More (new) products,more problems? A systems perspective on increased capability deployment and organizational errors

The capabilities-based view postulates that organizational capabilities are a key driver of competitive advantage. However, while increasing the pace of deploying organizational capabilities, such as new product development (NPD), may enable alignment with changing environments, it may also have unintended consequences. In this study, we advance theory on these unintended consequences by investigating how the increased deployment of NPD capability leads to organizational errors. Borrowing from organizational research employing systems theory, we argue that an increase in NPD deployment may increase the likelihood of routine discoordination and, thus, the incidence of intra-firm and interfirm errors. However, we also proffer that firms can mitigate errors from increases in NPD capability deployment by engaging in distinct internal and external activities that enable the accumulation of knowledge on how to coordinate systemic change. We distinguish between internal and external errors, demonstrating that in the context of increased NPD deployments, internal voluntary investigations ameliorate internal manufacturing errors, while supplier alliances mitigate outsourced component errors. We find support for our predictions using data from new product introductions and recalls in the U.S. automotive industry. This study sheds light on the tension inherent to accelerating the deployment of patterned organizational activities and suggests that the outcomes of deploying an organizational capability are best viewed holistically within the milieu of organizational systems the capability spans.     

An empirical comparison of two approaches for CDPCA in high-dimensional data

Statistical Methods & Applications - Modified principal component analysis techniques, specially those yielding sparse solutions, are attractive due to its usefulness for interpretation...     

Socio-Economic Indicators for Performance Evaluation and Quality Assessment: Statistical Methods and Applications

Social Indicators Research -     

How biology became social,and what it means for social theory

In this paper I first offer a systematic outline of a series of conceptual novelties in the life‐sciences that have favoured, over the last three decades, the emergence of a more social view of biology. I focus in particular on three areas of investigation: (1) technical changes in evolutionary literature that have provoked a rethinking of the possibility of altruism, morality and prosocial behaviours in evolution; (2) changes in neuroscience, from an understanding of the brain as an isolated data processor to the ultrasocial and multiply connected social brain of contemporary neuroscience; and (3) changes in molecular biology, from the view of the gene as an autonomous master of development to the ‘reactive genome’ of the new emerging field of molecular epigenetics. In the second section I reflect on the possible implications for the social sciences of this novel biosocial terrain and argue that the postgenomic language of extended epigenetic inheritance and blurring of the nature/nurture boundaries will be as provocative for neo‐Darwinism as it is for the social sciences as we have known them. Signs of a new biosocial language are emerging in several social‐science disciplines and this may represent an exciting theoretical novelty for twenty‐first social theory.     

Job quality,industrial relations and the crisis in Europe

This paper reports results from recent Eurofound research on the impact of the crisis on industrial relations and working conditions in Europe, based on the output of Eurofound's European Working Conditions Observatory and European Industrial Relations Observatory and data from the European Working Conditions Survey. Overall, the crisis – even if it is sometimes difficult to separate the effect of the crisis from megatrends in working conditions and industrial relations – seems to have had an impact on both domains. With reference to industrial relations, the impact of the crisis has influenced actors, processes, and outcomes. Regarding working conditions, the results appear to be in line with the literature on the topic, which relates the crisis to an increase in job insecurity, a decrease in work intensity, in working hours, and in anti-social working time arrangements, and a general improvement in terms of health risks and related outcomes.     

Agency costs of free cash flow,internal capital markets and unrelated diversification

This paper investigates whether free cash flow arguments or the internal capital market perspective better explains diversification decisions. Based on a unique panel of hand-collected data from listed and unlisted Italian firms for the 1980–2010 time period, the results of this study generally reveal the predominant role of the internal capital market arguments. The benefits of unrelated diversification, which include the avoidance of costly external financing, outweigh its costs, which involve opportunistic problems. Although the literature suggests two distinct forces concurrently affect diversification decisions, in the Italian context, financial benefits appear to be the prevailing motivation for unrelated diversification decisions. Furthermore, the internal capital market argument has a strong effect on decisions to engage in unrelated diversification, particularly with respect to firms that are sensitive to financial constraints.     

The corporate planner as consultant

The role of consultancy, in contrast to other interactive roles at central staff level, is tied to personal and professional relationships and the credibility of the service hinges on skills and direct personal relationships and not on a structure. This article focuses on a ‘planning idea’ involving the restructuring of the planning procedure and a de-emphasis on the role of staff.     

The Difficult History of Ancillary Units: The Obstacles and Potential Opportunities to Increase the Heterogeneity of Neighborhoods and the Flexibility of Households in the United States

ABSTRACT

Most aging Americans express the desire to stay in their current home for the rest of their lives. However, as literature and practice indicate, aging in place cannot be successfully achieved in all places, especially in those places where zoning regulations and building codes act as barriers to the flexible adaptation of environments. One possible solution could come from the legalization of what is commonly known as granny flats, or more technically as Ancillary Dwelling Units. This article is divided into three parts. The first part is a brief history of Ancillary Dwelling Units. The second part focuses on the critical role played by local and state urban planning policies in the future of Ancillary Dwelling Units. California is used as a noteworthy example. The third part discusses how positive outcomes for senior residents who have Ancillary Dwelling Units legally present in their neighborhoods are linked to the appropriateness of their design.