The Nature,Social Organization and Promotion of Management Research: Towards Policy

This paper argues for the distinctiveness of management research and develops a perspective concerning management research policy. It argues that the key defining characteristic of management research is its applied nature, and that its central concern should be ‘the general (engineering) problem of design’. Because a key goal of management research is to improve the relationship between theory and practice, a fundamental concern lies with its diverse nature and the consequential difficulty of integration of sub-disciplines, as well as with the issue of the relevance and the application of findings. As a policy paper, it aims to introduce a limited number of analytical frameworks in order to develop a policy position, thus helping frame the debate concerning the role of management research. Specifically, it achieves this, first by exploring the ontology of management research, examining its form, features, peculiarities and idiosyncrasies using Becher's conceptual schema for exploring the nature of disciplines; second by identifying a requisite form of social organization to support management research activity using the Gibbons et al. taxonomy of knowledge production systems; and finally, by identifying some conclusions, research policy implications, and suggesting a set of policy propositions concerning the conduct of management research.     

Building Grounded Theories of Management Action

This paper presents a structured approach to grounded theory-building. It is aimed at 'mode 2' (Gibbons et al., 1994) management researchers, in particular those who analyse recollections of past events, often recorded in interview data, to develop explanations of management action. Two characteristics of mode 2 enquiry - transdisciplinarity and an emphasis on tacit knowledge - make grounded theory potentially attractive to mode 2 researchers. However, the approach offered here differs in two important ways from the much-cited universal grounded theory model originated by Glaser and Strauss (1967) and later proceduralized by Strauss and Corbin (1990). First, it acknowledges that the form of theories of management action which will satisfy the contemporary demands of mode 2 research is different from the form of integrated sociological theory for which the original grounded theory approach was developed. Second, it takes account of differences between the ontological assumptions underlying the use of retrospective data for analysing management action, and those associated with participant observation, the pivotal strategy of grounded theory's symbolic interactionist roots. The result is a simplified, more direct approach which works for the specific purpose of generating useful, consensually valid theory.     

The wider implications of business-model research

Business-model research has struggled to develop a clear footprint in the strategic management field. This introduction to the special issue on the wider implications of business-model research argues that part of this struggle relates to the application of five different perspectives on the term “business model,” which creates ambiguity about the conceptual boundaries of business models, the applied terminology, and the potential contributions of business-model research to strategic management literature. By explicitly distinguishing among these five perspectives and by aligning them into one overarching, comprehensive framework, this paper offers a foundation for consolidating business-model research. Furthermore, we explore the connections between business-model research and prominent theories in strategic management. We conclude that business-model research is not necessarily a “theory on its own” and that it can be more fruitfully understood as a theoretical mechanism for combining different literature streams. As such, business-model research is positioned as a central connecting component in the further development of the strategic management field.     

Developing a Human‐centred and Science‐based Approach to Design: The Knowledge Management Platform Project

The gap between theory and practice is a persistent problem in management and organization research. In this respect, several scholars have suggested that ‘design’ is an ideal‐typical form of mode 2 knowledge production. Design research develops knowledge in the service of action and problem solving in organizational settings. In this paper, we connect two perspectives on design that can be considered to be largely complementary but have hardly been combined and integrated in practice: science‐based design drawing on design propositions grounded in research and human‐centred design emphasizing an active and systematic participation by users and other stakeholders. An integrated approach that builds on both perspectives is developed and subsequently applied to designing and developing a portal for mapping competencies in an information technology cluster. This project involves creating problem awareness and articulating design propositions as well as developing scenarios of use, experimenting with prototypes, and organizational transformation. As such, this methodology addresses the dual challenge of rigour and relevance by producing both scientific and practical knowledge.     

The Role of Knowledge Bases in Complex Product Systems: Some Empirical Evidence from the Aero Engine Industry

In this paper we argue that the virtual corporation as understood in current management literature does not hold as a universal model throughout various industrial sectors. Complex product systems industries show peculiar features in terms of product characteristics, innovation dynamics and strategic and management options that may render the virtual corporation model inapplicable.The paper begins with a contrast between the simplistic neoclassical approach to the interpretation of the concept of knowledge and the more in-depth evolutionary view. The former understands knowledge as information and its production process and outcomes as easily decomposable. Based on this, advocates of virtual corporation claim the viability of outsourcing strategies based on simple economic factors. The evolutionary approach, on the other hand, considers knowledge as a system of processes deeply rooted in their contexts of production. Tacitness and non-decomposability of the knowledge production processes are highly emphasised in this view. In the light of this contrast and relying on a study of the aero engine industry we reinterpret the notion of virtual corporation showing its limits.     

供应链中的企业合作关系

供应链管理是企业发展最具活力的前沿领域之一。本文首先回顾了供应链中的企业关系演变过程,分析战略伙伴关系与供应链战略的关系,然后从四个方面探讨供应链的战略伙伴关系问题：（1）战略伙伴关系的质量保证体系-过程质量管理与顾客驱动的供应链质量信息系统;（2）战略伙伴关系的知识学习与技术扩散-知识链与基于知识链的知识管理;（3）战略伙伴关系的制度保证-合作对策与委托代理机制;（4）战略伙伴关系的生产协作-同步化生产计划与控制。     

Accounting for the formation of scientific fields in organization studies

There are few qualitative organizational accounts that explore the constitution of scientific fields in management. We developed a methodology for understanding the academic modes of scientific knowledge production in management research from the perspective of the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) and actor-network theory (ANT). SSK and ANT offer a way to account for how scientific fields in organization studies are enacted. Key to this process are splitting and inversion of statements; credibility and network formation; and the concepts of credit, trajectory, and position. Specific statements making key knowledge claims (e.g., handbooks, special editions) are situated in academic practices that obscure those rhetorical strategies that enable the production of a network of knowledge that can act, organizationally, as a more or less unified sub-field. We take as a starting point a collection of texts, dated 2011, which sought to systematize the main currents of a disciplinary sub-field during the last decade, focusing on how statements are transformed into scientific certainty and how the question of credibility is established. The sub-field is that of organizational learning (OL). The particular language of OL relies on approaches that make its epistemic assumptions intelligible within a network. It is a language that tends to reify and naturalize specific practices that become accredited as organization learning. The material/textual artifacts that sustain these practices, instead of being reified, can be reframed as enacting a scientific field whose resignification acts upon the network that enabled its existence.     

基于Ontology的跨组织知识整合方法研究

从知识整合的实际需求和研究现状出发,给出了跨组织环境下基于Ontology技术的知识整合流程,并结合语义网技术实现了知识集的闭包、查询与标准化同构等算法,开发了跨组织知识整合的原型系统。通过一个钢铁企业跨组织知识整合案例展示了原型系统的功能,说明知识的整合可以达到语义增值的效果;通过两个实验给出了原型系统的性能。     

管理学术与实践隔阂:和谐管理的桥梁作用

管理学术与实践各自自我循环的运作模式,使得二者之间存在较大的隔阂。从管理知识的形成与使用视角来看,原因包括两个方面:首先是管理知识的类型,目前学者们认为面向实际问题解决产生的模式2知识比传统学术研究产生的模式1知识更具实践价值,但分析发现模式1与模式2因其优劣互补而分别适应于不同的管理问题;其次是目前实践者对管理知识的消费偏好,据此给出了缩减管理学术与实践隔阂的整体思路及措施.和谐管理理论揭示了如何定位组织中核心问题以及解决问题的双规则机制,将其应用于上述措施,有助于促进管理学术与实践的有效对话。     

基于属性重要度的产品定制程度测量模型及定制策略

定制程度的高低反映了制造商对顾客个性化需求响应的程度。运用组合分析法建立基于效用的顾客属性定制偏好测量模型和基于属性重要度的产品定制程度测量模型;以笔记本电脑装配定制为研究对象,运用K-means聚类将样本分成5个不同的属性偏好群体,测量个体与5个属性偏好群体满意度,比较分析多样化生产方式与定制化生产方式下顾客满意度的差异,建立不同偏好群体定制程度与顾客满意度之间的回归模型。研究表明,按照定制属性重要度从大到小依次进行定制生产比细分市场的多样化生产能更有效地提高顾客满意度。     

Examining Factors that Influence the Existence of Heinrich's Safety Triangle Using Site‐Specific H&S Data from More than 25,000 Establishments

In the 1930s, Heinrich established one of the most prominent and enduring accident prevention theories when he concluded that high severity occupational safety and health (OSH) incidents are preceded by numerous lower severity incidents and near misses. Seventy‐five years of theory expansion/interpretation includes two fundamental tenets: (1) the ratio of lower to higher severity incidents exists in the form of a “safety‐triangle” and (2) similar causes underlie both high and low severity events. Although used extensively to inform public policy and establishment‐level health and safety priorities, recent research challenges the validity of the two tenets. This study explored the validity of the first tenet, the existence of the safety triangle. The advantage of the current study is the use of a detailed, establishment‐specific data set that evaluated over 25,000 establishments over a 13‐year time period, allowing three specific questions to be explored: (1) Are an increased number of lower severity incidents at an establishment significantly associated with the probability of a fatal event over time? (2) At the establishment level, do the effects of OSH incidents on the probability of a fatality over time decrease as the degree of severity decreases—thereby taking the form of a triangle? and (3) Do distinct methods for delineating incidents by severity affect the existence of the safety triangle form? The answer to all three questions was yes with the triangle form being dependent upon how severity was delineated. The implications of these findings in regard to Heinrich's theory and OSH policy and management are discussed.     

Revamping research on unrelated diversification strategy: perspectives,opportunities and challenges for future inquiry

With the aim of achieving an advanced understanding of current research on unrelated diversification and providing fruitful groundwork to foster active interchange between disciplinary traditions, this paper detects articles from two relevant research streams; i.e., strategic management and financial economics. We first provide a brief overview of management thinking on unrelated diversification strategy. Then, we present a conceptual map that offers a comprehensive appreciation of unrelated diversification strategy antecedents (i.e., environmental and institutional, organizational value-enhancing, and managerial drivers), implementation process (i.e., managerial complexity, misallocation of resources, and structural inertia), and consequences (i.e., diversification premiums and discounts). Finally, we unpack the major gaps in our current knowledge that may help refocus the research agenda on unrelated diversification strategy and revamp the apparent waning proclivity of this issue.     

Accountability and Creating Accountability: a Framework for Exploring Behavioural Perspectives of Corporate Governance

What is board accountability, and how is such accountability created? This response to Roberts, McNulty and Stiles suggests a framework for exploring behavioural perspectives of boards and corporate governance. The contribution of this framework is to develop a terminology that may help us accumulate knowledge and provide directions for a research agenda. The consistent use of a terminology, the accumulation of knowledge and an accepted research agenda among a core group of scholar are some of the first steps in developing a promising research field with considerable potential to create actionable knowledge. The framework can help us sort some of the research, concepts and anecdotes that have been presented in efforts to open the black box of board research.     

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.     

项目管理知识体系的比较分析

本文从指导思想、结构和内容三个方面研究了对项目管理理论和实践产生重大影响的五个项目管理知识体系(PMBOK Guide、APMBOK、ICB、NCSPM、ISO 10006),分析了各知识体系的异同和优劣。本文还分析了出现这些差异的原因,指出项目管理知识体系的发展方向应该是建立一套自成体系、全球统一的理论框架及认证标准。     

History,Evolution and Future of Big Data and Analytics: A Bibliometric Analysis of Its Relationship to Performance in Organizations

Big data and analytics (BDA) are gaining momentum, particularly in the practitioner world. Research linking BDA to improved organizational performance seems scarce and widely dispersed though, with the majority focused on specific domains and/or macro‐level relationships. In order to synthesize past research and advance knowledge of the potential organizational value of BDA, the authors obtained a data set of 327 primary studies and 1252 secondary cited papers. This paper reviews this body of research, using three bibliometric methods. First, it elucidates its intellectual foundations via co‐citation analysis. Second, it visualizes the historical evolution of BDA and performance research and its substreams through algorithmic historiography. Third, it provides insights into the field's potential evolution via bibliographic coupling. The results reveal that the academic attention for the BDA–performance link has been increasing rapidly. The study uncovered ten research clusters that form the field's foundation. While research seems to have evolved following two main, isolated streams, the past decade has witnessed more cross‐disciplinary collaborations. Moreover, the study identified several research topics undergoing focused development, including financial and customer risk management, text mining and evolutionary algorithms. The review concludes with a discussion of the implications for different functional management domains and the gaps for both research and practice.     

Working Across Boundaries: Current and Future Perspectives on Global Virtual Teams

Global Virtual Teams (GVTs) are a commonplace in contemporary organizations, and an already established topic of research in international management. While we have a good understanding of advantages and challenges associated with this ubiquitous form of work groups, this special issue aims to contribute to theory development by focusing on key drivers that influence the success of GVTs, along with ways for mitigating their challenges. We briefly review current knowledge on GVTs and propose a structuring framework that can help with both organizing what we know about GVTs, and with guiding the conversation on where the research on this topic might focus next. We then introduce four special issue articles that illustrate avenues for generating new empirical evidence towards uncovering key characteristics and dynamics underlying GVTs complexities, providing useful insights for both theory development and managerial practice.     

顾客为中心生产的集成化计划与控制方法研究

本文在对以顾客为中心的生产组织形式、生产类型和生产方式分析的基础上,提出了以顾客为中心生产的集成计划与控制方法体系、模型和运行机制;同时针对以顾客为中心的联盟合作生产组织形式,给出了相应的合作生产管理策略,从而拓展了现有的生产计划与控制方法,并为以顾客为中心的多企业联盟合作生产目标的实现提供了新的管理策略.     

Knowledge Management in Strategic Alliances: A Review of Empirical Evidence

Knowledge‐related and organizational learning processes in alliances have received much attention throughout the last 25 years. The field has generated a rapidly growing body of empirical evidence on how knowledge is managed in alliances. However, the sphere is highly complex, fragmented, incoherent, and heterogeneous in terms of the theoretical approaches applied. This paper presents an integrative and organizing framework for the empirical literature on knowledge management in strategic alliances. It illustrates how the knowledge management outcomes of knowledge creation, transfer and application are determined by four distinct sets of factors: knowledge characteristics, partner characteristics, partner interaction, and active knowledge management. Based on this framework, this review analyses and integrates empirical evidence in order to identify where findings converge and where results conflict. So far, research has focused strongly on singular interrelations between these four sets of factors and the transfer of knowledge. Conversely, the questions of how knowledge is created, retained, retrieved and applied and how the interplay of the different factors affects knowledge management in strategic alliances remain widely unexplored. The review concludes with a summary of the current state of the art in empirical research and discusses some promising avenues for future investigation.