Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine the entrepreneurial practice of intellectual capital sharing (ICS) with client organizations and assess its potential for collaborative business-to-business (B2B) relationship building. B2B collaborations within the traditional marketing paradigm are restricted due to perceived opportunism.

The research is based on the grounded theory approach and involves 22 semi-structured interviews with the employees of a focal organization and its five client organizations regarding 36 implemented projects. Interviews were transcribed, coded and analyzed via constant comparison to surface codes, categories, concepts and themes from which the authors developed propositions based on the particular context of this study.

ICS approach helps customers to reconstruct sellers’ identity from one characterized by opportunism and arm’s length relationships to one defined by openness and collaboration. Identified benefits of ICS include higher trust, commitment, social bonding, value co-creation, individual and organizational performance and learning. Eight propositions and a model of ICS consequences are presented.

The context of the study is limited to a single industry – financial services – however, the findings should be highly relevant for other sales contexts characterized by low buyer trust.

Entrepreneurial marketers can engage in ICS approach quickly at minimal cost, as the capabilities and talent are typically already internal to the organization.

This paper examines a unique relational approach to serving clients called ICS that de-emphasizes the sale. Subject matter experts help buyers overcome challenges outside the scope of the traditional marketing paradigm.

As organizations become more team oriented, research on teams continues to increase especially involving how teams contribute to organizational performance and effectiveness. Although there has been existing research on Kaizen teams in the private sector, very little research has included Kaizen teams in the public sector. In this paper, we present a method to study Kaizen teams in a local Spanish government that have been using Kaizen teams for more than ten years.

Quantitative research was adopted for this study. Twenty teams participated in the study by filling out the Team Learning and Development Inventory (TLI) proposed by Lingham (2004). In addition, we interviewed members of the teams in order to clarify and assure our quantitative results.

Based on the findings, we propose that Kaizen teams should practice both Continuous (CI) and Process Improvements (PI) in their projects. We also propose that Kaizen teams should not be teams skilled only at developing better improvement processes (both CI and PI) for the organization but that such teams should also be skilled at engaging in team development using both CI and PI processes internally – a Kaizen within Kaizen teams approach.

Its based in one case study. However, it is working paper and the research project still is developing.

Serve as a guide to practitioners (Public managers) who desire to understand how their Kaizen teams involves both internal (conversational spaces) and external (methodology) perspectives that would contribute to both team and organizational effectiveness. In this paper, we focus on the Internal Processes (both CI and PI) using the TLI as an effective method for Kaizen teams to engage in the Kaizen process.

This study is one of the first to look at team’s performance using Team Learning and Development Inventory in Spain’s public sector. It is also the first to mention about the relationship of the team’s performance and the implementation of process improvement methodologies in Spain local government environment.

The purpose of this paper is four‐fold: to highlight the emerging stream of team interaction in research; to present a methodology to measure and map out team interaction; to compare team interaction between US and Spanish MBA teams so as to identify any differences between the two cultures; and to propose team interaction focused programs in educational institutions and organizations.

The study used a quantitative research design and administered a survey that captures ten aspects of team interaction in four major dimensions to 32 US MBA teams (n   =   176) and 31 Spanish MBA teams (n   =   152) engaged in the same group exercise and used ANOVA analysis to compare the two groups.

The findings show that the US and Spanish teams differ only in the diverging dimension of their actual team interaction (F   =   26.42, p  <  0.000). A comparative analysis of the ideal team interaction show that both MBA samples desire increased levels of the diverging (F   =   37.7, p <  0.000) and recursiveness (F   =   23.65, p   <   0.000) dimensions.

The study provides a methodology and highlights the significance of employing a team interaction perspective for team learning and development programs in educational and organizational settings.

The paper presents team interaction along four major dimensions – divergent, convergent, status and recursiveness – and provides a brief overview of the theory of Conversational Learning. The approach used in this study contributes to this emerging stream of team research and presents the significance of focusing on the social‐emotional aspects of team interaction in educational and organizational team development programs.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed explanation of a design toolkit for coaching project teams.

It is first explained that approach to coaching teams using a measure that captures the real and ideal interactions for the 12 information technology (IT) project teams in this paper.

Based on the analysis of data from the coaching sessions, characteristics of a design toolkit are proposed for coaching IT project teams.

A more comprehensive picture of team learning that takes into account non‐measurable dimensions of interaction might be of value in the kernel theories. More cases are required to verify the design theory in other contexts.

Project managers and team leaders can benefit form this design toolkit to approach coaching their teams.

This approach complements current models of team coaching.

With the increased importance of training in organizations, creating important and meaningful programs are critical to an organization and its members. The purpose of this paper is to suggest a four‐phase systematic approach to designing and evaluating training programs that promotes collaboration between organizational leaders, trainers, participants and evaluators.

The paper presents a case study of a leadership training program conducted at a Midwestern corporate university. Analysis of the qualitative data from interviews with participants and field notes during the first two iterations of the program highlight three major aspects that were then used to develop a unique measure for the evaluation of subsequent iterations. The case study was conducted over a period of 31/2 years involving a total of 175 managers.

A main finding in this study was that content was three times stronger than applicability. This finding was critical in understanding the learning focus of the program and the significance of developing a unique evaluation system that is both meaningful and important to the organization and its members.

The four‐phase approach to develop unique evaluations involving both content and applicability would be of value to human resource professionals involving in designing training programs for career development of managers.

This four‐phase approach focuses on learning and development at the individual and organizational levels. It aligns with Kolb's experiential learning theory and is a process that provides a feedback system for organizations to engage in double‐loop learning to improve the design, delivery and evaluation of their training programs.

Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

In today's rapidly changing and unpredictable business world, having a highly skilled and knowledgeable workforce is vital for any organization to prosper and grow. Training has naturally become more crucial than ever and only those companies able to develop effective programs can hope to reap the rewards. However, many organizations simply go through the motions where training is concerned and even the likelihood of gaining competitive advantage fails to shift the prevailing apathy. That's not true everywhere, of course, because some companies invest heavily in employee training and development. But since the return rarely justifies the outlay, these organizations also often come up short. The reason for this? Evaluation. Or, more to the point, the lack of it. Surprisingly, company leaders often overlook this aspect even though it should be regarded as an integral part of any training program. After all, how can we realistically expect to know whether something is functioning properly or not if we cannot be bothered to carry out a proper appraisal of it?

Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to‐digest format.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a “parachuting internationalization” metaphor as an alternative strategy that firms may choose to enter foreign markets compared to Uppsala Model and Born Global Model. This proposed new metaphor seeks to integrate the Uppsala and the Born Global Models to show that firms can attain success in the age of globalization if they are adept at devising creative strategies that help them overcome the challenges in a psychically distant environment.

This is a research paper that develops theoretical perspectives inspired by the Yin Yang thinking as well as the “thick descriptive” multiple case studies.

“Parachuting internationalization” embraces essential elements of the Born Global and the Uppsala Models and refers to a firm’s strategic targeting of markets with great potentials, correct positioning, swift actions, and fast learning, thus enabling the firm to circumvent the conventional wisdom of liability of foreignness, cultural distance, and psychic distance. “Parachuting internationalization” is essentially a GLOCAL approach which can be implemented in practice in terms of global vision, location, opportunity, capital, accelerated cultural learning and quick action, and logistics.

The “parachuting internationalization” metaphor is derived from interviews with four Scandinavian firms’ experiences that have entered into the Chinese market. This research reveals that two seemingly opposite approaches, i.e., the Born Global and the Uppsala Models, can be fruitfully combined and reconciled to generate a third novel approach.

To date, there has been little attempt to reconcile and/or integrate the Born Global and the Uppsala Models of internationalization. The paper enriches the ongoing debate on the internationalization of firms in the international business literature that has relied primarily on the Uppsala Model or Born Global Model. The study shows that a third way, i.e. the “parachuting internationalization” is both theoretically innovative and practically feasible.