When outsourcing fragments: customer creativity and technological transmutations

One of the most fundamental decisions made in firms is about what functions or activities the firm should perform within its own hierarchy, and which of these it should rely on the market to perform. Outsourcing is ‘an agreement in which one company contracts out a part of their existing internal activity to another company’. However, this article contends that outsourcing has changed, and is changing in ways that make the application of neat, legal and technically correct definitions hard to use, and even harder to apply in strategy. Under the new outsourcing paradigm, technology is not a passive ‘substance’, rather it is an active ‘force’. We aim to look at the ways in which technologies are re-shaped and transmuted by consumers. Through this analysis, we add the consumer activity to the conventional definition of outsourcing. We focus on one of the most highly anticipated and influential new products of 2007 – the Apple iPhone.     

高新技术企业创业能力、创新类型与融资方式关系研究

创新是企业实现竞争优势的主要方式,而企业创业能力和资本来源是实现创新的保障。本文利用我国164例中小型高新技术企业,检验创业能力、创新类型和融资方式之间的关系。结果表明,机会能力与突破性创新、风险资本融资程度呈正向关系,而运作能力与渐进性创新、债务融资程度呈正向关系,突破性创新方式与风险资本融资程度呈正向关系,与债务融资程度呈负向关系,而渐进性创新与债务融资程度呈正向关系,与风险资本融资呈负向影响关系。     

The effect of supplier development on outsourcing performance: the mediating roles of opportunism and flexibility

Abstract

In this increasingly competitive business environment, firms utilise outsourcing as a strategic tool to leverage globally dispersed resources so that they may focus on their core competencies and improve efficiency. The more firms rely on outsourcing, the more they depend on their suppliers, and the more important it is to manage and develop suppliers in order to achieve and maximise the benefits of outsourcing. This paper explores the impact of supplier development on outsourcing performance. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse data collected from 213 manufacturing firms in China. The results indicate that supplier development has a strong direct positive impact on outsourcing performance, and that supplier development also leads to enhanced outsourcing performance through reducing outsourcing opportunism risk and improving outsourcing flexibility. In addition to making a contribution to current theories of outsourcing, our findings also provide outsourcing managers with practical understanding and insights about the role of supplier development in enhancing outsourcing performance.     

中国企业技术创新--基于核心能力的组合创新

经过几十年的努力,中国企业的技术创新已取得长足的进步,技术创新能力得到增强.中国企业的技术创新经历了以下三个发展阶段:(1)模仿阶段(50年代初期～1957);(2)创造性模仿阶段(50年代末到1978);(3)二次创新阶段(1978至今).随着市场经济的逐步确立,中国企业面临的经营环境发生了很大的变化,强调单个创新的传统范式无法满足顾客的需求,不能为企业带来持续竞争优势.成功的企业都采取一种新的创新范式--组合创新.文章重点探讨了工艺创新与产品创新的组合.成功地实施组合创新的关键是建立核心能力.然后,文章探讨了核心能力的来源、概念与结构,探讨核心能力与组合创新之间的关系.企业建立和增强核心能力的方式有以下三种:引进与吸收、研究开发合作、内部开发.基于以上分析,文章分别对东方通讯、杭州制氧机厂、杭州锅炉厂等企业的能力构建与组合技术创新进行了实证分析.     

Logistics and procurement outsourcing in the healthcare sector: A comparative analysis

As outsourcing ventures become more complex, opportunities for synergies and efficiencies increase, but also create longer and more fragmented supply chains which could have disastrous consequences, particularly in a healthcare context. This study investigates the implications of outsourcing on healthcare supply chains by comparing two alternatives: outsourcing from public-to-private and outsourcing from public-to-public. A conceptual framework, adapted from previous literature, has been employed to provide a comprehensive overview of the phenomenon and consider the implications of logistics and procurement outsourcing on the healthcare supply chain structure and performance. The study presents a European cross-country comparison, analysing both the National Health Service (NHS) outsourcing in England (public-to-private outsourcing) and the Regional Health Service (RHS) outsourcing in the Tuscany region (Italy) (public-to-public outsourcing). Specificities and commonalities of the two outsourcing experiences provide suggestions for managers and policy-makers and enhance the current knowledge of outsourcing in the public healthcare sector.     

The dynamic componential model of creativity and innovation in organizations: Making progress,making meaning

Leveraging insights gained through a burgeoning research literature over the past 28 years, this paper presents a significant revision of the model of creativity and innovation in organizations published in Research in Organizational Behavior in 1988. This update focuses primarily on the individual-level psychological processes implicated in creativity that have been illuminated by recent research, and highlights organizational work environment influences on those processes. We revisit basic assumptions underlying the 1988 model, modify certain components and causal connections, and introduce four new constructs into the model: (1) a sense of progress in creative idea development; (2) the meaningfulness of the work to those carrying it out; (3) affect; and (4) synergistic extrinsic motivation. Throughout, we propose ways in which the components underlying individual and team creativity can both influence and be influenced by organizational factors crucial to innovation.     

Incentive issues in performance-based outsourcing contracts in the UK defence industry: a simulation study

Traditional outsourcing literature has claimed gains for the customer in terms of quality and costs. However, such gains are illusory in outsourcing of high-risk, complex tasks. The use of contracts and governance mechanisms for handling complex procurements is essential in obtaining rewards from outsourcing. Powerful incentives and risks are normally used in industrial service contracts to transfer risks to measure compliance with performance measures. The availability contracts for complex engineering services provision are forms of outsourcing contracts that transfer resources from government to external service providers on a substantial scale. The change moves the contractor role from creating resources to managing resources. Such role change mandates collaboration with customers and suppliers in supply/value chains. The management task is then perceived in terms of linking and optimising alignments rather than increasing service levels. Incentive design is one mechanism for linking the coordination of resources required in availability contracting to the business model. This article studies the impacts of agreed contract type and incentive mechanism on the customer and service provider profits using agent-based discrete event simulation model under multiple risk sharing scenarios.     

Performance management of suppliers in outsourcing project: case analysis from the financial services industry

This study investigates the characteristics of an effective performance management framework for outsourcing projects in a UK-based financial services organisation and how this may contribute to the success of the outsourcing arrangement. The analysis draws on outsourcing and performance management theory, and uses both primary and secondary data. Valuable information was found on objective setting, performance measurement and performance improvement in the outsourcing project. An adapted version of the Balanced Scorecard, termed a Logic Scorecard, is suggested as a measurement tool; a service credit system and a continuous improvement schedule used to enhance supplier performance. The performance management framework, which is one of the pillars of the supply chain operations reference (SCOR) model, was developed, and provides practitioners with step-by-step guidance for the implementation of performance management in outsourcing projects. This combines both suggestions for performance management before and after the outsourcing decision, thus considering the entire outsourcing lifecycle. The proposed 10-step framework for outsourcing not only incorporates strategic propositions but also shows its implementation at an operational level.     

以创新网络提升中小企业技术创新能力

经济低迷时期,中小企业更趋向于通过创新网络来提升竞争力,塑造核心能力,结合文献分析和企业调研,从能力和要素组合两个维度,提出了创新网络中企业能力提升的分析框架,指出创新网络中的中小企业核心能力来自于企业内外创新要素协同.最后通过一个案例分析详细阐述了这种能力提升与要素协同的关系.     

Knowledge sharing for innovation performance improvement in micro/SMEs: an insight from the creative sector

Abstract

As economies become more reliant on innovative, knowledge-intensive firms, understanding the interaction between knowledge and improving innovation performance is increasingly important. Although most UK businesses are micro, small or medium-sized enterprises (micro/SMEs), knowledge management research has tended to focus on large companies Knowledge sharing can be critical for innovation performance, especially for smaller players with limited resources. Our study presents an insight from micro/SMEs operating in the highly knowledge-intensive and innovative games/entertainment software development sector. Using a mixed method approach, we investigate knowledge sharing and its contribution to firm innovation performance improvements. Our findings suggest that micro/SMEs are at the forefront of the creative sector precisely because of their smaller size. Our study reveals evidence of knowledge donation but limited evidence of knowledge collection in the knowledge sharing process. We develop a model highlighting the importance of industry context, individual knowledge and organizational size in knowledge sharing for innovation performance.     

Improving innovation performance through environmental practices in the fashion industry: the moderating effect of internationalisation and the influence of collaboration

In recent years, the scientific literature on supply chain management has increasingly debated on environmental sustainability as well as collaboration, presenting these issues as an important source of innovation along the supply chain. By combining literature streams on environmental sustainability, supply chain collaboration and innovation at the supply chain level, this paper aims to analyse whether the adoption of environmental sustainability practices and collaboration along the supply chain implies better innovation performance, in terms of differentiation from the competitors for higher quality, product or process. The paper also investigates whether the internationalisation, in terms of both production and distribution activities, negatively moderates this relationship. The study focuses on the fashion industry, and a survey of major Italian fashion companies was conducted. The main results of the research clearly show the positive impact of these practices on innovation performance. The paper also proves the existence of a moderating effect exerted by internationalisation on the relationship between environmental sustainability and innovation performance.     

价值共创视角下核心企业主导型众创空间的合作创新演化博弈研究

以核心企业主导型众创空间为研究对象,基于演化博弈方法建立运营方与入驻企业的合作创新博弈模型,首先分析双方的收益与成本参数的变化对演化稳定策略的影响,随后引入双重奖惩机制并用数值仿真方法分析博弈结果。研究结果表明：众创空间运营方与入驻企业合作创新主要受到创新总成本、运营方监管成本、成本分担比例、额外收益与额外收益分配等因素的影响;引入奖惩机制后,保证金、损失、罚金与奖励金均正向影响博弈双方的合作创新行为,说明奖惩机制能够有效地破解博弈双方价值共创的困局。探究核心企业主导型众创空间合作创新的影响因素对进一步促进我国众创空间的高质量发展具有重要的指导意义。     

中国企业30年创新:机制、能力和战略

通过对宏观统计数据和我国领先企业调查资料的归纳、比较,分析了我国企业的创新机制、创新能力和创新战略模式.研究发现:在20世纪末,我国企业就已初步形成了市场导向的创新机制;改革开放30多年来,我国企业的创新能力已得到较大幅度提升;企业的创新战略模式从模仿创新开始,现已出现了原始创新和赶超创新;但是,与国外企业相比,我国企业的创新能力和水平还需继续提升.