Bo Bernhard Nielsen

Learning and Innovation in International Strategic Alliances: An Empirical Test of the Role of Trust and Tacitness

Drawing on knowledge-based, organizational learning, and social capital perspectives, we propose and test an integrated framework in which knowledge tacitness and trust act as mediating mechanisms in the relationship between partner characteristics and alliance outcomes. We distinguish between learning and innovation outcomes and suggest that while innovation may result from alliance learning, it can also be created by combining separate knowledge bases without learning from each other. We contend that tacitness and trust play differing roles in the pursuit of learning and innovation and test this proposition on a sample of 120 international strategic alliances.

An Empirical Investigation of the Drivers of International Strategic Alliance Formation

Using data from a web-survey of Danish partner firms engaged in international strategic alliances, this study explores the factors that drive alliance formation between two specific firms across national borders. The relative importance of a set of partner selection criteria is identified and related to extant theory. By means of exploratory factor analysis, a more parsimonious set of selection criteria is provided and their relationships to a number of characteristics of the sample - prior international alliance experience, administrative governance form, nationality of foreign partner and motives for alliance formation analyzed. The findings indicate that partner choice is a function of strategic motivation and varies significantly with governance mode and partner nationality.

Strategic Fit and the Role of Contractual and Procedural Governance in Alliances: A Dynamic Perspective

This paper focuses specifically on interfirm strategic collaboration as a vehicle for knowledge management across firm boundaries. Drawing on the widely accepted exploitation/exploration dichotomy, this article contributes to research concerning alliance dynamics by combining elements related to alliance formation, negotiation and outcomes. By integrating the exploitation/exploration arguments into a set of knowledge-related strategic motives for alliance formation, the main arguments focus on the influence of governance mechanisms on the relationship between strategic fit and outcome in terms of knowledge. This paper integrates the emergent knowledge-based theories of alliance formation (and outcome) with existing theories related to governance and coordination in an attempt to explain how the knowledge outcome of collaborative relationships may be determined by the strategic fit of partner motives, influenced by the mix of contractual and procedural governance. A series of testable propositions are derived in order to answer the following question: Do combinations of contractual and procedural coordination, given specific strategic fit, explain performance differentials?

Siemens ShareNet: Knowledge management in practice

Knowledge sharing across organisational and national borders is of increasing importance for large multinational companies. This case study looks at how the German electronics and engineering giant Siemens introduced its pilot ShareNet knowledge-sharing system as part of efforts to evolve into a knowledge-based company. As Siemens found, the behavioural issues involved in developing a knowledge management network are challenging. Siemens ShareNet: knowledge management in practice

Trust in strategic alliances: Toward a co-evolutionary research model

This article examines the dynamic and multi-dimensional nature of trust in strategic alliances. Adopting a co-evolutionary approach, I developed a framework to show how trust, conceptualised in different forms, plays distinct roles at various evolutionary stages of the alliance relationship. Emphasising the multi-dimensional and dynamic role of trust, the framework illustrates how initial levels of a particular type of trust may co-evolve with the alliance and influence subsequent phases of the relationship – either on its own or in combination with other types or dimensions of trust. The theoretical distinction between trust as antecedent, moderator and outcome during the evolution of the alliance relationship leads to research questions that may guide future empirical research.

The Impact of Top Management Team Nationality Diversity and International Experience on Foreign Entry Mode

Nationality diversity and international experience constitute two related yet distinct sources of competence among upper echelons. While both TMT international experience and nationality diversity increases the likelihood of firms expanding outside their home region, our results show that TMTs with international experience are more likely to expand abroad via greenfield investments, whereas nationally diverse TMTs are more likely to engage in international acquisitions and joint ventures. This highlights the need to treat TMT nationality diversity and international experience as two different characteristics influencing foreign entry mode decision.

MNCs and knowledge management: a typology and key features

Purpose – In the literature there is inherent lack of process-oriented, evolutionary perspectives of organizational knowledge as it pertains to international business. To fill this gap, the aim of this paper is to draw on existing theories of the multinational corporation (MNC) and integrate it with knowledge management research to analyze key knowledge management features and dynamics of different types of MNCs. The paper aims at proposing a link between types of MNCs and knowledge management strategies applied by MNCs. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a series of examples from MNCs worldwide to propose a knowledge management based typology of MNCs and to illustrate how they exhibit different strategic dynamics related to knowledge management. Findings – An important stream of literature on MNCs distinguishes between two traditional models for established MNCs, originally described as ethnocentric and polycentric models. A common theme in these studies propose that dramatic changes in the competitive environment has reduced the effectiveness of traditional MNC approaches, highlighting the need to move toward network-based structures. Building on the evolutionary perspective of MNCs, the paper suggests a third type of MNC characterized by a virtual infrastructure based on an e-business model. The paper argues that this type may be more appropriate for organizing managerial activities across organizational and national boundaries in the new web-based knowledge economy. Practical implications – The paper suggests that whereas traditional MNCs invite for management interventions based on centralized economies of information, it makes more sense to manage networked MNCs as integrated learning organizations and e-business based MNCs as boundary-less virtual communities of practice. Originality/value – The paper develops a new typology of multinational corporations based on key features and dynamics related to knowledge management. The paper distinguishes between traditional MNCs, knowledge networks and MNCs as e-businesses. It particularly addresses strategic, technical, organizational and human dimensions of knowledge management and how these differ in the three MNC models.

Why do firms employ foreigners on their top management team? An exploration of strategic fit, human capital and attraction-selection-attrition perspectives

The number of foreigners appointed to top management teams has increased significantly over the past decade. However, the question of why some firms elect to employ foreign nationals in top executive positions remains unclear. This study tests competing explanations based on strategic fit, human capital and attraction—selection—attrition perspectives. Results from empirical tests utilizing a multi-level methodology on a sample of Swiss publicly listed companies suggest that degree of international diversification is positively associated with the likelihood of having a foreign executive, whereas human capital characteristics do not explain the propensity to employ a foreigner on the top management team. In addition, nationality diversity at the board level, as well as the international experience of the top management team, predict the probability of having a foreign top executive. Pourquoi les entreprises emploient-elles des étrangers au sein de leur équipe de direction ? Une étude des différentes perspectives du fit stratégique, du capital humain et du modèle ASA (attraction-sélection-attrition) Sabina Nielsen et Bo Bernhard Nielsen Le nombre d’étrangers nommés à des équipes de direction a augmenté de façon significative au cours de la dernière décennie. Pourquoi certaines entreprises décident-elles d’employer des étrangers à des postes de cadres supérieurs demeure cependant peu clair. Cette étude teste des explications contradictoires sur la base des perspectives du fit stratégique, du capital humain et du modèle ASA. Les résultats d’essais empiriques utilisant une méthodologie multi-niveaux sur un échantillon de compagnies suisses cotées en bourse suggèrent que le degré de diversification internationale est positivement associé à la probabilité d’avoir un cadre étranger, alors que les caractéristiques humaines n’expliquent pas la propension d’employer un étranger au sein de l’équipe de direction. En outre, la diversité nationale à l’échelon du conseil d’administration ainsi que l’expérience internationale des membres de l’équipe de direction, rendent plus probable le fait d’avoir des cadres supérieurs étrangers au sein de l’entreprise. n du Ccié positi

Strategic Knowledge Management: A Research Agenda

This paper aims at identifying a new research agenda for knowledge management by challenging the existing paradigms within strategic management. By outlining the main strategic management perspectives in contemporary business literature and combining them with current knowledge management perspectives, an indication of the evolution of research pertaining to strategic knowledge management emerges. The paper concludes by offering a new, more dynamic perspective of knowledge management, focusing on the synergies of knowledge-related capabilities in explaining the formation and economic justification of strategic integrative arrangements.

Scenario planning as organizational intervention

This paper aims to identify four areas in need of future research to enhance the theoretical understanding of scenario planning (SP), and sets the basis for future empirical examination of its effects on individual and organizational level outcomes.,This paper organizes existing contributions on SP within a new consolidating framework that includes antecedents, processes and outcomes. The proposed framework allows for integration of the extant literature on SP from a wide variety of fields, including strategic management, finance, human resource management, operations management and psychology.,This study contributes to research by offering a coherent and consistent framework for understanding SP as a dynamic process. As such, it offers future researchers with a systematic way to ascertain where a particular study may be located in the SP process and, importantly, how it may influence – or be influenced by – various factors in the process.,This study offers specific research questions and precise guidelines to future scholars pursuing research on SP.