Thomas Hutzschenreuter

Strategy-Process Research: What Have We Learned and What Is Still to Be Explored

This article attempts to reflect the current state and progress of strategy-process research. Based on a literature review, an integrative framework is developed encompassing key antecedents, process and outcome factors, and the interrelationship among them. The review reveals that strategy-process research has made considerable progress in the past, shifting the focus from strategic planning to new areas, thereby emphasizing the exposed position of the individuals involved. The authors recommend that researchers conduct more studies that explore the effects of the individuals involved in strategy processes and the phases prior to and after the actual decision making.

The Impact of Added Cultural Distance and Cultural Diversity on International Expansion Patterns: A Penrosean Perspective

International strategy research has identified a variety of multinational enterprise (MNE) expansion patterns. Some MNEs appear to expand internationally at a stable rate, whereas others expand rapidly in one period and then tend to experience slower growth. The latter pattern suggests the occurrence of the Penrose effect. We identified two determinants of these diverging patterns. First, we propose that high levels of added cultural distance (reflecting expansion into new local contexts) during one period, may negatively affect further international expansion because of dynamic adjustment costs. Second, we suggest that managing a network of subsidiaries operating in a set of local contexts with high cultural diversity, increases environmental and internal governance complexity. Extant cultural diversity of the local contexts where the MNE is active in a first period may therefore discourage adding further cultural distance. We test the hypothesized relationships using a panel of 91 German companies.

Knowledge transfer to partners: a firm level perspective

Purpose – Firms at the center of an organizational network may benefit from educating and building up competencies of their partners. For that reason, centers often seek to transfer knowledge from the center to partner firms. They even set up systems of inter‐organizational knowledge transfer to plan, to coordinate, and to control such transfers on a firm level instead of managing single knowledge transfer projects individually. However, little systematic attention has yet been paid to such systems on a firm level. This paper seeks to analyze the managerial mechanism to decide what knowledge to transfer to what partners.Design/methodology/approach – To address this gap, data were gathered on nine leading multinational center firms. An explorative approach was adopted using case study research to look at the characteristics of network centers, network partners, knowledge, transfer channels, and programmes.Findings – It was found that center firms offered knowledge transfer products to partners and set up p...

Changing Vertical Integration Strategies under Pressure from Foreign Competition: The Case of US and German Multinationals

This study contributes to the emerging body of research into the influence of foreign competition on firm scope. Industrial organization economics, the resource-based view of the firm, and transaction cost economics consistently predict vertical de-integration in the face of intensifying pressure from imports and foreign direct investment. We show this was the case for 407 US firms between 1987 and 2003. Results for a panel of 95 German firms reveal a similar reaction to pressure from an increase in imports, but show no reaction to increased exposure to incoming foreign direct investment during the same time frame.

A Review of Empirical Research on Dynamic Competitive Strategy

Beginning with Chandlers 1962 seminal work, researchers have emphasized that competitive strategy is not a static phenomenon, but rather a sequence of interconnected actions and reactions unfolding over time. This paper reviews the empirical research on dynamic competitive strategy published between 1986 and 2005 in nine leading strategic management journals. An integrated framework is used to showcase the research in terms of antecedents, strategic actions and outcomes. The literature review demonstrates that significant progress has been made in the field of dynamic competitive strategy, and yet that there are still many promising lines of inquiry for future theoretical and empirical research, particularly in the areas of strategic action timing and path dependency.

Performance effects of firms' expansion paths within and across industries and nations

This article contributes to the emerging discussion on the diversification—performance relationship from a dynamic perspective.The research focuses on the ability of firms to handle complexity associated with added product scope during a period of time and the effect this may have on performance.The authors hypothesize that firms undertaking expansion steps during a given period of time, involving a higher level of added product scope, and those that expand into unrelated industries in an irregular fashion, i.e. with a higher variability, will gain less from expansion. Likewise, the authors hypothesize that if the degree of expansion steps involving internationalization is higher or shows more variance, firms will gain less from expansion.These hypothesized relationships are tested using detailed longitudinal data on 3503 expansion steps undertaken by a panel of 91 German firms, whose expansion programs have been tracked for periods ranging between five and 20 years.

A contingency view on knowledge transfer: empirical evidence from the software industry

Reports on failures of knowledge transfer (KT) seriously accumulate. A reason for failure, claimed by contingency theory and strongly supported in other disciplines, is the lack of fit between context and configuration. Assessing the reported failures, we found substantial evidence for this view. Unfortunately, literature on KT explored context and configuration isolated, but largely ignored the fits between both and their relationships to success. Thus, we developed a contingency framework on KT including the above contingency concepts and underlying factors evident in the KT literature. Based on that, we addressed the unexplored relationships between fits and success by case study research in the software industry. In-depth interviews yielded audio-recorded statements for theory building leading to nine propositions. We encourage case study research to reach conceptual closure as well as hypotheses-testing research to achieve empirical validation.

How Mindfulness and Acquisition Experience Affect Acquisition Performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide insights to the impact of acquisition experience from prior acquisitions on the performance of subsequent ones. The authors base the analysis on the concept of mindfulness which has recently gained increasing attention in organizational learning theory. The aim is to extend prior research on mindfulness in organizational learning by empirically addressing how mindfulness in knowledge transfer affects task performance in the context of a rare organizational event, i.e. an acquisition, and how it is moderated by the conditions surrounding that event. Design/methodology/approach – Employing a path-related approach, the authors analyzed large acquisitions of multiple US acquirers in a sequence to be able to clearly identify feedback from preceding acquisitions on subsequent ones. The authors adopt individual acquisition events as the unit of analysis to demonstrate the effect of mindfulness on task performance, and follow the widely used approach of measuring ...

Temporal and Geographical Patterns of Internationalization ‐ An Exploratory Analysis

Internationalization is of high relevance and has been discussed intensively. However, different internationalization paths have been proposed by theoretical models and have been observed in reality. In this study, we examine the internationalization path of 52 German firms over a period of ten years using comprehensive and rich data on all new ventures established by these companies within this period. We find four distinct patterns of internationalization and propose a stage model of internationalization based on these findings. Our results show different challenges for managers depending on the stage of internationalization and render interesting starting points for further research.

Exploring the role of managerial intentionality in international business

Managerial intentionality has been assumed to be the most differentiating, but also the most neglected factor influencing internationalization. Although various scholars have emphasized its relevance, the key question still remains unanswered: What is managerial intentionality and why and how does it matter? Researchers share the view that internationalization paths are a joint outcome of environmental factors, path dependence and learning, and managerial intentionality. However, although managerial intentionality is argued to be an important factor, it is rather taken as a “given.” Therefore, we step back and take a closer look at its very nature and relevance for international business research.