Thierry Burger-Helmchen

Crowdsourcing of inventive activities: definition and limits

The purpose of this paper is twofold: First we define the concept of Crowdsourcing of Inventive Activities (CIA) and we emphasise its differences with the crowdsourcing of routine activities and the crowdsourcing of content. Then we stress the advantages and limits of CIA by using two complementary theories of the firm: Transaction cost theory and the evolutionary theory of the firm. Specifically, we show that CIA may emerge only if knowledge is sufficiently codified and if a legal protection is possible (e.g. via patents). This work therefore builds theoretical predictions that can be tested in further works. Beyond this analysis, our work underlines issues for the traditional theories of the firm that will have to be clarified: for instance, does the emergence of crowdsourcing lead to rethinking the reasons why firms exist and the definition of their boundaries?

Justifying the Origin of Real Options and their Difficult Evaluation in Strategic Management

I explore and review the introduction of real options in strategic management studies. My aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the origin of the real options. By distinguishing between shadow and real options and implementing entrepreneurship in the traditional option valuation framework, I obtain a more exhaustive representation of the strategic decision processes in the firm. I explain the creation of a real option as an entrepreneurial process, one which transforms inventive ideas into profitable innovation. This constitutes a step toward an option-based theory of the firm by describing the emergence of a firm’s options and the strategic building of new competencies for exercising these options. In addition, this approach offers a parallel understanding of why the real options theory is less often used in practice than in theory.

Capabilities in small high‐tech firms: a case of plural‐entrepreneurship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the issue of evaluating the innovative/entrepreneurial capabilities of small firms in high‐technology industries.Design/methodology/approach – The approach taken is a literature review and case study.Findings – The contribution of the paper is twofold: in the first part, it is tried to distinguish the different forms of entrepreneurship existing. This leads to determine a form of entrepreneurship, plural entrepreneurship, that is typical in high‐tech start‐ups. In the second part, it is then tried to evaluate the innovative/entrepreneurial capabilities of a firm in such a framework. This is based on a longitudinal case study of a high‐tech start‐up where we explore how different dimensions of entrepreneurship coexist and interplay to create a firms innovative dynamics depending on its initial resources and those added during the firms growth.Originality/value – The paper is an original attempt to distinguish different notions of entrepreneurship includin...

Division of labor and division of knowledge: A case study of innovation in the video game industry

In this work, we present an illustrative case study of the changing nature of governance structure in a small innovative firm. We show that the governance structure co-evolves with the division of knowledge and the division of labor. The presentation is organized as follows: first we define the distinction between division of knowledge and division of labor and highlight some specificities of the knowledge worker. Then, a case study of an innovative SME in the market for video games for mobile phones is presented. This case study allows us to characterize four different governance phases observed over a four year time span. We then link these four governance phases with the evolution of the relation between the firm and different types of communities (communities of practice in which programmers from other firms participate, user communities ...). We show that the evolution of the governance structure has commonalities with the evolution of the relations with the communities and that those relations influence the division of knowledge and division of labor. This analysis provides basic guidance to elaborate an integrated framework to understand the matching between the division of labor/division of knowledge and the modes and mechanism of community governance in a creative industry.

Crowdsourcing and the Evolution of a Business Ecosystem

This chapter explores a specific implementation of ideation-oriented crowdsourcing. In the follow-up of previous studies, we consider that ideation crowdsourcing does not necessarily mobilize highly skilled technical competences, but rather the ability of individuals to generate new ideas. Typical applications of ideation or creative crowdsourcing are artistic design activities. One can thus wonder about the role of creative crowdsourcing in the innovation process, upstream from the problem-solving steps. In this paper, we address this issue within a particular context: the evolution of an ecosystem based on an ICT platform. This chapter relies on a case study: Parkeon, a company specialized in the development and manufacture of multi-space parking meters, ran two crowdsourcing competitions in parallel, designed to uncover new ideas for services based on the use of multi-space meters. The case study highlights the convergence between certain conditions for the success of crowdsourcing and the factors contributing to the development of a BE: openness and modularity. Furthermore, it accentuates the role of users, who become the providers of new service concepts, and confirms the central role of the company leader for the development of the BE. Last, we discuss the not-invented-here (NIH) syndrome that can be encountered when crowdsourcing is implemented.

Bank lending networks, experience, reputation, and borrowing costs

We investigate the network structure of syndicated lending markets and evaluate the impact of lenders’ network centrality, considered as measures of their experience and reputation, on borrowing costs. We show that the market for syndicated loans is a “small world” characterized by large local density and short social distances between lenders. Such a network structure allows for better information and resources flows between banks thus enhancing their social capital. We then show that lenders’ experience and reputation play a significant role in reducing loan spreads and thus increasing borrower’s wealth.

From Investment Rules of Thumb to Routines: A Real Option Approach

This paper examines the role of budgeting and decision tools in the strategizing and decision processes and their effect on future routines of the firm. It argues that some conditions must be fulfilled by the decision tools to facilitate the change of the firm routines. The reflection is conducted by analyzing the condition of existence of routines. Routines, as a redundant pattern of action, are essential units of analysis in the evolutionary approach of the firm and in strategic change management. The argument of the work is that for being able to produce new routines a strategic decision - and the way this decision is formulated by using budgeting tools - must have as many common characteristics with the routines as possible. The principal strategic decision tools we study are scenario analysis and real option. The paper concludes that the decision tools can and do influence the routines and the further development capacities of the firm. Therefore if the representation of the future development of a firm is dependent on the vision of the manager, this vision finds a follow-up in the decision tools used.

Plural-Entrepreneurial Activity for a Single Start-Up: A Case Study

Based on a longitudinal case study of a high tech start-up, this paper explores how different forms of entrepreneurship coexist and interplay to create a firm’s innovative dynamics. A particular focus is given to knowledge-based entrepreneurship linked to technological innovation and exploitation, service entrepreneurship, and organizational-marketing entrepreneurship. Findings suggest that firms can realize performance benefits when their members divide those entrepreneurial activities between themselves during the launching phase of the firm, and then adapt the configuration of the activities, and their behaviours into a managerial form during the expansion phase of the firm. Our work offers a dynamic view of the conditions a firm has to fulfil to survive in a knowledge-based environment and we analyse the process that produces a good integration of plural-entrepreneurship behaviours.

EU Policy for Digital Society

This chapter focuses on the main steps towards a digital society at the level of the European Union’s countries. The first subchapter entitled “EU Digital Single Market Regulatory Frame” provides information about the Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe. The subchapter entitled “ICT Sector Influence on EU-28 Economic Growth” underlines the main influences of ICT sector (ICT demand and ICT supply, national corruption and lifelong learning as moderating variables) on GDP. The subchapter “EU-28 Digital Divide” focuses on the main elements that create digital gap between the countries of the European Union. Reading the full chapter, the students will understand the progress of EU-28 countries towards a digital society and economy, together with the effort of the European Commission to create proper regulatory frame. This study is a necessary tool for the students, focusing on the main elements that need to evolve in order to reach a single digital market.

Strategic management and the economics of the firm

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to argue for the need to reconcile managerial and economic approaches of the firm. Strategic management seems to be the perfect playground for this.Design/methodology/approach – The paper shows many divergences between the economic and managerial approach of the firm but also highlights many topics where both approaches come in handy.Findings – The authors underline the topics and theories in strategic management with the greatest benefits of mixing economics and management can be expected and they echo the papers in this special issue.Practical implications – The paper comes as a warning for those using only managerial perspective without listening to the caveats and ideas put forward by the economic approach of the firm.Originality/value – The paper offers an agenda of how economics and management could be reunited, and shows the relevance of doing so to both theory and practice.