Marta Peris-Ortiz

Integrating transaction cost economics and the resource-based view in services and innovation

This study examines the complementary nature of Williamsons transaction cost theory and that of the resource-based view in the integration or externalisation of activities, with particular reference to services. Assessing comparative costs, idiosyncratic demands and core competences form the criteria for make or buy decisions, although the analysis of services endows idiosyncratic demands with particular relevance when internalisation of services does neither contribute cost advantages nor others related to the core competences of the firm. In addition to these make or buy questions, this study considers the front/back model in cases where the firm manages services internally.

Changing the strategy formation process in a service cooperative

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to concern the strategic changes a firm needs to incorporate in order to deliver a complex service such as providing assistance to the socially disadvantaged. The paper seeks to analyze the development of such a process considering the ability of managers to exploit resources and foster new opportunities for the firm.Design/methodology/approach – The qualitative methodology applied is that of a case study. The organization analyzed was a service cooperative. A semi‐structured questionnaire was used to gather the information along with documents and additional information thereafter, thus facilitating the triangulation process.Findings – Non‐profit service organizations that provide assistance services for the disadvantaged population have to compete in a complex and turbulent environment. The strategic process adopted by those organizations requires more participation and involvement from organizational members; but, simultaneously, this process should be more ration...

The effect of knowledge transfer on firm performance: An empirical study in knowledge‐intensive industries

Purpose – This work aims to analyse the effect of a holistic business view, competency‐based management, continuous learning and information technology infrastructure on knowledge transfer and the subsequent effect on firm performance.Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation models and a survey of 222 firms from the Spanish biotechnology and telecommunications industries verify the mediator role of knowledge transfer.Findings – The implications of confirming these hypotheses for managers are that by emphasising the creation of a holistic business view, competency‐based management, promoting continuous learning and improving information technology infrastructure, managers will improve knowledge transfer and positively influence the creation of superior firm performance.Originality/value – It is shown that in knowledge‐intensive industries, knowledge transfer acts as a mediating variable between a holistic view of the firm, competency‐based management, continuous learning and information and commun...

Managing talent for organisational learning

The phenomenon of globalisation and the intensification of change mean that firms increasingly require an internal structure that fosters the genesis and application of new knowledge. If the firm’s objective is to achieve continuous learning then organisational variables and managerial purpose through talent management are essential for access to superior knowledge assets. This study takes an in-depth look at the relationship between a political phenomenon (talent management) and a natural one (organisational learning and/or knowledge creation) within a particular organisational framework. The aim is to obtain evidence of the effect of organisational variables on learning and knowledge from the perspective of large Spanish firms.

Entrepreneurial fuzzy group decision-making under complex environments

A new framework for the entrepreneurial group decision support systems is presented when the information is uncertain but can be assessed with fuzzy numbers. The paper develops a new aggregation operator that uses the weighted average and the ordered weighted averaging operator in the same formulation considering the importance of each concept in the analysis. The use of order inducing variables in the reordering step of the aggregation process allows dealing with complex attitudinal characters that may include variables such as time pressure and psychological factors. The applicability of this new approach in decision-making problems is also studied. It offers the possibility of developing a wide range of methods including a unified framework for decision- making under risk and uncertainty and decision processes ex-ante and ex-post. A fuzzy multi-person decision making approach under risk and uncertainty ex-ante is developed and implemented in an entrepreneurial decision-making problem concerning an entrepreneur who wants to create a new company and is looking for the most appropriate market.

Corporate entrepreneurship and human resource management: theoretical background and a case study

Purpose - This article aims to review varying concepts of entrepreneurship and different contributions to human resource practices, establishing a theoretical framework that allows for the analysis of the firm Montalt-Valencia (Spain), a Ford-Spain car dealer, and leader in its sector. Design/methodology/approach - The paper, according to the literature, establishes a theoretical framework on entrepreneurship and human resource management through which one can observe and research the Montalt-Valencia case study. The case study is confirmatory, from the theoretical background, and at the same time inductive from the observation of its non-expected details and deeds. Findings - The firm Montalt-Valencia (Spain), which on the surface appears unlikely to be innovative as technology and product characteristics are entirely controlled by the main firm (Ford-Espana), bases its innovative capacity on a continual process of organizational renewal and gradual improvement in techniques. The sum of these small improvements may lead to a transformation of the levels of organizational efficiency and commitment to the firm, and can substantially alter technical performance, showing a hidden dimension of corporate entrepreneurship. Research limitations/implications - The limitations are those normally found in case studies. The confirmation of the theory, or the inductive results, can only be extrapolated by the enterprises with the same characteristics and, even then, with caution and care. Originality/value - A firm such as Montalt-Valencia, which is a leader in its sector and has received five Chairmans Awards between 2002-2007, is likely to be full of entrepreneurial activity of organizational renewal and innovation, although the gradual sequence of these aspects and their marginal nature make them hard to detect. The main value of this study is to incorporate a firm such as this into the world of corporate entrepreneurship.

Aggregation operators in economic growth analysis and entrepreneurial group decision-making

Display Omitted New methods for forecasting the economic growth with aggregation systems.Using the OWA operator and its generalizations as a forecasting method.Connection between entrepreneurship, economic growth and aggregation operators.A new entrepreneurial group decision making method. An economic crisis can be measured from different perspectives. A very commonly used measure is that of a countrys economic growth. When growth is lower than desired, the economy is assumed to be near stagnation or in an economic recession. This paper connects entrepreneurship and economic growth in decision-making problems assessed with modern aggregation systems. Aggregation techniques can represent information more comprehensively in uncertain and imprecise environments. This paper suggests several practical aggregation operators for this purpose, such as the ordered weighted average and the probabilistic ordered weighted averaging weighted average. Other aggregation systems based on macroeconomic theory are also introduced. The paper concludes with an application in an entrepreneurial uncertain multi-criteria multi-person decision-making problem regarding the selection of optimal markets for creating a new company. This approach is based on the use of economic growth as the fundamental variable for determining the preferred solution.

Management Innovation and Technological Innovation: Friends or Foes?

Understanding of management innovation has been advanced in the last decade, but it is still a relatively under-researched topic, at least in comparison with that of technological innovation. This article introduces this volume on Management Innovation; it reviews critically, the multiple conceptual approaches to the topic, looks at the different research streams related to it, and considers the performance consequences or its occurrence. In the latter respect, the article analyzes the synergistic effects of co-adopting management and technological innovation. It also provides a robust theoretical foundation for addressing co-adoption, using a cross-disciplinary perspective. The article also notes that the literature on joint adoption has three blind spots: (i) the literature is fragmented into different, albeit complementary, frameworks and perspectives; (ii) the literature has mainly focused on technological performance, or other general performance, effects deriving from the introduction of management innovations, giving less attention to specific management innovation effects; and (iii) the literature so far has not looked at the joint adoption of specific pairs of technological and management innovations. Finally, as a general point, the article observes that it is surprising how little empirical research has so far gone into exploring the association between the adoption of management innovation and its performance outcomes.

Leadership Styles and Innovative Entrepreneurship: An International Study

This research attempts to empirically examine the relationship between leadership styles and innovative entrepreneurship through regression analysis, using a sample of 43 countries and data from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness. In light of institutional approaches and specifically based on the normative dimension, the main findings of the study indicate that participative leadership and higher education represent the strongest explanatory factor in the variance of the current rates of innovative entrepreneurship. This study has contributions for both researchers and policymakers on new firm creation (entrepreneurship) and on the generation of innovation within organizations (intrapreneurship).

Knowledge creation. The ongoing search for strategic renewal

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse how changes in a set of structural design variables (i.e. liaison position, networked design, innovation teams and work teams) affect the creation of new knowledge within organizations. The enablers intention, autonomy, fluctuation and creative chaos, redundancy, variety, and trust and commitment, taken from Nonakas framework, are used as intermediate variables. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 167 large Spanish companies was used to empirically test a general relational model. Findings – The analysis yielded two main conclusions. First, the relationship between structural variables and enablers, and, second, the relationship of enablers with knowledge creation emerged as highly relevant for knowledge creation in organizations. Research limitations/implications – A major limitation of this study was the relatively small number of variables used to define organizational structure. In reality, a large number of variables combine to create organizat...