| Strategic Participation in Cooperative Technical Organizations: Emergence, Evolution and Effects of Informal Interfirm Networks |
| | Rosenkopf, Lori | U. of Pennsylvania | ROSENKOPF@wmgt-mail.wharton.upenn.edu | (215) 898-6723 |
| | Turcanu, Anca | U. of Pennsylvania | turcanu@management.wharton.upenn.edu | (215)-898-4191 |
| | George, Varghese | Rutgers U. | vgeorge@andromeda.rutgers.edu | (973)-353-1621 |
| | We examine the strategic implications of firm participation in industry-wide technical committees in the cellular industry. The stated goal of technical committee activity is the generation of technical standards. Yet firms participate in these committees not only to advance favorable standards, but also to collect technical and strategic information, to enhance their visibility and stature in the technological community, and to assess (and be assessed as) potential alliance partners. Aggregating the patterns of cooperative technical organization (CTO) participation by firms gives rise to an emergent interfirm network, where knowledge is transmitted informally between firms due to their interactions in the technical committees. We show that firm position in this CTO-derived knowledge network predicts subsequent alliance formation, suggesting that the informal network is a seminal influence on the formalization of interfirm linkages. Further, we show that network position is associated with firm exits from CTO participation, suggesting that network benefits obtain for firms with higher centrality in these networks. Taken together, these results suggest that patterns of CTO participation should be managed strategically in order to improve network position, which enhances both access to partners and knowledge as well as influence on the actual standards under development. |
| | Keywords: network evolution; informal knowledge transfer; alliances |
| Changing Strategic Advice Networks During Corporatization |
| | Teo, Stephen | U. of Technology, Sydney | stephen.teo@uts.edu.au | (612) 9514 3678 |
| | Parbery, Michelle | U. of Western Sydney | m.sexton@uws.edu.au | (612) 9772 6596 |
| | This study investigated the effect of corporatization on strategic advice relationships in a large
commercialized public sector organization. In particular the patterning of relational ties between
divisions were compared at time 1 and time 2 (prior to and following corporatization respectively).
Traditional research regarding the effects of human resource management (HRM) have been
limited because it has not accounted for the social context in which corporatization takes place,
neither has it quantified the changing nature of relational ties. Corporatization implies a strategic
approach to people management, rather than personnel management. This involves role changes
for individuals. Such changes result in different patterns of relational ties (social networks). Social
network analysis was applied to this study, permitting the precise delineation of strategic advice
and strategic HRM networks. Public sector HRM literature posits that HRM practitioners should be
central in strategic management and decision making, to ensure a match between HRM and
organizational strategies. Participants (employees of a commercialized public sector organization
n=80), provided responses to four structured network questions at both times to determine: (i) from
which division they would seek business related and (ii) HRM related advice. Results supported the
prediction that the Corporate HR division's position changed over time, which was evident in
changes to the number of interdivisional ties and their patterning: For business related advice, there
were more interdivisional ties at time 2 than at time 1, and the overall network became decentralized.
For HRM advice, the network became more centralized around Corporate HR division. |
| | Keywords: strategic HRM; social networks; strategic decision making |
| Green Strategic Networks: A Transaction Cost and Dynamic Capability Perspective |
| | Delmas, Magali A. | U. of California, Santa Barbara | delmas@bren.ucsb.edu | (805) 893-7185 |
| | This paper proposes a theoretical perspective on green strategic networks. Green strategic networks involve different types of partners (suppliers, competitors, regulators, green associations, research institutions) with the objective of developing new environmental technologies. They are called strategic because they are part of firm’s management process to reach a competitive advantage. The literature on strategic networks is emphasizing the advantage of engaging in such relationships, to build complex, valuable and difficult to imitate resources. However, firms seem to be reluctant to engage in green strategic networks fearing to expose their strategic assets to third parties that will involve high transaction costs resulting from opportunistic and antagonistic behavior. We demonstrate that green networking although increasing the asset specificity content of the transaction, might decrease transaction costs by reducing the uncertainty surrounding the exchange and the environment of the firm. This process can be achieved by trust building, and is highly dependent on the type of resources and capabilities allocated to the network. Our model is based on two complementary theoretical frameworks namely transaction cost economics and the dynamic capability approach. It proposes testable propositions to build efficient green strategic network account the type of uncertainty at stake and of the capability involved. |
| | Keywords: Environment; Network; Knowledge |
| National and Global Knowledge Networks: The Relationship between Firms' Network Centrality and Innovative Strength |
| | Spencer, Jennifer W. | U. of Houston | jspencer@uh.edu | 713-743-4661 |
| | In this paper, I explore the relationship between firms' network centrality in national and global networks of
knowledge diffusion and their innovative strength. I constructed network graphs reflecting firms' participation in
emerging knowledge networks across four time periods in the pre-commercial phase of innovation. While the
importance of a firm's network centrality varied considerably across four time periods, its network position toward the
end of the pre-commercial period predicted innovative strength in the commercial phase of innovation. Additionally,
firms that held central positions in their global knowledge network shortly before commercialization displayed significantly
higher innovative strength than firms that participated only within their national knowledge network. |
| | Keywords: knowledge-sharing; network analysis; international |