Alliance-building Process as Inhibiting Factor for SME International Alliances

This study examines how the alliance-building process affects the intention to enter into international alliances in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). From a psychological perspective (Perceived Behavioural Control), the authors analyse the alliance-building process as an inhibitor of the international collaboration intention, considering to what extent the experience affects the intention of the partners involved. The study explores these hypotheses based on a sample of 220 Spanish SMEs. The results provide empirical evidence showing that the intention to develop international alliances is negatively affected by the search and the selection process as well as by the negotiation of the agreement, which reduces the intention to establish an international agreement. In addition, the intention is moderated by the experience of the SME manager. Moreover, there is a negative relationship between the extent of the SME manager's international experience and the intention to develop an international alliance

R&D partnerships: An exploratory approach to the role of structural variables in joint project performance

Traditionally the literature on partnership has focused on understanding why firms choose to cooperate and with whom, however, our understanding of the impact of the resulting network structure on the performance of the project is limited. This study builds on joint R&D projects developed in Europe in order to analyse certain structural variables ? number and typology of partners, and intensity and density of interactions in the network ? which may result in a greater performance of exploration and exploitation R&D projects. Findings show that these structural variables are good predictors of project performance; in particular, the joint performance function in exploration projects is positively dependent on the number of partners; however, in exploitation projects this function depends positively on the density and intensity of interactions, and negatively on the number of partners. Our results complement previous research while adding empirical evidence on the nonlinear and contingent character of structural variables and the performance of joint projects

A case study of user adherence and software project performance barriers from a sociotechnical viewpoint

A marine propeller company and a technical university collaborated to optimize the company’s existing propeller design software. This paper reviews the project based on a sociotechnical perspective to organizational change on (a) how the university-company project and user involvement were organized, and (b) what the main management barriers were and why they may have occurred. Fieldwork included interviews and observations with university and company stakeholders over thirteen months. The data was analyzed and sorted into themes describing the barriers, such as lack of a planned strategy for deliverables or resource use in the project; the users exhibited low adherence towards the optimized software, as well as there was limited time and training allocated for them to test it. Lessons learned suggest clarifying stakeholder roles and contributions, and engaging the users earlier and beyond testing the software for malfunctions to enhance knowledge mobilization, involve them in the change and increase acceptance