Getting By With The Advice Of Their Friends: Ceos' Advice Networks And Firms' Strategic Responses To Poor Performance

This paper theorizes that relatively poor firm performance can prompt chief executive officers (CEOs) to seek more advice from executives of other firms who are their friends or similar to them and less advice from acquaintances or dissimilar others and suggests how and why this pattern of advice seeking could reduce firms' propensity to change corporate strategy in response to poor performance. We test our hypotheses with large-sample survey data on the identities of CEOs' advice contacts and archival data on firm performance and corporate strategy. The results confirm our hypotheses and show that executives' social network ties can influence firms' responses to economic adversity, in particular by inhibiting strategic change in response to relatively poor firm performance. Additional findings indicate that CEOs' advice seeking in response to low performance may ultimately have negative consequences for subsequent performance, suggesting how CEOs' social network ties could play an indirect role in organizational decline and downward spirals in firm performance.Business Administratio

The Influence of Relationships on Inter-Organizational Information SystemsUsage and Supply Chain Performance

Due to the cross-boundary characteristicof inter-organizational information systems (IOS), its usage is affected by inter-organizational relationships (IORs), which plays an even more important role in China.This paper develops a conceptual model of the influence of IORs on IOS usage and supply chain performance. Based on organizational learning theory, the paper dividespatterns of IOS usage into IOS use for exploitation and exploration. And the paper puts forward an innovative perspective to evaluatesupply chain performance from efficiency and flexibility dimensions. Using a sample of 151 Chinese companies, structural equation modeling (SEM) is applied to empirically testing thehypotheses.The finding indicates that inter-organizational trust has significant positive influence on IOS usage, while power and cooperative norms do not. And IOS usage plays a positive role in promoting supply chain performance and exploitative usage is better for the efficiency promotion.Therefore, much attention ought to be paid to nurtureinter-organizational trust rather than power to promote IOS usage and supply chain performance

When, How, and So What: Three Essays on Managerial Practice of Personal Tie Utilization in Organizations

abstract: Over the past several decades, social network remains the most prevalent and prominent in the strategy and organization theory literature. However, despite the considerable research attention scholars devoted to exploring the implications and mechanisms of social ties and networks in management and organizational contexts, the following question has largely remained understudied: To what extent can top managers' personal ties and networks actually contribute to their firms? This thesis will strive to explore this research question by theoretically highlighting three logically consequent managerial decisions: (1) "When"--when will top managers choose to use their personal ties and networks in their firms; (2) "How"--will top managers use their managerial ties and networks to serve the best interest of their firms or to satisfy their self-interests; and (3) "So what" --how would the decision of using managerial ties and networks to benefit their firms influence other decisions of the firms. Using both primary data and archival information from Chinese firms, I will empirically test the step-wise framework. I expect this thesis to contribute to both strategic leadership and social network research and management practices.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Business Administration 201

Studies on Interorganizational Networks: The Case of Two Regional Clusters in Norway

The overall purpose of this dissertation is to study interorganizational networks. Firms are open systems and simultaneously embedded in interorganizational networks of various kinds. Interorganizational networks consist of a group of organizations and relations between these organizations, reflecting the allocation and flow of resources among network members. Conceivably, network structures largely affect involved firms’ different behaviors. Nevertheless, such knowledge is insufficient without knowing how interorganizational networks emerge and develop into a specific structure. Using a sociometric structural approach, this dissertation contributes to two related topics: (1) the influence of network properties on firms’ behaviors (Articles 1 and 2) and (2) the dynamics of network structures (Article 3). A firm’s position in a network has implications for its opportunities and constraints (Brass et al., 2004). The first two empirical articles focus on the influence of network structures on firms’ behaviors. In Article 1, I demonstrate how firms adapt exploration strategies according to network properties. Management research has alluded to environmental and organizational antecedents for firms’ exploration. I complement this knowledge by applying a network perspective to explain how a firm may adjust its exploration strategy based on its position within the interorganizational network. I particularly focus on two network constructs: closeness centrality and local cohesion. Closeness centrality captures a firm’s distance to network knowledge and resources, and local cohesion shows the connection between a focal firm’s alters. The findings show positive impacts of closeness centrality and local cohesion on exploration strategy, and local cohesion has a more significant impact. I offer insights into antecedents of exploration by underscoring the network drivers. In Article 2, I study firms’ prosocial behavior in dyads within a broader network context. Research on relationship marketing has traditionally focused on dyadic properties to explain behaviors within dyads. This article adds to this body of research by investigating network Abstract The overall purpose of this dissertation is to study interorganizational networks. Firms are open systems and simultaneously embedded in interorganizational networks of various kinds. Interorganizational networks consist of a group of organizations and relations between these organizations, reflecting the allocation and flow of resources among network members. Conceivably, network structures largely affect involved firms' different behaviors. Nevertheless, such knowledge is insufficient without knowing how interorganizational networks emerge and develop into a specific structure. Using a sociometric structural approach, this dissertation contributes to two related topics: (l) the influence of network properties on firms' behaviors (Articles l and 2) and (2) the dynamics of network structures (Article 3). A firm's position in a network has implications for its opportunities and constraints (Brass et al., 2004). The first two empirical articles focus on the influence of network structures on firms' behaviors. In Article l, I demonstrate how firms adapt exploration strategies according to network properties. Management research has alluded to environmental and organizational antecedents for firms' exploration. I complement this knowledge by applying a network perspective to explain how a firm may adjust its exploration strategy based on its position within the interorganizational network. I particularly focus on two network constructs: closeness centrality and local cohesion. Closeness centrality captures a firm's distance to network knowledge and resources, and local cohesion shows the connection between a focal firm's alters. The findings show positive impacts of closeness centrality and local cohesion on exploration strategy, and local cohesion has a more significant impact. I offer insights into antecedents of exploration by underscoring the network drivers. In Article 2, I study firms' prosocial behavior in dyads within a broader network context. Research on relationship marketing has traditionally focused on dyadic properties to explain behaviors within dyads. This article adds to this body of research by investigating network 111 iv level antecedents of prosocial behaviors in dyadic relations. Prosocial behavior refers to a firm’s beneficial actions toward another firm beyond formal requirements. Since a contract is normally incomplete, such behavior is desirable in business relationships. Our findings show that in-degree centrality (i.e., the number of ties received from other network members) has an inverted U-shaped relationship with a focal firm’s prosocial behavior. Besides, triadic embeddedness (i.e., the number of common third parties) is likely to facilitate prosocial behavior between involved parties, regardless of firms’ in-degree centrality. This study shows the need to consider the dyadic relationship in a wider network context. While Articles 1 and 2 implicitly assume network properties are static, Article 3 contributes to knowledge of network development in the interorganizational setting. Sociologists and management scholars provide explanations mainly for dyadic tie formation, such as alliance formation and joint ventures. Limited is known about system-level structural dynamics. Specifically, I focus on two system-level properties: small-world and scale-free networks. Small-world networks are characterized by dense local clustering and short path length between actors. Scale-free networks are centralized with a small portion of central actors spanning the structure and take a skewed degree distribution. Some empirical networks demonstrate both properties simultaneously, yet few studies have aimed to discuss the dynamics and interrelation of these properties. In article 3, I retrospectively visualize the annual structures of two empirical networks to show how small-world and scale-free properties together explain the development patterns. The results show that the small-world and scale free properties have an inversed dynamic pattern, and the scale-free structure may be less common in the interorganizational setting. Altogether, this study adds to the understanding of the dynamics and development of interorganizational networks in terms of small-world and scale-free structures. level antecedents of prosocial behaviors in dyadic relations. Prosocial behavior refers to a firm's beneficial actions toward another firm beyond formal requirements. Since a contract is normally incomplete, such behavior is desirable in business relationships. Our findings show that in-degree centrality (i.e., the number of ties received from other network members) has an inverted U-shaped relationship with a focal firm's prosocial behavior. Besides, triadic embeddedness (i.e., the number of common third parties) is likely to facilitate prosocial behavior between involved parties, regardless of firms' in-degree centrality. This study shows the need to consider the dyadic relationship in a wider network context. While Articles l and 2 implicitly assume network properties are static, Article 3 contributes to knowledge of network development in the interorganizational setting. Sociologists and management scholars provide explanations mainly for dyadic tie formation, such as alliance formation and joint ventures. Limited is known about system-level structural dynamics. Specifically, I focus on two system-level properties: small-world and scale-free networks. Small-world networks are characterized by dense local clustering and short path length between actors. Scale-free networks are centralized with a small portion of central actors spanning the structure and take a skewed degree distribution. Some empirical networks demonstrate both properties simultaneously, yet few studies have aimed to discuss the dynamics and interrelation of these properties. In article 3, I retrospectively visualize the annual structures of two empirical networks to show how small-world and scale-free properties together explain the development patterns. The results show that the small-world and scale free properties have an inversed dynamic pattern, and the scale-free structure may be less common in the interorganizational setting. Altogether, this study adds to the understanding of the dynamics and development of interorganizational networks in terms of small-world and scale-free structures. lV v Contextually, I investigate two regional industry networks in western Norway, focusing on the media industry and fintech. Overall, this dissertation provides an in-depth analysis of these two interorganizational networks by focusing on multiple levels and aspects of a network and adds to the current literature on management, relationship marketing, and network dynamics. Moreover, this dissertation combines network data and survey data for hypotheses testing in Articles 1 and 2, which is unique and increases the validity of the findings. I also present key findings, discuss the implications and limitations of this work, and suggest future research directions

Exploring the Multiplex Architecture of Supply Networks

This paper attempts to provide quantitative and statistically significant evidence on the multiplex nature of a multi-tier supply network. The unique primary data consisted of component-level supply networks is analyzed to examine the interrelationships among their architectural properties based on various network tie types. All the supply network partners’ bidirectional responses stretching from an OEM to its raw materials suppliers are collected and treated as directed-valued in the analysis. Our findings collectively show that different types of supply network ties across multiple tiers of supply chain partners shape different supply network architectures

Trust conceptualized as a corporate knowledge asset

To most individuals, "trust" can be viewed as a knowledge corporate asset that may add, or rest, value to the company. The role of knowledge in achieving a competitive advantage is becoming and increasingly important management issue in all business and non-business sectors. As such, our Throughput Modeling approach indicates how six different trust behaviors can be guided, how trust decision making can be improved and made defensible, and how special problems facing individuals can be dealt with via decision-making pathways leading to an action

Analysis of scientific production on interorganizational networks study field

Purpose – The present study seeks to answer the following research question: what is the profile of the academic production related to the interorganizational networks in the period between 2006 and 2016? Thus, this study aims to characterize the academic production about the subject interorganizational networks available in national journals with Concept“A” (Qualis Capes), in the period between 2006 and 2016. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses national journals with Concept “A” of the Qualis classification (2016) for journal selection. In total, 12 “A” concept journals were identified. However, it was decided to analyze ten of them. The procedures suggested by Crossan and Apaydin (2010) for conducting bibliometric studies were adopted. It has been identified that 77 articles were published in eight journals. The R 3.3.2 and R Studio 1.0.136 software were used. The IGRAPH 0.5.5-2 extension (package) was used to analyze graphs and co-authorship networks (Csárdi and Nepusz, 2006). This extension is able to manipulate networks with millions of vertices and edges and provides a series of functions to analyze the properties of social networks, such as subnetworks, intermediation, centrality, among other characteristics (Csárdi and Nepusz, 2006). Correspondence analysis (CA) was also performed. CA is a multivariate exploratory technique that converts a data matrix into a graphical representation, so that rows and columns are represented by points in a graph (Greenacre and Hastie, 1987). This extension is dedicated to the multivariate analysis of data and allows the manipulation of different types of variables (quantitative or categorical). In the present research, multiple CA (MCA) was applied – indicated when the elements are described as categorical variables (Lê et al., 2008). The characteristics considered for carrying out MCA were the “main term”, “research approach”, “type of research”, “constructs” and “research strategies”. By using the FactoMineR 1.34 extension, the hierarchical clustering on principal components (HCPC) function was used (Husson et al., 2007; Lê et al., 2008). This function allows creating clusters from the characteristics of the articles analyzed and highlights the justifications for the groupings created. The function allows forming as many clusters the researcher wishes, being of its attribution to analyze a division that best represents the characteristics of the data (Husson, Josse, and Pagès, 2010). Husson et al. (2010) suggest that an analysis should be performed from the hierarchical tree, thus the number of clusters can be defined considering the overall appearance (or shape) of the tree formed. At last, a word cloud was created using the Wordcloud 2.5 extension (Fellows, 2013). The noticed advantage of using this extension is that it does not separate the terms that form a keyword when generating the cloud. It has been used for the keywords of the 77 articles analyzed; however, it has been decided to keep those that presented frequency greater than or equal to two. By avoiding occasional terms, a more intelligible cloud was obtained. Findings – The present study was not able to verify if the journals analyzed by Andrighi et al. (2011) have influenced others to publish on the subject, as suggested by the Bradford’s Law. The standard “success breeds success”, suggested by the Bradford’s Law, was not confirmed. The so-called nuclear zone (Brookes, 1969; Novaretti et al., 2015) is composed of the journals Brazilian Administration Review (BAR), Revista deAdministração Contemporânea (RAC), Revista de Administração Pública (RAP) and Revista Brasileira de Gestão de Negocios (RBGN). The journal RAC stands out for having been the one that has increased its annual average of publication in relation to the theme, when compared with the findings of Andrighi et al. (2011). The journals BAR and RBGN stand out because they are in the nuclear zone, even though they were not considered in the work of Andrighi et al. (2011). It should be noted that all the analyzed journals have in common the fact of addressing the themes of management and administration and, more specifically, making room for the “competitiveness” and “cooperation” constructs. These constructs are related to the theme of networks and were the most recurrent in the articles analyzed. “Cooperation” (29), “competitiveness” (27), “knowledge” (12), “learning” (6) and “trust” (3) were the “constructs” used to compose the 77 articles analyzed. In turn, “network” (49), “alliance” (18) and “cluster” (9) were the “main term” most used in the articles. This implies that the topic of cooperation is more linked to a vision of strategy. As occurred in the research of Andrighi et al. (2011), the term “network” is the most recurrent; in addition, the growth of space obtained by the term “alliance” stands out. The terms “network” and “alliance” were the most used by the articles, being predominant in 87 per cent of the research. In the present research, the predominance of the term “network” may have occurred because its concept is broader and it is used in the literature in different ways, even in contradictory ways (Andrighi et al., 2011; Schommer, 2001). In turn, the term “alliance” may have been recurrent because it has a wide dispersion of published issues, such as governance structure, cooperation, knowledge transfer and trust (Lima and Campos Filho, 2009). By using the HCPC function of the FactoMineR extension, the articles were grouped according to their characteristics, and then three clusters were formed. By analyzing the generated results, it is assumed that the division into three clusters was the one that best represented the data. Cluster 1 is characterized by descriptive, quantitative, half documentary and half survey research studies, being “cluster” the main term. Cluster 2 is characterized by exploratory case studies with qualitative–quantitative analyzes. Cluster 3 is characterized by theoretical tests. The Zipf’s law points out that a small group of words occurs many times; however, when considering the most recurrent words Networks (9), Strategic Alliances (8), Cooperation (8), Interorganizational Networks (8) and Alliances (6) show that they were present in only about 10 per cent of the works. Lotka’s Law, which states that few authors publish much and many authors publish little, was not confirmed. The authors who presented the highest number of publications, T. Diana L. v. A. de Macedo-Soares (6); Jorge Renato Verschoore (6); Alsones Balestrin (5); Douglas Wegner (4); Humberto Elias Garcia Lopes (4), participated in less than 10 per cent of the works. Thus, the authorship was characterized by many researchers publishing few works, what can be an effect of the behavior of these authors, who prefer to publish in network. The centrality of the relations between the authors was analyzed and, in addition, the intermediation points of the network were identified. The present study also analyzed all the references used by the 77 articles that compose the study. The main author of each of the references used was identified. Among the 30 identified authors, Yin and Hair Jr. stand out for books related to fundamentals and research methodologies. Borgatti and Eisenhardt developed research on the topic of interorganizational networks and also created works for methodological foundations. Powell was the most frequently mentioned author (28) and had more different works referenced (9). Powell stands out for the production of articles published in periodicals, not books. Porter’s situation is the opposite. Most of the quotations made to the author come from his books, especially the work “Competitive strategy” (Porter, 1980). All authors identified are foreigners, with the exception of Balestrin. Marshall, Polanyi, Granovetter and Williamson are authors of works considered seminal, being them, respectively, “Principles of economics” (Marshall, 1890), “Personal knowledge: towards a post critical philosophy” (Polanyi, 1958) and “The strength of weak ties” (Granovetter, 1973) and “Markets and hierarchies, analysis and antitrust implications”(Williamson, 1975). Research limitations/implications – Like all research, it has limitations. The first one derives from the selection criteria of the periodicals to be analyzed. The cut referring to the journals of greater impact excludes most of the national articles. These studies may contain important contributions to the knowledge of the national publication profile. In addition, the choice to analyze the journals disregards other types of work, such as books, scientific events, dissertations and thesis and reports. The choice of articles published in journals is based on the fact that these are a “certified knowledge”, as the studies are peer-reviewed, and in the case of the Qualis “A” stratum, a review of exogenous quality is supposed on this production. Despite its flaws, this system can be considered reliable to evaluate scientific knowledge (Bedeian, 2004; Shugan, 2007). The analysis of the most recent articles may have been hampered by a temporal issue. In addition, the choice of keywords, a necessary step, leaves out other studies. Another limitation refers to the fact that the articles have been analyzed and classified by the authors, which presupposes the use of their value judgments, at least to some extent. Other limitations refer to the bibliometric techniques employed. The main authors referenced in the studies were demonstrated, that is, those authors who have been used as a theoretical reference for studies of interorganizational networks. However, the circumstances under which these citations occurredwere not analyzed. For example, an author may be quoted to use the contribution of his/her study, to be criticized or just to be another reference in the text. The lack of this analysis can be considered a fragility of the study. Practical implications – This text was started talking about the dispersion of the studies on networks in the country. Previous work has been used, theoretically and empirically demonstrating this fact. Zipf’s Law applied to bibliometrics, as described by Guedes and Borschiver (2005), Novaretti et al. (2015) and Pao (1978), was not confirmed in this study, which seems to be an indicative fact that the research on this theme in Brazil presents fragmentation as an intrinsic characteristic. That is, it must remain fragmented, as this would be its own way to evolve. This is evident especially when comparing the study of Andrighi et al. (2011) and its results. With several but continuous temporal cut-outs, and the same keywords, the maintenance of this dispersion is evident. This is also a contribution of this study. Social implications – The study contributed to updating the research profile, mainly after the triennium 2013-2015 of Qualis Capes’ evaluations. It also added to the mapping of recent Brazilian academic production related to interorganizational networks, completing studies by Alves et al. (2013), Andrighi et al. (2011), Balestrin et al. (2010), Cunha and Carrieri (2003) and Mascena et al. (2013). Thus, it is believed that the research reached the proposed objectives, despite its limitations. Originality/value – The present research is also justified by helping to understand the subject being useful for researchers, educators and students, in general, in the task of demonstrating gaps and opportunities of future researches and collaborating with the elaboration of a research agenda (Baumgartner and Pieters, 2003). The work has updated bibliometrics on the subject and allows comparisons with previous bibliometric studies (Alves et al., 2013; Andrighi et al., 2011; Balestrin et al., 2010; Cunha and Carrieri, 2003; Ferreira et al., 2014; Lima and Campos Filho, 2009; Mascena et al., 2013). It is believed that the present study differs from the others because of the analysis performed, the way the data were treated, with techniques that are rarely used simultaneously, going beyond the descriptive statistics

Role of justice theory in explaining alliance negotiations, The

We report data from a revelatory qualitative case study of a failed attempt to negotiate an international joint venture agreement. We analyze issues of justice and the role that their occurrence in the course of the negotiations might have played in this outcome. These potential antecedents of the failure were derived from theories of organizational justice. The results support an argument that organizational justice theory, particularly interactional justice, can play an important role in explaining alliance negotiation outcomes.strategic alliances; alliances negotiations; justice theory;

Exploring the Organizational Effects of Directors\u27 Embeddedness in Board Networks

In this dissertation, I explore how top executives’ and directors’ embeddedness in corporate elite networks within and between organizations’ boards of directors influence organizational strategy and policy. In the first study, I conduct a comprehensive review of the governance literature using both a traditional narrative approach as well as a bibliometric main path analysis, which traces the development and diffusion of scholarly knowledge on corporate elite networks. In the second study, drawing from network theory and behavioral governance research, I introduce a methodology that allows researchers to model intraboard networks by measuring the strength of ties among members of boards of directors based on objective formative indicators of the constructs of social similarity, social status, social exchange, and social history. Next, I use this technique to explore the antecedents and consequences of intraorganizational network characteristics of boards. Finally, in the third study, I examine the joint influence of interlocking directorates and intraorganizational networks of boards of directors on interorganizational imitation of corporate strategic activity. Results show that directors’ centrality within a focal organization’s board and those of its alters are important predictors of interorganizational imitation of corporate strategic activity. I contribute to the strategic management and organization theory literatures by advancing our understanding of the relationship of corporate elite networks with organizational strategy and policy, and by introducing a new approach to modeling directors’ networks in corporate governance research