This study concerns two aspects of the integration process critical for the success of acquisitions: (1) levels of human integration and task integration and (2) speeds of human…
Abstract
Purpose
This study concerns two aspects of the integration process critical for the success of acquisitions: (1) levels of human integration and task integration and (2) speeds of human integration and task integration. The purpose of this study is to examine the interaction effects of human/task integration level and human integration speed advantage on acquisition performance.
Design/methodology/approach
This study collected data of companies in the Taiwanese high-tech industries at the financial, organizational and industrial levels to examine the proposed hypotheses. Corporate financial and patent data were collected from the Taiwan Securities and Futures Commission databases and the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) databases. The organizational level data were collected from 142 publicly traded related acquisitions from 2008 to 2009 in the Taiwanese high-tech industries.
Findings
The results show that (1) a high level of human integration positively affects technological performance; (2) the interaction term of human integration level and human integration speed advantage (i.e., relatively faster human integration coupled with slower task integration) positively affects technological performance; and (3) the interaction term of task integration level and human integration speed advantage positively affects technological performance.
Originality/value
The originality of this study lies in advancing our understanding of how complex interactions between human/task integration level and human integration speed advantage affect acquisition performance.
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This study aims to examine the effect of exploratory innovation offshoring on the level of hierarchical control and how this effect is moderated by transnational and dynamic…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effect of exploratory innovation offshoring on the level of hierarchical control and how this effect is moderated by transnational and dynamic environments.
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws on a sample of 148 Taiwanese multinational enterprises to examine their governance decisions on foreign investments.
Findings
Findings show that the more innovation offshoring is exploratory, the higher the level of hierarchical control will be used by multinational enterprises (MNEs) and that transnational and dynamic environments have different moderation effects on the positive exploratory innovation offshoring-hierarchical control relationship.
Research limitations/implications
This study has two theoretical implications. First, this study extends the concept of complexity from a transaction attribute level (problem) to an environmental level (transnational environment) and finds that exploratory innovation offshoring and transnational environments interactively impact governance choices. Second, this study distinguishes between two sources of technological uncertainty – uncertainty due to transaction-level attributes (exploratory innovation offshoring) and external environments (dynamic environments) and finds that exploratory innovation offshoring and dynamic environments interactively impact governance choices.
Practical implications
The practical implication of this study lies in the simultaneous consideration of exploratory innovation offshoring and transnational/dynamic environments, which will allow international decision-makers to adjust/select the governance forms most appropriate for speedy responding to and handling environmental changes.
Originality/value
This study employs the theoretical perspectives of transaction cost economics (TCE) and resource-based view (RBV) to analyze and discuss the impact of operational environments – transnational and dynamic environments – on MNEs’ decisions on the governance structure for a given innovation offshoring.
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By distinguishing opportunism-based and bounded rationality-based transaction costs, the study examines how firms use equity/relational governance and boundary spanners' guanxi to…
Abstract
Purpose
By distinguishing opportunism-based and bounded rationality-based transaction costs, the study examines how firms use equity/relational governance and boundary spanners' guanxi to govern their exploration alliances in a transaction cost economizing way.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a survey methodology for data collection, and the sample consists of 150 exploration alliances formed by large Taiwanese information and electronic firms.
Findings
Findings of this study show that exploration alliances incur considerable transaction costs and require high-level equity control and relational governance. The positive exploration of alliance-equity ownership relationship will be weakened by boundary spanners' guanxi when guanxi serves to harmonize conflicts and mitigate opportunism-based transaction costs, thereby reducing the need for using costly equity ownership to govern exploration alliances. In contrast, the positive exploration alliance-relational governance relationship will be amplified when guanxi becomes a source of legitimacy in the Chinese guanxi institution. This relation-augmenting effect will drive more relational governance because guanxi and relational governance together allow alliance managers to obtain sufficient legitimacy in the formation of a common dominant frame, thereby mitigating bounded rationality-based transaction costs.
Originality/value
By distinguishing various moderating effects of boundary spanners' guanxi and separating transaction costs into two forms, this study contributes to the existing literature as well as advances our understanding of alliance governance decisions in the Chinese business environment.
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The central concern of organizational learning and corporate strategy has, in recent decades, focused on the rational choice and appropriate balance between exploration and…
Abstract
Purpose
The central concern of organizational learning and corporate strategy has, in recent decades, focused on the rational choice and appropriate balance between exploration and exploitation. Dividing mergers and acquisitions (M&As) into related and unrelated M&As, this study applies the exploration vs exploitation construct to examine how different M&A strategies affect exploration and exploitation of the combined firm, how post-acquisition integration affects exploration and exploitation of the combined firm, and how organizational ambidexterity affects post-acquisition performance. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Organizational and industry level data were drawn from the top 1,000 Taiwanese electronic and computer firms reported by 2009 China Credit Information Service, an authorized credit-rating company in Taiwan. The companies are classified into four industries: computer and associated equipments manufacturing (SICs 271x, 274x, 276x); integrated circuits (SIC 261x), opto-electronics and telecommunication (SICs 264x, 272x, 277x) and electronic components (SICs 262x, 263x, 264x, 269x, 275x). Questionnaires were distributed to general managers of the top 1,000 electronics companies.
Findings
This investigation of Taiwanese electronic and computer firms revealed that related acquisitions with high degrees of acquisition integration positively affect the combined firm's exploitation; unrelated acquisitions with high degrees of R&D expenditure and acquisition experience positively affect the combined firm's exploration. The firm's ability of simultaneously pursuing exploitation and exploration positively affects its post-acquisition performance.
Originality/value
The contribution of this study is to understand how acquisitions influence exploitation and exploration. With regard to the relationship between acquisition and exploitation/exploration, this study finds that unrelated acquisitions enhance exploration, whereas related acquisitions enhance exploitation.
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Liang‐Hung Lin and Iuan‐Yuan Lu
This empirical study aims to examine an organizational response to the needs of e‐business, virtual organization, and associated determinants of its successful adoption in the…
Abstract
Purpose
This empirical study aims to examine an organizational response to the needs of e‐business, virtual organization, and associated determinants of its successful adoption in the Taiwanese electronics industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The research examined a large sample of Taiwanese electronics companies. A research population of Taiwanese electronics companies was drawn from firms listed on both the TAIEX and the OTC markets and included 305 firms. Questionnaires were sent to firm administrators who were asked the degree to which the company had undertaken virtual organizational structuring that was enabled by information technologies.
Findings
The findings of this research reveal significant impacts of individual and organizational factors, but no effect for environmental variables on virtual organization adoption.
Research limitations/implications
While the results might provide clues for understanding the adoption of virtual organization structure in the manufacturing sector, there still remains uncertainty in generalizing to service industries. The variety of types of service firms and their outputs makes any generalization to services from this study difficult.
Practical implications
First, information technologies may provide the potential means to implement innovative organization structures, such as virtual organization, to respond to the pressures of change. Second, the adoption and diffusion of virtual organization might transform firms to meet the demands of e‐commerce.
Originality/value
The study identifies factors which may impact on the successful use of information technologies to implement innovative organization structures, such as virtual organizations, to respond to the pressures of change.
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Tse-Ping Dong, Chia-Liang Hung and Nai-Chang Cheng
The purpose of this paper is to show how continual enhancement of knowledge management systems (KMSs) enhances knowledge sharing intention.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show how continual enhancement of knowledge management systems (KMSs) enhances knowledge sharing intention.
Design/methodology/approach
This study integrates information system (IS) success with social cognitive theory (SCT) to explain knowledge sharing intention. Based on a survey of 276 KMS users in Taiwan’s information technology industry, the structural equation model has been applied to examine the influence process from a user satisfactory context to personal cognitive beliefs, and thus knowledge sharing intention.
Findings
The results indicate that the user satisfactory context stimulated by continual KMS enhancement increases knowledge sharing intention through the mediation of personal cognition of self-efficacy and outcome expectancy.
Practical implications
The results have empirical implications for learning how to motivate developers’ patience and passion for follow-up improvements to meet user expectations empathically, which has been emphasized for service provision.
Originality/value
The originality of this research is its explanation of system adoption behavior, which combines the core of IS success with SCT, links user satisfaction to intention to use, and concerns behavior within a specific context.