The morphogenesis of organisational capabilities

The capabilities micro-foundation literature has been enjoying “celebrity” status appearing in many special issues of top ranked journals in recent years. In this paper we seek to add our voice to this burgeoning field. Traditional theorising in the field seems to have been polarised on the one hand by utility maximisation of the neoclassical school while on the other by the satisficing principle of bounded rationality. Of late the conversation has taken on an ontological turn and battle lines drawn between methodological individualism and methodological collectivism. Both schools of thoughts are variously illuminating in their own right. However, to the extent that transcending the individualism-collectivism divide offers a mutually inclusive solution we suggest looking at the problematic from a third perspective. In this paper we draw on the critical realist ontology to propose a morphogenesis approach to the study of capabilities and its origins. We argue that the emergent nature of capabilities is sympathetic to Archer’s notion of analytical dualism. As such we expose organisational capabilities as emergent social structures existing in a dialectical and reciprocal interplay between the emergent powers of structure, culture and agency. Defined in terms of patterns of action, we build our argument premised on the objective pre-existence of capabilities which serve to condition the situational logic of action. Organisational actors faced with objective situations exercise their own subjective properties to weigh the opportunity cost of one course of action over another. Actions endorsing the status quo lead to the reproduction of capabilities (morphostasis) while transformative actions lead to change or dynamic capabilities (morphogenesis). Given that organisations exist in a continuous flow of action the resulting morphostasis or morphogenesis constitutes the anterior conditioning forces for the new cycle of interaction. By maintaining the ontic differentiation between structure and agency the conditions of action are therefore rendered analytically separable from action itself, so enabling their interplay, as opposed to their mutual interpenetration, to be explored

Sentiment analysis using KNIME: a systematic literature review of big data logistics

Text analytics and sentiment analysis can help researchers to derive potentially valuable thematic and narrative insights from text-based content such as industry reviews, leading OM and OR journal articles and government reports. The classification system described here analyses the opinions of the performance of various public and private, manufacturing, medical, service and retail organizations in integrating big data into their logistics. It explains methods of data collection and the sentiment analysis process for classifying big data logistics literature using KNIME. Finally, it then gives an overview of the differences and explores future possibilities in sentiment analysis for investigating different industrial sectors and data sources

Impact in networks and ecosystems: Building case studies that make a difference

This toolkit aims to support the building up of case studies that show the impact of project activities aiming to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. The case studies respond to the challenge of understanding what kinds of interventions work in the Southern African region, where, and why

Big data analytics-enabled supply chain management [Powerpoint Presentation]

This presentation showcases how big data analytics are being leveraged across the whole of the supply chain to build new or strengthen existing capabilities. The presentation was made to audience at the University of Seychelles to commemorate their first Interdisciplinary Research Conferenc

Unpacking the left side of PsyCap: An Archerian analysis

Unpacking the left side of PsyCap: An Archerian analysi

Professional learning: a morphogenetic approach to analysing managerial learning in the context of dynamic capabilities

Professional learning: a morphogenetic approach to analysing managerial learning in the context of dynamic capabilitie

The smart city production system

The smart city production syste

The application of digital twin technology in operations and supply chain management: a bibliometric review

PurposeApplication of digital twin to optimise operations and supply chain management functions is a bourgeoning practice. Scholars have attempted to keep pace with this development initiating a fast-evolving research agenda. The purpose of this paper is to take stock of the emerging research stream identifying trends and capture the value potential of digital twin to the field of operations and supply chain management.Design/methodology/approachIn this work we employ a bibliometric literature review supported by bibliographic coupling and keyword co-occurrence network analysis to examine current trends in the research field regarding the value-added potential of digital twin in operations and supply chain management.FindingsThe main findings of this work are the identification of four value clusters and one enabler cluster. Value clusters are comprised of articles that describe how the application of digital twin can enhance supply chain activities at the level of business processes as well as the level of supply chain capabilities. Value clusters of production flow management and product development operate at the business processes level and are maturing communities. The supply chain resilience and risk management value cluster operates at the capability level, it is just emerging, and is positioned at the periphery of the main network. These clusters variously help to shed light on the value-added potential of digital twin in operations and supply chain management.Originality/valueThis is the first study that attempts to conceptualise digital twin as a dynamic capability and employs bibliometric and network analysis on the research stream of digital twin in operations and supply chain management to capture evolutionary trends, literaturecommunities and value-creation dynamics in a digital-twin-enabled supply chain.</div

SAIS impact case report: case studies that make a difference

Since the early 2000’s, the digital technologies and applications have radically transformed the way products and services are developed and brought to the market. Ideas are increasingly developed both in competition and collaboration in international networks, engaging new practitioners - such as start-ups, technologists, and citizens – on equal footings in open and iterative innovation communities, processes and relationships.In this booklet by SAIS 2 and Loughborough University London, in collaboration with partnering Innovation Fund supported projects, we examine what works when designing and implementing impactful initiatives fostering early-stage entrepreneurship. Innovators seldom triumph in isolation, and we note the important roles that technology promoters, users, financiers and governments play in making innovation happen. Innovation ecosystems are generators of invention and resource enablers in transferring products and services to the marketplace. However, many ecosystem players still operate in silos and compete against each other. Constraints may arise, scarce resources are not used optimally, and new initiatives become difficult to implement. Our knowledge is limited on how new ecosystem tools and instruments, such as accelerators or angel investor networks, can achieve impact.It is crucial for enterprises to understand their ecosystem and learn how to use data to measure their SAIS 2 Project Management Office impact. Therefore, all SAIS 2 supported projects (lasting 18-months or more) have gone through the Capacity Building Programme on Data Collection and Analytics organised by Loughborough University London with mLab Southern Africa. As an outcome, Impact Case Studies have been created to highlight demonstrable contributions to ecosystems. Through the bespoke methodology, the teams have tracked their project-induced quantitative and qualitative changes and impact in their stakeholder organisations and ecosystems.This booklet presents four market-validation Impact Case Studies. As examples, we show how network mapping before and after the introduction of an accelerator programme helps us understand network growth and cluster density of start-ups, enabling access to funding. We also learn how the creation of an online, international, and interconnected Angel Investor Academy has enabled networked, shared deals and peer support, contributing to understanding the cultural impact of angel investing in entrepreneurial ecosystems. In total, SAIS Innovation Fund supported the implementation of twenty-six networked, trans-regional projects during 2018-2022. The methodology used in analysis is available under CC and published as a toolkit. </div

Migrant human and political capitals value in entrepreneur enterprise performance. A comparative study of four emerging markets

This paper explores Migrant Returnee Entrepreneur (MRE) and the effects of their human and political capitals on their enterprise performance in emerging nations. While we know that each of these “capitals” possesses value, we know much less about how they interact, the difference that location may have on the value of these capitals and if where the capital was acquired, matters. This study analyses two capitals and compares enterprise performance in four different emerging nations while also exploring the difference of value that human and political capital of returning migrants in different geographical locations, may have to help explain these differences. The study explores the issue using a questionnaire developed based on the Social Questionnaire model (SC-IQ). The findings suggest that migrant enterprises do perform better than those founded by Home-Grown Entrepreneur (HGE) and these capitals individually do contribute to enterprise performance but that they do vary by the level of the countries’ economic development