A Balancing-Process Approach to Firm Internationalization

Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, this paper develops a balancing-process approach to explain the motivations and location choices of foreign direct investment (FDI). In this approach, FDI is viewed as a means to balance a firm's portfolio of resources and capabilities through utilizing foreign strategic factor markets with the ultimate goal of achieving growth and sustainable competitive advantage. This approach joins exploitative and explorative FDI in a single framework and helps explain why a firm can conduct both types of FDI simultaneously.

The Rise and Fall of the dot com Entrepreneurs

This paper looks at the dot com phenomenon drawing mainly on examples from the USA where the boom started and was most pronounced, but also from the UK which had a number of high profile dot coms. It starts by asking the question, ‘Who were the dot coms?’. it then goes on to consider the factors which led to the emergence of the dot coms such as the emergence of the commercial Internet, the lowering of entry barriers which followed from this and the funding available for new businesses through venture capital. The article also looks at the reasons why it was believed that the dot coms represented a threat to established businesses. The article then looks at the booming IPO market for dot coms and the opportunities this provided for exit by venture capital investors. The crash of 2000 is considered, lessons are drawn for entrepreneurs and investors and finally the article will look at future prospects for the dot com sector

The Value Relevance of Forced Top Management Departures

This paper studies the value relevance of management turnover based on a sample of Dutch events. Consistent with previous studies we find weak or insignificant aggregate announcement effects on stock prices. The evidence is in conflict with effective internal monitoring from which positive abnormal returns would result. The hypothesis is that two opposing forces underlie the inconclusive result: (1) A positive real effect of the unanticipated forced resignation of a poor performing manager and (2) A negative information effect if the change signals worse management performance than anticipated. To test the hypothesis, announcement effects on trading volumes are analyzed too. Our conclusion supports the hypothesis: forced management departures are value relevant.top management turnover/resignations/changes; corporate governance; internal monitoring; value relevance; event study.

Appropriation of value in Biomedical research outcome at Public Research Organisations

Transactions on biomedical research outcomes bring into play strategies that are determined by leveraging resources into quasi-markets and on options based on expectations. To govern such transactions, the choice of appropriate governance structures and the governance of interaction are all too often in remittance of risk and uncertainty. Organisation and communities are prompted by issues concerning intellectual property (IP) to underwrite information, which is inherently fraught with difficulties of discerning ownership and quantifying qualitative business variables. Against that backdrop, we enquire on the mechanisms underpinning value dissipation and value appropriation of biomedical research outcomes to make proposition on the organisational antecedence to innovation. It is a preamble study with the view to developing a meso-level framework to describe mechanisms of value appropriation of upstream biomedical (non-invasive) research at Public Research Organisation. Its underpinning is largely based on the availability appropriability regimes and viability of organizational governance decisions and how the choice of organizational governance form affects both the creation and appropriation of economic value

An integrated core competence evaluation framework for portfolio management in the oil industry

Drawing upon resource-based theory, this paper presents a core competence evaluation framework for managing the competence portfolio of an oil company. It introduces a network typology to illustrate how to form different types of strategic alliance relations with partnering firms to manage and grow the competence portfolio. A framework is tested using a case study approach involving face-to-face structured interviews. We identified purchasing, refining and sales and marketing as strong candidates to be the core competencies. However, despite the company's core business of refining oil, the core competencies were identified to be their research and development and performance management (PM) capabilities. We further provide a procedure to determine different kinds of physical, intellectual and cultural resources making a dominant impact on company's competence portfolio. In addition, we provide a comprehensive set of guidelines on how to develop core competence further by forging a partnership alliance choosing an appropriate network topology

MOTIVAÇÕES PARA PATENTEAR: O CASO DA INDÚSTRIA FARMACÊUTICA

The literature reports that patents are commonly seen as isolating mechanisms. But it also points that patents are of limited effectiveness against copying. The purpose of this paper is to identify why pharmaceutical firms file patent applications despite the well known limitations of patents as protective devices. A qualitative approach was used to investigate this topic, and the results are based upon six case studies of pharmaceutical organizations established in the United Kingdom. A common response on why firms engage in the patenting process was the long development time of a new product, and the costs associated with that. Thus, the main purpose of pursuing patents was to protect inventions from copying. In addition, our findings revealed that the motivations to patent also encompass their use: i) to deter entry, ii) to enhance appropriability conditions, iii) to secure royalty income, iv) to use in technology negotiations, v) to influence investors perception, vi) to signal to others, and vii) (apparently to a lesser degree) to incentivise researchers.La literatura relata que las patentes son normalmente vistas como mecanismos aislantes. Pero ella también indica que las patentes pueden no ser muy efectivas contra la imitación. El objetivo de este trabajo es identificar el porqué de las empresas farmacéuticas depositen patentes a pesar de la reconocida limitación de estos instrumentos de protección. La investigación utiliza un abordaje cualitativo que consiste en la realización de seis estudios de caso de empresas farmacéuticas que operan en Reino Unido. Para las empresas estudiadas, la razón más evidente para envolucrarse en el proceso de patenteamento fue el interés en evitar la libre imitación de sus innovaciones, cuyo tiempo de desarrollo es normalmente largo y tiene altos costes asociados a él. Además, también fue revelado que las patentes son utilizadas i) para desencorajar la entrada de otras empresas en el sector o en el campo tecnológico de interés, ii) para mejorar las condiciones de apropiación del esfuerzo innovador, iii) para apalancar recursos a través de licencia, iv) para usar en negociaciones tecnológicas, v) para influenciar la percepción de los inversionistas, vi) para dar señales para el mercado, y vii) (aparentemente menos importante) para incentivar a los investigadores.TEXTO (PDF) EM INGLÊSA literatura relata que as patentes são normalmente vistas como mecanismos isolantes. Mas ela também indica que as patentes podem não ser muito efetivas contra a imitação. O objetivo deste trabalho é identificar o porquê das empresas farmacêuticas depositarem patentes apesar da reconhecida limitação destes instrumentos de proteção. A pesquisa utiliza uma abordagem qualitativa que consiste na realização de seis estudos de caso de empresas farmacêuticas que operam no Reino Unido. Para as empresas estudadas, a razão mais evidente para engajarem no processo de patenteamento foi o interesse em evitar a livre imitação de suas inovações, cujo tempo de desenvolvimento é normalmente longo e tem altos custos associados a ele. Além disso, também foi revelado que as patentes são utilizadas i) para desencorajar a entrada de outras empresas no setor ou no campo tecnológico de interesse, ii) para melhorar as condições de apropriação do esforço inovador, iii) para alavancar recursos através de licenciamento, iv) para usar em negociações tecnológicas, v) para influenciar a percepção dos investidores, vi) para dar sinais para o mercado, e vii) (aparentemente menos importante) para incentivar os pesquisadores

Managing design variety, process variety and engineering change: a case study of two capital good firms

Many capital good firms deliver products that are not strictly one-off, but instead share a certain degree of similarity with other deliveries. In the delivery of the product, they aim to balance stability and variety in their product design and processes. The issue of engineering change plays an important in how they manage to do so. Our aim is to gain more understanding into how capital good firms manage engineering change, design variety and process variety, and into the role of the product delivery strategies they thereby use. Product delivery strategies are defined as the type of engineering work that is done independent of an order and the specification freedom the customer has in the remaining part of the design. Based on the within-case and cross-case analysis of two capital good firms several mechanisms for managing engineering change, design variety and process variety are distilled. It was found that there exist different ways of (1) managing generic design information, (2) isolating large engineering changes, (3) managing process variety, (4) designing and executing engineering change processes. Together with different product delivery strategies these mechanisms can be placed within an archetypes framework of engineering change management. On one side of the spectrum capital good firms operate according to open product delivery strategies, have some practices in place to investigate design reuse potential, isolate discontinuous engineering changes into the first deliveries of the product, employ ‘probe and learn’ process management principles in order to allow evolving insights to be accurately executed and have informal engineering change processes. On the other side of the spectrum capital good firms operate according to a closed product delivery strategy, focus on prevention of engineering changes based on design standards, need no isolation mechanisms for discontinuous engineering changes, have formal process management practices in place and make use of closed and formal engineering change procedures. The framework should help managers to (1) analyze existing configurations of product delivery strategies, product and process designs and engineering change management and (2) reconfigure any of these elements according to a ‘misfit’ derived from the framework. Since this is one of the few in-depth empirical studies into engineering change management in the capital good sector, our work adds to the understanding on the various ways in which engineering change can be dealt with