| 1. |
- Baraldi, Enrico, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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The impact of business networks on foreign subsidiaries development : Internationalizing by surfing on several global factories
- 2018
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Ingår i: The IMP Journal. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 12:3, s. 427-443
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore two specific areas pertaining to industrial networks and international business (IB). First, the authors look at how business relationships influence the internationalization in time, from the establishment of the first subsidiary in a foreign market to the following ones, and in space, that is, across different markets. Second, the authors investigate how an increasing external network dependence of subsidiaries in their internationalization may cause a detachment of a subsidiary from the mother company as its knowledge becomes insufficient to guide a subsidiary's internationalization.Design/methodology/approach: This paper utilizes an exploratory, longitudinal, single-case study of Loccioni - a manufacturer of measuring and automatic control systems for industrial customers - to illustrate the specific dynamics of the influences of industrial networks on the internationalization of subsidiaries.Findings: The case study helps to elucidate the roles, entailing also free will and own initiative, of small suppliers' subsidiaries which operate inside several global factories, and how surfing on many different global factories, by means of several local subsidiaries, actually supports these suppliers' own international developments. This notion adds to our understanding of the global factory phenomenon a supplier focus that stresses how the role of suppliers is not merely that of being passive recipients of activities and directions from a focal orchestrating firm, but can also be that of initiative-takers themselves.Originality/value: The paper contributes to the IMP tradition by providing a multi-layered and geographically more fine-grained view of the network embedding companies that operate on internationalized markets. This paper thereby sheds light on a less investigated area of research within the IMP tradition: the link between internationalization in different countries and the interconnectedness between the industrial networks spanning these countries. At the same time, this paper contributes to IB theories by showing how a late-internationalizing SME can enter highly international markets by plugging into several established Global Factories as a way to exploit further opportunities for international expansion.
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| 2. |
- Bjerhammar, Lena, et al.
(författare)
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A conceptualization of suppliers’ and buyers’ abilities in product development : Cases from the retail industry
- 2018
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Ingår i: The IMP Journal. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 12:3, s. 413-426
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework of specified buyer and supplier abilities which may be apparent in processes when firms wish to develop products where other features than function are important.Design/methodology/approachData were collected through personal interviews with managers at eight major Swedish retail chains. The framework has been developed from an analysis of the data. Three of the cases are presented to illustrate how the framework may be applied.FindingsThe framework contains the concepts specification ability and description ability, which define and specify the demand abilities of the buyer, and the concepts translation ability, interpretation ability and implementation ability, which define and specify the problem-solving abilities of the supplier.Originality/valueThe framework presented here contributes to the business relationship and network literature on product development processes by highlighting and conceptualizing the process between buying firms who have different abilities or even inabilities to specify and explain desired product qualities, and the suppliers who should interpret the demands of these buyers.
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| 3. |
- Eklinder-Frick, Jens Ola, et al.
(författare)
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Innovation in a globalized world : Proximity-focused policy and border-crossing innovation projects
- 2018
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Ingår i: The IMP Journal. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 12:2, s. 237-257
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: Previous IMP research has shown that innovation benefits tend to gravitate across organisational, company and legal borders. However, OECD and EU policy assume that innovation investments will create benefits in close spatial relation to where these were made. The overall purpose of this paper is to consider how opportunities and obstacles of innovation appear from the perspective of: a national policy actor, its regional mediators and a policy supported and research-based firm engaged in innovation. A specific interest is directed to what interactive aspects that are considered by these actors; in the using, producing and developing settings.Design/methodology/approach: Influenced by the research question and theoretical point of departure the authors investigate what type of interfaces our focal actors recognise in the using, producing and developing settings. A total of 41 face-to-face and phone interviews focusing on each actor's approach were conducted; 23 interviews in order to investigate the policy side of innovation attempts, while 18 interviews have been performed in order to understand a single business actor's innovation approach.Findings: The study shows that both the national policy agency and the regional policy mediators primarily operate within a developing setting, and furthermore, applies a rather peculiar interpretation of proximity. As long as the developing setting of the innovation journey is in focus, with the task to transfer academic knowledge advances to commercial actors, the proximity aspect is rather easy to fulfil. However, as soon as the producing and using settings of the innovation is taken into consideration, the innovation, if it survives, will gravitate to a producing setting where it can contribute to investments in place.Originality/value: The study investigates the opportunities and obstacles of innovation; the spatial aspects included, and how these are considered by: a national policy agency, a regional mediator and a policy-supported innovating firm, in order to juxtapose the policy doctrine with the experience of the business actors such policy wishes to support.
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| 4. |
- Elbe, Jörgen, 1960-, et al.
(författare)
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Network approach to public-private organizing of destinations
- 2018
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Ingår i: The IMP Journal. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 12:2, s. 313-332
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – This paper explores a type of organizing that can be found in tourist destinations that areadministratively bound to a specific geographic area in the intersection of public and private context.The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the organizing of activities withindestinations and also to contribute theoretically and conceptually to how place dependency and public/private can be understood from an industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) network perspective.Design/methodology/approach – The research approach has its origin in an ongoing multi-disciplinaryand longitudinal case study.Findings – By applying a network approach to the organizing of destinations, where interaction ofrelationships, resources, actors and activities play an essential role, a number of propositions have been putforth so as to provide for a better understanding of place-specific organizing, in the intersection betweenpublic and private interests.Research limitations/implications – The paper is conceptual and more empirical studies are needed totest the findings. One implication to consider in future empirical studies is the tensions between created andorganic networks that exist in public and private place partnerships.Practical implications – The paper provides insights into factors affecting destination management.Social implications – With an emphasis on a socio-political context, the opportunities and limitations thatexist between public and private sectors are discussed.Originality/value – The paper sheds light on a neglected aspect of a contemporary phenomenon where theIMP network approach could contribute to the understanding of destination marketing or managementorganization that are bound to a specific place in the intersection between the public and private context.The area of public-private organizing is a topic that may also add new aspects to the IMP community.
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| 5. |
- Guercini, Simone, et al.
(författare)
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Editorial
- 2018
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Ingår i: The IMP Journal. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 12:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 6. |
- Hakansson, Hakan, et al.
(författare)
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Four decades of IMP research - the development of a research network
- 2018
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Ingår i: IMP JOURNAL. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 12:1, s. 6-36
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the development of research based on the IMP approach during the four decades since the inauguration in 1976. The paper presents a network analysis of IMP research based on one of the central IMP frameworks: the ARA model. Design/methodology/approach The main activity analysed is the annual IMP conference. The development over time is described by comparison of three conferences (1984, 1998 and 2012) with regard to the themes of the papers presented. In addition, some joint research projects are described. The most central resources are the research frameworks and findings presented in books and journals. To illustrate this dimension, the authors have traced all IMP publications that had been cited more than 100 times in 2013. In the actor layer, the authors investigated the development over time of the distribution of publications and conference presentations on research groups. Findings The paper shows how IMP has evolved into a research network around common themes of which business relationships and networks are the most significant. The activities of various research groups have become increasingly interlinked through joint research programmes, annual conferences and seminars, a website and a dedicated journal. Originality/value The paper provides a detailed illustration of the development of the IMP network. The description of this process is of general relevance as an example of how research ideas can develop and become established in terms of a distinct research network.
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| 7. |
- Hallberg, Peter, 1965-, et al.
(författare)
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Quality management systems as indicators for stability and change in customer-supplier relationships
- 2018
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Ingår i: The IMP Journal. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 12:3, s. 483-497
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: This paper extends the discussion on stability and change through focus on specific relationship characteristics. Quality management systems prescribe established routines for supplier selection and monitoring, and may thereby designate the nature and longevity of customer-supplier relationships. The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss the effects of quality management systems on stability and change in different forms of customer-supplier relationships.Design/methodology/approach: A number of illustrative examples based on participatory data and interviews help to capture different types of customer-supplier relationships (private/public; certified/non-certified) related to quality management systems.Findings: While certified customers in most sectors only need to prove that their suppliers have procedures in place, many customers equate this with requiring that their suppliers should be certified. The paper further shows that customers replace deeper understandings for their suppliers' procedures with the requirement that they be certified.Originality/value: The paper contributes to the existing literature through integrating quality management systems literature with the business network approach. For business network studies, the discussion on quality management systems as constricting regimes is interesting and provides practical insights to the business network studies as such quality management systems increase in importance and spread.
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| 8. |
- Håkansson, Håkan, et al.
(författare)
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Heaviness, space and journey - innovation opportunities and restrictions
- 2018
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Ingår i: The IMP Journal. - : EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 12:2, s. 258-275
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to argue that if the authors want to understand the role of heaviness, space and journey in innovation, the authors have to start with the interaction itself, that is the exchange process taking place between economic actors. Three major aspects will be considered: the first is that heaviness, space and journey imply restrictions, the second is that these aspects can be positively utilised in innovation processes, and the third is their joint importance to contemporary policy. All innovation processes must bypass and build on existing investments in social and material resources, related across time and space.Design/methodology/approach: The theoretical foundation is a basic IMP observation: exchange has a content. Exchange is captured as an interaction process that creates specific imprints on material and social resources involved - across firm boundaries, and across time and space. The methodology is a consequence of the research question and the theoretical point of departure and is based on three earlier IMP studies, where heaviness has been measured in different ways. The authors utilize two earlier presented case studies to focus on the heaviness, space and journey dimensions.Findings: Three main aspects are discussed: the first aspect concerns the need for utilisation of others heaviness in order for the innovation to gain heaviness in itself. The second aspect concerns the consequences that the search for heaviness has for the creation of an innovation space. The third aspect concerns the innovation journey; the specific interaction patterns between significant actors as well as places hosting heavy using, producing and developing activities created through interactions over time.Research limitations/implications: In order to change or to establish a new economic exchange interface, there is an urgent need to be aware of and utilise heaviness, to find out in what way existing investments made in related interfaces can be taken advantage of. In order to do that, there is a need for a better understanding of the function of heaviness, spatial and journey aspects included.Practical implications: In contemporary policy, certain heaviness is recognised, however, only in a non-business developing setting. The first conclusion is that heaviness of established producing and using settings is a policy blind spot. This implies that analytical policy approaches are not equipped for recognitions or of estimations of heaviness, nor as a hindrance or as a possibility in producing and using settings. The second conclusion is that the policy definition of the role of place implies neglecting the innovation space. The third conclusion is that there is a need for policy to recognise the innovation journey and its consequences.Social implications: If the policy is expected to have regional effects, policy analysis has to start out from the established heaviness of the region and consider how it can be taken advantage of.Originality/value: The paper draws attention to an aspect neglected in policy attempts to boost innovation, that the mobilising support has to come from actors representing heavy producing and using networks - and that these already have space and journey characteristics. A peripheral actor can come up with a suggestion for change - but it cannot alone mobilise the resources necessary for an innovation to get a space and journey in relation to established resource constellations.
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| 9. |
- Öberg, Christina, 1970-
(författare)
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The dynamics of proximity in multiple-party innovation processes
- 2018
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Ingår i: The IMP Journal. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 12:2, s. 296-312
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: Proximity - that is, the closeness of parties - has been increasingly emphasized in studies on innovation networks. The idea of closeness has been discussed in relation to geographic proximity, and has also been referred to as knowledge overlaps and shared understandings between parties. In most of the studies dealing with proximity in relation to innovation networks, a static analysis is pursued. Such an analysis marks how the closeness or distance, often with the conclusion that parties should not be too close or too distant, is measured against innovation outcome at a specific point in time. However, innovation processes would include how parties increasingly converge in their knowledge and understanding, and how they may co-locate their businesses. The purpose of this paper is to discuss proximity in relation to multiple-party innovation processes and their development over time.Design/methodology/approach: The empirical part of this paper consists of a single case study on an innovation community and its development process. The development of the innovation community over time, whether and how geographic, knowledge and cognitive proximity is affected, and the outcome in terms of number of innovations, their newness (incremental or radical innovation), and variety are discussed in the paper.Findings: Findings indicate how geographic proximity leads to more knowledge overlaps, while it is not a prerequisite for it. Rather, it is in the commitment processes partly connected to cognitive proximity that knowledge increasingly converges, indifferent to the co-location of parties. The speed of such processes, however, is higher if parties co-locate. The commitment processes lead to an increased number of innovations, while these innovations become more and more similar. To avoid increased overlaps of knowledge and thereby maintain the production of a variety of innovations, interaction needs to occur through the introduction of new parties and the termination of previous interaction patterns. This, however, occurs at the cost of commitment, and the knowledge thereby becomes less developed and used in its capacities.Originality/value: The paper contributes to previous research through discussing proximity in innovation networks in a processual manner. The link between various proximities and their effect on innovation outcome sheds light on how proximity, as discussed in various literature streams, often relates to similar issues that converge around the issue of commitment.
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