This paper identifies different university spin-off (USO) roles related to resource interaction among business parties. It does so by mapping how USOs become part of business networks in terms of their roles relative to other parties. The theoretical frame of reference focuses on roles and resource interaction based on an industrial network approach to business markets. The empirical research is based onfive cases of USOs representing a variety in terms of technology, degree of newness, sector, and area of application. As a result of the analysis, three different roles are identified: the USO as resource mediator, resource re-combiner and resource renewer. These roles reflect how USOs adapt resources to, or require changes among, business parties' resources. The paper also discusses the main resource interfaces associated with the three roles and related challenges. The paper contributes to previous research through illustrating USOs' roles relative to business parties from a resource interaction point of view, and by pointing to the establishment of new companies in business networks as a way of implementing innovation. Finally, the paper discusses the managerial implications of the research in terms of the USO's need to understand which role to take and how to develop it.
In response to calls for better understanding the dynamics of coopetition, this study aims to develop a framework that explains why the levels of competition and cooperation change over time. The framework adopts the two-continua approach to coopetition and the theoretical concepts of power and stake from the stakeholder literature. Integrating concepts from the coopetition and stakeholder literatures is a promising attempt, which is justified by the fact that stakeholders are in coopetition with the firm. According to our framework the power difference affects the level of competition, and vice versa, whereas common stakes affect the level of cooperation, and vice versa. This was subject to a test with insights from the in-depth analysis of the changing coopetition between the Volkswagen Group and Porsche AG during the period 2001–2012. Our findings explain why an environmental threat on one of the firms shifted the power difference and changed the coopetition first from cooperation-dominant to balanced-strong and then ended it through a full acquisition.
We explore the roles that potential and realized absorptive capacity play in enhancing firm performance, and examine external knowledge search strategies as antecedents of absorptive capacity. In this way, we endeavor to open the black box that sits between external knowledge search and performance, and suggest that the establishment of deep and broad relationships with external sources has differing impacts on potential and realized absorptive capacity for the firm. We argue that distinguishing clearly between potential and realized absorptive capacity may provide new insights into understanding why some companies are more successful than others at benefiting from external knowledge. A sample of 171 suppliers operating in the Iranian automotive industry is used to test the proposed theoretical model, through a two-stage least squares approach. Surprisingly, our results indicate that only the firm's capability to acquire and assimilate new ideas from the external environment (potential absorptive capacity) is related to performance for these firms operating in Iran, which been isolated from global markets due to international sanctions. Our findings emphasize the notion that potential and realized absorptive capacity represent distinct capabilities, with different antecedents and different impacts on firm performance.
While the potential of open innovation to develop product-related improvements through the use of external knowledge sources is undeniable, our understanding of how firms become process innovators remains limited. Distinguishing between product and process innovation is important, as insights gleaned from investigating product innovation may not relate directly to the study of process innovation. This study provides new insight into open innovation and absorptive capacity by proposing the mediating role of absorptive capacity – potential and realized – on the relationship between knowledge search from external sources and process-related innovation activities. We test our model using a sample of 171 auto component suppliers in Iran, and find evidence that the learning effects of external scanning increase when a firm learns how to better manage external searches in terms of external absorptive capacity routines. Our results indicate that, while knowledge search from value chain partners is related to process innovation, knowledge search from universities and other research organizations is not, and that potential absorptive capacity mediates the relationship between external knowledge search and process innovation. These findings shed further light on the relationship between a firm’s openness and its process innovation.
While the potential of open innovation to develop product-related improvements through the use of external knowledge sources is undeniable, our understanding of how firms become process innovators remains limited. Distinguishing between product and process innovation is important, as insights gleaned from investigating product innovation may not relate directly to the study of process innovation. This study provides new insight into open innovation and absorptive capacity by proposing the mediating role of absorptive capacity - potential and realized - on the relationship between knowledge search from external sources and process-related innovation activities. We test our model using a sample of 171 auto component suppliers in Iran, and find evidence that the learning effects of external scanning increase when a firm learns how to better manage external searches in terms of external absorptive capacity routines. Our results indicate that, while knowledge search from value chain partners is related to process innovation, knowledge search from universities and other research organizations is not, and that potential absorptive capacity mediates the relationship between external knowledge search and process innovation. These findings shed further light on the relationship between a firm's openness and its process innovation.
Constructivist and realist research is undertaken in the business relationship and network approach of the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group. These two divergent research perspectives seek a different form of contextual understanding vs. general knowledge. They are not incommensurable as one can gain insights from the other. But a researcher must know and understand both perspectives and sometimes be able to see when a writer is playing almost a middle ground to make a specific point. To provide a broader understanding of the ontological distinctions and their ramifications for researching and translating meanings concerning business networks we introduce the temporal mirror hall metaphor. We propose that: (i) researchers should avoid reading and understanding only a single research perspective, (ii) research is a social temporal process embedded in a research community, (iii) understanding different researcher perspectives is necessary for a constructivist scholar working in a world of realist education, and (iv) realist researchers need constructivist research to change and develop systematized theories. The paper extends specific advice to constructivist researchers undertaking longitudinal studies of interaction in business networks. Realist researchers will find intriguing the comparisons and refractions, as well as illusions, in the temporalities of the mirror hall.
The growing attention to the climate crisis in today's business environment, increases the need for B2B firms to integrate corporate sustainable branding activities in stakeholder interactions. Motivated by a continuous push for market reforms to promote a sustainability agenda for B2B firms, this research uses an intensive single case study design to showcase how corporate sustainable brand identity work is carried out in B2B firms and how business network embeddedness affects this work. We describe how Petter Place, a company that attempted to introduce a radically new way of providing charging for electric cars, provides an opportunity to outline and discuss corporate sustainable brand identity work in B2B networks. We identify how corporate sustainable brand identity work is carried out through different sub-processes, such as building corporate sustainable brand identity and awareness, network mobilizing, and ongoing actor commitment and coalignment, and how network embeddedness facilitates and restricts these processes in different ways.
Mergers and acquisitions have become a popular strategy for gaining growth. Studies show, however, high failure rates for acquisitions. Earlier literature concentrates on the strategic or organizational fit between companies and integration processes and fails to recognize the companies' external business relationships. An implicit assumption seems to be that through acquisition the market position of the target firm can be taken over. We argue that it is not always easy or even possible to take over a company's customer and supplier relationships. We elaborate on the various problems related to relationships that acquisitions may give rise to. Our conceptual discussion is illustrated with a case study from the graphics industry. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc.
Mergers and acquisitions have become a popular strategy for gaining growth. Studies show, however, high failure rates for acquisitions. Earlier literature concentrates on the strategic or organizational fit between companies and integration processes and fails to recognize the companies' external business relationships. An implicit assumption seems to be that through acquisition the market position of the target firm can be taken over. We argue that it is not always easy or even possible to take over a company's customer and supplier relationships. We elaborate on the various problems related to relationships that acquisitions may give rise to. Our conceptual discussion is illustrated with a case study from the graphics industry.
The acknowledgement of a research tradition by other disciplines shows its contribution to the development of the broader body of scientific knowledge. This paper investigates the contribution of IMP (Industrial Marketing and Purchasing) research to broader research disciplines by analyzing how researchers within and beyond IMP have cited core IMP articles. First, through quantitative bibliometric analysis, the paper identifies the diffusion to other research disciplines. Thereafter, through qualitative analysis, the impact of the IMP perspective is captured to understand how strong these imprints are. The analyses show that IMP research has been noticed among a range of adjacent research disciplines. However, the use of IMP references has generally been rudimentary, and without a deeper understanding of the IMP ontology, meaning that IMP still has some “weak ties” to the other disciplines. Establishing IMP's contribution through enduring imprints would need further engagement with researchers from other research disciplines and publications in top journals. The paper contributes empirically with how the IMP perspective has spread beyond the IMP Group and theoretically by adding insight into how research ideas travel and transform to other disciplines.
During the COVID-19 crisis, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing markets, marred by significant institutional voids, grappled with a perennial lack of resources. This article seeks to understand how these SMEs activated their dynamic capabilities to manage business relationships during different phases of the crisis. Relying on the social exchange theory and drawing on semi-structured interviews with 42 business-to-business (B2B) SME owners in Nigeria, we examine the relational governance mechanisms of dynamic capabilities for SMEs during the COVID-19 crisis. Our findings reveal 12 relational governance mechanisms of dynamic capabilities of B2B SMEs. Furthermore, we disaggregate these 12 mechanisms into 34 relational governance micro-foundational components and demonstrate their relevance for B2B SMEs during different stages of the COVID-19 crisis in Nigeria.
The conceptualization of a firm's competence development has undergone some developments, as seen from the extant literature. However, studies or explanations of a firm's competence development over time seem to concentrate on firms that manufacture physical goods. The literature is devoid of studies on the competence development of professional services firms (PSFs). With two in-depth case studies, this paper seeks to shed light on factors that impinge on PSFs' competence development over time. An important finding of this study is that all the two PSFs' competence development over time has been influenced, in large measure, by their close and regular interaction with their respective immediate customers as well as with some significant third parties in their network of exchange relationships, where the actors mutually adapt to each other and also learn from each other. Evidences in all the two cases show that each of the firms has won and kept important customers that give them the most and frequent assignments per year, thanks to the factors that have affected their competence to meet customers' demand over time.
Opportunity seeking has become increasingly important for explaining firm internationalization, but our understanding of how opportunity is mediated within international networks is limited. This study probes the concept of network-mediated opportunities and attempts to identify what drives a firm's reception of new international opportunities. Based on the notion of opportunity in the entrepreneurship literature with the network view on internationalization, we bring together the concepts of relationships, networks, capabilities, and opportunity in a structural model, where we hypothesize that network-mediated opportunity is dependent on networking capability. This, in turn, is positively influenced by network closure and relational embeddedness. We test the model on a sample of 200 Chinese firms. The analysis partly supports the model, as we find that networking capability is a mediating factor between relational embeddedness and network-mediated opportunity, but does not mediate the relationship between network closure and network-mediated opportunity; on the other hand, we find a direct relationship between network closure and network-mediated opportunity. The paper ends with a discussion of the results and suggestions for future research.
It is a characteristic of the IMP approach in studying business markets that the emphasis is placed upon rich description and efforts to understand the underlying processes behind interaction between organizations in networks, rather than on the formulation of managerial checklists and decision rules. For this reason, while IMP scholars have made some interesting and profound contributions to the explicit literature on management strategy, the overall contribution of the IMP approach to the strategy literature has been fairly slim. The purpose of this paper is to compare the IMP approach with five important schools of thought in strategy, with the aims of establishing what areas of agreement and disagreement exist and identifying whether the IMP approach can yield unique insights into strategy, strategizing, and the strategy process. We compare and contrast the IMP approach with, in turn, the rational planning approach to strategy associated with Ansoff, the positioning approach associated with Porter, the resource-based view associated with Barney, the deliberate/emergent approach associated with Mintzberg, and the strategy-as-practice approach associated with Whittington. As we move through these five schools of thought - which are addressed in a roughly chronological order - we discern an increasing degree of alignment with the assumptions and methods of IMP scholars. The outcome from our analysis is a suggested research agenda designed to bring the concepts and methods of industrial network research to bear upon strategy, strategizing, and the strategy process.
While research on reshoring generally focuses on the host-country to explain why a company brings its previously offshored activities back home, this paper stresses the relevance also of the home-country context. Specifically, relying on the IMP (Industrial Marketing & Purchasing) perspective we show how offshoring and reshoring processes and decisions are both enabled and constrained by the micro-interactions and inter-dependencies in the industrial networks stretching over the home-country and the host-country. This work relies on a longitudinal case study about an Italian manufacturing firm to develop a model indicating how offshoring/reshoring is a long-term process which unfolds depending both on the focal firm's strategy and on its interplay with the embedding network. Next to this interactive process perspective, we contribute to the literature on reshoring and the global factory also the concept of "selective reshoring", whereby companies bring back a very specific sub-set of activities, which were previously fine-sliced and offshored, and re-embed these activities in their local home context. The more flexible and selective nature of this relocation of activities between different supply markets depends both on the firm's strategy and on the structure, overlap and evolution of the network elements located in the home- and host-country contexts.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the connection between network evolution and technology embedding. To this end, we performed an exploratory case study of the network surrounding an eco-sustainable technology, Leaf House, Italy's first zero-carbon emission house. We apply theories on technological development within industrial networks, with a specific focus on their resource layer and on the three settings involved in embedding an innovation: “developing”, “producing”, and “using”. Our results contribute to these theories by developing four propositions on the connections between network evolution and embedding: first, technology embedding entails both downstream network expansion and upstream restrictions. Secondly, conflicts among actors increase as technology embedding approaches the producing and using settings. Third and fourth, the more the shapes a technology can assume, and the more each of these shapes involves actors acting in different settings, the easier it is to embed it. The paper concludes with managerial implications and suggestions for further research.
This article introduces Industrial Marketing Management's special issue on start-ups and networks. To begin with, we stress the relevance of understanding the context wherein entrepreneurship unfolds – a context filled with social, technical and economic connections to which the start-up needs to relate. We also present and confront three network perspectives which bring different insights to the interplay between start-ups and networks: Social Network (SN) theory, the Industrial Marketing & Purchasing (IMP) view, and Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Next, we introduce the 12 papers of this special issue and place them on a continuum covering a start-up's process of network embedding and including the three periods of establishment, consolidation and stabilization. We conclude with a research agenda suggesting five avenues for further research: (1) tracing start-ups' process of network embedding, (2) mapping the connections between the different networks affecting a start-up, (3) grasping the negative effects of networks on start-ups, (4) making longitudinal case studies on start-ups and networks more comparable via common analytical tools, and (5) investigating how policy influences the complex interplay between start-ups and networks.
The purpose of this paper is to analyse howdifferent types of control are applied in different mechanisms for commercialisingscience, according to the inter-organisational interactions involved. To achievethis purpose, we followed a multiple-case study design and selected four casesfrom Uppsala University and the Karolinska Institutet that provided variationin the commercialisation mechanisms (PET Centre, Ångström Materials Academy,Actar, and Karolinska Development). We find that action and resultcontrols dominate in linear ‘spin-out’ funnel mechanisms, while interactive mechanismsentail a combination of action, result and personalcontrols. However, the inter-organisational interactions also impact whichcontrols are applied in a commercialisation mechanism: conflicting goals between a few closely related organisations or limited external interactions are associated with result controls, whileaction controls dominate in the absence of external interactions if timeand efficiency are key goals. Result controls also assume very different roles, depending on the inter-organisational context of a specific commercialisation mechanism.
As a research field, entrepreneurship emerged from an increasing interest in fostering new business ventures. Over the past decade, interest in entrepreneurial phenomena also triggered several studies in the IMP research stream. We examine connections between these two research streams in terms of the phenomena in focus, key concepts, and approaches to identify research areas fruitful for advancing our understanding of entrepreneurial phenomena. In pursuit of this aim, we analyzed 48 IMP-based entrepreneurship studies and the abstracts of the 227 most cited papers in eight main entrepreneurship journals; among the latter, we conducted an in-depth analysis of 30 articles, in which we found connections with IMP studies. Based on our analysis, we identify four directions for future research, where confronting and bridging the key concepts has the potential to contribute to conceptualizing entrepreneurial phenomena and related theory development. The four areas are: variety in the context of new ventures; multiplicity of networks embedding new ventures; connecting the new venture to its context; and the new venture's learning and management.
Since most of the literature on outsourcing focuses only to the buying (outsourcing) company, this paper aims to highlight the supplier's side from a relational perspective. The paper stresses the importance of business relationships between suppliers of outsourced activities and their customers. The paper's purpose is specified in two research questions: (1) how is value created within outsourcing and (2) how does the supplier interact with the outsourcing company? Our method relies on an in-depth qualitative case study of Logoplaste, a Portuguese packaging company which supplies large consumer goods manufacturers through complex outsourcing activities. Our analysis identifies three key dimensions of outsourcing relationships: (1) value co-creation via inter-firm coordination (as opposed to unilateral externalization of activities); (2) mutual dependence between supplier and customer due to the supplier's taking over activities; and (3) the blurring of organizational boundaries because of mutual dependence. These dimensions manifest themselves, even though in different degrees, after the initiation of any outsourcing relationship: these variables are new to the literature on outsourcing, which focuses on the ex ante dimensions that influence the customer's pre-relational choices such as "make or buy" and relationship type. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Relying on two embedded case studies of product development within IKEA's industrial network, this paper examines the role of Target Costing as an accounting tool that has the capacity to frame development efforts into either exploitative or explorative projects. Such a framing affects, in turn, the configuration of the relevant network of resources and mediates the behavior of the actors involved via specific types of controls. We contribute to the IMP-inspired literature on innovation and product development as we add nuances to how the concepts of exploitative and explorative innovation paths play out on a network level, especially in relation to the resource dimension. In addition, the notion of the mediating role of accounting adds to how we can understand control and its consequences in an interorganizational network context. Our data consists of several sources, about 70 interviews with individuals working at IKEA and its partners. We also had access to internal company material such as costing calculations. Our study has practical implications as it can help managers identify which types of control to use and how these can be matched with different innovations strategies on a network level.
This paper explores how resources are controlled and combined in a biotech network that spans from Uppsala, Sweden, to Stanford, USA. A case study is reported that describes and analyses how the original discovery, developed at the Department of Genetics and Pathology at Uppsala University, Sweden. was combined with other innovations at Stanford University, California, and under the influence and control of several different actors, including venture capitalists, were exploited within a newly founded company, ParAllele. The paper analyzes the resources that are created, combined and controlled in the network around these scientific discoveries and the company hosting them. This analysis shows how actors are using and are exposed to different control mechanisms, such as action, results and personnel controls, in the innovation process. Our discussion emphasizes how the involved actors apply various types of controls on resources in order to reach their objectives. Forms of control that both entail mobilizing other actors and preventing actions in the emerging network are of importance. We conclude the paper by pointing out the features of control in innovation processes as well as obstacles to control in a business network setting.
Relying on two embedded case studies of product development within IKEA's industrial network, this paper examines the role of Target Costing as an accounting tool that has the capacity to frame development efforts into either exploitative or explorative projects. Such a framing affects, in turn, the configuration of the relevant network of resources and mediates the behavior of the actors involved via specific types of controls. We contribute to the IMP-inspired literature on innovation and product development as we add nuances to how the concepts of exploitative and explorative innovation paths play out on a network level, especially in relation to the resource dimension. In addition, the notion of the mediating role of accounting adds to how we can understand control and its consequences in an interorganizational network context. Our data consists of several sources, about 70 interviews with individuals working at IKEA and its partners. We also had access to internal company material such as costing calculations. Our study has practical implications as it can help managers identify which types of control to use and how these can be matched with different innovations strategies on a network level. © 2024 The Authors
This paper explores how the Resource Interaction Approach (RIA), namely the 4Rs model and the three settings of developing-producing-using, can be applied to complex policy analyses. We use the global sustainability challenge of antibiotic resistance as an example to define an agenda about how these analytical tools can frame and analyze such problems systematically. We find that these tools offer benefits to policymakers, including flexibility in framing problems, by selecting the focal resources and values to be prioritized, and the ability to visualize the direct and indirect interdependencies that enable or hinder value creation. Moreover, the RIA can point at the resource interfaces that need to change through specific policy interventions, as well as the potential network-level barriers to such changes. We also find that the RIA needs to be complemented by network-level analyses of deal structures and monetary flows in order to better capture the legal and financial dimensions of policy problems and solutions.
The aim of the study is to better understand start-ups' entrepreneurial business formation processes from a contextual perspective. We examine a digitalization process in the healthcare sector in Sweden, and investigate the start-up processes taking place in order to reach a better understanding of what it takes for new actors to obtain an insider position in this particular type of highly regulated networks. The study offers important insights into the dynamics of constituent elements in the process, including the sequences of events through which startup processes evolve, and insights into new ventures' initial entry into a business network. It is concluded that the studied processes were interactive, forcing the start-ups to be both innovative and able to conform. It was also found that legitimacy constitute an important resource in this type of politically sensitive context.
About 99% of all firms in the European Union are small, and politicians are increaslingly emphasizing their importance for job creation, technological development and prosperity. Consequently, the political focus is on these firms and a large number of decisions influencing their business activities are constantly taken by political actors at various levels. The aim of this article is to investigate small firms´interaction with political organizations in the EU. Previous studies have shown that these firms have been obliged to follow the coercive political decisions of the EU´s political units. In this paper, however, we identify some changes which demonstrate political support and influence by small firms. Based on case study approach as well as data from a Swedish survey, four propositions concerning small firms´interaction patterns within the political context of the EU will be highlighted and further discussed.
About 99% of all firms in the European Union are small, and politicians are increasingly emphasizing their importance for job creation, technological development and prosperity. Consequently, the political focus is on these firms and a large number of decisions influencing their business activities are constantly taken by political actors at various levels. The aim of this article is to investigate small firms' interaction with political organizations in the EU. Previous studies have shown that these firms have been obliged to follow the coercive political decisions of the EU's political units. In this paper, however, we identify some changes which demonstrate political support and influence by small firms. Based on a case study approach as well as data from a Swedish survey, four propositions concerning small firms' interaction patterns within the political context of the EU will be highlighted and further discussed.
Research on coopetition has been conducted for more than two decades. However, several concepts remain that require elaboration. A study on the literature shows that there is a lack of unified definitions, as various definitions have been employed in previous accomplished research. In this article we suggest that the early definition of coopetition, as a dual relationship between firms that simultaneously cooperate and compete needs to be refined. Our new definition suggests that coopetition is a paradoxical relationship between two or more actors, regardless of whether they are in horizontal or vertical relationships, simultaneously involved in cooperative and competitive interactions. We also highlight important contributions to the field, and some shortcomings that point to future challenges for coopetition research. Finally, we put forward five directions for future research: (1) understand the balancing of cooperation and competition, (2) understand the coopetition paradox and engendered tension, (3) apply a multilevel perspective on coopetition (4) understand the dynamics of coopetitive interaction, and (5) understand how coopetition impacts business models and strategy.
In this paper we discuss the theoretical rooting of present research on coopetition and point to the need for an integration of theories on competition dynamics, and cooperative interactions in social networks. We argue that the future growth of the coopetitive research field hinges on creatively combining existing theoretical approaches with novel research methods and contexts. In particular, we suggest that incorporating theories on the micro foundations of strategic action can substantially enhance the field. The aim of this paper is both to raise questions regarding the theory and practice of coopetition research and to give examples of new approaches and trends that may contribute to the advancement of the field in the future. We consider our research practice and explore avenues for further research starting from what, where and how we study coopetition, to when and who we study. In general, we call for a stronger focus on the centrality of multiple stakeholders in forming, executing, and developing coopetition, and on research methods that can investigate in depth the multitude of actors, interests, and interactions using a multi-level analysis, including the micro foundations of coopetition.
While research on the phenomenon of coopetition has dramatically increased during the last years, this line of inquiry often embodies a loosely connected body of work with fragmented themes, underdeveloped concepts, and little work explaining coopetition at multiple levels. In this paper, we conduct a systematic literature review of the field, and based on a final set of 142 contributions, synthesize the disparate research into a coherent whole by developing an overarching and dynamic multilevel model. We first systematize diverse conceptualizations of coopetition with respect to different levels into The Actor and The Activity Schools of Thought. Then we integrate major critical themes into a Driver, Process, Outcomes (DPO) framework, and offer a Blended School of Thought to show how different levels are intertwined and affect each other. Next, we develop a multilevel conceptual model of coopetition by integrating the Blended School into the DPO framework. This model helps future re- search better understand how the phenomena of coopetition at one level of analysis are distinct, yet interlinked, from coopetition at other levels, and in so doing, provides a richer and more complete perspective of the phe- nomenon of coopetition. Finally, we identify promising research avenues and suggest how future research can strengthen this line of inquiry.
In this study, we apply a paradox perspective on coopetition to investigate the effects of coopetition paradox on managers' experience and perception of coopetitive tensions, and the role of coopetition capability in managing such tensions. We propose a theoretical model to posit that the intensity of coopetition paradox positively associates with managers' experience of external tension, which in turn lead them to perceive internal tension. Further, coopetition capability plays a dual role—moderates the relation between coopetition paradox and external tension, and reduces internal tension. We tested hypotheses on a representative multi-industry sample of 1532 firms in Sweden and the results confirm them. Our study contributes to understanding the critical role of coopetition capability that enables firms to maintain a moderate level of tension regardless of the intensity of coopetition paradox.
This paper explores business-to-business (13213) marketing on the Internet, and how the confluence of the two may transform the 13213 landscape. Specifically, it discusses the notion of linkage value to demonstrate why the 13213 phenomenon on the Internet is so significant. It then considers the mechanisms and enablers that have made the Web such an important 13213 marketing channel. It also explores how the Web can reduce transaction costs, thereby facilitating more efficient exchanges and markets. The concepts of links and nodes are then introduced and the processes of disintermediation, reintermediation, disaggregation and reaggregation are explored. Finally, Web B2B configurations are considered by way of a model that describes four archetypal configurations, and the factors that are antecedent to these modes and how the Web may influence them.
The role of electronic networks in B2B relationships has been growing exponentially. From massive internet B2B exchanges to tiny RFID chips, B2B is increasingly becoming e-B2B. Whilst e-B2B has been explored intra-nationally, its international counterpart is less well documented; as has been the role that culture might play in the development of international e-B2B relationships. In this paper we address this important issue of international e-business relationships. Specifically we explore the interconnection between national e-readiness and cultural values, and address the research question: How do cultural values impact a nation's readiness to engage in e-business? Drawing upon international surveys we link cultural values with national e-business infrastructure. Our findings suggest an intriguing link between cultural values and a nation's readiness for e-B2B. From these results we develop managerial recommendations and extrapolate research opportunities.
The challenge of managing radical innovation is partly about dealing with higher levels of uncertainty as organisations seek to extend their exploration into new technological and market spaces. Innovation management routines for dealing with this differ from those around incremental innovation — the well-established exploit/explore dilemma. But it can be argued that there is a second challenge associated with radical innovation under conditions of discontinuity — when new elements in the environment need to be brought into the organisation's frame for search, selection and implementation. Under these conditions existing routines fail and otherwise successful incumbents experience significant difficulties. This paper explores the challenge of such radical innovation through the lens of the ways in which innovation activity is framed and contributes to the theme of this Special Issue through discussing barriers and enabling routines associated with the search, selection, and implementation processes within organisations.
The study examines whether factors related to customers' perception of employees' behavior in terms of customer perceived role ambiguity, role overload and customer–employee rapport influence the development of brand equity in the professional service context. 632 customers of one of the Big Four auditing companies participated in the study. The results of structural equation modeling show negative effects of role ambiguity and role overload on brand associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty, which constitute brand equity. The findings indicate a positive effect of customer–employee rapport on the enhancement of B2B brand equity. However, the negative influences of role ambiguity and role overload on customer–employee rapport transfer detrimental indirect effects on brand equity. The study contributes to an understanding of how the real interaction between service providers and customers can influence brand equity in the professional service setting.
A broad, dynamic network perspective on solution processes remains scarce. This article presents the process of developing and implementing customer solutions and its effects on the wider business environment by investigating customers and suppliers in the global mining industry (Australia, Chile, and Sweden), analyzing the deployment of a new customer solution, and assessing the changes to the competitive environment and focal firms' relationships with other customers and suppliers. It shows that the forces that drive customer and supplier interests and motivation to co-develop customer solutions may change over time, thus redefining the aim and scope of solutions and creating failure risks. Customers present problems; suppliers respond, on the basis of not only the feasibility of the customer-specific solution but also of their evaluation of future solutions in a broader market; then suppliers aim to standardize successful solutions across markets. Customers want close supplier relationships and unique solutions but also like standardized and repeatable solutions, so they can share development costs with competitors and expose the supplier to competition to avoid lock-in effects. From a network perspective, a novel solution can have a market-shaping effect and evoke reactions from other actors who want to enhance their market position. However, these changes are not necessarily deliberate, and the dynamics that market introductions of solutions trigger may be difficult to predict.