Business Commons^™

Incentivizing Innovation: Promoting Technical Competency To Win Future Wars., James E. Bevins

Faculty Publications

Despite numerous studies and initiatives, most current Air Force efforts to add science and technology talent have been insufficient. This begs the question: How does the Air Force incentivize and promote the necessary technical competence required to win future competition, conflicts, and wars? Several key initiatives, grounded in behavioral economics, can incentivize innovation and pursue science and technology expertise. Developed in the context of peer adversaries’ actions; global trends in technology, competition, and conflict; and the global competition for science and technology talent, these recommendations have the potential to reform institutional culture and unleash the creativity and talent of the …

Exploring Performance In Air Force Science And Technology Programs, Eric A. Plack, Jonathan D. Ritschel, Edward D. White, Clay M. Koschnick

Faculty Publications

Science and technology (S&T) programs serve an important function in the defense acquisition process as the initial phase leading to discovery and development of warfighting technology. The results of these programs impact the larger major defense acquisition programs, which integrate the technologies in subsequent phases of the life cycle. Despite this important role, little prior research has examined the performance of S&T programs. In this study, the authors investigate the impact of technological maturation as a critical success factor in Air Force S&T programs. The results suggest that S&T programs with mature technologies are more likely to experience above average …

Taking Advantage Of Institutional Weakness? Political Stability And Foreign Subsidiary Survival In Primary Industries, Nathaniel C. Lupton, Donya Behnam, Alfredo Jiménez

Faculty Publications

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the extent to which locating primary industry subsidiaries in politically unstable countries impacts their survival. The authors argue that foreign multinational enterprises in less stable political environments can shape policies that are impactful on the costs of operating in primary industries and avoid compliance with more stringent policies at home.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a sample of 753 primary sector investments of Japanese multinational enterprises during the period 1986 to 2013, the authors conduct a parametric survival analysis of the relationship between political stability and subsidiary survival.

Findings

Political instability has a slight, curvilinear relationship with …

Scaling Up Your Story: An Experiment In Global Knowledge Sharing At The World Bank, Shad Morris, James B. Oldroyd, Sita Ramaswami

Faculty Publications

Timely and effective knowledge transfer is increasingly important in today’s technologically advanced global market. However, a myopic focus on efficiency has frequently rendered most organizational knowledge ineffective. By coupling technology with a formal system that captures informal stories in an engaging and entertaining way, actors within an organization may be more willing to listen to what geographically dispersed colleagues are doing, and may be more likely to ascribe value to that information. Focusing on the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group, we conducted interviews with those sharing and using knowledge, and performed content analyses of 175 knowledge-sharing narratives. …

Innovation Outcomes Of Knowledge-Seeking Chinese Foreign Direct Investment, Xianming Wu, Nathaniel C. Lupton, Yuping Du

Faculty Publications

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigates how organizational learning, absorptive capacity, cultural integration, specialization of the acquired firm and characteristics of transferred knowledge impact innovation performance subsequent to overseas acquisitions.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey responses from 222 Chinese multinational enterprises engaged in overseas acquisitions.

Findings

Differences between acquiring and acquired firms’ capabilities, while having a positive direct influence, suppress the positive impact of organizational learning and absorptive capacity, suggesting that multinationals require some basic level of capabilities to appropriate value from overseas acquisitions.

Research limitations/implications

This paper investigates the impact of knowledge-seeking overseas acquisition of Chinese multinationals on innovation …

The Role Of Social Media In U.S. County Governments: The Strategic Value Of Operational Aimlessness, Barry A. Cumbie, Bandana Kar

Faculty Publications

This study investigates the influence of citizens' socio-economic characteristics on the presence of social media in county-level government. E-government is ostensibly citizen-driven and therefore variation in an area's demographics would likely impact a government's utilization of emerging technology, such as social media. Despite its transformative potential and widespread adoption, e-government development beyond basic stages has been sluggish. Social media is transforming the nature of interaction among individuals and organizations and has the potential to overcome some of the restrictive challenges of e-government. Understanding if, how, and to what end governments are harnessing social media will help make e-government a citizen-driven, …

Co-Creating Value: Student Contributions To Smart Cities, Chetan S. Sankar, Barry A. Cumbie

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Towards A Framework Of The Process Of Open Innovation: Case Of Acclarent In The Medical Device Industry, Hua-Hsin Wan, Xiaohong Quan

Faculty Publications

Using a case study of Acclarent, a medical device company, this paper attempts to propose a framework to further illustrate the process of open innovation in the medical device industry. We examined five elements in the mechanism of the open innovation process. Our paper shows how the success of Acclarent — a medical device start-up — depends on effective management of the flow of knowledge to satisfy unmet needs, while integrating in-depth knowledge of FDA regulations and third-party payers' reimbursement policies into the product innovation process. Read More: http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0219877014500321

Organizational Structure And Knowledge-Practice Diffusion In The Mnc, Nathaniel C. Lupton, Paul Beamish

Faculty Publications

Purpose

This study aims to examine the interaction of formal and informal cross-border knowledge-sharing practices of four large multinational corporations (MNCs) in aerospace, software, IT services and telecommunications industries. The goal was to determine the manner in which coordination and control mechanisms facilitated knowledge transfer.

Design/methodology/approach

Case studies comprised secondary data and semi-structured interviews with corporate headquarters and subsidiary managers in large MNCs conducted in the USA, Canada, Mexico, China, India and Eastern Europe.

Findings

The primary finding of this study is that knowledge transfer mechanisms arise as a result of both formal and informal structures of the MNC. Formal …

Intentions To Use Information Technologies: An Integrative Model, Ron Thompson, Deborah Compeau, Chris Higgins, Nathaniel C. Lupton

Faculty Publications

An integrative model explaining intentions to use an information technology is proposed. The primary objective is to obtain a clearer picture of how intentions are formed, and draws on previous research such as the technology acceptance model (Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989) and the decomposed theory of planned behavior (Taylor & Todd, 1995a). The conceptual model was tested using questionnaire responses from 189 subjects, measured at two time periods approximately two months apart. The results generally supported the hypothesized relationships, and revealed strong influences of both personal innovativeness and computer self-efficacy.

Innovate Or Evaporate . . . Business Concept Innovation In The Furniture Industry In The Age Of Information, Steven H. Bullard

Faculty Publications

Introduction The U.S. furniture industry has changed dramatically in recent years. Furniture manufacturers, for example, have recently faced competition from foreign producers that has been particularly intense – resulting in factory closings and job losses in many areas of the country, including the Mid-South. In Mississippi, for example, the number of employees in furniture and fixtures industries dropped by 2,100 (6.8%) in the year 2000 (Center for Policy Research and Planning 2001). Similar job losses have been occurring in Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina and other important furniture-producing states. Nationwide, employment in furniture and fixtures manufacturing dropped by 40,000 (7.2%) from …

An Experiment With Electronic Mail And Constitutional Theory, I. Trotter Hardy

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Electronic Conferences: The Report Of An Experiment, I. Trotter Hardy

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Transborder Data Flow: An Overview And Critique Of Recent Concerns, I. Trotter Hardy

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.