组织学习在信息技术应用中的作用分析

基于资源基础观,传统的研究将企业信息技术视为战略性资源,在投入产出分析范式的基础上探讨其应用效率问题。本文在现有研究的基础上分析组织能力因素对信息技术资源价值实现过程的影响机制,探讨组织学习能力对信息技术资源与组织绩效之间关系的中介作用和调节作用。根据238家企业的调查数据,进行了结构方程模型和层级回归分析,结果表明:组织学习能力对信息技术资源和组织绩效之间的关系既发挥部分中介作用,也发挥正向调节作用。因此,组织学习能力有助于实现并提升IT资源的商业价值。本文的分析补充了现有研究成果,对于企业管理实践也有参考价值。     

A model of the adoption of radio frequency identification technology: The case of logistics service firms

Globalization and advances in information technology represent both realities and opportunities for enterprises in the 21st century. This paper aims to broaden understanding of service innovation as a critical organizational capability through which the adoption of information technology influences firm performance. This study examines how the adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology influences the operational performance of logistics service firms. We develop the RFID adoption model based on the interorganizational information systems (IOS) view of the firm that integrates the various strands of research into the framework. The study draws from the related information technology and interorganizational information systems literatures to explore organizational factors associated with the adoption of RFID. A model of the associations between information technology and interorganizational information systems use, social support, power structure, organizational readiness, procedural flexibility, and top management support is developed, and hypotheses are advanced about the relationships among these constructs. An empirical survey was conducted among 500 logistics service firms in Taiwan. A total of 131 valid observations were analyzed using the partial least squares technique. Results showed that RFID adoption has positive effects on business practices, which in turn improves operational performance. We address the value of certain interactive firm behaviors in RFID adoption and identify related constructs of RFID adoption in terms of their efficiency and value for logistics service firms. These results have implications for both education and practice.     

技术管理与技术能力匹配对产品创新的内在影响机制

 产品创新是企业获取和保持竞争优势的重要手段。虽然在产品创新过程中技术管理和技术能力都具有重要作用，但是单纯依靠技术管理或技术能力不能维持企业产品创新的持续发展，能使企业获得持续竞争优势的因素还在于技术管理与技术能力之间的匹配效应。        基于匹配理论和知识基础观，分析技术管理-人员能力匹配、技术管理-设备能力匹配、技术管理-信息能力匹配和技术管理-组织能力匹配在产品创新中的作用，识别技术管理与技术能力匹配对产品创新绩效的直接影响和间接影响，构建技术管理与技术能力匹配对产品创新的影响机制模型。采取大样本问卷调查，收集122家装备制造业企业数据，运用多元线性回归分析对提出的假设进行实证检验。        研究结果表明，技术管理-人员能力匹配和技术管理-设备能力匹配都对产品创新绩效产生正向影响，相对于技术管理-设备能力匹配，技术管理-人员能力匹配对产品创新绩效的影响更大。技术管理-信息能力匹配和技术管理-组织能力匹配在技术管理-人员能力匹配和技术管理-设备能力匹配影响产品创新绩效的过程中起正向的调节作用。        研究结果发现了技术管理与技术能力匹配对产品创新的重要影响，为产品创新的理论研究提供了新视角；深化了对产品创新实现路径的理论认识，为技术管理和技术能力如何向产品创新绩效转化的理论研究提供了微观知识基础；识别了发挥技术管理与技术能力匹配作用的内在条件，从权变视角拓展了匹配理论的研究。同时，也为企业正确处理技术管理与技术能力间的关系、提升产品创新绩效提供了理论指导。     

Restrictiveness and guidance in support systems

Restrictiveness and guidance have been proposed as methods for improving the performance of users of support systems. In many companies computerized support systems are used in demand forecasting enabling interventions based on management judgment to be applied to statistical forecasts. However, the resulting forecasts are often ‘sub-optimal’ because many judgmental adjustments are made when they are not required. An experiment was used to investigate whether restrictiveness or guidance in a support system leads to more effective use of judgment. Users received statistical forecasts of the demand for products that were subject to promotions. In the restrictiveness mode small judgmental adjustments to these forecasts were prohibited (research indicates that these waste effort and may damage accuracy). In the guidance mode users were advised to make adjustments in promotion periods, but not to adjust in non-promotion periods. A control group of users were not subject to restrictions and received no guidance. The results showed that neither restrictiveness nor guidance led to improvements in accuracy. While restrictiveness reduced unnecessary adjustments, it deterred desirable adjustments and also encouraged over-large adjustments so that accuracy was damaged. Guidance encouraged more desirable system use, but was often ignored. Surprisingly, users indicated it was less acceptable than restrictiveness.     

Human resource practices of multinational organizations in Belgium

This study uses data from a survey of 117 large organizations located in Belgium to examine the relationship between corporate ownership and personnel practices. Results obtained from multivariate analyses supported the general hypothesis that personnel policies and practices vary as a function of ownership and nationality. For example, foreign-owned firms are found to be more advanced in their adoption of methods to gain employee loyalty and commitment than domestic enterprises. In addition to ownership effects, the moderating effects of some key organizational characteristics were examined. This shows that large differences exist with respect to the human resource practices used in firms as a function of management philosophy, creative strategy and industry sector.     

The Role of Interorganizational and Organizational Factors on the Decision Mode for Adoption of Interorganizational Systems*

The dramatic growth of interorganizational systems (IOS) has changed the way organizations conduct their business, and has resulted in significant tangible and intangible benefits being realized by participating firms. However, the implementation of these IOS requires the cooperation and commitment of all the participating members. These members may have complex economic and business relationships among themselves that can result in a number of social, political, and economic factors influencing the adoption and implementation of IOS. This study examines the role of interorganizational and organizational factors on the decision mode for adoption of IOS, in the specific context of electronic data interchange (EDI). Four interorganizational factors, based on the socio-political framework derived from research in marketing, and five organizational factors based on research in IS were used in the study. The data for the study were collected through a large scale field survey. Two respondents, the sales/purchase manager and the IS manager, from 201 firms responded to the survey. The results of discriminant analysis of the data reveal that two interorganizational variables, competitive pressure and exercised power, and two organizational variables, internal need and top management support, are important variables to differentiate firms with proactive decision mode from firms with reactive decision mode. The study also evaluates the differences between proactive and reactive firms on three implementation outcomes. Proactive firms are found to have greater extent of adaptation, more external connectivity with trading partners, and better integration of EDI information in their internal IS applications.     

联盟管理实践获取与联盟成功：被调节的中介效应

近年来,企业间战略联盟在全世界范围内越来越普遍。联盟的高失败率使企业界和理论界人士开始关注如何实现联盟成功。在长期的联盟活动中,联盟企业都积累了各自独特的一整套被称为联盟管理实践的方法、流程和技能,以提高联盟管理能力、实现联盟预期目标。依据组织学习和关系理论,联盟企业能够从合作伙伴那里获取有价值的联盟管理实践并将其应用于自身的联盟管理活动,这一过程必然有益于联盟管理。然而,鲜有研究探讨联盟管理实践获取行为对联盟成功的影响。 基于以上考虑,引入联盟管理能力和共同行动两个概念,分别作为中介变量和调节变量,构建一个被调节的中介效应模型,以更好地揭示联盟管理实践获取对联盟成功的作用机理。为了检验上述被调节的中介效应模型及相关的作用机理,利用从中国大陆收集的调研数据进行实证研究。最终的样本包含205家联盟企业,且每家企业有两位关键信息提供者,综合采用逐步线性回归和被调节的路径分析方法验证假设。 研究结果表明,联盟管理实践获取通过联盟管理能力这一中介机制最终促进联盟成功,共同行动正向调节联盟管理能力与联盟成功的关系,存在假设中的被调节的中介效应。也就是说,联盟管理实践获取对联盟成功的影响需要通过提升联盟管理能力来实现;同时,联盟双方共同行动水平越高,这一过程越容易实现。 联盟管理实践获取为解释联盟成功的作用机理提供了一个新的视角,拓展了联盟管理能力方面的研究,尤其表现为同时关注联盟管理能力的前因和结果,将组织学习理论和关系理论统一整合到联盟成功研究的框架下,这可视为两大理论的创新性应用。此外,研究结果为现实中联盟企业实现联盟成功指出一条新路,即从合作伙伴处获取有价值的联盟管理实践以促进联盟成功。     

Technological Diversification and Organizational Divisionalization: The Moderating Role of Complementary Assets

This study uses data on 582 electronics and information technology firms in Taiwan for the period 1997–2005 to investigate the hypothesis that technological diversification increases the extent of organizational divisionalization under firm growth. This study applies competence‐based theory to argue that firms spread the technological competence base to achieve firm growth. However, in the face of firm growth, managers of multi‐technology firms often utilize a multi‐division structure to manage their various technologies based on their operating characteristics or needs. Furthermore, the findings of this study indicate that complementary assets moderate the negative relationship between technological diversification and organizational divisionalization. For firms with specialized complementary assets, multi‐technology firms may be observed to consolidate related‐technology activities into fewer divisions, facilitating the utilization of these complementary assets in conjunction with other divisions.     

A process-oriented perspective on differential business value creation by information technology: An empirical investigation

The relationship between information technology investments and firm value as an area of inquiry has sustained interest among IS researchers over the past decade. More recently, some have challenged the notion differential value among firms through Information Technology (IT) as it evolves into a ubiquitous utility-like set of technologies. This study examines the relationship between IT and business value from a process-oriented perspective, and also helps to identify the underlying links between IT and its differential business value to firms. By drawing upon economic and organizational theories, this paper develops a process framework to assess the intermediate organizational process capabilities and overall performance of firms that effectively deploy and use IT. Using data from over 80 firms, the study finds empirical support for the differential business value created by IT along a number of process oriented dimensions. These findings are discussed as these results set an optimistic tone for IT as a major causal driver of differentiation.     

Non-Standard Employment in Irish Manufacturing: Do Firm Characteristics Matter?

Non-standard or atypical employment in Irish manufacturing more than doubled between 1987 and 1995. This paper attempts to analyse empirically the nature of non-standard employment in Ireland using plant-level data for 1995. We focus on firm characteristics as explanatory factors. Our econometric results indicate that there are significant differences in the use of atypical employment between small and large firms, and between indigenous and foreign-owned firms.     

How organizational cognitive frames affect organizational capabilities: The context of corporate sustainability

We draw on the emerging literature on the micro-foundation of capability development to investigate the effects of the relative importance of corporate sustainability in a firm's organizational cognitive frame on the development of distinct organizational capabilities. Based on survey data from 124 Danish manufacturing firms and seven interviews, we find that the relative importance of corporate sustainability in a firm's organizational cognitive frame positively encourages the development of three organizational capabilities, namely, stakeholder integration, market sensing, and organizational learning. However, contrary to our expectation and reasoning, we find that the development of the strategic planning capability is negatively affected. Our findings provide novel empirical evidence and contribute to an improved understanding of the effect of a firm's organizational cognitive frame on the development of organizational capabilities.     

Technological and Output Complementarities, and Inter-Firm Cooperation in Information Technology Ventures

Firms whose profiles of technologicalcompetence are complementary to one another are morelikely to enter into technology-based cooperativeagreements, and a broad level of technologicalcomplementarity is necessary for these agreements toextend as far as a mutual coordination of learningprocesses (combined research ventures). Using data onagreements between the world's largest firms in thearea of information technology (IT) and the patternsof technological specialization of these firms in theIT fields as revealed by their corporate patenting inthe US, we show that the technologicalco-specialization of firms helps to explain allianceformation, over and above the effects of anyco-specialization in IT products. While firms whosetechnological efforts are less complementary are lesslikely to cooperate for technology purposes, if theydo cooperate it is to exploit the differences in theirfields of expertise, and hence they are likely to usequasi-market organizational forms such as licensing,while the purpose of the alliance is restricted to anexchange of knowledge without any joint coordinationof learning (research). Instead, equity jointventures are likeliest when at a broad level ofaggregation the profiles of technologicalspecialization of partners are complementary, but ata more detailed level of disaggregation there is agreater distance between them, such that thecoordination of learning efforts is feasible, butrequires a stronger organizational commitment.     

Understanding the emergence of redistributed manufacturing: an ambidexterity perspective

Abstract

This paper extends operations strategy theory on efficiency and flexibility trade-offs to the emergent phenomenon of redistributed manufacturing (RDM). The study adopts a multiple-case design including five small and five large pharmaceutical firms. We propose that organizations can gain the efficiency benefits of centralized manufacturing and the flexibility advantages of RDM by building an ambidexterity capability. To build such a capability, large firms can structurally partition their manufacturing and supply management functions, with one sub-unit managing centralized production and the other RDM. Smaller enterprises can build an ambidexterity capability by creating the right organizational context, where multi-skilled workers switch between efficient and flexible tasks. This paper contributes to theory by explaining the emergence of RDM using an organizational ambidexterity lens, laying the groundwork for new theory development in the field. We provide managers with a practical example of how to build an ambidexterity capability to realize flexibility and efficiency advantages.     

From Entrepreneurial Orientation and Learning Orientation to Business Performance: Analysing the Mediating Role of Organizational Learning and the Moderating Effects of Organizational Size

Following the organizational learning theory and the knowledge‐based view approach, this contribution aims to study the influence of entrepreneurial orientation and learning orientation on organizational learning, considering the latter as a mediating variable in the relationships between both antecedent cultural values and business performance. We also analyse the moderating role of organizational size on these previous relationships. The hypotheses proposed in our research model are tested on a sample of 140 Spanish industrial companies, applying variance‐based structural equation modelling: partial least squares. In order to assess the moderating effects of organizational size, we adopt a multi‐group approach using two subsamples with large firms and small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Our findings indicate that organizational learning partially mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance and fully mediates the link between learning orientation and performance. Likewise, the results reveal that the relationship established between entrepreneurial orientation and organizational learning is more intense for the group of large firms than for the group of SMEs. Moreover, the influence of learning orientation on organizational learning is greater in SMEs than in large firms.     

Endogenous Adaptation: The Effects of Technology Position and Planning Mode on IT‐Enabled Change*

The redesign of information technology (IT)‐enabled work processes often necessitates fundamental design changes to the intended work process, the IT platform hosting the work process, or both. Research suggests that such design changes often can be traced to earlier decisions involving endogenous adaptation or internal organizational change. Two such decisions are a firm's technology position and planning mode. This study examines the relationship between technology position and planning mode in predicting the magnitude of design change in process redesign projects. The conceptual frame applied in examining these relationships involves a synthesis of Miles and Snow's adaptive cycle with elements central to concurrent engineering. Our results indicate that the magnitude of design change is related to differences in technology position and planning mode. To effectively implement organizational change, firms must leverage their IT platform by carefully timing IT investments in accordance with their adopted technology position. Directing the trajectory of a firm's IT platform and deploying it so as to complement the firm's technology position reduces design uncertainty, promoting reengineering success.     

The Alignment between Organizational Critical Success Factors and Information Technology Capability in Academic Institutions*

Alignment between organizational critical success factors (CSFs) and competencies is widely believed to improve performance. This study examines the performance implications of alignment between CSFs and one source of competence, the organization's information technology (IT) capability. The effects of three antecedent factors–environmental uncertainty, integration, and IT management sophistication–are also examined. This paper uses survey data from 244 large academic institutions, along with some secondary data. Following the profile deviation approach to measure alignment, the academic institutions are divided into three clusters based on their CSFs: the academic comprehensives, the reputed giants, and the small educators. The ideal profile of IT capability is next developed for each cluster in terms of four dimensions: information retrieval, electronic communication, computing facilities for students, and computer-aided education. Alignment is then computed for each institution as the proximity of its IT capability profile from the ideal IT capability profile for the cluster to which it belongs. The results suggest that alignment facilitates both perceived IT success and organizational performance. Moreover, sophisticated IT management facilitates both alignment and perceived IT success, environmental uncertainty facilitates perceived IT success but not alignment, and integration facilitates neither alignment nor perceived IT success.     

Integrating management judgment and statistical methods to improve short-term forecasts

The complementary strengths that management judgment and statistical methods can bring to the forecasting process have been widely discussed. This paper reviews research on the effectiveness of methods that are designed to allow judgment and statistical methods to be integrated when short-term point forecasts are required. The application of both voluntary and mechanical integration methods are considered and conditions identified where the use of particular methods is appropriate, according to current research. While acknowledging the power of mechanical integration methods that exclude the judgmental forecaster from the integration process, the paper suggests that future research effort should focus on the design of forecasting support systems that facilitate voluntary integration.     

Integrating Knowledge through Information Trading: Examining the Relationship between Boundary Spanning Communication and Individual Performance*

With the global penetration of Internet technologies, individuals may now cross organizational boundaries to communicate efficiently with others regardless of time and space. Thus, when looking for help in solving work tasks, knowledge workers may just as easily contact individuals in rival firms across the globe as a coworker sitting at the next desk. As a result, management faces questions such as (1) How should firms manage employees' knowledge‐sourcing activities when they span both intra‐organizational and extra‐organizational boundaries, and (2) What is the relationship between different knowledge‐sourcing activities and individual performance? Grounded in the knowledge‐based view of the firm, we investigate these questions using data from Europe's largest information technology (IT) services and management consulting company. Our results provide evidence that organizations should support boundary spanning and knowledge sourcing from both internal and external sources. Results suggest (1) a positive relationship between boundary spanning communication and creativity and general performance, and (2) a negative relationship between a reliance on colocated coworkers as knowledge sources and creativity.     

学习能力与企业绩效:知识资源是中介变量吗

基于知识观和组织学习理论,本文就以下问题展开研究:其一,探讨学习能力与企业绩效之间的关系;其二,将知识资源视为影响学习能力与企业绩效的中介变量,探讨三者之间的关系;其三,考察组织内、外部学习能力对企业绩效的不同作用路径.研究结果发现,知识资源在内部学习能力与企业绩效之间扮演着部分中介的角色;而在外部学习能力与绩效之间扮演着完全中介的角色.本项研究较为深入地揭示了学习能力、知识资源与绩效之间的关系.