Knowledge that Transforms

Journal of Management Studiesthat emphasised a focus on the strategic contribution of HRM practices to employee outcomes and measures of organisational performance.A vast number of research studies have since devised ways to dissect HRM practices in an attempt to explain and predict, with ever greater accuracy, how the strategic implementation of HRM is related to important outcomes for an organisation.Two decades on from Guest's seminal article, it is appropriate to reassess his HRM framework and the research that has followed in its stream.Using Guest's framework as a starting point, Paauwe surveys the rise of HRM research and the progress made with measuring the impact of HRM on employee and organisational performance.He re-analyses the results of large-scale studies and concludes that, despite the early promises, results have been mixed and inconclusive.Progress has been halted because of studies using firm-level research designs and coarse, retrospective data that limit any causal inferences about the contribution of HRM.Paauwe makes a number of recommendations including longitudinal research and multi-level research designs that he anticipates will move the field closer to an integrative theory that connects individual employees, singular or bundled HRM practices, and organisational outcomes.One important way in which such a theory can be pieced together, Paauwe suggests, is by combining multi-level, longitudinal research designs with more contextual and interpretive case-based research on the performance of HRM practices.In this way, a functionalist, largely managerial perspective is extended with a more sociological perspective on employee well-being and workplace dynamics.However, instead of articulating how the respective contribution of these research approaches can be theoretically synthesised, Paauwe ends his contribution by noting the tensions that exist between reconciling these perspectives and their underlying values.In the Counterpoint, Janssens and Steyaert elaborate on this fissure and recommend a shift of HRM research towards a more critical, pluralistic account that adds a reading of the politicised nature of HRM and the employment relationship, stretches definitions of employee subjectivity and well-being, and appropriates a wider stakeholder based view of the underpinnings of HRM.Janssens and Steyaert argue that by adroitly entertaining and reflecting upon multiple readings of HRM and performance, researchers can avoid the stranglehold of the predominant managerial orientation.This kind of reflexivity will instead allow them to recognise the inherent complexities and tensions in

abstract This article develops the concept of internal subsidiary embeddedness as the canvas within which subsidiary strategy takes place. Developing an inductive model, we identify three hierarchical levels of embeddedness. The first level is operational embeddedness, which relates to interlocking day‐to‐day relations. The second level is capability embeddedness, which concerns the development of competitive capabilities for the multinational as a whole. The third level is strategic embeddedness, which concerns a subsidiary's participation in a multinational corporation's strategy setting. We derived our concept of embeddedness from an in‐depth case study. Embeddedness is not merely an outcome of the institutional setting in which a subsidiary is situated, but is a resource a subsidiary can manage by means of manipulating dependencies or exerting influence over the allocation of critical resources. A subsidiary can modify its embeddedness to change its strategic restraints. Therefore, the development of subsidiary embeddedness becomes an integral part of subsidiary strategy.

abstract Recent research on the commercialization of scientific discoveries has emphasized the use of formal intellectual property rights (notably patents) as a mechanism for aligning the academic and entrepreneurial incentives for commercialization. Without such explicit intellectual property rights and licensing, how is such open science commercialized? This paper examines the commercialization of Claude Shannon's theory of communications, developed at and freely disseminated by Bell Telephone Laboratories. It analyses the first 25 years of Shannon theory, the role of MIT in developing and extending that theory, and the importance of deep space communications as the initial market for commercialization. It contrasts the early paths of two MIT‐related spinoffs that pursued this opportunity, including key technical and business trajectories driven by information theory. Based on this evidence, the paper provides observations about commercializing open science, particularly for engineering‐related fields.

abstract Drawing on expectancy, equity, and collective effort theories, we argue that the level of involvement of individual firms in multifirm alliances depends on both individual firms’ self‐focused interests and factors stemming from the firms’ membership in the alliance group. We apply our theoretical arguments to the context of venture capital syndicates and test the hypotheses using data about 160 venture capital firms (VCFs) drawn from a survey instrument and a secondary data source. The results show that individual firms’ involvement in a multifirm alliance is somewhat dominated by group effects; specifically, financial stake relative to that of the group and the reputation of the other group members significantly influence the focal firm's involvement. However, focal firms’ involvement relates negatively to their own reputation. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research. Our results imply that firms in multiparty alliances pay attention to the characteristics of their alliance partnership to calibrate their own behaviour. In our specific setting, VCF involvement in syndicates depends more on relative syndicate characteristics than on the focal firm's absolute level of investment. Further, because reputation is negatively associated with involvement, entrepreneurs and potential syndicate entrants should ensure that they fully leverage VCF reputation to achieve their goals.

abstract 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.

abstract Using the context of market orientation, we examine how an exemplary business's market orientation culture is reflected in managers' mental models, evaluate how mental models and perceived behaviours differ across hierarchical levels and functions, and compare the cognitive values and beliefs or the cognitive aspects of market orientation culture with behavioural aspects. Results from a rich, multi‐method, case study suggest that while managers in the business share core beliefs regarding the customer dimension of market orientation, their beliefs regarding competitors, technology and inter‐functional coordination dimensions vary widely across the levels and functions of the business. We found differences in terms of both the integration between the four dimensions of market orientation and the depth of knowledge within the dimensions. Our findings reveal that customer rather than competitor beliefs are the most important commonly shared beliefs in successful companies, leading us to encourage cognitive researchers to move beyond competitor analysis when examining managerial cognition. Another implication for future research is that a strong market orientation implies common core beliefs regarding customer dimensions but does not imply that all beliefs will be or should be shared. From the methodological standpoint, we find that cognitive mapping techniques provide rich insights into a business's market orientation culture that are not gained from behavioural methods alone.