Institutional Voids, Economic Adversity, and Inter-firm Cooperation in an Emerging Market : The Mediating Role of Government R&D Support

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A Micro-Level View on Knowledge Co-Creation Through University-Industry Collaboration in a Multi-National Corporation

Purpose: Technology transfer (TT) in industry to university collaboration (UIC) literature focuses primarily on a macro view within an SME environment. While these discussions are important to establish the significance of encouraging UIC’s as the value is important to both parties, there is a need for further research at a micro level to help understand key approaches to ensuring the success of the TT. By looking at how value created from TT for a multi-national corporation (MNC) with a project based within a single subsidiary, this research effectively looks at the issue from both a SME level (the subsidiary independently) and a MNC level. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research uses a longitudinal knowledge transfer partnership and action research to form a case study of Parker Hannifin’s Gas Separation and Filtration Europe, Middle East and Africa (GSFE) division. Findings: The research highlights the key areas to focus on in ensuring a successful TT within an UIC such as: once identifying the gap that a UIC is filling in the company, identifying internal barriers before the project starts; education of why change is necessary and then using knowledge experts to educate on the new processes being introduced and finally; incorporation of a full range of personnel, not just those directly involved in the day-to-day of the UIC. Research limitations/implications: As a case study, further research is required to make the results more generalisable. One way to do this would be to evaluate previous successful and unsuccessful UIC's and determine if the success criteria identified were present in these programmes. Practical implications: There are three critical points that can be taken away from this research and applied to any company looking to use UIC for TT and value co-creation. Education, external knowledge experts and business wide inclusion were highlighted in the findings as being potentially critical turning points and need to be addressed for successful TT. Social implications: Successful UIC’s further encourage investment in such programmes which has greater societal benefits. Not only can we see greater leaps in industry through better, more specific knowledge being transferred from the university, the industry knowledge fed into universities helps to guide research and teachings. Originality/value: The micro level view created by action research based from the industry partner perspective adds another level of importance as the ‘how’ for overcoming barriers is clearly addressed. Furthermore, the research looks at how a multi-national corporation can have value added through UIC's within subsidiaries which often is not addressed in the literature

Interorganisational Information Systems Maturity: Do Supply Chain Integration and Business/IT-Alignment Coincide?

Although interorganisational information systems (IOIS) have existed as study object for a long time, much research into IOIS remains sector-specific. By employing a multisector dataset, this paper aims to contribute to the cross-sectoral analysis of IOIS. We formulate four hypotheses on IOIS maturity based on theory concerning supply chain integration and business/IT-alignment, taking both ‘IT’ and ‘organisation’, and ‘supply’ and ‘demand’ into account. This leads to the twofold research question (i) how IOIS maturity of organisations can be measured in a generic manner, and (ii) if supply chain integration and business/IT-alignment are related as similar determinants of IOIS maturity. We empirically test our hypotheses on survey data collected among a group (n=74) of Dutch organisations, diverse in terms of industry and size. Correlation analysis confirms all four hypotheses. This indicates that business/IT-alignment and supply chain integration are indeed related

The role of interoganisational tension and conflict in market creation practice

Markets exist within a world of constant exchanges which form the basis for changes and the creation of new markets. Therefore, it is important to research these exchanges. One of the areas in which market creation can be observed is interorganisational collaborations, as firms increasingly collaborate to create markets. In market creation practice, however, interorganisational tension and conflict can form from divergent approaches and vested interests of the partners. Interorganisational tension represents the opposing intentions of interorganisational forces, and conflict is generated through disagreements. The aim of this research is to investigate interorganisational tension and conflict on market creation practice. Specifically, it attempts to: (i) expand interorganisational tension and conflict and provide insights to these concepts, as well as establishing a two-dimensional interorganisational tension (productive and unproductive) understanding, (ii) explore the interactions between interorganisational tension and conflict, (iii) develop a conceptual framework that explains the level of market creation depending on the effects of interorganisational tension and conflict, (iv) develop a typology of partnering firms based on interorganisational tension and conflict practice. To achieve this aim, and to respond to the research calls, this study follows a grounded theory approach which intends to expand the understanding of interorganisational tension and conflict. According to the findings, a major characteristic of interorganisational tension is its two dimensions: productive and unproductive. However, it is the intertwined nature of tension and conflict that influences market creation. Fundamental to these are the six interorganisational tension and three conflict types revealed by the findings of this study. The core theoretical contributions of the study are a dynamic framework that portrays the dynamic interactions between interorganisational tension and conflict on market creation practice, and a typology of market-creating partnering firms. Collectively, they explicate the development of market creation practice, and firms’ reactions to interorganisational tension and conflict

Appraisal of the factors contributing to European small and medium enterprises innovation performance

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in driving job creation and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in all economies worldwide. Their increasing importance also means that they must be innovative enough to survive and be sustainable, improve their productivity and competitiveness. It is pertinent for European SMEs to know the contributing factors driving their innovations, which will enable them to channel their limited resources to ensure they achieve their innovation goals. This paper examined the various factors that stimulate innovations within SMEs. Using the ordinary least squares regression analysis and data from the European Innovation Survey, the authors analyzed 296 European SMEs between 2011 and 2018. The results show that intellectual assets, financial support, firm investment, and human resources all significantly contribute to firm’s sales output across Europe. Conversely, it was found that financial support and innovation linkages were not significant predictors of firms’ innovations. The results are important for SMEs managers who are aiming to be innovative and improve their productivity. The study can serve as a practical guide on how SMEs can ameliorate their innovation potentials and activities. © Michael Amponsah Odei, Petr Novak, 2020

Policy drivers of international entrepreneurship in Europe

The diversity of countries and cultures in Europe necessitates an international outlook for most businesses. This paper examines the internationalisation of business in Europe through a literature review on international entrepreneurship theory. The role of the individual business owner and of business and interorganisational activity in facilitating the internationalisation of businesses in Europe is discussed by utilising the theoretical framework of international entrepreneurship and by putting forward three main propositions. The main aim and intent of this paper is to understand how the policies of individual governments and institutions such as the European Union help businesses in Europe to internationalise, with particular emphasis on businesses in the Baltic region. The paper discusses policy implications and suggestions for future research, which highlight the importance for firms in Europe of focussing on international markets.<br /

International R&D collaboration among entrepreneurial firms: strategic and policy perspectives

This study aims to identify the distinguishing characteristics of successful international R&D collaboration among Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs). For this purpose, I used survey and interview data on Korean SMEs. First, investigating the overall patterns of international technology collaboration involving SMEs, I found that the most observed and desired type of collaboration was R&D collaboration among SMEs, but it produced the lowest level of satisfaction and thus needed further investigation. Consequently, I focused only on one particular type of collaboration, that is, “international R&D collaboration among SMEs”. Then, I examined the main motivations behind such collaboration and motivation specific features of the collaboration in terms of collective strength, partner selection criteria, and project management practices. An attention was paid on the diversity of motivation, where resource based theory was adopted to develop a theoretical framework. I also analysed the benefits and costs of international R&D collaboration for SMEs compared to domestic R&D collaboration, where resource based theory with transaction cost theory were integrated. Finally, I suggested a framework to measure the performance of international R&D collaboration from the SME perspective. A logic model was adopted to identify feasible measures to assess the performance of R&D collaboration, from which the most significant measures for SMEs, considering that the collaboration is across firms in different nations, were investigated. This study represents one of the few attempts to explain the mechanisms through which how international R&D collaborations in SMEs are initiated, managed and produce benefits, and to suggest the conditions that can offer SMEs a greater value from international collaboration than domestic collaboration. Practically, the research findings are expected to help establish an R&D strategy at the firm level and will also provide valuable knowledge to develop innovation policies for SMEs at the national level