Florian Taübe

Project-based organizing and strategic management: A long-term research agenda on temporary organizational forms

The last several years have witnessed a growing scholarly interest in project-based organizations. This interest mirrors the diffusion of this organizational form across a wide range of industries, well beyond those where organizations traditionally have been organized by projects. To date, however, research on project-based organizations has not yet offered a systematic investigation of the interactions between project-based organizing and strategic management research. An examination of the existing literature indicates that some of the answers to key strategy questions remain incomplete, at times contradictory, and at best ambiguous. This volume moves the discussion to the next level by offering a comprehensive yet integrated view of cutting-edge research on project-based organizing to shed light on some of these ambiguities and clarify the relationship between project-based organizing and strategic management. To accomplish this, the volume includes the contributions of several leading scholars who have been active researchers on this subject. The chapters develop and extend key strategic aspects of project-based organizing, raise many new important questions, and identify fruitful areas for future research.

Evolution of Innovation Networks across Geographical and Organizational Boundaries: A Study of R&D Subsidiaries in the Bangalore IT Cluster

In this paper, we investigate the evolution of multinational corporation (MNC) research and development (R&D) subsidiaries through evolution of innovation networks. Their evolution within and outside MNC R&D subsidiaries has not been investigated in the context of MNCs that source innovation from emerging economies. We do so, using two dimensions: geographical and organizational boundaries. In order to identify a pattern, we chose the information technology (IT) cluster in Bangalore, India, as the context for a qualitative study; for there are MNC subsidiaries that operate and innovate within and outside organizational boundaries, and have strong links with firms within and outside of Bangalore cluster. The globalized nature of the cluster helps us infer the evolution of innovation networks by taking a knowledge flow perspective. We identify four distinct phases based on where and how knowledge flows. We find that the innovation networks of these MNC subsidiaries in emerging economies first develop as hierarchical networks and then extend to the local markets. Within the first part, the networks start with a non�?local nature (phase A) and get embedded into local networks (phase B and phase C), finally developing into non�?local (phase D) market ties that enable MNC headquarters to source innovation from the host country. In an emerging economy context, clusters can serve as a springboard by providing a local environment that can help overcome institutional voids.

Sources of Finance in the Clean Technology Sector: Capital Structure, Financial Intermediation and Industry Life Cycle

In this paper, we discuss capital commitments from different sources of finance that are used in several key countries worldwide to finance clean technologies (CT). In the course of our analysis, we first elaborate on findings from literature that address the importance and implications of different sources of corporate finance including venture capital, private equity, corporate debt, public equity markets, acquisition finance and government grants. Second, we provide data on the volume of capital that has been invested in firms operating in the CT sector from different sources of finance during the period from 2002-2012. In addition to corporate sources of finance, we also elaborate on CT asset finance used to fund infrastructure projects. We find that the business life cycle concept is in large parts transferable to the industry level. Moreover, the data suggest the presence of interdependencies between different types of corporate finance as well as between corporate finance and infrastructure finance. Our results have implications for firms in the CT sector seeking capital as well as for policy makers. We conclude with an interpretation of the capital flows regarding their impact on the CT sector as a whole and provide an outlook of futures avenues of research in this field.

Emergence of Cleantech as an Investment Category - Public Discourse and Venture Capital Investment

In our paper we observe with an extensive database of press articles about venture capital the emergence and following evolution of the topic clean technology investing. We match our software-based analysis of the press discourse with investment data and observe high synchronicity of the developments of the two datasets. We demonstrate that historical textual information holds as a viable proxy for analyzing circumstances with a lack of rich data. An industry life cycle model can be applied to the development of this investment category. Additionally we develop an understanding of the role of public discourse in the venture capital industry and look at consequences of tone and sentiment in the media data.

Private Equity in Clean Technology: An Exploratory Study of the Finance-Innovation-Policy Nexus

The role of technological innovation in mitigating climate change has received growing interest in recent years. However, extant literature has neglected a more holistic view on equity financing and the indirect effects of innovation and financial policy on financing innovation through private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC). In this paper, we emphasize the importance of this understudied aspect through a comparative case study of private equity and venture capital for clean technologies in the United States and Germany. We find that systemic interdependencies between institutional investors, PE/ VC and policy makers influence the conditions for innovation – the “finance-innovation-policy nexus”. Adverse effects of policies affecting financial markets, in particular institutional investors, have to be taken into account to effectively mobilize private investments for (cleantech) innovation.

Interdependencies between Technology and Capacity Investments in the Solar Technology Sector

The impact of venture capital (VC) investment on innovation and technology commercialization as well as the influence of market capacity on venture capital firm decision-making has been extensively covered by the existing literature. However, the interdependency between investment that drives technology and investment that drives market capacity has received relatively little attention. Whereas literature suggests that VC investment in technology companies strengthens technology and/or manufacturing efficiency, asset finance investment drives capacity growth and volume in certain technology sectors. We examine interdependencies in investment in technology and capacity by analyzing the relationship between VC investment in solar technology firms and asset finance investment in solar power infrastructure capacity in the US. We find that investment in solar technology drives investment in solar capacity; however, we find no evidence that market growth caused by solar capacity investment induced follow-on investment by solar technology venture capitalists in the US.

Lost in transition: knowledge acquisition and knowledge loss in interpersonal exchanges

In this paper, focusing on 3,429 knowledge sharing ties among 330 employees in a data solution company, we study knowledge loss by considering network features associated with incomplete transfers of knowledge from a source to a recipient. Results indicate that that while strength of direct ties does reduce the amount of knowledge lost in interpersonal exchanges, network range (i.e. ability to connect with otherwise disconnected others) increases it. Tie strength further moderates the relationship between network range and knowledge loss. By observing a “cost” to network range in terms of lost knowledge, we suggest that more attention should be paid not only to the advantages, but also to the liabilities associated with different network positions. Theoretical and practical implications for knowledge management are discussed.

Lost in transition: knowledge acquisition and knowledge loss in interpersonal exchange

In this paper, focusing on 3,429 knowledge sharing ties among 330 employees in a data solution company, we study knowledge loss by considering network features associated with incomplete transfers of knowledge from a source to a recipient. Results indicate that that while strength of direct ties does reduce the amount of knowledge lost in interpersonal exchanges, network range (i.e. ability to connect with otherwise disconnected others) increases it. Tie strength further moderates the relationship between network range and knowledge loss. By observing a “cost” to network range in terms of lost knowledge, we suggest that more attention should be paid not only to the advantages, but also to the liabilities associated with different network positions. Theoretical and practical implications for knowledge management are discussed.

The Business of Government: The State as Obstacle and Facilitator for Private Investment in Central Asia

This article deals with the question on how the Central Asian governments have dealt with transition as a whole and the emergence of private business in particular. Our focus is on the politically and economically most important countries in the region, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. We investigate the specific role(s) that the Kazakh and Uzbek states assume within their respective economies and its impact on the environment for both foreign and domestic private business. Furthermore, the institutions at the interface between government and private economic actors, which together form the government-business-nexus, are analyzed. Drawing on more than 300 interviews with different stakeholder groups we find notable differences in the transition strategies of these countries. Nevertheless, they both achieved remarkable economic growth rates over the past decade that are projected to continue for the next years.

The Service Offshoring Code: Location Efficiencies for German Firms

Due to unique task characteristics, different location requirements exist, which ultimately lead to unique location considerations. Based on our research, five decision factors are identified for service offshoring: wages, education, infrastructure, cultural distance, and corruption. Considering these decision factors, efficiencies for the offshoring locations are computed with a data envelopment analysis from a German point of view. The research concludes that the most efficient service offshoring countries, with an average efficiency of 97 %, are the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.