A Strategic Double-Loop Learning Method for Organisational Decision-Making toward Servitisation

In recent years, manufacturing industries have been expected to achieve servitisation—namely, a shift from product sales to product-service systems—in order to achieve sustainable production and consumption patterns. In order to achieve servitisation, manufacturing firms should grasp the business environment and encourage organisational learning to develop the knowledge for servitisation in their environment. The existing knowledge management studies enable the empirical acquisition and reuse of knowledge from past case studies and make efforts to support organisational learning. However, they do not cover the guiding of firms engaged in servitisation to learn appropriately for their business environment. The learning required for manufacturing firms engaged in servitisation is learning that focuses on questioning and modifying existing product-oriented premises—double-loop learning. This paper proposes a method to support strategic double-loop learning within manufacturing companies engaged in servitisation. This method evaluates the compatibility between the implicit premises that manufacturers refer to as the rationale for their decision toward servitisation and the external environment and enables to formulate a practical strategy for double-loop learning. The proposed method was applied to the case of a cassette tape music player to demonstrate its usefulness. This study suggests theoretical foundations for future research into knowledge management for traditional manufacturing companies’ decisions concerning servitisation, and suggests that these should be carried out dynamically according to the business environment.

The Potential to Build Collective Capacity for Organisational Learning in the Context of Teachers’ Use of Digital Technology for School Improvement

This article considers how digital spaces focused on whole school improvement combined with supportive leadership may be mobilised towards building collective capacity for evidence-informed practice and organisational learning. This topic originated from a qualitative, multi-method design-based research (DBR) project that studied practitioners’ use of an online resource for primary school practitioners called Pathways for school improvement, designed by Oxford University Press (OUP). Semi-structured interviews, participant observations and a documentary analysis were conducted with teachers and senior leaders in five primary schools across England between 2014 and 2016. Connections were made with the dynamic approach to school improvement (DASI) that encourages practitioners to systematically engage with a variety of evidence in their reflections and efforts to design school and classroom improvement strategies. Pathways’ four-step system and series of systematised tasks under each step seemed to provide opportunities for practitioners to explore elements of theory and practice in conjunction with empirical and pupil performance data, and potentially guide them through how to collaborate with others in developing specific whole school approaches to improvement. Opportunities and challenges in developing collective capacity for improvement are also explored.

Effects of emotional healing on organisational learning and radical innovation: a leadership-based approach

PurposeThe objective of this study was to provide empirical evidence of the relationship between emotional healing, analysed as a leader behaviour and radical innovation.Design/methodology/approachTo test the hypotheses, structural equations were used, with organisational learning capability as an explanatory variable. The study was conducted in a population of 402 Spanish companies. A sample frame of 292 questionnaires was obtained from 146 different organisations. The fieldwork took place in two stages, in 2010 and again in 2015.FindingsResults confirm the hypotheses proposed in the model. Emotional healing promotes organisational learning capability and, in turn, radical innovation.Practical implicationsOur results provide some guidelines for companies that are trying to develop radical innovations by improving the workplace conditions.Originality/valueTo our knowledge, there are no previous studies which studied the relationship between emotional healing and its effect on radical innovation. Therefore, providing empirical evidence of such a relationship is the main contribution of this paper.

A knowledge-intensity-based collaborative community governing mechanism for inter-organisational HR collaborations

PurposeStudies of inter-organisational relationships have mainly investigated collaborations in the technical domain. There is considerably less research conducted in the field of inter-organisational collaborations in the domain of human resource management (HRM). At the same time, it is acknowledged that inter-organisational collaboration in this domain is relevant for organisations. By focusing on inter-organisational HR collaborations, this study provides insights into how these collaborations are governed, as well as how the mode of governance is explained.Design/methodology/approachThe paper relies on a quantitative study among 161 Dutch companies that collaborate with each other on HR-related issues. A measure of governance of inter-organisational HR collaboration is developed and applied.FindingsOrganisations tend to apply a mixture of governance mechanisms to govern their inter-organisational HR collaborations. Hence, they apply a collaborative community type of governance to these HR collaborations. The analyses show that the level of knowledge intensity, in particular the extent to which the organisation applies organisational learning practices, explains the use of collaborative community.Originality/valueFirst, this study focuses on an under-researched field: inter-organisational HR collaborations. Secondly, the study extends existing insights into the governance of inter-organisational relationships by analysing a novel data set.

Inward internationalisation and cross-border acquisitions by EMNEs: The moderating role of ownership heterogeneity

<p>Unlike Advanced Economy Multinational Enterprises (AMNEs), Emerging Economy Multinational Enterprises’ (EMNEs) dominant participation in international trade and investment is a recent phenomenon. Still, EMNEs are found to adopt bold strategies in the early stages of their internationalization and show path departure in the selection of their entry mode, such as cross border acquisition (CBA). CBA is not only a widely adopted EMNE internationalisation strategy but also distinguished EMNA internationalisation behaviour from that of AMNEs. CBA, entailing a high level of risk, requires considerable experiential knowledge that EMNEs lack. This knowledge deficit increases the perceived cost and risk associated with internationalisation and decreases the likelihood of engaging in foreign investment. There is a gap in the knowledge around how EMNEs compensate for their lack of experiential knowledge and how this experiential knowledge influences EMNEs’ adoption of CBA. Drawing from organisational learning as a theoretical lens, this study proposes that learning from inward internationalisation facilitates EMNEs’ CBA decisions. From an organisational perspective, experiential knowledge, especially externally sourced, is valuable when the acquired knowledge fits the recipient organisations’ existing dominant logic and values. Therefore ownership structure, such as family, institutional or corporate ownership, acts as a boundary condition and may influence the impact of inward internationalisation on CBA decisions. This idea is grounded in agency theory. This study argues that EMNEs compensate for their lack of internationalisation experiential knowledge through inward internationalisation (externally sourced experiential knowledge) which serves as a resource based antecedent leading EMNEs to make risky CBA decisions. Further, from an agency theory perspective, the study proposes that inward internationalisation – CBA relationships are likely to vary for different types of ownership categories. The study uses a quantitative approach to test the hypotheses in an Indian context. India, being a large emerging economy, provides an appropriate backdrop to test the study’s conceptual model. For this study, a sample of 369 CBAs conducted by 205 public listed companies from 2009 to 2017 was collected from the SDC platinum database. The sample generated a panel of 1845 firm-year observations. Through a negative binomial regression analysis, it is found that inward internationalisation has a positive impact on the likelihood of Indian MNEs’ CBA decision. Regarding the moderating effect of ownership, it is found that family ownership reduces the impact of inward internationalisation, whereas foreign institutional ownership increases the impact of inward internationalisation. No moderating effects are found for domestic institutional ownership, nor are they found for domestic or foreign corporate ownerships. This research contributes to the understanding of the EMNEs’ risky internationalisation behaviour through CBA. The present study adds to this stream of research by focusing on inward internationalisation and ownership structure influencing risky CBA decisions. In doing so, it contributes to organisational learning literature by suggesting that the impact of experiential knowledge may not necessarily be the same across the firms. This heterogeneity is attributable to EMNEs (knowledge acquiring organisation) who show varying motives, objectives and governance structure depending on their ownership structure. By examining the boundary condition of ownership heterogeneity, this study also contributes to Principal–Principal (PP) agency theory that ownership concentration along with owner’s identity is not only confined to strategy formulation but also extends to entry mode (CBA) decisions. Goal incongruence due to PP conflict between owners also decides whether experiential knowledge acquired from inward internationalisation fits with the firms or not in the resulting CBA decision. Finally, this study provides deep insights on different owners’ attitudes and their supporting or confining roles in moderating the impact of inward internationalisation on Indian EMNEs’ risk-taking behaviour during internationalisation.</p>

Inward internationalisation and cross-border acquisitions by EMNEs: The moderating role of ownership heterogeneity

<p>Unlike Advanced Economy Multinational Enterprises (AMNEs), Emerging Economy Multinational Enterprises’ (EMNEs) dominant participation in international trade and investment is a recent phenomenon. Still, EMNEs are found to adopt bold strategies in the early stages of their internationalization and show path departure in the selection of their entry mode, such as cross border acquisition (CBA). CBA is not only a widely adopted EMNE internationalisation strategy but also distinguished EMNA internationalisation behaviour from that of AMNEs. CBA, entailing a high level of risk, requires considerable experiential knowledge that EMNEs lack. This knowledge deficit increases the perceived cost and risk associated with internationalisation and decreases the likelihood of engaging in foreign investment. There is a gap in the knowledge around how EMNEs compensate for their lack of experiential knowledge and how this experiential knowledge influences EMNEs’ adoption of CBA. Drawing from organisational learning as a theoretical lens, this study proposes that learning from inward internationalisation facilitates EMNEs’ CBA decisions. From an organisational perspective, experiential knowledge, especially externally sourced, is valuable when the acquired knowledge fits the recipient organisations’ existing dominant logic and values. Therefore ownership structure, such as family, institutional or corporate ownership, acts as a boundary condition and may influence the impact of inward internationalisation on CBA decisions. This idea is grounded in agency theory. This study argues that EMNEs compensate for their lack of internationalisation experiential knowledge through inward internationalisation (externally sourced experiential knowledge) which serves as a resource based antecedent leading EMNEs to make risky CBA decisions. Further, from an agency theory perspective, the study proposes that inward internationalisation – CBA relationships are likely to vary for different types of ownership categories. The study uses a quantitative approach to test the hypotheses in an Indian context. India, being a large emerging economy, provides an appropriate backdrop to test the study’s conceptual model. For this study, a sample of 369 CBAs conducted by 205 public listed companies from 2009 to 2017 was collected from the SDC platinum database. The sample generated a panel of 1845 firm-year observations. Through a negative binomial regression analysis, it is found that inward internationalisation has a positive impact on the likelihood of Indian MNEs’ CBA decision. Regarding the moderating effect of ownership, it is found that family ownership reduces the impact of inward internationalisation, whereas foreign institutional ownership increases the impact of inward internationalisation. No moderating effects are found for domestic institutional ownership, nor are they found for domestic or foreign corporate ownerships. This research contributes to the understanding of the EMNEs’ risky internationalisation behaviour through CBA. The present study adds to this stream of research by focusing on inward internationalisation and ownership structure influencing risky CBA decisions. In doing so, it contributes to organisational learning literature by suggesting that the impact of experiential knowledge may not necessarily be the same across the firms. This heterogeneity is attributable to EMNEs (knowledge acquiring organisation) who show varying motives, objectives and governance structure depending on their ownership structure. By examining the boundary condition of ownership heterogeneity, this study also contributes to Principal–Principal (PP) agency theory that ownership concentration along with owner’s identity is not only confined to strategy formulation but also extends to entry mode (CBA) decisions. Goal incongruence due to PP conflict between owners also decides whether experiential knowledge acquired from inward internationalisation fits with the firms or not in the resulting CBA decision. Finally, this study provides deep insights on different owners’ attitudes and their supporting or confining roles in moderating the impact of inward internationalisation on Indian EMNEs’ risk-taking behaviour during internationalisation.</p>