Knowledge that Transforms

Abstract A central concern in studying organization environment relationships has been the issue of how boundaries of organizational activity are defined and altered. A specific organizational response that pertains to the issue of boundaries is subcontracting. Construction is one industry where subcontracting is used extensively. Eccles' (1981a) study shows, however, that there is great variation in the subcontracting practices of contractors. This paper reports an exploratory study on the possible determinants of the extent of subcontracting by the construction firm.

Abstract Little research has been done to date on the role of subsidiary boards (SBs) in MNCs. A two‐phase survey research design has yielded responses from 90 subsidiaries in 36 MNCs based in Europe, North America, and Japan. The sample provides evidence that: (1) SBs are perceived to be in transition from lesser to greater proactivity, and (2) MNCs with parent headquarters in North America, Europe, and Japan perceive the usefulness of these boards in different ways. The results indicate an increasingly active use of these boards in selective advisory and strategic roles. Some recommendations are presented for CEOs, chairmen, and subsidiary directors who are interested in designing their SBs to take better advantage of already legally mandated, but often underutilized, structures. SBs are not a panacea for resolving tensions between parents and subsidiaries and for monitoring changes in host country environments; however, they can provide added strategic governance for subsidiaries.

Abstract The inverse of vertical integration, ‘impartition’, is defined as an entrepreneurial behaviour which consists in casting other firms (partners) for different parts of its overall system of activities. A firm imparts when, in order to allocate its own resources to activities more congruent with its strategic objectives, it contracts out instead of doing in‐house. This concept also involves a cooperative attitude towards partners for a mutual profit based on external synergies. The developed pattern has a large range of applications: subcontracting, proxy agreements, agency contracts, international production sharing, product mandating, franchising, licensing and a growing number of intangibles. The use of the impartition leverage may amplify the strategic power of a firm and its capacity for fast growth. In response to severe worldwide competition and accelerating technological and social changes, four overall principles underlie an impartition policy: high turnover, organizational flexibility, strategic mobility and external synergies. In conclusion the author insists on the necessity of mastering the art of resources management.

Abstract This papers introduces a market‐based typology of corporate strategy, which builds on previous typologies (Rumelt 1974, 1982). We argue that, because different markets require different skills for success, firms which concentrate in one market area (consumer or industrial), at given levels of diversification, should achieve superior performance. Empirical tests with a sample of manufacturing firms support this proposed relationship between diversification strategy and financial performance.

This paper explores the question of when (or if) a market leader firm is best off with a strategy of product cannibalism: introducing a new product designed to supersede and hence destroy its own current bestseller before a rival does. Particular attention is given to the payoffs of various superseding product strategies and, given these strategies, whether the leading firm can be expected to invest at least as much in innovation as a challenger. A patent-race game with a stochastic invention process is presented. The result is that when the leading firm deliberately decides to forgo being first-mover in the new market, developing and then ‘shelving’ its new product until the current bestseller is challenged successfully by the rival, the leading firm may spend more than its challengers on R&D, thereby retaining a competitive advantage in innovation of new-generation products. The paper concludes with a discussion of the practical implications of the model.

Abstract This paper empirically investigates the effects of competition and corporate political responsiveness on multinational bargaining power. The results indicate that the more intense the competition, the weaker the bargaining power of multinationals vis‐à‐vis that of host governments. Further, higher corporate political responsiveness plays an increasingly important role in safeguarding the bargaining power position of multinationals as competition intensifies. Implications and future research development are suggested.

Abstract This paper explores the patterns of buyer and seller structure among business units in the PIMS database and how buyer/seller structure is related to profit outcomes, both long‐term through the product life cycle and short‐term between periods of boom and recession. Businesses with a favourable structure (few sellers, many buyers buying items of low importance) typically maintain margins through the product life cycle, but if there are many sellers facing few and determined buyers, margins and profitability are likely to deteriorate in recession and to continue to decline through the life cycle.

Abstract A longitudinal investigation of group tracking of potential new applications and markets created by an emerging technology (cellular telephones) is used to gain more understanding of the shifts of cognitive frames of reference in the environmental tracking of emerging strategic issues. The dynamics of frame of reference shifts is examined through the derivation and operationalization of the concepts of templates, triggers and twitches. The results posit that examining the frame of reference shifts can be more informative than examining the frames themselves. Implications for strategic management practice and research are addressed.

Abstract In this study, businesses were categorized into six groups on the basis of their methods of production, rates of innovation, and product sophistication. Technology, strategy, and performance‐related variables were then used to successfully relate these categories to archetypes in three existing conceptual typologies. Although the strategies of the six groups differed significantly, their profitability levels did not.

Abstract This article develops a classification scheme for mutual gain cooperative strategies between and among different organizations. The cooperative strategies considered are pool, exchange, de‐escalate, and experiment/contingency. These cooperative strategies are considered in four types of game/market environmental life cycle situations: positive‐sum growth, zero‐sum mature, negative‐sum decline, and transformable to positive‐sum growth. Cases from domestic and international business, nonprofit and government organizations are illustrated. Literature examples from strategic management, evolutionary biology, game theory and ecosystems theory are synthesized and used as foundation and explanation. Positive and negative public policy implications of cooperative strategy are also considered. In most, but not all, cases, cooperative strategy appears to improve value‐added efficiency in a wide variety of environments and situations.