Caroline Hussler, Julien Pénin, Michael Dietrich and Thierry Burger‐Helmchen
The purpose of this paper is to argue for the need to reconcile managerial and economic approaches of the firm. Strategic management seems to be the perfect playground for this.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to argue for the need to reconcile managerial and economic approaches of the firm. Strategic management seems to be the perfect playground for this.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper shows many divergences between the economic and managerial approach of the firm but also highlights many topics where both approaches come in handy.
Findings
The authors underline the topics and theories in strategic management with the greatest benefits of mixing economics and management can be expected and they echo the papers in this special issue.
Practical implications
The paper comes as a warning for those using only managerial perspective without listening to the caveats and ideas put forward by the economic approach of the firm.
Originality/value
The paper offers an agenda of how economics and management could be reunited, and shows the relevance of doing so to both theory and practice.
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The purpose of this paper is to promote discourse analysis as a valuable theoretical perspective to further examine how communication and other discursive practices may impact…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to promote discourse analysis as a valuable theoretical perspective to further examine how communication and other discursive practices may impact strategy‐related outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
The author uses a single case study of a French village in an illustrative way, to show how stakeholders (can) communicate to influence the strategic development of an organization.
Findings
A set a propositions is identified as an understanding of why new discourses emerge and institutionalize in a given setting.
Research limitations/implications
As the production of texts was used to observe practitioners’ participation in the strategy process, silent forms of participation may have passed unnoticed.
Practical implications
Practitioners who aim at influencing the strategy process may be interested in identifying the discursive context (producers of consumers of texts) and in improving their conversational skills.
Originality/value
The paper suggests a three‐step process to study the strategy process from a linguistic perspective: identify the producers of texts, examine how the texts are written/told, explain how a set of texts come to dominate a conversation.
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Yuri Biondi and Pierpaolo Giannoccolo
The purpose of this paper is to develop a model of innovative industries which face coopetition: firms compete while committing at the same time to R&D joint ventures and other…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a model of innovative industries which face coopetition: firms compete while committing at the same time to R&D joint ventures and other cooperative agreements. These joint activities are likely to occur in presence of complementarities on demand or supply sides; they raise specific accounting issues concerned with recognition and measurement of intangible resources committed to, and generated from them.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper develops a heuristic industrial economic model characterized by joint utility of outputs for custumers on the demand side, and potential complementarities in R&D activities on the supply side. The authors’ model describes different scenarios generated by alternative corporate pricing strategies. In particular, these strategies (as implemented by firms or imposed by regulators) influence both infrastructure corporate investments and the creation and stability of coopetitive relationships.
Findings
The model scenarios show that especially accounting for intangible resources – related to processes of innovation and R&D – should deserve specific attention. Firms and regulators need to properly account for both hard intangibles that have market prices of reference, and soft and ethereal intangibles that factually have not. A stock method of accounting for intangibles results then which is narrow and biased, because of its focus on hard intangibles alone. A flow method of accounting should be preferred, which tracks the cumulated investment flow of direct and indirect expenditures in innovation and development, properly allocated within and between firms.
Originality/value
The paper argues for regulatory frameworks that enable increasing the positive effects of cooperation while repressing collusive behaviours (technological standardization, fiscal incentives to welfare‐improving innovation and strategy, public research, costumers’ protection, and so forth). Concerning the overall industrial organization, the paper's theoretical analysis shows the need for better recognition and measurement of intangibles and complementarities in costing and pricing, for both corporate and regulatory purposes.
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Seiya Shimanuki and Tomoko Saiki
The purpose of this paper is to examine knowledge creation and technological diversity management by medical device manufacturers, to identify strategic directions for innovation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine knowledge creation and technological diversity management by medical device manufacturers, to identify strategic directions for innovation in the medical device field.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses two types of data to assess the importance of multiple technologies and technological diversity in product development: patent applications and approvals of medical devices for sale and use in medical treatment. Additional perspective is provided by the results of a survey of management styles.
Findings
While knowledge‐creating innovation frequently combines multiple technologies, the scope of technological diversity, the variety of types of technology combined may be wider in low‐risk than in high‐risk innovation.
Research limitations/implications
The sample size is too small to justify claims of statistical significance. This research should be extended to incorporate more cases and explore the theme in greater depth.
Practical implications
Companies that choose a high‐risk strategy are likely to be more focused on related multiple technologies with which their researchers are already familiar. Conversely, companies that choose a low‐risk strategy may have more room to experiment since, if something goes wrong, the risk to patient health is lower. Innovative medical device enterprise to seek high‐risk device development is proposed to manage optimal diversity for it.
Originality/value
This paper analyses two case studies relevant to growing interest in technological diversity and knowledge management in knowledge‐driven innovation in the medical device industry in Japan.
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Dynamic capabilities approach, having roots in evolutionary economics, has recently become popular also among strategic management researchers. However, the dynamic capabilities…
Abstract
Purpose
Dynamic capabilities approach, having roots in evolutionary economics, has recently become popular also among strategic management researchers. However, the dynamic capabilities construct has been criticised for being too confusing and abstract. The purpose of this paper is to tackle this criticism by first introducing a theoretical framework for concretising dynamic capabilities and then by testing the framework empirically.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilises qualitative case study methods. The empirical part of the research introduces a single case study of Finnish manufacturing small to medium‐sized enterprise (SME). The longitudinal research data include two structured telephone interviews and two personal interviews with the case firm's managers. Also significant amount of secondary data were analysed during the study. Pre‐planned systematic coding methods were utilised during the data‐analysis phase of the study.
Findings
Concrete examples were provided of the dynamic capabilities identified from the international growth of the studied firm.
Research limitations/implications
The research design led to a sample of only one case. Therefore, the findings have a strong intuitive and conceptual appeal and statistical generalizability is not appropriate.
Practical implications
The paper introduces an example of how SME can grow in international markets. Some good practices can be identified from the case study.
Originality/value
By introducing a new and operationalized classification for studying dynamic capabilities qualitatively, the paper makes methodological contributions. The paper also answers criticism addressed towards the dynamic capabilities construct by making dynamic capabilities more concrete.
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The literature identifies different sources of competitive advantages. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that an efficient articulation of a Voice behavioral model and an…
Abstract
Purpose
The literature identifies different sources of competitive advantages. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that an efficient articulation of a Voice behavioral model and an Exit behavioral model can result in a sustained competitive advantage for automobile manufacturers.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper builds on the analytical framework of the global value chain literature to analyze how the combination of hierarchy, relational linkages and market linkages creates additional assets. The case of Volkswagen‐Skoda in the Czech Republic is used to illustrate the combination of Voice and Exit relationships.
Findings
The paper suggests that the competitive advantage of automobile manufacturers crucially depends today on the combination, on the one hand, of the “relational rent” provided by the cooperation with global suppliers, and on the other hand, of the “switching rent” provided by the absence of implication in the relationship with lower‐tier suppliers.
Originality/value
The paper represents an original research initiative that considers the combination of three types of linkages as the source of competitive advantage. The paper uses a case study to exemplify the declination and articulation of the three types of linkages.
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Victoria Bordonaba‐Juste and Jesús J. Cambra‐Fierro
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the efforts of a Spanish SME, Bodega Pirineos, to combine technology and a customized strategy in communication management with its…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the efforts of a Spanish SME, Bodega Pirineos, to combine technology and a customized strategy in communication management with its suppliers. This is extremely important because of the necessity to adapt its supply system to the characteristics of its micro‐suppliers, which are key trade partners of the firm.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach used was a case study.
Findings
The case study suggests how firms must adapt their supply relationships both with suppliers and with the environment. The paper shows that technology is not always enough. Firms need to understand their partners and to communicate with them.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is based on a specific case study. Therefore, its recommendations may be successfully applied to other products in different settings and in other sectors.
Practical implications
The ideas contained in this case study can help supply chain managers to reflect on the necessity of understanding their strategic suppliers. Communication between a company and its suppliers is important for improving the efficiency of its supplying management. A proper management of business‐to‐business communication flow may guarantee the achievement of the necessary inputs and the meeting of the required standards for its products. Understanding why and how Bodega Pirineos customizes communications flows with its micro‐suppliers will help both managers and researchers to reflect on the idea that communication needs comprehension more than technological intensity.
Originality/value
The special characteristics of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) seem to recommend strategies adapted to their economic and human resources. The paper highlights a successful strategy based on the SME context. It includes both the firm's and their most representative suppliers' perspective.