Alexander Fliaster

Knowledge Mobilization Through Social Ties: The Cost-Benefit Analysis

Social network ties enable collaborative creation and sharing of ideas between knowledge workers. Thus, these ties play an important role in organizational innovation as well as for the personal success of the innovators. However, scholars tend to focus only on the information benefits, underestimating the costs of interpersonal relationships. Going beyond this one-dimensional perspective, we first suggest a theoretical model that takes into account both, benefits and transaction costs of social ties. Second, based on this model, we examine the advantages and disadvantages of strong and weak ties in the process of knowledge mobilization, the quality of knowledge, and the transaction costs of maintaining and using the ties. Finally, we shift the focus from the dyadic perspective to an integrative view and discuss the implications that our analysis has for a knowledge worker’s portfolio of ties.

Cross-hierarchical interconnectivity: forms, mechanisms and transformation of leadership culture

Cross-hierarchical interconnectivity is a social process of transmission and alignment of previously separated pieces of knowledge from idiosyncratic contexts of individuals at different hierarchical levels in an organisation. This paper advocates that the management of interconnectivity can contribute to organisational competitiveness, especially in terms of adaptability, innovation, and cohesion. Based on the parameters of mode, actors culture, time, direction, type of knowledge, and medium, a portfolio of interconnectivity is suggested and the core forms and mechanisms of interconnectivity, which are represented in the portfolio matrix, are discussed in depth. Finally, the specific culture of corporate executives and how it can be improved in order to encourage interconnectivity is analysed.

Change of the insider-oriented corporate governance in Japan and Germany: Between Americanisation and tradition

This paper contrasts the Anglo-American concept of a company as the property of shareholders with the German and Japanese idea of a company as an association of people working together. Also, the authors compare the Anglo-American notion that a company exists to provide a return to shareholders—even if many employees have to be made redundant— with the German and Japanese belief that the purpose of the company is to provide wealth, jobs and new products and services for society. With the globalisation of capital markets and the increased power of Anglo-American pension funds and insurance companies, German and Japanese companies are under pressure to adopt a ‘shareholder value’ philosophy and to take less account of the needs of their employees, customers and the community. This might begin to undermine the excellent relationships which exist between German and Japanese companies and their ‘stakeholders’.

Innovation risk in digital business models: the German energy sector

Purpose Past research demonstrated that novel IT-based business models generate tremendous returns for innovators. However, the risks associated with these innovations remain under-explored. This paper aims to address this critical gap analyzing risks and offering important insights particularly for practitioners. Design/methodology/approach The authors adopted an exploratory multiple-case study research design. It draws on 22 semi-structured interviews with managers from leading energy utilities, as well as leading providers of virtual power plants technology within the German energy industry. Findings The research reveals that main risks in new digital business models in the energy sector are associated with three forms of interdependence between innovation actors: the regulatory, the technological and the collaborative. To deal with these interdependencies, the authors propose an original multi-step risk management framework. This framework considers the outreach as a critical dimension for risk assessment and offers a new risk response matrix to draw individual and collective mitigation activities for specific types of risks. Practical implications This paper offers a framework for the management of interdependence risks that are fundamental for business model innovations based on IT. Thus, it is applicable in companies both inside the energy sector and beyond. Originality/value This paper analyzes an important digital business model innovation that has not yet been explored in management literature – the virtual power plant (VPP). It is based on original and current empirical work and proposes a novel risk management framework for business organizations.

Implementation of green innovations - The impact of stakeholders and their network relations

Green innovation is becoming increasingly important for companies and whole societies, and the research in this field has essentially increased in recent years. As green innovation is expected to ensure both environmental sustainability and economical profitability, it might seriously affect the partly colliding interests of various groups of stakeholders. However, from previous studies less is known about the impact that various groups of stakeholders and particularly the relationships among these stakeholders exert on the implementation of green innovations. To address this gap we first substantiate the relevance of the stakeholder theory for innovation studies in general and green innovations in particular. Furthermore, we argue that from the innovators perspective green innovations are likely to be affected by the interactions with as well as between many primary and secondary stakeholders. To explore this issue in‐depth we conducted a case study of the implementation of an offshore wind farm in Germany. Our research revealed that network ties among stakeholders can be both conducive and detrimental to the green innovation. The insights gained in our study contribute to the stakeholder analysis for the implementation of green innovations.

Bröckelt das Loyalitätsgefüge in deutschen Unternehmen? Herausforderungen für die künftige Gestaltung des „psychologischen Vertrages“ mit Führungskräften

Auf die gestiegene Wettbewerbsintensitat und die Herausforderungen der Globalisierung haben viele Unternehmen in Westeuropa und den USA in den letzten Jahren mit massiven Restrukturierungs- und Personalabbauwellen reagiert. Statt langfristige Beschaftigungsgarantie als „Gegenleistung“ fur eine langfristige Unternehmensloyalitat anzubieten, suchen sie heute nach neuen Formen einer Tauschbeziehung als Basis innerbetrieblicher Kooperation. Ziel dabei ist einerseits die Leistungsfahigkeit und Leistungswilligkeit der Mitarbeiter und andererseits eine erhohte Unternehmensflexibilitat und Kosteneffizienz sicherzustellen.

Der Blick fürs Ganze

In einer digitalisierten Welt hangt der Erfolg einer Innovation immer weniger vom Leistungspotenzial einer Einzeltechnologie ab. Vielmehr spielt das gesamte Ecosystem an voneinander abhangigen technologischen Losungen und Innovationsakteuren eine immer entscheidendere Rolle. In diesem Beitrag verdeutlichen wir, dass Verfugbarkeitsengpasse entweder bei Input- oder bei Komplementartechnologien den Markterfolg einer technologischen Innovation erheblich beintrachtigen konnen. Basierend darauf erlautern wir ein Rahmenmodell mit vier moglichen ecosystembezogenen Problemszenarien. Am Beispiel von sechs Anwendungsfeldern des industriellen 3D-Drucks veranschaulichen wir diese vier Szenarien und leiten geeignete Losungsstrategien ab. Insgesamt soll der Beitrag so unternehmerischen Entscheidungstragern eine Hilfestellung zur Lokalisierung von Herausforderungen im Innovationsecosystem bieten.

„Play to win“ versus „Play it safe“

In diesem Beitrag erlautern wir die Eigenschaften, die ein innovationsforderliches Partnerportfolio besitzen sollte, und analysieren, mit welchen Herausforderungen der Aufbau eines solchen Portfolios verbunden ist. Wir argumentieren aus theoretischer Perspektive, dass Unternehmen generell zum Aufbau von homogenen „Play it safe“-Netzwerken tendieren, und erlautern, warum diese Tendenz gerade bei der digitalen Transformation die Innovations- und Wettbewerbsfahigkeit unterminieren kann. Basierend auf einer empirischen Studie in der deutschen Energiebranche verdeutlichen wir diese Problematik und zeigen auf, dass sich die Partnerportfolios innovativer und weniger innovativer Unternehmen signifikant unterscheiden. Wahrend insgesamt die Tendenz zu „Play it safe“-Netzwerken klar erkennbar ist, sind die Partnerportfolios der innovationsstarksten Unternehmen eindeutig heterogener und ressourcenreicher. Top Performer gehen so insgesamt strategischer vor und verfolgen einen „Play to win“-Ansatz.

Anbau, Umbau, Neubau?

ZusammenfassungIn diesem Beitrag betrachten wir, wie Unternehmen aus Automobil‑, Bahn‑, Luft- und Busverkehr ausgehend von ihrem bisherigen Geschäftsmodell die digitale Transformation umsetzen. Wir analysieren dabei den jeweiligen Transformationsprozess im Detail anhand der drei Elemente „Strategisches Handlungsmuster im Umgang mit digitalen Geschäftschancen“, „Fokus der digitalen Transformation“ und „Modus der Geschäftsmodellentwicklung“. Es zeigt sich, dass etablierte Unternehmen oft adaptive oder expansive Handlungsmuster verfolgen, sich vor allem auf Wertangebot und Wertabschöpfung fokussieren und hauptsächlich auf die Erweiterung und Revision bestehender Geschäftsmodelle setzen. Als Handlungsempfehlung schlagen wir vor, dass Firmen ihr Portfolio an Geschäftsmodellinitiativen in Richtung neuer Geschäftsmodelle anpassen, sich mehr auf die Entwicklung eigener Kompetenzen hinsichtlich Digitalisierung konzentrieren und geeignete Strukturen und Prozesse zur Stimulierung von Innovation und Lernorientierung bei der Geschäftsmodellentwicklung schaffen.AbstractIn this paper, we examine how companies in the mobility sector propel digital transformation of their current business models. In particular, we analyze the digital transformation processes in detail based on the three key elements—“Strategic Pattern of Response to Digital Business Opportunities”, “Focus of the Digital Transformation”, and “Mode of Business Model Development”. Results show that well-established companies often follow adaptive and expansive logic, focus on value proposition and value capture and mainly rely on the extension and revision of existing business models. Based on these insights, we argue that firms have to adjust their portfolio of business model initiatives towards the creation of new businesses, concentrate more on the development of their digitization-related competencies and establish adequate structures and processes for stimulating innovation and learning-orientation for the new business model development.

Preparing Energy Providers’ Knowledge Base for Going Digital

Within this study, we develop a procedure for strategic knowledge management which focuses on small and medium energy providers in order to help them assemble and improve their organizational knowledge base for digital innovation. This tool called EPOS procedure is designed to fulfill nine functional requirements. These are drawn from literature, confirmed via empirical data and cross-checked in discussions with practitioners in order to ensure its usability and effectiveness. The procedure comprises four general phases in which knowledge needs are determined, deficiencies within the current knowledge base uncovered, action plans formulated and improvement measures implemented. By extending hitherto existingapproaches insofar as the multidimensional nature of knowledge and innovation, the importance of a certain amount of slack, a long-term strategic perspective and context specifics in the energy industry are concerned, the study provides substantial prescriptive suggestions for management in the energy sector.