Effects of Partnership Quality,Talent Management,and Global Mindset on Performance of Offshore IT Service Providers in India

This paper investigates the effects of partnership quality, talent management and global mindset on the performance of offshore service providers (OSPs) in the information technology sector in India. The findings show that partnership quality has partial and strong mediation effects on the impact of talent management and global mindset on performance of OSPs. We also find that talent management strongly mediates the effects of global mindset on partnership quality. Overall, the results confirm that global mindset, by itself, has limited direct influence on the performance of OSPs and that the full benefits of global mindset can only be enjoyed by OSPs which have well developed talent management and high quality partnerships with their clients. The implications and limitations of the study are also discussed.     

Organizational Networking in UK Biotechnology Clusters

Differences in growth patterns between regional clusters are often attributed to the extent to which they benefit from agglomeration, defined as the advantages that derive from being proximately located with other companies and institutions in the same industry. Foremost among these supply‐side externalities are the knowledge ‘spillover’ effects that can result from firms interacting extensively in both horizontal (complementary equivalent firms) and vertical (value chain) directions. The paper presents evidence from two surveys, one national and one regionally based, of networking patterns in UK biotechnology, focusing on how firms engage with other small firms, with large pharmaceuticals, and with research centres, and how far these interactions are regional, national or international in character. It suggests that where companies do collaborate, there is a tendency for the intensity of activity to increase as the location of the partner moves from the local to the international space. We evaluate the obvious interpretation that local linkages may be satisfactory for idea generation and early product development, but that national and international connections are more important for manufacturing, marketing and distribution activities. However, we conclude that a broader set of largely industry factors account for the networking patterns – namely, the science‐technology base, research funding, firms' business models, and competitor strategies in evolving markets – and that these matter more to clustered UK biotechnology firms than the cluster itself. These findings suggest a rethinking of cluster policy and the theoretical basis for clusters.     

The Emergence of Service Science: Toward Systematic Service Innovations to Accelerate Co‐Creation of Value

The current growth of the service sector in global economies is unparalleled in human history—by scale and speed of labor migration. Even large manufacturing firms are seeing dramatic shifts in percent revenue derived from services. The need for service innovations to fuel further economic growth and to raise the quality and productivity levels of services has never been greater. Services are moving to center stage in the global arena, especially knowledge‐intensive business services aimed at business performance transformation. One challenge to systematic service innovation is the interdisciplinary nature of service, integrating technology, business, social, and client (demand) innovations. This paper describes the emergence of service science, a new interdisciplinary area of study that aims to address the challenge of becoming more systematic about innovating in service.     

The ambivalent effect of complexity on firm performance: A study of the global service provider industry

Prior literature is ambivalent about whether organizational complexity has positive or negative effects on firm performance. Using rich data on global service providers, we explore this ambivalence by disentangling performance consequences of different types of organizational complexity. We show that complexity arising from the coordination of different services and operations negatively influences profit margins through increased coordination costs, whereas complexity coming from the sophistication of particular services may positively influence margins through informational advantages. We also investigate the moderating effects of process commoditization and client-specific investments. Our findings point to critical performance dilemmas facing global service providers in a highly competitive industry, and they help better differentiate performance effects of complexity at different organizational levels.     

Is there early take-off phenomenon in diffusion of IP-based telecommunications services?

Traditionally, the diffusion of telecommunications services has been considerably affected by the presence of critical mass and network externalities, and thus has shown the so-called “late take-off” phenomenon. However, as telecommunications networks evolve from circuit switching to packet switching, especially IP networks, and thus enabling diverse new services, it seems these traditional telecommunications diffusion patterns are changing. By comparing the diffusion of IP-based services with those of circuit-based services and durable goods, we have found the late take-off phenomenon is not involved in the diffusion of newly introduced IP-based services. Moreover, we concluded that the diffusion of IP-based services is much faster than that of durable goods, thus showing an “early take-off” phenomenon. Based on this empirical result, we suggest that telcos (telecommunications companies) and (ISPs) Internet service providers should pay as much attention to the growth stage as the introduction stage in their development, in order for their IP-based services to be successful in the market.     

Cluster life cycle and diaspora effects: Evidence from the Indian IT cluster in Bangalore

The role of local clusters has been of interest to scholars and policymakers in international business alike. Research found that clusters enable a region to develop faster compared to dispersed economic activity, based mainly on a local concentration of competing and cooperating firms and sophisticated domestic demand. Locating in a cluster has certain benefits for firms stemming from pooling of human capital and supporting institutions varying by industry and international specialization.In this paper, we extend the local view of clusters and emphasize the complementary role of non-local linkages, in particular diasporas, illustrating our model employing the case of the evolution of the Bangalore IT cluster. The novelty of our paper lies in its longitudinal character. We are thereby able to identify how the roles of local and non-local networks differ across life-cycle phases; moreover, we find that diasporas can trigger or accelerate local development. We discuss implications for managers and policy makers.     

Revenue Management in Business Services

A significant portion of the services industry is focused on providing services (medical, legal, financial, personal, and travel) to individuals. However, studies have shown that a less visible but rapidly growing segment of the service sector comprises firms that provide business functions to other businesses. The sector covers tasks such as payroll processing, procurement, and information systems management, as well as business consulting, technical support, call center operations, and software development. Firms may choose to purchase, rather than perform, these business functions to reduce costs, to mitigate risk, or simply to focus on their processes that provide marketplace differentiation. Transferring a business function from within a firm to an outside supplier is often called “outsourcing”; when the supplier provides the service from a lower‐cost country, it is called “offshoring.” The risks and benefits of outsourcing to the firm purchasing a business service have been studied in some detail by both academics and consultants. In this paper, we outline revenue management issues faced by business service providers and describe some new opportunities for the use of analytic methods in the service science sector.     

Gegenwart und Zukunft des Coachings – aus Unternehmenssicht

The questions as to what coaching is, which goals are pursued in coaching, and what expectations are placed on coaching services are commonly answered in the coaching scene by taking recourse to its own, internal models and preconceptions. The future of coaching, and of the providers of coaching services depends to a considerable degree on whether the self-perception and the service portfolio offered by coaching providers actually meet the needs and demands of clients. In order to learn more about the preconceptions and expectations of companies concerning the service and the coaches themselves, Kienbaum has collaborated with Harvard Business Manager on a survey of such companies in early 2008. The author presents an overview over the survey’s relevant findings, and he discusses the conclusions of these findings concerning a future understanding of coaching services and what is required of coaches and their qualifications.     

Service quality in the legal profession: a review

Research into the management of professional service quality, other than in health care, has been very limited, despite being particularly problematical. This paper focuses on the interactive, highly customized and labour-intensive service offered by solicitors to their commercial and corporate clients. The intangible nature of legal services, the natures of the professionals themselves and the firms within which they operate, and the perceptions of risk brought to the service by the client create additional difficulties in managing the service and measuring client perceptions of it. Yet solicitors must understand the requirements of the group of clients they seek to serve in order to design their service to match those needs. Clients have to assume the technical competence of their solicitor. Moreover, they seek confidence when buying legal services. Our research, therefore, sought to gain an understanding of the process used by commercial and corporate clients when evaluating legal service, and of the factors that are key drivers in the creation of confidence.     

Local government service systems improvement: exposing the social networks

Using a local government (LG) case study, this paper describes and qualitatively explores the value and use of social network analysis (SNA) in creating a rich environment for service network innovation and development. The case study analysed manages regional planning development applications and involves a complex social network. The study underpins the view that in LG service environments, mechanistic models for systems improvement are on their own inadequate. SNA constitutes an essential complementary development framework underpinning continuous innovation through human and social capital development. Findings presented are profound for local government and multiple service contexts and argue for a greater emphasis on understanding and developing the human and social aspects of service systems as opposed to a predominant technical systems bias.     

New Service Development Competence and Performance: An Empirical Investigation in Retail Banking

What can service firms do to improve their ability to offer new services? In this paper we argue that new service development success results from building a competence in the management of service development resources and routines. We conceptualize new service development competence as a multidimensional, second‐order latent construct that is represented by a system of four interrelated and complementary dimensions: (1) formalized new service development processes, (2) market acuity, (3) new service development strategy, and (4) information technology use and experience. We hypothesize that the growth of new service development competence is related to improved new service development performance. Using structural equations modeling, we analyze survey data from 166 retail banks and report three key empirical findings. First, we show that the four hypothesized dimensions are statistically significant in defining new service development competence. Second, contrary to conventional wisdom in new product development, we find that formalized processes play a lesser role in the success of new service development compared with the other three dimensions. Instead, market acuity—which captures the firm's ability to see the competitive environment clearly and to anticipate and respond to customers' evolving needs and wants—was the most important new service development competence indicator. Finally, we demonstrate the positive effect of new service development competence on new service development performance and show that new service development competence is also significantly related to business‐level performance. Together, our empirical results suggest that complementary benefits arise from the adoption of a more holistic approach to the management of new service development at the program level.     

The effects of internal resources and partnership quality on firm performance: An examination of Indian BPO providers

Firms from developed nations are increasingly resorting to business process outsourcing (BPO) as part of their global sourcing strategy. Although BPO is a growing practice, there has been limited empirical attention in understanding the phenomenon, particularly from the perspective of provider firms that execute important business processes for their overseas clients. In this paper we focus on the resources and capabilities that are utilized by the providers in fulfilling their clients' sourcing needs. Using resource-based view and social exchange as theoretical foundations, we argue that providers' human capital, organizational capital, management capability, and partnership quality are crucial assets that are deemed valuable by the clients and are utilized by the providers in attaining higher performance. Using a sample of Indian BPO providers, we empirically test three models (direct, mediating and moderating) to understand how these assets impact firm-level performance. Results show that resources and capabilities relate to performance in varying measures and partnership quality has partial-mediating and moderating effects on these relationships. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of the study and highlighting avenues of future inquiry.     

International outsourcing of services: A partnership model

The business landscape is currently witnessing widespread migration of service functions from developed nations like the U.S to several foreign destinations as India, China, Ireland, Philippines etc. This happens as more and more firms engage in international outsourcing of services (IOS) to survive in today's highly competitive business environment. Despite increase in IOS, the nature of partnerships involved between clients and their overseas providers have not received adequate attention in the scholarly literature. In this paper, we develop a conceptual model that explains three possible types of IOS partnership. We discuss how these partnerships vary in the way they are conceived and implemented. Propositions are offered after elaborating on each type of partnership. We conclude by discussing the academic and practical implications of our model.     

THE IMPACT OF HUMAN ERROR ON DELIVERING SERVICE QUALITY

This paper opens a new avenue for investigation of quality issues in services. We take the viewpoint that a substantial portion of service failures is the result of human error in the delivery process. Drawing upon the Generic Error Modeling System (gems) from the cognitive science literature, we develop a framework for understanding the role of human error in service failures. An empirical investigation assesses the applicability of this framework to services, identifies which error mechanisms are important sources of service failure, and clarifies how the different roles of customers and providers affect the errors made by each.     

生产性服务FDI对制造业出口技术复杂度的影响研究

本文理论分析了生产性服务FDI对制造业出口技术复杂度的影响效应与机制,并基于中国省级行业层面数据系统检验生产性服务FDI对制造业出口技术复杂度的影响及其作用机制,结果发现：第一,生产性服务FDI主要通过间接效应提升中国制造业出口技术复杂度,总体效应取决于直接效应和间接效应的叠加,直接效应、间接效应及总体效应存在区域异质性;第二,动态分析表明东部地区生产性服务FDI稳定、持续的促进了制造业出口技术复杂度提升,中部地区在金融危机后生产性服务FDI主要通过间接效应提升制造业出口技术复杂度,金融危机后西部地区直接效应和间接效应均不明显;第三,作用机制检验表明,全国层面上生产性服务FDI主要通过技术创新和生产成本降低渠道提升制造业出口技术复杂度,服务创新渠道促进作用不显著,且生产性服务FDI促进制造业出口技术复杂度提升作用机制存在区域异质性。     

产业集群人才引力效应与成因分析——以佛山为例

借鉴组织吸引力研究方法,本文定义了产业集群人才吸引力并开发出测量量表;在组织多层次理论和产业集群竞争力纵向结构思路基础上,构建了产业集群人才吸引力影响因素指标体系并通过试调研进行修正,然后根据佛山实地调研数据,采取ANOVA、回归及聚类分析等统计分析方法,验证了产业集群人才吸引力显著强于非产业集群,并推断客观存在的集群特性是产业集群人才引力效应产生的重要直接成因,最后分析了不同产业集群人才吸引力差异的原因。     

International Strategy and Knowledge Creation: The Advantage of Foreignness and Liability of Concentration

International business scholars increasingly emphasize regional strategies based on an optimal location of downstream sales. There has been less scholarly attention, however, to the relationship between international strategy and upstream knowledge creation including R&D. Building on contemporary strategic management theory and the knowledge‐based view we remedy this. The viability of home‐regional or bi‐regional strategies is based on common assumptions that imply negative consequences of distance and foreignness for downstream sales and marketing and benefits from agglomeration for upstream knowledge creation activities including R&D. In contrast, we propose that upstream knowledge creation, radical innovation in particular, rather gains from distance and foreignness and from being dispersed, suggesting the effectiveness of a global strategy. Based on the resource‐based view and recent research on the economics of strategic opportunities and competitive advantage, we provide theoretical explanations for this. We demonstrate how a global multinational corporation is uniquely equipped with knowledge extensity including heterogeneous social‐identity frames in multiple sub‐units. Thanks to arbitrage advantages between the sub‐units’ separate and often locally embedded knowledge, a global multinational corporation can address complex interdependences and interactions between knowledge sets required for knowledge creation. This suggests that maximum exploration capabilities are made possible by a global rather than a home‐regional or bi‐regional strategy.     

Designing Referral Network Structures and Decision Rules to Streamline Provision of Urgent Health and Human Services*

This study uses fully factorial computer simulation to identify referral network attributes and referral decision rules that streamline the routing of people to urgent, limited services. As an example of a scenario, the model represents vaccine delivery in a city of 100,000 people during the first 30 days of a pandemic. By modeling patterns of communication among health care providers and daily routing of overflow clients to affiliated organizations, the simulations determine cumulative effects of referral network designs and decision rules on citywide delivery of available vaccines. Referral networks generally improve delivery rates when compared with random local search by clients. Increasing the health care organizations’ tendencies to form referral partnerships from zero to about four partners per organization sharply increases vaccine delivery under most conditions, but further increases in partnering yield little or no gain in system performance. When making referrals, probabilistic selection among partner organizations that have any capacity to deliver vaccines is more effective than selection of the highest‐capacity partner, except when tendencies to form partnerships are very low. Implications for designing health and human service referral networks and helping practitioners optimize their use of the networks are discussed. Suggestions for using simulations to model comparable systems are provided.     

A new fuzzy-c-means and assignment technique-based cell formation algorithm to perform part- type clusters and machine-type clusters separately

The incorporation of fuzziness in the cell formation problem by Chu and Hayya (1991 International Journal of Production Research, 29, 1475-1487) is a notable contribution, in which non-binary classification logic is used. However, despite this development, numerical illustrations performed in this research demonstrate that the Chu and Hayya approach can result in solutions with empty party-type cluster(s) and/or empty machine-type cluster(s). Further, it is noted that solutions based on the Chu and Hayya approach can contain non-empty part-type cluster(s) being assigned to empty machine-type cluster(s) and vice versa. Three strategies are offered in this research to overcome these inadequacies: the separate formation of part-type and machine-type clusters; modification of the stopping criterion; and the adoption of the assignment technique in the formation of the final manufacturing cell solutions. A new algorithm has resulted from these modifications and has been rigorously compared to the performance of the Chu and Hayya approach. In general, the new algorithm demonstrates superiorities in global efficiency and in generating feasible party-type clusters, machine-type clusters and manufacturing cells.     

An Exploration of New Product Development's Front‐end Knowledge Conceptualization Process in Discontinuous Innovations

Organizational knowledge creation, as reflected in new product/service development, is a vital process for firms to master. Critical to the development of new products/services is the management of the front‐end phase, which crucially determines the eventual fate of a new product/service idea. However, studies on how knowledge is created at the front‐end of the new product development process are rare. This empirical paper addresses this gap by focusing on knowledge conceptualization – where new knowledge from its generation is crystallized into a concrete and explicit form. Employing a qualitative methodology, the paper examines ten discontinuous projects and develops a front‐end knowledge conceptualization framework. The framework consists of the identified knowledge conceptualization stages and illuminates the pattern of overlaps, outcomes, contributors, knowledge, interactions and volatility across each stage. Our main contribution is a knowledge‐based appreciation of the dynamic and interactive nature of the new product/service development's front‐end phase in the context of discontinuous innovations, and thence the paper provides clear managerial learning points for the effective management of this phase.