Human Side of Collaborative Partnerships

The research on collaborative partnerships has accumulated a vast body of knowledge, which has assisted us with comprehending several complex organizational phenomena, including mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, joint ventures, and entrepreneurial partnerships. Yet, the existing studies have not paid sufficient attention to the human side factors. We join the current conversation within the microfoundations perspective of management and organization studies by suggesting that investigating the human side factors as the microfoundations of collaborative partnerships can advance our collective understanding of the phenomena in important ways. This article has three general objectives. First, we show that collaborative partnerships have been a long-standing issue in management and organization studies and provide an overview of the puzzles that informed and motivated this special issue. Second, we highlight the key insights and contributions of the articles included in this special issue by reviewing their theoretical underpinnings, methodological approaches, and findings. Finally, we outline a future research agenda on the human side of collaborative partnerships that can help advance management and organization studies

A new research agenda for managing socio-cultural integration

Post-acquisition socio-cultural integration has received increasing attention from both scholars and practitioners since the early 1990s. During the past decade, research has increasingly focused on emotions and identity in mergers and acquisitions. This chapter introduces the reader to the vibrant research field and its relevance. This section sets the scene for the book, which provides a deeper understanding of how emotions—both positive and negative—as well as values and identity enable a deeper socio-cultural integration after a merger or acquisition, and how leadership plays a crucial role in making it all happen. This chapter also highlights how the Nordic approach to post-acquisition socio-cultural integration refers to a large community of Nordic academics focusing on the softer social and human side of acquisition, often relying on a huge variety of qualitative methods, and to Nordic companies that are not afraid of adopting a more collaborative approach to post-acquisition integration

Institutional distance and knowledge acquisition in international buyer–supplier relationships::the moderating role of trust

Institutional distance can generate expanded opportunities for multinational firms to facilitate learning and responsiveness. However, such distance can also create obstacles regarding knowledge transfer and integration. A theoretical puzzle concerns the mechanisms and conditions in which international buyers and suppliers can overcome institutional distance and acquire new knowledge. We develop an integrative moderated-mediation model in which institutional distance prevents parties from accessing knowledge but, when knowledge is obtained and mutual trust is developed, it promotes cross-border knowledge acquisition in international buyer-supplier exchange, particularly between international firms and firms from the Asia Pacific region. These findings indicate that firms can overcome the challenges of regulative and cognitive distance and facilitate access to knowledge and knowledge acquisition when they are able to develop and cultivate relationships of mutual trust with foreign partners. While normative distance may create learning incentives and opportunities in international buyer-supplier relationships, its impacts on knowledge accessibility and acquisition are insignificant.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

CEO Narcissism and Global Performance Variance in MNEs: The Roles of FDI Risk-taking and Business Group Affiliation

This study examines key mechanisms through which CEO narcissism influences global performance variance in the context of Asian emerging market multinational enterprises (AEMNEs). Building on the contextual reinforcement model of narcissism and the cushion hypothesis, we focus on the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) risk-taking and business group affiliation (BGA). We test our moderated mediation model on data from 149 South Korean MNEs from 2006 to 2016. The results show that CEO narcissism is positively associated with FDI risk-taking. The effect of CEO narcissism on global performance variance is mediated by FDI risk-taking. Furthermore, BGA moderates the above-mentioned relationships. Our findings offer important contributions to the international business and CEO narcissism literatures

Knowledge Transfer in Science Education: The Case for Usability-Based Knowledge Visualization Guidelines

There is growing evidence that visualization aids knowledge transfer. However, the cases where learners have been actively involved as cocreators of knowledge visualization aids are limited. Furthermore, employing knowledge visualization for teaching and learning in high-school science have been proposed but empirical evidence of the effect on knowledge transfer is limited. The purpose of this study is to report on the knowledge transfer effect of applying usability-based knowledge visualization guidelines. A design-based research methodology guided by pragmatism was applied. The data capturing methods include a questionnaire-based survey, interviews and observations. The results suggest that the use of knowledge visualization can support knowledge transfer and the students’ learning experience in secondary school education, but more research is required to confirm this. The contribution of this paper is to add to the emerging discourse on the use of knowledge visualization for teaching and learning, and to report on how knowledge visualization guidelines can be used in practice.School of Computin