The Dynamics of Social Responsibility: Processes, Positions, and Paths in the Oil and Gas Industry
Paul C.Godfrey
I use corporate strategy concepts and tools to focus on the dynamics of firm social initiatives and actions over time. I examine the different paths and positions taken by firms, and the processes that may underlie such paths and positions. My sample comprises 19 firms in the oil and gas industry, and covers the decade from 1991-2000. I use an exploratory approach that mixes qualitative and quantitative cluster analysis as the primary tools to examine this industry, and to isolate and examine distinct social responsibility positions and paths taken by these firms. I also provide evidence about which theoretical processes seem to best explain these choices.
pp. 208 - 224
The Influence of Ownership on Performance: Stakeholder and Strategic Contingency Perspectives
Keith D. Brouthers/Maarten Gelderman/Patrick Arens
In this paper we extend the corporate governance literature by combining stakeholder and strategic contingency theories to provide an explanation of how owners influence the financial performance of firms. We hypothesize that ownership influences financial performance through three other variables: Strategic orientation, organizational structure, and management style. Using LISREL analysis, we find this indirect influence to be significant. We also discuss implications for future research.
pp. 225 - 242
The Role of Industry-Specific Capabilities during the Diffusion of a General Purpose Technology: The case of Digital Cameras
Steve Thompson
Many studies support the view that firm capabilities that are developed via experience in the traditional industry are major determinants of success for entrants to new product markets. However, where new product innovations are not isolated occurrences, but part of the diffusion of a general purpose technology (GPT), traditional capabilities may be downgraded when new start-ups and outsiders with generic technology expertise or brand-name advantages enter the industry. Using the digital camera as a typical example of a gPt-induced innovation and a sample of 82 early entrants to that market, i find that experience in the precursor industry remains a key determinant of success and survival for new market entrants, although entrants with experience of the new technology also appear to be disproportionately successful.
pp. 243 - 260
Cluster Performance Reconsidered: Structure, Linkages and Paths in the German Biotechnology Industry, 1996-2003
Carolin Häussler/Hans-Martin Zademach
We examine the evolution of biotechnology clusters in germany between 1996 and 2003, paying particular attention to their composition in terms of venture capital, basic science institutions, and biotechnology firms. drawing upon the significance of co-location of "money and ideas", the literature stressing the importance of a cluster's openness and external linkages, and the path dependency debate, we analyze how certain cluster characteristics correspond with each cluster's overall performance. After defining different cluster types, we explore and compare the clusters' internal and external interconnectivity, and investigate the extent to which the clusters' structural composition has changed over time. Our results indicate that the structure, i.e., the type of cluster, and the cluster's openness towards receiving external knowledge provide merely unsystematic indications of a cluster's overall success. the cluster's ability to modify its composition to a more balanced ratio of science and capital over time, in contrast, turns out to be a key explanatory factor.
pp. 261- 281
Dynamics of External Growth in SMEs: A process Model of Acquisition Capabilities Emergence
Carlo Salvato/Ugo Lassini/Johan Wiklund
Acquisition growth is not a common theme in entrepreneurship research. Entrepreneurial growth has traditionally been addressed as organic growth, i.e. as internal expansion through the extension of existing operations and internally induced process and product innovations. We contend that acquisition growth may generate entrepreneurial benefits over the long run, which may not be present in organic growth or green-field establishments. In fact, acquisition can be a way to release entrepreneurial activities in a firm. acquisitions may revitalize a firm and improve its ability to anticipate or to react adequately to changing external conditions. we contend that these positive outcomes will only accrue to acquiring organizations when acquisition growth is coupled with the development of acquisition capabilities, i.e., with the accumulation, storage, and exploitation of fresh organizational knowledge.
pp. 282-305
