How does the franchisor’s choice of different control mechanisms affect franchisees’ and employee-managers’ satisfaction?

Satisfaction of franchisees and employee-managers affects the overall performance of a franchise system. We argue that different actors in the same franchise system need to be treated in different ways. The franchisor’s choice of control mechanisms affects the satisfaction of franchisees and employee-managers differently. Drawing on data from the largest German franchise system, we show that the effectiveness of different control mechanisms depends on actor type and experience. Outcome control leads to higher satisfaction among franchisees and employee-managers, while behavior control enhances employee-managers’ satisfaction. Thereby, outcome control leads to higher satisfaction among more experienced franchisees, while behavior control enhances both highly and lowly experienced employee-managers’ satisfaction. Our results suggest that franchisors face a dilemma: On the one hand, behavior control is associated with high costs and has no impact on franchisees’ satisfaction at all. On the other hand, it might still be necessary to prevent franchisees from behaving opportunistically

The Drivers and Implications of Business Exit – An Application and Extension of Prior Findings

The purpose of this study is to extend the current understanding of business divestiture by investigating its potential for triggering strategic reorientation. A divestiture involving strategic reorientation is here denoted as a strategic business exit, otherwise it is a status quopreserving business exit. The motives for divestiture specified in prior studies are mainly associated with firm financial performance and corporate strategy. Most studies investigate their impact on divestiture separately though both may interact. This study contributes to research by, first, distinguishing divestiture types, and, second, empirically testing the influence of performance and strategy both separately and in conjunction on the choice between strategic and status quo-preserving business exit with secondary data on 213 divestitures during 1999-2004 which were undertaken by a cross-industry sample of 91 firms listed in the German CDAX. The findings mainly indicate that firm financial performance is a stronger predictor of strategic business exit than corporate strategy

Business exit and strategic change: Sticking to the knitting or striking a new path?

The purpose of this study is to examine the potential of business exit for initiating strategic change in divesting parent firms. In contrast to prior literature that mainly investigates the impact of different antecedents on the likelihood of business exit in general, this study additionally tests the influence of these antecedents on the choice between two exit types with a cross‐industry sample of divesting firms listed in the German CDAX over the time period 1999–2004. A divestiture involving strategic change is a strategic business exit; otherwise it is denoted as status quo preserving. The findings reveal that a relatively highly dissipated focus does not automatically enhance the likelihood of business exit in general and status‐quo‐preserving business exit in particular. CEO turnover and pressures exerted by institutional investors predict neither strategic nor status‐quo‐preserving business exit. Low firm performance does not nurture the likelihood of business exit per se but especially promotes status‐quo‐preserving business exit

Choice and performance of governance mechanisms: Matching contractual and relational governance to sources of asset specificity

We argue that the optimal configuration of contractual and relational governance mechanisms in an alliance is contingent not only on the amount of asset specificity, but on the nature of the asset involved in the alliance. Physical assets are more suited to contractual controls, while knowledge assets will be best suited to the use of relational governance mechanisms. Using data on alliances in the German telecommunications industry, we find that the choice of governance mechanisms is as hypothesized. In addition, relational and contractual governance mechanisms are perceived to perform better in the presence of knowledge and physical assets, respectively. Relational governance mechanisms improve overall alliance performance to the degree that knowledge assets are involved, but impair performance when property assets are involved. Our findings contribute to the literature on alliances, as well as the underlying literatures of transaction cost economics, the literature on relational governance, and recent work studying their interaction.Alliances, contractual governance mechanisms, relational governance mechanisms, asset specificity, telecommunications

What drives contract design in strategic alliances? Taking stock and how to proceed

We collect and assess prior empirical evidence on contract design in alliances that has been published since Parkhe’s (1993) seminal study on inter-firm contracts. We elaborate on the effects of transaction-related factors, experience gained from prior relationships, and deliberate learning efforts on contracts. Our paper offers three contributions. First, we systematically review the existing literature on alliance contracts and summarize our findings. Second, while prior research has traditionally focused on contractual complexity, we place the content of contracts center stage and identify three contractual functions. While existing studies on contractual functions predominantly refer to safeguarding as a response to appropriation concerns, we also consider coordination and contingency adaptability as outcomes of adaptation concerns. Third, we disentangle the differential influences of previous experiences on distinct contractual functions and show that experience gained from prior relationships has different effects on safeguarding and contingency adaptability than on coordination. Overall, we add to the systematization of the current debate on alliance contract design and trace promising avenues for future research on the impact of transaction- and experience-related factors on the complexity and content of alliance contracts

Strategic or Status quo-Preserving Business Exit: (How) Do CEO Turnover and Succession Matter?

Business exit has implications for a firm’s corporate strategy. Two types of exit events are distinguished: those that involve strategic change and those that are status quo-preserving. This study investigates the impact of CEO turnover and succession on strategic versus status quo-preserving business exits. Based on a sample of CEO turnover and succession events and subsequent business exits of German corporations from different industries, our results suggest that neither voluntary nor involuntary CEO turnover is relevant to business exit. In contrast, outsider succession significantly affects the likelihood of strategic business exit, while a corporation’s performance does not moderate this relationship

Wissensmanagement (Sammelrezension) [Knowledge Management (Book Review)]

Die wachsende Bedeutung von Wissen und Wissensmanagement wird in Wissenschaft und Praxis intensiv diskutiert. Während das Wissensmanagement in der (Wirtschafts-) Informatik seit vielen Jahren in Forschung und Lehre fest integriert ist, gewinnt es in der Betriebswirtschaftslehre erst in den letzten Jahren stärker an Aufmerksamkeit. Wissen wird als eine Ressource betrachtet, welche die Generierung von Wettbewerbsvorteilen, die Entstehung von Innovationen und die Wahl bestimmter Steuerungs- und Kontrollinstrumente stark beeinflusst. Prozesse wie Schaffung, Speicherung und Transfer von Wissen in und zwischen Organisationen werden aus der Sicht des Managements als erfolgskritisch erachtet. Daraus ergeben sich die Relevanz einer fundierten Ausbildung von Fachkräften, die mit diesen Aspekten aus Managementsicht umgehen können, und die Notwendigkeit, die Studierenden dieses Faches mit einschlägiger Fachliteratur auszustatten. Der Beitrag untersucht im Rahmen einer Sammelrezension drei deutsche und sieben internationale in der universitären Lehre einsetzbare Schriften. Insgesamt zeigt sich, dass für einen Gesamtüberblick über verschiedene Facetten des Wissensmanagements die Kombination mehrerer Werke empfehlenswert ist. The growing importance of knowledge and knowledge management is a popular topic. While knowledge management has been an integral part of rather technically oriented disciplines such as computer science and information management for many years, its managerial dimension has been attracting scholarly attention for only a few years. Knowledge is a resource that is critical for explaining performance differences, innovation, and governance issues. As economies have become more knowledge-intensive, interest in knowledge management has significantly increased. The abilities to create, retain, and transfer knowledge within the firm and across organizational boundaries are increasingly recognized as essential for gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage from a management perspective. Consequently, it is necessary to educate future specialists and provide adequate textbooks for students. Hence, this article reviews three German and seven international publications that are suitable for teaching in universities. The results show that for a comprehensive overview on topics associated with knowledge management the combination of several textbooks is recommended

What drives contract design in alliances? Taking stock and how to proceed

We collect and assess prior empirical evidence on contract design in alliances that has been published since Parkhe’s (1993) seminal study on inter-firm contracts. We elaborate on the effects of transaction-related factors, experience gained from prior relationships, and deliberate learning efforts on contracts. Our paper offers three contributions. First, we systematically review the existing literature on alliance contracts and summarize our findings. Second, while prior research has traditionally focused on contractual complexity,we place the content of contracts center stage and identify three contractual functions. While existing studies on contractual functions predominantly refer to safeguarding as a response to appropriation concerns, we also consider coordination and contingency adaptability as outcomes of adaptation concerns. Third, we disentangle the differential influences of previous experiences on distinct contractual functions and show that experience gained from prior relationships has different effects on safeguarding and contingency adaptability than on coordination. Overall, we add to the systematization of the current debate on alliance contract design and trace promising avenues for future research on the impact of transaction- and experience-related factors on the complexity and content of alliance contracts

A concurrent reconceptualization of concurrent sourcing

Firms often procure the same input via multiple means, e.g., making and buying. Recent papers have yielded rich, but inconsistent, theoretical and empirical insights. Resolving these inconsistencies requires reconceptualizing two aspects of plural sourcing: what and how. We reconceptualize plural sourcing as a set of combined governance modes - make-and-buy, make-and-ally, and buy-and-ally - which differ in their capabilities and limitations. We demonstrate our reconceptualization's potential with propositions predicting the choice of specific plural sourcing modes