Learning to synthesise contradictions: an Austrian approach to bridging time concepts in the strategic theory of the firm

Moving from an inquiry on the notions of time underlying strategy studies, in this paper we lay the groundwork for the elaboration of a multitemporal view of the firm. We draw on the Austrian process view in economic studies and on Nonaka's idea of synthesising capabilities to formulate a methodological framework which consents the elaboration of a multitemporal view of the resource-based firm, in which different time concepts are bridged and main actor behaviours crucial for prolonged firm success are encompassed. We then show how the multitemporal view of the firm which emerges from the deployment of the integration of the Austrian and Nonakian approaches consents the reinterpretation and…

Structural Dynamics and Intentional Governance in Strategic Interorganizational Network Evolution: A Multilevel Approach

This article aims to shed light on the drivers underlying the role and scope of intentional governance of the structural dynamics of whole interorganizational networks. Prior research has distinguished networks that are emergent from networks that are orchestrated. While empirical studies have shown situations in which the role and scope of intentional governance of whole interorganizational networks has changed in time, and there is a growing interest regarding the endogenous drivers of network dynamics, the dimensions that influence intentional governance of network structure dynamics and the way this is carried out remain still to be elucidated. In order to pinpoint these drivers, we le…

Institutional Contexts, the Management of Patent Portfolios, and the Role of Public Policies Supporting New EntrepreneurialVentures

This chapter aims to increase our understanding of the relationships between firm strategies, the design of institutional contexts on behalf of public agents, and the stimulation of diffused entrepreneurship within the economic system. In particular, it analyzes the way in which firm patent portfolio management strategies may systematically hinder the emergence of entrepreneurial endeavors within the economic system and, on this basis, critically discusses how the acknowledgement of these interactions should influence the design of public policies at the economic system level. We argue that in economic contexts where intellectual property rights (IPR) are influential, large firms may intent…

AUDIENCE SUPPORT DECISIONS IN IN THE AFTERMATH OF A SOCIAL SCANDAL: THE ROLES OF LEGITIMACY AND REPUTATION

Constituent audience evaluations and decisions regarding whether to continue to support a corporation after it has been perceived as culpable for socially irresponsible behaviour following corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) scandals are coin of the realm in selecting which firms (or which parts of a firm) will be able to survive a CSI-scandal. Research has largely taken for granted that CSI leads to the loss of corporate legitimacy and, consequently, of constituent audience support. Though legitimacy may be reconstructed, empirics suggest this is a necessary but insufficient condition for the maintenance of audience support. Adopting the evaluators’ perspective, this study focuses on t…

Structural and Knowledge Dynamics in Inter-firm Complex Systems

The paper aims to scrutinize the drivers of interfirm network structural dynamics and their influence on knowledge creation and diffusion over time. Interfirm knowledge networks are complex webs of linkages connecting a variety of idiosyncratic firms within and across industries. By serving as conduits through which information, knowledge and other resources flow and reputations are signaled (Poldony, 2001; Owen-Smith & Powell, 2004), they support cooperation in knowledge sharing and creation processes.

The origin of strong ties: the role of weak ties in the evolution of alliance networks

Studies on the structure of alliance networks have explained how the formation, maintenance, and decay of local within cluster ties and shortcuts with semi-distant and distant organizations drive the emergence and evolution of small world architecture in such networks. Interorganizational ties are distinguished into strong and weak on the basis of their strength. Nonetheless, by focusing mainly on strong alliances ties, previous research has fallen short to explain the role of weak ties among organizations for the evolution of alliance networks. With the aim of scrutinizing the role of weak ties in the establishment, maintaining, and transforming of alliance ties, we develop a conceptual fr…

The Challenges Underlying Firm Revival and Resilience in the Post-COVID-19 Phase

Covid-19 is an exogenous shock that has deeply modified the basic building blocks and the micro-mechanisms on which socio-economic systems and organizations rest. The vast majority of both factor markets and final markets have been significantly disrupted on a worldwide scale. As all factors that determine severe crises, the Covid-19 pandemic is a low probability and high impact shock which has significantly changed the environment in which firms operate (Grewal and Tansuhaj 2001, Hudecheck et al. 2020). Such changes have nonetheless been asymmetric, whilst they have menaced the survival of a huge number of firms and have brought to their knees many key industries, it has also ignited rapid…

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RESOURCE BASED FIRM BETWEEN VALUE APPROPRIATION AND VALUE CREATION

What we know and what we should know about stakeholders’ involvement for sustainable innovation

Time and strategy: towards a multitemporal view of the firm

This paper takes into consideration the main views underlying the theory of the resource based firm within strategy studies, underscoring their fundamental monotemporal nature and proposing a way to elaborate a multi‐temporal view of the firm. By analyzing the link between the time concepts used as bases for the formulation of studies within the strategy field and the types of actor behavior implicitly (or explicitly) entailed by such time concepts, the paper shows the inadequacy of any one of the two monotemporal views of the resource‐based firm to encompass all of the main actor behaviors on which the firm's survival and success increasingly rests. The paper draws on the Austrian process …

Regional Systems of Innovation: a Literature Review

Though various authors have offered reviews of the Regional Innovation Systems (RIS) literature and some have described their personal intellectual voyage amongst the building blocks that constitute this area of scientific enquiry (for example, Cooke 2008), these often illuminating illustrations are nonetheless subjective and, thus, suffer from biases which pertain to the actor performing the analysis. The study proposed in this paper aims to overcome the aforementioned limitation by elaborating an objective review of the main contributions to the RIS field of research, highlighting the main themes studied and the principal approaches followed. The analysis has been conducted following the …

Capacità e creatività contro emarginazione e usura: il microcredito in Sicilia

Evolutionary Dynamics of Inter-firm Networks: A Complex Systems Perspective

This chapter aims to identify the main determinants that define the architectural properties of network emergence and significantly influence the dynamics underlying network evolution in time. The identification and analysis of these determinants, as well as the dynamic processes tied to them, allows to appreciate the competitive bases and consequences of network morphology. To this purpose, using a complex systems perspective as an integrative conceptual approach, we represent networks as complex dynamic systems of knowledge and capabilities. We perform a comparative in-depth analysis of the processes underlying the emergence and evolution of STMicroelectronic's global network and of Toyot…

Managerial irresponsibility and firm survival. Pivoting the company in the aftermath of a social scandal.

This study is focused on the analysis of the factors that underlie managerial social irresponsibility scandals and the dimensions that influence the possibility to pivot the company back to success after a social scandal. Three characteristics distinguish organizational crises due to social scandals: (a) they often have such a significant negative impact on corporate performance to pose the very survival of the firm is at risk; (b) social evaluations of the firm determine both the emergence and the possibility to resolve these corporate crises; and (c) time is crucial, as the rapidity of the effective management of the crisis enhances the chance of its successful outcome. Thus, indications …

The origin of strong ties: The role of weak ties in the emergence and evolution of alliance networks

Interorganizational ties are distinguished into strong and weak on the basis of their strength. By focusing mainly on strong alliances ties, previous research has fallen short to explain the role of weak ties among organizations for the evolution of alliance networks. With the aim of scrutinizing the role of weak ties in the establishment, maintaining, and transforming of alliance ties, we develop a conceptual framework that looks at networks of interorganizational weak ties as conduits for the dissemination of information about (valuable) knowledge sets that supports the processes of opportunity discovery and/or creation. The exploitation of the discovered or created opportunities leads to…

The Power of Weak Ties: Leveraging Weak Ties in the Evolution of Alliance Networks

In today's knowledge-based economy, the sources of competitive advantage lie more and more in webs of relationships among a variety of firms that over time originate the emergence of interfirm strategic networks. The paper aims to shed light on the role of complex leadership exerted by network central firms in promoting and supporting network interactions and the ensuing processes of knowledge and resource transfer and diffusion. Processes on which the network-based sources of competitive advantage are rooted. In the attempt to make the proposed contribution, on the one hand, we underscore the emergent nature of network interactions stemming from the self-organizing behaviors that spontaneo…

CORPORATE WRONGDOING AND AUDIENCE SUPPORT: LESSONS FROM THE PARMALAT SCANDAL

Audience decisions regarding whether to continue to support a corporation after it has been perceived as culpable for socially irresponsible behaviour is “coin of the realm” in selecting which firms (or which parts of a firm) will be able to survive a CSI-scandal. This paper analyses the main dimensions underlying post-CSI audience support decisions. Our empirical setting is an embedded polar case of audience support following a severe CSI scandal. Though we apply the framework developed in the nascent stream of attribution theory in CSI to comprehend the subjective processes underlying audience reactions, this study adds a number of dimensions to those already included in attribution studi…

Failures to act responsibly: The role of firm’s competitiveness in the post-scandal phase

L'evoluzione delle relazioni fra industria e distribuzione in Italia nel XX secolo

COVID-19 and Communities. The University of Palermo's Voices and Analyses During the Pandemic

La valutazione delle sinergie nelle operazioni di M&A

Monotemporalism vs Pluritemporalism: Concepts of Time and the Strategic Theory of the Firm

Corporate Social Irresponsibility and Competitive Advantage: Lessons from Parmalat’s Turnaround

The large number of scandals which rocked the corporate world since the end of the twentieth century have fueled a considerable body of research regarding the factors which drove companies to adopt socially irresponsible behaviors and the institutional remedies which may discourage the repetition of such episodes. Today, the time lag since the initial upsurge of corporate scandals allows to shift attention towards the post-scandal turnaround processes brought about by such companies and the factors which influence their performance. Through the in-depth longitudinal study of a particularly successful turnaround which occurred at Parmalat and its comparison with other partially overlapping c…

Introduction of book "COVID-19 and Communities: Bracing for Impact. Voices and Analyses of the University of Palermo during the COVID-19 Pandemic"

The book COVID-19 and Communities: Bracing for Impact. Voices and Analyses of the University of Palermo during the COVID-19 Pandemic is a contributed volume that brings together academics of the University of Palermo in an interdisciplinary reflection on the SARS-COV-2 pandemic and its consequences. This publication finds its origins in a widely followed online webinar series that the University of Palermo set up at the end of May 2020 on the theme of the current pandemic.

Co-branding research: where we are and where we could go from here

Purpose The motivations behind co-branding alliances, the differences in performance between the paired brands and the emergence of “spillover effects” have been pillars of the marketing research agenda for almost three decades. We observe an extensive number of studies on co-branding alliances, combined with multiple theoretical perspectives and empirical approaches informing extant literature. The purpose of this paper is to summarize of the state of the art of this research. Design/methodology/approach The authors offer a systematic literature review of 190 papers on co-branding alliances. The authors portray a picture of the theories informing co-branding research and build a conceptua…

Corporate social irresponsibility and stakeholders' support: evidence from a case study

AbstractStakeholders’ decisions regarding whether to continue to support a firm after it has been perceived as culpable for socially irresponsible behaviour is “coin of the realm” in selecting which firms (or which parts of a firm) will be able to survive a corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) scandal. Our empirical setting is an embedded polar case of audience support, the Parmalat case, following a severe CSI scandal. The scandal represented a “trigger event” that ignited an active reevaluation of the firm on behalf of its stakeholders. We show that, while the firm’s cognitive legitimacy was not harmed by the CSI scandal, two dimensions of legitimacy played a key role in stakeholder ev…

Stakeholder Involvement in Sustainable Innovation: Toward an Integrated Conceptual Framework

na

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RESOURCE BASED FIRM BETWEEN VALUE APPROPRIATION AND VALUE CREATION

Various authors have brought forth the idea that the increase in context turbulence and the relentless change in today’s economic and competitive environments have rendered it essential for an effective firm strategy to combine both value appropriation and value creation (Porter, (1996); Moran & Ghoshal, (1999); Venkataraman & Sarasvathy, (2001); Hitt et al., (2001b). Nonetheless, the methodological bases and the assumptions that characterize contributions concerning value appropriation and value creation are notably different and in many respects opposite to one another. These profound methodological differences hinder the possibility of a combined consideration of value appropriation and …

Legitimacy Maintenance After a Corporate Social Irresponsibility Scandal: Lessons From The Parmalat Case

From the organizations’ perspective, maintaining legitimacy in such contexts has been considered relatively unproblematic (Patriotta, 2011; Scherer et al., 2013) as it entails following adaptive strategies and conforming substantially (or even merely symbolically) to the dominant institutional logics (Suchman, 1995; Elsbach, 1994; Scherer et al., 2013). 3 Nonetheless, whilst the implementation of a adaptive strategy to maintain the corporation with its main audiences is a necessary phase, it cannot be considered sufficient to assure the maintenance of audience support. Audiences evaluate competitive advantage and other sources of reassurance that supporting the company is worthwhile from a …

CONTESTI ISTITUZIONALI E SVILUPPO D'IMPRESA. UNA APPLICAZIONE AI CONTESTI DI PRODUZIONE DI SOFTWARE DAI MODELLI OPEN SOURCE AI MODELLI IBRIDI

Euristiche imprenditoriali, interpretazione e reazioni alle performance d’impresa

L’obiettivo di questo lavoro è presentare un framework teorico-concettuale sul ruolo delle euristiche imprenditoriali nella definizione e nell’interpretazione delle performance d’impresa e delle scelte scaturenti da suddette interpretazioni

La misurazione della performance finanziaria e strategica tramite un modello integrato EVA-PBC

Surviving learning races: An analysis of strategic alliance evolution capabilities

This paper is aimed to identify and understand the main dimensions and processes that underlie the capacity of weaker firms in an initially unbalanced strategic alliance to purposefully channel the fruitful evolution of the alliance by creating, extending or modifying its scope in order to perceive and grasp new value creating opportunities which they would not be able to seize on their own. We call this capacity an alliance evolution capability and intend it as a particular type of dynamic capability of the firm (Teece, Pisano & Schuen, 1997; Helfat et al., 2007). The motivation for this paper is threefold: (1) to understand how weaker firms may survive learning race alliances (Hamel, 1991…

The relationship between institutions and value creation in software development models

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the possibility for firms to consider institutional settings to systematically direct dispersed individual efforts of discovery and invention towards objects (products or processes) of their interest in order to enhance their value creation capacity. Design/methodology/approach The authors conduct a comparative analysis of the different institutional settings within which software products are invented and produced – closed producer-centred model, open user-centred model, and hybrid interactive producer-user model. Findings The authors draw indications regarding the possibility to design institutional settings for value creation and the poten…

Le alleanze strategiche quali percorsi di creazione di valore: un’indagine qualitativa sulle alliance evolution capabilities

The Strategic Management of Institutions for Value Creation. A Study of Hybrid Models for Software Development.

The managerial alternative: profili genetici ed evolutivi del paradigma Risorse-Competenze-Performance in strategia d’impresa

Structural Dynamics and Intentional Governance in Strategic Interfirm Network Evolution

This paper aims to shed light on the drivers underlying the role and scope of intentional governance of the structural dynamics of whole interfirm networks. Prior research has distinguished networks that are emergent from networks that are orchestrated. While empirical studies have shown situations in which the role and scope of intentional governance of whole interfirm networks has changed in time, and there is a growing interest regards the endogenous drivers of network dynamics, the dimensions that influence intentional governance of network structure dynamics and the way this is carried out remain still to be elucidated. In order to pinpoint these drivers, we leverage the models of netw…

EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS OF INTERFIRM NETWORKS: A COMPLEX SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE

CORPORATE SOCIAL IRRESPONSIBILITY AND AUDIENCE SUPPORT: LESSONS FROM THE PARMALAT SCANDAL

Governance Structure and Knowledge Sharing and Creation in Inter-Firm Networks

Coopetitive Dynamics in Distribution Channel Relationships: An Analysis of the Italian Context in the Twentieth Century

Through the analysis of the evolution of channel relationships in Italy during the twentieth century, this paper illustrates retrospectively the main factors and determinants underlying the emergence of coopetitive relationships in vertical distribution interactions and, furthermore, allows to identify different forms of coopetitive relationships in distribution channels. This empirical setting also allows to shed light on the way power instances are connected to the emergence of distinct types of interfirm relationships. Finally, it clarifies that in order to define a relationship as coopetitive, it is not sufficient for firms to collaborate for the creation of value and compete for the ap…

Governance Structures and Knowledge Sharing and Creation in Inter-firm Networks

La valutazione delle sinegie nelle operazioni di M&A

Structural Dynamics of Interfirm Knowledge Networks

In this chapter, we investigate the drivers of interfirm network structural dynamics and their influence on knowledge creation and diffusion processes that occur in such networks over time. Interfirm knowledge networks are complex webs of linkages connecting a variety of idiosyncratic firms within and across industries. Aimed to contribute to answer the recent calls for a more dynamic and multilevel view to understand network structures and processes, we leverage the complex network research to formulate a multilevel theoretical framework that clarifies the structural dynamics and knowledge creation and diffusion potential of interfirm networks.

Fostering Dynamic Growth in New Ventures through Venture Capital: Conceptualizing Venture Capital Capabilities

There is ample evidence of the influence of venture capital on the creation and growth of new ventures, yet scant attention has been paid to the heterogeneity of venture capitalists and their capacity to contribute to the dynamic growth of new ventures. This paper aims to contribute to the existing literature by exploring the notion that venture capitalists have beneficial effects on the growth of new ventures when they rely on a set of distinctive skills and processes that we associate with venture capital capabilities. We bridge the venture capital and resource-based view research streams to identify the foundational mechanisms of venture capital capabilities. We develop a set of proposit…

Learning to Synthesize Contradictions: an Austrian Approach to Bridging Time Concepts in the Strategic Theory of the Firm

Main Trends in Regional Innovation Systems: An Author Co-citation Analysis

Regional Innovation Systems are increasingly attracting attention on behalf of accademics, practitioners and policy makers. This has produced a wide array of studies in the field, both regards the specific themes treated and the perspectives adopted. Though a number of sujective reviews of the field have been proposed, these tend to present the field according to the analysts' subjective biases and tends to meld what the field is with what the field should be. In order to overcome the limitations present in the subjective reviews proposed untill today, in this study we conduct an objective review of the main contributions to the Regional Innovation Systems fiels of studies.

Learning to synthesize contradictions: An Austrian Approach to Bridging Time Concepts in the Theory of the Firm

By analysing the implcit assumptions regarding time underlying the theories of the resource based firm, and analysing the views they portray, we propose a theoretical framework which allows to bridge balue creation and value appropriation issues in strategy studies.

Institutional Contexts, the Management of Patent Portfolios, and the Role of Public Policies Supporting New Entrepreneurial Ventures

The paper aims to increase our understanding of the relationships between firm strategies, the design of institutional contexts on behalf of public agents, and the stimulation of diffused entrepreneurship within the economic system. In particular, it analyzes the way in which firm patent portfolio management strategies may systematically hinder the emergence of entrepreneurial endeavours within the economic system and, on this basis, critically discusses how the acknowledgement of these interactions should influence the design of public policies at the economic system level.