ALLIANCE GOVERNANCE SYSTEMS Configurations of Alliance Governance Systems Sascha Albers Using the configurational approach, I synthesize alliance governance research by interpreting alliance governance systems as organizational form. I identify and analyze a set of design and contingency parameters and their interrelationships resulting in five configurations of alliance governance systems. These configurations are valuable for scholars in that they deepen our understanding of alliances along organization theoretical dimensions and expand the organization design literature to the field of interfirm alliances. For management practice, these configurations are valuable in that they can serve as diagnostic tools for alliance design. pp. 204 - 233

MODERATE PATIENCE Search, Failure, and the Value of Moderate Patience Oliver Baumann Conventional wisdom suggests that successful innovation in complex and novel environments requires patience – persistence despite failures – to ensure broad search for good solutions. Using an agent-based simulation model, I show that the link between patience and innovation is complex: Moderate levels of patience promote broad and effective search. High levels of patience, in contrast, can have unintended effects and even decrease performance despite increasing the degree of search. Furthermore, because translating the gains of patience into performance improvements requires time, low levels of patience are generally optimal for shorter time frames. My findings indicate that paying attention to how patience affects both the explorative and exploitative aspects of search can show when patience may effectively boost innovation. pp. 234 - 259

Institutional Theory A Tale of Two Theories: Foreign Direct Investment Decisions from the Perspectives of Economic and Institutional Theory Sabine Böckem / Anja Tuschke We analyze foreign direct investment (FDI) from two theoretical perspectives: the traditional economic perspective and the more recent institutional perspective. By combining a theoretical analysis with empirical tests, we are able to explore the explanatory power of both economic and institutional reasons for FDI. Our results show that a firm’s decision to engage in a foreign market is influenced by the attractiveness of the target market and by prior FDI decisions of large and successful peers. Thus, both theoretical perspectives complement each other in explaining FDI. We believe that any research that ignores one or the other explanation suffers from a serious omission. pp. 260 - 290

Knowledge Sharing The Role of Argument and Narration in Knowledge Sharing: Coping with Context, Validity, and Coherence Daniel Geiger This paper examines the way knowledge is shared within organizations. Although current research identifies narratives as an important medium for organizational knowledge sharing because they serve as sensemaking devices and collective memory, the study shows that narrative-based knowledge sharing encounters serious shortcomings and must frequently be supplemented by an argumentative mode of communication. Furthermore, the conditions that trigger a switch from a narrative to an argumentative mode of communication are specified. Doing so clarifies the limitations of a narrative mode of knowledge sharing and provides a more sophisticated understanding of the communication strategies that are used in virtual communities. pp. 291 - 316

Management Consultancies Management Consultancies as Institutional Agents: Strategies for Creating and Sustaining Institutional Capital Markus Reihlen / Michael Smets / Andreas Veit We classify the strategies by which management consultancies can create and sustain the institutional capital that makes it possible for them to extract competitive resources from their institutional context. Using examples from the German consulting industry, we show how localized competitive actions can enhance both individual firms’ positions, and also strengthen the collective institutional capital of the consulting industry thus legitimizing consulting services in broader sectors of society and facilitating access to requisite resources. Our findings counter the image of institutional entrepreneurship as individualistic, “heroic” action. We demonstrate how distributed, embedded actors can collectively shape the institutional context from within to enhance their institutional capital. pp. 317 - 339