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Crisis Construction and Organizational Learning: Capability Building in Catching-Up at Hyundai Motor
Abstract
Effective organizational learning requires high absorptive capacity, which has two major elements: prior knowledge base and intensity of effort. Hyundai Motor Company, the most dynamic automobile producer in developing countries, pursued a strategy of independence in developing absorptive capacity. In its process of advancing from one phase to the next through the preparation for and acquisition, assimilation, and improvement of foreign technologies, Hyundai acquired migratory knowledge to expand its prior knowledge base and proactively constructed crises as a strategic means of intensifying its learning effort. Unlike externally evoked crises, proactively constructed internal crises present a clear performance gap, shift learning orientation from imitation to innovation, and increase the intensity of effort in organizational learning. Such crisis cons truction is an evocative and galvanizing device in the personal repertoires of proactive top managers. A similar process of opportunistic learning is also evident in other industries in Korea.
... Consequently, firms from developing countries are usually latecomers in the global competitive arena (Bell and Figueiredo, 2012) and more isolated. Most of their partnerships, in the beginning, are with foreign and more developed firms meant to provide the knowledge and resources they lack (Choung et al., 2014;Kim, 1998;Lee and Lim, 2001) to start a technological catch-up process (Bell and Figueiredo, 2012). All these arguments reinforce that the effect of the AP in innovation is not only important but, many times, necessary in the beginning of the catch-up process, in which these firms' AC is not yet developed. ...
... Being innovative is even more challenging for organisations in developing economies, demanding alternative approaches (Bell and Figueiredo, 2012;Kim, 1997Kim, , 1998. In such countries, firms usually suffer from a lack of resources, such as capital and capabilities (Li et al., 2007), as well as other environmental issues that make it harder for them to innovate successfully, including the development of new products and services. ...
... On the other hand, firms that overcome their country's contextual limitations and increase their diversity level would reap benefits for their innovations. Previous studies that investigated this phenomenon in developing countries identified a catch-up process to a more innovative level by local firms that started by establishing partnerships with international technological leaders, the government, and other actors, reinforcing the advantage of a diversified AP (e.g., Choung et al., 2014;Kim, 1998;Lee and Lim, 2001). Given these arguments, we, therefore, propose the following hypothesis: ...
Most authors agree that alliance portfolio diversity (APD) has an inverted U-shaped influence on innovation performance and is particularly important for firms with a high absorptive capacity (AC), which moderates this relationship positively. However, the reality of developing countries with weaker national innovation systems (NIS) and firms with lower AC may influence these relationships. To test these hypotheses in such a context, we tested a longitudinal structural model in a sample of 1,237 Colombian manufacturing firms. The results indicated that, in a developing country context, APD at the appropriate level is especially relevant for firms with low AC, even the letter maintaining the positive moderation effect on the inverted U-shaped relationship of the former with innovation. Besides, the longitudinal structural equation modelling (SEM) chosen to conduct the analysis mitigates endogeneity issues presented in more commonly used cross-section analyses.
... In contrast, studies rooted in evolutionary economics underline firm-level efforts, such as learning and technology capability building (Karabag, 2019;Malerba & Nelson, 2011). Studies of flagship firms, such as Suzlon in India, Huawei in China (Guo, Zhang, Dodgson, Gann, & Cai, 2019), and Samsung in South Korea (Lee, 2019;Kim, 1998) have shown how both macro and micro (firm level) factors contribute to technological catching up, but only a few studies have examined catch-up processes of firms in less prominent emerging economies, such as Turkey (Papa & Hobday, 2015). Moreover, most studies of technological catch-up in emerging economy firms (EEFs) have failed to analyze whether and how management structures and marketing approaches change during the capability-building process (Bernat & Karabag, 2019;Lee & Malerba, 2017;Choung, Hwang, & Song, 2014;Dutrénit, 2007;Karabag, 2019), and how external factors affect this interaction. ...
... Another dimension of firm factors relates to the management systems, which include routines and structures as well as norms, beliefs, and expectations (Leal-Rodríguez, Montes, Roldán, & Leal-Millán, 2014;Karabag, 2019). Such norms and expectations, such as ambitions of executives, managers, and engineers, could be crucial for the success of uncertain innovation efforts in challenging industries, as seen in several Korean cases (Kim, 1998). Concurrently, the degree of strategic autonomy granted to middle-level managers to address internal and external technological and organizational challenges can be equally important (Mirabeau & Maguire, 2014). ...
... Analyzing South Korean firms' successful catch-up, Hobday (1995) suggests a three-step model: learning to assemble standard goods, learning product improvement and development, and conducting R&D for own products and competing in the global market. Kim (1998) develops a four-step model integrating external and internal knowledge: preparation, acquisition, assimilation, and improvement, while Bell and Figueiredo (2012) discuss a more fine-grained five-step variant. Later studies show that since EEFs often have to master rapidly changing technological capabilities, they may skip one stage and jump to an advanced level or make detours (Lee, 2019). ...
Extant literature has extensively studied innovation-capability building in emerging economy firms (EEFs) from South Korea and China, but tends to neglect EEFs in somewhat less successful emerging economies, like Brazil and Turkey. Compared to the Asian countries, Brazil and Turkey liberalized and opened up their markets to global competition and the investments of multinational enterprises (MNEs) earlier, which implied other opportunities as well as restrictions for innovation-capability building in local firms. By analyzing different ways of 3 catching-up in two Turkish firms, this study reveals that, unlike the East Asian cases, national factors such as state support did not significantly promote the innovation activities. Instead, sectoral and firm-level factors, such as competition, learning trajectories, and technological dynamics were the key ones affecting the studied firms' processes of innovation-capability building. These factors, particularly the learning trajectories, were heavily influenced by ownership characteristics. In one of the cases, the involvement of a Turkish diversified business group played a vital role in a locally engineered and independent learning process; in the other case, the technological and organizational learning process exploited the advantages of being a joint venture between a foreign multinational and a Turkish owner group. The study suggests that technological catch-up alone is insufficient for emerging economy firms. To build an enduring competitive advantage, they also need to develop organizational and international marketing capabilities. Thus, the alignment among technology innovation, marketing, and organizational capabilities is vital for a firm catch-up in competitive market environments.
... Firms guided by strategic intents could achieve outstanding performance [Collins and Porras (1994); Yo±e and Cusumano (2015)]. A key factor in the successful catching up of¯rms in South Korea and Japan is the guidance by strategic intents [Cusumano (1985); Kim (1997Kim ( , 1998; Rosenbloom and Cusumano (1987)]. Even non-pro¯t organizations could simultaneously pursue continuous rapid growth and maintain high-quality delivery of services guided by a strategic intent [Sheehan (1999)]. ...
... This iteration process led to the emerging of new theoretical concepts or more precisely in this study, the applying of theoretical concepts from other steams of literature, and the expanding or revising of existing theoretical concepts. Speci¯cally, the concept of \strategic intent" [Hamel and Prahalad (1989); Kim (1998)] was found to be very helpful in understanding the process of China's high-speed rail development. It was di®erent strategic intents that divided the whole process into four stages and determined the transition from one stage to another stage. ...
... For example, historically, the railway system in China was very closed with its own R&D system. However, in order to speed up the process of absorbing imported technology and developing new technology [Cohen and Levinthal (1990);Dutr enit (2000Dutr enit ( , 2004; Fan (2006); Fu (2015); Kim (1997Kim ( , 1998], leading universities such as the Tsinghua University, which were not part of the traditional railway R&D system, were proactively encouraged to participate [Fu (2017b); Gao et al. (2016)]. ...
In this paper, we study the key factors affecting China’s high-speed rail development using a case study methodology and following the perspective of catch-up cycles. In addition to factors such as windows of opportunities and responses identified in the extant literature, we found that the focal organization’s strategic intent is the most important driving force. Strategic intents, opportunities, and responses, all change over time. This finding has important theoretical implications, and indicates the importance of effective coordination by the focal organization in the process of catching up in complex technology systems such as high-speed rail.
... Sous-thèmes Auteurs Veille stratégique Le dynamisme de l'environnement (Dess and Beard 1984, Jenssen and Nybakk 2009, Roberts 2015, Todorova and Durisin 2007 Lyles 2010) Système de surveillance de l'environnement (Potter and Lipinski 2009, Oreja-Rodriguez and Yanes-Estevez 2010, Jennings and Lumpkin 1992, Haase and Franco 2011, Dutton 1993, Boyd and Fulk 1996, Berard and Delerue 2010, Terry 1977, Stubbart 1982, Robinson and Simmons 2018, Hambrick 1981a Surabondance des informations (Loza-Aguirre et al. 2016, Xu et al. 2011, Bettis-Outland 2012 Performance de l'entreprise (Beal 2000, McGee and Sawyerr 2003, Howell and Shea 2001, Garg, Walters, and Priem 2003, Daft, Sormunen, and Parks 1988 Capacité d'absorption Caractéristique de la connaissance (Limaj, Bernroider, and Choudrie 2016, Roberts et al. 2012, Teece, Pisano, and Shuen 1997) (Pryor et al. 2019. Innovation (Naqshbandi and Tabche 2018, Hart, Gilstrap, and Bolino 2016, Lane, Koka, and Pathak 2006, Bilgili, Kedia, and Bilgili 2016 Li 2014) Apprentissage organisationnel (Roberts 2015, Ojo et al. 2014, Martinkenaite and Breunig 2016, Lichtenthaler 2009, Kim 1998, Bilgili, Kedia, and Bilgili 2016, Ben-Oz and Greve 2015, Apriliyanti and Alon 2017, Zahra and Hayton 2008, Liu 2012, Lane and Lubatkin 1998, Gunawan and Rose 2014, Flores et al. 2012, Hart, Gilstrap, and Bolino 2016, Minbaeva et al. 2014 Source : Réalisé par les auteurs 1.1-La veille stratégique L'entreprise est influencée, de manière positive et/ou négative, par l'environnement dans lequel elle évolue. Cet environnement est formé d'un ensemble d'organisations, d'acteurs, et de faits dont l'existence peut influencer le comportement et la performance de l'entreprise, en dictant ses choix opérationnels et surtout stratégiques. ...
... L'apprentissage organisationnel augmente l'efficacité des actions et des résultats positifs, tels que l'amélioration des performances organisationnelles et l'innovation (Flores et al. 2012). Toutefois, un apprentissage organisationnel efficace nécessite une grande capacité d'absorption qui comporte deux éléments principaux : une base de connaissances antérieure et l'intensité de l'effort des individus (Kim 1998). Des recherches ont fait comprendre que pour accroitre le concept de l'apprentissage organisationnel, il faut développer une meilleure compréhension du rôle que les individus jouent dans ce processus (Flores et al. 2012, Kim 1998, Yao and Chang 2017. ...
... Toutefois, un apprentissage organisationnel efficace nécessite une grande capacité d'absorption qui comporte deux éléments principaux : une base de connaissances antérieure et l'intensité de l'effort des individus (Kim 1998). Des recherches ont fait comprendre que pour accroitre le concept de l'apprentissage organisationnel, il faut développer une meilleure compréhension du rôle que les individus jouent dans ce processus (Flores et al. 2012, Kim 1998, Yao and Chang 2017. Bien que la capacité d'absorption soit étroitement liée à la fois, à l'apprentissage et au savoir organisationnel, les études sur la capacité d'absorption ont marginalisé les contributions des individus dans le développement structurel de la capacité d'absorption (Hart, Gilstrap, and Bolino 2016). ...
Aujourd’hui, la surcharge informationnelle se fait de plus en plus ressentir. Nous sommes chaque jour un peu plus inondés par la masse informationnelle, ce qui rend la tâche de la prise de décision encore plus difficile dans les organisations. Cet article vise à comprendre comment la capacité d’absorption peut contribuer à gérer la surabondance des informations issues de la veille stratégique. L’objectif est de déterminer et d’analyser la relation entre la veille stratégique et la capacité d’absorption pour gérer la surcharge d’informations, et de contribuer aussi à enrichir les connaissances sur le sujet. Ce travail fut mené auprès de six centres de recherche, dont trois centres canadiens et trois autres algériens. Une étude qualitative a été privilégiée pour comprendre les différents points de vue des répondants. Nos résultats révèlent que, la veille stratégique peut générer une surcharge d’informations, et que la capacité d’absorption des employés a une influence sur cette surabondance. Néanmoins, l’utilisation de la capacité d’absorption comme entonnoir pour filtrer les informations pertinentes ne peut être suffisant.
... While in the above models it is assumed that in order to capture a flow, a facility must lie on the origin-destination path, it may also be reasonable to assume, especially if the network of facilities is very sparse, that drivers would make some reasonable detours to visit a facility. The reader is referred to Berman et al. (1995), Kim andKuby (2012), Yildiz et al. (2016) and Lin and Lin (2016). Another interesting problem is the multi-period FRLM, see Miralinaghi et al. (2017). ...
... Absorptive capacity is also viewed as a key aspect in the process of innovation of the firm (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990;Tsai, 2001) and as a result, it acts as a potential resource of competitive advantage in the market (Daghfous, 2004). Absorptive capacity is also linked to prior related knowledge involves basic skills and general knowledge available within the organisation at the most fundamental level (in the case of developing nations) but also possibly involves knowledge of the most recent developments in technology or science in a given area (in the case of developed nations) (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990;Kim, 1998). There is a positive relationship between accumulated prior knowledge and the ability to identify, assimilate and exploit new knowledge. ...
... Together with the prior knowledge base element, intensity of effort is another key component of absorptive capacity (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990). The element of intensity of effort refers to the amount of work expended by individuals within organisations to solve problems or errors as applicable external knowledge becomes meaningless if no work is done to internalise it (Kim, 1998). The intensity of effort in learning how to solve problems is generally done by trial and error (Harlow, 1959) which strengthens interaction amongst individuals within an organisation which enhances knowledge conversion and creation at the organisational level. ...
The large movement of outsourcing and focusing on the key-skills has
conducted to the creation of the new profession of “logistic service providers”, which are
positioned as real interfaces pilots and constitute a radical innovation of the managerial,
strategic and operational plan. Being based on a scientific analysis, this works aims to
identify the factors that have an impact on the LSP contribution, and to define, later on,
the characteristics required by the logistic service providers, to highly contribute to the
logistics chains and to perform their role of integrators.
Through the case of Logistics providers that are operating in Morocco, we will bring
clarifications that foster the new characterization techniques of LSP, which are founded,
more and more, on their ability to control and coordinate various integration layers,
(flows, processes and activities, Information system and actors), rather than on
traditional elements of costs, quality and delays.
... Tal como se expresa en la siguiente figura, la base de conocimiento previo y la intensidad del esfuerzo en la organización construyen una matriz de 2 X 2 que indica el nivel de capacidad de absorción. Cuando ambos son altos (cuadrante 1), la capacidad de absorción es alta; cuando ambos son bajos (cuadrante 4), la capacidad de absorción es baja (Kim, 1998). Las organizaciones con un alto conocimiento previo en relación con la dificultad de la tarea y una baja intensidad de esfuerzo (cuadrante 2), perderán gradualmente su capacidad de absorción, moviéndose rápidamente hacia el (cuadrante 4), porque su base de conocimiento anterior se volverá obsoleta a medida que la tecnología relacionada con la tarea avance a lo largo de su trayectoria. ...
... ParaKim (1998) hay una serie de variables que afectan directa o indirectamente al proceso espiral de aprendizaje tecnológico. Por ejemplo, durante los primeros pasos de la industrialización, las empresas en los países en desarrollo emprenden la imitación por duplicación de productos extranjeros maduros mediante una ingeniería inversa. ...
El desarrollo económico desigual de las naciones ha obligado a los agentes económicos a construir estructuras más productivas y sustentables con base en la generación y gestión del conocimiento. El presente artículo tiene como objetivo explicar como los modelos de gestión del conocimiento son fundamentales para la aplicación de un plan de transferencia tecnológica que optimice la productividad de las organizaciones en los procesos de industrialización. Para el desarrollo del tema, se identificaron los aspectos teóricos que sustentan la transferencia tecnológica en las relaciones económicas internacionales y en la gestión del conocimiento como factores determinantes para el proceso de industrialización en el siglo XXI. Palabras clave: Gestión del conocimiento / Transferencia tecnológica / Industrialización
... El segundo conjunto de 1 Se han documentado pruebas sistemáticas de la importancia de los conocimientos y la capacidad tecnológica a la hora de cerrar la brecha (Griffith, Redding y Van Reenen, 2002). Esto es lo que sucedió no sólo en Japón a principios de la década de 1930 (Johnson, 1982), sino también en las denominadas economías recién industrializadas de Asia, más precisamente Corea del Sur (Kim, 1998;Nelson y Pack, 1999;Kim y Nelson, 2000). En ambos casos, la recuperación de terreno se ha relacionado con el desarrollo anterior y consciente de la capacidad tecnológica de los países (Kim, 1997 En ALC hay menos investigadores empleados en el sector empresarial (40% en promedio) que en los países de la OCDE (el 64% de los investigadores se encuentran en empresas; Figura 3). ...
... Esto es lo que sucedió no sólo en Japón a principios de la década de 1930 (Johnson, 1982), sino también en las denominadas economías recién industrializadas de Asia, más precisamente Corea del Sur (Kim, 1998;Nelson y Pack, 1999;Kim y Nelson, 2000). En ambos casos, la recuperación de terreno se ha relacionado con el desarrollo anterior y consciente de la capacidad tecnológica de los países (Kim, 1997 En ALC hay menos investigadores empleados en el sector empresarial (40% en promedio) que en los países de la OCDE (el 64% de los investigadores se encuentran en empresas; Figura 3). Esta baja participación se explica por una combinación de factores como: mecanismos deficientes para la inserción en el mercado, la orientación de las competencias de investigación (en muchos casos hacia la investigación básica), la desigualdad entre la oferta y la demanda (falta de correspondencia o aplicabilidad a las necesidades de la industria) y particularidades de los sistemas institucionales que mantienen a los sistemas de investigación y educación aislados del sector privado (falta de incentivos para la movilidad). ...
El BID presenta este documento con la esperanza de contribuir al conocimiento de la situación de la ciencia, la tecnología y la innovación en nuestra región, para proveer elementos para la Cumbre, y para las medidas a ser implementadas en el futuro cercano. Con ese fin, el documento convoca a expandir la cooperación UE-ALC y a la consolidación de una fuerte sociedad. Hoy, los desafíos socio-económicos más importantes -el cambio climático, por ejemplo- no son exclusivos de un país o una región; en cambio, deben ser atendidos a escala mundial. Como la mayor fuente de financiamiento externo y asistencia técnica en ciencia, tecnología e innovación en América Latina y el Caribe, el BID está listo para contribuir y facilitar esa asociación. Este documento fue preparado para la cumbre UE-ALC de jefes de estado y gobiernos en Madrid, 2010.
... Assim, a capacidade absortiva poderia ser entendida como a habilidade de aprender e resolver problemas, como consequência da assimilação de um conhecimento externo (Kim, 1998), e representaria o processo entre uma nova informação ou novo conhecimento, e a produção de vantagens competitivas (como inovação ou performance superior), segundo Cohen e Levinthal (1990), que propuseram um modelo para melhor compreensão desse processo (Figura 1). ...
... As fontes de conhecimento externo ainda são antecedentes da capacidade absortiva, mas esta relação passa a ser moderada não por regimes de apropriabilidade, como no modelo anterior, mas por gatilhos de ativação. Esses gatilhos de ativação moderam, portanto, a relação entre as fontes de conhecimento e a capacidade absortiva ao serem disparados por alguma necessidade da empresa (resposta a crises, melhorar o desempenho, inovação, por exemplo) (Zollo & Winter, 2002;Zahra & George, 2002;Kim, 1998). Já os regimes de apropriabilidade passam a impactar nos resultados obtidos (vantagem competitiva) a partir do processamento de um novo conhecimento (capacidade absortiva), pois estes devem ser protegido com a intenção de mitigar vazamentos de informações e risco de imitações (Zahra & George, 2002;Ritala & Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, 2012). ...
Resumo O dinamismo do ambiente impõe desafios às empresas que buscam a sobrevivência e o desenvolvimento. Nesse ambiente, recursos críticos como o conhecimento são decisivos para o resultado da empresa. A literatura indica que as empresas que desenvolvem suas habilidades e capacidades em adquirir conhecimento podem gerar mais inovações e apresentar melhor desempenho que seus concorrentes. Desse modo, este estudo propõe-se por meio de um ensaio teórico, analisar a relação entre o compartilhamento de conhecimento, a inovação e o desempenho, e o efeito moderador da capacidade absortiva. O estudo apresenta um modelo teórico com proposições de pesquisa, abordando o impacto das habilidades internas das empresas (capacidade absortiva) em transformar um novo conhecimento externo em inovações e melhoria no desempenho. O estudo ainda busca contribuir gerencialmente com a compreensão das relações, permitindo, assim, que isso possa auxiliar no reconhecimento de lacunas e oportunidades, que sejam relevantes para as empresas, permitindo o desenvolvimento de inovações e melhor desempenho, frente ao dinamismo do ambiente. Palavras-chave: Capacidade absortiva. Compartilhamento de conhecimento. Desempenho. Inovação.
... At the same time, the global orchestration of GPNs has prompted the innovation of vehicle platforms for modularized production and technological sharing among different production hubs within the same GPN of a specific automaker. New upgrading opportunities have arisen for new entrants as they can purchase the platform and develop their brands before investing heavily in developing their own vehicle platforms, for example Hyundai and Kia (Green, 1992;Kim, 1998;Wang, 2007). ...
... The political disagreement between Khrushchev and Mao Zedong broke the partnership in 1958 and the subsequent decoupling forced China to pursue indigenous innovation during the Cold War (Liang et al., 2010;Zhao et al., 1995). The technological gap between China and the global automotive industry had enlarged, whereas Japanese and South Korean automakers grew rapidly through being coupled with global lead firms before upgrading to become lead firms themselves (Kim et al., 1998;Liu & Deng, 2003;Yeung, 2016). ...
This paper examines how latecomer firms manage to achieve industrial upgrading through strategic coupling with global lead firms in automotive production networks. Drawing upon the example of the Guangzhou Automotive Corporation in southern China, this paper theorizes ‘cross‐scalar tension’ as a key factor to explain why the four cases of strategic coupling between lead firms, the same domestic firm and state ended in different results, from decoupling to a sustainable coupling with local upgrading. This paper contributes to the pertinent literature by demonstrating that cross‐scalar tension is inherent to the nature of global production networks, and unreconciled tension concerning different corporate strategies on technological transfer, localization and product development could lead to decoupling. Importantly, good coordination and matching on corporate strategies between lead and domestic firms could relieve cross‐scalar tensions, thus fostering local industrial upgrading and sustainable strategic coupling.
... Firms can engage in innovation in a variety of ways, ranging from simple to complex, moving from learning by doing, using, and interacting (DUI) to learning by integrating (LI) and porting (LP), then performing R&D in the fields of science, technology, and innovation (STI) (Kodama et al., 2014). In Korea, as it progressed from one stage to the next through the preparation, acquisition, assimilation, and improvement of foreign technologies, the company acquired migratory knowledge to expand its prior knowledge base and proactively constructed crisis as a strategic means to intensify its learning effort (Skiera et al., 1998). ...
... As a result, the continuity of DUI's technological learning was also halted. If Indonesia consistently strived in building its technological capability during a crisis, it would likely catch up with Korea 4 , which did so by viewing crisis as a strategic means of intensifying its learning effort (Skiera et al., 1998). ...
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The research examined technological learning in the developing high-tech industry within the state-owned strategic companies under supervision of the Agency for the Management of Strategic Industries (BPIS). The research has been conducted to date on high-tech development using a technological learning approach as one method of developing the nation's S&T (Science and Technology). This work was completed through desk research using available archives on documented reports for ten strategic industries. The research results confirmed the story of Indonesian innovation policy emphasis on technology-based industrial transformation was a real, staged process with clear concepts and objectives at strategic companies. Short-term innovation traps should be avoided for not repeating innovation discontinuity, which has become the primary concern of short-sight’s actors in technology politics. The key to successful technological learning are: i. continuous without stopping, the innovation continuity should be undertaken by confronting the crisis situation has become a requirement for innovative industrialists engaged in innovative economic activities, and; ii. companies could take alternative paths in continuous technological learning to climb the technological ladder by continuously engaging in R&D and engineering capability upgrading in the global competition sphere, because a company cannot survive without building a strong foundation of technological capabilities.
Keywords: high-tech development, economic crisis, technological learning, innovation discontinuity, R&D governance .
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... When adopting a DO, firms must account for environmental factors, including CI, which impact their strategies, especially for SMEs with limited resources (Singh et al., 2008). Research indicates that heightened CI can threaten survival, compelling organizations to absorb external knowledge and enhance their capacities, leading to skill and knowledge development (Kim, 1998;Zahra & George, 2002). Changes in CI are key triggers for strategic and innovative actions (Auger et al., 2003;Chan et al., 2022;Olabode et al., 2022). ...
This study investigates the interrelations among digital orientation (DO), green absorptive capacity (GAC), and radical green innovation (RGI) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China, emphasizing the mediating role of the realized-to-potential GAC ratio (R-P ratio) and the moderating effect of competitive intensity (CI). Data from 157 Chinese SMEs, analyzed through hierarchical regression and the bootstrap method, indicate that a strong digital orientation significantly enhances the R-P ratio and RGI. The R-P ratio mediates the relationship between DO and RGI, confirming that enhanced green absorptive capacity is crucial for leveraging digital orientation towards effective green innovation. Furthermore, competitive intensity positively moderates the relationship between digital orientation and the R-P ratio, enhancing the strategic use of digital tools to manage environmental challenges effectively. These findings extend the dynamic capabilities theory by integrating digital and green dimensions and offer practical insights for SMEs striving to incorporate sustainable practices through technological and digital advancements. This research enriches the discourse on the synergy between technology and environmental innovation within the knowledge economy framework, providing valuable perspectives for policymakers and business leaders aiming to foster a sustainable, innovative, and technologically adept business environment.
... Based on Cohen and Levinthal's (1990) article, AC is defined as 'the firm's ability to value, assimilate and apply new knowledge'. Skiera et al. (1998) define AC as 'the ability to learn and solve problems' while (Zahra and George, 2002) as 'a set of organisational processes and routines by which firms acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit knowledge to produce a dynamic organisational capability'. Other researchers such as Lane et al. (2006) have attempted to broaden the concept by defining it as 'the firm's ability to utilise external knowledge through a sequential learning process of exploration, transformation and exploitation'. ...
Many researchers have tried to test whether there really is a relationship between global diversification and firm performance, although many of them only deal with one aspect, be it market diversification or product diversification, without considering the role of the internal capacities of the company. Considering the importance of knowledge and its management in complex and uncertain contexts such as the current ones, the study investigates the effect of absorptive capacity on the global diversification-performance relationship. This research analyses the global diversification-firm relationship, considering the moderating role of absorptive capacity, in a sample of 496 Spanish medium-high and high technology companies for the period corresponding to 2019. The conclusions obtained, through statistical inference tests confirm an inverted U-shaped relationship between diversification and firm performance and, partially, the moderating effect of absorptive capacity in this relationship.
Keywords: diversification; absorptive capacity; knowledge; corporate performance.
... The government had bred and promoted Korea's Chaebol (unique private conglomerates) so that Korean industries could compete internationally. These conglomerates took advantage of the so-called catching-up strategy to learn and imitate the science and technology used in advanced countries' products (Kim, 1998;Lee and Lim, 2001). Scientists and engineers used their graduate training in advanced countries to make effective use of the catching-up strategy to improve the quality of Korean industrial products. ...
... Yeni pazarlara girme ve yeni ürün ya da hizmetler geliştirme benzeri değişimler düzenli olarak gerçekleştirilmelidir. Bu, bir aciliyet duygusu yaratarak ve değişim kapasitesini artırabilecek düzenli, ritmik ve proaktif bir yaklaşım yaratarak, bilgiyi arama ve öğrenmeyle ilgili çabanın yoğunluğunu arttırmaktadır (Linsu, 1998). Bu doğrultuda, bir örgütte, güçlü bir risk kültürünün olması da önemli bir etken olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. ...
... Learning is considered as the driving force for international expansion [5][6]. Learning is the firm's acquisition and assimilation of knowledge that helps to create and modify firms' capabilities and resource base [7][8]. A high level of learning capability enables an MNC to continuously leverage its resource configuration and stay ahead of the competition by continuously manipulating the mix of resources in its resource bundle according to the new context situations. ...
This study examines the application of learning when firms go internationally. From a qualitative approach based on the investigation of the market entry process, the author finds that the market entry process of a firm into a new foreign market contains two sequential stages with respective learning patterns. In the initial stage, as the firm's knowledge of the local market is limited, the firm tends to utilize exploitative learning to replicate its original advantage from its home country and exploratory learning to acquire knowledge of the local market; after that when the firm's local market knowledge is enhanced, the firm mainly utilizes exploitation and exploration to reconfigure its resources and competences and transform them into new resource reconfigurations to adapt to the local context.
... Studies on technology catch-up fall into the following two main categories based on research methods: qualitative case studies and quantitative empirical research. Qualitative studies have explored the success of catch-up among Asian firms in diverse industries, including consumer electronics, automotive and shipbuilding (Cho et al., 1998;Kim, 1998;Fan, 2006;Mathews, 2006). In quantitative research, patent data, often regarded as a common proxy for technological knowledge, have gained prominence in monitoring the technological catch-up process. ...
Purpose
This study aims to assess the technological capability of Chinese internet platforms (BAT: Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) compared to US ones (GAFA: Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple). More specifically, this study explores Baidu’s technological catching-up process with Google by analyzing their patent textual information.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors retrieved 26,383 Google patents and 6,695 Baidu patents from PATSTAT 2019 Spring version. The collected patent documents were vectorized using the Word2Vec model first, and then K-means clustering was applied to visualize the technological space of two firms. Finally, novel indicators were proposed to capture the technological catching-up process between Baidu and Google.
Findings
The results show that Baidu follows a trend of US rather than Chinese technology which suggests Baidu is aggressively seeking to catch up with US players in the process of its technological development. At the same time, the impact index of Baidu patents increases over time, reflecting its upgrading of technological competitiveness.
Originality/value
This study proposed a new method to analyze technology mapping and evolution based on patent text information. As both US and China are crucial players in the internet industry, it is vital for policymakers in third countries to understand the technological capacity and competitiveness of both countries to develop strategic partnerships effectively.
... Development IRC: it aligns with the second part of SC resilience in not merely continuing business during a disruption but also achieving a stronger state. The Development IRC assesses the state of the company and learns lessons from the experienced disruption (Kim, 1998); moreover, the company should adopt these lessons into its SC risk management (Lin and Wu, 2014;Teece et al.,1997). This step could occur, for instance, with the development of a new purchasing approach or inventory management. ...
... When firms want to generate breakthrough innovations in the absence of external crises, they can also induce critical incidents. Firms can then purposefully construct internal crises to intensify efforts toward organizational learning and innovation (Kim 1998). ...
Innovation in times of crisis has experienced a flood of research in the wake of recent events. These studies are dispersed over a broad range of fields and do not adequately reflect earlier research or prior crises. To encourage the convergence of related literature streams, we define crisis innovation as an ecosystem-level process to meet the needs of—and overcome the resource constraints derived from—an exogenous shock. We then conduct a systematic literature review aided by machine learning techniques, specifically utilizing topic modeling. We derive a taxonomy of crisis innovation, which represents innovation as a response to societal crisis, funding crisis, financial crisis, economic crisis, digitalization, transformation, political crisis, strategy crisis, and organizational crisis. We find that crisis innovation drives digitalization through increased motivation for open and ecosystem innovation, but also that the dynamic network structures required for lasting digital transformation are often not implemented during crisis.
... For example, Hobday (1995) proposed a sequence of stages composed of importing technologies, accumulating technological capabilities, and performing original R&D. Based on lessons from Korean industries, Kim (1998) emphasized the importance of organizational learning to move the learning orientation from duplicative imitation to creative imitation to innovation. Furthermore, Lee and Lim (2001) found three strategies for EEFs to catch up with forerunners: path-following, stage-skipping, and path-creating. ...
... одни авторы определяют ее как набор организационных рутин и процессов, с помощью которых фирма получает, усваивает, трансформирует и использует знания для формирования своих динамических способностей [12]. абсорбция знаний может быть также определена как способность к обучению и решению проблем [13]. ...
Abstract: in this article is considered conceptual aspects of mutuality of long-term relationships and transfer of knowledge in inter-firm networks as well as the role of transfer of knowledge in creation of economic effects and specific relational rent.
Key words: inter-firm network, inter-firm relationships, transfer of knowledge, organizational learning, rent.
... Assimilation: Assimilation refers to the firm"s routines and processes that allow it to analyze, process, interpret and understand the knowledge obtained from external sources (Szulanski, 2000;Kim, 1998;Zahra and George, 2002). From this viewpoint, employees have to understand and take advantage of external Knowledge in discovering new suppliers, new methods and techniques and new products and services (Chauvet, 2002). ...
This
paper empirically assesses the impact of absorptive capacitive (AC) on innovation performance of manufacturing firms in
Nigeria thus enhance our understanding on the mechanism between AC and innovation performance. A total of 305
SMEs were sampled from subsectors such as; textile/leather/apparel and footwear subsector; wood/furniture and
woodworks subsector; and domestic/industrial plastic and rubber subsector in Southwestern Nigeria. Data collected was
analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Findings revealed that AC had high positive impact on innovation
performance of the manufacturing firms. Particularly AC dimensions such as ‘transformation’ and ‘exploitation’
dimensions of AC are the best indicators of innovation performance within the manufacturing SMEs. Also, AC accounts
for about 79% of variation in the innovation performance of the manufacturing firms. The study concludes that AC,
particularly its transformation and exploitation dimensions are critical elements for the enhancing the innovation
performance of the manufacturing firms in Nigeria
... Assimilation Capability: this entails a firm's routines and processes that allow it to analyze, process, interpret and understand the knowledge obtained from external sources (Szulanski, 2000;Kim, 1998;Zahra and George, 2002). From this viewpoint, employees have to understand and take advantage of external Knowledge in discovering new suppliers, new methods and techniques and new products and services (Chauvet, 2003). ...
Though studies on absorptive capacity and innovation in small and large firms have been on the increase over the past two and a half decades, there is limited information on the extent to which firm size can influence the relationship between absorptive capacity and innovation performance of firms. Existing research on AC and innovation more often than not examined the relationships and impact of AC on innovation and vice versa. However, this study looks at the moderating role of firm size on the relationship between AC and innovation performance of manufacturing firms in Nigeria. This study contributes to literature by revealing the moderating role of firm size on the relationship between AC and innovation performance of manufacturing firms in Nigeria. Structural equation modeling analysis was performed on data collected from 305 manufacturing firms in textile/leather/apparel and footwear; wood/furniture and woodworks; and domestic/industrial plastic and rubber subsectors in Nigeria. The study concludes that firm size moderates the impact of AC on innovation performance of firms in Nigeria.
... Assimilation: Assimilation refers to the firm's routines and processes that allow it to analyze, process, interpret and understand the knowledge obtained from external sources (Szulanski, 2000;Kim, 1998;Zahra and George, 2002). From this viewpoint, employees have to understand and take advantage of external Knowledge in discovering new suppliers, new methods and techniques and new products and services (Chauvet, 2002). ...
This paper investigates the influence of absorptive capacity (AC) on innovation performance of manufacturing Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) in a Nigeria. Although the subject of AC and its influence on innovation performance has been extensively explored, however the influence of AC on the performance of manufacturing SMEs with a developing country-context is yet to be extensively investigated. Besides, only little emphasis has been placed on the possible impact of various AC dimensions on SMEs’ innovation performance. In order to enrich the literature, this paper evaluates the influence of AC dimensions on the performance of manufacturing SMEs in Nigeria. A total of 305 SMEs were sampled from subsectors such as;textile/leather/apparel and footwear subsector; wood/furniture and wood works subsector; and domestic/industrial plastic and rubber subsector in Southwestern Nigeria. Data collected was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The SEM result confirmed that the‘transformation’ and ‘exploitation’ dimensions of AC are the best indicators of innovation performance within the manufacturing SMEs with standardized regression weights of 0.47 and0.20 respectively. Other three dimensions of AC which includes; identification and valuation’,‘acquisition’, and ‘assimilation’ had minimal influence on innovation performance with standardized regression of weights of 0.15, 0.12, and 0.15 respectively. Overall, AC accounts for about 43% of variation in the innovation performance of the manufacturing SMEs. The study concludes that all dimensions of AC, particularly transformation and exploitation are critical elements for the enhancing the innovation performance of the manufacturing SMEs in Nigeria.
... La aplicación en las organizaciones de una estrategia que potencie la creatividad y la innovación requiere de un proceso continuo de aprendizaje (SCHULER, 1986;SMEDS, 1997). En este sentido, a partir de los ochenta ha emergido la perspectiva de la organización como un sistema de aprendizaje (e.g., SENGE, 1990;WATKINS y MARSICK, 1993;NEVIS, DIBELLA y GOULD, 1995;KIM, 1998). En efecto, las aportaciones de la teoría de la empresa basada en los recursos, así como las de la visión de la empresa basada en el conocimiento, sugieren que la ventaja competitiva procede de las habilidades y capacidades de las empresas, por lo que el aprendizaje se ha convertido en un aspecto central en la literatura sobre la organización y la dirección estratégica. ...
En la denominada «Era de la Información» o «Sociedad del Conocimiento», las reglas de juego están cambiando rápidamente. La innovación, la flexibilidad, la capacidad de respuesta y la redefinición creativa de los mercados y las oportunidades se han convertido en las nuevas fuentes de ventaja competitiva en una economía global cada vez más interconectada. En este nuevo escenario competitivo, los líderes organizativos deben ser proactivos y facilitar el aprendizaje organizativo y estimular la adaptación positiva a los cambios externos. Con este planteamiento, el presente trabajo realiza una revisión de la literatura actual sobre management, para distinguir y desarrollar algunas de las dimensiones emergentes de la nueva actividad directiva: el ejercicio de un liderazgo estratégico, la potenciación de la creatividad y la innovación, el fomento del aprendizaje, la búsqueda de nuevas formas de relacionarse con los empleados, el énfasis en el conocimiento y en la gestión del mismo y el uso de redes y tecnologías de información.
... A crisis can increase a firm's efforts to realize and absorb new skills and develop new knowledge, despite having negative effects, as Kim (1998) demonstrated. Crises pose a threat to a company's viability, which is likely to spur learning and the realization of outside knowledge (Zahra and George, 2002;Salehi, 2021). ...
Purpose- Businesses depend more on knowledge than other factors. Many academics have described the idea of absorptive capacity as a skill for handling outside knowledge. Since organizational phenomenon is a complex , the issue of absorptive capacity as a strategic and dynamic capability still merits further research consideration. Previous research shows that some of the variables are beyond the firm's control and moderate the effect of knowledge source and experience on absorptive capacity. The intensity of the triggers may have an impact on the firm's investment in absorptive capacity capability. The purpose of this study is to review and identify endogenous and exogenous contingencies that function as activation triggers on absorptive capacity based on the previous literature. Methodology- The theoretical model, hypothesis, and measurement indicators for the study's variables are described in this paper. Findings- The study of previous research shows that learning organization structure, business environment, organizational leadership, learning culture, management review, and competitive strategy play roles as moderator activation triggers in this study. According to the findings, businesses face complex and unpredictable business environment changes, as well as significant knowledge gaps. Decentralized and dynamic structures with participation in decision-making have a moderating effect on the capacity to absorb knowledge and make it easier for businesses to absorb new ideas. The results show that organizational culture fosters the development of fresh perspectives and encourages the integration of external knowledge to maximize the benefits of complementary knowledge sources. Also, the competitive strategy defines the scope and context of perception and learning. Other activation triggers that require more investigation include information technology, stakeholders, professional conduct, and research and development units. Conclusion- Managers can explore a variety of strategic alternatives and forge competitive advantages for their companies by using activation triggers as a group of variables to upgrade existing talents and develop new capabilities of absorptive capacity. Keywords: Absorptive capacity, activation triggers, endogenous and exogenous contingencies, knowledge. JEL Codes: D83, L1, O32
... Cohen dan Levinthal (1990) mengungkapkan bahwa kapasitas serap mengacu pada kemampuan organisasi untuk bukan hanya memperoleh dan mengasimilasi informasi tetapi untuk memanfaatkan informasi yang telah diperoleh menjadi keunggulan kompetitif. Kapasitas serap menjadi sebagai seperangkat keterampilan yang dibutuhkan untuk menyerap pengetahuan yang ada diluar organisasi, kemudian didistribusi ke dalam pusat pengetahuan pada internal organisasi untuk kemudian dieksploitasi, dipelajari, diteliti, dan dimodifikasi agar menghasilkan pengetahuan baru yang dapat menunjang keunggulan kompetitif suatu entitas bisnis (Zahra & George, 2002;Mowery & Oxley, 1995;Kim, 1998 Indarti (2010) mengasosiasikan keterbatasan yang dimaksud sebagai sebuah sintesis yang dikenal dengan knowledge stickiness. Konsep stickiness ini pertama kali digagas oleh Von Hippel (1994) yang menggunakan istilah tersebut untuk menggambarkan biaya dalam mengakses dan berbagi informasi untuk sebuah inovasi karena pengetahuan tertanam secara sosial dalam organisasi dan praktiknya. ...
This study aims to examine and investigate the effect of absorptive capacity on MSME’s agility, the effect of knowledge stickiness on the agility of MSME’s, and identify the key factors forming absorptive capacity and knowledge stickiness in MSME’s in Depok City. Testing the impact of MSME’s agility on economic resilience. Data were collected through a survey method with MSME’s in Depok City as the research population. The data analysis method using Partial Least Square (PLS). The study found that absorptive capacity had a significant negative effect on MSME’s agility, and knowledge stickiness had a significant positive effect on MSME’s agility. MSME’s agility is influenced by these two variables by 94.5% and the rest is influenced by other factors.
... A cybersecurity crisis is a cyber disaster that have successfully obstructed an organization's key operations (Prevezianou 2021). While both information systems (IS) and management studies have suggested that organizations could learn from crises (Ahmad et al. 2019;Eismann et al. 2021;Kim 1998;Maitlis and Christianson 2014;Wang 2008;Wooten and James 2008), the reality of cybersecurity crises paints a different picture. A global report entitled "Ransomware Attacks and the True Cost to Business 2022" has revealed that 40% of its surveyed organization victims of ransomware attacks have paid a second ransom and 10% have paid a third ransom (Cybereason 2022). ...
Prior studies have established that organizations learn better from failure than from success. Nevertheless, cybersecurity crises resulting from cyberattacks tell a different story. It has been reported that some organizations have encountered repeat ransomware attacks, causing them to pay a second or even a third ransom. Due to the recurrences of cyberattacks, this study addresses organizations' failure to learn from not protecting their information assets. Many information systems (IS) studies have examined organizational learning in light of positive outcomes such as effective decision-making and management. On the other hand, this study addresses organizational learning by focusing on the negative aspects (i.e., the failures of preventing cyberattacks). In the near future, our research findings will share insights concerning the barriers of learning from cyberattack prevention failures, thereby expanding the 'Security, Education, Training, and Awareness' (SETA) perspective to incorporate organizational learning elements.
... Although OL has been characterized in various ways, Kim [27] provided the earliest description and defined it as acquiring new information and translating it into more effective organizational behavior. Vera et al. [28] describe organizational learning as the process through which change in individual and communal cognition and action is influenced and incorporated into organizations. ...
This article introduces the concept of crisis knowledge and communication influencing how stakeholders see the crisis and the organization. During damage control or containment stages, leaders interact with organization employees offering information and guidance and soothe or reassure people. This article also investigates the role of administrative knowledge in crisis administration, an area that has yet to receive much attention from the Human Resource Development (HRD) community. The study found a significant impact of communication and learning on crisis management. Also, the study found that administrative wisdom intervenes in the association between HRD and crisis management. The study didn’t find evidence regarding moderating communication interaction between HRD and Crisis management.
... In addition, organizational learning culture helps firms to learn and internally share knowledge to cope with environmental dynamism, thus facilitating the exploitation of any external knowledge that can potentially improve OI. Previous research shows that external environmental issues serve as a trigger to generate an internal sense of failure (called a 'constructed crisis') and to create an internal learning environment (Kim (1998). Hence, in emerging markets, environmental dynamism plays a vital role in the development of an organizational learning culture suited to catch up with the competition and support OI. ...
Despite the considerable efforts made to investigate the factors that could potentially influence open innovation (OI), very little is understood about the impact of environmental factors such as dynamism. In addition, the question relating to the relationship between environmental factors and OI remains unresolved. Further, the conditions under which this relationship is more or less pronounced are also little understood. With our study, we examined these gaps through data collected from 209 emerging market small and medium enterprises (ESMEs) operating in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Our analyses show that environmental dynamism negatively influences OI and that this nexus is mediated by organizational learning culture. In addition, we found that the mediation effect of organizational learning culture is moderated by relational trust, in that it is improved at high levels of relational trust. Finally, we found that the organizational learning-OI nexus is moderated by firm size and industry type. These findings extend our knowledge of the role played by micro-environmental factors in OI activities.
... Catching-up is more likely to happen in technological classes with shorter technological cycle time and more initial stock of knowledge and that among those candidate classes the speed of catch-up varies depending on appropriability and knowledge accessibility (Park & Lee, 2006). Proactively constructed internal crises in catching-up in the case of Hyundai motor presented a clear performance gap shift learning orientation from imitation to innovation and increase the intensity of effort in organisational learning (Kim, 1998a). ...
The digital transformation can serve as a window of opportunity for those late-comers who are equipped with the capability to create complementary assets for grabbing new opportunities of technological leapfrogging as a way of catch-up while penalising the forerunner. In this context, we want to answer the following research question. Is there any difference in open innovation effect on the firm according to the changing of belonging sectorial innovation system from catch-up to post-catch-up?
We statistically analysed the moderating effects of open innovation between catching-up, and the performance with the patents which were registered in United States Patent and Trademark Office, which were applied from China in telecommunication, from South Korea in Semiconductors, and from Japan in biotechnology on 1995–1999, and 2005–2009. We found three results from this study: first, from this research, as the signal of post catching-up, open innovation effects on the performance of firm, and the moderating effects of open innovation between catching-up, and the performance of the firm were found; second, the appearance of new dominant design after post catching-up was explained through the powerful open innovation and third, open innovation could be a useful new strategy for firms in the post catching-up to use.
Knowledge management in universities is a dual process combining continuous learning and development of academic staff with the simultaneous transfer of knowledge to students. Collective capabilities and motivation of university employees to absorb and effectively apply knowledge underlie the so-called university absorptive capacity. However, characteristics perceived by workers and the level of absorptive capacity may contrast with the assessments based on university performance standards. The paper proposes and tests a dual method for judging on university absorptive capacity based on normative and perceived assessments. Methodologically, the study rests on knowledge management, the fundamental theoretical framework that covers the concept of absorptive capacity of an organization. Among the research methods are comparative analysis of university performance indicators and economic statistics. Empirical evidence includes data from the survey of 187 academic staff members of Ural Federal University (Ekaterinburg, Russia) and the Monitoring of Efficiency of Higher Educational Institutions in the RF in 2022–2023. Having performed content analysis, we identified the following evaluation parameters: the current level of employees’ knowledge and the potential for knowledge absorption in the organization. The first part of the methodology presents an algorithm for comparing the growth rates of normative performance indicators of the university in question with those of analogous universities. The second part deals with assessing absorptive capacity based on academic staff’s perceptions. The testing results indicate that there is a discrepancy between the normative and perceived assessments, which allowed us to propose a set of measures for adjusting the HR management model in a university.
This paper examines the mediating effect of R&D alliance network dynamics on the relationship between technology convergence and firm innovation quality, it further investigates the moderating effect of degree assortativity in the inventor network. An empirical analysis is conducted based on a panel negative binomial regression model with data of Chinese high‐tech firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock from 2000 to 2018. The results show that novel technology convergence not only contributes to innovation quality directly but also indirectly through ego‐network expansion. The relationship between reinforced technology convergence and innovation quality is inverted U‐shaped, partially mediated by ego‐network stability. In addition, degree assortativity suppresses the effects of novel technology convergence on ego‐network expansion and innovation quality and steepens the inverted U‐shaped relationships of reinforced technology convergence with ego‐network stability and innovation quality. This paper contributes to the relevant literature by revealing the links between technology convergence, ego‐network dynamics, and innovation quality, and emphasizing the importance of inventor collaboration ties formation mechanism in knowledge searching and convergent innovation. Furthermore, the conclusion provides managerial suggestions for high‐tech firms to coordinate internal and external resources to improve technical impacts.
Much progress has been made with respect to improving our understanding of organizational learning. However, important gaps remain with respect to understanding barriers to learning flows that are rooted in bounded rationality and how such barriers can be reduced. We show how manifestations of bounded rationality in the form of framing effects and cognitive biases can act as barriers to learning at the individual, group, and organizational levels. We theorize that organizations can cope with these barriers to learning by deploying managerial practices that function as organizational repairs. More specifically, we add 3Is to the 4I framework by showing how intervening, inducing, and inquiring practices can attenuate these cognitive barriers to organizational learning. The three kinds of organizational repairs differ in terms of how directly they engage with the learning behaviors of organizational members. They range from direct managerial interventions (intervening) to incentivizing or nudging organizational members to engage in learning behaviors (inducing) to building a culture of reflexivity (inquiring). Throughout the paper we critically reflect on the explicit and implicit assumptions in the 4I framework as well as our extension of it.
The article presents the research results on the evolution of key patterns of scientific publications devoted to the use of imitation strategies by business entities. End of purpose was ensured by solving two interrelated tasks: first, to form a relevant sample of scientific articles (2,302 publications on selected topic, indexed by the Scopus scientometric database, for the period from 1992 to 2022); secondly, to analyse the co-occurrence of keywords to characterise the current state of the research field and determining the perspective of its development. The terms “imitation strategy, innovation” or “innovation, imitation, strategy” were chosen as keywords. The bibliometric analysis and visualisation of its results were performed using the VOSviewer software product. On the basis of visualisation maps, five clusters of the content matching of keywords in articles and five stages of the evolutionary development of innovative behavior of enterprises were identified. The results of the research can be used in studying various aspects of the implementation the imitation strategies by business entities.
This chapter explains how the Korean economy has taken a different path from Japan through the lens of the automobile industry, with a focus on the skills of engineers. Since Hyundai Motor’s launching of a large-scale pilot center in 2003, the company has carved a development path clearly that differs from the Japanese production system. The collective skill of Hyundai Motor’s engineers is an improvisational and intensive problem-solving capability in which improvisation takes precedence over routine. The capability of engineers to solve problems is highlighted more clearly because Hyundai Motor does not expect active participation from workers due to confrontational labor–management relations.KeywordsSkill formationEngineersPilot centerImprovisationProduction engineering
This chapter analyzes the key characteristics of Hyundai Motor’s production system and provides more of a broad outline from a macro-institutional and micro perspective through a comparison of Hyundai Motor and Toyota. Hyundai Motor has been able to escape from the ‘middle-ranked carmakers trap’ that it faced since the 1990s through benchmarking Germany’s modularization of parts sourcing and running of a large pilot center. The company has built up dynamic capabilities through engineer-centered ‘learning by improvisation’ and has made a bold investment in flexible automation and informatization to pursue a profit strategy of flexible scale and diversity. In addition, extended quasi-vertical integration has allowed Hyundai Motor to enjoy internal and external economies of scale through just-in-sequence-based modularization, and the company has aggressively launched overseas green-field production.KeywordsMiddle-ranked carmaker’s trapEngineer-centered learning by improvisationFlexible automation and informatizationModularizationOverseas transplants
This paper uses the psychoanalytic concept of the uncanny to develop a new perspective on crisis, one that challenges its association with turning points and opportunities. It highlights the immanence of crisis in organizational life. Crises under consideration include the historic Covid-19 global pandemic, and examples of crisis in public sector organizations shaped by neoliberalism. Engaging with the work of Julia Kristeva, the uncanny is explored as an integral part of our subjectivities, one which disrupts our social stabilities and patterns of organizing. A montage of autoethnographic vignettes is assembled to illustrate the eruption of the uncanny unconscious, a dynamic that unsettles our routine impositions of order and control. Examining crisis through the lens of the uncanny brings to the fore the elusive and affective aspects of socio-political and organizational life. This perspective draws us away from an understanding of crisis as a passing phenomenon or as an opening that can be instrumentalized for cunning managerial purposes. Instead, it suggests the more radical insight that crisis is a condition of organizing.
Digitalization and the rise of the platform economy are rapidly changing the way in which firms do business. A strong business ecosystem is necessary to manage this change. This year’s SME Competitiveness Outlook tells how to build it.
The report combines data analysis, academic insights, thought leader views and case studies to guide policymakers, businesses, and trade and investment support institutions in designing the business ecosystem that is necessary for small businesses to embrace and benefit from industry 4.0.
This edition includes 50 country profiles on SME competitiveness, with a focus on strengths and weaknesses in the business ecosystem.
Amaç –Bu çalışmanın amacı işletmelerin uyguladıkları rekabet stratejilerinin (maliyet liderliği, farklılaştırma ve odaklanma) kriz öncesi, kriz anı ve kriz sonrası dönemlerdeki yönetim becerilerine etkisini araştırmaktır. Yöntem –Çalışmadaliteratür taraması yapıldıktan sonra, alan araştırması içinnicel araştırma yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın verileri Denizli ilinde farklı sektörlerde faaliyet gösteren işletmelerin ortakları ve üst düzey yöneticileri ile şahıs işletmesi sahiplerinden anket yoluyla temin edilmiştir. Her işletmeden sadece bir kişinin (işletme sahibi/ortağı/üst-orta düzey yöneticisi) katıldığı bu araştırmada 255 anketin verisi analiz edilmiştir. Toplanan verilerle korelasyon ve regresyon analizi yapılmıştır. Araştırma modeline göre rekabet stratejileri bağımsız değişken, kriz yönetim becerileri bağımlı değişken olarak incelenmiştir.Bulgular –Çalışmanın hipotezlerinin sınanmasına yönelik gerçekleştirilen analizler sonucunda bağımlı ve bağımsız değişkenler arasındaki etkileşim incelenmiştir.Araştırmada rekabet stratejilerinden maliyet liderliği ve farklılaştırma stratejileri ile kriz yönetim becerileri arasında pozitif yönde ve orta düzeyde anlamlı ilişki ve etkileşim olduğu fakat odaklanma stratejisi ile kriz yönetim becerileri arasındakiilişkinin anlamlı olmadığı sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.Tartışma –Çalışmada işletmelerin kriz yönetiminde en çok uyguladıkları rekabet stratejilerinin sırasıyla farklılaştırma stratejisi ve maliyet liderliği stratejisi olduğu gözlemlenmiştir. Kriz yönetim sürecinin her üç dönemindeki (kriz öncesi, kriz ve kriz sonrası) yönetim becerilerine farklılaştırma stratejisinin etki gücü maliyet liderliği stratejisinin etki gücünden daha fazladır. Farklılaştırma stratejisinin etki gücünün en fazla olduğu dönem kriz sonrası yönetim becerileri olurken, maliyet liderliği stratejisininetki gücünün en fazla olduğu dönem kriz dönemi yönetim becerileridir. Çalışmanın hipotezlerine yönelik gerçekleştirilen analizler sonucunda elde edilen bulgular ilgili literatürü destekler niteliktedir. Ayrıca daha önce bu değişkenleri birlikte incelemiş çalışmanın oldukça sınırlı olması nedeniyle çalışmanın alan yazınına katkı sağladığı düşünülmektedir.
Until recently, the concept of tacit knowledge has been neglected by academics and managers alike, but this has now changed as tacit know-how has become recognized as playing a key role in firm growth and economic competitiveness. Tacit knowledge forms an important element in a firm's knowledge base and has a central role in organization learning. This paper analyzes what is meant by tacit knowledge and outlines its main parameters and traits. The analysis stresses the need to view tacit knowledge in a dynamic setting, and that tacit knowledge can be acquired and transferred on a variety of levels: individual group, firm and inter-firm basis. The paper then explores the policy implications of technology transfer initiatives which seek to shift tacit know-how between firms and analyzes the ways that this can be achieved.
How should we understand why firms exist? A prevailing view has been that they serve to keep in check the transaction costs arising from the self-interested motivations of individuals. We develop in this article the argument that what firms do better than markets is the sharing and transfer of the knowledge of individuals and groups within an organization. This knowledge consists of information (e.g., who knows what) and of know-how (e.g., how to organize a research team). What is central to our argument is that knowledge is held by individuals, but is also expressed in regularities by which members cooperate in a social community (i.e., group, organization, or network). If knowledge is only held at the individual level, then firms could change simply by employee turnover. Because we know that hiring new workers is not equivalent to changing the skills of a firm, an analysis of what firms can do must understand knowledge as embedded in the organizing principles by which people cooperate within organizations.
Based on this discussion, a paradox is identified: efforts by a firm to grow by the replication of its technology enhances the potential for imitation. By considering how firms can deter imitation by innovation, we develop a more dynamic view of how firms create new knowledge. We build up this dynamic perspective by suggesting that firms learn new skills by recombining their current capabilities. Because new ways of cooperating cannot be easily acquired, growth occurs by building on the social relationships that currently exist in a firm. What a firm has done before tends to predict what it can do in the future. In this sense, the cumulative knowledge of the firm provides options to expand in new but uncertain markets in the future.
We discuss at length the example of the make/buy decision and propose several testable hypotheses regarding the boundaries of the firm, without appealing to the notion of “opportunism.”
This paper focuses on patterns of technological change and on the impact of technological breakthroughs on environmental conditions. Using data from the minicomputer, cement, and airline industries from their births through 1980, we demonstrate that technology evolves through periods of incremental change punctuated by technological break-throughs that either enhance or destroy the competence of firms in an industry. These breakthroughs, or technological discontinuities, significantly increase both environmental uncertainty and munificence. The study shows that while competence-destroying discontinuities are initiated by new firms and are associated with increased environmental turbulence, competence-enhancing discontinuities are initiated by existing firms and are associated with decreased environmental turbulence. These effects decrease over successive discontinuities. Those firms that initiate major technological changes grow more rapidly than other firms.
Explores how technological innovation has shaped and been shaped by science, industry, and economics in the twentieth century. Technological change and specific technologies have impacted productivity, the learning process, technology transfer and technology policies. Starting with a summary of historical literature on technical progress, the book goes on to discuss and promote Karl Marx's influential method of studying technology as the result of interrelated social processes -- especially emphasizing the mutual interaction between technology and the economy. Analysis of current empirical studies shows the need for an enlarged framework for understanding the relation between the economy and technical change. Technological interdependence in the American economy is analyzed, and later expanded to encompass international business. High-tech industries are discussed as particularly reliant upon scientific research. The commercial aircraft industry from 1925-75 is also examined, as an exemplary instance in which technological innovation and government support and regulation allowed for economic success. The book concludes that scientific progress is heavily influenced by technological considerations that are, in turn, shaped by industry and economics. Thus, decisions made in the private and public sectors should affect both supply and demand, favoring the creative, mutually advantageous connection between science and technology. (CJC)
The ability to maintain internally developed technology over time is important for corporate vitality. We label this ability transformative capacity and suggest that it depends on how well a firm accomplishes three tasks, These tasks are: the choice of technologies, their maintenance over time, and their reactivation and synthesis when required. To establish the need for transformative capacity, we first discuss time lags in the development of technologies and markets to suggest that not all technologies developed by firms can be utilized immediately. We then examine dimensions of technological knowledge that affect knowledge transfer over time. Next, we build on the resource-based view of the firm to discuss how firms can create transformative capacity. The concluding discussion focuses on the implications of transformative capacity for the analysis and management of technological investments as a way to maintain corporate vitality.
This article examines 42 innovative firms in a newly industrializing country, Korea. It identifies different patterns of innovation associated with four types of firms, which is categorized by two variables: the source of initiation and the local availability of related foreign products. Bivariate analyses suggest that innovation patterns are distinctly different for Type I firms (user initiated and related foreign products locally available) and Type IV firms (innovator initiated and no related foreign products locally available). Type I firms use and benefit most from close interactions with customers and visits to the domestic users of related foreign products, while Type IV firms benefit most from the overseas observation of foreign suppliers and the assistance of local R&D institutes. The other two groups are more closely related but still different from the above two groups. The results of a multiple discriminant analysis are supportive of the patterns which emerged in the bivariate analyses. It was also found that majority of important and crucial information to solve technical problems were transferred free of charge from abroad through informal mechanisms rather than formal collaboration with foreign firms. The findings suggest that different situations call for different approaches to make innovations successful.
In this paper, we argue that the ability of a firm to recognize the value of new, external information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends is critical to its innovative capabilities. We label this capability a firm's absorptive capacity and suggest that it is largely a function of the firm's level of prior related knowledge. The discussion focuses first on the cognitive basis for an individual's absorptive capacity including, in particular, prior related knowledge and diversity of background. We then characterize the factors that influence absorptive capacity at the organizational level, how an organization's absorptive capacity differs from that of its individual members, and the role of diversity of expertise within an organization. We argue that the development of absorptive capacity, and, in turn, innovative performance are history- or path-dependent and argue how lack of investment in an area of expertise early on may foreclose the future development of a technical capability in that area. We formulate a model of firm investment in research and development (R&D), in which R&D contributes to a firm's absorptive capacity, and test predictions relating a firm's investment in R&D to the knowledge underlying technical change within an industry. Discussion focuses on the implications of absorptive capacity for the analysis of other related innovative activities, including basic research, the adoption and diffusion of innovations, and decisions to participate in cooperative R&D ventures.
How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.
Korea’s rapid industrialization may be attributed to many economic, social and technical factors. The most important of all may be absorptive capability, which is a combined outcome of various economic, social and technical inputs. Absorptive capability enables one to assimilate, use, adapt and change existing technologies. It also enables one to create new technologies and to develop new products and processes in response to a changing economic environment. Absorptive capability also includes capacity to acquire, adapt and internalize managerial know-how. This latter element of absorptive capability, however, is not explicitly covered in this chapter.
There is nothing extraordinary about the fact that countries classified as less developed produce a large fraction of their general machinery requirements. In the mid-1960s, when the Republic of Korea (hereinafter South Korea or just plain Korea) had paved over the final cracks of its civil war but was only beginning to launch its development drive, it was producing over half its requirements of general machinery (ISIC 382, which includes such items as prime movers, metal working equipment, special industrial machinery, general machinery parts, etc.) (KTA, 1966). At the time, the machinery sector at large (ISIC 38) accounted at most for only about 10–15 per cent of manufacturing value added (EPB, 1966).
How does technological change occur in an organizational, market and manufacturing context? How does innovation in products and processses affect a firm’s competitive viability? Do patterns of innovation occur from firm to firm or within one firm over time? If so, what are the implications for research on organizations and for management? Recent work on innovation in industry contends that product innovation, process innovation, and organizational structure and processes become inextricably linked as an organization and its line of business evolve. The changing relationship among them stimulates certain directions of further change while it constrains others or makes them less and less attractive (Abernathy, 1978; Abernathy and Utterback, 1978). In brief, incremental innovations albeit with great commercial rewards, become more and more attractive, while more radical departures, the subject of this chapter, become diminishingly attractive to established, dominant competitors.
The Korean automobile industry has progressed rapidly during the last decade. Hyundai Motor Co. (HMC) selected a unique strategy of self-reliance. As a new entrant firm to U.S. markets from NICs, Hyundai developed its own models, the Pony and Excel, with minimal foreign investment but with technical collaboration with foreign automakers. This fact distinguishes Hyundai from other joint venture automakers in developing countries. Hyundai's strategy now faces several challenges, such as the increase of trade protectionism, the rapid technological changes in the auto industry and the intense competition from domestic competitors which are supported by major multinational automobile makers. Now Hyundai has to respond to the new environment. Hyundai's strategy is traced in this article, particularly focusing on Hyundai's technology development strategy and its implications.
Why do successful companies let down their corporate walls, exposing their organizations and strategies to competitors? The answer, according to Joseph Badaracco is that corporations enter into strategic alliances to capitalize on knowledge: migratory knowledge, often technical in nature, which can be transferred easily between people or organizations in a formula or product, and embedded knowledge, which defines how a particular company organizes itself to do business. In today's business environment companies need to utilize each type of knowledge to sustain their competitive advantage. The challenge for today's manager is to balance the opportunities offered by open boundaries and free flowing information against the need to protect the corporations's unique advantages. Managing strategic alliances effectively will determine corporate success in the years ahead.
Based on the experiences of leading Japanese companies, this article attempts to formulate a conceptual framework of a self-renewal process of a firm. The author conceptualizes the process as the continuous creation and dissolution of organizational order, or nonequilibrium self-organizing process. Although the process is continuous, four phases can be identified: creation of chaos; amplification of fluctuation; dynamic cooperation; and restructuring of organizational knowledge. The essence of the process is not the processing of syntactic information, but the organizational creation of meaningful, semantic information. The article negates the information-processing model of organization that emphasizes such concepts as fit, balance, and equilibrium. Instead, it advocates the self-organization paradigm that sheds light on functional aspects of chaos, fluctuation, and disequilibrium.
With the publication of his best-selling books "Competitive Strategy (1980) and "Competitive Advantage (1985), Michael E. Porter of the Harvard Business School established himself as the world's leading authority on competitive advantage. Now, at a time when economic performance rather than military might will be the index of national strength, Porter builds on the seminal ideas of his earlier works to explore what makes a nation's firms and industries competitive in global markets and propels a whole nation's economy. In so doing, he presents a brilliant new paradigm which, in addition to its practical applications, may well supplant the 200-year-old concept of "comparative advantage" in economic analysis of international competitiveness. To write this important new work, Porter and his associates conducted in-country research in ten leading nations, closely studying the patterns of industry success as well as the company strategies and national policies that achieved it. The nations are Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. The three leading industrial powers are included, as well as other nations intentionally varied in size, government policy toward industry, social philosophy, and geography. Porter's research identifies the fundamental determinants of national competitive advantage in an industry, and how they work together as a system. He explains the important phenomenon of "clustering," in which related groups of successful firms and industries emerge in one nation to gain leading positions in the world market. Among the over 100 industries examined are the German chemical and printing industries, Swisstextile equipment and pharmaceuticals, Swedish mining equipment and truck manufacturing, Italian fabric and home appliances, and American computer software and movies. Building on his theory of national advantage in industries and clusters, Porter identifies the stages of competitive development through which entire national economies advance and decline. Porter's finding are rich in implications for both firms and governments. He describes how a company can tap and extend its nation's advantages in international competition. He provides a blueprint for government policy to enhance national competitive advantage and also outlines the agendas in the years ahead for the nations studied. This is a work which will become the standard for all further discussions of global competition and the sources of the new wealth of nations.
As the invention of fundamental new sciences spawns subsequent research, discovery, and commercialization, core technologies branch into new applications and markets. Some of them evolve over time into many derived technologies, whereas others are essentially “dead ends.” The pattern of evolution and branching is called a “technological trajectory.” An intriguing question is whether some firms can ride the trajectory by developing proprietary experience in a “platform technology.” Because the knowledge is proprietary, firms that originate in industrial fields based on a platform technology acquire the technological skills to diversify and to mimic the branching of the underlying technological trajectory.
The ability to compete in hypercompetitive markets depends on the acquisition of know-how that is applicable to a wide set of market opportunities. Such capabilities serve as platforms into quickly evolving markets. To respond rapidly to market changes, a firm must have already acquired fundamental competitive knowledge. In a high-technology industry, such knowledge invariably is derived from experience with the underlying science and related technological fields.
The authors examine capabilities as platforms by analyzing the temporal sequence of diversification as contingent on market opportunities and previous experience. The pattern of diversification of firms reflects the evolutionary branching of underlying technologies. In that sense, the aggregate decisions of firms are driven by the technological trajectories common across an industrial sector. Certain technologies have wider technological and market opportunities, and consequently experience in those technologies serves as a platform for expansion. The authors propose that a firm's experience in platform technologies increases the likelihood of diversification when environmental opportunities are favorable.
The proposition is tested with the sample of 176 semiconductor startup companies founded between 1977 and 1989. Evidence from multidimensional scaling of expert opinion and from an analysis of patent records was gathered to identity relatedness among subfields and the evolutionary direction of the technologies. A discrete hazard model is specified to estimate the effect of technological histories on subsequent diversification. The results confirm the relationship between relatedness and directionality of technologies and the industrial path of diversification. The finding that diversification depends on technological experience and market opportunity has important implications for firms' entry decisions. The authors discuss those implications by describing experience as generating options on future opportunities and distinguishing between the historical path by which the stock of knowledge is accumulated and the path by which new knowledge is generated and commercialized.
The dominant explanation for the spread of technological innovations emphasizes processes of influence and information flow. Firms which are closely connected to pre-existing users of an innovation learn about it and adopt it early on. Firms at the periphery of communication networks are slower to adopt.
This paper develops an alternative model which emphasizes the role of know-how and organizational learning as potential barriers to adoption of innovations. Firms delay in-house adoption of complex technology until they obtain sufficient technical know-how to implement and operate it successfully.
In response to knowledge barriers, new institutions come into existence which progressively lower those barriers, and make it easier for firms to adopt and use the technology without extensive in-house expertise. Service bureaus, consultants, and simplification of the technology are examples. As knowledge barriers are lowered, diffusion speeds up, and one observes a transition from an early pattern in which the new technology is typically obtained as a service to a later pattern of in-house provision of the technology.
Thus the diffusion of technology is reconceptualized in terms of organizational learning, skill development, and knowledge barriers. The utility of this approach is shown through an empirical study of the diffusion of business computing in the United States, reporting survey and ethnographic data on the spread of business computing, on the learning processes and skills required, and on the changing institutional practices that facilitated diffusion.
Organizational learning is currently the focus of considerable attention, and it is addressed by a broad range of literatures. Organization theory, industrial economics, economic history, and business, management and innovation studies all approach the question of how organizations learn. A number of branches of psychology are also revealing on the issue. This paper assesses these various literatures by examining the insights they allow in three main areas: first, the goals of organizational learning; second, the learning processes in organizations; and third, the ways in which organizational learning may be facilitated and impeded. It contends that while the various literatures are revealing in particular aspects of organizational learning, a more complete understanding of its complexity requires a multi-disciplinary approach. The contributions of the different approaches are analyzed, and some areas are suggested where the transfer of analytical concepts may improve understanding.
This longitudinal study investigates the determinants and effects of executive succession for high- and low-performing minicomputer organizations. Findings suggest that performance shortfalls drive executive succession in low performers, while strategic reorientations prompt succession for high-performing firms. The effects of succession depend on whether strategic reorientation accompanies executive change. Only when executive succession occurs with reorientations does future organization performance increase. Otherwise, there is no association between executive succession and subsequent organization performance. Executive succession and strategic reorientation appear to be important strategic levers affecting organizational performance over time.
Explores how innovation transforms industries, suggesting a strategic model to help firms to adjust to ever-shifting market dynamics. Understanding and adapting to innovation -- 'at once the creator and destroyer of industries and corporations' -- is essential with increasing fragmentation and foreign competition, and the consequent demand for high cost-value and globally appealing products. Business cycles and population ecology (which focuses on linkages between survival, population density of firms, and size and growth of the market) are used to explain the surprising amount of movemente that characterizes even the largest, most established firms. The history of innovation is explored through a diverse variety of industries -- from typewriters to incandescent light bulbs to ice. These accounts show that entrepreneur-inventors and innovative firms tend to become conservative and defensive as the market expands beyond their original concept; this is the point at which it becomes difficult for the firm, originally innovative, to keep up with market shifts. Following these trends, organizations are either organic or mechanistic. Organic firms operate in an uncertain environment, so that individuals must collaborate on frequent adjustments in a limited hierarchy with a rich flow of communication. Mechanistic organizations, on the other hand, are characterized by rigid coordination that establishes consistent routines, especially following the advent of a successful corporate innovation. Firms must accept the inevitability of change by valuing innovation even above past success; one of management's most essential roles is to find a balance between supporting new and established innovations. (CJC)
Demonstrates that technical change is attributable to experience. The cumulative production of capital goods is used as the index of experience. New capital goods are assumed to completely embody technical change. The assumption is made that the model will be operating in an environment of full employment although reference is made throughout to the case of capital shortage. The implications of this model on wage earners are discussed, and profits and investments are examined. The rate of return is determined by the expected rate of increase in wages, current labor costs per unit output, and the physical lifetime of the investment. Learning is an act of investment that benefits future investors. Further analysis shows that the socially optimal ratio of gross investment to output is higher than the competitive level. (SRD)
Sensemaking in crisis conditions is made more difficult because action that is instrumental to understanding the crisis often intensifies the crisis. This dilemma is interpreted from the perspective that people enact the environments which constrain them. It is argued that commitment, capacity, and expectations affect sensemaking during crisis and the severity of the crisis itself. It is proposed that the core concepts of enactment may comprise an ideology that reduces the likelihood of crisis.
This paper synthesizes research on the organizational learning phenomenon. The concept of organizational learning systems is proposed and developed. Learning systems are the mechanisms by which learning is perpetuated and institutionalized in organizations. Findings from an exploratory study of organizational learning are used as a basis for developing a typology of organizational learning systems.
This paper explores the relation between decision theoretic conceptions of risk and the conceptions held by executives. It considers recent studies of risk attitudes and behavior among managers against the background of conceptions of risk derived from theories of choice. We conclude that managers take risks and exhibit risk preferences, but the processes that generate those observables are somewhat removed from the classical processes of choosing from among alternative actions in terms of the mean (expected value) and variance (risk) of the probability distributions over possible outcomes. We identify three major ways in which the conceptions of risk and risk taking held by these managers lead to orientations to risk that are different from what might be expected from a decision theory perspective: Managers are quite insensitive to estimates of the probabilities of possible outcomes; their decisions are particularly affected by the way their attention is focused on critical performance targets; and they make a sharp distinction between taking risks and gambling. These differences, along with closely related observations drawn from other studies of individual and organizational choice, indicate that the behavioral phenomenon of risk taking in organizational settings will be imperfectly understood within a classical conception of risk.
Advancing technology is causing rapid and often uncharted changes for many large firms. Responses to these changes reveal the more radical, non-linear forms of organizational learning to be even more important than previously believed. This article identifies types of organizational learning in large high technology firms; proposes a learning framework derived from previous work; augments the framework with an intensive case study of one exemplar; and focuses upon the discontinuous learning abilities needed during two learning periods which are especially critical today, crisis and renewal of innovation. Stages at which a successful technological unit must alter radically its learning modes are identified and analyzed. Strategic managerial practices to enhance innovation by fostering appropriate organizational learning modes are presented.
This essay examines elements of a theory of organizational knowledge creation. To this end, a model for the management of the dynamic aspects of organizational knowledge is offered, using hands-on research and practical experience of Japanese firms. Two dimensions are examined to assess the importance of knowledge management: tacit and explicit knowledge. Four modes of knowledge creation through the interaction of tacit and explicit knowledge are presented: 1) socialization; 2) externalization; 3) internalization; and 4) combination. The process of organizational knowledge creation is also described in a corporate organizational setting. The model helps to explain how the knowledge of individuals, organizations, and societies can be enriched through the amplification of tacit and explicit knowledge of each. The key to this process is a joint creation of knowledge by both individuals and organizations. Organizations play an important role in mobilizing the tacit knowledge that individuals possess, as well as providing forums for knowledge creation through socialization, combination, externalization, and internalization. The concept of organizational knowledge creation allows for the development of a perspective that reaches beyond straightforward notions of organizational learning. Practical proposals, such as hypertext and middle-up-down management, are offered as modes of implementing more effective knowledge creation. (CBS)
âI shall reconsider human knowledge by starting from the fact that we can know more than we can tell,â writes Michael Polanyi, whose work paved the way for the likes of Thomas Kuhn and Karl Popper. The Tacit Dimension argues that tacit knowledgeâtradition, inherited practices, implied values, and prejudgmentsâis a crucial part of scientific knowledge. Back in print for a new generation of students and scholars, this volume challenges the assumption that skepticism, rather than established belief, lies at the heart of scientific discovery. âPolanyiâs work deserves serious attention. . . . [This is a] compact presentation of some of the essentials of his thought.ââReview of Metaphysics âPolanyiâs work is still relevant today and a closer examination of this theory that all knowledge has personal and tacit elements . . . can be used to support and refute a variety of widely held approaches to knowledge management.ââElectronic Journal of Knowledge "The reissuing of this remarkable book give us a new opportunity to see how far-reachingâand foundationalâMichael Polanyi's ideas are, on some of the age-old questions in philosophy."âAmartya Sen, from the new Foreword
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This article reports results from empirical tests of relationships between the pattern of innovation within a firm and certain of the firm's characteristics: the stage of development of its production process and its chosen basis of competition. The hypothesized relationships posed for the present investigation are a synthesis of prior research by the present authors on two distinct but complementary conceptual models of innovation, concerning respectively: the relationship between competitive strategy and innovation, and the relationship between production process characteristics and innovation. The empirical investigation is carried out with data available from the Myers and Marquis study of successful technological innovation in five different industry segments. The essential aspects of the hypothesized relationships are that the characteristics of the innovative process will systematically correspond with the stage of development exhibited by the firm's production process technology and with its strategy for competition and growth. As a more specific example these relationships predict that there will be coherent patterns in the stimuli for innovation (market, production or new technology); in the types of innovation (product or process, original or adopted, etc.) and in barriers to innovation. The presently reported statistical evidence is decidedly favorable to the hypothesized relationships, even though the adaptations needed to implement tests with existing data introduce dependencies that limit conclusions which would otherwise be warranted. The broad implication is that strong and important relationships exist among the capability of a firm to innovate, its competitive strategy and the posture of its production resources.
Governance indicators are now widely used as tools for conducting development dialogue, allocating external assistance and influencing foreign direct investment. This paper argues that available governance indicators are not suitable for these purposes as they do not conceptualize governance and fail to capture how citizens perceive the governance environment and outcomes in their countries. This paper attempts to fill this void by conceptualizing governance and implementing a uniform and consistent framework for measuring governance quality across countries and over time based upon citizens’ evaluations.
Comparative Analysis of Local and Transnational Corporations in the Korean Automobile Industry
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