Search results

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the strategic change-related issues by examining the dynamics between external fit and internal fit, as the success of strategic change is involved in the consideration of both internal and external fit.

This paper uses regression analysis to analyze the panel data from the electronics companies in Taiwan’s stock market between 2004 and 2011.

The empirical results show that there is a relationship between internal fit and external fit, and the momentum of internal fit was found as well. Moreover, the impact of the interaction effect of external and internal fit on performance is moderated by external fit.

This research contributes to and extends the current research in both theoretical and practical ways. From a theoretical aspect, this paper considers internal fit and external fit simultaneously and has adopted the profile deviation approach to test their impacts on performance. From a practical aspect, the empirical results have derived implications for managers as to understand the dynamics such as trade-off, momentum and synergy between the two types of strategic fit, which may be helpful for making decision on strategy change.

The purpose of this paper is to portray and analyze the importance of learning and knowledge transfer in strategic alliances created in the context of emerging markets, Russia and Taiwan in particular, and to identify the influence of relational capital factors on the effectives of learning in strategic alliances. Strategic alliances are one of the main tools companies resort to learn, acquire and develop new knowledge and skills.

This research is conducted by case study with four international strategic alliances between Taiwanese and Russian companies.

The results showed that the main driver determining the propensity of the companies located in the emerging markets to establish strategic alliances is learning intent. More specifically, the companies are willing to acquire partner’s managerial, marketing and production knowledge and skills. Relational capital created between partners, and presented through the existence of trust, communication and openness proved to have a determinant influence on the effectiveness and quality of learning process in the strategic alliances, especially in the context of the emerging markets. However, there is an inverted-U relationship between the learning potential of an alliance and the strength of relational involvement of the alliance partners, who utilize the certain means to prevent the negative effects of over-embeddedness.

The major contributions that were made by the study are the following: the authors made an attempt to synthesize different approaches and investigate what are the primary factors affecting strategic alliances formation and operation in the emerging markets context. The authors extended the previous research by reviewing, not only the impact of the relational capital on the process of learning among the partners in the strategic alliances but also by analyzing the forces influencing the strength of these ties. The authors further investigated whether the continuous strengthening of the relational ties is necessary and always beneficial for the companies.

While the intellectual capital perspective has been widely applied to research in knowledge‐intensive industries, less attention has been paid to the healthcare sector. This exploratory study aims to investigate how hospitals view the importance of intellectual capital and performance in the healthcare sector. It identifies the elements and relative importance of intellectual capital and performance measurement in the Taiwanese healthcare industry.

This study was executed by a developmental process comprising four phases: the generation of critical elements; expert review and perceptual assessments of the elements; data collection; and data analysis. This study developed a preliminary checklist with detailed IC elements and performance indicators derived from both literature reviews and practices. The questionnaire was refined by expert review. The pilot study collected data from 30 healthcare managers.

The critical intellectual capital elements and performance indicators regarded as important for performance management practices in the Taiwanese hospital industry were identified. They reveal the relative importance and ranking of human, organizational and relational capitals, and performance indicators.

By using the intellectual capital navigator (ICN) and the Effector Plot, this study analyzed resource transformations and resource influence among human, organizational and relational capital. This study highlighted five noteworthy issues.

This study will contribute to both theory and practice. Theoretically, it generalizes IC in the healthcare setting and is a starting point for exploring healthcare IC and performance in Taiwan. Practically, it contributes to references for healthcare managers, giving a prioritized array of critical resources and performance measurements in practice.

Previous studies on strategic alliance and network have not paid sufficient attention to resource fit based on intellectual capital perspective. This study aims at understanding the input resources and transformation in a dyadic inter‐firm partnership, given different types of value logics.

This study adopts a multiple case study approach by in‐depth interviews in three inter‐firm cooperative cases, which represent three different types of value‐creating logics – value chain, value shop, and value network. This study applies the intellectual capital navigator (ICN) to analyze the resource transformation among human capital, organizational capital, relational capital, physical capital, and monetary capital that was produced by two sides in three inter‐firm partnerships.

The results show that: given value chain logic, while the inter‐firm partnership emphasizes standardization, efficiency and economy of scale, resource fit in physical, monetary, and organizational capital forms the basis of value creation; given value shop logic, while the inter‐firm partnership emphasizes problem solution and economy of scope, resource fit in human and organizational capital forms the basis of value creation; and, given value network logic, while the inter‐firm partnership emphasizes network economic behavior, resource fit in human, organizational, and relational capital forms the basis of value creation.

Taking the unit of analysis at dyad level, this study demonstrates the detailed resources contributed by the focal company and its partners based on different value logics.

This study extends the use of the intellectual capital approach for analyzing the resource fit in the inter‐firm context.

Theoretically, this study contributes as a starting‐point for analyzing the resource input and transformation in the inter‐organizational context by using an intellectual capital approach. Practically, this study contributes to more practical references so as to reveal, given different types of value‐creating logic, how two partnering companies can manage and deploy their intellectual capital and traditional resources in order to fit in the inter‐firm cooperation.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how different types of triad structures, and the management mechanisms adopted by the focal company, affect cooperative performance.

This paper uses a social network perspective to examine the triad management phenomenon in the military avionics maintenance context, which is closely associated with the field of operations management.

This paper demonstrates that different triad structures and management mechanisms influence perceived cooperative performance. Four main findings emerged: in a triad, a firm playing a bridging role perceives higher cooperative performance than when playing a peripheral role in the triad or being located in a fully connected triad. When a firm plays the bridging role in a triad, and has a high level of trust, this leads to higher perceived cooperative performance. When a firm plays a peripheral role in a triad, high levels of coordination mechanism combined with high levels of trust result in higher levels of perceived cooperative performance. In a fully linked triad, when the coordination mechanism is well developed, the level of trust is high, so that the resulting level of perceived cooperation is high.

This paper extends the knowledge of triad management by providing an in‐depth study of a well‐defined network setting with exceptionally high‐level access to the most senior executives. In practice, this paper shows how to manage different triads.