Thuy Minh Thu Phung, Dat Tho Tran, Patrick Alexander Maria Vermeulen and Joris Knoben
This paper aims to investigate the antecedents of process innovation to provide more alternates for Vietnamese firms as they are still struggling to find an appropriate innovation…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the antecedents of process innovation to provide more alternates for Vietnamese firms as they are still struggling to find an appropriate innovation strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
The research analyzes the separate impacts of each innovation strategy on process innovation using logistic regression models. Data were collected using a stratified random sampling method.
Findings
The results show that having an innovation strategy is good for innovation, regardless of whether the strategy is internal or external. Internal and external strategies are proved not complements but substitutes. However, the internal strategy seems to be most beneficial. Weak institutional settings further strengthen the importance of internal strategies, whereas strong institutional settings favor external strategies.
Originality/value
This paper analyzes the impact of different innovation strategies on process innovation in Vietnamese firms using firm-level data. The findings strongly recommend that in weak institutional settings such as Vietnam, firms should focus on an internal strategy because the emphasis on external innovation strategies might be a western bias stemming from research in mostly strong institutional contexts.
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Thuy Phung Minh Thu, Joris Knoben, Patrick Vermeulen and Dat Tho Tran
The purpose of this paper is to simultaneously test the association between three different sources of knowledge (internal, collaborative and regional) and innovation. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to simultaneously test the association between three different sources of knowledge (internal, collaborative and regional) and innovation. This study aims to expand the insights by assessing these associations in the context of a rapidly developing and liberalizing economy; Vietnam. By conducting this study with Vietnamese data, the authors can assess whether the association between different sources of knowledge and innovation shows systematic differences to those in advanced economies.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the authors utilize data from two main sources: The World Bank Enterprise Survey and the Innovation Capabilities Survey. These firm-level surveys comprise non-agricultural formal and private sector firms. For Vietnam, 300 manufacturing firms have been included in the sample. The authors use a series of binary logistic regression models to analyze the data.
Findings
The analyses reveal that internal R&D has a strong positive association with product innovation. In contrast to findings in Western economies, not all kinds of collaborative knowledge sources have a significant association with innovation. Only collaborative knowledge gained from inside the supply chain is positively related to product innovation. Unexpectedly, negative effects from using too much external knowledge were also found.
Research limitations/implications
Due to the cross-sectional nature of the data causality could not be inferred from the study. Moreover, a relatively large number of the measures were dichotomous due the large number of missing observations for more detailed measurements of the variables.
Practical implications
When developing their innovation strategy firms in developing countries should take into account that collaborating with partners useful, but only if they collaborate within the supply chain. As such, firms should increase their interaction with suppliers and customers and put their efforts on the development of customized solutions for them.
Social implications
The Vietnamese Government could implement policies that help to enhance the quality of universities and research institutes. In most developed countries, universities and research institutes are vital sources of knowledge for innovation whereas they are not in Vietnam.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the growing body of literature on firm-level innovation in developing countries. It identifies several core differences between the drivers of innovation in developed and developing contexts. Surprisingly, a feature that was expected to differ, the negative effect of over-search of external knowledge on innovation, was also found in Vietnam.
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Laura Barasa, Patrick Vermeulen, Joris Knoben, Bethuel Kinyanjui and Peter Kimuyu
Countries in Africa have a common goal policy of industrialisation that is expected to be driven by investing in innovation that yields efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Countries in Africa have a common goal policy of industrialisation that is expected to be driven by investing in innovation that yields efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the technical efficiency effects arising from innovation inputs including internal R&D, human capital development (HCD), and foreign technology adoption in manufacturing firms in Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses cross-sectional firm-level survey data from the 2013 World Bank Enterprise Survey and the linked 2013 Innovation Follow-up Survey. A heteroscedastic half-normal stochastic frontier is used for analysing the technical efficiency effects of innovation inputs of 418 firms.
Findings
This study reveals that internal R&D, and foreign technology have negative effects on technical efficiency. Notwithstanding, the combination of foreign technology and internal R&D, and foreign technology and HCD reinforce each other’s effects on technical efficiency.
Practical implications
This study provides evidence that whereas individual innovation inputs may not yield positive efficiency outcomes, the combination of absorptive capacity enhancing inputs comprising internal R&D and HCD with foreign technology is vital for enhancing technical efficiency in manufacturing firms in Africa. This study offers important lessons for managers in manufacturing firms in Africa.
Originality/value
This study is virtually the first to investigate the relationship between innovation inputs and efficiency in Africa. This study demonstrates that investing in foreign technology in isolation from absorptive capacity enhancing innovation inputs diminishes efficiency. HCD and internal R&D are imperative for building absorptive capacity that enhances efficiency outcomes arising from foreign technology.
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Patrick Vermeulen and Jos Benders
Publications in the managerial press tend to stress the positive sides of teamworking. Teamworking is heralded at the neglect of possible downsides such as the propensity to…
Abstract
Publications in the managerial press tend to stress the positive sides of teamworking. Teamworking is heralded at the neglect of possible downsides such as the propensity to withhold effort. This is, however, studied in at least two strands of academic work: social psychology and economic organization theories. From these literatures the paper draws attention to the potential downsides of teamworking. However, various options for overcoming these problems have been identified in the same literatures. Thus, the body of our paper explicitly concentrates on possible solutions for managers to remedy the potential negative effects of teamworking.
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Abstract
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Jeroen P.J. de Jong and Patrick A.M. Vermeulen
Organizing new service development is an important topic for decision makers in service firms, since continuous innovation is expected to pay off. Although the literature on…
Abstract
Organizing new service development is an important topic for decision makers in service firms, since continuous innovation is expected to pay off. Although the literature on organizing new service development has grown rapidly over the last decade, the numerous publications are highly fragmented, each concentrating on a small piece of the complex innovation puzzle. This paper classifies current literature on organizing new service development (NSD) into two evolutionary stages: managing key activities in the NSD process, and creating a climate for continuous innovation. For both stages its consequences for the initiation and implementation of new services are discussed. The paper ends with limitations and suggestions for future research.
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Patrick Vermeulen, Shaz Ansari and Michael Lounsbury
While scholars have developed increasingly well-developed accounts of institutional change, little attention has been paid to how change is resisted and, in particular, how…
Abstract
While scholars have developed increasingly well-developed accounts of institutional change, little attention has been paid to how change is resisted and, in particular, how efforts to marketize fail. We draw on the institutional logics perspective to guide analysis of an empirical case of the failed attempt by the Dutch state to marketize childcare organizations and create a market for childcare. We document that even though the existence of logics that were antithetical to the market logic did not catalyze organized collective resistance to marketization, the market logic never took root, and marketization has even been rolled back. We argue that the failure to create a childcare market in the Netherlands was caused by individual-level cognitive dissonance that cumulated into profound field-level ambivalence that undermined efforts to implement market practices. We develop several propositions that could usefully guide future research on how cognitive dissonance might underlie the failure to construct markets. By theorizing failure to change a field, we contribute to the limited body of work that has looked at failed attempts to change institutions, arguing for more attention to individual-field cross-level dynamics.
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Rob J.G. Jansen, Petru L. Curşeu, Patrick A.M. Vermeulen, Jac L.A. Geurts and Petra Gibcus
This paper aims to examine the role of social capital as a strategic decision aid in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in different service sectors.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the role of social capital as a strategic decision aid in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in different service sectors.
Design/methodology/approach
Data on 434 strategic decisions in service SMEs was gathered through computer‐aided telephone interviews and analyzed using structural equation modeling to test the mediating role of level of risk acceptance and confidence in the relationship between the breadth of social capital and decision effectiveness.
Findings
Evaluative judgments (risk acceptance and confidence) explain the negative effects of social capital on decision effectiveness. Service delivery and dependency on tacit know‐how account for differences between SMEs in different service sectors and serve as explanations for different effects of social capital as a decision aid.
Research limitations/implications
The study sheds light on the psychological underpinnings of social capital effects in strategic decisions. Higher varieties of actors make decision makers more tolerant for risk and decrease their confidence, which in turn hampers decision effectiveness.
Originality/value
Previous work on social capital suggests that it is beneficial to outcomes. The literature and policy initiatives also stress the beneficial effects of social capital and networking. This research on strategic decision‐making shows that the positive effects of social capital are not as pronounced as expected for the service SMEs. This paper draws explicit attention to the negative effects for strategic decision‐making.
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Oana Cătălina Iederan, Petru Lucian Curşeu, Patrick A.M. Vermeulen and Jac L.A. Geurts
The purpose of this paper is to examine the cognitive factors explaining how exogenous institutional change (IC) impacts on organizational actions.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the cognitive factors explaining how exogenous institutional change (IC) impacts on organizational actions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors interviewed 121 Romanian entrepreneurs, 69 before and 52 after Romania's ascension to the EU and used cognitive mapping to elicit their cognitive schemas about this macro‐IC. Similarities and differences between cognitive structures are explored and the aggregated cognitive maps before and after the IC are created, in order to understand how managerial cognition changed following IC.
Findings
The results show that the richness of the cognitive schemas before the IC is lower than after the IC took place. Furthermore, the entrepreneurs who framed the IC as a threat adopted isomorphic actions and reported less positive organizational outcomes as compared to the entrepreneurs that represented the IC as an opportunity.
Research limitations/implications
The research described is exploratory in nature and opens new interesting research directions in the cognitive pillar of institutional theory. Moreover, a cognitive mapping technique is used to elicit and represent managerial cognition and in this way adds to the methods used in institutional research.
Practical implications
The results presented in this paper help policy makers to understand that the impact of exogenous IC on organizational actions is not direct, but mediated by the cognitive representations developed by strategic decision makers.
Originality/value
The paper integrates institutional theory with the work on cognition and explores how cognitive representations affect the relation between environmental pressures and organizational responses.
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We explore the simultaneous influence of activist organizations and corporations on institutional change. Focusing on protests, campaign contributions, and lobbyists as the…
Abstract
We explore the simultaneous influence of activist organizations and corporations on institutional change. Focusing on protests, campaign contributions, and lobbyists as the strategies used by activist organizations and corporations to influence institutional change, we study the dynamics between movements and counter-movements and their influence on the probability of institutional change. In the context of the US tobacco industry, the results shed light on the effectiveness of these strategies and uncover potential moderators of this relationship. Overall, we demonstrate the simultaneous and asymmetric effects of activist organizations and corporations that use conspicuous and inconspicuous strategies to change institutions.