Developing a new business model for enabling research - the case of the ACPFG in Australia

Publisher's postprint archived as permitted by publisher.The way in which companies, research centres and educational institutions are organised and structured may provide a competitive advantage for commercialisation, in particular if companies are dependent on the deployment of complementary assets and capabilities by third parties. This paper presents the case of the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG), a private agricultural biotechnology (agbiotech) company specialising in early stage Research and Development (R&D) to produce superior adapted cereal varieties, tolerant to abiotic stress conditions such as drought, frost, salt, or mineral toxicity, all of which have a direct and negative impact on plant growth and crop productivity. The organisational structure of the company has been influenced and shaped by Government policy, shareholders expectations and trends in the agbiotech industrial organisation. It has proved attractive to potential alliance partners for collaborative R&D and commercialisation. We present the ACPFG as a new business model to fund basic research and facilitate technology transfer.Stephanie C. Agius, David Corkindale, Antonio G. Dottore, Michael Gilber

How "critical" are the critical success factors (CSFs)? Examining the role of CSFs for ERP

PURPOSE – The authors aim to examine the literature on enterprise resource planning (ERP) to establish whether the critical success factors (CSFs) for achieving stages of an ERP project have been empirically shown to be “critical”. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH – The authors used a systematic approach to review 627 refereed papers published between 1998 and 2010 on ERP, from which 236 papers related to CSFs on ERP were selected for analysis. The authors employed procedures from qualitative and interpretive research methods, to analyse and interpret the material using five-step procedure of gathering, categorising, coding, analysing and comparing the data. FINDINGS – Prior studies have identified a large number of CSFs for ERP implementation success or improved performance outcomes. The authors have shown that a limited number of CSFs have been empirically investigated for their role in, and effect on, implementation success or post-implementation performance outcomes. While reporting the factors that have some evidence to support them, the authors question the utility of the general concept of CSFs. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS – The authors' findings question the validity of many of the claimed CSFs and the utility of the general body of literature on CSFs. The authors caution researchers who may plan to use claimed CSFs for ERP in their research to carefully examine the veracity of the claim before proceeding. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS – The findings can help managers to focus their attention, priorities, resources and leadership on managing the CSFs that have been established to be critical for achieving ERP project implementation and/or performance outcomes. ORIGINALITY/VALUE – The results provide new insights into the usefulness of CSFs and indicate that merely identifying possible CSFs is not sufficient to help with ERP success. Further investigation is required to establish the criticalness of the proposed CSFs before managerial time is devoted to them.Jiwat Ram, David Corkindal

Change in the political economy of land value capture in England

Variations in the character, performance and impact of policies and practices to capture land value for the community are usually examined by analysing experience in different countries. Such international comparative research is cross-sectional and does not cover the evolving relations between systems of land value capture and the economies, polities and societies within which they are set. This paper examines the relations in England between the extant political economy and supporting ideologies, and the distinctive forms of land value capture that they produced. It traces the shift from a top-down, strategic approach in an era of corporatist government before 1979 to the subsequent extension and consolidation of bottom-up practice set within the context of neo-liberalism. The analysis highlights the evolution of the idea of land value capture and the policies and practices associated with it, especially the contestation that informed such changes

Towards a theory of business model adaptation

Research in the field of Business Models is a recent and rapidly growing phenomenon. It brings to bear strands from a variety of disciplines, including Entrepreneurship, Strategy, and Commercialisation. One aspect that is especially lacking in the research is that of Business Model adaptation among firms commercialising new technology. This study is part of a broader process research program investigating Business Model change. In particular, it is attempting to fill the lack of theory on Business Model adaptation, by seeking direction from the theory of strategic decision-making in entrepreneurial environments (including corporate entrepreneurship) where innovation is a strong feature. Strands of theory surveyed in this study include: high speed desicion-making; emergent stragegy; open innovation; effectuation. Tentative hypotheses are developed for further elaboration and incorporation into the broader research program.Antonio Dottore, David Corkindal

ERP adoption and the value creation: Examining the contributions of antecedents

There has been considerable debate about the role of enterprise resource planning (ERP) in driving competitive advantage. However, little is established empirically on the antecedent factors that could facilitate achievement of such an advantage of adopting ERP. Therefore, this study examines the role of antecedent factors in the organisational adoption of ERP projects for the achievement of competitive advantage. We draw on information system success and information system implementation theories to build a conceptual model to examine the role of antecedent factors in influencing the achievement of competitive advantage. We use the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique to analyse the survey data of 217 Australian companies and test the model. We find that organisations that understand the importance of certain antecedent factors and manage them appropriately can achieve competitive advantage with ERP projects. These factors include consideration of the system quality and organisational readiness at the planning stage for an ERP project. We have extended knowledge on the role of antecedent factors to successful organisational adoption of ERP by providing evidence that they are also significant predictors for the achievement of competitive advantage. Our study's findings indicate that establishing a clear understanding of necessary system attributes in the organisational context at the adoption stage of ERP is important for helping organisations achieve subsequent competitive advantage. Their understanding of potential system quality attributes, the business environment within which their organisation may operate, the internal organisational capabilities and desired strategic benefits, can help managers and ERP system developers implement strategies, leadership, resources, and commitment to achieve their desired benefits from ERP projects. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.Jiwat Rama, David Corkindale, Ming-Lu W