While previous research has developed unclear positions about the role of organizational resources on alliance formation, the purpose of this paper is to focus on financial slack…
Abstract
Purpose
While previous research has developed unclear positions about the role of organizational resources on alliance formation, the purpose of this paper is to focus on financial slack resources to clarify the conditions that facilitate the formation of strategic alliances. Building on the behavioral theory of the firm, this paper theorizes that internal and external financial slack resources, measured as cash holdings and financial leverage, incentivize managers to form alliances, because they protect them against the risk of alliance failure.
Design/methodology/approach
Complete data were collected from 400 biotech public companies for the period from 2000 to 2015. The data set considered alliances among over 2,200 public and private companies. Hypothesis testing relied on generalized estimating equations.
Findings
Cash holdings positively impact alliance formation; financial leverage negatively impacts alliance formation; cash holdings and financial leverage interact in the prediction of alliance formation.
Research limitations/implications
While research in financial slack resources shows equivocal results, this study illustrates that they exercise a significant effect when it comes to the choice of forming strategic alliances. Limitations include the focus on multiple forms of alliances, possible restrictions in the external validity of the findings, and a lack of measurement of explanatory mechanisms.
Practical implications
Findings help managers understand the financial conditions in which they should choose to form or avoid alliances; findings help managers select alliance partners.
Originality/value
The study contributes by proposing a new outlook on alliances; identifying financial resources as alliance predictors when previous research focused on intangible resources; offering new insights into the often equivocal outcomes of financial slack; building an uncharted bridge between the finance and alliance literatures.
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This paper aims to build a new bridge between the literature in organizational behavior and the micro-foundations of strategy. The authors elaborate the concept of strategic…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to build a new bridge between the literature in organizational behavior and the micro-foundations of strategy. The authors elaborate the concept of strategic voice, studying the extent to which employees express their strategic recommendations.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors gathered data from employees and supervisors of three distinct organizations, measuring determinants and outcomes of strategic voice, as compared to promotive voice.
Findings
Strategic voice is empirically distinct from promotive voice and predicted by opportunity/threat recognition, perceived organizational support and strategic voice opportunity. It has, surprisingly, either positive or negative effects on performance, through the mediation of supervisors' perceptions of strategic voice and the moderation of employee satisfaction with pay and career.
Research limitations/implications
Unlike traditionally assumed by strategy research, employees at any level engage in strategic voice with considerable frequency. Yet, paradoxically, under certain conditions, strategic voice could harm individual performance, although potentially benefiting organizations. Managers could either value employees' strategic voice or perceive it negatively, raising the salience to fully comprehend this behavior.
Practical implications
Organizations should embrace practices that encourage employees to express their strategic opinions, give them access to resources to properly form their strategic opinions and ensure management considers employees' recommendations.
Originality/value
While scholars in the micro-foundations of strategy have theorized that strategy can emerge from the contribution of individuals, there has been no evidence, to date, on how each employee can contribute to strategy formulation. This paper is original as it fills this gap.
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David Obstfeld, Stephen P. Borgatti and Jason Davis
We argue for a broadened approach to brokerage by distinguishing between brokerage emphasizing a particular structural pattern in which two otherwise disconnected alters are…
Abstract
We argue for a broadened approach to brokerage by distinguishing between brokerage emphasizing a particular structural pattern in which two otherwise disconnected alters are connected through a third party (“brokerage structure”) and the social behavior of third parties (“brokerage process”). We explore a processual view of brokerage by examining three fundamental strategic orientations toward brokerage: conduit, tertius gaudens, and tertius iungens that occur in many different forms and combinations. This processual view is especially relevant in increasingly complex and dynamic environments where brokerage behavior is highly varied, intense, and purposeful, and has theoretical implications for studying multiplexity, heterogeneity, and brokerage intensity.
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Chiara Cantù, Sepe Giorgia and Alessandra Tzannis
Differently from previous works that focused on the entrepreneur and on his ability to manage social relationships, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of…
Abstract
Purpose
Differently from previous works that focused on the entrepreneur and on his ability to manage social relationships, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of business relationships in the different stages of the life cycle of a start-up.
Design/methodology/approach
Since the paper aims to explore startups’ evolutionary phenomenon, it adopts a qualitative abductive methodology, presenting an in-depth study of two innovative Italian start-ups. The research is based on two steps. In the first one, the authors collected secondary data from start-ups’ reports and documents, financial indicators (when available) and processed them to understand their background. In the second one, the authors conducted ten semi-structured interviews, including face-to-face interviews, phone interviews and video conferences.
Findings
The paper presents a relationship-based life cycle model composed of four different stages, depending on the number and role of relationships developed. Indeed, since the beginning, start-ups adopt a relational approach and their evolution involves the shift from the focus on the entrepreneur to the centrality of a network approach based on interconnected relationships. The entering into a new stage of life cycle depends on relationships, mainly based on connected actors and resources shared and combined. Even if a key role is assumed by technology, the main resource is identified in the knowledge concerning the customer/user’s needs that require marketing competencies, human resources, relational capabilities. Thus, the shift from one stage to the next in the start-up’s life cycle is possible thanks to a parallel shift from a focus on the activities to a focus on those strategic and heterogeneous actors that ensure activities.
Originality/value
In a traditional perspective, the start-up’s life cycle depends on activities, financial resources and revenues, as stated by previous life cycle models. In a different perspective, as depicted in our analysis, the evolution of a start-up depends on the portfolio of their business relationships. The role of business relationships is hence to facilitate the interconnections within specialized key actors, which allow start-ups to access strategic resources. These resources are essential in order to develop the activities that characterize the specific stage of the life cycle.
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Dalia De Santis, Jacopo Zenzeri, Maura Casadio, Lorenzo Masia, Valentina Squeri and Pietro Morasso
The working hypothesis, on which this paper is built, is that it is advantageous to look at protocols of robot rehabilitation in the general context of human-robot interaction in…
Abstract
Purpose
The working hypothesis, on which this paper is built, is that it is advantageous to look at protocols of robot rehabilitation in the general context of human-robot interaction in haptic dyads. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new method to detect and evaluate an index of active participation (AC index), underlying the performance of robot-assisted movements. This is important for avoiding the slacking phenomenon that affects robot therapy.
Design/methodology/approach
The evaluation of the AC index is based on a novel technique of assistance which does not use constant or elastic forces but trains of small force impulses, with amplitude adapted to the level of impairment and a frequency of 2 Hz, which is suggested by recent results in the field of intermittent motor control. A preliminary feasibility test of the proposed method was carried out during a haptic reaching task in the absence of visual feedback, for a group of five stroke patients and an equal group of healthy subjects.
Findings
The AC index appears to be stable and sensitive to training in both populations of subjects.
Originality/value
The main original element of this study is the proposal of the new AC index of voluntary control associated with the new method of pulsed haptic interaction.
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Michael W. Preikschas, Pablo Cabanelas, Klaus Rüdiger and Jesús F. Lampón
This paper aims to explore how value co-creation processes can influence the generation of dynamic capabilities and the retention of industrial customers. The authors explore this…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how value co-creation processes can influence the generation of dynamic capabilities and the retention of industrial customers. The authors explore this influence with the support of social exchange theory and resource-based view.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology applied was qualitative research, based on 29 semi-structured in-depth interviews with owners, managing directors and technical managers with previous experience in co-creation processes. The research was performed in four different European countries and is focused on the mobile crane industry.
Findings
The findings suggest that co-creation processes promote the generation of dynamic capabilities linked to adaptation, knowledge, innovation and relationship management. In addition, the closer contact with customers and the availability of their expertise favour the development of solutions that better meet their needs, bridging the cognitive gap which often exists between partners. Regarding customer retention, the results show that co-creation processes foster customer predisposition to buy and cross-sell.
Originality/value
Although value co-creation is a topical subject, research in industrial marketing literature analysing the effects of co-creation processes has been scarce up to now. This paper aims to contribute to the debate by analysing how the co-creation of value can influence the generation of dynamic capabilities in companies and how it affects the retention of industrial customers. Based on social exchange theory and dynamic capabilities, the researchers have been able to address how value is developed and its influence in customer retention proxies.
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Andrea Sabatini, Thomas O’Toole and Gian Luca Gregori
The purpose of this paper is to explore how sustainability is integrated into a new venture’s business network initiation. This study unpacks sustainability in business network…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how sustainability is integrated into a new venture’s business network initiation. This study unpacks sustainability in business network initiation using temporal bracketing and identifying its main processes. Temporal bracketing supports the understanding of the evolution of sustainability in network initiation. The processes help explore the sustainability patterns that emerge from the new venture’s attempt to integrate sustainability into network initiation.
Design/methodology/approach
The exploratory case study of an Italian pasta maker draws on industrial network theory to focus on the business network initiation of new ventures. The novelty is the integration of sustainability into the business network initiation literature. This paper adopts a single case study methodology and an abductive approach to analysis.
Findings
This study finds that sustainability in network initiation is achieved through three periods of initiation and through five processes that are overlapping, intertwined and reciprocal. This study suggests that sustainability can have a positive or negative impact when integrated into the initiation process.
Originality/value
This paper provides a conceptual framework for understanding how a new venture integrates sustainability in its network initiation. The framework comprises periods and processes of network initiation which show how a new venture can integrate sustainability in its business activities and resources through interaction with network actors.