Journal of Strategy and Management

Craig E. Armstrong; Cynthia A. Lengnick‐Hall

2013 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/17554251311296530

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to perform empirical tests to explore the influence of social integration mechanisms on organizations’ absorptive capacities theorized by Zahra and George. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a cross‐sectional design to test the relationships between potential absorptive capacity, three social integration mechanisms (cross‐functional teams, participation in decision making, and self‐managing teams), and realized absorptive capacity, in a sample of 92 organizations that bid competitively to provide products and services to a US university. Findings – An organization's use of cross‐functional teams is negatively related to its realized absorptive capacity and negatively moderates the relationship between potential and realized absorptive capacity. Self‐managing teams negatively moderate the relationship between an organization's potential absorptive capacity and its realized absorptive capacity. Research limitations/implications – The cross‐sectional design allows tests of relatedness but does not support cause‐and‐effect inferences. Practical implications – Managers who follow the prescriptive implications of using social integration mechanisms to enhance their organization's absorptive capacity may actually hinder it. The type of social integration mechanism is an important consideration for managers of firm strategies. Originality/value – This study extends and challenges the literature on absorptive capacity through its empirical analysis of the role of social integration mechanisms on an organization's absorptive capacity. Social integration mechanisms can have mixed moderating effects on the absorptive capacity development process, and potential absorptive capacity is not easily transformed into realized absorptive capacity. This study expands the context of absorptive capacity beyond R&D settings and incorporates a task environment that allows a direct linking of inputs and outputs.

Bert Spector

2013 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/17554251311296549

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the intra‐firm dynamics of business model enactment, paying particular attention to the social context in which that enactment occurs. Design/methodology/approach – The article develops its hypotheses from qualitative case studies. In particular, the article presents two exploratory cases designed to generate questions and hypotheses. Findings – The article generates two hypotheses: first, the social capital of a firm enhances its capacity to enact its intra‐firm business model; and second, when business model redesign alters the organizational location in which activities and transactions are performed, social capital will become especially salient. Research limitations/implications – Exploratory research is both suggestive and limited. Additional descriptive and explanatory research will more fully explore the phenomenon of the role of social capital in enacted business model design, as well as present data bearing on cause‐effect relationships. Practical implications – For the manager, the implication of the research relates especially to building an enactment capacity for the firm's business model; attention to social relationships and investment in social capital will enhance a firm's enactment capacity. Originality/value – The article is the first to consider the intra‐firm dynamics of business model design and to integrate the concept of social capital into an understanding of design enactment.

Edson Talamini; Emiel F.M. Wubben; Antônio Domingos Padula; Homero Dewes

2013 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/17554251311296558

Purpose – Macro‐environmental scanning is a first step in strategic planning, which is essential in an emerging industry such as liquid biofuels. The purpose of this paper is to identify the dimensions within which the governments of Brazil, the USA and Germany have constructed the macro‐environment for liquid biofuels over time and to test for similarities between the governments’ constructs. Design/methodology/approach – Documentary research was carried out on official public policies and program documents on the topic of liquid biofuels, covering a ten‐year period from 1997 to 2006. The database consisted of 624 documents from the Brazilian government, 854 from the American government and 168 documents from the German government. Text mining was used to extract information from the texts by applying a specific analysis structure that was built on macro‐environmental dimensions as expressed by their respective dimensional words “d‐words”. The “d‐words” were selected based on their usage frequency in the knowledge fields related to each dimension. Findings – The results indicate that the macro‐environments for liquid biofuels, as configured by the governments under analysis, differ systematically and over time in their emphasis of specific macro‐environmental dimensions. Originality/value – There are two primary aspects of this study which are original and valuable: the application of text‐mining techniques as a tool for strategic planning and the development of a particular tool to extract knowledge from text documents and to categorize them according to their macro‐environmental dimensions.

Christos Sigalas; Victoria Pekka Economou

2013 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/17554251311296567

Purpose – Although competitive advantage is the cornerstone concept in strategic management it still remains a poorly defined and operationalized construct. The purpose of this paper is to revisit the concept of competitive advantage, to identify the problems that stem from its current conceptualization from the majority of the literature. Design/methodology/approach – The paper undertakes an extensive literature review, audit of logical inference, syllogistic reasoning and Bayesian expressions in order to examine the problems associated with the current conceptualizations of competitive advantage. Findings – Several drawbacks and fallacies relating to current conceptualizations of competitive advantage were identified that create an urgent need for a more robust definition which could better serve the needs of both empirical research and management practice. Research limitations/implications – The authors by no means claim that the literature review undertaken in this paper on the concept of competitive advantage and on the problems derived from its conceptualization was exhaustive or absolute. Rather, this paper constitutes an attempt to stimulate efforts and provide directions on the further conceptual development of competitive advantage. Practical implications – The findings allow practising managers to not necessarily associate competitive advantage with its sources and with the determinants of superior performance. Originality/value – The findings contribute to the evolution of the strategic management field by identifying, categorizing and mapping potential problems, drawbacks and fallacies, associated with the conceptualization of competitive advantage as currently delineated in the literature, and by suggesting some criteria for the development of a conceptually more robust definition.

James E. Schrager; Albert Madansky

2013 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/17554251311296576

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to apply the cognitive research of Herbert Simon to business strategy decisions, to begin a discussion of the emerging field of Behavioral Strategy. Design/methodology/approach – Research on cognition, memory and expertise are organized, with the aim of enlightening the process of business strategy development. Findings – The authors select four insights from Simon's work to form an integrative framework of decision making and apply this to illuminate existing approaches to schools of strategy thought and practice. Research limitations/implications – This paper should lead to research on how to advance the process of solving strategic problems, in both practice and theory. The most important limitation is that much additional research lies ahead, as this is a foundational view. Originality/value – This paper is the first to recognize the potential for application of Simon's cognitive research to the practice of strategic decisions.

Leo Sleuwaegen

2013 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/17554251311296585

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a new method that allows corporate strategists to scan for profitable growth opportunities by extending the firm's product offering to new (foreign) markets. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology consists of developing and applying a new conceptual framework – MATCH – which assesses the potential value creation in relation to the business model adaptations that need to be made to enter a new market. Findings – The paper shows that traditional methods of calculating the attractiveness of new markets may be misleading if not all elements of the business model are aligned with the contextual conditions (institutional, economic, social.) prevailing in the new market. Research limitations/implications – The method is illustrated for entering new foreign markets but lends itself to wider applications in the area of product diversification. Practical implications – Without asking for extensive data collection, the method yields practical insights about the attractiveness of entering new markets and business model adaptations that need to be made. Originality/value – The MATCH framework is an original and practical approach that builds upon and extends essential insights originating from the related diversification literature.