Poul Rind Christensen

Inter-partner learning in global supply chains: lessons from NOVO Nordisk

Abstract The interdependent forces of global competition and technological development have fundamentally changed the way in which firms define the boundaries of their own activities and those that are left to subcontractors. Joint skill development and inter-partner learning have become important in the global sourcing policies of firms. The purpose of the present paper is to develop a conceptual model for understanding inter-partner learning processes in international subcontractor relationships. We see this as a process of developing shared skills. Furthermore, we demonstrate how inter-partner diversity impedes this process. Because of a lack of previous research in this area, a reconstructive approach is taken, which involves extending the conceptual framework through a case study.

Location and Internationalization of Small Firms

There has been a revival of studies of small businesses and entrepreneurship during the 1980’s. Studies in several countries have claimed that the number of new firm start-ups has risen, and that the importance of the small firm sector as a creator of new employment has increased (Birch, 1979; Ettinger and Weereld, 1988; Keeble et al., 1990). Accordingly there has been a dramatic increase in interest in the role and performance of the small firm sector among academics and policy-makers.

Management consultancy in small firms: how does interaction work?

Purpose – The aim of the article is to explore the dynamics of the management consulting process for small firms as an outcome of interactive processes.Design/methodology/approach – The explorative study is based on a summary sketch of an interactive research project (LOS) in which small firms and their interactions with management consultants were studied in a three‐year perspective. The theoretical framework employed is based on the industrial network theory.Findings – The study suggests that clients are co‐producers of the consulting process. Therefore, management consulting in a interactive perspective has important elements of trailing, i.e. changing the frames of reference of the consulting process and creating room for consulting in which the consultant, as well as the client, allow themselves to experiment with their professional foundations. However, it is also suggested that innovative learning processes are difficult to foster in management consulting processes.Research limitations/implications...

The Wicked Problem of Design Management: Perspectives from the Field of Entrepreneurship

ABSTRACT Inexplicable tensions and paradoxes exist between the underlying assumptions and logics of design and the related management perspectives. This paper aims to contribute to the design management literature by introducing entrepreneurship as an alternative management perspective. Entrepreneurship holds the capacity to add new valuable managerial meaning to the term design management that does not disrupt the uniqueness of design. A differentiation is made between two logics of management – administrative management and entrepreneurial management – and the article argues against a one-management-style-fits-all-design-processes approach. Design associated with complex and wicked problems may be more closely associated with entrepreneurial design management, whereas design based on simpler and tamer design problems may align better with administrative design management. A framework of entrepreneurial design management is introduced and the theoretical and practical implications of entrepreneurship as a platform for design management are brought into perspective.

Cluster evolution and the change of knowledge bases: the development of a design cluster

ABSTRACT Most studies portray cluster knowledge bases as a given resource, tied to specific industries and locations. However, this paper challenges that view and uncovers their dynamic nature by identifying endogenous and exogenous triggering events that influence and change the cluster knowledge base mix over time. This is done by building on the theoretical concepts of pre-existing conditions, triggering events and knowledge bases and by drawing on a case study of the design cluster located in the Triangle Area of Denmark. The paper concludes that the design cluster has changed its mix of knowledge bases several times during its evolution. Starting out as a firm-driven cluster with a dominant synthetic knowledge base, it then evolved into an artistic and creative cluster with a prevailing symbolic knowledge base. In the last few years, the cluster has increasingly adopted an analytical knowledge base at the expense of other knowledge bases. These developments have caused numerous changes in both knowledge building and the sources of knowledge in and around the cluster. These findings have implications for the framing of cluster knowledge bases, considering how they emerge, change and combine, as well as how that affects clusters’ composition of actors, activities and resources.

Exporting entrepreneurs: do they activate their social network in different ways than domestic entrepreneurs?

Based on a representative sample of entrepreneurs operating at three succeeding phases of the entrepreneurial process, this study investigates if differences in social network structures can be found between export-oriented and domestic-oriented entrepreneurs. Two hypotheses are developed based on previous research into internationalisation, including the Uppsala model and the Born Global model. Data are drawn from the Danish participation in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and a follow-up survey in 2003. Statistical analyses indicate that export-oriented entrepreneurs activate larger personal networks with a higher proportion of business relations compared to domestic-oriented entrepreneurs. However, findings also indicate that any differences existing in the early stages of the entrepreneurial process between export- and domestic-oriented entrepreneurs tend to disappear in the later stages of the entrepreneurial process.

Transformation of cluster specialization in the wake of globalization

Abstract In the light of increasing globalization and the rising spatial distribution of production activities, different scenarios for geographical agglomerations, such as clusters, are discussed. Nonetheless, the literature provides only scant knowledge about how cluster specialization transforms due to the globalization of production activities. The paper addresses this research gap based on a comparative case study of two Danish clusters, and by applying the literature on the global division of labour, global value chains and clusters. The main conclusion is that the specialization of clusters either changes or deepens in response to the globalization of production activities. However, which of these two outcomes it will be depends on the prioritization and localization of specific production activities in relation to the current cluster specialization, and on the governance executed by cluster lead firms.

The wicked problems of supplier-driven innovation

Suppliers stand in the wake of a new diversified strategic momentum in the global production network, where innovation is growing in importance. The term “supplier-driven innovation” is coined in contrast to the current hype on user-driven innovation; this paper aims to discuss the wicked problems for suppliers to actively engage in customers’ innovations.,A qualitative case study of eight Danish suppliers.,The wicked problem of supplier-driven innovation is generated by two intertwined constraints: the ability to engage customers in the co-creation of attractive offers and the ability to include technological knowledge and capabilities residing in the upstream network of suppliers.,This research combines an industrial network approach with perspectives generated through design management literature aiming to develop an innovative space for co-creation across diverse organizational, technological and managerial domains in the global production system.,To participate in supplier-driven innovation, partners need to co-create an innovative space for joint development.,Co-creation enriches the understanding of the diversity of forms of interaction, ranging from information and knowledge exchange and mutual adaptation processes to experimentation with processes of co-creation. Through a complementary view on how suppliers co-create innovative spaces of action in the upstream spaces of technical knowledge as well as the downstream spaces of preferential needs, the research contributes insights about the characteristics of the wicked problems that suppliers need to handle in bridging and expanding these spaces for innovative actions.

Hunting the Opportunity: The Promising Nexus of Design and Entrepreneurship

Abstract While recent debates in research on the creation of entrepreneurial opportunities increasingly link opportunity creation to the logic of design, they do not fully engage with the design literature. The aim of this paper is to bring closer together the two research fields of design and entrepreneurship in order to stimulate new knowledge on opportunity creation. In doing so, we offer a shared theoretical framework on new opportunity creation that illustrates that design and entrepreneurship can advantageously complement each other in the opportunity design process. Practical insights into the robustness of the framework are provided by a short illustrative case on electric cars.