Open Innovation practices on firm performance: evidences from biotech industry

The research presented in this paper explores the effect of Open Innovation (OI) on firm performance in the biotech-pharma industry sector. Specifically, although existing researches on OI effectiveness have separately investigated the effect of OI practices on innovation and financial performance, this study evaluates the concurrent effect of all those practices on both such performance dimensions in a single framework. We claim the importance for a manager to explore concurrently the influence of specific OI practices both on innovation and economic-financial performance. We empirically test our framework on a sample of 120 companies listed on NASDAQ Biotechnology Index.

CORPORATE VENTURE CAPITAL AND THE PROBABILITY TO ACQUIRE THE BACKED START-UP: A REAL OPTION PERSPECTIVE

To sustain their competitive positions, an increasing number of corporates access new knowledge and technologies from emerging start-ups by engaging in Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) investments. CVC investments provide corporates the option to in-source start-ups’ knowledge and technologies through follow-on acquisitions. However acquiring a backed start-up is not always a guarantee of success. Then, corporates should consider which are the most appropriate conditions under which it is beneficial to acquire a CVC backed start-up. Utilizing the theoretical lens of Real Option, we examine the conditions under which a CVC investment may evolve into an acquisition of the backed start-up. We p…

Will collaborative partners’ selection enhance sustainability performance of firms? An empirical study

Main purpose of this paper is to study the role of collaboration for sustainability, in success of business performance. Businesses can have collaborations with many players such as suppliers, logistics operators, clients, intra- and inter-departmental collaborations, for various purposes including the sustainability. We use qualitative approach, mainly semi-structured interviews to understand various dimensions of collaboration namely sharing of valuable information, physical resources both tangible and intangible. We try to understand the collaborative relationships of focal companies under study with its suppliers, buyers and logistics partners. Further, we will study the impact of colla…

CROWDSOURCING COMMUNITY NETWORK AND SOLVERS’ SUCCESS

Network position and innovation capability in the regional innovation network

This paper investigates the positioning of actors characterized by different natures in a regional innovation network and explores how these actors improve their innovation capabilities by assuming prominence or brokering positions. Innovation capability is widely seen to be the driving force in building regional competitive advantage, therefore investigating how the positioning of actors improves their innovation-related activities is relevant in terms of regional competitiveness. This paper builds on a survey conducted on the Sicilian regional area in Italy. A questionnaire was used to collect data concerning the relationships established between actors and the extent to which these relat…

The interaction between inter-firm and interlocking directorate networks on firm's new product development outcomes

This paper explores the interaction between a prominent board of directors and the network of inter-firm rela- tionships on new product development. Specifically, we posit a positive interaction effect between a prominent board and the inter-firm network and structural holes positions on the number of new products developed by the firm. We test the theoretical framework on a sample of 1758 agreements among 1890 biopharmaceutical firms over the period 2006–2010. We find that by filtering, complementing and legitimizing information coming from the inter-firm network, a prominent interlocking directorate network can improve the inter-firm network's effects on new product development. We discus…

Inter-firm relationship design for achieving supply network responsiveness

A strategic needs perspective on operations outsourcing and other inter-firm relationships

Abstract This paper considers two issues: the formation of inter-firm relationships, and the choice of governance form. These have been widely investigated in both the strategic management and operations management fields. This paper contributes to the literature in three ways. First, we address why firms enter inter-firm relationships by hypothesizing that managers enter them to pursue three strategic needs, that is: efficiency/effectiveness, knowledge/learning, and global market access. Our first contribution evidences the relationship between the above strategic needs and a number of operational objectives that managers normally pursue in an inter-firm relationship. Second, we hypothesiz…

Change Is Good, But Not Too Much: Dynamic Positioning in the Interfirm Network and New Product Development

This research considers the dynamic positioning of an enterprise in an interfirm network and its propensity for new product development. Specifically, we explore how firms reconcile the dichotomy between central and structural holes network positions, by dynamically shifting from a central to a structural holes position (and vice versa) over time. By grounding this research in network dynamics theory, we argue how prior strong central (structural holes) network positions in the interfirm network increase the likelihood the firm will benefit from structural holes (central) positions in the following time period. We also propose that these positions can be modeled by an inverted U-shaped rela…

Does firm’s network position enhance open innovation performance? Evidences from the biopharmaceutical industry

This paper explores the relationship between open innovation (OI) and firm's network position on enhancing firm's innovation performance, such as new product development (NPD). We build a theoretical framework and test it on the biopharmaceutical context. Our result shows how firm's network position influences NPD performance obtained through OI practices.

CVC AND INNOVATION PERFORMANCE: THE EFFECT OF TECHNOLOGICAL DISTANCE WITH STARTUPS AND COINVESTORS

Firms are increasingly opening their boundaries by engaging in corporate venture capital (CVC) programs as potential gateway into knowledge and technologies of innovative startups. By investing in promising startups across diverse industries with different technological knowledge from the knowledge base of the investing corporate, CVC programs constitute a vehicle for corporates to both exploit and explore innovation opportunities. We first examine the relationship between more explorative CVC investments portfolio and the innovation performance of the corporate. Then, we argue that when syndicating the CVC investments with a co-investor, the portfolio of syndication partners may affect the…

Explaining the relationship between socially responsible products and the operations of the firm: The case of equine assisted therapy

Abstract Although there is a growing interest in social responsibility in research as well as in practice, the majority of studies on corporate social responsibility do not explicitly investigate operations management issues when adopting socially responsible practices under the “people” pillar of sustainability. This paper, dealing with the theme of social responsibility in operations management, aims at clarifying the complex relationship between socially responsible product/service and the operations of the company. The empirical context of the study is the sport industry, where the attention to social issues is well established. We used a mixed theoretical-empirical approach to develop …

‘To own or not to own?’ A study on the determinants and consequences of alternative intellectual property rights arrangements in crowdsourcing for innovation contests

Due to copyright restrictions, the access to the full text of this article is only available via subscription. Firms are increasingly engaging in crowdsourcing for innovation to access new knowledge beyond their boundaries; however, scholars are no closer to understanding what guides seeker firms in deciding the level at which to acquire rights from solvers and the effect that this decision has on the performance of crowdsourcing contests. Integrating property rights theory and the problem-solving perspective while leveraging exploratory interviews and observations, we build a theoretical framework to examine how specific attributes of the technical problem broadcast by firms affect the see…

Open innovation and firms performance: state of the art and empirical evidences from the bio-pharmaceutical industry

The research presented in this paper explores the effect of inbound, outbound and coupled open innovation practices on firms' performances in the biopharmaceutical industry. Specifically, although existing researches on open innovation effectiveness have separately investigated the effect of open innovation practices on innovation and financial performance, this study evaluates the concurrent effect of these practices on both such performance dimensions in a single framework. We state the importance for a manager to explore concurrently the influence of specific open innovation practices both on innovation and economic-financial performance. We empirically test our framework on a sample of …

How selection of collaborating partners impact on the green performance of global businesses? An empirical study of green sustainability

In recent days, both collaboration and sustainability have become an integral part of many global supply chains to achieve business excellence. Although previous literature and actual practices confirmed the successful implementation of sustainability practices through supply chain collaborations, it is not clear how collaborating partners can support financial and environmental performance, and hence strengthen the partnership performance in the global supply chains. To address this practice-based research question, we test the theoretical underpinning of suppliers and logistics partners in relation to required skills selection. We capture the depth of interdependencies in collaborations f…

Product Recalls and Supply Chain Responsiveness

The increase in product recalls which occurred in recent years is mainly due to the globalization of the supply chains, in particular the outsourcing and offshoring of manufacturing and distribution. Besides being the main cause of recall, in this paper we argue that outsourcing (domestic and international) and offshoring may also affect the supply chain responsiveness in managing the recall itself. We test a number of hypotheses on this theme empirically on the pharmaceutical sector by using data collected from the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The Role of Ambidexterity and Vacillation on Firms' Innovation: an Inter-firm Network Perspective

This article examines the underexplored balancing between exploration and exploitation in inter-firm network dimension by applying an ambidexterity and vacillation behavior and how this impacts on different firm’s innovation performances. We propose reconciliation between exploration and exploitation within a network of inter-firm ties, by matching two specific structural network embeddedness positions that are centrality and structural holes. We observe how a firm reconciles exploitation and exploration in their inter-firm networks by adopting two different behaviors, ambidexterity and vacillation. According to the former a firm statically assumes in the same time a network position charac…

A strategic framework for firm networks in manufacturing industry: An empirical survey

Firm networking is becoming more and more the most important competitive strength in nowadays competitive environment. Such an evidence is partially neglected by the classical strategic analysis of firms competitiveness which mainly looks at the firm strength and weakness not in relationship with its capacity to build competitive networks. For such a reason, in the last years, many theoretical approaches have stressed the importance of networks to gain competitive advantage. In this paper, the most significant theories on firm networking are reviewed and an innovative strategic framework that mainly underlies at firm networks organisation is proposed. Very briefly, it is argued that network…

How strategic needs influence alliance formation and their governance modes: An empirical study in the Italian biopharmaceutical industry

Firms enter strategic alliances for various reasons, and the motives behind formation of these alliances are one of main research subjects in the management field. The large literature on the issue has highlighted how alliances answer to a strategic need for collaboration that is the need to improve competitive strength through collaboration agreements. However, the study here addresses the strategic need perspective to alliances under a more specific point of view. We question what kind of competitive strengths firms aim at acquiring through inter-firm relationships. By reviewing of the most relevant literature on the issue we assume that alliances respond to three principal strategic need…

The role of Intellectual Property Rights in the value capturing of crowdsourcing for innovation contests

In this study, we investigate the role of IPR arrangements in crowdsourcing for innovation challenges. Integrating Property Rights Theory and the open innovation literature, we propose that specific challenge attributes affect the seekers organizations’ choice between alternative IPR arrangements and how this choice, in turn, affects the self-selection of external solvers into solving the challenge. We collected multi-source, interview data with open innovation directors and we built a unique data set of 729 awarded challenges broadcasted on InnoCentive platform from 2010 to 2016. Our findings contribute to the emerging literature on open innovation and crowdsourcing literature by bringing …

The effect of reshoring announcement on company share price

The reshoring trend has gained momentum among manufacturing companies, which increasingly decide to relocate their production activities back to their home country. In this article, we explore the relationship between the motivations guiding the decision to reshore and the companies’ shareholder value. Particularly, taking an eclectic paradigm perspective, we aim to understand whether the motivations driving the companies’ decisions to reshore explain changes in the shareholder value. Empirically, we built an ad-hoc database based on 370 reshoring decisions involving the USA as a reshoring destination and announced in the 10-year time window ranging from 2009 to 2018. Our results highlight…

The role of IPR arrangements in the crowdsourcing for innovation contest: an empirical investigation of the Innocentive challenges

In this study, we identify three different Intellectual Property Right arrangements- strong IPR (acquiring an IP), weak IPR (licensing agreement) and flexible IPR. Integrating Property Rights Theory and the open innovation literature, we propose that specific challenge attributes affect the seekers organizations’ choice between alternative IPR arrangements and how this choice, in turn, affects the self-selection of external solvers into solving the problem. We collected multi-source, interview data with open innovation directors and a unique data set of 819 closed and awarded challenges broadcasted on InnoCentive platform from 2010 to 2016. Our findings contribute to the emerging literature…

CORPORATE VENTURE CAPITAL SYNDICATION STRATEGIES: A DYNAMIC NETWORK PERSPECTIVE

Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) syndication is embraced by over 80% of corporates which co-investing the same startups with other corporates create a CVC syndication network. In this paper, we aim at exploring the evolutionary dynamics of the CVC syndication network. Specifically, we address this topic adopting two different perspectives. First, we investigate the architectural evolution of the CVC syndication network examining five dimensions that characterize the evolution of the network structure (i.e. degree distribution, connectivity, clustering, density and degree assortativity). In addition, we study how three network strategies (i.e. prominence, entrepreneurial and relational) evolv…

The impact of fairness on the performance of crowdsourcing an empirical analysis of two intermediate crowdsourcing platforms

This research aims to investigate mechanisms available to the seeker to encourage participation of solvers to a challenge. We hypothesize that specific crowdsourcing mechanisms, reducing the information asymmetry of solvers on the challenge, increase solvers’ perception of procedural and distributive fairness and incentive their self-selection process. Moreover, posing problem in an ‘open’ manner exposes seekers to possible opportunism risks. Thus, seekers utilize many safeguard contractual mechanisms to mitigate these risks and protect the information shared in a challenge. By using data from two intermediate crowdsourcing pltaforms, we provide that safeguard mechanisms may have a drawback…

Why corporates syndicate their investments with a specific partner? An explorative analysis of corporate venture capital co-investments

The 80% of corporates that engage in CVC activities, make these investments with other corporates, recognizing the strategic benefits provided by co-investors. Despite the relevance of this phenomenon, no studies focus on the motivations that drive a corporate to syndicate its investments and most important there are no researches that investigate antecedents that drive a corporate in choosing the partner with whom to syndicate the CVC investments. Thus, the aim of this paper is to study why corporates syndicate their CVC investment with a specific partner. Based on the CVC and the alliance literatures we propose a research framework that considers two main elements characterizing a CVC syn…

Strategic alignment of business network forms and single companies’ objectives

In this paper the most significant theories on firm networking are reviewed and an innovative strategic perspective that underlies at firm network organization is proposed. It is argued that networks are differently organized according to three basic strategic objectives: gaining efficiency, collecting knowledge, pursuing globalization. The research is supported by secondary data analysis based on a sample of about 115 case studies published in different journals and magazines.

How the purpose of the inter-firm relationships influences the choice of the governance form: evidence from the machine tool and the pharmaceutical industries

In today's competitive landscape, the choice of the appropriate mode to govern an inter-firm relationship is a critical factor for companies. In the literature several theoretical strands have examined the impact of the purpose of inter-firm relationships on the forms of governance. Building on a robust literature review on the topic, this study focuses on a specific issue influencing the choice of the form of governance in inter-firm relationships, i.e. the purpose of inter-firm relationships with relation to partner's resources. We gather in a unique framework three typologies of partner's resources, i.e. production, R&D and marketing, and through two empirical analyses in two different I…

THE EFFECT OF INBOUND, OUTBOUND AND COUPLED INNOVATION ON PERFORMANCE

The focus of this paper is on exploring linkages among Open Innovation practices and firm performance. While, in the last ten years, a certain amount of papers facing such issue has been published, most of them treat inbound, outbound, and coupled innovation practice processes separately respect to different dimensions of innovation and financial performance. We argue that the concurrent influence of specific Open Innovation practices on both innovation and economic-financial firms' performance has not been investigated so far into the literature and it is of primary managerial importance. We empirically test our framework on a sample of 105 companies listed on the Industrial Machinery and…

The concurrent effect of Open Innovation practices on both innovation and financial performance: empirical evidences from bio-pharmaceutical industry

Purpose – The research presented in this paper explores the effect of Open Innovation on firm performance in the biopharmaceutical industry. Specifically, although existing researches on Open Innovation effectiveness have separately investigated the effect of Open Innovation practices on innovation and financial performance, this study evaluates the concurrent effect of these practices on both such performance dimensions in a single framework. Design/methodology/approach – We measure firm performance and Open Innovation activities of companies listed on NASDAQ; specifically, the study focuses on 128 companies listed in the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index. This industry provides an ideal context …

R&D supply chain and innovation performance: the contingent role of the firm’s position in the network

This paper conceptualizes the supply chain of innovation as a sub-set of the whole innovation network. We focus on the relationship between the activities of purchasing/selling R&D and the firm’s innovation performance. Specifically, we examine how the position of the firm within its innovation network moderates this relationship. Our empirical setting consists in cross-sectional data about 1772 agreements signed by biotech companies between 2006-2010. We find, first, anecdotal evidence of both the existence of the innovation supply chain and the phenomenon of firms’ positioning along it. Second, we find that information richness positively moderates the effect of purchasing R&D services on…

Network embeddedness and new product development in the biopharmaceutical industry: The moderating role of open innovation flow

This paper explores the role of centrality and structural holes positions on the likelihood to develop new products and the moderating role of the open innovation flow, a measure of the net knowledge flow crossing the firm’s boundaries, on the aforementioned relation. We argue that network positions provide the information content to the firm, whilst open innovation flow describes how the firm uses such content, thus the combination of these two concepts has a significant impact on new product development. We test the theoretical framework on a large sample of 544 public companies and data from 1758 agreements among 1890 bio-pharmaceutical firms through the period 2006–2010. Our results sho…

How do I rule my solver’s relationship? An empirical investigation of governance structures in crowdsourcing contests

In order to continually innovate, companies are increasingly opening their boundaries and signing crowdsourcing agreements with solution providers. However, crowdsourcing scholars are no closer to understanding how possible solvers’ opportunistic behaviours affect the governance structure proposed by the seeker at the moment the challenge is broadcast. Building on the managerial-choice approach of transaction cost economics, we aim to examine how contract conditions, specified in the request for proposal (RFP), aiming to reduce the effect of solver’s opportunistic behaviours whilst influencing seekers’ preferences toward proposing contractual agreements to manage the working relationship wi…

The magnitude of a product recall: offshore outsourcing vs. captive offshoring effects

The escalation in product recalls in recent years is attributed to the rise of globalisation and associated challenges of offshoring. Extant SCM research suggests that product recalls have a significant negative impact on financial performance, but gaps exist relative to the managerial actions to minimise their impact. Recall response strategies have become more important in the press, given that a single recall may result in the mandatory withdrawal of millions of products from the market, with firms incurring enormous logistics costs and brand damage. In this study, we address this gap in the research, and using a measure of product recall defined as the volume of products withdrawn from …

The curvilinear effect of manufacturing outsourcing and captive-offshoring on firms' innovation: The role of temporal endurance

Abstract This paper aims to contribute to the open debate in the literature on the effect of global sourcing strategies on firm performance by studying the consequences of manufacturing outsourcing and captive-offshoring for the innovation capability of the firm. We grounded our hypotheses based on the outsourcing and offshoring literature and by narrowing our focus to the effects of persisting in their adoption over time. We tested our hypotheses using data from a sample of 368 manufacturing companies listed on NASDAQ stock market. The paper provides theoretical explanations and empirical findings for the inverted U-shaped influence of keeping doing captive-offshoring on new product develo…

Business networking strategy: operations management and organizational economics different perspectives

How do different network positions affect crowd members' success in crowdsourcing challenges?

In the crowdsourcing challenges, crowd members can interact with each other by, for example, chatting, exchanging feedback, providing advice, discussing, and commenting on ideas. These social interactions shape a network structure, which is a set of social relationships developed by crowd members. This study aims at investigating how occupying diverse network positions within a crowdsourcing challenge network increases the members' likelihood to succeed in a competition. Leveraging prior literature on social networks and crowdsourcing research, we theorize how central and structural hole network positions influence the crowd members' likelihood of winning crowdsourcing challenges by leverag…

TEAM-BASED INNOVATION CONTESTS FOR CROWDSOURCING: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON IDEACONNECTION PLATFORM

Crowdsourcing for innovation contests represents a promising mechanism to access and integrate external ideas. Among various crowdsourcing types, online, team-based contest is one of the most prominent one. The objective of this study is to deepen the understanding of team-based crowdsourcing by exploring specifically the issues that characterise the innovation process of crowdsourcing in a virtual team setting. To empirically pursue this aim, we conducted an interview-based case study leveraging interviews of 106 solvers and 24 facilitators moderating the team of solvers, which have participated in contests through the IdeaConnection crowdsourcing platform. We found that five main issues …

THE EFFECT OF ASSUMING DIFFERENT POSITIONS IN THE CROWDSOURCING COMMUNITY NETWORK ON SOLVERS’ SUCCESS

A framework for public purchasing under a decentralized organization: an empirical study in the healthcare sector in Italy

More and more public companies are showing interest in how no conventional purchasing strategies, such as purchasing group solutions, may improve efficiency in purchasing activities by providing consistent saving on public organization budgets. This issue is essential for the healthcare sector, whose public spending is still increasing and represents a significant part of the GNP of many European countries. In this paper, different purchasing strategies have been addressed; more specifically, the main objective is to formalize a framework supporting purchasing strategy formulation, and operazionalize it through an empirical application to the Sicilian Region healthcare industry.

THE MODERN LANDSCAPE OF EXTERNAL CORPORATE VENTURING: AN EXPLORATIVE STUDY ON THE CHOICE AMONG NEW AND TRADITIONAL CORPORATE VENTURING MODES

How the strategic objectives pursued in inter-firm relationships influence the choice of the governance form: an empirical study in two high-tech Italian industries

In today’s competitive landscape, the choice of the appropriate mode to governance an inter-firm relationship is an important factor for companies. In literature several theoretical strands have examined the impact of the alliance purpose on the governance forms. Building on a robust literature review on the topic, this study focuses on a specific issue influencing the choice of the governance form in inter-firm relationships, i.e. the alliances’ purpose with relation to partner’s resources. We gather in a unique framework three typologies of partner’s resources, i.e. production, R&D and marketing, and through two empirical analyses in two different Italian industries, machine tool and phar…

STRATEGIC NEED PERSPECTIVE TO STRATEGIC ALLIANCE FORMATION: A THEORETICAL CONSTRUCTION AND EMPIRICAL VALIDATION

Corporate Venture Capital follow-on investments: the role of co-investors

CVC investments allow corporates the option to internalize startups’ knowledge and technologies through follow-on investments. Since acquiring a backed startup is not always a guarantee of success, corporates should consider which are the most appropriate conditions under which it is beneficial to acquire the startup. Under the theoretical lens of Real Option theory, we examine the conditions under which a CVC investment may evolve into different kind of CVC follow-on investments. We suggest that the CVC characteristics that mitigate both endogenous and exogenous uncertainties positively affect the corporate’s decision to acquire a backed startup. In addition, we argue that the presence of …

A managerial approach to firms’ networking strategy

As recently pointed out by many authors and companies‟ manager, the company competitiveness is more and more based on the ability of a firm to build strategic and competitive networks with partners and competitors. Nowadays, in a competitive environment, firms are facing challenges such as the growing demand of innovation, the increasing competitiveness and the need to penetrate new markets, by using network strategies. Consequently, such motivations are putting an increasing interest on networking strategy issue, which are becoming an essential strength of company competitive strategy. In this work the most significant theories on firm networking are reviewed and an innovative strategic pe…

Shaping inter-firm collaboration in new product development in the automobile industry: A trade-off between a transaction and relational-based approach

Abstract Shaping collaboration in the new product development (NPD) has always been a very difficult task, especially in complex industries like the automobile one. This complexity is particularly true during the engineering phase of the NPD process, where different complex systems are to be designed in a collaborative way. Basically, two-kind of approaches have been observed in the literature and industry: one is more related to market transactions, specifically the west car-company style, the other is more relational based, as in the Japanese car-company style. Now, the increasing globalisation of the industry asks for a merge of the two approaches; indeed, the increasing use of standard …

Supply chain of innovation and new product development

This paper conceptualizes the supply chain of innovation of a company as its supply chain not related to physical goods exchanges but to R&D commodities exchanges. R&D commodities, being the outcomes of research activities, are for example patents, technologies, research services, studies, projects, etc. Spe- cifically, we focus on the relationship between the activities of purchasing/selling R&D commodities and the propensity of the firm to develop new products; we examine how the position of the firm within its innovation network moderates this relationship. The empirical setting of the research consists of a cross- sectional dataset of 544 biopharmaceutical companies that hav…

Intellectual property management between buyer-supplier in the crowdsourcing context

In this paper we investigate the antecedents of buyers’ decisions related to the management of the IPR generated by the suppliers in crowdsourcing contests. Leveraging on Property Rights Theory and interview data, we examine how contest’ attributes affect two buyers’ decisions about (1) whether to define an IPR arrangement ex-ante or negotiating it ex-post with the winning supplier; (2) the choice between strong or weak ownership levels of the IPR arrangement. To test the developed hypotheses, we build a dataset of 819 contests broadcasted on InnoCentive (from 2010 to 2016). Our findings contribute to both the operations management and the crowdsourcing literatures.

Governance Considerations for Seeker–Solver Relationships: A Knowledge-Based Perspective in Crowdsourcing for Innovation Contests

The need to solve innovation problems and insource knowledge has led to an increasing number of organizations engaging in crowdsourcing activities and subsequently establishing working relationships with winning solution providers. Using a knowledge‐based view and the problem‐solving perspective, we develop a theoretical framework suggesting how specific innovation problem attributes (i.e. the decomposability, formulation and search space of the problem) influence the governance decision (unilateral vs. bilateral) of seekers to manage the relationship with winning solvers. We empirically analyse the framework using 582 challenges broadcast on the NineSigma crowdsourcing platform. Our result…

Role of collaborative supply chain of innovation in firm’s performance

This work depicts the Supply Chain of Innovation (SCoI) including only those kinds of relationships related to the purchase and selling of R&D commodities. The theoretical framework represents the propensity of a firm in improving its innovation performance thanks to its collaboration experience and positioning in SCoI. We validate our theoretical framework on a sample of 208 biotechnology companies involved in 814 SCoI agreements. Our results show the positive direct impact of SCoI collaboration experience on innovation performance and a mediating role of positioning in SCoI on the abovementioned link.

WHY CORPORATES INVEST IN THE SAME START-UP AN EXPLORATIVE ANALYSIS OF CVC SYNDICATIONS

This study investigates why two or more corporates co-invest in the same start-up syndicating their CVC activities. Based on two strands of literature, the CVC and the alliance, we propose a research framework that explores the possible antecedents of CVC syndications. Particularly, grounded on alliance literature, we look at the CVC syndication by combining two dimensions, relational and technological: the relational dimension describes the competitive or cooperative nature of the relationship between partners of CVC syndications, while the technological one represents the exploitative or explorative technological objectives that corporates could pursue when coinvesting in a start-up. We a…

Internationalisation level, Distribution of Decision-Making Power and Alliance Formation: Evidence from the Italian Machine Tool Industry

We explore how internationalization-orientation and family business-configuration influence the propensity of Italian Machine Tool (MT) firms to sign strategic alliances. Starting from the industry sector analysis and literature review we propose a conceptual framework explaining alliance formation determinants. Our study uses the information provided by a representative sample of Italian MT firms. We argue and our data validate that the centralization of decision-making power acts as a moderator enhancing the positive effect of the internationalization on the firm inclination in signing agreements with other companies.

LEVERAGING CROWDSOURCING COMMUNITY TO INCREASE THE CHANCES OF WINNING CONTESTS: A SIGNALLING THEORY APPROACH

How can I signal my quality to emerge from the crowd? A study in the crowdsourcing context

Crowdsourcing contests are characterized by an intensive level of competition because of the extensive number of solvers that voluntarily self-select to participate in such contests. This study aims at understanding how solvers can signal their quality attributes through the community functionalities, i.e. the online profile and the discussion blog of the crowdsourcing platform, to improve their chances of winning crowdsourcing contests. Drawing on signaling theory, we hypothesize that signaling their skills and capabilities by crafting profiles rich in personal and professional information and by participating actively within the discussion blog by posting and commenting, solvers can influ…

La sharing mobility è un approccio alla mobilità sostenibile dal punto di vista dell’impatto ambientale? Alcune considerazioni basate su un’analisi empirica

L'influenza della sharing mobility sulla sostenibilità ambientale non è stata ancora pienamente compresa. Da un lato la sharing mobility consente ai consumatori di assumere comportamenti che portano ad una riduzione delle emissioni di CO2 grazie, per esempio, alla minore produzione di automobili (riduzione dell’acquisto di auto) e alla riduzione dei chilometri percorsi dalle auto (condivisione della corsa e maggiore tasso di occupanti per veicolo). D'altra parte, l'implementazione della sharing mobility porta ad effettuare un numero maggiore di viaggi in automobile. Infatti, un certo numero di chilometri che vengono percorsi oggi dalle auto condivise, erano percorsi prima con mezzi di trasp…

POSITIONS IN CROWDSOURCING COMMUNITY NETWORK AND SOLVERS’ SUCCESS

Social sustainability practices and operations management: an empirical study of Italian equestrian centres

Although implementing social sustainability practices surely affects the operations and supply chain management of the company very few researches in the field of OM and SCM have been dedicated to this topic. Grounding on the literature on social sustainability and looking at the context of equestrian centres, where activities related to Therapeutic Horseback Riding (THR) and other social sustainable practices are very common, this paper offers a number of theoretical argumentations and empirical analysis about how being social sustainability oriented (or just adopting one or few social sustainability practices) may affect the operations of a company and, in turn, influence firm’s performan…

Treating the crowd fairly: increasing the solvers’ self-selection in idea innovation contests

Abstract The success of idea crowdsourcing contests depends on the wideness of the number of solvers that voluntarily self-select to solve the problem broadcast by the seeker and previous research has started to highlight the role of fairness in the self-selection process of solvers. This study aims at deepening the understanding concerning how fairness can influence the solvers’ self-selection. By applying a netnographic research design, we identify possible unexplored facets of fairness in the crowdsourcing context, i.e., prize award, award guaranteed, and non-blind contest. Theoretically, we drew from the organizational justice and fairness literature to develop hypotheses about how the …

Collaboration experience in the supply chain of knowledge and patent development

In this paper, we aim at understanding the role of collaboration experience in supply chains of knowledge (SCoK). The SCoK of a company is its supply chain not related to the flow of physical goods but to the flow of R&D commodities. R&D commodities are for example patents, technologies, research services, studies, and projects, and, in high-tech industries, their development and commercialisation are considered as important as real products. To accomplish our aim in this paper, we fulfil the following research objectives: (1) investigate the relationship between the collaboration experience in SCoK and the propensity of the firm to develop new patents; (2) examine how the structural embedd…

How does disruptive innovation influence the funding decisions of different venture capital investors? An empirical analysis on the role of startups' communication

Entrepreneurs present their ideas in a favorable light through compelling communications that may shape the investors' impressions about the value of the startup's technology and its potential to disrupt. Assessing such communications, venture capital (VC) investors get an impression of the startup's technology and shape their willingness to commit resources to it. Since diverse kinds of VC investors pursue alternative investment objectives, they may develop different impressions of the startup's technology and accordingly make different resource commitment decisions. This paper aims to investigate the resource commitment decisions of VC investors when financing startups communicating disru…

Network Positions and the Probability of Being Acquired: An Empirical Analysis in the Biopharmaceutical Industry

This paper examines the relationship between the firm's direct ties, its inter-firm network prominence and its likelihood of being acquired. The authors argue that firm's direct ties and prominence enhance the firm's visibility and signal its quality – and thus foster the firm's likelihood of being acquired. However, higher levels of direct ties and prominence, by providing access to resources and the firm's status, respectively, increase the firm's ability to remain independent and thus reduce its likelihood of being acquired. Thus, the authors posit the overall relation as an inverted U-shaped. Furthermore, they show that, for firms that undergo an initial public offering, the aforementio…

Industry 4.0 transition: a systematic literature review combining the absorptive capacity theory and the data–information–knowledge hierarchy

Purpose The effect of the transition toward digital technologies on today’s businesses (i.e. Industry 4.0 transition) is becoming increasingly relevant, and the number of studies that have examined this phenomenon has grown rapidly. However, systematizing the existing findings is still a challenge, from both a theoretical and a managerial point of view. In such a setting, the knowledge management (KM) discipline can provide guidance to address such a gap. Indeed, the implementation of fundamental digital technologies is reshaping how firms manage knowledge. Thus, this study aims to critically review the existing literature on Industry 4.0 from a KM perspective. Design/methodology/approach …