131 research outputs found
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Changing Project Delivery Strategy: An Implementation Framework
Get PDFFor organizations such as departments of transportation, other public agencies, or private companies, adopting a new
approach to procure services for delivery of construction projects requires significant organizational changes; modifications
to both their work processes and existing organizational structures may be needed. These adjustments, encompassing many
different aspects of the organization’s interests, must occur for the change initiative to be successfully put into practice.
Research at the Center for Construction Industry Studies is investigating the adoption of integrated project delivery
methods within the transportation project sector to better understand the dynamics of this change. This paper will present
findings from a study of Public Owner organizations that have implemented the design-build method for delivering
highway projects.
Using as a case study the new $1.3 billion SH 130 tolled expressway project in Central Texas, we have analyzed project
documentation, held a workshop and conducted 39 interviews with individuals affiliated with owner, legal, engineering
consultants, and contractors. Findings suggest that project representatives institutionalize practices and routines connected
to the new approach by adapting to new challenges, rather than “overwriting” previously existing practices. Consequently,
the institutionalization of innovative approaches to project delivery happens concurrently with a deinstitutionalization of
the previous approaches. This concurrency produces different effects on the project environment, depending on the
mediating action of some emerging practices and the perspective of the involved parties.
Building upon these findings, we have developed a conceptual framework for helping Owner organizations implement a
change in their project delivery strategy. In the context of this paper, an Owner’s project delivery strategy is defined as the set
of project delivery methods that are adopted for delivering capital projects. We further refined this framework by making a
comparative study of four transportation projects in the United States. In addition, 35 experts in the implementation of the
design-build method for transportation projects participated in a Delphi study in order to validate the developed
framework. Findings from these studies, including application to the construction industry and to other industries will be
presented in this paper
Old Technology Meets New Technology: Complementarities, Similarities, and Alliance Formation
Get PDFAlliance formation is commonplace in many high-technology industries experiencing radical technological change, where
established firms use alliances with new entrants to adapt to technological change, while new entrants benefit from the
ability of established players to commercialize the new technology. Despite the prevalence of these alliances, we know little
about how these firms choose to ally with specific firms given the range of possible partners they may choose from. This
study explores factors that lead to alliance formation between pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. We focus on
the alliance tie as the unit of analysis and argue that dyadic complementarities and similarities directly influence alliance
formation. We then introduce a contingency model in which the positive effect of complementarities and similarities on
alliance formation is moderated by the age of the new technology firm. We draw theoretical attention to the intersection
between levels of analysis, in particular, the intersection between dyadic and firm-level constructs. We find that a
pharmaceutical and a biotechnology firm are more likely to enter an alliance based on complementarities when the
biotechnology firm is younger. Another noteworthy contribution is the finding that proxies for broad capabilities appear to
be at least as, if not more, effective in predicting alliance formation compared to fine-grained science and technology-related
indicators, like patent cross citations or patent common citations. We conclude by suggesting that future studies on alliance
formation need to take into account interactions across levels; for example, how dyadic capabilities interact with firm-level
factors
Building Dynamic Capabilities: Innovation Driven By Individual, Firm, and Network Level Effects
Get PDFFollowing the dynamic capabilities perspective, we suggest that antecedents to innovation can be found at the individual,
firm, and network level. Thus, we challenge two assumptions common in prior research: (1) that significant variance exists
at the focal level of analysis, while other levels of analysis are assumed to be homogeneous, and (2) that the focal level of
analysis is independent from other levels of analysis. Accordingly, we advance a set of hypotheses to simultaneously assess the
direct effects of antecedents at the individual, firm, and network level on innovation output. We then investigate whether a
firm’s antecedents to innovation lie across different levels. To accomplish this, we propose two competing interaction
hypotheses. We juxtapose the hypothesis that the individual, firm, and network level antecedents to innovation are
substitutes versus the proposition that these innovation mechanisms are complements. We test our multi-level theoretical
model using an unusually comprehensive and detailed panel dataset that documents the innovation attempts of global
pharmaceutical companies within biotechnology over a 22-year time period (1980-2001). We combine these data with
direct field observations conducted prior to, during, and after the completion of the study. We find evidence that the
antecedents to innovation lie across different levels of analysis and can have compensating or reinforcing effects on firm-level
innovative output
Power in Firm Networks: What it Means for Regional Innovation Systems
Get PDFThe role of power within regional firm networks is noted in empirical studies but insufficiently theorized. We suggest that
network functioning is conflictual and that more powerful network members, particularly transnational corporations
(TNCs), leverage regional resources to advance their sustainable competitive advantage.
The agendas and power exercised by TNCs within regionalized firm networks have significant implications for regional
policy and the uneven allocation of resources and capacities within and among regions.
Our findings indicate that transnational firm access to resources critical to innovation, including university research and
skilled labor, negatively affects the potential for innovation by small and medium-size firms
Linking Induced Technological Change, Competitiveness and Environmental Regulation: Evidence from Patenting in the U.S. Auto Industry
Get PDFThis article examines firms’ innovation activities in response to U.S. technology-forcing auto emissions standards enacted
between 1970 and 1998. Patent applications in automobile emission control technologies were used as a measure of firms’
innovative responses to regulatory pressures. In addition, we extensively studied secondary literature and industry specific
records and conducted targeted interviews with experts involved in the development. Findings of this study provide new
evidence that supports the Porter hypothesis: the performance based technology-forcing auto emissions regulations induced
technological innovation and led domestic U.S. firms to become relatively more innovative when compared to their foreign
rivals. Overall, this study suggests that proper technology-forcing regulations have the potential to induce technological
innovation, in particular radical innovation. Findings also imply that domestic firms may establish competitive advantage
over rival firms by reacting proactively in the early phase of the regulatory era
Innovation in the Pulp and Paper Manufacturing Industry: Insights from the 2005 Georgia Manufacturing Survey
Get PDFThe need to enhance innovation capacities has received growing attention in recent years. This paper aims to profile
innovation methods within the pulp and paper industry based on a survey of Georgia manufacturing establishments and
in-person interviews. Pulp and paper survey respondents are compared with those in other industries in terms of their
introduction of new or significantly improved products, processes, and organizational approaches; differences in form size
and type of pulp and paper operation are noted. Three unobserved dimensions of innovation – intellectual-property based,
supply-chain based, and business-process based – are identified through exploratory factor analysis and differences by sector
are highlighted. Pulp and paper firms are generally found to lead other sectors in supply chain and process innovation, but
lag in intellectual-property based innovation. Qualitative in-person interviews suggested that innovation through the supply
chain may reduce firm distinctiveness and offered approaches such as migration to different product types and relocating
R&D to university campuses as examples of efforts to shift from traditional innovation practices
The Next Wave of Globalization: Relocating Service Provision to India
Get PDFThe offshoring of services is rapidly growing in magnitude and scope. To understand this evolution, observation-based
research is vital. In the last decade, services offshoring has rapidly expanded from software to any information
technology-enabled business process. This paper draws upon two rounds of interviews with executives and managers in
India and the case studies of Sloan Foundation-funded conference to explain the dynamics of offshoring to India, the largest
recipient of offshored services, from the perspective of the firm, the industry, and the recipient nation. We show that the
growth in offshoring was intimately linked to the prior development of India’s software sector and an enabling regulatory
and other institutional environment. Multinationals played a key role, although domestic firms were early adopters. The role
of multinationals has deepened substantially moving from the large firm to include smaller firms, outsourcing specialists,
and startups offering innovative new services. As this has happened, the value-addition and sophistication of the work done
has increased. The most sophisticated work being done in India increasingly resembles the most sophisticated work being
done anywhere else. Services exports required well-educated labor from the beginning, which is fundamentally different
from the origins of manufactured goods exports from developing nations. However, a value-chain exists and it is possible
that some lower-end services will relocate from India as the country moves up the value-chain. Finally, the speed at which
services exports can grow in scale and scope is noteworthy and is occurring more quickly than was the case with
manufacturing exports. This raises important issues for structural adjustment in developed countries. The conclusion also
considers the implications of the offshoring of services for developing nations and possible policy initiatives for developing
nations interested in entering the ITES sector
Full-Utilization Learning Lean
Get PDFThis paper reviews trends in component-manufacturing employment, wages, and productivity in union and nonunion
shops and shows why a sharp increase in productivity growth, especially in union shops, is necessary if a large number of
high-wage jobs are to be preserved. It also explains international and local unions' varied strategies that attempt to preserve
jobs and/or raise productivity. Drawing on case study research on production processes in component manufacturing, the
paper then argues for a model of industrial production, "full-utilization learning lean," that has the potential to raise
productivity and preserve a large number of high-wage manufacturing jobs. This model combines lean production,
continuous learning and substantive participation by production workers, and high levels of capacity utilization. The paper
suggests public policies and union strategies that can spread this model
Agglomeration and Market Entry in the U.S. Steel Industry: Empirical Evidence Based on the Advent of Slab Casting by U.S. Steel Minimills
Get PDFTen new steel plants were constructed in the United States from 1989-2001, each taking advantage of new technologies
that gave scrap-based minimills access to the market for flat products based on the casting of steel slabs. Earlier, this market
was the exclusive domain of ore-based integrated mills. This research brings new evidence to bear on the nature and
importance of agglomeration economies, by analyzing industry clusters related to the advent of new slab casting
technologies. The analysis is based on direct observation and plant visits to all of the new mills created by the new
technologies. We find that industry clusters can play an important role in the process of market entry, and that specific
factors related to product and firm characteristics help to determine the nature of agglomeration economies and their effects
on firms and regions
Dynamic Nature of Production Models
Get PDFToyota and Volvo have traditionally been viewed as anchoring two extremes of production models that companies in the
automotive and other manufacturing sectors draw upon. The ‘Toyota (Lean) Production System’ drove superior
organizational learning, innovation, and control with positive implications for customer-oriented outcomes. Volvo's
‘Reflective Production’ model aimed to leverage and develop workers’ unique abilities, leading to adaptability, motivation,
satisfaction, and innovation at the individual and group levels, with positive benefits for employees. Through a longitudinal
case study, we show that environmental pressures, in the form of increased international product market competition and
labor market constraints, drove convergence across the two production systems as enacted at Volvo and Toyota, in
organizational structure, work design, and to a lesser extent, technology. The result is an integration of the adaptability,
motivation, and development of workers at the individual and group levels, with enhanced organizational capacity for
responsiveness, variability reduction, and innovation at the organizational level. Understanding how production models
evolve provides insight into their operation, their limitations, and the challenges that are associated with their study,
imitation, implementation, and use