Mika Westerlund

Learning and innovation in inter-organizational network collaboration

Purpose – This study sets out to examine the relationship between firms learning orientation and network collaboration. The aim is to investigate how learning orientation enhances network collaboration and to discuss the role of the co‐innovation focus in the learning orientation‐network collaboration relationship.Design/methodology/approach – Based on a partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling analysis of 90 small and medium‐sized industrial firms (SMEs), the study tests hypotheses regarding how two diverse learning orientations – i.e. exploration and exploitation – precede firms network collaboration.Findings – The analysis shows that learning drives firms co‐innovation focus in terms of product and process co‐innovation. In particular, the explorative learning orientation is found to foster firms network collaboration through product co‐innovation. Exploitative learning orientation promotes process innovations but discourages networking.Practical implications – A key implication for...

Purchasing strategies in supply relationships

Purpose – Purchasing has emerged as a key source of competitive advantage. This paper aims to explore how different purchasing strategies are connected to complex supply relationships and to the goal of purchasing.Design/methodology/approach – The study draws on the literature on industrial network theory and industrial buying behaviour.Findings – The contribution describes six types of purchasing strategies that firms exert. These strategies depend on the complexity of supply relationships and the buyers purchasing goal. Conventional products and services are bought through transactional exchange relationships, whereas strategically important items are purchased through intentional supply networks.Practical implications – Purchasing strategies of a firm emphasise either efficiency or effectiveness of operation. The type of exchange varies according to the nature of supply relationships: it is either transactional or relational. A key implication for managers is that they should recognise the goal of buy...

The Modes of Supply Net Management: A Capability View

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the key capabilities required in supply net management.Design/methodology/approach – Uses the Management Capability Framework to break down supply net management into different modes and identify capabilities required in them.Findings – Reveals that the supply activity of companies increasingly takes place in intentionally developed strategic networks called supply nets. These networks pose distinctive challenges for supply chain management. Identifies four diverse but simultaneously extant modes of management in the supply net context, and discusses the key managerial capabilities in each mode.Originality/value – Provides a conceptual framework to fulfill the identified need to understand management in the network management context. This paper enables researchers and business practitioners to identify the strategic focus and key capabilities required in managing supply nets.

Capability perspective of business model innovation: analysis in the software industry

Prior research suggests that competitive advantages in environmental flux rely on a firms capacity for innovation and adaptation. Specialisation in core competencies has increased the importance of developing business model-specific capabilities in technology-intensive industries like the software business. In addition to developing required capabilities internally, capabilities increasingly are being obtained beyond company boundaries from a network of business partners. In this study, we analyse capabilities in conjunction with four basic types of business model, using two dimensions drawn from the prior literature. These two dimensions are (1) degree of involvement in customer relationships and (2) level of homogeneity in offerings. Our findings indicate that different types of business model vary significantly in their emphasis on internally-developed versus externally-obtained capabilities. These findings pinpoint the essential capability profiles for business model innovation.

Strategic flexibility in open innovation – designing business models for open source software

Purpose – This paper seeks to explore how market orientation facilitates the strategic flexibility of business models grounded in open innovation. The authors suggest that the new paradigm of open innovation may impact a firms adaptability and responsiveness under conditions of environmental flux. However, extending innovation capacity by opening the innovation process poses major challenges for firms. The aims of this study are to explore the characteristics of open innovation activity and to contemplate the role of strategic flexibility in the design of business models based upon open innovation.Design/methodology/approach – The study draws upon a qualitative research approach through a longitudinal case study in the field of open source software (OSS). The empirical case illustrates how an OSS firm utilizes signals in its environment to flexibly alter its business model.Findings – A business model that embodies open innovation raises dilemmas between open and closed innovation paradigms. However, the ...

Knowledge-intensive service activities in software business

In this study we focus on knowledge-intensive services used by small and medium-sized companies in the software industry. Our study explores the sources, use and perceived importance of different types of knowledge-intensive services in software business. In addition to revealing the use of commercial privately or publicly produced knowledge-intensive business services, the results of this study indicate the remarkable proportion and strategic role of non-commercial knowledge-intensive service activities that are co-produced in network partnerships. These activities are accomplished in networks in order to mutually generate or transfer knowledge between companies, customers, subcontractors or authorities of the industry, and the knowledge itself is not an object of trade.

A business model perspective on knowledge-intensive services in the software industry

Specialisation in core competencies as a response to intense competition from entrepreneur-driven SMEs in technology and knowledge-intensive industries such as the software industry demands network-focused business behaviour and the utilisation of resources beyond company boundaries. In recent years, the outsourcing of Knowledge-Intensive Services (KIS), for example, has emerged as a phenomenon in technology-oriented enterprises and has attracted increasing attention in the literature on business and entrepreneurship. However, KIS have not been sufficiently analysed in connection with different types of business models. Drawing on theories of inter-organisational exchange, including the industrial network approach and Transaction Cost Economics (TCE), we analyse key KIS in four different types of business models of software companies. According to our findings, the role and type of KIS vary systematically by business-model type.

Antecedents to Consumers' Acceptance of Mobile Advertisements - A Hierarchical Construct PLS Structural Equation Model

The paper presents a hierarchical construct PLS structural equation model to analyze mobile advertisement acceptance. Hypotheses are established and tested about the hierarchical structure and the effects of the factors that precede consumers behavioral intention to accept mobile advertisement. The results suggest that valuable content and trust in advertisers are key predictors of mobile device users acceptance of mobile advertising. In addition, subjective value of the ads and subjective norms mediate these antecedent-acceptance relationships. The results are invaluable to both scholars and business practitioners interested in mobile services.

Approaches to strategic alignment of business and information systems: A study on application service acquisitions

Purpose – Technology‐related issues have an increasing impact on business. The alignment between overall business objectives and technology‐related decisions, such as decisions on application service acquisitions, resurfaces occasionally in the intense academic discussion on information systems (IS). Prior research indicates that the alignment of business and IS decisions remains a major concern for business practitioners. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the factors that drive the consistency in technology‐related decisions and result in diverse modes of business‐IS alignment.Design/methodology/approach – This study investigates application service acquisitions among the top 200 firms in Finland. In this quantitative empirical study, principal component analysis with varimax rotation method is used to examine the companies drivers for business‐IS alignment. Moreover, the firms are categorized using the cluster analysis method.Findings – This study identifies four factors that drive the achievemen...

The Influence of Content and Trust on Consumers’ Intention to Accept Mobile Advertisements

A new model for investigating consumers’ behavioral intention in mobile advertising is developed and related to mobile marketing theory and practice. Hypotheses are tested about the hierarchical structure and the effects of the factors that precede consumers’ acceptance of mobile advertisement. The results suggest that attractive content and trust in advertisers are key predictors of mobile device users’ behavioral intention towards mobile advertising. The findings lead to a modification and extension of Fishbein’s behavioral intention model and its application in the research on advertising effectiveness.