Corporate strategy in turbulent environments: Key roles of the corporate level

This paper analyzes the evolution during the period 1986-2002 of the corporate strategy of Lujan, a highly successful car components manufacturer headquartered in Spain, as a way to explore how the corporate level influences the successful evolution of a company exposed to a "turbulent" environment over a long period. We find that the corporate level plays three key roles. First, it drives a firm's evolution by developing a cognitive representation of the firm's competitive landscape. Second, it paces the company's evolution by alternately shifting the balance of organizational initiatives between static efficiency-based "local search" strategies, chosen in times of stability or economic slowdown, and dynamic efficiency-based "long jump" strategies, adopted during periods of major environmental turbulence. Long-jump corporate strategies, carried out through limited downside strategic initiatives such as real options and strategic alliances ("off-line long-jumps"), are particularly frequent in these circumstances. The third role consists of developing an organizational architecture that frames the self-organized coordination of the different business divisions. The Lujan story clearly illustrates the important role of corporate strategy in a firm that must undergo radical transitions as a result of major environmental changes.corporate strategy; turbulent environments; complexity theory; car components;

Potencial do crowdfunding cívico para a inteligência das cidades e a inovação social: um estudo exploratório

The concepts of smart city and social innovation in combination with the increasing use of ICT by citizens and public authorities could enhance the involvement of people on the decisions that directly affect their daily life. A case study approach was adopted to illustrate the potential of civic crowdfunding for increasing the participation and collaboration between citizens, firms and government. The analysis of two exemplary cases shows that civic crowdfunding platforms could be used by public administration to engage communities in the search of solutions to local problems. Likewise, it could be used to reinforce the community ties and to leverage the bonds among the stakeholders and the partners of the community ecosystem

Managing exploratory innovation

Although the concept of exploration has been widely used in management research since James March's seminal article, the literature on exploration remains rather fuzzy. The question of exploration is dominated by the literature on ambidexterity but this research actually says little about concretely managing exploratory innovation itself, although this appears to be a central concern of most industrial firms today. Based on a material (twenty presentations made in a research seminar the authors have organized in the last two years) and a critical review of the literature, this paper provides new theoretical and managerial insights on the management of exploratory innovation. We first identify three complementary perspectives: 1. Managing knowledge for exploration, 2. Organizing for exploration, and 3. Creating new value spaces. Secondly, we recommend focusing the management of exploratory innovation on the following two processes: identifying an exploratory field, creating new opportunities via experimentation.Exploration, management of innovation, knowledge, value spaces

The Creative Workspace”: A Comparative Analysis of Stakeholder Perceptions

The rise of information technologies and creative industries formed a new class of “creative knowledge workers” with special needs for a workspace design. The recent tendency of playful and bold workspace designs for creative industries was labeled by some researchers as a “creative workspace,” but a body of knowledge about design strategies supporting “creative knowledge workers’” performance is still limited. This master’s thesis research attempts to define “creative workspace” design phenomenon based on the three main stakeholder groups’ perceptions. The research analyzes existing literature and conducts in-depth interviews with designers and users to collect the data and compare the findings. Based on the findings, research proposes an interactive exploratory design game helping to easier communicated spatial ideas related to the “creative workspace” design

The big data-business strategy interconnection: a grand challenge for knowledge management. A review and future perspectives

Purpose – Designing knowledge management systems capable of transforming big data into information characterised by strategic value is a major challenge faced nowadays by firms in almost all industries. However, in the managerial field, big data is now mainly used to support operational activities, while its strategic potential is still largely unexploited. Based on these considerations, this study proposes an overview of the literature regarding the relationship between big data and business strategy. Design/methodology/approach – A bibliographic coupling method is applied over a dataset of 128 peerreviewed articles, published from 2013 (first year when articles regarding the big data-business strategy relationship were published) to 2019. Thereafter, a systematic literature review is presented on 116 papers, which were found to be interconnected based on the VOSviewer algorithm. Findings – This study discovers the existence of four thematic clusters. Three of the clusters relate to the following topics: big data and supply chain strategy; big data, personalisation and co-creation strategies; big data, strategic planning and strategic value creation. The fourth cluster concerns the relationship between big data and knowledge management and represents a ‘bridge’ between the other three clusters. Research implications – Based on the bibliometric analysis and the systematic literature review, this study identifies relevant understudied topics and research gaps, which are suggested as future research directions. Originality/value – This is the first study to systematise and discuss the literature concerning the relationship between big data and firm strategy

An advanced design approach to support urban transformations through multi-stakeholder collaborations

Urban transformations depend on the uses of the city by “old” and new citizens (residents, workers, migrants, refugees, students, seasonal, homeless individuals, tourists, city-users, commuters), and on their relation within urban spaces and resources, triggering regenerative opportunities, networking and empowerment processes. Considering the city and its heritage as a common good, in which each citizen could access and play for the knowledge, management, conservation and transformation of urban contexts, the contribute illustrates the results of experimental actions in Bologna (IT) finalized to test new stakeholder engagement processes and to develop new tools for participatory practices and new productions for the reactivation of the city. In the last years Bologna represents a field of experimentation for different forms of collaborative approaches with the aim to test and innovate tools and policies for the public space. The paper presents the results of specific projects linked to EU funding schemes (ROCK project) and local multi-stakeholder initiatives, such as the Bologna Design Week, which are part of the research and experimentation carried out by the research unit team. This article illustrates a model to improve the regenerative capacities of the city, by reinforcing local identity and culture, fostering participation through active engagement of all relevant stakeholders, allowing a diversity of responses of groups of actors with different roles and different strengths