The traditional carry trade has historically been highly profitable, but suffered from crash risk, the proverbial "up by the stairs and down by the elevator.'' This crash risk was realized in dramatic fashion in the wake of the Lehman bankruptcy, when an investor who was long the Australian dollar and short the yen would have lost 22% in October of 2008.In sharp contrast, a dynamic diversified portfolio constructed using mean-variance analysis performs well, even during the crash. A portfolio constructed using mean-variance analysis can identify opportunities that a more heuristic method will not detect. Once sufficiently diversified, the carry trade turns out to have been a surprisingly low-risk strategy over the last 20 years.
This book examines the diffusion process for a complex medical technology, the PET scanner, in two different health care systems, one of which is more market-oriented (Switzerland) and the other more centrally managed by a public agency (the province of Quebec in Canada). More specifically, this research draws on institutional and socio-political theories of the diffusion of innovations to examine how institutional contexts affect processes of diffusion. The study finds that diffusion proceeds more rapidly in Switzerland than in Quebec, but that processes in both jurisdictions are characterized by intense struggles among providers and between providers and public agencies.
This study shows that the institutional environment influences these processes by determining the patterns of material resources and authority available to actors in their struggles to strategically control the technology, and by constituting the discursive resources or institutional logics on which actors may legitimately draw in their struggles to give meaning to the technology in line with their interests and values. This book also illustrates how institutional structures and meanings manifest themselves in the context of specific decisions within an organizational field, and reveals the ways in which governance structures may be contested and realigned when they conflict with interests that are legitimized by dominant institutional logics. It is argued that this form of contestation and readjustment at the margins constitutes one mechanism by which institutional frameworks are tested, stretched and reproduced or redefined.
How firms build new capabilities to adapt to changing environments is at the core of strategic management. However, research has addressed this question only recently. In this paper, I propose a model that describes how firms develop a capability to create and develop ventures through corporate venture capital, alliances, and acquisitions. The model is based on two longitudinal case studies of large corporations operating in the information and communication technology sector in Europe. At the core of this model are learning processes that enable the firm to build up an external corporate venturing capability, by utilizing learning strategies both within and outside venturing relationships. To build this new capability, firms engage in acquisitive learning. Critical to deepening the capability acquired is adaptation of all knowledge to the firm specific context through experiential learning mechanisms. I also discuss the important role that initial conditions and knowledge management practices play in determining the direction and effectiveness of specific learning processes that lead to an external corporate venturing capability.
This paper discusses standardization of information and communications technologies. Standardization has become a domain of firm strategizing with information and communication technology standards being increasingly created through semi-open alliances. The paper analyzes the strategic logic of such standardization alliances based on an in-depth case study of the Bluetooth initiative. Similar to other successful standards described in the standardization literature, Bluetooth has been rapidly adopted by a large number of companies. The author argues that at least part of the success is due to the structure and design of the standardization alliance that promoted Bluetooth.
Information and communication technologies are in the process of transforming the way business is conducted in a large number of industries. The impact of this change is not well understood. This paper develops a research agenda that helps to investigate the implications of information and communication technology on selected management fields. In particular, the implications are investigated for strategic management, demand and supply chain management, logistics, organization and leadership, and management education. The research agenda is developed by first identifying impacts of information and communication technologies in the domains discussed. From these impacts, research needs are derived.
The sustainability problems with regard to the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services increasingly challenge the legitimacy of corporations. The literature distinguishes three strategies that corporations commonly employ to respond to legitimacy problems: adapt to external expectations, manipulate the perception of their stakeholders, or engage in a discourse with those who question their legitimacy. We discuss three approaches to determine the appropriate response strategy: one-best-way approach, contingency approach, and paradox approach. We argue that in the face of heterogeneous environments with conflicting demands, corporations that follow a paradox approach are likely to be more successful in preserving their legitimacy than those that adopt one of the other two approaches. We develop a theoretical framework for the application of different response strategies and explore the management of paradoxes by way of structural, contextual, or reflective means.
Die zweite Veröffentlichung eines Rankings für Betriebswirtschaftler in der Zeitung „Handelsblatt“ hat massive Proteste hervorgerufen und zu einem teilweisen Boykott geführt. Was kritisieren die Autoren des Boykottaufrufs? Wie stehen sie grundsätzlich zu Rankings in der Wissenschaft?
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of inside-out open innovation (as opposed to closed innovation) on firm innovation performance. Inside-out open innovation involves the exploitation of existing internal technologies through innovation and commercialization.
Design/methodology/approach – Hypotheses are tested empirically using survey data collected from stock-listed companies in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The data include the complete responses from 141 R&D managers for the period from 2004 to 2008.
Findings – The results reveal that companies that emphasize inside-out open innovation are more likely to create radical innovations and tend to sell a greater number of new products. Companies pursuing closed innovation are more likely to exhibit a higher incremental product innovation performance.
Research limitations/implications – The cross-sectional data approach and its dependency on the perceptions and experiences of the respondents has its limitations. Future research should extend the focus and concept of this study and explore additional closed and open innovation strategies.
Originality/value – The adoption of open innovation in practice has not been examined in depth. This study provides empirical insights into the open innovation approaches in German-speaking countries and, by drawing important conclusions and implications for managers involved in the R&D processes, fills a gap in the innovation management literature.
