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1 – 10 of over 101000Natalie M. Scala, Thais da Costa Lago Alves, Dominique Hawkins, Vincent Schiavone and Min Liu
This paper introduces the weighting, analysis and validation method used in the development of the Maturity Model for Collaborative Scheduling (MMCS). The scoring and ranking…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper introduces the weighting, analysis and validation method used in the development of the Maturity Model for Collaborative Scheduling (MMCS). The scoring and ranking process introduced by the MMCS fills a gap in the literature by supporting the selection of collaborative scheduling (CS) practices that yield more weight toward the achievement of higher maturity levels in the development and implementation of CS. The ranking process can then be used during pre/post project execution to track collaborative scheduling in practice against the model’s weighting and provide the project team with constructive feedback and actionable steps for reaching the next highest level of collaboration.
Design/methodology/approach
The MMCS, which focuses on five pillars (key areas of interest for CS) and related swim lanes (specific attributes), covers a broad range of areas in the construction industry and was coded into a survey. The relative weights of pillars and swim lanes were then established using the Delphi method with the group of subject matter experts (SMEs), analyzed using multi-objective decision analysis (MODA) and validated using 241 answers to a survey with questions drawn from the MMCS, including organizations across the industry in the United States.
Findings
The project scoring defines bounds for bronze, silver and gold levels of collaboration in scheduling. Project evaluations can then be used to identify areas for continuous improvement and enhanced collaboration. We offer recommendations and best practices for project improvement.
Originality/value
Two original contributions resulted from this work: (1) a method to elicit weights based on a combination of Delphi, MODA and survey methods was used to develop and validate a scale with three different maturity levels to support the use and continuous improvement of CS practices and (2) a validated model was used to assess the maturity level of CS in construction projects alongside specific recommendations to move upward in terms of maturity. In practice, project leaders can use this model to assess project performance, advance the project’s maturity and guide continuous improvement efforts for enhanced collaboration.
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This study identifies three main CSR motivations (i.e. strategic benefits, altruism and greenwashing) and explores the relationship between CSR motivations and environmental…
Abstract
Purpose
This study identifies three main CSR motivations (i.e. strategic benefits, altruism and greenwashing) and explores the relationship between CSR motivations and environmental collaboration by considering the mediating role of environmental commitment and the moderating role of team autonomy.
Design/methodology/approach
The data collected from 336 respondents in the construction industry, structural equation modeling and bootstrapping were used to test hypotheses.
Findings
The findings show that altruistic CSR enhances environmental collaboration through enhancing environmental commitment, whereas greenwashing CSR damages environmental collaboration through reducing environmental commitment. Although there is no direct association between strategic CSR and environmental collaboration, environmental commitment mediates the effects of strategic CSR on environmental collaboration. Moreover, the positive effect of strategic CSR and altruistic CSR on environment commitment is stronger when team autonomy is stronger, whereas the negative effect of greenwashing CSR on environment commitment is weaker when team autonomy is stronger.
Originality/value
The findings contribute to the understanding of how CSR motivations can act as catalysts for collaborative efforts in addressing environmental issues within construction projects and offer theoretical understanding of team autonomy by illustrating its role in shaping organizational responses to CSR motivations. The findings can provide insights into why and how participating teams can collaborate better on environmental management, enriching the knowledge of environmental management practices in construction projects.
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Anna Izotova and María Teresa Bolívar-Ramos
Due to the constantly increasing competitiveness along with the complexity of knowledge, firms perceive collaboration as a key strategy that preserves firms' radical innovation…
Abstract
Purpose
Due to the constantly increasing competitiveness along with the complexity of knowledge, firms perceive collaboration as a key strategy that preserves firms' radical innovation performance. In this context, this paper aims to examine how firms’ partners’ diversity in open innovation activities influences the development of radical innovations, critical for social development. In particular, this study analyzes how the functional and geographical breadth of the firm’s collaboration portfolio affects its radical innovation performance. Furthermore, it also explores the role of firm size as a moderator in the relationships proposed.
Design/methodology/approach
This research employs panel data analysis, using a sample of 4,677 Spanish firms, with data sourced from the PITEC database.
Findings
The results of this study show that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the functional and the geographical breadth of collaborations and the firms’ radical innovation performance. Moreover, this study finds partial support for the moderating role of firm size, in the sense that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large firms vary in their optimal number of diversity of partners.
Originality/value
This research provides a better understanding on how partners’ functional and geographical diversity, along with organizational characteristics such as firm size, affect how firms benefit from collaboration for innovation. This study shows that both SMEs and large firms experience diminishing returns when their collaboration networks become overly diverse in pursuit of radical innovation, due to increased costs. However, in SMEs, the turning point occurs at a later stage, consistent with the idea that small firms need broader functional networks to access complementary and novel resources they usually lack.
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Rui Mu and Yuting Wang
To fill the gap, this article examines the inter-governmental collaboration mechanisms behind the platform curtain.
Abstract
Purpose
To fill the gap, this article examines the inter-governmental collaboration mechanisms behind the platform curtain.
Design/methodology/approach
Behind the curtain is to look at what makes things happen backstage. For collaborative e-governance platforms, scholars have assumed that technological factors and user characteristics are the determinants for platform success. Little attention has been paid to the issue of how multiple governments, acting as platform co-builders and co-operators, interact and collaborate backstage to provide integrated e-services.
Findings
Based on data from survey questionnaires sent to government employees, the results show that governments’ information processing capacities cannot directly affect collaboration; however, these capacities can impact collaboration via the mediating variable of horizontal relations. In addition, we found that higher-ranking authorities are better suited to intervene once horizontal relations have been established and that more adaptable organizations are better at forming horizontal relations with peers. For governments participating in collaborative e-governance platforms, our findings are practically applicable.
Originality/value
The research question reads as: How do various government departments acting as platform co-builders and co-operators judge their collaboration performance, and what collaboration mechanisms contribute to it? We study this research question by constructing a conceptual model based on the Organizational Information Processing Theory (OIPT) and the Collaborative Governance Theory (CGT), both suggesting information processing capacities, organizational flexibility, horizontal relations and vertical intervention as indispensable factors influencing collaboration performance in ICT-supported groupwork. We propose and test four hypotheses on the relationships among these four factors to reveal the inter-governmental collaboration mechanisms for cross-government platformisation projects.
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Xueguo Xu and Hetong Yuan
Breakthrough technological innovation is of vital significance for firms to acquire and maintain sustainable competitive advantages. The construction of an innovation ecosystem…
Abstract
Purpose
Breakthrough technological innovation is of vital significance for firms to acquire and maintain sustainable competitive advantages. The construction of an innovation ecosystem and the interaction with heterogeneous participants have emerged as a new dominant model for driving sustained breakthrough technological innovation in firms. This study aims to explore the effects of collaborative modes within the innovation ecosystem on firms’ breakthrough technological innovation and the ecological legitimacy mechanisms involved.
Design/methodology/approach
The research employs data from 212 innovative firms and conducts empirical research using a two-stage structural equation modeling (SEM) and artificial neural network (ANN) analysis.
Findings
The results indicate that firm-firm collaboration (FF), firm-user collaboration (FU), firm-government collaboration (FG), firm-university-institute collaboration (FUI) and firm-intermediary collaboration (FI) all have significant positive effects on breakthrough technological innovation (BTI), with FU being particularly crucial. Furthermore, the results confirm the positive moderating effects of ecological legitimacy (EL) on the relationships between FF and BTI, as well as between FU and BTI. Conversely, EL has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between FUI and BTI, as well as between FI and breakthrough technological innovation. Additionally, EL does not have a significant influence on the relationship between FG and BTI.
Originality/value
Through resource dependence theory (RDT), this study unveils the black box of how collaboration modes within innovation ecosystems impact breakthrough technological innovation. By introducing ecological legitimacy as a contextual factor, a new research perspective is provided for collaboration innovation within innovation ecosystems. The study employs a combination of SEM and ANN for modeling, complementing nonlinear relationships and obtaining robust results in complex mechanisms.
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Stefania Boscari, Dirk Pieter van Donk, Madeleine Pullman and Chengyong Xiao
Extant research shows collaboration among supply chain (SC) partners can address the significant environmental impacts of industrial food systems, but can be risky and…
Abstract
Purpose
Extant research shows collaboration among supply chain (SC) partners can address the significant environmental impacts of industrial food systems, but can be risky and resource-intensive. Past studies have predominantly treated buyer–supplier sustainability collaborations as a single aggregate concept missing the theoretical richness. This study aims to provide a more nuanced understanding of these collaborations for jointly improving sustainable food supply networks.
Design/methodology/approach
A multiple case study was conducted covering 8 SCs in the Dutch food processing industry, using data from 27 interviewees and extensive secondary material.
Findings
By applying the dynamic relational view, this study identifies three types of buyer–supplier collaboration, reflecting three paths of sustainable value creation: (1) the bilateral path, featuring equal participation and extensive collaboration, yielding substantial environmental and economic benefits; (2) the buyer-driven path, where the buyer leads the collaboration to address sustainability issues that are raised by stakeholders, relying on supplier expertise to improve SC traceability and sustainability reputation, albeit at higher costs; (3) the supplier-driven path, where the supplier leads the collaboration for incremental environmental and economic improvements.
Practical implications
The taxonomy results provide practical guidelines to assist managers in selecting the most suitable collaboration type for their specific sustainability goals and more effectively address sustainability challenges.
Originality/value
The three identified types of collaboration form a novel taxonomy for improving sustainability in food supply networks, representing different paths for SC partners to achieve progressively more substantial sustainability improvements. This taxonomy challenges the perspective that adopting sustainability invariably leads to increased costs by providing evidence of simultaneous economic and environmental improvements.
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Tim Harper and Barbara P. Norelli
Strategic business partnerships inform business faculty‐librarian (BFL) collaborations. This paper seeks to address how the motivations for business partnerships and…
Abstract
Purpose
Strategic business partnerships inform business faculty‐librarian (BFL) collaborations. This paper seeks to address how the motivations for business partnerships and faculty‐librarian collaborations are similar. A conceptual model suggests that the depth of the BFL relationship significantly enhances electronic collection development outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
Literature concerning strategic business alliances, faculty‐librarian collaborations, and collection development was examined to determine whether principles that are applied to strategic business alliances can also be applied to BFL collaborations. A case‐in‐point is included for illustration.
Findings
Specific principles of strategic business partnerships can be applied to BFL collaborations aimed at improving electronic collection development. In addition, driving forces such as assessment, communication, and technology influence the nature of alliances across the business and academic arenas.
Originality/value
The findings are significant because they demonstrate how BFL collaborations can be made more effective through the application of business principles. BFL collaborations can positively influence electronic collection development in a variety of ways. The paper offers a new and unique conceptual model that improves understanding of the nature and depth of BFL collaborations in the context of electronic collection development. This paper will be of interest to business faculty in particular and faculty in general, and librarians working in diverse library settings, especially librarians aligned with management and business departments. Librarians in management positions will likely find this information useful as a means to increase faculty‐librarian collaboration across all disciplines.
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This study investigated the issue of collaboration in new product development within the context of the South African textile and clothing industry. The following aspects were…
Abstract
This study investigated the issue of collaboration in new product development within the context of the South African textile and clothing industry. The following aspects were analysed in order to contribute to the understanding of the collaboration process: the perceived benefits of collaboration in the new product development process, the risks of collaboration, the effect of collaboration on the new product development process, and the factors that increase the likelihood of a successful collaboration.
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Ned Kock, Robert Davison, Raul Wazlawick and Rosalie Ocker
The guest‐editors of the first Special Issue on E‐Collaboration provide an introduction to the issue. E‐collaboration is broadly defined as collaboration among individuals engaged…
Abstract
The guest‐editors of the first Special Issue on E‐Collaboration provide an introduction to the issue. E‐collaboration is broadly defined as collaboration among individuals engaged in a common task using electronic technologies. A brief history of the evolution of e‐collaboration technologies is offered along with a discussion of research in the area. The paper concludes with a brief review of the contributions to the Special Issue and a look at one important future challenge for e‐collaboration researchers, the challenge of theoretical summarization.
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Collaboration facilitates competitive advantages. That’s the reason why every leader should be concerned with whether his or her part of the organization embraces collaboration or…
Abstract
Purpose
Collaboration facilitates competitive advantages. That’s the reason why every leader should be concerned with whether his or her part of the organization embraces collaboration or not. Collaboration in itself is an instrumental value, and it should be pursued as part of an organization’s enterprise-wide strategy, especially in merged organizations. Unfortunately, the natural inclination in merged organizations is for the merged entities to continue the past practice of independent, autonomous operations. When merged, the separate entities of the new organization naturally resist integration. The leader must infuse collaboration to enable knowledge sharing and the integration and employment of the new organization’s capabilities. The following discussion presents a roadmap to collaboration focused on the leader’s employment of seven critical practices.
Design/methodology/approach
Concept Paper
Findings
Scholarly study points to collaboration as an instrumental value. If it must become a value in the organization, then leaders must use seven practices as part of an enterprise-wide strategy and carefully follow the implementation of the seven practices until collaboration becomes a value and the natural instinct of the organization.
Originality/value
Leaders struggle with how to bring collaboration into an environment where inertial forces impede it. The following discussion presents a roadmap to infuse collaboration and grow an appreciation for it because this process will facilitate the development and implementation of goals, objectives and action plans for the organization. Seven practices are discussed and integrated into an operational design-like method just like the one commanders use to achieve victories in military campaign planning and execution.