| Building Corporate Reputation on the Internet: The Case of Amazon.com |
| | Rindova, Violina P. | U. of Washington | vrindova@u.washington.edu | (206) 221-5324 |
| | Kotha, Suresh | U. of Washington | skotha@u.washington.edu | (206)-543-4466 |
| | This paper contributes to the growing literature on reputation management by developing a model of reputation building on the Internet. It derives the model inductively using an in-depth case study of Amazon.com, an online book retailer. The study examines in detail various strategic actions -- self-presentations, relationship building, and competitive signals -- undertaken by the firm in its attempt to become one of the most recognized retailers on the Web. |
| | Keywords: corporate reputation; competing on the Internet; competitive dynamics |
| Managing an Organizational Learning System by Aligning Stocks and Flows of Knowledge: An Empirical Examination of Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management, and Business Performance |
| | Bontis, Nick | McMaster U. | nbontis@mcmaster.ca | (905)-525-9140 x23918 |
| | There exists great interest in organizational learning among academics and practitioners. However, the organizational learning literature remains a mixture of qualitative theories, descriptive case studies, computer simulations and little empirical research.
A distinction currently lacking in the literature is the difference between knowledge in organizations that is static (i.e., remains fixed within one individual or information system) versus knowledge that is dynamic (i.e., moves from one individual or information system to the next). This paper considers knowledge stocks and flows which interact with one another across levels in an overall organizational learning system.
A survey instrument was used to test these hypotheses based on the Strategic Learning Assessment Map (SLAM) (Crossan and Hulland, 1997; Crossan and Bontis, 1998). The survey was administered to 32 organizations in the mutual fund industry. Approximately 15 individuals representing senior-, middle- and non-management levels responded from each organization resulting in a total sample of 480 respondents. The final regression equation represented a highly explanatory model which also validates the hypotheses. |
| | Keywords: organizational learning; intellectual capital; knowledge management |
| How Intangible Capabilities Provide Competitive Pricing Advantage |
| | Simon, Daniel H. | U. of Maryland | dsimon@rhsmith.umd.edu | (301)-405-7190 |
| | A central tenet of the Resource-Based View (RBV) is that firms differ in their resources and capabilities, with such differences explaining variation in performance.
In particular, proponents of the RBV argue that intangible capabilities provide the greatest potential for developing competitive advantage because they tend to be organizational in nature, firm-specific, and therefore difficult to imitate or acquire.
In this paper, I examine whether intangible capabilities provide one form of competitive advantage: namely, the ability to hold prices above those of rivals.
To answer this question, I use data from the magazine publishing industry, drawing on a sample comprising more than 400 publishers in 50 markets, spanning a ten-year period.
I use the magazine advertising rate as my price variable, in a fixed-effects model in which I control for publisher, market and time fixed effects.
To estimate intangible capabilities I modify a novel technique developed by Makadok (1997). In short, I estimate a publisher-specific, market-varying measure of the ability to attract high income readers.
Publishers with higher income readerships should earn higher advertising rates then those with lower income readerships.
My results strongly support the hypothesis that intangible capabilities enable a firm to hold prices above those of rivals.
Moreover, intangible capabilities also reduce a firm's cost constraint. But, market structure limits a firm's ability to exploit its competitive advantage.
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| | Keywords: Intangible Capabilities; Pricing; Competitive Advantage |
| Intangible Resources and the Sustainability of Competitive Advantage |
| | Villalonga, Belen | U. of California, Los Angeles | belen.villalonga@anderson.ucla.edu | (310)-470-2623 |
| | A key testable prediction of the resource-based view of the firm is that the greater the degree of intangibility of a firm's resources, the greater the sustainability of its competitive advantage. This prediction is tested on a large sample of U.S. public corporations between 1990 and 1996, using Compustat company and segment-level data and a dynamic panel data regression model. The sustainability of competitive advantage is measured as the persistence of firm-specific profits, and resource intangibility as (1) Tobin's q, and (2) the predicted value from a hedonic regression of Tobin's q on several accounting measures of intangibles. The results obtained confirm the hypothesis that Tobin's q and the 'hedonic' (predicted) q are positively related to the persistence of firm-specific profits, and provide support, against other possible alternative interpretations, for the idea that intangible assets effectively play a role in sustaining a firm's competitive advantage. |
| | Keywords: Intangibles ; Sustainability ; Tobin's q |