John W. Medcof

Why too many alliances end in divorce

Abstract Participation in multi-firm alliances is increasingly essential for business success, and careful selection of alliance partners is a key to alliance effectiveness. Current advice on partner selection tends to focus on one prospective alliance partner at a time, on how well prospective partners fit the business strategy of the proposed alliance and on the operational workability of the alliance. This article extends that advice by giving greater attention to issues involving multiple prospective partners and issues arising from the long-term alliance strategy of the firm. With multiple prospective partners, selection issues are more complex than with just one prospective partner. The long-term alliance strategy of the firm focuses primarily on organizational learning of new technical, managerial and partnering skills and on improving organizational positioning in the evolving landscape of alliance activity. The logical connections between current advice and the extensions developed here are drawn. Learning and positioning opportunities, if seized, can contribute significantly to the long-term prosperity of the organization.

Realistic Criteria for Project Manager Selection and Development

Five types of project managers were identified and the level of success of each and its frequency of occurrence in the project manager sample were determined. When refined through further research, this typology holds the promise of more effective project manager selection and development tools, and the possibility of maintaining a population of project managers in an organization that is optimum for the needs of that organization.

A taxonomy of internationally dispersed technology units and its application to management issues

Internationally dispersed technology units are classified using a system based upon three clearly defined dimensions: Type of technical work (research, development or support); functional areas with which the technology unit collaborates in its work (marketing, manufacturing, marketing and manufacturing, or none); and geographic area of collaboration (local, international). The resulting eight category taxonomy is shown to provide an improved platform for organizing and integrating the literature on the management of internationally dispersed technology units and for articulating theoretical issues in ongoing programs of empirical research.

The Organizational Influence of the Chief Technology Officer

The proposition that the Chief Technology Officers (CTO) primary bases for power and influence are in technical expertise and position power is critically analyzed from the perspective of upper echelons research. This fresh perspective suggests that CTOs who aspire to have significant influence in their organizations should also build their power bases on broad knowledge of the firm and its environment, a network of personal relationships inside and outside the firm, ownership position in the firm, and intuitive understanding of the business. The CEOs leadership style can also enhance or curtail the influence of the CTO. Research and managerial implications are drawn.

The Resource Based View and transnational technology strategy

Abstract Despite its considerable appeal, the Resource Based View of the firm as currently articulated is inadequate for the job of explaining transnational technology strategy, although it does explain some phenomena. Its explanatory power can be significantly increased through the inclusion of a resource portfolio perspective and by the acknowledgement that imitation as well as the pursuit of the unique can be a viable resource strategy.

Total Rewards: Good Fit for Tech Workers

OVERVIEW: Total rewards is a promising approach to rewards management that has been adopted by such technology-intensive firms as IBM, Microsoft, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson. Total rewards takes a holistic approach to rewards, going beyond the strong focus on pay and benefits which has been the hallmark of traditional compensation practice. Total rewards considers all the rewards available in the workplace, including opportunities for learning and development, and quality work environment. Because these rewards are a high priority for technical workers, as shown in the research reviewed in this article, total rewards offers an opportunity to tap the unrealized potential of the organization. Effectively managed rewards will ease the critical attraction, retention and motivation challenges faced by high-technology firms.

Peat : an integrative model of attribution processes

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses a core model of attribution processes, PEAT, stated in probabilities. Two mechanisms are primarily responsible for the ability of PEAT to integrate attribution theory. PEAT has been able to provide some improvement in the clarity of the concepts used in attribution theory because it has reduced those concepts to the precise vocabulary of probabilities. The most important clarification was the distinction between contrast-based and prediction-based definitions of covariation information. A second clarification was the distinction, expressed in probabilities, between causal and characteristic attributions. PEAT is also promising as a generator of empirical research. Some of that research may arise from its comments on other theories, for example, PEAT states that when observers are operating under correspondent inference theory (CIT), they will spontaneously make assumptions about consistency even though CIT has no theoretical role for consistency. The chapter concludes that further theoretical work needs to be done to extend the basics of PEAT described in new areas. PEAT promises to generate both theoretical and empirical work.

Exploration, Exploitation and Human Resource Management Practices in Cooperative and Entrepreneurial HR Configurations

Human resource (HR) practices for selection, performance appraisal, performance–compensation linkage and training are found to be less formalized in entrepreneurial HR configurations (exploratory) than in cooperative HR configurations (exploitative). Although less formalization may support more flexibility and improvisation, it was found to have the disadvantage of reducing process transparency, developmental feedback, performance–compensation linkage strength and the amount of training available. These findings are consistent with theories of exploration and exploitation, with their extensions to human resource management and leadership, and the view that HR systems and practice should be varied in light of the organizational processes to which they are being applied.

Subsidiary Technology Upgrading and International Technology Transfer, with Reference to China

This paper reviews the research on technology upgrading in the subsidiaries of transnational corporations and the research on the development of Chinese high technology firms. On the basis of this it develops fresh policy options for government intent upon facilitating international technology transfer to their jurisdictions. Technology upgrading is the use of increasingly complex technologies in products and processes, and the development of the managerial and organizational capabilities needed to leverage those technologies effectively. Technology upgrading by the subsidiaries of transnational corporations can contribute to the economic development of the host region and is often driven by the entrepreneurial activities of subsidiary management. The upgrading process involves collaborating/lobbying with suppliers, headquarters and sister subsidiaries. Economic development policy should foster subsidiary technology upgrading as part of initiatives to increase international technology transfer.

The Effect of Extent of Use of Information Technology and Job of the User upon Task Characteristics

The relationships between extent of use of information technology (IT) and task characteristics were examined in two jobs using the Job Diagnostic Survey. Consistent with past studies, it was found that, among clerks, extent of use is positively correlated with skill variety, feedback from agents, and dealing with others, and that there is no correlation between extent of use and task identity, task signifcance, andfeedbackfrom the job. Also consistent with past studies was the finding that the nature of the IT users job moderates the relationship between use extent and task characteristics. In the non-clerical job in this study, use extent was negatively correlated with skill variety, feedback from agents, and dealing with others. A model proposed to explain these results suggests that the relationship between use extent and task characteristics depends upon the task characteristics of the IT-using and non-IT-using components of the job. Practical applications of this model were suggested.