Andrea Furlan

Complementarity and lean manufacturing bundles: an empirical analysis

Purpose – The paper aims to test and validate the complementarity effects on operational performance of two of the main lean manufacturing bundles, just‐in‐time (JIT) and total quality management (TQM). The paper also explores the role played by the human resource management (HRM) bundle as an enhancer of the complementarity between JIT and TQM.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on statistical analysis on the high performance manufacturing round III database, a survey that involves 266 plants in nine countries across three different industries (electronics, machinery and transportation components).Findings – The paper proves the existence of complementarity between JIT and TQM and shows the enabling role of HRM on such complementarity.Research limitations/implications – The paper provides analytical and empirical argumentations showing that JIT and TQM mutually reinforce each others marginal returns on operational performance. The study also indicates that only those plants characterized by...

Customer‐supplier integration forms in the air‐conditioning industry

Purpose – This paper explores what suppliers and customers do in order to integrate their operations across the supply chain. It also identifies on what contextual factors these specific CSI practices are contingent.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses the multiple case study methodology as a basis for theory formulation. Insights from nine cases of OEM‐supplier relationships in the Italian high precision air conditioning industry are used to address the research questions and formulate theoretical propositions.Findings – The paper develops four theoretical propositions derived from a framework that identifies four CSI forms contingent on two contextual variables – the value impact of goods purchased from each supplier and the degree of purchasing goods customization.Research limitations/implications – This paper provides a framework that advances the understanding of effective supplier relations management in two ways. Firstly, it gets over the traditional dichotomy between arms length relations...

Unveiling the growth process: entrepreneurial growth and the use of external resources

– Business research and entrepreneurship literature typically examines external resources as input or output of entrepreneurial (or high) growth. The purpose of this paper is to combine these two perspectives in describing and modeling high growth. , – The study tests the hypotheses on a sample of medium-sized, established manufacturing firms using structural equation modeling. , – Results provide original contributions to the business research on firm growth and entrepreneurship. They are consistent with studies advocating the importance of adopting a process perspective when studying business growth to probe the causal mechanisms behind growth. , – Being quantitative, this study does not address the dynamic interdependencies between proprietary and hybrid growth. However, the literature on entrepreneurship would benefit from qualitative studies that explore how successful and sustainable growth processes combine the two modes of growth. , – Findings partially discard the input and output approach in favor of a vision of entrepreneurial growth as a process that unfolds over time with the development of external relationships. Only the process of collaboration, a core competence of entrepreneurial firms, reduces information asymmetries and agency problems, thus turning the corresponding inter-organizational relationships into formidable feeders of firm growth. Entrepreneurial growth is in fact a process that needs external relationships in order to flourish over time.

Spin-off performance in the start-up phase – a conceptual framework

Purpose – Literature on spin-offs still lacks a thorough understanding of the forces governing spin-off performance. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by taking a network perspective. Design/methodology/approach – The paper combines the literature on spin-offs with the network approach to new ventures to proposing a model showing how networking in the pre-entry phases affects a spin-offs survival and early growth. Findings – The intensity and variety of interactions between the future entrepreneur (FE) and other individual actors has a positive impact on spin-off performance in both the incubation and the emergence phases. The degree of overlap between the network of the incubation phase and the network of the emergence phase also reinforces the effects of the intensity and variety of these interactions on performance during the emergence phase. Finally, entrepreneurial innovativeness is an antecedent of spin-off performance in that it requires different degrees of overlap between the network...

Modularity in KIBS: The Case of Third-Party Logistics Service Providers

This paper investigates service modularity and inter-organizational coupling in knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). While KIBS literature traditionally emphasizes tight client–provider interactions with service customization, modularity literature emphasizes inter-organizational decoupling with service standardization. We disentangle this tension by exploring how KIBS firms utilize service modularity and shape their client–provider relationships in terms of information and knowledge sharing. Conducting two in-depth case studies of third-party logistics (TPLs), we show that TPLs extensively rely on service modularity with standard procedures as their constitutive element. We also demonstrate that service modularity and inter-organizational decoupling are aligned for knowledge sharing but not for information sharing, which remains high regardless of the service architecture. Overall, we suggest that modularity in KIBS differs in many aspects from modularity in products and that these differences significantly impact the organizational design consequences of service modularity. Theoretical and managerial implications are drawn.

Breathing Shoes and Complementarities: Strategic Innovation in a Mature Industry

This paper tells the story of Geox, an Italian footwear manufacturer that, in less than a decade, has become one of the worlds largest shoe manufacturers. Applying the related notions of complementarity and performance landscape to study strategic positioning in the footwear industry, we show that, though grounded on product innovation (the original Geox breathes® patented system which allows ventilation in waterproof rubber sole), Geoxs competitive advantage has not grown out of operational excellence in single activities in the business, but, rather, derives from a unique and consistent configuration of complementary activities. Such configuration represents an innovative strategic position and corresponds to a peak in the footwear industry performance landscape. The case study offers anecdotal evidence in support of complementarity based economic theory. It confirms that, in the presence of complementarities, rivals find strategy imitation and reverse engineering difficult due to the unique nature of the relationships among complementary variables.

Spinoffs and their endowments: beyond knowledge inheritance theory

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to integrate knowledge inheritance theory with the social capital perspective to explain the initial endowments of spinoffs. Design/methodology/approach – The authors maintain that social capital plays a crucial part, both as a mechanism supporting the generation of intellectual capital prior to a spinoff’s foundation, and as an endowment that complements this capital once the spinoff is founded. Knowledge inheritance remains a fundamental mechanism for the formation of a spinoff’s intellectual capital. Its other endowment, social capital, derives from three types of relationship that future entrepreneurs develop within, through and outside their parent firm, all three of which are crucial to the formation of a spinoff’s intellectual capital. Findings – The first result of the theoretical research is an integrative framework of a spinoff’s endowments. Moreover, the authors apply this framework to address two key research questions in the spinoff literature, i.e. whet...

Knowledge dynamics in third-party logistics: balancing exploitation and exploration through service architectures

A third-party logistics provider (TPL) is an external provider who manages, controls, and delivers logistics activities on behalf of a shipper (Hertz and Alfredsson, 2003). The scholars’ recent interest in TPLs relates to the rising tendency to outsource logistics in a variety of industrial sectors that has been generating a growing demand for advanced logistics services (Selviaridis and Spring, 2007).

Lean bundles and configurations: a fsQCA approach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there are different configurations of lean bundles leading to successful (bad) financial performance and to explore how the complementarities and substitutions between lean bundles shape these configurations. Design/methodology/approach A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was performed on 19 manufacturing firms. Data on financial performance (return-on-asset and growth rate) were retrieved from the AIDA database and data on the lean bundles of just-in-time, total quality management, total preventive maintenance and human resource management were collected via surveys conducted in all the plants belonging to the sampled firms. Findings None of the lean bundles is able to explain alone the firm’s successful financial performance. Lean bundles always have to be complemented by other lean bundles. There are different, equifinal configurations of lean bundles leading to successful (bad) financial performance. Configurations characterized by low implementation of lean bundles are related to bad financial performance. Practical implications By finding different configurations of lean bundles associated with successful and bad financial performance, this study informs operations managers on the most effective investments concerning the implementation of lean manufacturing. Originality/value This study extends literature on complementarities in lean manufacturing literature. It also bridges together apparently contradictory research on the relationship between lean manufacturing and financial performance. Finally, the study demonstrates that lean bundles have different roles in reaching successful and bad financial performance.

Who lives longer? Startups vs spinoffs founded as proprietorships

Purpose – Studies on spinoffs neglect firms founded by single individuals (i.e. proprietorships) thus overlooking a large portion of new ventures. Moreover, scholars usually do not consider the effect of the rank, and the amount, of founder’s working experience on spinoff’s survival. The purpose of this paper is to analyze a sample of 3,456 Italian manufacturing proprietorships. Design/methodology/approach – Out of an initial population of some 6,000 firms, the authors obtained a sample of 3,456 usable records with complete information about new ventures and founders’ background. The authors relied on the class of methods known as “proportional hazard models” to perform survival analyses. Findings – Analyses show that spinoffs from surviving parents outlive other startups. Surprisingly, spinoffs from high-ranked positions have comparable hazard rates than other startups while spinoffs from low-ranked positions have lower hazard rates than other startups. Finally, industry-specific working experience has a...