Who knows what? Reconfiguring the governance and the capabilities of the supply chain between physical and digital processes in the fashion industry

Abstract

On the basis of an exploratory multiple-case qualitative longitudinal study in the fashion industry, this article describes how digital technologies enabled choices among different types of supply chain governance. In doing so, this study responds to calls for governance-oriented longitudinal explorations and suggests an alternative path of governance choices in which the digital technologies become the platform that allows a dynamic discourse between outsourcer and outsourcee. Our results show that, when firms decide to leverage their performances through the adoption of information technology, they need to define their knowledge transfer capacities in order to adopt the appropriate type of governance model. With this article, we contribute to the global value chain literature adding to the knowledge transfer dimension.     

破解颠覆性技术创新的跨界网络治理路径——基于百度Apollo自动驾驶开放平台的案例研究

本文以百度Apollo自动驾驶开放平台为案例研究对象,研究了平台以跨界网络治理驱动颠覆性技术创新的演进过程及其内在机制,研究发现:(1)跨界平台网络是不同于单个企业的新型技术创新组织载体,可以通过技术网络丰富、市场网络丰富和两个网络价值共创的继起性演进在驱动颠覆性技术创新中发挥重要作用;(2)在跨界网络驱动颠覆性技术创新的不同时期,为解决技术与市场不确定性高以及网络参与者关系复杂等难题,平台可以通过网络治理路径的选择促进颠覆性创新的不同过程与结果,在技术网络丰富期,平台可以通过内容治理与关系治理促进技术的内容颠覆与结构颠覆;在市场网络丰富期,可以通过价值治理与关系治理促进市场的价值颠覆与结构颠覆;在技术网络与市场网络协同的价值共创期,可以通过"网络平台包络(内容治理)、跨界网络效应激发(关系治理)、异质性利润焦点获取(价值治理)"的综合治理促进技术与市场的颠覆可持续性;(3)平台治理中的内容治理与价值治理是跨界网络治理的"硬实力",而关系治理是跨界网络治理的"软实力",软硬实力的组合共同促进颠覆性技术的技术突破与市场突破。本文丰富了网络治理理论、颠覆性创新理论和平台理论,并对尝试借助平台推进新兴前沿技术突破、尤其是跨界推进颠覆性技术创新的实践行动具有管理启示。     

Exploring the impact of motivations on the attraction of innovation roles in open innovation web-based platforms

Recently, a large number of new innovative enterprises engaged in different competitive markets by promoting innovation both in products and in services through open innovation web-based platforms, which allow for the collaboration of individual users and companies and for so-called crowdsourcing. A key issue concerns the identification of the most important motivations that could attract users with a specific role to proactively participate and contribute to the open and collaborative innovation processes. This article, after highlighting the theoretical background, grounded on large body of psychology and sociology literature on the motivation behind collaboration, discusses the results of the analysis of 26 open innovation web-based platforms based on a multiple research methodology (qualitative empirical study, factor analysis and multi-dimensional scaling). It also discusses the effects of ‘motivational systems’ and platform models on the attraction of the individuals characterised by different innovation roles.     

Pluralist perspectives and diverse responses: Exploring multiplexed framing in incumbent responses to digital disruption

Research applying a socio-cognitive lens to disruptive digital innovation often fails to account for intra-firm heterogeneity in how an established incumbent frames and responds to disruptive innovation. To explore the heterogeneous framing processes involved within a firm, we conducted an in-depth case study of the response of a multinational insurance group to a digitally-led disruptive innovation: the rise of internet-based general insurance aggregator platforms between 2002 and 2007. We map different response frames across three separate framing dimensions: the Challenge Type, Response Urgency and Firm Heritage, and explore their interplay in shaping responses to disruption. We introduce the idea of multiplexed framing – comprised of multiple, non-binary frames – and propose that these are holographically distributed – such that conflicting frames can be held by members of the same organizational department or group. This allows managers to leverage the ambiguity generated by multiplexed frames to select the same response strategies for different reasons leading to an equifinal resolution of conflict. We show how such framing enables the organization to trial and adaptively iterate between different strategic responses to disruptive innovation, particularly amid high uncertainty and ambiguity.     

Slicing the cake without baking it: Opportunistic platform entry strategies in digital markets

The growth of digital platforms relies on the generative nature of digital resources and platforms' openness to complementary innovation. These features often generate strong network effects and winner-take-all dynamics that protect incumbents from competition. However, under certain conditions, these same features render incumbent platforms vulnerable to competitive strategic moves via entrant platforms wherein the entrants can capture value and simultaneously avoid upfront investments in value creation. In this study, we identify three such strategies: platform exploitation, platform injection, and platform pacing. These strategies allow the entrant platform to capture value using the incumbent ecosystem's resources by copying parts of the resources (exploitation), by following the development cycle of key boundary resources (pacing), or by placing itself inside the platform (injection). In this study, we employ an interpretative cross-case synthesis to both theorize these strategies as a new category of opportunistic platform competition and to reveal their distinctive characteristics. Overall, the study demonstrates the potential for unconventional and opportunistic platform competition strategies that extend beyond more traditional ones, such as quality, variety, and network size.     

The persistence of platforms: The role of network,platform, and complementor attributes

Existing research on digital platforms emphasizes the contexts that enable such platforms – and their sponsoring firms - to emerge and achieve market dominance. However, this body of research has not sufficiently addressed the ability of certain platform sponsors to persist over time, despite the existence of competing platforms or new entrants. Drawing upon research on network effects, competitive dynamics, and complementor interaction, we develop propositions highlighting the role of network, platform, and complementor attributes that facilitate or hinder the persistence of a technology-based platform in the market. In doing so, we conceptualize platform dominance as part of a dynamic process, rather than a static outcome as often characterized by previous literature. Our propositions advance research on digital platform strategy and user networks by examining the factors that enhance the continued viability of a platform, and generates a number of important directions for future research on technology management, innovation, and strategy, as well as for managerial practice in platform-mediated markets.     

行业自律机制下P2P网贷平台违规治理演化博弈

行业自律是政府“强监管”背景下P2P网贷平台违规治理的重要组成部分。为揭示行业自律机制下网贷市场主体间行为策略关系及其动态演化机理,建立了包括自律监管平台、网贷平台和平台客户三方主体的行为策略演化博弈模型,分析三方主体行为策略演化路径及其联动作用规律,并结合数值仿真讨论不同约束情景下模型系统演化均衡状态及关键因素影响。结果表明：网贷平台合规运营意愿会随激励水平、形象效应、客户流失量、行业危机风险的上升而增强。若网贷平台拥有较完善运营机制、较好口碑形象或较大客户规模,其更易实现基于市场途径的自我规制。违规惩罚力度、形象效应收益及平台客户规制策略敏感性会直接影响网贷平台合规运营趋势。结合仿真分析结果,提出了加大对违规平台的惩罚力度,强化平台信息披露与品牌形象建设,引导借贷双方理性选择入驻平台等治理建议。     

引导基金模式下协同创新利益分配机制研究

本文构建了创新引导基金模式下的协同创新博弈模型,研究了创新投资基金如何通过协同创新利益分配机制及基金投资策略的设计,激励企业和创新承包方提高协同创新投入,提升协同创新投资规模和绩效;得出了引导基金模式下协同创新最优分配机制和基金投资策略。研究表明:基金应将市场收益所有分配份额交给企业,基金和承包方向企业索取固定收益,从而使企业成为协同创新剩余价值的唯一索取者,激励企业按契约规定进行投资;基金应在满足承包方创新投入资金需求的情况下,尽可能在创新后期阶段才向承包方投资,以激励承包方提高创新投入,最大化基金期望净利润。     

分隔机制与创业孵化型平台企业合法性保护

立足于合法性溢出视角和组织场域治理视角,提出两组关于分隔机制的竞争性假设,探讨“创业孵化型平台企业在给创业企业共享合法性过程中,如何避免反受其害”。研究表明:分隔机制可以作为一种调节因素,缓解创业企业不愿创新或不端行为对创业孵化型平台企业合法性的破坏,但不能通过直接约束创业企业的意愿或行为,来保护创业孵化型平台企业的合法性。     

城市突发公共卫生事件的循证治理机制研究

城市突发公共卫生事件的治理是城市公共管理、城市治理体系和治理能力现代化建设的重要工作之一。在分析我国现有突发公共卫生事件治理体系及存在问题的基础上,构建了循证治理的理论框架,并从循证治理的证据、公共价值和领导力三要素出发,总结突发公共卫生事件的循证治理过程,包括循证防控期、循证预警期、循证控制期和事后循证重建期四个过程,围绕循证治理过程中证据的生产、传播和应用,总结突发公共卫生事件的循证治理机制。以2019年新型冠状病毒肺炎(COVID-19)疫情的早期治理过程为案例,对疫情防控过程中证据的生产、传播和使用过程进行实证研究。研究结果表明,COVID-19疫情的早期证据质量被高估,决策者的公共价值导向和决策者的领导力还有待提升。最后从构建循证治理的证据平台角度出发,提出优化突发公共卫生事件循证治理的若干政策建议。     

Digital platforms’ boundaries: The interplay of firm scope,platform sides,and digital interfaces

This article explores what factors drive digital platform firms to set or modify their boundaries. Building on economics, strategic management, and information systems research, I suggest that digital platforms make strategic decisions over three distinct types of interrelated boundaries: (1) the scope of the platform firm (what assets are owned, what labor is employed, and what activities are performed by the firm), (2) the configuration and composition of the platform's sides (which distinct groups of customers have access to the platform), and (3) the digital interfaces (that specify the 2-way exchange of data between the platform firm and each of its sides). In this article, I explore the interdependence between these seemingly separate decisions and the role of some important moderating variables. These moderators include whether the platform is a transaction or an innovation platform, and the extent to which the platform has developed from its initial formation stage. My work explains why we see so much variation in boundaries across platforms and over time.     

Governance Considerations for Seeker–Solver Relationships: A Knowledge‐Based Perspective in Crowdsourcing for Innovation Contests

The need to solve innovation problems and insource knowledge has led to an increasing number of organizations engaging in crowdsourcing activities and subsequently establishing working relationships with winning solution providers. Using a knowledge‐based view and the problem‐solving perspective, we develop a theoretical framework suggesting how specific innovation problem attributes (i.e. the decomposability, formulation and search space of the problem) influence the governance decision (unilateral vs. bilateral) of seekers to manage the relationship with winning solvers. We empirically analyse the framework using 582 challenges broadcast on the NineSigma crowdsourcing platform. Our results indicate that problem attributes – the formulation and search space of the problem – have a positive effect on seekers’ preference towards unilateral governance structures. However, we did not find any empirical confirmation of the effect that the decomposability of the innovation problem has on seekers’ preference towards unilateral governance structures. This study offers several contributions to the crowdsourcing literature, and also has important implications for managers of organizations aiming to insource knowledge through crowdsourcing for innovation contests.     

Comparative and International Corporate Governance

Abstract

In this article, we examine the state of the art in comparative and international corporate governance by identifying the key research questions, main concepts, and paradigms of explanations of cross‐country diversity in corporate governance. First, we discuss the multiple definitions of corporate governance across disciplines and explore how this multi‐dimensional nature of corporate governance posses challenges when making cross‐national comparisons. Second, we review existing comparative research on corporate governance and highlight some of the main characteristics of comparative analysis. Third, we analyze how comparative corporate governance has been understood from four different scholarly perspectives: economics and management, culture and sociology, legal, and political paradigms. We conclude from this third section that future research should make an effort to better integrate cross‐disciplinary paradigms. Fourth, we investigate what insights these four perspectives bring to understand change and stability better in two particular governance dimensions: corporate ownership and the role of labor in comparative corporate governance. Finally, we conclude the article with some forward looking suggestions regarding (1) how different perspectives of corporate governance can be more effectively integrated by adopting case‐based, historical, and actor‐centered forms of institutional explanations and by (2) discussing the current U.S. corporate governance system, frequently seen as the “best practice” model.     

合作电子商务价值创造的实证研究：情景双元理论

 开展企业间合作电子商务已经成为企业获取电子商务价值的关键路径。有研究认为具备情景双元性的企业能够获取合作电子商务活动的长期成功,然而关于情景双元性的前因,已有研究主要关注组织内的相关因素,缺乏对组织间合作商务管理因素的考虑。在合作电子商务的背景下,焦点企业需要构建一种企业间商务管理机制(即企业间情景),同时追求企业间整合性和适应性,进而获取合作电子商务价值。        基于组织情景双元理论,从合作商务管理的视角,实证研究企业间IT治理(包括正式治理和关系治理)对电子商务双元能力(包括电子商务整合能力和电子商务适应能力)的使能作用以及电子商务双元能力的价值驱动机制。采用问卷调查法,收集205家企业中高层管理者的数据,基于PLS的结构方程和Smart PLS工具对研究模型进行假设验证。        研究结果表明,与关系治理相比,作为硬性情景因素的正式治理更利于电子商务整合能力的形成;与正式治理相比,作为软性情景因素的关系治理更利于电子商务适应能力的形成;电子商务双元能力能够同时兼顾并影响短期和长期企业绩效。验证了合作环境动荡性在企业间IT治理与电子商务双元能力之间的正向调节作用,还发现合作环境动荡性在电子商务双元能力对价值驱动过程中的差异化调节作用,即合作环境动荡性正向调节电子商务适应能力与企业绩效的关系,但在电子商务整合能力与企业绩效之间的调节作用不显著。研究结果扩展了情景双元理论在信息系统领域的应用,丰富了企业间合作电子商务领域的研究视角,对业界和学术界均有重要的指导意义。     

Exploring the Impact of Cross-side Network Interaction on Digital Platforms on Internationalization of Manufacturing Firms

This study aims to explore how manufacturing firms utilize the benefits of network externalities on digital platforms and how they co-create value with foreign customers to expand internationally through their interactions with customers across the sides of the platform-mediated network. Building on the demand-side perspectives, we develop and empirically test a theoretical model explaining the effect of cross-side network interaction on digital platforms upon manufacturing firms' international intensity, as well as adding critical boundary conditions of industry structure and firm size. Based on a sample of 4197 Chinese manufacturing firms, our empirical findings indicate that manufacturing firms' cross-side network interaction on digital platforms could improve international intensity. We also find that industry growth at home country and larger firm size negatively moderate the relationship between cross-side network interaction and international intensity, while regional industry agglomeration has no significant moderating effect. This study contributes to research on firms' international intensity in the digital age and also extends the demand-side perspectives literature in an IB context.     

A framework for evaluating the benefits of collaborative technologies in engineering innovation networks

In times of rapid economic change, the decrease in knowledge value becomes inversely proportional to its speed of obsolescence, with successful organisations seeking to connect more rapidly and more effectively with others in the creation of new knowledge. The past decade has seen a growing interest in communities of practice as a method for transferring and generating knowledge within product development, rooted as they are in the nature of knowledge creation as a socially embedded process. Given the widespread adoption of collaborative technologies as facilitative platforms for innovation in the interactions of contemporary communities of practice, the objective of this research is to develop an evaluation paradigm and employ it to examine how such interaction is facilitated through the medium of Web 2.0 technologies. The contribution of this research to theory and innovation technology practice will be to further the understanding of collaborative technologies by examining the impact of Web 2.0 technologies on engineering innovation networks. Furthermore, it brings together the three diverse research areas of technology innovation, internet collaborative tools and psychological barriers and enablers.     

Effects of intellectual capital and university knowledge in indigenous innovation: evidence from Indian SMEs

Abstract

Intellectual capital and collaboration with universities are vital knowledge management practices for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to innovate and improve the effectiveness of their operations. This study investigates empirically the impacts of intellectual capital and university knowledge on indigenous innovation and how business and institutional environments affect the relationships. The research model is tested using moderated regression analysis and data collected from 150 SMEs in India. The results show that intellectual capital and university knowledge improve indigenous innovation, both individually and interactively. The effect of intellectual capital in indigenous innovation is amplified by dysfunctional competition whereas the effect of university knowledge in indigenous innovation is attenuated by environmental uncertainty. In addition, we find that indigenous innovation is positively associated with business performance. The impact of indigenous innovation on business performance is enhanced by dysfunctional competition but reduced by environmental uncertainty.     

政府治理视角下平台电商信用监管的动态演化博弈研究

为破解不完全信息下平台电商的信用“监管困局”,本研究在平台电商、消费者与政府三元主体联动关系的基础上,分别构建政府动态惩罚机制与激励机制下平台电商与消费者的演化博弈模型,并分析平台电商与消费者之间策略选择的影响因素及演化路径。研究表明：在政府监管下,平台电商与消费者通过长期的反复博弈、调整的过程,最终博弈系统演化轨迹呈逐渐收敛的趋势。具体而言,政府动态惩罚机制下,当政府惩罚力度逐渐增加时,平台电商倾向于选择“自律”策略;政府动态激励机制下,当政府对平台电商的激励逐渐增加时,平台电商倾向于选择“自律”策略。更为重要的是,当政府的惩罚力度大于激励政策力度时,政府实施惩罚性政策但没有激励政策的效果要优于政府实施激励政策但不实施惩罚性政策的效果。而当政府的惩罚力度小于激励政策力度时,政府实施激励政策但不实施惩罚性政策的效果与政府实施惩罚性政策但没有激励政策的效果几乎接近。由此可见,政府应将惩罚机制与激励机制相结合适度监管,以此追求信用监管的动态平衡。另外,消费者对平台电商的声誉评价具有两面性：当消费者对平台电商声誉评价越高时,平台电商倾向于选择“自律”策略;而消费者对平台电商声誉评价越低,平台电商反而倾向于选择“不自律”策略。     

协同创新、知识溢出的演化博弈机制研究

基于演化博弈理论,研究企业、大学和科研机构间协同创新过程的"演化稳定策略"。通过设计知识共享模型分析知识投入与知识溢出对协同创新的影响并进行仿真检验。研究认为,长期的协同创新中"合作"策略是参与方采用的"演化稳定策略";当参与方数量不同时,小群体一方率先实现"合作"策略稳定,群体数量相近时双方采用"合作"策略的收敛速度趋于一致;增加知识溢出有利于提高协同创新效率与稳定性。在理论上解释了协同创新博弈的合作策略稳定性,为产学研合作的机制设计提供决策参考。