Open-Innovation Effectiveness: When does the Macro Design of Alliance Portfolios Matter?

Virtual team performance: E-leadership roles in the era of COVID-19

Purpose

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation has led to the emergence of virtual teams in all organizations, and the role of leadership has become more pertinent. The current research focuses on understanding the factors for better team performance in virtual teams. Based on the contingency perspective, the behavioral complexity in leadership (BCL) theory is the most appropriate as BCL requires the leader to demonstrate multiple contrasting leadership behaviors according to the situation. Both internal as well external roles were explored, which could facilitate better communication quality and role clarity to increase interpersonal trust and leadership effectiveness in the current crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from employees who have worked in virtual teams during the crisis and who have experience of working in a virtual team environment. A total of 200 questionnaires were distributed, and 175 were received. A path model was built applying partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

Findings

Communication quality has come as a partial mediator for the relationship between internal and external leadership roles and trust. Role clarity fully mediated the relationship between external leadership roles and conflict. Internal and external leadership roles showed a significant effect on leadership effectiveness, which were further related to team performance in virtual teams. Additionally, synchronous technology was used more by virtual teams.

Research limitations/implications

The study did not examine cultural differences or cultural adaptation in virtual teams. Instead of the BCL theory, future research may apply attribute-based or relational-based theory to examine leadership roles in virtual team performance.

Originality/value

Using the BCL theory, the current study contributes to an understanding of virtual team performance and the internal as well as external role of leaders. This is relevant in an environment of extreme ambiguity such as COVID-19.

Micro design in inter-organizational hybrid governance: a study on product adaptation, reverse knowledge transfer and integration mechanism

Purpose

This study aims to explore the extent to which inter-organizational hybrid governance manages the micro design for optimum reverse knowledge transfer in the open innovation context. The authors use two essential facets of micro design in hybrid governance: product adaptation and integration mechanism.

Design/methodology/approach

Data for this study were collected from franchisees through structured questionnaires in Indonesia.

Findings

Results indicated that product adaptation has a positive relationship with reverse knowledge transfer. This study also found that the formalization strengthens the relationship between product adaptation and reverse knowledge transfer. However, the socialization does not have a moderation effect.

Research limitations/implications

This research estimates the knowledge transfer from the agent’s side only. Therefore, further research is expected to estimate the reverse knowledge transfer in dyads (from agent and principal) to get a detailed understanding of reverse knowledge transfer.

Practical implications

This study offers guidelines to managers, especially in inter-organizational hybrid governance. The authors suggest reverse knowledge transfer as a form to manage the dispersed knowledge from their agents. Governing institutions should change their view that agents have diverse knowledgebase from experience adapting to local conditions and can improve their open innovation through reverse knowledge transfer. From the results, it is found that giving agents the flexibility to adapt products can boost reverse knowledge transfer to support open innovation.

Originality/value

This study provides an understanding of the utilization of external knowledge sourcing in the context of open innovation from agent to principal in hybrid governance through reverse knowledge transfer, which has thus far been empirically under-researched.

Alliance portfolio classification. Which portfolio do you have?

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to propose and discuss a systematic theoretical classification of alliance portfolios that allows to elucidate and develop the concept.

Design/methodology/approach

The study applies a conceptual approach. A review of the literature was carried out to support the conclusions of this paper.

Findings

The results of the classification identify three types of alliance portfolio, according to the level of management that each of them requires: additive, strategic and managed and strategic. These portfolio typologies are analyzed in an evolutionary perspective.

Practical implications

This article is of interest to managers as it emphasizes the management of the alliance portfolio, highlighting the elements or characteristics that determine the transition from one type of portfolio to another.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the consolidation and reorientation of the extensive research into alliance portfolios and proposes a systematic classification that can help to interpret the results of research and guide future studies.

Cooperation Networks as a Driver of Sustainability-Oriented Innovation

Companies can contribute to sustainable development in a dynamic and globalized market, such as today’s, through Sustainability-Oriented Innovation (SOI). However, to do this implies meeting specific requirements and dealing with greater complexity because of the higher level of sophistication of cooperation networks for this kind of innovation. In this context, to meet the requirements demanded by SOI, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is considered fundamental. However, it is not known whether their capacity to focus more on heterogeneous knowledge sources, which, thanks to their cooperation networks, are broad and geographically diverse, would have a differential impact on SOIs. Through comparative analysis, this paper attempts to shed light on the possible network differences for companies, with and without FDI, looking to undertake SOI. It focuses on the knowledge framework and geographical scope stemming from cooperation for successfully undertaking sustainable developments. To this end, three networks had to be set up, which include diversity, scope, experience, and frequency of national, European, and global cooperation. The results lend strength to the theory that SOI is favored by European and global cooperation networks if companies have FDI, and by national networks if there is no foreign participation. For this, the role of absorptive capacity is key, understood as a joint analysis of R&D intensity and the skills and education of employees tasked with innovation, and the implementation of new organizational methods. Lastly, it is confirmed that having FDI allows companies to have qualified employees, and better methods and organizational practices in connection with an openness to innovation.

Determinants of Innovation Cooperation Performance: What Do We Know and What Should We Know?

The involvement of firms in innovation cooperation with different partners has become a widespread phenomenon in the contemporary business landscape. Our paper provides a review of extant alliance, innovation, open innovation and inter-firm collaboration literature and organizes it based on a conceptual framework featuring three levels of analysis: (a) the dyadic level, (b) the network level, and (c) the location level. The article identifies roadmaps in each of these areas and also highlights existing gaps in the present understanding of innovation cooperation. Thereby, it outlines a research agenda by identifying key research questions and issues in the areas where further research is needed and encouraged.

Effect of firm’s diverse experiences on its alliance portfolio diversity: Evidence from India

This study examines the effect of diverse experiences on a firm’s alliance portfolio diversity (APD). Drawing on the organizational learning perspective, it argues that a firm’s learning from diverse experiences enables it to reap the benefits and mitigate the risks of high level of APD. Thus, an experienced firm may choose to form or maintain relationships with diverse partners to get the intended benefits of APD. In particular, the study hypothesizes that a focal firm’s product and international diversification experience, alliance experience, and alliance experience heterogeneity are positively associated with its APD. A longitudinal investigation of 90 Indian firms, for the period 2004–2014, provides support for all the hypothesized relationships. In general, findings, which are robust to multiple estimation methods, suggest that a firm’s diverse experiences influence its APD. Findings of this study contribute to the alliance portfolio and organizational learning literature by examining the experiential antecedents of APD.

COLLABORATION CAPABILITY IN VIRTUAL TEAMS: EXAMINING THE INFLUENCE ON DIVERSITY AND INNOVATION

Virtual teams are being increasingly utilised in industry given their ability to bring together diverse knowledge and experience from individuals who are not geographically proximal. Having a diversity of knowledge within virtual teams is noted to benefit innovation outcomes; however, leveraging the benefits of diversity (both deep and functional-level) is likely to require a capability to facilitate collaboration among team members. In this study, we empirically validate a measure of collaboration capability (CCAP) and examine its role in enhancing the benefits of diversity on innovation within virtual teams. Using a sample of 375 design and software engineers working in virtual teams from a high-tech firm in Silicon Valley, we find that CCAP significantly moderates the relationship between functional-level diversity and innovation, but no significant influence is found for a similar moderating influence on deep-level diversity and innovation. The implications for the study of virtual teams are discussed and recommendations are offered for organisations using virtual teams.