Interorganizational Strategies Research Articles

From formation to performance outcomes: A review and agenda for licensing research

Licensing strategies have gained much attention among practitioners. However, academic research on the topic is, compared to similar domains such as franchising, more limited and fragmented. This may be due to the lack of a clear conceptual delineation between licensing and other inter-organizational strategies, most notably franchising. Hence this review aims to improve the understanding of licensing as a distinct academic domain by providing a timely and systematic overview of extant licensing research based on narrative synthesis. Specifically, 105 publications from 25 high-impact journals published between 2000 and 2018 are considered. Findings are presented alongside the three licensing agreement management stages: formation, contract design, and performance outcomes. Promising avenues for future research include brand licensing, the licensee perspective, increased theoretical diversity, refined performance criteria, and sounder empirical insights. The review concludes with several theoretical and managerial implications for licensors and licensees.

Relational norms and satisfaction with interorganizational cooperation

Purpose This study aims to analyze the effects of interorganizational cost management and opportunism on the reflexes of relational norms on satisfaction with interorganizational cooperation in franchised companies. The collective synergy arising from these relationships mainly seeks to increase competitiveness and commercial development. Windolph and Moeller observed that interorganizational cost management increases satisfaction in the relationship with partners, while relational norms attenuate the negative effect on supplier satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach A survey was carried out with managers of franchised companies in the food industry. The managers were identified on the social network Linkedin. After that, an invitation was sent to participate in the research. A total of 88 valid responses were obtained. The questionnaire consists of 40 extracted assertions. A pre-test was carried out to verify the comprehensibility of the wording of the assertions. Structural equation modeling with partial least squares (PLS-SEM) was used for data analysis. For analysis, validation and adequacy tests of the model were carried out, and executed in the software SmartPLS. Findings Survey results reveal that interorganizational cost management increases franchisor relationship satisfaction. Relational social norms mitigate the negative effect of opportunism on satisfaction with cooperation. And interorganizational cost management plays an important role in the relationship between relational norms and satisfaction with cooperation between franchisor and franchisees. Research limitations/implications However, limitations resulting from the methodological design of the research must be considered in the interpretation of the results, at the same time that they provide opportunities for new research. As for the methodological aspects, the study cannot be generalized to other branches of companies, because it is a sector with franchises with specific characteristics. It should also be considered that the study was limited to investigating the proposed model, but other constructs can be observed in the literature. Finally, to empirically assess the constructs of the theoretical model, research instruments from studies other than those considered here can be used. Practical implications This study contributes with relevant literature and the management practice of interorganizational cooperation by empirically demonstrating the importance of interorganizational cost management as a management control mechanism and to mitigate the effects of opportunism between franchisor and franchisees. Social implications It also contributes to the inclusion of social norms in the relationship between franchisor and franchisees with a view to increasing franchisee satisfaction with their franchisor, which also aims to mitigate the impacts of opportunism in this relationship. It contributes to the social order, as they reveal ways to mitigate possible conflicts between franchisor and franchisee and generate greater transparency in the relationship. Originality/value This study is justified by the fact that it investigates relational aspects of cooperation between franchisor and franchisees, a form of interorganizational cooperation that is growing in the market. It is also justified by highlighting the importance of interorganizational cost management as a means of mitigating the opportunistic effects between franchisor and franchisees, proving to be an important management mechanism. Research is especially important because interorganizational strategies have been spreading in corporate environments (Dekker, Ding & Groot, 2016) and the maintenance of the relationship is dependent on satisfaction with cooperation.

As relações interorganizacionais na perspectiva da estratégia como prática social

Abstract This theoretical essay aims to reflect on interorganizational relations (IORs) from the idea of strategy as social practice (SSP), contributing to the debate on considering rationalities other than the instrumental in studies on interorganizational strategies. Therefore, critical theoretical assumptions of organizational strategy and organizational studies are reviewed. It is assumed that the IORs occur in everyday life through interactions between different agents, considering the analysis of micro-processes as inherent and complementary to analysis at the meso and macro level. The justification is that the instrumental rationality inherent to the dominant social science in the West, traditionally used to explain IORs, is not enough to contemplate the debate in the field of interorganizational strategies to consider the social context and the decolonial thought, which requires a look beyond economic utilitarianism.

ALONE OR IN COOPERATION: WHAT IS THE BEST STRATEGY FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF RADICAL PRODUCT INNOVATION IN THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY?

The aim of this research is to study the impact of inter-organisational strategies on performance of radical product innovation. We distinguish three kinds of strategies: (1) individual strategy, (2) cooperation with non-rivals strategy, and (3) coopetition strategy. We study innovation at the product level, and we analyse the market performance. We develop and test the hypotheses comparing the effects of these three strategies on the market performance of radical product innovation. An empirical research is carried out to study the video game publishing industry. We perform a quantitative analysis on a sample of 100 video games that involve radical innovations, identified among 822 video games launched between 2006 and 2011. The main results show that coopetition is the most fruitful strategy for developing a radical innovation. In this process, a direct competitor becomes the best and the most viable partner for that type of innovation.

Analysis of new product development between product innovation and product financial performance assessment: a case of Doosheh Dairy Company

Recent supply and innovation literature emphasizes the importance of foreign participation in product development. Based on this work flow, this study distinguishes four novel interagency new product development strategies (NPDs) based on two dimensions: the external source “supply chain supplies [SCS] and non-supply chain resources (NSCS)” and the form of interaction (united and purchasing). Using theoretical arguments from a knowledge-based perspective, we compare the effects of these four strategies on product innovation and product financial performance. Therefore, multi-criteria decision-making models are used to find the best inter-organizational strategy for developing a new product conducting a case study. The results indicate that some strategies are more effective to enhance product innovation, while others are more effective in improving product financial performance. In addition, this study shows that there is no distinction between the supply chain and the supply chain effects on product innovation. We also show that interdependence of technology plays an important role in increasing the positive relationship between product innovation and product financial performance. In general, the study suggests that companies need to carefully design their interagency NPD strategies with the various needs of innovation projects.

Strategy Formation Across Organizational Boundaries: An Interorganizational Process Model

AbstractStrategic decision‐makers today face complex environments with meta‐problems that cut across multiple industries. Single organizations cannot address these meta‐problems. As a result, organizations collaborate with partners, among them also competitors, and commonly work together in multi‐partner initiatives (MPIs). How these organizations jointly form an interorganizational strategy (IOS), however, is not well understood. In this paper, we extend the current strategy process conceptualizations from an intraorganizational focus of a single firm to an interorganizational process of multiple strategy‐making entities working together. We selected the eMobility sector as our research context to develop such an IOS process model. We first developed 25 cases on MPIs in the German‐speaking area based on interviews and desk research, before we focused on the eMobility ecology in the southern part of Germany. We identified 291 MPIs, conducted interviews with 19 central actors, held several workshops and informal gatherings, and complemented these data with an analysis of publicly accessible documents. Using an inductive research design, we developed a process model that unfolds in three phases: initiation, negotiation and execution. We reveal specific process dynamics in MPIs to be critical in the formation and manifestation of IOS.

ADDRESSING OLDER ADULT SOCIAL ISOLATION AND ABUSE THROUGH RURAL OUTREACH AND INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL COLLABORATION

Elder abuse is commonly linked with social isolation and in a rural state, such as Iowa, older adults may be at increased risk of social isolation and elder abuse. A community-based needs assessment aimed to record the first-hand perspectives of service providers regarding the needs of older adults in rural areas across the state of Iowa, covering 54 of the 99 counties. Through a survey (N=202) and focus groups (N=24), service providers, including direct care, Area Agencies on Aging, law enforcement, and attorneys, offered ways in which to address the gaps in service provision and prevention of elder abuse. Based on survey and focus groups, suggestions included ways to decrease social isolation among older adults by improving service outreach, provider training, and inter-organization communication. Discussion will outline gaps in service outreach and address future inter-organizational collaboration and strategies to prevent social isolation and elder abuse in rural communities.

Systems Integration: The Next Frontier in Newborn-Screening Timeliness.

In 2015, the United States Federal Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children issued recommendations for state-based newborn screening programs to benchmark improvements in newborn-screening timeliness. Newborn screening (NBS) timeliness encompasses the efficient collection, transportation, testing, and reporting of results. Nearly all state programs fail to achieve recommended timeliness benchmarks. Our study explored the processes and procedures that accelerate or hamper progress toward improving NBS timeliness from a public health laboratory program perspective. We conducted semistructured interviews to elicit public health laboratory perspectives on NBS specimen delivery, laboratory testing and processing, communication of results to birthing providers, program staffing, and quality measures and data sharing. A content analysis explored practices, processes, and procedures related to NBS timeliness. A secondary analysis examined interorganizational strategies to enhance timeliness outcomes among NBS stakeholders. Ten laboratories participated in the study (n = 21 personnel). Participants included public health laboratory directors, NBS program managers, and NBS follow-up program staff. Efforts to improve NBS timeliness included engaging birthing providers, expanding courier services, extending operating hours, modifying staffing schedules, and implementing cross-training schedules to facilitate prompt collection, transport, and processing of NBS specimens. Sustained improvements will require implementing robust data systems, integrating laboratory and follow-up processes, and improving communication among all NBS stakeholders. Programs expressed a desire to refine timeliness metric definitions to ensure useful comparisons across states. Efforts to improve timeliness have accelerated in recent years; sustained progress will require increased coordination and integration among stakeholders in the NBS delivery system.

Creative Research Approaches For Complex Questions In Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine

Pre-Hospital Emergency Medical Service work environments are complex, presenting unique challenges for the design of environments and equipment, digital technologies, and inter-organizational operational strategies. As researchers, our challenge is to understand how providers operate in these complex environments, especially during emergency situations, to ensure solutions to these challenges are well informed by representative evidence. This requires collecting data regarding human-system interactions occurring between many people with shifting roles, in dynamic and potentially dangerous environments, with complex patients and often acute time constraints. A lot is happening simultaneously, and our ability to learn and provide meaningful insights is challenged. In search for methods that will help us asses these situations we often use mixed methods that are adapted to the unique and changing conditions of each study. The goal of this session was to present Case Studies and methods used for the panelist’s research involving the emergency medical services work environment. We took a close look at the tools and methods employed by the panelists for their research, and learned about the benefits and limitations of their unique approaches, as they were implemented in unique contexts.

Keeping dissent alive under the Great Recession: no-radicalisation and protest in Spain after the eventful 15M/indignados campaign

Traditional theories of collective action would predict that, after a triggering event, the trajectory of a wave of protest is determined by the institutionalisation–radicalisation tandem. Based on the Spanish cycle of anti-austerity and against the political status quo protest in the shadow of the Great Recession, this article contends with this approach, as a clear trend towards radicalisation is never observed as the cycle unfolds. An alternative interpretative framework is developed to understand protest trajectories when collaborative inter-organisational strategies prevail. The eventful 15M campaign triggered in 2011 represents the most remarkable turning point in the Spanish socio-political mobilisation scene in recent years and had a transformative capacity over subsequent protest endeavours. Specifically, after the 15M campaign, the combination of downward scale shift and coalition building shaped the trajectory of mobilisation, and allowed for the peak of protest to persist until late 2013, when institutionalisation took over. Data from an original Protest Event Analysis dataset are used to illustrate the main arguments.

Providers perspectives on mandated local health networks for older adults in the province of Quebec, Canada

Background : In 2004, the government of Quebec made major reforms in the organisation of its health system by implementing Local Health Networks (LHNs) focused on the needs of various sub-populations. Informed by two prominent pilot projects (1, 2), the Ministry of Health and Social Services aimed at improving the continuity, coherence, quality and efficiency of health and social services by mandating the implementation of LHNs for older people with complex needs in its territory following a co-ordination model of integration (3). Understanding how mandated innovations are adopted and routinized in different contexts may give insights on which components of the innovation work where and why they work. Hence this project questions how and why does the implementation of LHNs for older adults vary between three LHNs in Quebec according to the perspectives of providers? Theory/Methods : A multiple case study, consisting of a highly urban, an urban and a rural setting. Semi-structured interviews of providers (n=29) and key documents were collected. Analysis done with the NVIVO software was based on themes inspired by The Rainbow Model of Integrated Care(4) which distinguishes 59 constructs in six interlinked integration dimensions: clinical, professional, organisational, system, functional and normative integration. Results : Variable implementation of components of LHNs in all three cases. Providers reported great variability in the implementation of clinical integration components such as the elaboration of individualised care plans for patients, care coordination through case management, and the engagement of patients/caregivers in the organisation and delivery of care. Providers experienced professional integration through the usage of multidisciplinary client evaluation tools, which facilitated inter-professional collaborations. Merging organisations of the LHNs and creating various inter-organisational strategies such as liaison nurses, aimed at promoting organisational integration, ensured continuity of services. Usage of various health information systems by providers eased functional integration, communication and collaborations between partners. Pertaining to system integration, the three cases shared the same political, economic and social climate. Discussion : Variability in the implementation of LHNs in the cases studied may be attributed to several factors. Characteristics of the local context, such as lack of appropriate personnel resulted in the rural LHN not instituting case managers or liaison nurses, a problem not faced in the other two cases. Characteristics of the innovation, such as the cumbersomeness of the multidisciplinary client evaluation tool resulted in some providers not using it in their LHNs. Providers often worked with multiple unaligned health information systems which varied within and between cases due to inappropriate managerial decisions. Mostly, providers ensured optimal care delivery to their clients by adjusting to these variations. Conclusion : The breadth and depth of different components of LHNs varied across the cases. Providers need flexibility and adaptability while carrying out their duties. Lessons learned : Different factors may influence the implementation variability of LHNs, which in turn influences the way providers perform their duties. Limitations : Only one perspective was studied, and these findings may be generalised only to similar LHNs. Suggestions for future research : Effects analysis of the implementation of the LHNs for older people.

Preparing for analysis: a practical guide for a critical step for procedural rigor in large-scale multisite qualitative research studies.

Despite attention to technical aspects of conducting qualitative research, few studies describe procedures for managing pre-analysis activities in large-scale multisite qualitative projects. As part of the data collection for the Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies, a national multisite research cooperative with nine research centers (RCs) conducted 700 semi-structured interviews to evaluate interorganizational strategies in three protocols focused on improving addiction- and health related service delivery in criminal justice settings. Guided by the research cooperative, RCs collaborated on many aspects of the qualitative data activities (e.g., codebook development and coding activities), however, pre-analysis procedures, such as organizing and managing resources, were primarily managed at the RC level. The present study examines these various practices and describes two exemplary approaches to pre-analysis, with emphasis on lessons learned and recommendations for coordinating resources, managing data, and maintaining fidelity to the study procedures for large-scale qualitative projects.

Managing stormwater for urban sustainability: an evaluation of local comprehensive plans in the Chesapeake Bay watershed region

This study uses a developed plan coding protocol in evaluating the quality of 76 comprehensive plans to examine whether local comprehensive plans have adequately integrated the concepts of sustainable stormwater management. The Chesapeake Bay watershed was chosen for the investigation because degraded stormwater runoff from nearby urban and suburban jurisdictions have critically polluted the watershed. The findings indicate that the majority of local governments have not sufficiently incorporated the sustainable stormwater management principles into their comprehensive plans. Five plan components (factual basis, goals and objectives, inter-organizational cooperation, policies, tools and strategies, and implementation) appear weak in realizing the concepts. The current study concludes by providing policy implications and recommendations to increase awareness and understanding of sustainable stormwater management concepts and to produce better implementation plans that integrate stormwater, ecosystem, and environmental planning comprehensively.

The Enactment and Evolution of Interorganizational Strategy

We extend prior research that has taken a cross-sectional approach to understanding interorganizational governance strategies and examine how and why formal and informal governance approaches funct...

Do Strategic Alliances, Acquisitions, and R&D Investments Act as Complements or Substitutes?

Abstract This paper studies possible complementarities and substitution effects between such strategic choices as alliances, acquisitions and internal R&D investments. The findings indicate that a firm’s absorptive capacity affects the presence of complementarities and substitution effects among those strategic choices. Firms with high absorptive capacity exhibit substitution effects between alliances and acquisitions and between alliances and internal R&D investments. Firms with high absorptive capacity also exhibit complementarities between acquisitions and additional R&D investments. These results were obtained from panel data of large and medium U.S. companies spanning the years 1998-2009. The results are robust to the use of different measures of performance: profitability, market-to-book value, and sales growth. This paper contributes to our understanding of the role of absorptive capacity for the optimal choice of inter-organizational strategy vs. greater internal R&D investments.

Het organiseren van exploitatieve en exploratieve innovatie binnen en tussen bedrijven

Organizing explorative innovation within and between firms Organizing explorative innovation within and between firms To stay competitive in the long term, companies not only need to exploit their existing knowledge, they also need to explore new knowledge. At the same time, combining exploitative and explorative innovation is challenging because it triggers tensions at the individual, project and organizational level. In this paper, I provide an overview of the most important intra- and inter-organizational strategies to successfully combine exploitative and explorative innovation. First, I point out the importance of structural and contextual ambidexterity for organizing explorative innovation within firms. Subsequently, I discuss the possibilities for exploitative and explorative innovation between firms. Finally, I discuss the main implications of these insights for researchers, managers and policy makers.

Het organiseren van exploitatieve en exploratieve innovatie binnen en tussen bedrijven

To stay competitive in the long term, companies not only need to exploit their existing knowledge, they also need to explore new knowledge. At the same time, combining exploitative and explorative innovation is challenging because it triggers tensions at the individual, project and organizational level. In this paper, I provide an overview of the most important intra- and inter-organizational strategies to successfully combine exploitative and explorative innovation. First, I point out the importance of structural and contextual ambidexterity for organizing explorative innovation within firms. Subsequently, I discuss the possibilities for exploitative and explorative innovation between firms. Finally, I discuss the main implications of these insights for researchers, managers and policy makers.

In-sourcing disruptive brands as a corporate entrepreneurship strategy

This paper highlights the infrequently discussed role of the entrepreneur as founder of disruptive brands creating new categories often in stealth-like manner. A corporate entrepreneurial response being pursued by Fortune 100 corporations’ renown for their branding prowess is posited in the paper called strategic brand venturing. Strategic brand venturing is a boundary-spanning activity whereby large firms access disruptive brands and entrepreneurial marketing know-how through equity investments in entrepreneurial brands. Comparisons are made between technology venturing and brand venturing and a conceptual model is proposed to assist in further research and practice of this inter-organizational strategy. The model borrows from prior venture capital and corporate venture capital models but caters for the exigencies of brands and entrepreneur founders. The version proposed also acknowledges the role of antecedents and the role of influential exogenous communities such as consumers and retailers. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research.

Hybrid governance: sketching discrete alternatives

Complex organisational forms are built through - at least to some extent - interorganisational strategies. To analyse the institutional logic of these forms, the concept of hybrid governance is proposed. This concept is a way to link their structural characteristics with their strategic content. To do so, the suggestion is to consider hybrid governance as an institutional combination of an authority structure and of a coordination architecture in presence of pooled strategic assets. The role of hybrid governance will then be to maximise joint value and minimise organisation costs. Such a perspective helps in the understanding of the very nature of complex organisational forms, of their diversity and of their uniqueness, which can be seen as an optimisation of strategy/structure interplay. From this, it is suggested that the research on hybrid governance is a major theoretical contribution to the chain and network science.

Measuring Dimensions of Network Functioning: The KnowHow2GO Network Survey

· As foundations more often encourage networks and other interorganizational strategies, they need tools to measure network effectiveness and outcomes. Gathering network members’ perspectives on their engagement with the network can provide insights and avenues for improvement.