Text and artefacts for creating a "World of Investment Decision-Making" : an empirical study into investment procedures

The investment procedure prescribes the stages and tests through which all investment projects must pass before being accepted or not. It governs the conditions of acceptability and constitutes a powerful device of a priori control. In this paper, we intend to understand how investment procedures enable grand ideals regarding investment to be institutionalised. In particular, over and above the assumed effectiveness and rationale of these procedures, we identify the mechanisms through which these procedures construct social roles. In this respect, this research goes beyond the procedures’ technical functions and focuses on the very form of procedures. Indeed, the form of a procedure presents two features: it is written, generally consigned to a “manual”; and it relies on “cognitive artefacts” (Norman, 1991) or “technologies of the intellect” (Goody, 1977) such as lists, tables and formulae like Discounted Cash Flow. This paper shows how this specific form takes effect during the process of institutionalisation, through which grand investment ideals (e.g. competitiveness, value creation) are transformed into concrete devices and into roles (Miller, 1991). Thanks to an enquiry conducted in 2003 and 2004, investment procedures in six large companies in a French context are analysed. It is argued that (1) the formalisation of the objectives of the procedures, as well as the definitions of investment through typologies shape the actors’ boundaries of action; (2) valuation methods based on the domination of economic-mathematical formula favour short-term over long-term reflection; (3) the setting of decision-making thresholds formalise individuals’ tasks and responsibilities. Therefore, the very form of procedures shape each phase of the institutionalisation process as defined by Hasselbladh and Kallinikos (2000) and contribute to creates a singular world – that of investment decisions.procedure; investment; written text; artefacts; technologies of the intellect; institutionalisation

Think Local-Act Local: Is It Time to Slow Down the Accelerated Move to Global Marketing?

In view of the accelerated move of great corporations towards global marketing, the strategic changes of such companies raise interesting questions. Is marketing globalization reaching its limits after years of implementation? Is it time for companies to rethink their strategies and move back, like Coca-Cola, to a multi-domestic marketing approach?Global Marketing, Multi-Domestic Marketing Approach, Brand Equity, Drawbacks of Marketing Globalization, Coca-Cola

Vertical sub-contracting relationships strategy, the Airbus First-tier suppliers\' coordination

This paper analyzes the transformations of industrial vertical relationships, and more particularly the duality of the coordination modes within new industrial architectures. The paper aims to characterize relationship between the architect and the first-tier suppliers according to the strategic degree of their competence. Two models of coordination arm\'s length and systems integration coexist within the same industrial architecture. The recourse to one or the other varies according to the policy of purchase and the strategic degree of the sub-contracted subsystems. Thus we will analyze the system of subcontracting of Airbus by focusing to the importance of the purchasing policy. The argumentation articulates in two parts. The first one considers the vertical subcontracting relationships in the framework of complex productions, by insisting on organizational aspects. The second one analyses the transformation of the \"Airbus\" productive system by focusing on purchasing process and the emergence of new First-tier supplier’s coordination modes.NAModularity – Systems Integration – Strategic competences – Purchasing Strategy – First Tier Suppliers – Airbus

The relationship among incubating enterprises' relational network, resource integration ability and innovation performance: Shanxi Emperor Penguin Innovation Incubation Park

The incubator is an important part of the service system of technological innovation and entrepreneurship. In China, all kinds of incubators have expanded rapidly since 2015, and private incubators are facing great pressure for survival. Problems such as homogenization of entrepreneurial service resources, low service efficiency and high input cost are more prominent. Many incubators in China have unsatisfactory operation performance, so the incubation carriers need to actively look for more profitable models. How to make private incubators grow bigger and perform better is an objective and realistic problem to be solved urgently. This thesis, taking Shanxi Emperor Penguin Innovation Incubator as a case study, focuses on the performance improvement of incubating enterprises in private incubators. The thesis holds that the relation network of incubating enterprises provides themselves stable business resources necessary for their survival and development, as such relation network influences their business success and prosperity. At the same time, incubating enterprises’ effectiveness in the integration of their own resources gives a full play of using commercial resources, which is also of great significance to survival and development. Good relationship network and resource integration ability are the key factors for their success.A incuba dora é uma parte importante do sistema de serviços de inovação tecnológica e empreendedorismo. Na China, todos os tipos de incubadoras expandiram-se rapidamente desde 2015, as incubadoras privadas estão a enfrentar uma grande pressão pela sobrevivência. Problemas como a homogeneização de recursos de serviços empresariais, eficiência baixa de serviços e custo alto de insumos são os mais proeminentes. Muitas incubadoras na China têm um desempenho operacional insatisfatório, portanto, os portadores de incubação precisam de procurar ativamente os modelos mais lucrativos. Como tornar as incubadoras privadas maiores e com melhor desempenho é um problema objetivo e realista a ser resolvido com urgência. Esta tese, tendo como exemplo o Shanxi Emperor Penguin Innovation Incubation Park, foca-se na melhoria do desempenho de empresas da incubação em incubadoras privadas. A tese defende que a rede de relações de empresas em incubação fornece recursos empresariais estáveis, necessários para a sua sobrevivência e desenvolvimento, uma vez que essa rede de relacionamentos influencia o sucesso e a prosperidade dos seus negócios. Ao mesmo tempo, a eficácia das empresas de incubação na integração dos seus próprios recursos permite uma utilização completa dos recursos comerciais, o que também é de grande importância para a sobrevivência e o desenvolvimento. Uma boa rede de relacionamento e capacidade de integração de recursos são os fatores principais para seu o sucesso

INTERORGANIZATIONAL NETWORKS OF E-INTERMEDIARIES: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

In this theory-building research, we seek to understand how the emerging systems of e-intermediation influnce the evolution of novel inter-organizational networks. We chose Yoox, a leading e-intermediary in the fashion industry, as an exemplary case. We found that the core technological capabilities of the e-intermediator, rather than deterministically triggering a single coordination strategy (as mainstream literature predicts), have been exploited to develop a range of interaction approaches, including market, hierarchy, and cooperative network relationships. At this phase of our research in progress, we can extract provisionary propositions from our field study. The most representative propositions we elaborated are the following: (i) when Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) empower e-intermediation B2B interactions, they can effectively support market, hierarchy, or cooperative network interactions; that is, ICTs facilitate inter-organizational dynamism; (ii) e-intermediation does not encourage, per se, preferential or typical inter-organizational coordination forms. Partnering organizations develop market and/or hierarchy and/or cooperative network interactions depending on their perceptions of irreplaceability, as well as on other factors such as managerial strategies, concerns, and previous relational experiences; (iii) in e-intermediation business networks, the e-intermediary´s technological leadership is more likely to produce a long-term competitive advantage if it is leveraged to feed and enrich the e-intermediary´s relational leadership dynamically over time