Dietmar Roessl

Family Businesses and Interfirm Cooperation

The objective of this article is to formulate hypotheses as to cooperation tendencies and capabilities in family businesses. As a first step, the circumstances under which inter-company cooperation arrangements originate are presented on the basis of an analysis of the relevant literature. Then, these circumstances are compared to cooperation-related characteristics of family businesses, thus identifying factors that hinder or encourage cooperation. This leads to the hypothesis that family businesses tend to be less willing to enter into cooperation arrangements as many characteristics of family businesses have a hindering effect on cooperation.

Relational Competence-Based Knowledge Transfer Within Intrafamily Succession An Experimental Study

This article discusses the challenges of knowledge management within intrafamily succession against the background of the knowledge-based view. As a knowledge transfer is crucial for a successful business continuation, factors that promote the interpersonal knowledge transfer are identified. Since the quality of the relationship between successor and predecessor is considered a key determinant of knowledge transfer, the role of relational competence in the knowledge transfer process is analyzed. A laboratory experiment (N = 107) was conducted to test the derived hypotheses. In its conclusion, the article presents the empirically confirmed strong relationship between relational competence and knowledge transfer within intrafamily succession.

Are family firms fit for innovation? Towards an agenda for empirical research

Based on a comprehensive literature review, we seek to understand the readiness and ability of family firms to innovate and track the innovativeness of family businesses back to their characteristics as a basis for future empirical research. For this, we contrast the characteristics of family firms with the premises of innovation. The resulting profile of fit and misfit allows for the identification of aspects that both promote and hinder innovation in family firms. The identified aspects are condensed to a model which may be used to structure future empirical research on innovation in family firms.

Does Size Matter? Balancing Power in Dyadic Cooperation Relationships

The authors examine the extent to which differences in dependency and power burden cooperative relationships between small and large companies. They also identify the consequences of the behaviour of the cooperation partners. For both small and large cooperation partners, the authors discuss various withdrawal and investment strategies as options for balancing dependency and power among the partners and they sketch possible development paths for such asymmetrical cooperation arrangements.

PARTNER ASSESSMENT AS A KEY TO ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS: TOWARDS A BALANCED SCORECARD APPROACH ∗

It is a key factor for entrepreneurial success to identify and to assess potential partners. The authors discuss traditional methods of evaluating cooperation relationships and cooperation partners and develop an integrative tool to assist with partner evaluation. Evaluations can tie in with the characteristics of the partners and the relationships. However, due to the lack of a theoretical foundation such checklists can only be interpreted on the basis of considerations of plausibility. Alternatively, it is possible to evaluate the resources exchanged. However, this view limits the evaluation to only one central aspect, neglecting the problems complexity. Against this backdrop, we propose an integrative evaluation tool for (potential) cooperation partners using the formal structure of the Balanced Scorecard and discuss its advantages and limitations.

The Role of Social Capital in the Development of Community-Based Co-operatives

Based on a network model of social capital, we derive a set of hypotheses on the formation of social capital among activists engaging in community-based co-operatives for public service delivery. The hypotheses are subsequently tested in a large-scale questionnaire survey in Austria. The results of our study support the findings of Granovetter (1973) and Burt (2001) on the importance of weak ties and structural holes in social networks. On the one hand, critical resources for a community-based co-operative can be found in the acquaintance networks rather than friend or family networks of residents. On the other hand, the paper identifies co-operatives as a suitable form of organising community-based initiatives. Its flexible and open network structure allows the bridging of structural holes within and outside the community, which facilitates necessary information and resource flows. Our analysis provides valuable insights for policy makers concerned with fostering community engagement through co-operatives. Furthermore, the authors contribute to the debate on social capital and its relation to civic participation and the community context.

Correlating Relational Competence with Trust

Empirical evidence has consistently shown that trust facilitates coordination, reduces conflicts and enhances longevity within cooperative relationships. Conditions leading to trust have been considered repeatedly in research papers. Whereas the link between reputation and trust, for example, has been extensively researched, the study of relational competence as a determinant of trust has largely been ignored. Although some academic articles naming the impact of competence on trust exist, the study of the mode of action of relational competence in the trust-developing process is underdeveloped. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between relational competence and trust. For this reason, a laboratory experiment was conducted. In its conclusion, the paper presents the empirically confirmed strong correlation between relational competence and trust within cooperative relationships by taking into account situational and personal factors.

Planning behaviour of successful and non successful founders of new ventures

A business plan is often considered as a critical success factor for a new venture. A literature review offers that the extent of planning derived from suggested business plan structures differs widely. Situation specific requirements of the extent of planning needed are rarely found. Most of the literature seems to be prescriptive in an unfounded manner. An empirical study comparing successful and non-successful founders of new ventures reveals that not the extent of planning but the quality of planning is a critical factor. The ability to separate essentials from matters of secondary importance and to concentrate on key elements of the foundation and early start-up phase are related to successful founders.

CO-OPERATIVE GOVERNANCE OF PUBLIC-CITIZEN PARTNERSHIPS: TWO DIAMETRICAL PARTICIPATION MODES

Purpose – The aim of this study is to examine the impact of co-operative governance structures on citizen participation in public service provision.Methodology – Using a multiple case study-approach, we analyse and compare five examples of co-operative public–citizen partnerships in Austria and Germany.Findings – The study clearly shows that co-operatives can be a tool for both, (1) the bottom-up self-organization of citizens (co-operative as ‘contested space’) and (2) the top-down organization to canalize citizen participation (co-operative as ‘invited space’). Co-operative public–citizen partnerships therefore represent a balancing act between dependency through public funding and autonomy through community-based decision making.Research implications and limitations – The chapter underlines the importance of context-sensitive qualitative research. Limitations might stem from the fact that municipal areas might differ in other countries than Germany and Austria, for example, due to legal prerequisites.Practical implications – If regional government representatives are supporting a bottom-up initiative, they are more inclined to provide crucial resources for the public–citizen partnership and tensions between different stakeholders involved are weakened.Social implications – Co-operative public–citizen partnerships might enhance participatory democracy and seem to strengthen solidarity and social cohesion on the neighbourhood level.Originality/value of chapter – In showing that co-operatives are a suitable governance structure for community organizations, which enhance democratic decision making and foster social innovation in public service delivery, we support the findings of other studies. The chapter suggests that in order to enhance our understanding of citizen participation, context-sensitive research that goes beyond merely descriptive governance analysis is needed, taking into account the historical trajectories of public–citizen partnerships.

Managing uncertainty in the marketing of new-technology products

In this paper, we work to systematise the kinds of uncertainty inherent in the marketing of a new-technology product. Our frame is based on the idea that uncertainty can be categorised along dimensions such as the uncertainty about the product, requiring to develop the product as an exchange good, and the uncertainty related to the environment, requiring to develop the product as a product-service complex and relationship. The paper identifies measures and strategies concerning why and how the enterprise and the client ought to manage their relationship, specifying distinctions between environments that are low and high in uncertainty.