Ellen Thomas

Platform-based product design and environmental turbulence

Purpose – When competing in a turbulent environment, strategic flexibility can be a competitive advantage. One source of flexibility is the new product development (NPD) process, or more specifically product design. The purpose of this paper is to investigate platform-based product design and its relationship to environmental turbulence, strategic flexibility, and market performance. Design/methodology/approach – A theoretical model is developed and relationships are empirically tested using structural equation modeling. Data were collected from engineering design managers in the US manufacturing industry. Findings – The paper found that the higher the level of environmental turbulence the more firms turned to platform product design. Also, the higher the level of platform design the higher the level of market performance, both in the short term and the long term. Finally, the paper showed that strategic flexibility positively and partially mediates the positive relationship between platform design and pe...

A behavioural game theory perspective on the collaboration between innovative and entrepreneurial firms

From a behavioural game theory perspective, we characterise the strategic interactions between a smaller innovative firm and a larger entrepreneurial firm as they try to form a strategic alliance to commercialise a technological invention. If the innovative firm is not too overconfident and the entrepreneurial firm is not too complacent, it is likely that the game is similar to the stag hunt game with two Nash equilibria. However, in addition to securing the funds needed to commercialise the invention, both firms need to contribute sufficient and complementary efforts when they choose to cooperate. The larger entrepreneurial firm can also expedite the commercialisation process if it chooses the cooperative strategy first and takes the initiative to offer financial and entrepreneurial assistance to the smaller innovative firm.

A game theory perspective of asymmetric alliances for new product development

By adopting and extending the game theoretical model developed by Chou (2011) from symmetric firms to asymmetric firms with monetary transfers, we characterise the strategic interactions between asymmetric firms in an alliance for new product development. We also integrate the game theoretical literature and empirical studies to show that a broader-scope link alliance tends to benefit the larger firm, while a narrower-scope scale alliance tends to benefit the smaller firm. The asymmetry of benefits also enables the larger firm to subsidise the smaller firm to maintain the stability of the alliance if it is beneficial for the larger firm to do so.

Collaboration and Critical Mass among Nascent Companies

The lure of social capital motivates startups to form in clusters with similar companies. However, having social capital is different from exploiting it, and there is conflicting research on the ultimate commercial success of cluster members. This work attempts to disambiguate the relationship between a startup’s membership in a cluster and the startup’s performance by modeling the availability of social capital separately from its use. Using the longitudinal Kauffman Firm Survey of 4928 companies founded in 2004 and the County Business Patterns from the United States Census Bureau, we compute a measure of relevant social capital available to a startup as the number of companies with the startup’s 2-digit NAICS code in the startup’s ZIP code, and the startup’s use of social capital as collaborations that impact the startup’s competitive advantage. We find that collaboration mediates the relationship between cluster density and firm revenue over its first eight years. This work suggests that the administrator of a critical mass of entrepreneurs, such as that of a business cluster or incubator, needs to promote the exploitation of its social capital and not just its accumulation.

TYPE OF KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND ITS IMPACT ON COLLABORATIVE NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

While integrating suppliers into producer new product development (NPD) would appear to be beneficial, there lacks a consensus as to what knowledge should be shared between producers and suppliers, especially within turbulent environments. This paper examines how in-depth and complex the knowledge sharing should be between producers and suppliers, given varying environmental conditions. To this point, we propose that small-scale technical exchanges are generally more effective in collaborative NPD efforts than more complex technology transfers. We also analyze two forms of environmental uncertainty, market turbulence and technology turbulence, as they influence the knowledge sharing measures. A survey of project managers reveals that while technical exchanges positively influence NPD performance, technology transfers have no impact (except in radical product development projects) and thus may not always be appropriate in producer–supplier NPD collaborations. We also find that market turbulence and technology turbulence influence technical exchanges, but in differing manners.

Startup incubators and the role of social capital

A value proposition common among startup incubators and clusters is they provide firms with an environment that is more supportive than the open market, for example a high concentration of startups can be conducive to the building of social capital and tacit knowledge by tenants who, upon graduation from such sites, impact the regional economy. The positive impact of social capital on startup survival has been well described in the literature, but the impact of startup incubators and clusters remains inconclusive, with some researchers reporting that the survival rate of firms graduating from incubators or clusters is worse than that of startups that never participated in such sites. The lackluster performance of graduating firms is all the more striking given the opportunity for social capital diffusion in these high density sites, and the importance of social capital to startup success. Empirical tests using the Kauffman Firm Survey find that being in an environment in which social capital is readily accessible does not imply that the startup will engage it. We also find those startups that collaborate with other agents (universities, industries, and government organizations) outperform startups that do not. This result is moderated by industry, i.e. low-versus high-tech.

The Influence of Producer–Supplier Exchanges and Environmental Dynamics on NPD

The influence of producer–supplier collaboration on new product development (NPD) performance has increasingly become a popular topic in academe and practice. However, our understanding of what leads to collaboration success remains limited. While it is clear that suppliers are becoming an integral part of the design team (Enkel et al. 2009), research regarding performance benefits is fragmented (Johnsen 2009). Many studies find a positive relationship between supplier integration and performance (Lawson et al. 2009) while others show either no relationship or a negative relationship (Koufteros et al. 2005). Further, while external environmental factors may influence internal strategic decisions, it remains unclear how these antecedents influence producer–supplier relationship factors, such as trust and knowledge sharing, which subsequently influence NPD success (Bstieler 2006). A more nuanced understanding of how producer–supplier collaborations impact NPD performance is necessary.