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Six Sigma has proven to be one of the most emerging business strategies in the 21st Century for accelerating innovation and continuous improvement activities in both manufacturing and service environments for achieving both operational and business excellence. Although we have witnessed various quality management initiatives in organisations, none of them placed an unprecedented importance on the integration of tools and techniques into a systematic and organised problem solving framework. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how Six Sigma is different from the previous quality management and improvement initiatives. The paper also addresses the future directions of Six Sigma and the role of academic community for enhancement of existing Six Sigma methodology and for the development of theory underpinning the principles of Six Sigma. The author firmly believes that Six Sigma will continue to grow and evolve to match the needs of the modern business in the 21st Century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a thorough investigation of how corporate crises are managed in the Italian context. It offers an investigation of the legal, accounting, finance and managerial aspects that are involved in the formal resolution of the crisis. The paper adopts a qualitative methodology consisting in a critical review of both the academic and the practical literature to present a systematic overview of how recovery plans are executed, monitored and their performance analysed. The paper presents important insights for researchers, practitioners, entrepreneurs and managers interested in crisis management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological entrepreneurship concerns the transformation of potentially viable technological opportunities into profitable businesses. Technological entrepreneurship is recognised as a key driver of successful technological innovation. In addition, matching technological opportunities with local market needs is a characteristic feature of Chinese technology firms' catch-up and innovation potential. However, extant research on technology and innovation management has yet to fully include entrepreneurship insights in the study of innovation, especially in Chinese firms. With this aim, the paper identifies and investigates the relationships between a number of internal and external factors and technological entrepreneurship. Using a multi-disciplinary and multi-level literature review and findings collected through case studies and interviews in 74 Guangdong technology firms, the paper presents possible explanations concerning the relationship explored and discusses their theoretical and practical relevance, with particular reference to the role of support policies, IPR enforcement and personal relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large domestic market of China has provided opportunities for Chinese firms to implement successful product innovations based partially on imported technology. This paper analyses the secondary product innovations as redesigning and reconstructing the original product architecture of first movers in order to adapt to the customer needs in the domestic market. We have found that latecomers can implement secondary product innovations for the domestic market in three ways: architecture localisation (adjusting to general local needs), customer-triggered special design (changing to penetrate segments with special needs), and derivative integration (reconstructing/recombining components). Considering those implementation methods, there has been an induction of secondary product innovation stages in Haier washing machines. This paper contributes to latecomer market adaptation and product architecture issues in addition to the traditional technological catch-up analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SME innovation strategy and motivation has become one of the most challenging subjects of innovation policy. New innovation models proposed recently have captured the attention of policy makers. However, these models seem for the most part to be applicable to medium-sized or large enterprises. The objective of this paper is to analyse the open innovation model in the case of outsourced cooperative R&D in SMEs. Although the driving forces for outsourcing innovation in SMEs are in some respects similar to those for large firms, others are linked to lack of resources, but both have in common the pursuit of efficiency in R&D and technology transfer. This paper is based on an empirical study of open innovation in SMEs and proposes a model for analysing the critical elements which influence performance and strategic alignment between R&D performers and their partners (in most cases, SMEs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global financial crisis brought down some of the world's largest and most well-established financial institutions. In an area of business activity where tradition and trust are said to count for much, astonishing levels of open criminality, venality, and willingness to exploit weak regulatory structures were brought to light by the financial crisis. This paper is a paraenetic comment on that crisis. It is an exhortation to better business practices, a recognition that the crisis was brought about because the old sanctions of shame and regulation failed to deter unethical behaviour. The paper reviews some of the reasons for this and introduces the idea of corporate moral obligation (CMO) as an alternative ethic. We suggest that CMO better captures a universal commitment to unwavering values than does the more utilitarian approach of weighing the interests of various stakeholders, many of whom lack the power to secure what is their rightful due. In commending CMO, we do not aim to anticipate every objection but rather to encourage consideration of one possible way of overcoming the ethical lag exposed by the global credit crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rhythm of production as one of the major characteristics of manufacturing and technological processes is considered in this paper. Various rhythmicity indices, often yielding different results for the same initial data, are used to determine the pace of work. The paper presents some axioms stating the conditions which methods of determining rhythmicity indices of manufacturing and technological processes should satisfy. Several methods of determining rhythmicity indices are offered and their effectiveness is validated. It has been found that the above axioms are satisfied by the Atkinson's and variation coefficients and Theil's index, which may be recommended for practical application. A case study of the calculation of monthly and quarterly rhythmicity indices for a consortium of three construction firms is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper introduces a process for brainstorming new product ideas and business concepts. The developed process utilises a group support system. It aims to enhance the innovation process and the transfer of knowledge inside a company by offering effective means for cooperation. The paper reports the experiences and findings of using the developed process in business cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proxies Knowledge Management (KM) enablers as strategy and leadership, organisational culture, employees, IT and establishing a special unit in charge of KM. By surveying small and medium enterprises in Taiwan, the results indicate that the four enablers of strategy and leadership, organisational culture, employees and establishing a special unit in charge of KM are significantly and positively associated with non-financial performance in the learning and growth perspective, internal process perspective and customer perspective. The outcomes of the learning and growth perspective and the internal business process perspective have mediating effects between the KM enablers and the performance in the customer perspective. This paper thus recommends that small and medium enterprises set up infrastructures of KM to increase the performance in the non-financial perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corporate accounting scandals have forced businesses to improve the management level of corporate e-mail records. To provide the management framework of e-mail records in corporate environments is the purpose of this paper. This paper investigates an industrial state of e-mail record management using questionnaires. Based on the literature reviews on security management and regulations, and according to the result of questionnaires, the purpose of the e-mail record management is provided. Finally, a management framework is suggested to improve the management of corporate e-mail records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased competition has led to organisations facing the challenge of implementing quality management to achieve best practice, while at the same time having to address the need for innovation management to develop new products, services and processes. The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between quality management and innovation management from a perspective that recognises the full contribution of quality management to academia and praxis. The research question in the paper is, how can organisations use their existing quality models to achieve their innovation management objectives? A multiple- and segmented-case analysis is used to show, first, how organisations have applied quality models based on quality objectives and, second, how the same organisations have used these quality models to achieve innovation objectives. The findings show that the concepts of a quality-innovation continuum and that of quality as a preceding foundation for innovation can help organisations reconceptualise and reapply their quality models to achieve innovation objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Businesses have voluntarily adopted environmental strategies to go beyond compliance. This can be attributed to: a) business community's realisation that environmental investments have the potential to improve business performance and b) pressure from multiple stakeholder groups. In order to improve business relations with the stakeholders, business needs to identify these stakeholder groups and also understand their environmental concerns across the entire life cycle of the product. The first part of this paper deals with relevant theory and introduces a framework to analyse significant environmental stakeholder groups and their influence across its entire life cycle on corporate behaviour. The second part of the paper presents a system approach to improve stakeholders' satisfaction and further develops a model based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to measure stakeholders' satisfaction. The results are discussed through a case of a steel manufacturing unit in India. The paper closes with a discussion of research implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological change in firms in late-industrialising countries is very much a process of acquiring and improving technological capabilities. The paper reviews some literatures on technological capabilities, technological learning and systems of innovation to prepare the ground for the investigation of the following questions: Do firms with high technological capabilities, in terms of the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to Own Brand Manufacturing (OBM) framework, also have high innovation and linkage capabilities? And does the quality of the national and regional innovation system positively influence these capabilities? In order to answer these questions, the paper compares groups of firms with different capabilities in Bangkok (Thailand), Penang (Malaysia) and Singapore. Finding evidence in favour of both questions, we argue that the quality of the innovation system is highly important for learning and innovation, even though figures for Penang suggest that firms can do better than the quality of their respective National Innovation System (NIS) would predict. Nevertheless, the influence of the innovation system is clearly stronger than the level of technological capabilities ߞ at least in the classification used in our study. Hence, we additionally assert that more subtle classification methods for the assessment of technological capabilities should be used in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Korean IT industry has shown distinct patterns in learning mechanisms and organisational configuration throughout its entry into advanced information technology. Innovation systems in the area of information technology have also evolved along with technological capability, thereby changing the focus of technological strategies and the role of public institutions. It is found that distinctive patterns of learning and diffusion mechanisms in the case of DRAMs, TDX, and CDMA systems represent successful catch-up situations in Korea as presented in this paper. This paper characterises the stylised facts of the Korean innovation system in the IT sector and traces how technology and institutions coevolved throughout the development process. The transition from technology-using to technology-generating is not an automatic process. Cumulative learning in both technology and organisation is a critical factor to upgrade technological capabilities. The main policy implication of the paper is that it is important to design the corresponding organisational and institutional arrangement in accordance with the changing need of technological upgrading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological learning plays a crucial role in the development of a firm's technological capability in late-industrialising countries. Based on the comprehensive case studies of five, large Chinese technology-based manufacturing firms, this paper explores three complementary, interdependent and dynamic patterns of firm-level technological capability building: (i) the import of technology, (ii) co-innovation, and (iii) in-house R&D. This paper seeks to further an analytical framework for linking technological learning strategy to patterns of technological capability building, and this paper also aims to present an in-depth case analysis to apply such framework. The framework consists of three core elements (i.e., gap analysis of technological capability, formulation of technological learning strategy and patterns of technological capability building) and four supporting elements (strategy, organisation, exogenous environment and firm's performance). The results show that these patterns are complementary, interdependent, dynamic and co-evolving for firms in late-industrialising countries to build extensive technological capability, improve technological learning performance and rapidly respond to a hyper-competitive networked environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Traditional’ theoretical tools used to analyse capability building in a development context tend to focus on the accumulation of technological resources, ignoring the significant managerial and organisational aspects of the innovation process. This paper has looked into the performance of eight leading food-processing firms in a typical European industrialising economy. The results show that managerial and organisational aspects and, more specifically, the integration of knowledge over time, across technologies and with suppliers and other external organisations, affect critically the overall innovative and competitive performance of companies. ‘Integrative’ companies managed to develop more product innovations; low integration ability was associated with lower rates of growth and profitability. The paper calls for practitioners and policymakers alike to look more into managerial and organisational arrangements, especially those that affect the ability of the firm to integrate their knowledge and for them to turn the integration principle to an overriding principle for their actions and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition process from building a minimum knowledge base to deploying the first strategic capabilities is a neglected issue in the literature on technological accumulation in Latin American firms. This paper analyses three organisational processes that may affect this stage and discusses the role of an unstable firm's technology strategy in influencing such processes. Based on a detailed case study of Vitro S.A., one of the largest and most successful Mexican industrial groups, this paper argues that a context characterised by macroeconomic instability and distortions, and the lack of vision of the firm's top management about the role of technology in competitiveness, contribute to explaining the instability of the firm's technology strategy. This, in turn, is a major factor that negatively influences the conversion of individual into organisational learning, the coordination of different learning strategies, and the steadiness of the knowledge-creation process. The weaknesses in these processes make the deployment of strategic capabilities and the completion of the transition process more difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online-retailing might be regarded as a solution to the challenge of becoming and remaining competitive in an evolutionary and dynamic economic environment, especially for entrepreneurs. Theoretical requirements concerning online-retailing, that are discussed in the common literature are mostly not appropriate for newly founded enterprises. They are very extensive and to bring them to fruition often involves financial resources entrepreneurs cannot obtain. The aim of this paper is to fill the seeming research gap in literature on low-budget marketing, especially internet marketing. Regarding entrepreneurial companies and empirical literature, the central propositions of this paper maintain that, firstly, low-budget internet exposures of entrepreneurial firms are successful mainly in a market niche, and secondly, that they evolve corresponding to the company's development. Theoretical approaches taken into consideration are the resource-based view to analyse the capability of development in the context of the life-cycle model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This theoretical paper explores the fundamental issue of how knowledge management initiatives impact business performance. Reflecting on the management literature in the fields of knowledge management and performance management enabled the deduction of four basic assumptions, representing the links of a conceptual cause-and-effect framework - the knowledge value chain. Drawing on the resource-based view and the competence-based view of the firm, the paper identifies strategic, managerial, and operational dimensions of knowledge management. The review of performance management frameworks discusses the role of knowledge management in those models. These reflections allow linking knowledge management with core competencies, strategic processes, business performance, and finally, with value creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the integration process that firms follow to implement Supply Chain Management (SCM) and the main barriers and benefits related to this strategy. This study has been inspired in the SCM literature, especially in the logistics integration model by Stevens. Due to the exploratory nature of this paper and the need to obtain an in depth knowledge of the SCM development in the Spanish grocery sector, the case study methodology was used. A multiple case study analysis based on interviews with leading manufacturers and retailers was conducted. The results of this analysis suggest that firms seem to follow the integration process proposed by Stevens, integrating internally first, and then, extending this integration to other supply chain members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper centres around two research questions: first, the identification of five types of networks that manufacturing firms located in the metropolitan region of Vienna may have created for different purposes and second, the question to what extent the likelihood of interfirm cooperation is conditioned by the general profile of manufacturing establishments and their technological resources. Although this paper focuses on the manufacturing sector a special emphasis is placed on the electronics industry. The study utilises a recent postal survey providing data on size and organisation, products and markets, research and development, innovation and interfirm relationships. The analysis of the first question finds that: first, networking does not yet seem to be a popular managerial and organisational concept for manufacturing firms located in the metropolitan region of Vienna; second, networking activities are primarily based on vertical relationships (customer, manufacturer supplier and producer service provider networks) rather than on horizontal linkages (producer networks, industry-university linkages); third, networks focusing on the later stages of the innovation process are less common than those focusing on the earlier stages; fourth, firms tend to rely on sources of technology from national and — especially — international networks. It appears that metropolitan networking is less common than has been thought. For technical advance spatial proximity does not seem to be very important. Turning to the second research question of the study, focusing on the adoption of the managerial and organisational concept of networking, the results are bolstering the argument that establishment traits and technology related-capabilities do play a role. The results achieved reveal, for example, that in-house research skills are a very good predictor for industry-university relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As technology competition among enterprises become more intense, technical crisis occurs in enterprises, such as technological substitution and technology divulgence. Thus, it is necessary to warn enterprises of those technical crises that can be called technology early warning. As patent data contains much technology information, it becomes an efficient source to analyse technology. This paper proposes a technology early warning model based on patent data to help enterprises execute technology early warning from the perspective of its technology status. To do so, we set ten indicators from four aspects to evaluate the enterprise's technology status at first, calculate the index of enterprise's technical crisis with AHP, and then propose five early warning levels. China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) are taken as comparative case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines R&D collaboration of Chinese firms along the growth of innovation capability from the portfolio perspective. Taking advantage of longitudinal patent data from the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) between 1985 and 2008, the configuration, evolution and pattern of collaboration partner portfolio of Chinese firms are investigated. The results show that: 1) Chinese mainland enterprises (CMEs) are active to engage in R&D collaboration, while most Taiwan-invested enterprises (TIEs) and foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) still develop innovation capabilities on their own; 2) the partner portfolios of CMEs with high growth rate are characterised by a smaller number of partners, lower level of repeated partnerships and higher collaboration intensity, while the low-growth CMEs just show an opposite trend; 3) universities have gradually become the most prominent partners of both high-growth and low-growth CMEs, but the firms are also experiencing a significant growth in their portfolios. By contrast, the role of research institutes is decreasing rapidly, especially in low-growth CMEs. Finally, four typical collaboration patterns are drawn from in-depth analysis of Chinese collaborating firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business incubators have been developed as a key component of entrepreneurial activities in countries all over Europe. These incubators have a non-profit or a for-profit profile, with one-third located in Germany. The increased engagement of private business in what was a public-dominated incubation landscape may influence established theoretical frameworks. Within this context, this paper analyses 11 German business incubators to look at the most common types of for-profit business incubators in Germany and their main characteristics. Moreover, it introduces classification criteria for these incubators. Another aspect of the analysis is the effect of the triple helix dimensions of the different incubation types. The results show that two additional types of incubators can be identified in addition to the traditional public business incubator model, namely 'company builders' and 'accelerators'. Implications for research and practice, as well as directions for future research, are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaboration between firms and universities, two main actors in the national system of innovation, brings the needs of the business world to the attention of the scientific community and allow scientific progress to be diffused more quickly in the real world. The aim of the paper is to compare the determinants of university-industry cooperation across countries and to identify differences between firms that cooperate with domestic and those that cooperate with foreign universities. We use data from 14 European countries taken from the 2008 community innovation survey. The degree of internationalisation is the main determinant of cooperation. Exporting or foreign-owned firms are more likely to cooperate with foreign universities. Differences in cooperation determinants also appear between the four country groupings that we extract by a cluster analysis on variables describing their institutional settings and national innovation systems. Notably different is the group of countries with a weak national innovation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes how supplier relationship management facilitates innovation exploitation and exploration in brewing and bus manufacturing. In the two industries examined, strong ties are associated with exploitation whilst mixed features of strong and weak ties benefit exploration. This is in contrast to the findings of Gilsing and Nooteboom (2005) and suggests that tie strength associated with exploitation and exploration differs according to the industrial context in which firms operate. The findings also suggest different streams of capabilities are required to manage supplier relationships. In exploitation strong ties facilitate capabilities to identify new opportunities, to form a collective to pool resources and to work across organisational boundaries. In exploration weak ties are conducive to the search for new ideas but impede firms' capability to realise potential innovations. Relationship management becomes challenging when innovations are radical, with high complexity in communication and coordination of actors across organisational boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at the evaluation of the impact of firm's size on the innovative performance especially during the period of recent global economic crisis, basing on the results of the analysis conducted for Polish industrial enterprises. The results of the analysis indicate that larger enterprises achieved better results of innovative activity. The analysis showed that the uncertainty caused by the global economic crisis affected adversely the innovative performance of each size class of enterprises. However, larger enterprises proved relatively more resistant to economic turbulences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the 'catching-up' process of China's emerging wind turbine manufacturing ecosystem, and analyses the dynamics of the shifting collaborative innovation network for the period 1980-2011. We have focused on the leading wind turbine manufacturers [i.e., manufacturers of entire wind turbine system integrators (EWSIs)], as well as manufacturers of the turbines' sub-ecosystems (i.e., four key component provider manufacturers: blade, gearbox, generator and control system). A network analysis method was adopted to depict the evolutionary process of the wind turbine manufacturing ecosystem. In summary, this research explores: 1) the different technology accumulation/localisation patterns in four different phases of the manufacturing ecosystem, and the collaborative innovation network; 2) the different roles and their interactions in the wind turbine manufacturing ecosystem in China; 3) the driving forces of the evolution of the wind turbine manufacturing ecosystem. The findings aim to demonstrate the evolutionary trajectory of China in terms of the 'catching-up' of this industry, and contribute to theories of the business ecosystem lifecycle and complementary assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the important role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in tourism, a growing number of destination management organisations (DMOs) have been adopting more complex destination web-applications/websites to tourism destinations - destination management systems (DMSs). However, the concept of DMS is far from being consensual. The present study aims to clarify the concept of DMS by identifying the main differences between DMS and other DMO web-applications/websites regarding functionalities targeted at potential visitors of destinations. This study is carried out based on a comparison between DMS-specific and DMS-non-specific sources (papers and book chapters). The results suggest that the major difference between DMS and more traditional DMO websites relies in the transaction dimension. While DMS-non-specific reviewed sources tend to focus more on informational functionalities, DMS-specific studies clearly highlight transaction tools. The study highlights the need to develop DMS including a more varied range of transactional and communication/relationship functionalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, firms are increasingly adopting ecodesign practices in order to design products with lower environmental impact. This paper reports on a study which investigated the adoption of ecodesign practices among a sample of 30 South African electronic design firms, explored through a mixed methods approach. Key findings indicate relatively low awareness of ecodesign practice and very few firms implementing these practices with specific, strategic intent. Outliers demonstrate and have accrued significant benefits. Among the sample, there were also firms that reaped benefits coincidentally through the application of sound engineering principles, suggesting scope for win-win scenarios. Regulations were considered to be the most important motivating factor whereas cost concerns and conflicts with other product requirements were identified as being important hindering factors. Firms reported benefiting in terms of gaining strategic advantage but few are achieving demonstrable cost advantages. This study suggests that there is considerable scope for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the link between the interorganisational trust and enterprise innovativeness by incorporating the focus on core competencies into the model of relationship between two mentioned variables. On the basis of data coming from 108 of Polish enterprises, a test of mediation is used to prove that interorganisational trust causes enterprise innovativeness indirectly by enabling the focus on core competencies as well as directly due to the creation and transfer of knowledge between collaborating parties. These two direct and indirect mechanisms explain sufficiently how interorganisational trust facilitates innovativeness due to knowledge acquisition and assimilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the relationship between ownership concentration and firm value. Our findings, based on a dynamic panel data analysis, show that there is a quadratic relationship between the company's value and its ownership concentration. Additionally, our evidence suggests that for countries where investor protection is low, the relationship follows an inverted ‘UÂ’ shape, while for countries where investor protection is high, the relationship is positive and nearly linear. Moreover, the influence of blockholders depends on their identity. This paper highlights the superior performance of family firms in controlling agency problems, a situation which contrasts vis-à-vis institutional shareholders. Finally, we report that the family effect is nonlinear. Indeed the positive effect starts to taper off at around 30% of ownership being somewhat smaller and less statistically significant between 30% and 50% of ownership. Moreover, in contrast to recent studies, the family effect is more pronounced in majority-controlled firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyse the incidence of the implementation of ERP systems on the profitability of the biggest Spanish firms. To reach this objective, we sent a questionnaire to a sample of companies. We also gathered the financial statements of these companies. The main results indicate a significant decrement in the profitability of the companies that implemented an ERP system. The reason for this decrement was a reduction in the profit margin, which was caused by an increase in the operational expenses. The results also suggest that adopting firms manipulated earnings to hide the deterioration of their performance. The profitability of non-ERP firms remained unchanged, so the productivity paradox assumption is not supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on innovation highlights the interactive nature of the innovation process in which non-technological activities are essential. However, few works have taken into account the role of other innovative strategies such as marketing and organisational innovations. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to fill this gap. For the empirical work, we used firm-level data drawn from the Community Innovation Survey 2006 for Luxembourg. We find that the effects of non-technological innovations differ depending on the phase of the innovation process. Marketing and organisational innovations significantly increase the likelihood of innovation, but not the commercial success of innovation. The study also shows the differentiated effects of the two types of non-technological innovation in manufacturing and service firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various factors affect a firm's choice of sources of product innovation. Understanding these factors is important for firms to be able to choose sources of innovation based upon their specific conditions. Earlier research has identified many of these factors, mainly by focusing on the internal factors of firms in developed countries. However, there is still a lack of empirical studies of external factors, especially in terms of the relationship between different factors and the choice of sources of innovation in developing countries. This paper examines the determinants of the choice of innovation source for Chinese firms. Based on a combination of participatory studies, interviews and a survey of more than 400 firms in China, it finds that the innovative ideas of other firms are still the most frequently used source of innovation for Chinese enterprises. The links between a firm's choice and its market environment, industry technological opportunities, firm size and R&D intensity are also identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between director independence and firm performance, as well as ownership of firms and firm performance in Malaysia. We find that independent outside directors and foreign directors have a significant positive effect on firm performance after controlling for the influence of other corporate governance variables such as firm ownership and board sizes. The study demonstrates that when a critical mass of outside directors' independence is achieved, this has a significant economic impact on the firm performance. The results have implications for rethinking board composition requirements in the emerging markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As more investors have bought shares in Asian companies, global interest in these firms' corporate governance has soared. Firms like Institutional Shareholder Services have begun to rate Asian firms' corporate governance, assigning them "Corporate Governance Quotients" (CGQ). Some research suggests that companies with higher CGQs deliver better shareholder returns for investors. The first section of this paper examines whether this positive relation holds true in the Asian market and considers the implications of our findings for Asian managers. The second section raises some more general questions about the value and viability of corporate governance ratings and identifies some dangers associated with corporate governance rating systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation programmes have direct and indirect effects on enterprise strategies. In this paper we argue that national and regional programmes, not necessarily designed to increase international links, indirectly leverage international collaborative innovation, by providing additional funding, experience in domestic collaboration, and learning about public funding application rules. Our empirical findings confirm a positive (but small) influence of domestic-level programmes on the probability that a firm develops innovation with foreign partners. Implications for policy are multiple, including the need to consider systemic measures of innovation when evaluating the impacts of innovation programmes on firm's behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most innovation researchers tend to consider innovation adoption as a binary process, implying that companies have either adopted an innovation or not. In this paper we focus on e-commerce as an innovation that can be adopted stepwise. We distinguish between two levels of e-commerce, basic and advanced. Following Rogers' (1995) innovation adoption model, we investigate the differences between companies with regard to their knowledge, perceived potential value, implementation and satisfaction with e-commerce. In a field study involving 127 companies, we consistently find higher scores for companies at the advanced level, even when controlling for the impact of the intention to further adopt e-commerce and various contextual factors. Interestingly, we also find significant, negative interaction effects between adoption level and adoption intention. Due to the magnitude of these effects, the interaction effects tend to cancel out the additional effect of adoption intention for companies at the advanced level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the global knowledge based economy enterprises increasingly face the challenge of collaborative knowledge production in a networked context. Although the importance of the participation in such knowledge-networks is widely recognised, the capabilities for a successful participation have, so far, not been elaborated. Based on the dynamic capabilities view this paper proposes a holistic and practical concept of knowledge-networking capability (KNC). For this purpose knowledge-orientated and interaction-orientated capabilities elaborated in the literature are combined. Extracting the relevant strengths and weaknesses of German small and medium sized enterprises allows for identifying strategic starting points for a systematic development of KNC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organisational routines have paradoxically been recognised as one of the most important elements of both stability and flexibility in organisational behaviour. Identifying routines as sources of stability, macro-level theories tend to overlook micro-level subjective aspects, such as tacit knowledge, intrinsic motivation, and values. Drawing from the knowledge-creation theory (Nonaka, 1994), this paper synthesises the micro and macro, and the subjective and objective dimensions of organisational routines. Organisational routines are described as sources for stability and flexibility, enabling and constraining thought and action of organisational actors. Examples of routines are provided from two Japanese automakers, Honda and Toyota, to describe a dynamic interaction among individuals and their work environment. Conclusions and research limitations are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the determinants of firms' external technology sourcing mode. Instead of focusing on opportunistic behaviour in knowledge transactions and assuming minimising transaction costs as a firms' objective, I focus on firms' absorptive capacity and emphasise gains from knowledge transfer in technology sourcing. I analyse how a firm matches a sourcing mode with its absorptive capacity to enhance knowledge transfer in technology sourcing, and I find positive relations between a firms' absorptive capacity and interactive technology sourcing modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of the mechanisms of knowledge accumulation that are employed by firms is a key to understanding the success of certain regions, and also of some industries and firms. This paper: proposes a general framework for the firm's organisational learning dynamics; provides empirical evidence of the organisational learning dynamics that actually appear in firms from the software publishing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the different types of knowledge involved in the process of knowledge creation, and analyses the main implications of such distinctions that managers need to consider in their attempt to build the dynamic capability of knowledge creation in the firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the nature of relationships existing between characteristics of a cluster and performance of its member companies, and whether and how these relationships vary depending on the type of cluster. This study was conducted on 1000 companies operating in two Korean IT clusters, Teheran Valley and Daedeok Valley; the former is a spontaneously formed cluster and the latter a planned cluster. The results indicate that a significant disparity exists in the relationship between cluster characteristics and firms' performance according to the cluster types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the question: How should Chinese companies cope with their highly dynamic situation and build the capabilities to implement enterprise system (e.g. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)) driven process innovation? We adopt the dynamic capabilities approach to study three ERP-driven process innovation programmes with various implementation outcomes: ranging from a highly successful programme to an abandoned programme. Our research results show that the dynamic capabilities approach can provide a holistic perspective to understand enterprise system driven process innovation at Chinese companies, which are facing a dynamic external environment. Chinese companies often lack the experience of enterprise system ERP-driven process innovation, however they could solve these challenges if they focus more on effectively building their dynamic capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an empirical study exploring the effects of intellectual capital and Dynamic Capabilities (DC) on Innovative Performance (IP) of organisations. Data were collected from a survey of 100 Taiwan companies related to the electronic and Information Technology (IT) industries. Hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression analysis. Results show that Structural Capital (SC) and Relationship Capital (RC) fully mediate the effects of Human Capital (HC) on IF. Moreover, DC have a direct effect on IP. Dynamic capabilities, on the other hand, enhance the positive effect of RC on IF. The implication of the study is that managers should build and cultivate the firm's dynamic capabilities, because of its significant main and moderating effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alliances formed to investigate emerging technologies often fall short of participants' expectations. Das and Teng (2000) proposed that successful alliances (such as those undertaken by R&D consortia) hold three 'competing tensions' in balance, with varying emphasis across several stages in the life of an R&D alliance. This paper reports on a longitudinal case study of an initiative conducted by the Financial Services Technology Consortium to develop and test a new payment system, the eCheck. Consistent with the studies of Das and Teng, we found strong evidence of the stages and competing tensions. However, all three tensions were seen across the stages of the eCheck initiative. Based on these findings, we propose that all three competing tensions need to be managed throughout the life of an inter-organisational learning initiative, and that tensions accelerate (and thus need to be managed most carefully) as a project moves closer to commercial implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the management of Intellectual Property (IF) in R&D alliances, with a focus on two key IP types — patents and trade secrets. Since IP is both inputs to and outputs of R&D alliances, the key is to simultaneously achieve two objectives — IF protection and IF generation. As research inputs, IF could be devalued by partners' opportunistic learning. Thus, IP needs to be carefully selected and protected through mechanisms such as equity arrangement, non-disclosure and non-compete agreements, and monitoring and auditing. Meanwhile, the performance of R&D alliances is mostly measured by their IP outputs. Partner firms face new issues, such as IF classification and ownership. They must decide whether to patent or keep their R&D outputs confidential. In making IF ownership decisions, partners need to consider R&D outputs' potential as the firm's core competencies and the risk of patent interference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on identifying external learning sources of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME5) and the relationship between external learning sources and dynamic capabilities. Our results indicate that the most common sources of external learning for SMEs, in order, are customers, suppliers, the scientific community and other industries. The least common sources are competitors, partnerships and consultants. Our results indicate that learning from customers is a predictor of innovation speed, learning from suppliers is a predictor of operational efficiency, and learning from other industries is a predictor of superior process technologies. However, learning from competitors is negatively associated with the development of product technologies and basic research. Additionally, smaller firms in our sample learn more from suppliers and the scientific community than larger firms, while larger firms learn more from partnerships and consultants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]