Social implications
Participants revealed a pervasive misunderstanding of AN among treating professionals that is hindering patients’ treatment and suggested that lived experience can be an asset in a professional context.
Originality/value
Individuals with dual experiences of AN can provide a unique and reflective insight into experiences of treatment through their combined personal and professional expertise and elucidate the experiences that both helped and hindered their own recovery.