Hybrid organizations as a strategy for supporting new product development

Alliances between large, well-established corporations and highly creative small companies or consultancies can be an effective method for promoting innovation

Designing Scalable Business Models

Digital business models are often designed for rapid growth, and some relatively young companies have indeed achieved global scale. However despite the visibility and importance of this phenomenon, analysis of scale and scalability remains underdeveloped in management literature. When it is addressed, analysis of this phenomenon is often over-influenced by arguments about economies of scale in production and distribution. To redress this omission, this paper draws on economic, organization and technology management literature to provide a detailed examination of the sources of scaling in digital businesses. We propose three mechanisms by which digital business models attempt to gain scale: engaging both non- paying users and paying customers; organizing customer engagement to allow self- customization; and orchestrating networked value chains, such as platforms or multi-sided business models. Scaling conditions are discussed, and propositions developed and illustrated with examples of big data entrepreneurial firms

Perplexity and strategy : moving towards an enrolment advantage paradigm

The perplexity inducing dominance of prescriptive strategy models is the target of an enrollment advantage paradigm. The application of Actor-Network Theory in strategy involves a move from a 'ties that bind' view of networks and competitive advantage to a 'ties that (per)form'. It is not essentialist accounts of individual motivation or the power of immutable economic laws that guide organizations; their interests are constructed pan-relationally by an actor-network

The service profit model: what happens to service when price becomes the most important factor?

This review explores how organisations considering the contribution and role of service in their ability to compete can respond in broadly two ways: 1) adopt a competitor orientation and emphasise low-cost delivery of services to compete on price, 2) adopt a customer orientation and develop superior customer services to differentiate the product or service and generate increased sales

Situating Creative Production: Recording studios and the making of a pop song

Purpose This paper explores the spatial and material context of a creative production project. Taking the music recording project as an empirical setting, it explores the creation of a pop song and reveals the highly situated character of its management and organisation. Making a creative product such as a pop song is a complex endeavor, requiring a large number of decisions involving highly subjective and often contested and contestable judgments. The purpose of this paper is to understand how this is achieved. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on observation of musicians and a music producer during the creation of a pop song in a mid-sized recording studio. Interviews were also conducted with the participant musicians and 24 music producers based in the UK. The resulting qualitative data were analysed using a socio-material perspective to trace the spatial relationships and explore the material organization of the project. Findings Producing musical product is achieved through establishing spatial and material relations in order to regulate tasks and roles and manage the challenge of making decisions within temporarily assembled teams engaged in tasks characterised by high levels of uncertainty. Originality/value This paper tackles a neglected aspect of creative management, the physical context in which it is carried out. Other sites within the creative industries such as design and film studios, theatre and other performance spaces can usefully be analysed using the approach and perspective of this research