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Organizational Form (organizational + form)
Selected AbstractsTHE EFFECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL FORM IN THE MIXED MARKET FOR FOSTER CAREANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2010Jeremy Thornton ABSTRACT,:,This paper uses proprietary quality of care data to examine the consequences of organizational form in privatized US foster care services. The contract failure hypothesis generically proposes that nonprofits should provide higher quality services, relative to for-profits, when output is costly to observe. Advocates argue that the nonprofits offer important consumer protections when public services are contracted to private agencies. Contrary to expectations, we find that nonprofit firms do not offer higher quality services. We explore the possibility that monitoring efforts by state regulators or competition among foster care agencies effectively mitigate the influence of organizational form in this particular mixed market. [source] Organizational Form and the Economic Impact of Corporate New Product StrategiesJOURNAL OF BUSINESS FINANCE & ACCOUNTING, Issue 1-2 2008Sheng-Syan Chen Abstract:, This paper examines the role of organizational form in explaining the economic impact of corporate new product strategies. I find that the wealth effects associated with the announcements of new product introductions are more favorable for introducing firms with focused activities than for those with diversified activities. The results hold even after controlling for other factors suggested in the literature that could affect the value of new product introductions. The findings in this study suggest that the efficient investment hypothesis dominates the internal capital markets hypothesis in terms of the net economic impact of new product introductions on the introducing firms. [source] Organizational Form and Expense Preference: Spanish ExperienceBULLETIN OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, Issue 2 2002Iftekhar Hasan This article investigates the effect of alternative ownership structures, stock versus mutual, on the cost of production of Spanish depository institutions. By introducing a stochastic frontier analysis in estimating the best,practiced expense,preference behaviour, the empirical approach adjusts for the possibility that the two sectors of the banking industry employ different production technologies and finds evidence that is consistent with expense,preference behaviour by the mutual savings banks. [source] The Impact of Organizational Form on Producer Contracting DecisionsCANADIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2004Kimberly A. Zeuli A variable that has not yet been considered in the contracting literature is the impact of agribusiness organizational form on the producer's contracting decision. Contracts with cooperatives are more complicated decisions for producers than a standard marketing contract with noncooperatives because of the requisite membership capital investment in the firm. Contracting with cooperatives requires producers to make a dual supply and investment decision. Individual membership equity holdings in all agricultural cooperatives are increasing, but they are generally most substantial in the value-added, new-generation cooperatives. Portfolio theory is used to analyze the producer's decision to contract with three alternatively structured value-added processing organizations in an uncertain environment: a traditional cooperative, a new-generation cooperative and an investor-oriented firm. In the cooperative cases, the contract requires both supply and equity investment. Une variable dont n'ont pas encore tenu compte ceux qui écrivent sur les contrats est l'impact du type d'organisation sur les décisions du producteur. Les décisions que ce dernier doit prendre au sujet des ententes avec les coopératives sont plus complexes que les décisions de commercialization ordinaires en raison de l'investissement que suppose l'adhésion à la coopérative. Avant de conclure une entente avec une coopérative, l'agriculteur doit prendre une décision sur les approvisionnements et une autre sur l'investissement. L'actif des coopératives venant des droits d'adhésion est à la hausse, mais il est généralement plus important chez les coopératives à valeur ajoutée de la nouvelle génération. Les auteurs recourent à la théorie du portefeuille pour analyser les décisions des agriculteurs quant à la conclusion d'une entente avec trois organisations de types différents, fabriquant des produits transformés à valeur ajoutée dans des conditions économiques incertaines: une coopérative classique, une coopérative de la nouvelle génération et une entreprise avec participation à l'investissement. L'entente avec les deux coopératives suppose un investissement au niveau de l'actif et des approvisionnements. [source] Changing Organizational Forms and the Employment RelationshipJOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 5 2002Jill Rubery This paper draws upon new research in the UK into the relationship between changing organizational forms and the reshaping of work in order to consider the changing nature of the employment relationship. The development of more complex organizational forms , such as cross organization networking, partnerships, alliances, use of external agencies for core as well as peripheral activities, multi-employer sites and the blurring of public/private sector divide , has implications for both the legal and the socially constituted nature of the employment relationship. The notion of a clearly defined employer,employee relationship becomes difficult to uphold under conditions where employees are working in project teams or on-site beside employees from other organizations, where responsibilities for performance and for health and safety are not clearly defined, or involve more than one organization. This blurring of the relationship affects not only legal responsibilities, grievance and disciplinary issues and the extent of transparency and equity in employment conditions, but also the definition, constitution and implementation of the employment contract defined in psychological and social terms. Do employees perceive their responsibilities at work to lie with the direct employer or with the wider enterprise or network organization? And do these perceptions affect, for example, how work is managed and carried out and how far learning and incremental knowledge at work is integrated in the development of the production or service process? So far the investigation of both conflicts and complementarities in the workplace have focused primarily on the dynamic interactions between the single employer and that organization's employees. The development of simultaneously more fragmented and more networked organizational forms raises new issues of how to understand potential conflicts and contradictions around the ,employer' dimension to the employment relationship in addition to more widely recognized conflicts located on the employer,employee axis. [source] Work and Employment in Small Businesses: Perpetuating and Challenging Gender TraditionsGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 1 2000Susan Baines More and more women and men are becoming dependent on some form of small business activity for all or part of their livelihoods but there is little research offering insight into gender and working practices in small businesses. In this article we assess some theoretical approaches and discuss these against an empirical investigation of micro-firms run by women, men and mixed sex partnerships. In the ,entrepreneurship' literature, with its emphasis on the individual business owner, we find little guidance. We argue that in the ,modern' micro-business, family and work are brought into proximity as in the ,in between' organizational form described by Weber. The celebrated ,flexibility' of small firms often involves the reproduction within modernity of seemingly pre-modern practices in household organization and gender divisions of labour. This is true in the Britain of the 1990s in a growing business sector normally associated neither with tradition nor with the family. Tradition, however, is never automatic or uncontested in a ,post-traditional society'. A minority of women and men in micro-enterprises actively resist traditional solutions and even traditional imagery of male and female behaviour. For this small group alone new economic conditions seem to bring new freedom. [source] Southern African social movements at the 2007 Nairobi World Social ForumGLOBAL NETWORKS, Issue 1 2009MILES LARMER Abstract How relevant is the anti-globalization movement to the ideas and activities of social movements seeking to achieve economic justice and greater democratic accountability in southern Africa? Case study research in four southern African countries (Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Swaziland) indicates that, while aspects of the anti-globalization approach resonate with civil society and social movement actors (for example, an emphasis on mass participation and the internationalization of campaigning), the global social justice movement frequently displays the characteristics of globalization. These include: unaccountable decision-making; profound (yet largely unacknowledged) inequality of access to resources; and an imposed and uniform organizational form that fails to consider local conditions. The World Social Forum (WSF) held in Nairobi in January 2007 provided many southern African social movement actors with their first opportunity to participate in the global manifestation of the anti-globalization movement. The authors interviewed social movement activists across southern Africa before and during the Nairobi WSF about their experiences of the anti-globalization movement and the Social Forum. An assessment of the effectiveness of this participation leads to the conclusion that the WSF is severely limited in its capacity to provide an effective forum for these actors to express their grievances and aspirations. However, hosting national social forums, their precise form adapted to reflect widely varied conditions in southern African states that are affected by globalization in diverse ways, appears to provide an important new form of mobilization that draws on particular elements of anti-globalization praxis. [source] Introduction to a Debate on the World Social ForumINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2005AHMED ALLAHWALA Social Forums, modeled on the World Social Forums, are not social movements in the classic sense. They are not, and do not purport to be, the organizational form through which basic social change will be achieved, or can best be pursued. But they do bring together elements of many social movements, afford an opportunity for coalition-building among them, frequently around urban issues, and thus make a significant contribution to achieving such change. Conceivably they may be the foundation for an international social movement for change, but if so it is likely to coalesce about a specifically political program. Some concrete suggestions are made which might enhance their effectiveness. Les Forums sociaux, sur le modèle des Forums sociaux mondiaux, ne sont pas des mouvements sociaux au sens traditionnel. Ils ne sont, ni ne sont censés être, la forme d'organisation permettant d'atteindre ou de mener au mieux un changement social fondamental. Cependant, ils réunissent des composantes de nombreux mouvements sociaux, leur offrent une possibilité de créer une coalition (souvent autour de problèmes urbains) et contribuent ainsi fortement à l'évolution visée. En théorie, ils peuvent servir de base à un mouvement social international en faveur d'un changement, quoique ayant alors tendance à s'unir sur un programme politique. Les suggestions concrètes qui sont formulées peuvent en améliorer l'efficacité. [source] Are Social Forums the Future of Social Movements?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2005PETER MARCUSE Social Forums, modeled on the World Social Forums, are not social movements in the classic sense. They are not, and do not purport to be, the organizational form through which basic social change will be achieved, or can best be pursued. But they do bring together elements of many social movements, afford an opportunity for coalition-building among them, frequently around urban issues, and thus make a significant contribution to achieving such change. Conceivably they may be the foundation for an international social movement for change, but if so it is likely to coalesce about a specifically political program. Some concrete suggestions are made which might enhance their effectiveness. Les Forums sociaux, sur le modèle des Forums sociaux mondiaux, ne sont pas des mouvements sociaux au sens traditionnel. Ils ne sont, ni ne sont censés être, la forme d'organisation permettant d'atteindre ou de mener au mieux un changement social fondamental. Cependant, ils réunissent des composantes de nombreux mouvements sociaux, leur offrent une possibilité de créer une coalition (souvent autour de problèmes urbains) et contribuent ainsi fortement à l'évolution visée. En théorie, ils peuvent servir de base à un mouvement social international en faveur d'un changement, quoique ayant alors tendance à s'unir sur un programme politique. Les suggestions concrètes qui sont formulées peuvent en améliorer l'efficacité. [source] Organizational Form and the Economic Impact of Corporate New Product StrategiesJOURNAL OF BUSINESS FINANCE & ACCOUNTING, Issue 1-2 2008Sheng-Syan Chen Abstract:, This paper examines the role of organizational form in explaining the economic impact of corporate new product strategies. I find that the wealth effects associated with the announcements of new product introductions are more favorable for introducing firms with focused activities than for those with diversified activities. The results hold even after controlling for other factors suggested in the literature that could affect the value of new product introductions. The findings in this study suggest that the efficient investment hypothesis dominates the internal capital markets hypothesis in terms of the net economic impact of new product introductions on the introducing firms. [source] Why aren't all Truck Drivers Owner-Operators?JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS & MANAGEMENT STRATEGY, Issue 1 2003Asset Ownership, the Employment Relation in Interstate for-hire Trucking Transaction-cost and agency theorists have frequently cited trucks as prototypical user-owned assets, and have consequently predicted a predominance of self-employed drivers who contract with motor carriers. In fact, owner-operators accounted for less than one-third of US trucking activity conducted by large interstate trucking firms in 1991, a proportion that has changed little since deregulation. Given the predictions of organizational economists, why is self-employment in the interstate trucking industry not the dominant organization form? We propose that transaction costs and agency costs are indeed important in the trucking industry. In the absence of externalities across hauls, contracting between carriers and owner-operators is preferred for traditional agency reasons. However, when the outcome of one haul imposes externalities on other hauls or on the carrier's reputation, an owner-operator will not internalize all costs associated with poor outcomes. Given problems of noncontractibility of maintenance effort, carrier ownership of the vehicle is the preferred organizational form in such a case. We also propose that vehicle idiosyncrasy can create thin market conditions that encourage carrier ownership of vehicles. A study of the organization and operations of 354 trucking firms for 1991 provides evidence consistent with these predictions. [source] ORGANIZATIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL COMMITMENT: KNOWLEDGE WORKERS IN LARGE CORPORATIONS*JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 6 2002TAM YEUK-MUI MAY Previous discussion of knowledge work and workers tends to overlook the importance of contextual knowledge in shaping the organizational form of knowledge workers who are employees in large corporations. This paper proposes a model to understand the way knowledge base and organizational form are related to the work commitment, effort and job satisfaction of knowledge workers. The model is derived from (1) a critical examination of the market model of knowledge work organization, and (2) the results of empirical research conducted in two large corporations. We argue that contextual knowledge is important in the relationships between the corporation and knowledge workers. A dualistic model and an enclave organizational form are suggested to examine the relationships between the commitment, work effort and job satisfaction of knowledge workers. We noted from our empirical cases that enclave-like work teams enhanced the expertise and job autonomy of knowledge workers vis-à-vis management. These work teams together with the performance-based pay system, however, led to unmet job expectations including limited employee influence over decision-making and careers, and communication gaps with senior management. Under these circumstances, and in contrast to the impact of occupational commitment, organizational commitment did not contribute to work effort. The study highlights the importance of management's strategy in shaping the organizational form of knowledge work. The paper concludes by noting general implications of our study for the management of expertise and for further research. [source] Which Microfinance Institutions Are Becoming More Cost Effective with Time?JOURNAL OF MONEY, CREDIT AND BANKING, Issue 4 2009Evidence from a Mixture Model microfinance; mixture model; Eastern Europe; Central Asia Microfinance institutions (MFIs) play a key role in many developing countries. Utilizing data from Eastern Europe and Central Asia, MFIs are found to generally operate with lower costs the longer they are in operation. Given the differences in operating environments, subsidies, and organizational form, this finding of increasing cost effectiveness may not aptly characterize all MFIs. Estimation of a mixture model reveals that roughly half of the MFIs are able to operate with reduced costs over time, while half do not. Among other things, we find that larger MFIs offering deposits and those receiving lower subsidies operate more cost effectively over time. [source] Dimensions of publicness and performance in substance abuse treatment organizationsJOURNAL OF POLICY ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2004Carolyn J. Heinrich Changes in funding, clientele, and treatment practices of public and privately owned substance abuse treatment programs, compelled in part by increased cost containment pressures, have prompted researchers' investigations of the implications of organizational form for treatment programs. These studies primarily probe associations between ownership status, patient characteristics, and services delivered and do not empirically link organizational form or structure to treatment outcomes. Data from the National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study (NTIES) were used to study the relationship of ownership and other dimensions of "publicness" identified in the public management literature to patient outcomes, controlling for patient characteristics, treatment experiences, and other program characteristics. A few effects of organizational form and structure on substance abuse treatment outcomes are statistically significant (primarily improved social functioning), although the specific contributions of measures of ownership and publicness to explaining program-level variation are generally small. © 2004 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. [source] Emergent maintenance of ERP: new roles and relationshipsJOURNAL OF SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE AND EVOLUTION: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE, Issue 6 2001Sabine Gabriele Hirt Abstract How a firm supports its enterprise resource planning system after putting it into production, when its maintenance may be said to be emergent, is critical to the benefits it will eventually derive. Here we report a longitudinal case study of one firm's emergent maintenance of its SAP R/3 system. The study reveals that maintenance-related roles and relationships differ substantively from those typical of traditional maintenance. We view this firm's maintenance practices to be a harbinger of broader and longer-term change in maintaining application portfolios. We suggest that the roles and relationships involved are likely to be more complex and therefore more varied in organizational form. In particular, we anticipate: (1) greater sharing of the maintenance task among more participants, with the firm's users often assuming the lead, supported by vendors and third parties; (2) the IS department often playing a more limited, but still key role in providing a portfolio's ongoing support services; and (3) a contingency approach to maintenance, the best approach being a function of specific organizational and systems circumstances. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Sharing experience, conveying hope: Egalitarian relations as the essential method of Alcoholics AnonymousNONPROFIT MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP, Issue 2 2006Thomasina Borkman The predictions of Max Weber's "iron cage" of bureaucracy and Michels's "iron law of oligarchy" failed to materialize in Alcoholics Anonymous. AA has maintained an alternative form of collectivistic-democratic voluntary organization for more than seventy years. Its organizational form was developed within its first five years and articulated in its foundational text, Alcoholics Anonymous, published in 1939. Based on detailed histories of its early years, an analysis of AA's crucial ingredients suggests that six factors interacted to avoid the temptations of power, money, and professionalization that would have resulted in a bureaucratic form of organization or oligarchic leadership. In order to avoid death and to obtain or maintain abstinence, the desperate cofounders stumbled on the essential method: egalitarian peers share their lived experiences, conveying hope and strength to one another. In the context of the essential method, the two cofounders, from the Midwest and New York City, held similar spiritual beliefs and practiced a self-re?exive mode of social experiential learning gained from the Oxford Group, a nondenominational group that advocated healing through personal spiritual change; they downplayed their charismatic authority in favor of consulting with and abiding by the consensus of the group. [source] The Veterans Health Administration: An American Success Story?THE MILBANK QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2007ADAM OLIVER The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) provides health care for U.S. military veterans. By the early 1990s, the VHA had a reputation for delivering limited, poor-quality care, which led to health care reforms. By 2000, the VHA had substantially improved in terms of numerous indicators of process quality, and some evidence shows that its overall performance now exceeds that of the rest of U.S. health care. Recently, however, the VHA has started to become a victim of its own success, with increased demands on the system raising concerns from some that access is becoming overly restricted and from others that its annual budget appropriations are becoming excessive. Nonetheless, the apparent turnaround in the VHA's performance offers encouragement that health care that is both financed and provided by the public sector can be an effective organizational form. [source] THE EFFECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL FORM IN THE MIXED MARKET FOR FOSTER CAREANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2010Jeremy Thornton ABSTRACT,:,This paper uses proprietary quality of care data to examine the consequences of organizational form in privatized US foster care services. The contract failure hypothesis generically proposes that nonprofits should provide higher quality services, relative to for-profits, when output is costly to observe. Advocates argue that the nonprofits offer important consumer protections when public services are contracted to private agencies. Contrary to expectations, we find that nonprofit firms do not offer higher quality services. We explore the possibility that monitoring efforts by state regulators or competition among foster care agencies effectively mitigate the influence of organizational form in this particular mixed market. [source] Coordination failure, property rights and non-profit organizationsANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2000Bernard Enjolras This paper advances a socio-economic theory of nonprofit organizations aiming at conceiving this organizational form in its complexity and at analysing it from both the viewpoints of its economical and political (democratic) dimensions. This theoretical approach accounts for the existence of nonprofit organizations and the reasons why nonprofit organizations are relatively more efficient when compared with for-profit and government organizations in particular circumstances. The various current explanations of the existence of nonprofit organizations (contract failure, government failure, philanthropic failure) are regrouped around the concept of coordination failure. The paper then examines how nonprofit organizations are able to mitigate these coordination failures. The central thesis is that the specific distribution of property rights characterizing nonprofit organizations results in a particular type of governance structure which allows them to mitigate coordination failures. In turn, the ability of the organization to mitigate coordination failures and therefore its efficiency is conditioned on its democratic functioning. [source] Strategic and Organizational Evolution of Spanish Firms: Towards a Holding Network Form?BRITISH JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2005Jose I. Galan The main objective of this study is to analyse the strategic and organizational evolution of large firms in a current time period and within a specific geographical context (Spain). In order to achieve this purpose, the paper combines the Chandlerian programme with processual analysis. We draw on documentary sources (annual reports, company histories, business directories and so on) and interviews. We have found that in the model of corporate development some characteristics of new organizational structures will coexist with some features of old ones. In line with previous studies our findings highlight the existence of the ,multidivisional network' but, most importantly, our findings also reflect the emergence of a new kind of organizational form that we call ,holding network'. The ,holding network' is more decentralized, both strategically and operationally, than the multidivisional form. However, its level of decentralization is less than in the N-form. Furthermore, whereas the multidivisional form is a hierarchy, the ,holding network' emphasizes the communication among people of different levels. This multilevel communication differs from that in the N-form. Apart from the horizontal communication in the same level there is vertical and horizontal communication between different levels. We conclude by emphasizing the need to explore in future empirical studies to what extent these patterns and new organizational forms should be considered as a transitory or consolidated phenomenon. [source] The Impact of Organizational Form on Producer Contracting DecisionsCANADIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2004Kimberly A. Zeuli A variable that has not yet been considered in the contracting literature is the impact of agribusiness organizational form on the producer's contracting decision. Contracts with cooperatives are more complicated decisions for producers than a standard marketing contract with noncooperatives because of the requisite membership capital investment in the firm. Contracting with cooperatives requires producers to make a dual supply and investment decision. Individual membership equity holdings in all agricultural cooperatives are increasing, but they are generally most substantial in the value-added, new-generation cooperatives. Portfolio theory is used to analyze the producer's decision to contract with three alternatively structured value-added processing organizations in an uncertain environment: a traditional cooperative, a new-generation cooperative and an investor-oriented firm. In the cooperative cases, the contract requires both supply and equity investment. Une variable dont n'ont pas encore tenu compte ceux qui écrivent sur les contrats est l'impact du type d'organisation sur les décisions du producteur. Les décisions que ce dernier doit prendre au sujet des ententes avec les coopératives sont plus complexes que les décisions de commercialization ordinaires en raison de l'investissement que suppose l'adhésion à la coopérative. Avant de conclure une entente avec une coopérative, l'agriculteur doit prendre une décision sur les approvisionnements et une autre sur l'investissement. L'actif des coopératives venant des droits d'adhésion est à la hausse, mais il est généralement plus important chez les coopératives à valeur ajoutée de la nouvelle génération. Les auteurs recourent à la théorie du portefeuille pour analyser les décisions des agriculteurs quant à la conclusion d'une entente avec trois organisations de types différents, fabriquant des produits transformés à valeur ajoutée dans des conditions économiques incertaines: une coopérative classique, une coopérative de la nouvelle génération et une entreprise avec participation à l'investissement. L'entente avec les deux coopératives suppose un investissement au niveau de l'actif et des approvisionnements. [source] Quality Measurement and Contract Design: Lessons from the North American Sugarbeet IndustryCANADIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2004Brent Hueth This paper examines contracts used in the North American sugarbeet industry. Though quite similar in many respects, the contracts we study vary across processing firms in the set of quality measures used to condition contract payments to growers. This is somewhat surprising, given the homogeneous nature of the processors' finished product (refined sugar). It seems unlikely that processors differ significantly in how they value the various attributes of a sugarbeet, and such a difference is perhaps the most natural reason to expect variation in the structure of quality incentives across processors. Previous attempts to explain the observed variation in sugarbeet contracts have focused on differences in organizational form across firms. In this paper, we provide an alternative explanation that relies on variation across production regions in growers' ability to control the relevant measures of sugarbeet quality. Les auteurs se penchent sur les contrats utilisés dans l'industrie nord-américaine de la betterave sucrière. Bien qu'ils se ressemblent à maints égards, les contrats examinés varient d'un transformateur à l'autre quant au jeu de paramètres servant àévaluer la qualité du produit et à déterminer les sommes qu'on versera au producteur. La chose est surprenante étant donné le caractère homogène du produit fini (sucre raffiné). Il est peu probable que les transformateurs recourent à des méthodes fort différentes pour évaluer les paramètres de la betterave. Or, ce facteur constituerait normalement la raison la plus plausible pour expliquer la variation des incitatifs auxquels recourent les transformateurs Antérieurement, on a tenté d'expliquer les écarts relevés dans les contrats par les différences dans l'organisation des entreprises. L'article que voici propose une autre explication s'appuyant sur la compétence variable des producteurs à respecter les critères de qualité de la betterave sucrière selon la région. [source] Organizing for Continuous Innovation: On the Sustainability of Ambidextrous OrganizationsCREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2005Bart Van Looy Organizing for innovation does not present itself as a straightforward exercise. The complexities entailed when implementing an innovation strategy can be related directly to the multitude of objectives it comprises. Recently, several scholars have advanced the notions of semi- or quasi-structures and ambidextrous organizations to handle these multiple requirements. These organizational forms imply the simultaneous presence of different activities, exhibiting differences in technology and market maturation. As a consequence, financial returns will reflect this diversified resource allocation pattern. Moreover, as higher levels of complexity are being introduced; ambidextrous organizations will encounter additional, organizational, costs. Compared to organizations that focus on the most profitable part of the portfolio, ambidextrous organizations , ceteris paribus , tend to be inferior in terms of financial returns. Within this contribution we explore under which conditions ambidextrous organizations can outperform focused firms; considered a prerequisite for their sustainability. In order to do so, we develop an analytical framework depicting the differential value dynamics, focused and ambidextrous firms can enact. Our findings reveal the relevancy of adopting extended time frames as well as introducing interface management practices aimed at cross-fertilization. Finally, the synergetic potential of (underlying) technologies comes to the forefront as necessary in order for ambidextrous organizations to become sustainable. [source] Organization Structure from a Loose Coupling Perspective: A Multidimensional Approach,DECISION SCIENCES, Issue 2 2001Rafik I. Beekun Abstract Organizational theories frequently rely on notions of sharing and dependence among organizational participants, but researchers usually focus on characteristics of the actors themselves instead of the relational patterns among the actors. Loose coupling is one conceptual tool that emphasizes relational patterns. Loose coupling, however, is an abstract metaphor that is simultaneously fertile and ambiguous. This paper develops a rigorous and comprehensive framework that sharpens the theoretical contributions of loose coupling to our understanding of structural relationships. Characteristics of loose coupling capture some important and underexplored features of multidimensional fit and interdependence in organizations. The proposed framework clarifies these theoretical contributions of loose coupling with concepts and equations modified from network analysis. Testable hypotheses are proposed with respect to three key independent variables that may affect patterns of coupling: organization strategy, technology, and environmental turbulence. Additional hypotheses are advanced with respect to the use of the multidimensional approach to loose coupling in studying new organizational forms. Initial psychometric and empirical evidence are presented. [source] Sources and Consequences of Distinctive Familiness: An IntroductionENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE, Issue 3 2005James J. Chrisman Family firms are unique organizational forms as a result of the interactions between family members, the family, and the business. Distinctive familiness has been used as a notion to encompass these interactions and the consequent systemic synergies that could lead to competitive advantages. This introduction discusses the notion and reviews the papers and commentaries in this special issue within the context of their contributions to our understanding of the possible sources and consequences of distinctive familiness. [source] The spatial politics of the past unbound: transnational networks and the making of political identitiesGLOBAL NETWORKS, Issue 4 2007DAVID FEATHERSTONE Abstract In this article I consider the relations between historical and contemporary forms of transnational political networks. I contest accounts that counterpose a networked present against a more settled and bounded past, arguing that this contrast rests on a problematic temporalization of difference in the construction of political identities. I consider how this temporalization produces particular accounts of relations between space, politics and identity. Drawing on the insurgent imaginative geography of resistance in C. L. R. James's The Black Jacobins, I argue for a focus on the dynamic geographies of connection formed through transnational networks. I develop this position through a discussion of the relations of the London Corresponding Society, formed in London in 1792, to transnational routes of political activists, organizational forms and ideas. This account highlights the multiple political identities crafted through transnational political networks. I conclude by outlining elements of a ,usable past' for contemporary counter-global struggles. [source] A Different Kind of Union: Balancing Co-Management and RepresentationINDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 2 2001Saul A. Rubinstein Local unions engaging in co-management and joint governance arrangements require new capacities and organizational forms to balance managerial responsibilities with representation of both the collective and individual interests of the membership. This article examines the evolution of the local union at General Motors' Saturn Corporation through the internal and external tensions created by the challenges faced in assuming these roles. A new model of local unionism, grounded in this experience and data, is outlined for further testing and research. [source] The Logic of Access to the European Parliament: Business Lobbying in the Committee on Economic and Monetary AffairsJCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 3 2004Pieter Bouwen This article is an attempt to test empirically a theory of access that investigates the logic behind the lobbying behaviour of business interests in the European Parliament. The theoretical framework tries to explain the degree of access of different organizational forms of business interest representation (companies, associations and consultants) to the supranational assembly in terms of a theory of the supply and demand of ,access goods'. On the basis of 14 exploratory and 27 semi-structured interviews, the hypotheses are checked in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) of the European Parliament. Surprisingly, European and national associations enjoy a similar degree of access to the Parliament. Individual companies and consultants have a much lower degree of access than the two collective forms of interest representation. In the conclusion, these results are analysed in the light of the existing literature on party cohesion and coalition formation in the European Parliament. [source] Disciplined Litigation, Vigilant Litigation, and Deformation: Dramatic Organization Change in Jehovah's WitnessesJOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION, Issue 1 2001Pauline Côté Jehovah's Witnesses' long-term development presents an interesting case of evolution in line with the "deformation thesis," an attempt at explaining dramatic shifts in organizational forms, activities, and even beliefs in controversial religious minorities. Derived from resource mobilization tradition, this thesis assumes that radical transformations result from major defensive resource allocation mandated by negative reactions of societal institutions. This is especially the case with reference to the adoption by Jehovah's Witnesses, a millenarian group, of a "disciplined litigation"strategy in the 1940s, a pattern later to be incorporated in religious activities and beliefs of the organization. Today, disciplined litigation and its successor, "vigilant litigation," seem legitimate ways to adapt to the prevailing religious climate and structure. As such, it can be conceived as a model for defensive moves taken by "younger" controversial religious minorities and reflects the enormous influence of the law and legal systems in shaping minority religions. [source] Changing Organizational Forms and the Employment RelationshipJOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 5 2002Jill Rubery This paper draws upon new research in the UK into the relationship between changing organizational forms and the reshaping of work in order to consider the changing nature of the employment relationship. The development of more complex organizational forms , such as cross organization networking, partnerships, alliances, use of external agencies for core as well as peripheral activities, multi-employer sites and the blurring of public/private sector divide , has implications for both the legal and the socially constituted nature of the employment relationship. The notion of a clearly defined employer,employee relationship becomes difficult to uphold under conditions where employees are working in project teams or on-site beside employees from other organizations, where responsibilities for performance and for health and safety are not clearly defined, or involve more than one organization. This blurring of the relationship affects not only legal responsibilities, grievance and disciplinary issues and the extent of transparency and equity in employment conditions, but also the definition, constitution and implementation of the employment contract defined in psychological and social terms. Do employees perceive their responsibilities at work to lie with the direct employer or with the wider enterprise or network organization? And do these perceptions affect, for example, how work is managed and carried out and how far learning and incremental knowledge at work is integrated in the development of the production or service process? So far the investigation of both conflicts and complementarities in the workplace have focused primarily on the dynamic interactions between the single employer and that organization's employees. The development of simultaneously more fragmented and more networked organizational forms raises new issues of how to understand potential conflicts and contradictions around the ,employer' dimension to the employment relationship in addition to more widely recognized conflicts located on the employer,employee axis. [source] |