Ming-Huei Chen, Yu-Yu Chang and Yuan-Chieh Chang
Cognition, conflict and cohesion constitute an inseparable body of group dynamics in entrepreneurial teams. There have been few studies of how entrepreneurial team members…
Abstract
Purpose
Cognition, conflict and cohesion constitute an inseparable body of group dynamics in entrepreneurial teams. There have been few studies of how entrepreneurial team members interact with each other to enhance venture performance. The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a model that explains the trinity of cognition, conflict and cohesion in terms of social interaction between entrepreneurial team members.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing upon the existing literature concerning entrepreneurial teams, the hypothesized model posits that shared cognition influences team cohesion through the mediating effects of intra-team conflicts. The model also postulates that team cohesion is positively associated with new venture performance and entrepreneurial satisfaction. Structural equation modeling is used to test the hypothesized model, using data that were collected from 203 entrepreneurial teams from technology-based companies in Taiwan.
Findings
The results show that shared cognition in entrepreneurial team members maintains team cohesion by restraining conflict and that team cohesion has a positive influence on entrepreneurial members’ satisfaction and new venture profitability.
Practical implications
The leader of a new venture team must endeavor to improve shared cognition between entrepreneurial members. To strengthen shared cognition, the leader can hold formal workshops to build consensus, informal meetings to share views, or use social media to enhance common understanding.
Originality/value
This paper verifies the connections between shared cognition, conflicts and cohesion in entrepreneurial teams in predicting new venture success and highlights the importance of cultivating a shared cognition in an entrepreneurial team to manage conflicts.
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Yuan-Chieh Chang, Wen-Hong Chiu, Jian-Hang Wang and Min-Jun Teng
The paper proposes customer involvement can be considered an organization-level construct of knowledge creation in the new process development. Specifically, the paper evaluates…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper proposes customer involvement can be considered an organization-level construct of knowledge creation in the new process development. Specifically, the paper evaluates three distinct organizational practices as knowledge antecedents – competitor orientation, social network and internal coordination – that can facilitate the adoption of customer involvement in the process innovation development.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper empirically tests this theory for 2,000 firms that are stratification sampled from a population of 33,844 Taiwanese firms, and a data set of 170 valid questionnaires is collected. The questionnaire was mainly modified from a Kim and Kim (2010) measure which was designed based on the 3rd edition of the Oslo Manual OECD/Eurostat 2005. The concept of customer involvement in new service development proposed by Alam (2002) was also applied to the questionnaire.
Findings
(1) The antecedents of customer involvement, which include competitor orientation, external social networks and internal coordination, function as a determinant to nourish customer involvement. (2) Customer involvement significantly positively mediates the relationship between knowledge antecedents and new process performance. (3) Customer involvement is a crucial knowledge creation for improving the new process innovation performance in manufacturing firms.
Originality/value
Two basic tenets of theory building serve as the foundation of the model in this paper. First, research on customer involvement is augmented by showing that customer involvement can emerge as a shared perception among organizational members that is distinct from individual-level involvement. Moreover, customer involvement in process innovation can help firms manage their knowledge and further enhance firm performance. Second, the knowledge management model provides a key lens through which researchers can take a process-oriented view that focuses on customer involvement as a unique capability that firms can develop in process innovation.
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Ming‐Huei Chen and Yuan‐Chieh Chang
This research focuses on examining the dynamics of task and interpersonal conflict related to the creativity of teams over five stages of a project's life cycle. Data were…
Abstract
This research focuses on examining the dynamics of task and interpersonal conflict related to the creativity of teams over five stages of a project's life cycle. Data were collected from 142 respondents of information system development project teams of a service‐driven type, and from 106 respondents of new product development teams of a technology‐driven type. Results indicate that interpersonal conflict has a negative impact on creativity for a service‐driven project team. However, task conflict has a positive impact on creativity for a technology‐driven project team. The findings suggest that managing different types of project teams necessitates concern with the variations of conflict and creativity over a project's life cycle.
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Yuan‐Chieh Chang, Yi‐Che Chen and Ting‐Kuei Kuo
The purpose of this paper is to examine the strategic technology outsourcing of corporate ventures from an integrated perspective.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the strategic technology outsourcing of corporate ventures from an integrated perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed model argues that technology sourcing modes are jointly determined by the technological regime, industry‐specific factors and resource‐based view (RBV), as well as firm‐specific factors. Four Taiwanese top publicly traded pharmaceutical companies dedicated to biotechnology are studied.
Findings
This paper demonstrates that firms most likely to outsource technology are characterized by the following technological regime factors: reliant on external sources of innovation, tight IPR protection, path independent from the existing technology trajectory, less complexity, easy to codify and having resource‐based (RB) factors: irrelevant to the core competence, weak complementary assets, and autonomous innovation.
Practical implications
Current approaches generally focus on technology sourcing with a single strategic theory. New venture managers can apply the list of four industry‐specific factors and three firm‐specific factors of sourcing technologies to determine the appropriate sourcing modes (internal vs internal).
Originality/value
There has been little research on how technology sourcing can be done from a holistic, strategic angle. This paper demonstrates that technology sourcing strategy could be properly done by integrating multi‐levels, industry, firm and governance factors in a coordinated plan.
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Louis Raymond and Anne‐Marie Croteau
In order to deepen knowledge and further build theory on the use of advanced manufacturing systems (AMS) in SMEs, the present research seeks to explore the following questions…
Abstract
Purpose
In order to deepen knowledge and further build theory on the use of advanced manufacturing systems (AMS) in SMEs, the present research seeks to explore the following questions: are the AMS used by SMEs aligned with their network, product and market development strategies? And does the alignment of AMS contribute to the successful outcome of these strategies, that is, to the business performance of manufacturing SMEs?
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of 248 Canadian manufacturers was used to collect data that were analyzed through cluster analysis and analysis of variance.
Findings
Three alignment patterns of strategic development were identified and named local SMEs, transition SMEs, and world‐class SMEs. World‐class firms were found to clearly outperform local firms in terms of growth and profitability whereas transition SMEs did not perform significantly better or worse than the other two groups.
Research limitations/implications
The nature of the sample imposes care in generalizing the results of the study. Co‐alignment constitutes a valid theoretical foundation on which to further investigate the fundamental technology management problem for manufacturing SMEs, namely how these firms can achieve value from ever‐increasing investments in AMS.
Practical implications
When shifts in the business environment require strategic choices or provide strategic opportunities for development in terms of product innovation, market expansion or network extension, the resulting changes must be inter‐linked and assessed systemically with the SMEs' assimilation and integration of AMS.
Originality/value
Viewing AMS from a configurational perspective has provided a deeper understanding of the extent to which SMEs co‐align their use of manufacturing technology with their development strategies in order to achieve greater business performance.