Allan Næs Gjerding

Organisational Innovation in the Danish Private Business Sector

This paper reviews the first results from a large Danish survey on organisational innovation within the private business sector. The 1,900 surveyed firms are divided in two groups of an almost equal size according to whether or not they have undertaken organisational innovation during the period of 1993-95, i.e. innovative Y-firms and non-innovative N-firms. It appears that the Y-firms to a larger extent than the N-firms employ various types of work organisational principles that facilitate intraorganisational integration and the delegation of authority. The Y-firms find themselves in more competitive environments and are more focussed on the global market than the N-firms and do, to a larger extent, employ functional flexibility and combine technical and organisational innovation in order to meet this challenge. However, 1/3 of the N-firms display organisational characteristics very similar to the Y-firm, and it is hypothesised that this fraction which amounts to approximately 1/7 of the total sample comprises firms which have innovated organisationally in the past, i.e. before 1993. Finally, Y- and N-firms have in common the fact that they have intensified their cooperative relationships with customers and subcontractors. This paper was originally prepared for The Second Meeting of the Nordic Group on Flexible Enterprises, held at Aalborg University, 29-30 August 1996. The data were made available by Frank Skov Kristensen and Kenneth Jorgensen at the Department of Business Studies who performed the necessary computer runs. Comments from Poul Thois Madsen at the Department of Business Studies are gratefully acknowledged.

The Flexible Company: Innovation, Work Organization and Human Resource Management

This paper analyses the DISKO survey data on 1,900 firms within the Danish private business sector in terms of an index which classifies the surveyed firms according to smaller and higher degrees of flexibility. The classification reveals a number of important differences between more or less flexible firms. The more flexible firms tend to combine technical and organisational innovation to a larger extent than the less flexible firms and consequently are more inclined to employ new work organisation principles based on the delegation of authority, intrafirm horisontal and vertical integration, and the development of human resources. Similarly, the more flexible firms exhibit a larger inclination to extend their extraorganisational cooperative relationships. Finally, there is a strong positive correlation between increasing degrees of flexibility and increasing firm size, measured in terms of full-time employees. This paper was originally prepared for the International Conference on Changing workplace strategies: achieving better outcomes for enterprises, workers and society, organised by OECD in cooperation with Human Resource Development Canada at Chateau Laurier, Ottawa, 2-3 December 1996. We acknowledge the assistance of Birgitta Jacobsen, who made the data available.

Industry evolution, submarket dynamics and strategic behaviour among firms in offshore wind energy

This paper contributes to the understanding of competition and industry evolution by analysing how submarket dynamics and agency influence the development of the emerging industrial field of Danish offshore wind energy. We argue that industry evolution is sensitive to the balance between integration, overlap and disintegration across submarkets. This balance depends on how strategic intent and behaviour influence submarket dynamics, leading to the conclusion that effects of agency and managerial intent should play a more prominent role in studies of industry evolution.

Bachelor Programs in Leadership: The Beginning of a Profession

Based on an integrative approach to practical wisdom and theoretical knowledge, the chapter proposes a bachelor program on leadership based on four somewhat controversial propositions: First, theoretical learning is relevant only to the extent that students have opportunities for applying theoretical knowledge in practice. Second, relevance is created by including extra-university communities of practice in teaching and education. Third, the major part of the curriculum is created by the students themselves in terms of analyses and practical experience emerging from the interaction with extra-university communities of practices. Fourth, in consequence, while a baseline of competencies is provided by the program, there is no uniform profile because each student specializes differently.