Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

Accelerating Startups: The Seed Accelerator Phenomenon, Susan L. Cohen

Management Faculty Publications

We examine and discuss the seed accelerator phenomenon which has recently received much attention both in the US and across the globe. While accelerators appear to be proliferating quickly, little is known regarding the value of these programs; how to define accelerator programs; the differences between accelerators, incubators, angel investors and co-working environments; and the importance of the various aspects of these programs to the ultimate success of their graduates, the local entrepreneurship ecosystems and the broader U.S. economy.

A Model To Support It Infrastructure Planning And The Allocation Of It Governance Authority, Steven M. Thompson, Peter Ekman, Daniel Selby, Jonathan W. Whitaker

Management Faculty Publications

Information technology (IT) requires a significant investment, involving up to 10.5% of revenue for some firms. Managers responsible for aligning IT investments with their firm's strategy seek to minimize technology costs, while ensuring that the IT infrastructure can accommodate increasing utilization, new software applications, and modifications to existing software applications. It becomes more challenging to align IT infrastructure and IT investments with firm strategy when firms operate in multiple geographic markets, because the firm faces different competitive positions and unique challenges in each market.

We discussed these challenges with IT executives at four Forbes Global 2000 firms headquartered in Northern …

Walking The Talk: A Multistakeholder Exploration Of Organizational Authenticity, Employee Productivity, And Post-Merger Performance, Margaret Cording, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Robert E. Hoskisson, Karsten Jonsen

Management Faculty Publications

Does consistency between how a firm treats employees (what it does) and its espoused employee-oriented values (what it says) affect employee productivity? Furthermore, given that the stakeholder theory perspective holds that what happens to one stakeholder influences other stakeholders, does this sort of consistency vis-à-vis a firm’s customers also influence employee productivity? We empirically investigate the influence of organizational authenticity—defined as consistency between a firm’s espoused values and realized practices—in the context of a merger, and specifically during post-merger integration. Our findings show that a lack of organizational authenticity in terms of both under-promising and over-promising to both employees and …

Industry-Specific Human Capital And Wages: Evidence From The Business Process Outsourcing Industry, Keongtae Kim, Sunil Mithas, Jonathan W. Whitaker, Prasanto K. Roy

Management Faculty Publications

Human capital is becoming more critical as the global economy becomes more information intensive and service intensive. While IS researchers have studied some dimensions of human capital, the role of industry-specific human capital has remained understudied. The IT-enabled business process outsourcing (BPO) industry provides an ideal setting to study returns to human capital, because jobs in this industry are standardized and many professionals in this new industry have come from other industries. We build on IS and Economics literature to theorize returns to human capital in the BPO industry, and we test the theory using data for over 2,500 BPO …

The Effects Of Offshoring On Judgment Quality In A Management Accounting Task, Daniel D. Selby

Accounting Faculty Publications

This study investigates the effects of offshoring on judgment quality in a management accounting context (i.e., capital budgeting). The effects of offshoring on judgment quality are understudied and might explain the ineffective and inefficient use of information in offshoring arrangements (Srikanth and Puranam, 2011). A 3x2 between-subject experiment was conducted where participants were assigned to one of three experimental conditions: onshore team, offshore team, or no team. Two dependent variables were measured for judgment quality: effectiveness and efficiency. My results suggest that offshoring may have detrimental effects on efficiency. However, I also find that offshoring does not affect effectiveness.

Anticipating, Preventing, And Surviving Secondary Boycotts, Judith Schrempf-Stirling, Douglas A. Bosse, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Management Faculty Publications

Even the best stakeholder-managed firms can suffer when they become the targets of a secondary boycott, as recent headlines attest. A secondary boycott is a group’s refusal to engage a target firm with which the group has no direct dispute in an attempt to sway public opinion, draw attention to an issue, or influence the actions of a disputant. This article provides a new perspective and tools for both scholars and managers concerned with this phenomenon. Building on a stakeholder theory foundation, we examine possible actions managers can take to avoid being surprised by a secondary boycott, propose conditions that …

What Do Accelerators Do? Insights From Incubators And Angels, Susan L. Cohen

Management Faculty Publications

What do accelerators do? Broadly speaking, they help ventures define and build their initial products, identify promising customer segments, and secure resources, including capital and employees. More specifically, accelerator programs are programs of limited-duration—lasting about three months—that help cohorts of startups with the new venture process. They usually provide a small amount of seed capital, plus working space. They also offer a plethora of networking opportunities, with both peer ventures and mentors, who might be successful entrepreneurs, program graduates, venture capitalists, angel investors, or even corporate executives. Finally, most programs end with a grand event, a “demo day” where ventures …

The Effect Of State Corporate Income Tax Rate Cuts On Job Creation, Xiaobing Shuai, Christine Chmura

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Faculty Publications

This paper compares the employment growth of states that enacted corporate income tax rate cuts in the past 23 years with those making no changes. Overall employment comparisons from 1990 to 2012 suggest that a reduction in the corporate income tax rate is associated with faster job creation. The states that cut corporate income tax rates started with slower employment growth than the states that made no changes. However, the growth gaps between the two groups of states disappeared in about five years after the tax cuts were made. Regression results confirm the observation that lower corporate tax rates have …

How Much Is Too Much? The Limits To Generous Treatment Of Stakeholders, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Douglas A. Bosse

Management Faculty Publications

Firms must allocate some minimum amount of value to stakeholders in order to retain access to the resources they provide. Stakeholder theory suggests managers optimize firm-level performance by allocating more than this minimum amount. However, how much is too much? This article addresses the misleading notion that more is always better when it comes to the treatment of stakeholders and, in doing so, provides needed refinement of the boundary of stakeholder theory's predictions. The upside for managers is guidance in distinguishing between the types of value-allocating behaviors that will lead to greater value creation in their firms and actions that …

The Search For Externally Sourced Knowledge: Clusters And Alliances, Stephen Tallman

Management Faculty Publications

External sources of knowledge have become more important to firms as they have dispersed their value-adding operations around the globe and outsourced them to alliances. The global network firm has access to a rich store of external knowledge – but what do we know about accessing this treasure trove? The purpose of this paper is to summarize key ideas behind the research on alliance networks with clusters to better understand when, how, and why firms would use one or the other, or both, approaches to accessing external sources of knowledge, and to suggest new directions for both practice and scholarship.

The Walt Disney Company: A Corporate Strategy Analysis, Carlos Carillo, Jeremy Crumley, Kendree Thieringer, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Robins Case Network

Walt Disney is a completely integrated media powerhouse. Films provide material for theme parks and resorts, consumer products, and even a cruise ship. Network and cable broadcasting is also a part of the integrated Disney package. None of Disney’s competitors are as successfully integrated. Still, in spite of a long record of success, Disney is facing more competition on many fronts and, like other media and entertainment companies, must continue to adapt to a changing technological and social environment.

Sony Corporation: Reinventing Itself To Rediscover The Technological Edge, Chatterji Dheeman, Hayes Schildwachter, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Robins Case Network

Sony is a global conglomerate with a wide variety of businesses in its portfolio, but a heavy emphasis on electronics and related products. Due to a number of setbacks such as the earthquake in Japan and a weak global economy, the firm has experienced sales declines and negative earnings in recent years. In early 2012 the company announced a major restructuring and new strategy to regain its edge. However, Sony has an uphill battle.

Nestle, Annie Stevens, Dustin Fosness, Josh Katz, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Robins Case Network

Nestlé has a worldwide presence in the food industry. In spite of its market strength associated with its well-known brands, the company has been experiencing declining overall sales for several years. This case describes Nestlé’s diversification strategy and business portfolio in depth, as well as its industry and major competitors. Solving the company’s problems is challenging because of complexity and dependence on so many external factors.

Groupon, Inc., Kevin Beiles, Trip Humphrey, Ed Solarz, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Robins Case Network

Groupon’s CEO Andrew Mason made a terrible mistake when he refused to accept Google’s $6 billion dollar offer to acquire his company. About a year after its IPO in 2011, Groupon’s market capitalization was only $2.5 billion, and its main product was coming to be thought of as junk e-mail. The company has pursued growth through expanding into new services and products, with the goal of becoming an e-commerce platform that “locks in” the business of local merchants.

Integrated Block Sharing: A Win–Win Strategy For Hospitals And Surgeons, Robert Watson Day, Robert Garfinkel, Steven M. Thompson

Management Faculty Publications

We consider the problem of balancing two competing objectives in the pursuit of efficient management of operating rooms in a hospital: providing surgeons with predictable, reliable access to the operating room and maintaining high utilization of capacity. The common solution to the first problem (in practice) is to grant exclusive “block time,” in which a portion of the week in an operating room is designated to a particular surgeon, barring other surgeons from using this room/time. As a major improvement over this existing approach, we model the possibility of “shared” block time, which need only satisfy capacity constraints in expectation. …

General Motors Company: Restructured To Rediscover American Innovation, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Stefan Michalski, Joel Winbigler, Trevor Wind

Robins Case Network

Many analysts predicted that General Motors was not salvageable. However, after a government-backed restructuring, the company seems to be doing much better. The big question is whether the turnaround is sustainable. The company is investing heavily in technology in an effort to continue its record of success. This case examines GM up to its reorganization and also details its current strategies.

American Airlines: Bankrupt, Like Every Other Legacy Airline, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Siri Kalburgi, Colleen Koch Reed

Robins Case Network

American held out to the end, being the last of the large legacy carriers to file for Chapter 11 protection. This case reviews the history of American from its inception through its filing. Current strategies and industry trends are also examined.

Lockheed Martin: Dealing With Dependence On A Single Customer, Timothy Kyle Benusa, Sam Gottwald, Jeffrey S. Harrison, John Reed

Robins Case Network

Lockheed Martin is a giant in the aerospace and defense industry, and obtains more than four fifths of its revenues from governments for national defense. Budget deficits have caused the United States and other governments to carefully evaluate the amount they allocate to defense, and sharp cuts are anticipated. What can Lockheed Martin do to deal with reductions in demand from its most important customer?

The Second Glass Ceiling Impedes Women Entrepreneurs, Douglas A. Bosse, Porcher L. Taylor Iii

Management Faculty Publications

The glass ceiling phenomenon that impedes the advancement of talented women professionals into senior executive roles inside large corporations is widely recognized in society, studied in the management literature, taught in business schools, and tangibly felt by many women executives. Outside the corporate setting, we show that a second glass ceiling exists for women entrepreneurs and women small business owners. This second glass ceiling is a gender bias that obstructs women-owned small firms from accessing the financial capital required to start new firms and fuel the growth of existing firms. This paper (1) defines the second glass ceiling phenomenon, (2) …

Managing For Stakeholders, Stakeholder Utility Functions, And Competitive Advantage, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Douglas A. Bosse, Robert A. Phillips

Management Faculty Publications

This paper integrates some of the central concepts of stakeholder theory with the literatures on organizational justice and trust to explain firm competitiveness. It provides a detailed explanation of factors that facilitate acquisition of knowledge about stakeholder utility functions. In addition, it offers a knowledge-based analysis of how firms that manage for stakeholders can enjoy sustainable competitive benefits. These explanations provide a strong rationale for including stakeholder theory in the discussion of firm competitiveness and performance.

Complexity, Context And Governance In Biotechnology Alliances, Anupama Phene, Stephen Tallman

Management Faculty Publications

This study explores the effect of coordination needs on alliance governance. We examine coordination needs that arise as a consequence of the characteristics and the context of the alliance. We posit that alliance characteristics and contextual factors influence alliance form and equity investment levels. We evaluate the effects of the complexity of technology transfer and strategic complexity of the alliance. We also study contextual factors, represented by the distance between the intellectual property protection regimes of the home countries of the participants, the focal firm’s prior presence in the alliance country and its primary expertise in the industry. We offer …

Nokia Siemens Networks: Just Doing Business – Or Supporting An Oppressive Regime?, Judith Schrempf-Stirling

Management Faculty Publications

This case study examines the relevance of taking social and political factors into consideration when a corporation is making a key business decision. In September 2009, Simon Beresford-Wylie, the outgoing CEO of Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), was reviewing the company’s achievements — while acknowledging the latest public criticism regarding NSN’s business relationship with the Iranian government. In the summer of 2009, NSN was accused of complicity in human rights violations linked to Iran’s presidential election. The company sold network infrastructure and software solutions to the Iranian government, which then used this technology to observe, block, and control domestic communications. Should …

Dr Pepper Snapple Group: Fighting To Prosper In A Highly Competitive Market, Joseph S. Harrison

Robins Case Network

Since its separation from the food giant Cadbury Schweppes, Dr Pepper Snapple Group has experienced successes such as the turnaround of the Snapple brand and growth in demand for some of its popular brands. However, the company is still a distant third in an incredibly competitive industry. How can the company achieve continued success in the shadows of Coca Cola and PepsiCo?

The Strategic Assembly Of Global Firms: A Micro-Structural Analysis Of Local Learning And Global Adaptation, Mitchell P. Koza, Stephen Tallman, Aylin Ataay

Management Faculty Publications

Strategic Assembly - the comprehensive and coordinated use of internal development, mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and alliances - is a novel approach to the construction and management of global firms. This paper describes the role and characteristics of strategic assembly in the construction and management of the Global Multi-Business Firm, an emerging form of global organization. We present a study of Group Renault and its relationship with two key players in the lucrative and emerging market for autos in Turkey, emphasizing the coevolutionary processes through which local players enter and dominate a local market and the global parent, utilizing local …

Knowledge Accumulation And Dissemination In Mnes: A Practice-Based Framework, Stephen Tallman, Aya S. Chacar

Management Faculty Publications

Much has been written on the importance of knowledge accumulation and transfer within the network firm but two questions remain. First, what are the specifics of this process, particularly for high tacit content knowledge? Second, how can firms create a sustainable competitive advantage from knowledge acquired from outside the firm? We address the first question by proposing that the mechanisms of external knowledge capture and internal knowledge transfer can best be understood and studied not at the level of networked subsidiary firms, but at the micro-organizational level of Communities of Practice (CoPs). We then offer a model of the dynamics …

Le Développement Durable Comme Mode De Prévention Des Risques Energétiques : Une Approche Par Les Capacités D’Absorption. Le Cas De La Voiture Electrique Chez Renault, Sylvaine Castellano, Adnane Maâlaoui, Judith Schrempf-Stirling

Management Faculty Publications

Sustainability — a way to prevent energy-related risks — is the buzzword of the last decade. This trend demands radical rethinking on how society lives, consumes and produces. Herein, we focus on electric cars, which is the result of sustainable processes and initiatives in the car industry. The case of Renault illustrates how the firm based its sustainable strategy on its absorptive capacities.

A Tale Of Passion: Linking Job Passion And Cognitive Engagement To Employee Work Performance, Violet Ho, Sze-Sze Wong, Chay Hoon Lee

Management Faculty Publications

We propose a model of job passion that links two types of passion, harmonious and obsessive passion, to employees’ work performance, via the mediating mechanism of cognitive engagement (comprising attention and absorption). Results from a survey conducted with 509 employees from an insurance firm indicate that employees with harmonious passion performed better at work, and that this relationship was mediated primarily by cognitive absorption, that is, the intensity of focus and immersion experienced by the employees when working. However, even though obsessive passion was negatively related to cognitive attention (i.e., the amount of cognitive resources spent thinking about work), it …

Organizational Learning And Capabilities For Onshore And Offshore Business Process Outsourcing, Jonathan W. Whitaker, Sunil Mithas, M. S. Krishnan

Management Faculty Publications

This paper identifies and analyzes firm-level characteristics that facilitate onshore and offshore business process outsourcing (BPO). We use organizational learning and capabilities to develop a conceptual model. We test the conceptual model with archival data on a broad cross section of U. S. firms. Our empirical findings indicate that firms with experience in onshore information technology (IT) outsourcing and capabilities related to IT coordination applications and process codification are more likely to engage in BPO, and firms with experience in internationalization are more likely to engage in offshore BPO. We also find that IT coordination applications have a greater impact …

Stakeholders, Entrepreneurial Rent And Bounded Self-Interest, Douglas A. Bosse, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Management Faculty Publications

This paper examines how the change from an assumption of pure self-interest to an assumption of bounded self-interest alters basic propositions regarding the way entrepreneurs select, negotiate with and manage relationships with their initial set of stakeholders. Although a purely economic approach would focus on material cost as the sole consideration when conducting these activities, we argue that non-material factors such as reciprocity and fairness are potent forces during the initial resource acquisition process. We explain that non-material considerations are accounted for in negotiations with stakeholders and positive reciprocity is encouraged through openly sharing information with stakeholders about the value …

Putting Ratios Into A Firm Value Context For Entrepreneurs And Entrepreneurship Students, Tom Arnold

Finance Faculty Publications

Ratio analysis is generally presented as something that has to be calculated after completing other financial statements and is generally viewed, particularly by students, as busy-work with little value. This paper changes the context of ratio analysis in order to demonstrate how a focus on the information provided by ratios adds to the value of the firm. By dissecting the valuation of a publicly traded firm using a price to earnings ratio multiplier, value generating factors in the form of ratios, can be inferred for smaller nonpublicly traded ventures.