Henk W. Volberda

n firm decisions to engage in interorganizational collaboration in the context of innovation, conceptions of the organizational environment play an essential role. In this paper, we develop a multidimensional model of how managers use interorganizational collaboration as an organizational response to particular environmental conditions and an important instrument to boost firm innovativeness. Based on a literature review on the subject, we investigated the role of environmental turbulence… Meer weergeven

n firm decisions to engage in interorganizational collaboration in the context of innovation, conceptions of the organizational environment play an essential role. In this paper, we develop a multidimensional model of how managers use interorganizational collaboration as an organizational response to particular environmental conditions and an important instrument to boost firm innovativeness. Based on a literature review on the subject, we investigated the role of environmental turbulence, market heterogeneity and competitive intensity as such conditions. The analysis of firm data from a broad range of industries showed that environmental turbulence and market heterogeneity have an indirect association with firm innovativeness through interorganizational collaboration. The relationship of market heterogeneity was fully mediated suggesting that collaboration is unavoidable for firms in heterogeneous markets. Contrary to arguments in the literature, the findings demonstrated that although competitive intensity is associated with less interorganizational collaboration and lower firm innovativeness, the mediation relationship was not significant. Minder weergeven

Paper presented in Rotterdam (RSM Erasmus University), Netherlands (June 7th, 2012)

Volberda, Morgan and Reinmoeller have joined with Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson to develop a truly landmark strategic management textbook that is ideally suited for courses in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as other global markets. With a new process perspective to supplement the text’s trademark integrated approach, Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization provides the most comprehensive and thorough coverage of strategic management now available in the market. Whilst… Meer weergeven

Volberda, Morgan and Reinmoeller have joined with Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson to develop a truly landmark strategic management textbook that is ideally suited for courses in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as other global markets. With a new process perspective to supplement the text’s trademark integrated approach, Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization provides the most comprehensive and thorough coverage of strategic management now available in the market. Whilst maintaining the strengths and hallmark features of the original work, this new strategy text has been specially prepared to match the modern EMEA curriculum with boosted coverage of implementation issues, analysis of how firms use strategic management tools, techniques and concepts, a balanced emphasis on economics and resource-based perspectives and expanded coverage of comparative governance and organizational renewal. Minder weergeven

Management innovation entails the introduction of new-to-the-firm changes in management structures, processes, and practices intended to improve organizational functioning. We draw on relational demography theory to elucidate how behavioral dispositions stemming from top management and middle management similarity in professional characteristics (functional background and educational level) and bio-demographic characteristics (age and gender) may facilitate management innovation. We argue that… Meer weergeven

Management innovation entails the introduction of new-to-the-firm changes in management structures, processes, and practices intended to improve organizational functioning. We draw on relational demography theory to elucidate how behavioral dispositions stemming from top management and middle management similarity in professional characteristics (functional background and educational level) and bio-demographic characteristics (age and gender) may facilitate management innovation. We argue that while a throughput functional orientation of top management can be expected to stimulate management innovation, greater similarity between top and middle management will strengthen the association between top management throughput orientation and management innovation by (1) engendering consistency in behavioral expectations between the managerial echelons and (2) motivating middle management to engage in extra-role behaviors. We test our theory on a sample of more than 8,000 top and middle managers in a cross-section of 33 organizations from 2000–2008 and adopt a novel content analysis-based measure of management innovation. We find compelling support for the moderating influence of professional similarity between top and middle management, but uncover more complex patterns for cross-echelon similarity in bio-demographic characteristics. We discuss implications for understanding the role of managers in management innovation, joint consideration of top and middle management characteristics in organizational change processes, the interplay between various types of innovation, and the measurement of management innovation. Promising future research directions are suggested. Minder weergeven