Albert Sune

Organizational forgetting and its causes: an empirical research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the impact of organizational forgetting on knowledge‐intensive firms and the circumstances in which the loss of distinctive knowledge takes place.Design/methodology/approach – The empirical research in this paper consists of a qualitative proposal based on two case studies in higher education involving situations of organizational forgetting.Findings – A framework for conceptualizing organizational forgetting. Moreover, the results of the case study analysis include a categorization of organizational forgetting and a set of propositions about their causes.Originality/value – Scientific research on knowledge management has focused on the processes of knowledge creation, use and transfer, but has devoted little attention to the processes of knowledge degradation and destruction.

Dynamic capabilities as patterns of organizational change: An empirical study on transforming a firm’s resource base

Dynamic capabilities are increasingly being used to explain how firms leverage their resource base over varying levels of market dynamism. Yet little attention is given to how the internal dynamism of the firm might affect capability development. Firms are often faced with the challenge of establishing ways to engage in goal directed action that calls upon routinized, path dependent activity as well as the exploration of new opportunities, at times when there is inner turbulence. Using an in-depth case study (2007 to 2012) on the airline Spanair, we ask the following question: How can a firm leverage its dynamic capabilities to bring about deep purposeful change? In our findings we identify a circular rather than hierarchical capability pattern with four dynamic capabilities, adding, transferring, integrating and shedding, and two higher order capabilities, goal development and orchestration. We contribute to the literature by demonstrating, how a link between the goal development capability of senior directors and the change orchestration capability, create a goal directed path. We also explain how the link between the high order and dynamic capabilities develops an important bridge between path dependence and path creation. We then demonstrate how goal adjustment occurs in a circular manner to create a link between the four dynamic capabilities and the goal development capability. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the goal development and change orchestration capabilities jointly enable a firm’s transformation, particularly in times of heightened internal and external environmental turbulence.

Buenas prácticas de innovación: un estudio exploratorio de empresas tecnológicas en el sector audiovisual español

Resumen El principal objetivo de esta investigacion es contribuir a la comprension de la capacidad de innovacion. Mas concretamente, la investigacion se centra en describir las practicas utilizadas para construir y desarrollar la capacidad de innovacion en dos empresas innovadoras de base tecnologica (EIBT) del sector audiovisual espanol. Por medio de un estudio de casos multiple basado, principalmente, en entrevistas con los responsables de los proyectos de desarrollo de nuevos productos, se ha identificado un conjunto de 17 practicas clasificadas en tres dimensiones: estrategia de innovacion, cultura innovadora y estructura del proceso de innovacion. Este conjunto de practicas ha promovido la obtencion de buenos resultados en los proyectos de desarrollo de nuevos productos en las empresas estudiadas.

Corporate governance, research and development volatility and firm performance - Evidence from Spain and Ireland

Abstract The present study sheds light on the comparative experiences of the two countries originating from differing legal systems and describes how their codes and practices affect the publicly listed firms’ performance. It investigates the linkages between Research and Development (R&D) expenditures, Board characteristics and firm performance using a sample of Irish and Spanish firms for the period 2005–2014. To do this, the study uses ROA and Tobin’s Q as proxies for financial performance; and board size, non-executive directors, female representation and CEO duality as board structure characteristics; and R&D expenditure volatility, employing different techniques that include OLS, fixed effects model and Quantile regression model. The difference-in-difference model is used to verify the significance of robustness of relationships considering the global financial crisis as an exogenous shock. The descriptive statistics suggests a comparability of boards’ independence for the Spanish- and Irish-listed firms. Although the Spanish firms are less dual than Irish firms, the results are comparable on the association between CEO duality and firm performance. The findings of Spanish-listed firms on the relationship between increase and decrease in the R&D expenditures volatility and performance support the creative–destructive perspective that suggests effective governance in funding allocation to R&D.

Main factors to select a cruise homeport in the Mediterranean region: A perspective from the cruise industry agents

This paper aims to identify the criteria which influence the cruise companies in selecting a homeport in the Mediterranean region. To do this, we created a questionnaire and asked for participation the cruise industry key players. The results show that the main factors in selecting a homeport are the cost of port services and the port services to ships, completing the previous studies in this field. The study also presents the global trends in the cruise industry and how they impact on the Mediterranean region.

Organizational change and dynamic capabilities: how a firm transforms its resource base

Dynamic capabilities are increasingly being used to explain how firms leverage their resource base over varying levels of market dynamism yet numerous questions remain. One dilemma surrounds how firms might engage in routinized, path dependent activities while simultaneously exploring new opportunities. Another question surrounds the strategic role required of key firm decision makers in bringing about differential performance. Using an in-depth case study (2007 to 2012) on the airline Spanair, we ask the following question: How can a firm leverage its resource base to bring about deep purposeful change? In our findings we identify a hierarchical framework with two first order dynamic capabilities, goal directing and renewing, and one second order capability, transforming. We contribute to the literature by demonstrating, how a link between the goal directing capability of senior directors and the transforming capability, create a strategic goal directed path used to guide and monitor performance. We also explain how the link between the goal directing and renewing capabilities develops an important bridge between path dependency and path creation in dynamic capabilities. With our renewing dynamic capability (adding, integrating, transferring, and shedding of resources) we show how the systematic use of internal as well as external resources can bring about deep change. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the goal directing and renewing capabilities jointly enable transformative growth, particularly in times of heightened internal and external environmental turbulence.