The internationalisation process of firms form a developing country : empirical study of Malaysian-based multinational corporations

This thesis aims to investigate the emergence and evolution of Malaysian-based firms and identify the factors that influence the organisation's international expansion process. This study reviews different streams of literature on the internationalisation process of firms and developing country multinational enterprises, highlighting the necessity to maintain a balance between exploiting existing resources and accumulating new competencies. Drawing upon extensive field research of three case studies of notable Malaysian-based multinational firms namely, Petroliam Nasional Berhad, TM Berhad, and Sime Darby Berhad, this study attempts to explains how symbiosis of internationalisation knowledge and experience, technological competence, and business network connections (including government support) is pivotal to the emergence and international expansion of Malaysian-based multinational firms. The findings of the research indicate that these corporations did not follow the sequential pattern of internationalisation process. Rather, internationalisation processes and expansions are diverse and complex, often reflecting areas of specialisation of the firm, or its internal growth processes. The factors influencing internationalisation tends to be firm specific and associated with the capabilities, competencies and resources of the associated firms. The study attempts to explain the growth and expansion of the three case Malaysian firms and shed light on the relatively unexplored area of outward direct investment by these corporations, thereby contributing to the existing literature on multinational corporations from developing countries. This study is an empirical contribution concerning the developmental process of multinational corporations from Malaysia

The Launch of Innovative Product-Related Services: Lessons from automotive telematics

In the literature on new product development, most existing studies on the end of the design process concentrate on managing ramp-up in the field of manufactured products. This situation poses a problem at a time when our economies increasingly depend upon services and products are more and more related with sophisticated services that provides value for customers and producers. This article examines the management of the final phases of the design process of an innovative product-related service. Our research thus makes three contributions: 1) An analysis of the implementation process shows that the simultaneity of the production and consumption of a service means that three types of learning – technical, sales and uses – take place at the same time. Launch management strategies have thus to be adapted. 2) An analysis of the data collected confirms this difference by bringing to light great contrasts in these different aspects of learning. 3) This led us to identify a field that needs exploration by researchers in product and services innovation: the design of the sales process. Furthermore we underline two scenarios to manage the launch of innovative product-related services.project management, Services, Automotive telematics, Product Launch, Ramp up, Innovation Management

How to explore new business models for technological innovations

Technological innovation projects must be accompanied by upstream strategic analysis on the related value creation model. It can be shown that generally successful technological innovations have also involved business model innovation. Exploration of new business models is however particularly difficult where there is a rupture in technology due to a lack of vision of the markets and applications to target. This article proposes a scenario-based method for exploring business models for technological innovation. The method includes overview questions on the businessmodels completed by specific questions relating the developed technology. This is followed by the definition of business model scenarios based on use scenarios in various application areas of the technology considered. The development of scenarios involves the creation of contrasting butcoherent business models and varying the elements of the retained business models (types of client, value proposition, economical logic, organisation of the value network, technological and marketing criteria specific to the technology). The method was developed to accompany a radical technological innovation in the telecommunications sector, as part of a European project. The article presents the technology under development and the way in which the authors defined the business model questionnaire and how they developed the various scenarios from uses of the technology. The approach opens both theoretical and managerial perspectives: it allows the notion of business model to be made operational by linking it to the technological innovation on one hand and its use on the other. The method should then be extended, by creating storyboards from strategic scenarios, in order to enable the project stakeholders to evaluate them.technological innovation, business model, method, scenarios

The Impact of Multilevel Contextual Factors on IS Adoption at the Inter-organizational Level

Inter-organizational information systems (IOIS) offer many potential benefits to organizations, and IOIS adoption has increased in the last few decades. However, IOIS adoption varies significantly across different contexts, and little research has investigated how contextual factors affect IOIS-adoption variances at the inter-organizational (IO) level in depth—particularly from a multilevel perspective. This paper proposes a novel multilevel framework to analyze what combinations of contextual factors at the national, industry, inter-organizational, and organizational levels influence IOIS-adoption variances at the inter-organizational level. We present an in-depth, exploratory case study of the Indonesian grocery industry that identified three inter-organizational configurations between manufacturers, distributors, and retailers with IOIS-adoption variances. We found that the combinations of multilevel contextual factors varied for each configuration and, thus, explain the IOIS-adoption variances we observed at the IO level in a nuanced and holistic way. We argue that our multilevel framework may help scholars avoid contextual fallacy by encouraging them to examine the influence of higher-level factors on IOIS-adoption variances at the IO level and to avoid the atomistic fallacy that results when they make the wrong assumption that IOIS adoption at the organizational level implies adoption at a higher level

PLATFORM COMPLEXITY: LESSONS FROM MOBILE WIRELESS

Platforms provide anchor-points for the coordination of a varied set of activities within their associated ecosystems. The understanding of platform complexity is therefore an important concern within both academia and industry as it defines the range of activities made possible by the platform and the related aspects of control. This paper argues that the abstractions applied in the current platform research remove some of the most important features that underlie the inherent complexity of digital platforms. This argument is forwarded through a small study of platform complexity in the mobile wireless industry. Our exploration highlights some of the phenomena that a comprehensive theory of digital platforms must encompass. We believe that advancement of a theoretical perspective that embraces the complexity of digital platforms is needed to fully capture the strategic and technological implications of emerging digital platforms

Indirect Network Effects in New Product Growth

Indirect network effects are of prime interest to marketers because they affect the growth and takeoff of software availability for, and hardware sales of, a new product. While prior work on indirect network effects in the economics and marketing literature is valuable, these literatures show two main shortcomings. First, empirical analysis of indirect network effects is rare. Second, in contrast to the importance the prior literature credits to the chicken-and-egg paradox in these markets, the temporal pattern – which leads which? – of indirect network effects remains unstudied. Based on empirical evidence of nine markets, this study shows, among others, that: (1) indirect network effects, as commonly operationalized by prior literature, are weaker than expected from prior literature; (2) in most markets we examined, hardware sales leads software availability, while the reverse almost never happens, contradicting existing beliefs. These findings are supported by multiple methods, such as takeoff and time series analyses, and fit with the histories of the markets we studied. The findings have important implications for academia, public policy and management practice. To academia, it identifies a need for new, and more relevant, conceptualizations of indirect network effects. To public policy, it questions the need for intervention in network markets. To management practice, it downplays the importance of the availability of a large library of software for hardware technology to be successful.Chicken-and-Egg;New Product Growth;Indirect Network Effects;Takeoff

Boost Customer Loyalty With Online Support: The Case Of Mobile Telecomms Providers

The paper explores the effect of customer satisfaction with online supporting services on loyalty to providers of an offline core service. Supporting services are provided to customers before, during or after the purchase of a tangible or intangible core product, and have the purpose of enhancing or facilitating the use of this product. The Internet has the potential to dominate all other marketing channels when it comes to the interactive and personalized communication that is considered quintessential for supporting services. Our study shows that the quality of online supporting services powerfully affects satisfaction with the provider and customer loyalty through its effect on online value and enjoyment. Managerial implications are provided.marketing ;

Value Creation, Appropriation, And Product Design Strategies In Technology Ecosystems: Three Essays On The Role Of Complementary Technologies

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. May 2017. Major: Business Administration. Advisors: Puay Khoon Toh, Myles Shaver. 1 computer file (PDF); viii, 202 pages.Firms are often embedded in a technology ecosystem comprised of complementary technologies that span multiple product markets. In this dissertation, I examine how complementarity between the firm’s technologies influences its strategies to create and appropriate value in the ecosystem. I investigate this overarching question in two contexts: firm’s participation in compatibility standards and how it designs products for a new market. In Chapter 2 and 3, I explore how complementarity within the firm’s technology portfolio affects how and where it creates and appropriates value from intellectual property disclosures to major compatibility standards. In Chapter 2, I theorize as to how a portfolio of complementary technologies allows the firm to create value from its technological position in an industry standard. I empirically test my prediction using data on major compatibility standards in the information and communications technology industry. I find that firms generate positive returns from disclosure only when they own complementary technologies. In Chapter 3, I extend this argument to study value appropriation. I find that firms focus their appropriation strategy around their complementary technologies. Chapter 4 examines how product complementarities influence product strategy in a new market. I propose that firms with complementary products will enter markets with products that exhibit lower technical performance than firms without complementary products. I also argue that firms choose features that function with their complementary products and will tradeoff non-complementary features when necessary. Examining entry into the nascent smartphone market using a rich set of data on smartphone product technology and features, I find strong support for these conclusions. I identify complementarities within the firm’s product portfolio as an important driver of firm’s product strategy. Through this dissertation, I demonstrate the benefit of a more systemic view of the firm’s portfolio, one that appreciates the relationships between the firm’s various technologies and products, and how these relationships influence the firm’s technology strategy