Søren Salomo

Information Processing and Firm-Internal Environment Contingencies: Performance Impact on Global New Product Development

Innovation in its essence is an information processing activity. Thus, a major factor impacting the success of new product development (NPD) programs, especially those responding to global markets, is the firms ability to access, share and apply NPD information, which is often widely dispersed, functionally, geographically and culturally. To this end, an IT-communication strength is essential, one that is nested in an internal organizational environment that ensures its effective functioning. Using organizational information processing (OIP) theory as a framework, superior global NPD program performance is shown to result from an effective IT/Communication strength and the commitment components of the firms internal environment, which are hypothesized to moderate this relationship. IT/Communication strength is identified in this study in terms of two components including the IT/Comm Infrastructure and IT/Comm Capability of the firm, whereas the moderating internal environment of the firm incorporates Resource Commitment and Senior Management Involvement. Data from a major empirical study of international NPD programs (382 SBUs) are used to develop and test this model. Based on a hierarchical regression analysis, the results are substantially supportive, with some unexpected findings. These shed light on the complex relationships of the firms internal environment, OIP competency, and global NPD program performance.

Have Chinese firms learned from their prior technology in-licensing? An analysis based on patent citations

With the rapid rise of Chinese economy, now ranking as the second largest economy in the world in 2010, many Chinese firms have started taking technological lead in the global market. Nevertheless, whether Chinese firms have learned from their prior in-licensing technologies and accumulated technological capabilities in sustaining their economic growth remains underexplored. This paper aims to fill this void. Using a unique dataset containing the information on licensing for 83 large Chinese firms in the electronic sector during 2000–2004, we find that these firms have successfully learned from the international technologies that they previously licensed-in when subsequent patent citations made by these Chinese licensee firms to their licensed patents are used to identify these successful learners.

Hospital innovation portfolios: Key determinants of size and innovativeness

BACKGROUNDnHealth care organizations face an increasing demand for strategic change and innovation; however, there are also several barriers to innovation that impede successful implementation.nnnPURPOSESnWe aimed to shed light on key issues of innovation management in hospitals and provide empirical evidence for controlling the size and innovativeness of a hospitals new health service and process portfolio. We show how health care managers could align the need for exploration and exploitation by applying both informal (e.g., employee encouragement) and formal (e.g., analytical orientation and reward systems) organizational mechanisms.nnnMETHODOLOGYnTo develop hypotheses, we integrated the innovation management literature into the hospital context. Detailed information about the innovation portfolio of 87 German hospitals was generated and combined with multirespondent survey data using ratings from management, medical, and nursing directors. Multivariate regression analysis was applied.nnnFINDINGSnThe empirical results showed that an analytical approach increased the size of innovation portfolios. Employee encouragement amplified the degree of innovativeness of activities in the portfolio. Reward systems did not have direct effects on the composition of innovation portfolios. However, they adjusted bottom-up employee and top-down strategic initiatives to match with the existing organization, thereby decreasing the degree of innovativeness and enforcing exploitation.nnnPRACTICE IMPLICATIONSnHospitals should intertwine employee encouragement, analytical approaches, and formal reward systems depending on organizational goals.

An Inquiry on Dimensions of External Technology Search and Their Influence on Technological Innovations: Evidence from Chinese Firms

A central part of technological innovation for industrial firms involves search for new external knowledge. A well‐established stream of literature on firms external knowledge search has demonstrated that firms investing in broader search may have a great ability to innovate. In this paper, we explore the influences of technology search on firms technological innovation performance along three distinctive dimensions: technical, geographic, and temporal dimensions, using a unique panel data set containing information on Chinese firms that were active in technology in‐licensing and patenting during the period 2000–2009. Our findings reveal that Chinese firms technological innovation performances are related to external technology search in quite different ways from the ones suggested in the extant literature using evidence from developed countries. We find that Chinese firms searching ‘locally’ along the technical dimension have better technological innovation performance than those searching ‘distantly’. However, when a Chinese firm in‐license relatively old (mature) technologies or those from geographically nearby areas, it will be less bounded to searching familiar technical knowledge.

CEO Appointments and the Loss of Firm-Specific Knowledge - Putting Integrity Back into Hiring Decisions

A rarely studied trend in corporate governance is the increasing tendency to fill CEO openings through external hires rather than through internal promotions: Kevin J. Murphy and JAin ZAibojnAxadk (2004) show that the proportion of outside hires has doubled and their pay premium almost quadrupled over the last thirty years. Assuming that general managerial skills are becoming more important relative to firm-specific skills, the authors conclude that competition in the managerial labor market establishes optimal contracts. In our model and our empirical analysis we question this explanation by assuming that over the past decades the dishonesty of the predecessor has become relatively more important for the appointment decisions of firms. We conclude that outside hires are a suboptimal trend because external candidates even step up the regression of integrity in firms: As nobody has an incentive to invest in firm-specific knowledge, not only the performance of firms drops, but also the remaining integrity.

Functional Management Competence and Growth of Young Technology-Based Firms

Acknowledging an increased research interest into the success factors for young technology-based firms in the last decade, the present study serves two main purposes. First, we aim at developing a comprehensive concept of functional management competence in young technology-based firms. Functional management competence covers the understanding of and proficiency in managing specific functional tasks (Katz, 1974). As we focus on young technology-based firms, it is suggested that marketing, financial and technology management tasks are at the core of functional management competence. Second, we aim at delineating and validating an appropriate measurement model for functional management competence. In order to test the models nomological validity, we investigate the impact of functional management competence on firm growth. Therefore, building on established firm development approaches, we propose a phase model for the development of young technology-based firms. Our study builds upon data from 212 young technology-based firms in the field of microtechnology, nanotechnology, electronics, optics and lasers. We use formative measurement models to establish valid and reliable constructs and a path model based on partial least squares modelling to investigate the performance effects. The results suggest that functional management competences generally are significant drivers of firm development speed. In particular, technology and marketing management competences are shown to impact development speed. While technology management competence is positively driving development speed, the marketing management competence impact on speed is mediated by competitive advantage of the new products developed by young technology-based firms. Financial management competence has no significant link to firm development speed.

Dynamic boundaries of user communities: exploiting synergies rather than managing dilemmas

A large body of literature indicates that innovation not only stems from a firm’s internal investments but also relies on input from external sources. This is also reflected in an increasing interest in user innovation. In particular, users, who increasingly gather in communities, can offer valuable contributions. To create and capture value, firms must engage in some kind of collaboration with these user communities. However, at the interfaces between communities and firms, tensions arise because of undefined boundaries and a lack of clear roles. Current research within the user innovation literature characterises such tensions as dilemmas between competing demands that firms must balance to encourage and benefit from user contributions. This paper brings in a systems theory perspective to show that what is currently described as trade-offs that must be managed are in fact synergies that are mutually enabling and must be embraced to foster innovation. We develop a new boundary construct that explains how firms can attend to competing logics of power, identity, and competence simultaneously, thereby leveraging the innovation potential.

Launching technological innovations: the relevance of a stakeholder perspective

When conceptualising new product launch activities, most authors focused on activities aimed at overcoming customer resistance. As such a perspective neglects obstacles arising from the resistance of other stakeholders, this study proposes to explicitly consider stakeholder theory when developing a concept of launch activities. In addition to providing a conceptual rationale, the performance effects of such launch activities are investigated. While the direct performance effects of strategic and tactical launch activities were largely investigated in previous studies, indirect performance effects have received less attention. This study considers the interdependencies between strategic, internally and externally, directed tactical launch activities and investigates both direct and indirect performance effects. The analysis is based upon data from 113 technological innovations launched in industrial markets. The launch strategy and tactics addressing resistance of customers, market players and parties from the broader firm environment are found to have a direct impact on market success. The launch strategy also drives both internally and externally directed launch tactics. For launch tactics that address frontline personnel resistance, no direct performance effect is found. Yet these internally directed tactics enable more proficient externally directed launch tactics and drive performance indirectly.

Managementkompetenz in jungen Technologieunternehmen

Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Entwicklung und Validierung eines Mases zur Bestimmung von Managementkompetenz in jungen Unternehmen. Managementkompetenz stellt dabei die umfassende unternehmerische Kompetenz dar, junge Unternehmen erfolgreich zu grunden und zu entwickeln. Zentrale Dimensionen des entwickelten Kompetenzkonstrukts sind fachliche Kompetenz, soziale Kompetenz und besondere unternehmerische Fahigkeiten. Diese Studie untersucht die direkten Erfolgswirkungen dieser umfassenden Managementkompetenzkonzeption anhand von 180 Fuhrungsteams junger Hochtechnologieunternehmen aus den Bereichen Mikrotechnologie, Nanotechnologie, Elektronik, Optik und Laser. Wir testen unser Messmodel auf Validitat und Reliabilitat; auserdem fuhren wir mit Hilfe eines Pfadmodells eine erste uberprufung der nomologischen Validitat durch.

Promotoren und Opponenten im organisatorischen Umbruch

Organisatorischer Wandel ist der standige Begleiter der Unternehmensentwicklung. Aber es gilt zu differenzieren: n n nWenn diese kontinuierlich, vornehmlich als internes Wachstum erfolgt, ist standige Anpassung der Organisation erforderlich. Wir sprechen in diesem Zusammenhang von „inkrementalem“ Wandel. n n nWenn das Unternehmen sich demgegenuber abrupt, in Sprungen, zumeist durch externes Wachstum entwickelt, ist in der Regel gleichzeitig die Organisation intern vollig neu zu gestalten. Eine derartige diskontinuierliche Entwicklung ereignet sich vornehmlich im Gefolge von Fusionen, Innovationen, Strategieanderungen, Anderungen der Unternehmensverfassung, Krisen und Katastrophen. Zudem werden die traditionellen Organisationsgrenzen durchbrochen: Der „offentliche“ Zugang und die weltweite Nutzung von Informationen zwingen die Unternehmung zur Neugestaltung ihrer externen Beziehungen. Organisatorische Anderungen dieser Art bezeichnen wir als „radikalen“ organisatorischen Wandel oder als organisatorischen „Umbruch“. n n n nWir behaupten nun, dass diese unterschiedlichen Spielarten des organisatorischen Wandels den Einsatz unterschiedlicher Instrumente der Organisationsgestaltung erfordern. Inkrementaler Wandel kann mit dem technokratischen Instrumentarium des Projektmanagements gesteuert werden. Radikaler Wandel erfordert zusatzlich das personliche Engagement von Individuen, die in spezifischer Arbeitsteilung die Neuorganisation durchsetzen.