Vertical alliances and innovation : A systematic review of the literature and a future research agenda

For this paper, we conducted a systematic review of 116 articles on vertical alliances and innovation published in 35 leading journals between 2000 and 2021, and provide an integrative and in-depth evaluation of the current state of the vertical alliances and innovation literature. Through such review, this article makes three key contributions to the extant literature. First, it provides an integrative overview of vertical alliances and innovation. Second, it maps the depth and scope of the study of vertical alliances and innovation by highlighting the research methods, geographical coverage, industries, and theoretical perspectives deployed by the extant scholarship. Third, it develops a multi-level framework of the vertical alliances and innovation relationship, and discusses the findings based on research linkages between antecedents, mediators, outcomes, and moderators. This framework led us to identify key research gaps and to highlight additional theoretical approaches that may shed light on this important topic, given the growing importance of technological advancement and networks for innovation.© 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Ambidexterity in Strategic Alliances: How do Firms Manage Exploration and Exploitation Alliances? An Examination of U.S. High Technology Industries from 1985 to 2009

This dissertation examines the antecedents and consequences of exploration and exploitation in the context of strategic alliances. Research interest in the framework of exploration-exploitation has increased significantly with much progress made in current literature, yet many questions remain open. In this dissertation, I examine how environmental force (i.e., market uncertainty) and organizational features (i.e., innovative capacity and slack resources) drive organizations’ decisions on forming exploration versus exploitation alliances. In addition, I investigate the performance outcome of balancing exploration and exploitation alliances, by examining multiple approaches including the balance versus focus perspectives, the temporal separation approach, and the domain separation approach. My study of the antecedents reveals that firms with higher innovative capacity are more likely to form more exploitation alliances than exploration alliances; in contrast, those with more slack resources are inclined to engage in more exploration alliances than exploitation alliances. Under market uncertainty, firms tend to be risk adverse and reduce forming both types of alliances. Furthermore, higher innovative capacity and more slack generally mitigate the negative impact of market uncertainty on alliance formation. My findings regarding performance outcome of exploration and exploitation alliances suggest that balancing them simultaneously may hurt performance. Instead, balance can be executed via temporal separation (i.e., balancing through sequential emphasis on exploration and exploitation over time), or domain separation (i.e., balance through focus on exploration in one domain while exploitation in another), which is particularly important for smaller firms. Organizational ambidexterity does benefit firm performance, given that it is achieved tactically. On the aggregate, my findings confirm that exploration and exploitation are in tension. Organizational features may trigger a firm’s choice between exploration and exploitation in diverse directions; superior performance tends to be more dependent on effective management of the tension. In Previous research, inconsistent conclusions have been drawn regarding the antecedents of exploration and exploitation, and few studies have demonstrated how balance between exploration and exploitation alliances generates favorable outcomes. I have examined both the antecedents and consequences of this framework in the context of strategic alliances, in hope of contributing to a more coherent and complete body of work on this phenomenon

Strategic value of data analytics in interorganizational relationships

Researchers suggest that data analytics (DA) enhance decisions related to interorganizational relationships (IOR) and lead to reduced risk and improved performance. However, and despite this potential, firms face challenges regarding effective use of their DA capabilities to enhance their IORs. The massive investment in DA, as well as the need for an efficient use of DA in IOR settings, create the potential opportunities for two streams of research: a deeper understanding of business value of DA in IOR; and a systematic examination of DA’s strategy for an enhanced alignment with IORs. Despite the published scholarly works in these two research streams, the complexity, diversity, and newness associated with DA technologies make our understanding of the business value of DA in IOR and DA strategy for IOR incomplete. First, our understanding of why and how DA impact IOR performance is inadequate and fragmented. Second, the focus of the preponderance of published empirical papers in understanding the value of DA is at the operational level, and the strategic implications of DA capabilities in IOR are not addressed. Third, the literature fails to consider the inherent heterogeneity among the user base of DA systems, and consequently, the findings are not generalizable. Finally, the literature fails to address the impact of external factors, such as complexity and volatility on DA strategy. In this dissertation, I attempt to contribute to the literature by focusing on these research gaps and investigating them in three studies. In the first study, a holistic value-view of a firm’s supply chain enabled by DA for improved business performance, is presented based on two complementary views of market-oriented coordination and strategic supplier partnership. The study discusses how DA capabilities impact the constituents of this complementary view of supply chain to amplify business performance. I propose a theoretical model of the effect of DA capabilities on a firm’s co-creation of value, with its partners for business performance. Then, I test the model empirically based on a survey of 198 practitioners. My findings show that DA capabilities improve upstream and downstream integration and leverage the co-creation of value. The second study provides a better understanding of the impact of DA on interorganizational collaborations by answering two fundamental research questions: “How does a firm use its DA capabilities to improve collaboration and enhance performance?” and “What is the impact of DA capabilities on a firm’s collaboration and performance?” To answer these questions and to provide a deeper insight from multiple perspectives, I utilized a mixed method research by conducting a thorough content analysis of 34 published case studies, followed by a confirmatory research based on a survey of 210 practitioners to empirically test the insights generated from my content analysis. My findings identify several paths to improved performance using DA capabilities. My analysis suggests that DA capabilities, used appropriately in an interorganizational collaborative environment, lead to reduced costs and the need for required working capital and ultimately better performance through improved collaborative relationships such as planning and scheduling. In the third study, I expand the results of the two prior studies by analyzing the DA strategic focus. I employ an agent-based simulation to test different DA strategies in various business environments that are identified by levels of complexity and dynamism. My findings indicate that optimum DA strategy has a quadratic relationship with the levels of complexity and dynamism, which explains the prior contradictory findings of the IS literature. These three studies contribute to the business value of IT and IS strategy literatures by investigating the business value of DA in IOR settings, identifying impacts of DA on value co-creation in IORs and determining a suitable DA strategy based on various environmental factors

Corporate Venture Capital on Sustainability-oriented Innovation: A Norwegian perspective

This master’s thesis investigates Norwegian Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) in terms of attaining sustainability and promoting innovation. The work's significance is maintained by the fact that, according to the literature, CVC plays a key role in assuring sustainability for both corporates and startups, and such research has not been undertaken in Norway. To investigate Norwegian CVC, we employed the ambidexterity analytical framework, as well as CVC and SOI models. We established a database to investigate the state of collaboration between corporations and startups around the country. To undertake case studies for the purpose to explore the practical aspect of the partnership more thoroughly, we conducted interviews with three active Norwegian CVCs and their startups. This is because, despite the fact that there are strategic objectives of partnership with startups in each of the three CVCs that we analyzed, they are not measured and evaluated. As a result, determining the efficacy of CVC from a non-financial standpoint is challenging. In terms of financial contribution, CVC's input pales in comparison to the head company's overall performance. Furthermore, there is no clear approach for dealing with startups. Based on this, we provide recommendations. To begin, there is an urgent need for the development of a measurement mechanism for evaluating the performance of CVC. Second, it is vital to develop a transparent and understandable strategy for interacting with startups. Taking these guidelines into consideration, firms will be able to maximize the benefits of such collaborations with startups, since companies are now losing most of their non-financial advantages. It will be able to contribute not only to their personal growth, but also to the development of the industry

Corporate Venture Capital on Sustainability-oriented Innovation: A Norwegian perspective

This master’s thesis investigates Norwegian Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) in terms of attaining sustainability and promoting innovation. The work's significance is maintained by the fact that, according to the literature, CVC plays a key role in assuring sustainability for both corporates and startups, and such research has not been undertaken in Norway. To investigate Norwegian CVC, we employed the ambidexterity analytical framework, as well as CVC and SOI models. We established a database to investigate the state of collaboration between corporations and startups around the country. To undertake case studies for the purpose to explore the practical aspect of the partnership more thoroughly, we conducted interviews with three active Norwegian CVCs and their startups. This is because, despite the fact that there are strategic objectives of partnership with startups in each of the three CVCs that we analyzed, they are not measured and evaluated. As a result, determining the efficacy of CVC from a non-financial standpoint is challenging. In terms of financial contribution, CVC's input pales in comparison to the head company's overall performance. Furthermore, there is no clear approach for dealing with startups. Based on this, we provide recommendations. To begin, there is an urgent need for the development of a measurement mechanism for evaluating the performance of CVC. Second, it is vital to develop a transparent and understandable strategy for interacting with startups. Taking these guidelines into consideration, firms will be able to maximize the benefits of such collaborations with startups, since companies are now losing most of their non-financial advantages. It will be able to contribute not only to their personal growth, but also to the development of the industry.

The role of digital knowledge servitization in supply chain management

Purpose This paper aims to contribute to overcoming the gap existing in the supply chain literature related to digital servitization by bridging digital servitization with knowledge management and identifying the rise of digital knowledge servitization as a driver for changes in the supply chain business model towards open innovation. Design/methodology/approach The study follows an inductive grounded theory approach for theory building. To analyse the impact of digital knowledge servitization, in-depth interviews of managers in the main business units of the Volvo Group supply chain ecosystem were carried out. Findings The results show how the digital servitization process affects the supply chain business model, highlighting the central role of knowledge in the service ecosystem and the rise of the theoretical concept of digital knowledge servitization. In particular, through the Innovation Lab (Volvo Group) study, the paper contributes to bringing together the theoretical knowledge-based view of servitization with the digital servitization concept, which demonstrates the role of this combined perspective in the transformation of the supply chain; this is carried out by introducing a new business model based on open innovation in inbound and outbound processes. Practical implications The research offers interesting insights from a managerial perspective, as increasingly advanced and complex digital solutions require shorter times in supply chain management (SCM). Companies need to be able to quickly manage information and knowledge flows deriving from internal and external interactions and involvement with external actors upstream and downstream of the supply chain ecosystem. Therefore, the digital knowledge servitization of the supply chain also highlights implications for managers in terms of human resources management. Originality/value The novel research goal is to contribute to the supply chain literature by integrating the digital servitization with the knowledge view and analysing the impact on the inbound and outbound supply chain through the introduction of an open innovation business model

Sustainable supply chain management towards disruption and organizational ambidexterity:A data driven analysis

Balancing sustainability and disruption of supply chains requires organizational ambidexterity. Sustainable supply chains prioritize efficiency and economies of scale and may not have sufficient redundancy to withstand disruptive events. There is a developing body of literature that attempts to reconcile these two aspects. This study gives a data-driven literature review of sustainable supply chain management trends toward ambidexterity and disruption. The critical review reveals temporal trends and geographic distribution of literature. A hybrid of data-driven analysis approach based on content and bibliometric analyses, fuzzy Delphi method, entropy weight method, and fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory is used on 273 keywords and 22 indicators obtained based on the experts’ evaluation. The most important indicators are identified as supply chain agility, supply chain coordination, supply chain finance, supply chain flexibility, supply chain resilience, and sustainability. The regions show different tendencies compared with others. Asia and Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa are the regions needs improvement, while Europe and North America show distinct apprehensions on supply chain network design. The main contribution of this review is the identification of the knowledge frontier, which then leads to a discussion of prospects for future studies and practical industry implementation

Recombination for innovation: performance outcomes from international partnerships in China

This paper examines the relationship between different types of international partnerships and innovation performance. By drawing on a conceptual framework which outlines how new bundles of transferrable and non-transferrable ownership advantages are created from such partnerships (Collinson and Narula, 2014), we analyze empirical evidence from a large-scale survey of 320 individual company responses from the China-based operations of foreign multinational firms alongside in-depth case studies. Our study reveals that different types of collaborative partnerships (cooperative vs competitive) are associated with different innovation performance outcomes (product vs process innovation). In addition, we find that a sustainable, reciprocal relationship between collaborative partners can generate superior innovation performance. Contextual factors including the role of government and industry characteristics have an important bearing on innovation performance in collaborative partnerships in China. We conclude with implications for researchers, managers and policymakers

Smart Industry - Better Management

The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online. Smart industry requires better management. As industrial and production systems are future-proofed, becoming smart and interconnected through use of new manufacturing and product technologies, work is advancing on improving product needs, volume, timing, resource efficiency, and cost, optimally using supply chains. Presenting innovative, evidence-based, and cutting-edge case studies, with new conceptualizations and viewpoints on management, Smart Industry, Better Management explores concepts in product systems, use of cyber physical systems, digitization, interconnectivity, and new manufacturing and product technologies. Contributions to this volume highlight the high degree of flexibility in people management, production, including product needs, volume, timing, resource efficiency and cost in being able to finely adjust to customer needs and make full use of supply chains for value creation. Smart Industry, Better Management illustrates how industry can enabled by a more network-centric approach, making use of the value of information and the latest available proven manufacturing techniques