Kannan Srikanth

Coordinated exploration: : Organizing joint search by multiple specialists to overcome mutual confusion and joint myopia.

In this paper, we use an agent-based simulation model to investigate how coordinated exploration by multiple specialists, as in new product development, is different from individual search. We find that coordinated exploration is subject to two pathologies not present in unitary search: mutual confusion and joint myopia. In joint search, feedback to one agent’s actions is confounded by the actions of the other agent. Search therefore leads to increasing mutual confusion because agents are unable to learn from feedback to correct their faulty mental models of the search space. Incorrect beliefs held by one agent lead to mistakes, and because it is unclear which agent was wrong, this confuses the other agent, either into revising (correct) beliefs or holding on to (incorrect) beliefs. Sharing knowledge aligns specialists’ mental models and counters mutual confusion by inducing coordination around particular search regions. Yet that very effort increases joint myopia, as agents prematurely reinforce each other into choosing from an increasingly narrow portion of the search space. In the extreme, high levels of shared knowledge induce agents to abandon their distinct search approach in favor of a lower common denominator. In coordinated exploration, increasing coordination efforts (such as by increasing communication) reduces mutual confusion but simultaneously increases joint myopia. Efforts to reduce joint myopia, such as by slow learning or lower levels of knowledge transfer, however, automatically increase mutual confusion. As modeled in our simulation, successful joint search needs to balance these two effects. Our results suggest that because unitary-searcher models abstract from epistemic interdependence, their predictions are potentially misleading for coordinated exploration.

The Firm as a Coordination System: Evidence from Software Services Offshoring

To examine what, if any, are the differences in how activities are coordinated within versus between firms, we conducted interviews with 32 project managers regarding 60 projects in the offshore software services industry. Uniquely, our projects were sampled along two dimensions: (1) colocation versus spatial distribution and (2) delivery by groups of individuals from a single firm versus from multiple firms. Our evidence suggests that in colocated projects, the same broad categories of coordination mechanisms are used both within and between firms. However, there is a qualitative difference in how geographically (i.e., spatially) distributed projects are coordinated within versus between firms. Distributed projects conducted within firms rely extensively on tacit coordination mechanisms; such mechanisms are not readily available in between-firm projects that are spatially distributed. This difference may arise because of the lack of shared history and lack of enforcement through common authority in the between-firm context.

A Dynamic Perspective on Diverse Teams: Moving from the Dual-Process Model to a Dynamic Coordination-based Model of Diverse Team Performance

AbstractThe existing literature on diverse teams suggests that diversity is both helpful to teams in making more information available and encouraging creativity and damaging to teams in reducing cohesion and information sharing. Thus the extant literature suggests that diversity within teams is a double-edged sword that leads to both positive and negative effects simultaneously. This literature has not, however, fully embraced the increasing calls in the broader groups literature to take account of time in understanding how groups function [e.g. Cronin, M. A., Weingart, L. R., & Todorova, G. (2011). Dynamics in groups: Are we there yet? The Academy of Management Annals, 5, 571–612]. We review the literature on diverse teams employing this lens to develop a dynamic perspective that takes account of the timing and flow of diversitys effects. Our review suggests that diversity in groups has different short-term and long-term effects in ways that are not fully captured by the currently dominant double-edged...

Firm as a Coordination System: Evidence from Offshore Software Services

To examine what, if any, are the differences in how activities are coordinated within-firms vs. between-firms we conducted interviews with 32 project managers regarding 60 projects in the offshore software services industry. Uniquely, our projects were sampled along two dimensions: (1) co-location vs. spatial distribution and (2) were delivered by groups of individuals from a single firm vs. from multiple firms. Our evidence suggests that in colocated projects, the same broad categories of coordination mechanisms are used both withinand between-firms. However, there is a qualitative difference in how geographically (i.e. spatially) distributed projects are coordinated withinvs. between-firms. Distributed projects conducted within-firms rely extensively on tacit coordination mechanisms; such mechanisms are not readily available in between-firm projects that are spatially distributed. The difference may arise because of the lack of shared history and lack of enforcement through common authority in the between-firm context.

Efficacy of R&D Work in Offshore Captive Centers: An Empirical Study of Task Characteristics, Coordination Mechanisms, and Performance

Seizing the latest technological advances in distributed work, an increasing number of firms have set up offshore captive centers CCs in emerging economies to carry out sophisticated R&D work. We analyze survey data from 132 R&D CCs established by foreign multinational companies in India to understand how firms execute distributed innovative work. Specifically, we examine the performance outcomes of projects using different technology-enabled coordination strategies to manage their interdependencies across multiple locations. We find that modularization of work across locations is largely ineffective when the underlying tasks are less routinized, less analyzable, and less familiar to the CC. Coordination based on information sharing across locations is effective when the CC performs tasks that are less familiar to it. A key contribution of our work is the explication of the task contingencies under which coordination based on modularization versus information sharing yield differential performance outcomes.

Client satisfaction versus profitability: An empirical analysis of the impact of formal controls in strategic outsourcing contracts

The reach and impact of outsourcing is growing fast to include a variety of strategic objectives. Unlike in transactional outsourcing, where the vendor leverages scale economies to provide standardized services at reduced costs of ownership, client satisfaction in strategic outsourcing is contingent on the extent to which the vendor’s service offering is customized to meet heterogeneous, unique client needs. However, project management practices that lead to high levels of client satisfaction may be incompatible with the project’s financial performance. In this study, we investigate how managerial actions differentially impact project profitability and client satisfaction. Using rich field data on 390 strategic outsourcing contracts, we examine the differential impact of output controls, activity controls and capability controls on client satisfaction and contract profitability. We find that activity controls are positively associated with client satisfaction and profitability; in contrast, our results present mixed evidence for capability controls, and negative impact for output controls. In addition to contributing to research in control theory, our results provide actionable insights for vendors into appropriate strategies and tactics for competing efficiently and effectively in services markets.

Coordination in Distributed Organizations

Innovative work performed in a distributed fashion does not easily lend to itself either of two classic coordination strategies - anticipatory planning or ongoing rich communication. We study how innovative work that is distributed across space and time is coordinated in global software service organizations. Our findings indicate that neither coordination by plan nor coordination by feedback play a dominant role in the coordination of distributed software services delivery. Instead, we find that the firms we studied coordinate action distributed work by relying on common ground. Common ground leads to coordinated action across locations by two means: the anticipation effect and the interpretation effect. We discuss types of common ground as well as the tools that organizations use to build and maintain it.

Co-Presence not Communication: How ICT's Really Enable Software Services Offshoring

The successful execution of complex interdependent work in a distributed fashion - such as offshore software development - is an anomaly, given the well known inadequacies of ICT mediated communication vis-a-vis face to face communication. In this paper, we draw on qualitative data from 60 distributed and collocated software services delivery projects to understand how ICTs are actually used in distributed software development. We find that in these projects, ICT based tools are typically not used as channels of direct communication between locations. Instead ICT tools are used to avoid the need for direct communication by creating common ground across locations and thereby enabling tacit coordination.

ACQUISITION EXPERIENCE AND VALUE CREATION.

This study provides a conceptual framework and an empirical methodology to assess the impact of acquisition experience on acquisition performance. Previous literature on the impact of experiential learning on acquisition performance has led to mixed results. We suggest that these inconsistencies stem from two sources: inappropriate specification of performance, and neglect to account for acquisition management processes and value creation mechanisms. Most previous studies measure acquisition performance at an aggregate level, using stock market returns. In this study, we utilize patent data from technology sourcing acquisitions to measure performance tied to the focal acquisition. Using patent data, we also distinguish between two value creation mechanisms with differing levels of complexity. Our results indicate that experiential learning enables performance of the less complex value creation activities, while hindering performance of the more complex value creation activities. We find that performance m...

Right Person at the Right Place: How IPR at the Host Location Influences the Internal Division of Innovative Labor in Multinational Enterprises

The internationalization of R&D activity by multinational enterprises (MNEs) is increasing, with a recent big push towards emerging economies. Understanding how MNEs organize collaborative R&D across geographies is therefore an important area of scholarship. However, little attention has been paid towards understanding the factors that influence the division of innovative labor within an MNE across geographies – the internal division of innovative labor. Drawing on the literature that shows that strong protection for intellectual property (IP) is important for the efficient division of innovative labor between firms, we argue and show that differences in effectiveness of IP protection between international locations significantly influences the internal division of innovative labor, especially for R&D aimed at the host market when compared to R&D aimed at the home market.