Abstract For a small and medium size firm (SME), expansion into new foreign markets is a remarkable milestone, requiring specific resources and capabilities. The purpose of this study is to explore how management in internationalizing small and medium-size firms allocate their limited resources between key functions, in particular, between marketing and R&D. This thesis builds on a resource-based view of the firm, a dynamic capabilities perspective, and the SME internationalization literature, and therefore assumes that a firm’s success in foreign markets is closely related to its internal resource and capability configurations. The findings of this study suggest that SMEs need a capability portfolio in which the relative importance of key capabilities varies as international expansion proceeds. It appears that throughout the international expansion process, investments in developing R&D capabilities do not notably decrease, not even at the time when SMEs need to begin to develop other activities, such as marketing. Closer examination reveals that investments in the capabilities’ underlying microfoundations, rather than the resource allocation between the key functions per se, determine the nature of the resulting competitive advantage. Cross-border mergers are specific situations that reveal the strong influence of function-specific microfoundations on functional capabilities and thus, on an SME’s dynamic capabilities. The results of this study show that in merger deals, each firm comes with distinctive cross-functional structures, processes, routines, and skills. Synergies might not be capitalized if management is not able to effectively align merging firms’ underlying microfoundations. The results in this thesis underline the invaluable role of SMEs’ management. The findings show that even if the different phases of international expansion require diverse managerial capabilities, unanimity among the top management team executives is needed (surprisingly) only when these SMEs are making substantial resource commitments. Such adoption to changing conditions is an illustration of dynamic managerial capabilities that partly determines success in international markets. / Tiivistelmä Pienelle yritykselle kansainvälistyminen on merkittävä virstanpylväs, joka edellyttää erityisiä resursseja ja kyvykkyyksiä. Tässä työssä on tarkoitus tutkia, kuinka pienen kansainvälistyvän yrityksen johto kohdentaa yrityksen rajallisia resursseja tuotekehitys- ja markkinointifunktioihin. Väitöskirjassa oletetaan, että pienten ja keskisuurten yritysten menestyminen kansainvälisillä markkinoilla liittyy olennaisesti yritysten käytössä oleviin resursseihin ja kyvykkyyksiin, ja tästä johtuen väitöskirjan teoreettinen osa rakennetaan resurssiteorian, dynaamisten kyvykkyyksien teorian sekä pienten yritysten kansainvälistymistä koskevien tutkimuksien yhdistelmänä. Työn tulokset osoittavat, että pienet yritykset tarvitsevat erityisen kyvykkyysportfolion, jossa eri kyvykkyyksien suhteellinen osuus muuttuu yrityksen kansainvälistymisen edetessä. Näyttäisi siltä, että yritysten investoinnit tuotekehitykseen eivät juuri pienene silloinkaan, kun yritykset aloittavat markkinointiin panostamisen. Lähempi tarkastelu kuitenkin osoittaa, että investoinnit eri funktioihin eivät sinänsä määrää syntyvää kilpailuetua, vaan edun luonne määräytyy sen mukaan, kuinka resurssit kohdennetaan taustalla oleviin kyvykkyyksien (mikro)rakenteisiin. Kansainväliset yrityskaupat ovat erityisiä tapahtumia jotka paljastavat funktiokohtaisten mikrorakenteiden merkittävän vaikutuksen. Työn tulokset osoittavat, että kussakin yksittäisessä fuusioituvassa yrityksessä on omanlaisensa, ajan myötä funktioiden välille muotoutuneet rakenteet, prosessit ja käytänteet. Yrityskauppojen hyödyt voivat jäädä saavuttamatta ellei näitä fuusioituvien yritysten funktioiden välisiä mikrorakenteita saada sujuvasti sulautettua yhteen. Tutkimustulokset korostavat pienen yrityksen johdon merkitystä. Kasvu kansainvälisillä markkinoilla vaatii johdolta erityistä kyvykkyyttä, mutta hieman yllättäen tulokset osoittavat, että johtoryhmän jäsenten yksimielisyys on tärkeää vain niissä kasvun vaiheissa, jotka edellyttävät erityisen merkittäviä sitoumuksia. Tällainen muuttuviin olosuhteisiin sopeutuminen on hyvä osoitus johdon dynaamisista kyvykkyyksistä, jotka osaltaan määräävät yrityksen menestymisen kansainvälisillä markkinoilla.

Background: With the emergence of new digital technologies, the ongoing digital transformation is argued to heavily impact core societal pillars such as logistics and transportation. This has generated unique challenges and introduced an increasing need for organizations to take steps towards innovating their business models. Thus, a popular theoretical lens for keeping up with disruptive changes through business model innovation (BMI) is via the dynamic capability framework – consisting of sensing, seizing as well as transforming microfoundations. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis was to explore digital transformation through the framework of dynamic capabilities within the logistics and transportation industry. The study aimed at investigating the nature of building dynamic capabilities for business model innovation towards the ongoing digital transformation. Methodology: To explore how organizations build dynamic capabilities for business model innovation towards digital transformation, this study was carried out using semi-structured interviews. The interviews consisted of 11 participants in various senior management positions at 6 case companies whom are all global actors in the logistics and transportation industry. Additionally, documentary secondary data was included to provide additional information about the case companies. Findings: Our study revealed that business model innovation for digital transformation consisted of processes within 3 domains – new digital products & services, new markets & segments, as well as key partnerships. Additionally, the findings of our study acknowledged that logistics and transportation enterprises build dynamic capabilities via a total of 13 activities. These included: digital scanning and information management; digital learning; internal communication; digital asset investment; agile working; external partnerships; organizational restructuring; dynamic mindset; change management; and power redistribution. Finally, our study found that the main challenges for building dynamic capabilities towards BMI involved: size, agile working, data management and the changing of old mindsets.

Cette thèse de doctorat propose une analyse empirique des microfondations des phénomènes monétaires macroéconomiques, et plus particulièrement des processus d'apprentissage et capacités cognitives requis pour qu'un équilibre émerge dans une économie expérimentale implémentantun modèle de prospection monétaire. Dans ce but, nous avons "opérationalisé" le modèle original de Kiyotaki et Wright et modélisé le comportement de sujets humains à l'aide de différents algorithmes d'apprentissage par renforcement. Nous montrons que les données comportementales sont mieux expliquées par les modèles d'apprentissage par renforcement que par les prédictions des équilibres théoriques, et que la spéculation monétaire semble s'appuyer sur la considération de coûts d'opportunité. Nos résultats constituent une nouvelle étape dans la compréhension des processus d'apprentissage à l'oeuvre dans la prise de décision multiple en économie et des microfondations cognitives de l'utilisation macroéconomique de la monnaie. Parallèlement, cette thèse de doctorat comprend une analyse plus précise de l'une des composantes fondamentales de l'apprentissage par renforcement à savoir, le processus de mise à jour des valeurs. A travers deux études, nous montrons graduellement que ce processus est biaisé en faveur des informations confirmatoires. En effet, nous avons trouvé que des sujets réalisant diverses tâches d'apprentissage probabiliste prenaient en compte préférentiellement les informations qui confirmaient leur pensée initiale. Ces résultats permettent une meilleure compréhension des biais d'optimisme et de confirmation au niveau neuro-computationnel. / This dissertation proposes to analyze empirically the microfoundations of the macroeconomic use of money, more particularly the human learning processes and cognitive abilities requiredfor a monetary equilibrium to emerge in an experimental economy implementing a search theoretical paradigm of money emergence. To achieve this, we operationalized the original Kiyotaki and Wright search model and fitted real subjects' behaviors with different reinforcement learning algorithms. We show that reinforcement learning better explains behavioral datain comparison to theoretical equilibria predictions, and highlight the importance of opportunity costs to implement a speculative use of money. Our results constitute a new step towards the understanding of learning processes at work in multi-step economic decision making and ofthe cognitive microfoundations of the macro-economic use of money. In parallel, this dissertation also compounds in-depth analyses of one of the core components of reinforcement learning,namely the update process. In two studies, we gradually show that the latter is biased positively towards confirmatory information. Indeed, we found that subjects performing different probability learning tasks preferentially took into account information that confirme dtheir initial thoughts in contrast to information that contradicted them. These results constitute a step towards the understanding of the genesis of optimism and confirmation biases at the neurocomputational level.

Alors que les relations formelles entre organisations comme les alliances ont été largement étudiées, les relations inter-organisationnelles informelles demandent à être mieux comprises. Comment l'organisation gère-t-elle ses relations inter-organisationnelles informelles ? Quels sont les effets de ces relations sur l'entreprise ? Comment peut-on essayer d'organiser d'une façon consciente des actions d'influence de l'environnement au travers de ces relations ? Pour aborder ces questions, nous avons choisi d'utiliser le cadre de la théorie des capacités dynamiques, qui accorde une place importante aux relations entre l'entreprise et son environnement. Les capacités dynamiques de l'entreprise peuvent être définies comme la capacité à détecter et façonner des opportunités et des menaces, à saisir des opportunités, et à reconfigurer les ressources de la firme. Répondant à l'appel des chercheurs sur les capacités dynamiques, cette thèse analyse les micro-fondations de ces capacités. Notre étude s'appuie sur une analyse des individus "passeurs de frontières" qui participent aux relations inter-organisationnelles informelles au nom de leur entreprise. Nos travaux pointent les contributions des passeurs de frontières aux capacités dynamiques de l'entreprise et conceptualisent la capacité à gérer des relations inter-organisationnelles informelles comme capacité dynamique. / Whereas formal relations such as alliances have been well-studied, informal inter-organizational relations still need to be analyzed. This gap in the literature leads to the following research questions: How do organizations manage their informal inter-organizational relations? What are the effects of such relations? How can firms organize influencing activities based on these relations? The theory of dynamic capabilities addresses relations between the firm and its environment. The dynamic capabilities of the firm can be defined as the capacity of the firm to sense and shape opportunities and threats, to seize opportunities and to reconfigure assets. They permit the organization to adapt to and to shape its environment. This work contributes to answering the call from researchers to analyze the microfoundations of dynamic capabilities. It studies the role played by boundary spanners, individuals playing an interfacing role between the firm and its environment, in the dynamic capabilities of the firm. Further, this research leads to the conceptualization of the capacity to manage informal interorganizational relations as a dynamic capability allowing the firm to develop its absorptive capacity, legitimacy and influence on its environment.

Since James G. March introduced the concepts of exploration and exploitation in 1991, they have become ubiquitous in research on organizations and management. According to March (1991), exploration and exploitation are two sets of activities that allow systems (i.e., agents, either organizations or individuals) to adapt to their environment. On the one hand, exploitation activities are based on pre-existing knowledge, and consist of its implementation and/or refinement (e.g., production). On the other hand, exploration is based on knowledge that is not currently possessed by the system and, hence, refers to those activities that allow to acquire such new knowledge (e.g., search and experimentation). Scholars have produced a large number of contributions that have expanded our knowledge of exploration and exploitation even going beyond the initial boundaries of the field of organizational learning. Today, this large body of contributions that has developed over 30 years appears complex and divided into a plethora of research subfields (e.g., Almahendra and Ambos, 2015). Thus, research on exploration and exploitation has reached a level of conceptual and methodological sophistication that demands a high level of effort from researchers wishing to approach it. Among the multiple strands of emerging research, some scholars (such as Wilden et al., 2018) have recently begun to propose a return to the adoption of a behavioral approach to the study of exploration and exploitation. The earliest behavioral approach adopted in organizational studies is that of the "Carnegie School", which included Herbert Simon, Richard Cyert, and James March himself. Such an approach focuses the investigation of organizations on human behavior. In other words, adopting a behavioral approach involves studying organizations from the attitudes of their members, cognition, rationality, motivation, relationships, conflicts, and many other instances of psychological, economic, and social factors that influence human behavior (see, for example, March and Simon, 1958; Cyert and March, 1963). Today, this return to the behavioral approach is also associated with the "micro-foundations of strategy" movement (e.g., Felin et al., 2015) and so-called behavioral strategy (Powell et al., 2011). In essence, while the former is based on the importance of studying organizations and strategy by adopting a level of analysis below the collective/systemic (i.e., organizational) level, the latter includes all the elements that already characterized the behavioral approach (i.e., psychological, and social factors), reinforced by insights from the behavioral economics literature and the adoption of multiple methods, including experiments. This Doctoral dissertation enters this discussion and aims to investigate exploration and exploitation by adopting a behavioral approach, a "micro-foundational" perspective, and research methods that include laboratory experiments and computer simulations. The first study is a literature review paper with three purposes, each pursued in one of its three sections. First, it addresses the conceptual development of the exploration-exploitation literature that led to the emergence of the complex body of contributions mentioned above, providing a kind of "road map" of the research field based on the major literature reviews published over the past three decades. This is intended as a contribution towards researchers who want to take the first steps in the study of exploration-exploitation research. At the end of this road map, the paper by Wilden et al. (2018) is presented, linking the entire field of research to an emerging stream of research directed toward a return to James March's behavioral approach, enhanced by contributions in the areas of "micro-foundations" (e.g., Felin et al., 2015) and behavioral strategy (Powell et al., 2011). Second, based on the approach promoted in such research stream, a review of the literature on experimental studies of exploration and exploitation is provided. Laboratory experiments are considered key methods for advancing the study of exploration and exploitation by adopting a behavioral approach. Finally, the first essay is concluded with three suggested directions for further research: the improvement of existing conceptualizations through modeling, the further sophistication of existing experimental designs to capture features of managerial decision making that are currently beyond the scope of the state-of-the-art models underlying the mainly adopted experimental investigations, and the consideration of a multilevel approach to the study of individual exploration and exploitation, which consists of examining the variables that influence individual behavior at different organizational levels. The second study consists of an experimental investigation of the role of different sources of uncertainty on individual exploration-exploitation. It is based on the rationale underlying the third further research path proposed in the first study. Although an increasing adoption of laboratory experiments can be acknowledged in the research field, it is here argued that scholars have not experimentally disentangled the effects of two different types of uncertainty that emerge in the managerial and psychological literature, namely internal uncertainty, and external uncertainty. The former consists in the inability of individuals to predict future performance; while the latter results from the external environment and consists of unknown information about phenomena that may affect the final outcomes of a decision. The experimental design deployed in the study exposes a group of participants to the presence of the sole internal uncertainty, and a treatment group to the combined presence of the two sources. Findings show that the combined presence of these two sources of uncertainty may lead to the over-exploitation of initial routines, and, consequently, to the inability of individuals to exploit new opportunities stemming by alternatives discovered over time. Finally, the third study focuses on imitation, and exploration and exploitation, and builds on an agent-based model and computer simulations. This essay follows the first research trajectory suggested in the first study. While prominent research has defined imitation as a less costly alternative to experimentation (i.e., exploration), the possible role of imitation in the exploration-exploitation trade-off appears to be under-investigated. The interplay between imitation and exploration is rendered by the modeling of two types of agents: imitators and explorers. Differently from previous studies based on modeling, agent types are explicitly modeled as Simonian "satisficers". Experimentation is modeled as random search, whereas imitation builds on research on imitative heuristics. When engaging in adaptation in a competitive environment, both the types of agent experience "over-crowding" effects depending on the characteristics of their type. The paper concludes with the acknowledgement of limitations of the adopted model and proposes further investigation paths that include the calibration through experimental data.

No description available.

Dynamic Capabilities of a firm bundle all the processes that enable it to sustain competitive advantage in today’s volatile markets. Study of the microfoundations of dynamic capabilities is a fairly new framework. Even so, it is a widely researched one. Customer co-creation has armored firms with a new level of customer knowledge and mature firms are taking to customer co-creation for designing better value propositions to sustain their competitive advantage in the market. This thesis aims at examining how customer co-creation is contributing to the dynamic capabilities of a mature firm. Through the case study of a mature firm, this research analyses the connection between customer co-creation and microfoundations of dynamic capabilities of a mature firm. Relevant literature of co-creation and dynamic capabilities has been used to analyze the data collected through semi structured interviews, other research work and official information shared online by the firm under study. The findings suggest that customer cocreation has improved the microfoundations of the dynamic capabilities of the firm in focus. The fact that customer co-creation has emerged as a promising innovation strategy for mature firms makes this study important for firms evaluating the use of customer co-creation to improve their dynamic capabilities and sustain their competitive advantage. / Ett företags dynamiska förmågor samlar de processer som gör det möjligt att upprätthålla konkurrensfördelar på dagens volatila marknader. Trotsa att det teoretiska ramverket gällande byggstenar för dynamiska förmågor är relativt nytt, har många studier genomförts inom ämnet. Samskapande med kunder har bidragit till ny viktig kunskap för företag. Väletablerade företag arbetar tillsammans med sina kunder för att utforma bättre förslag och öka kundvärdet för att upprätthålla konkurrensfördelar på marknaden. Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka hur samskapande med kunder bidrar till väletablerade företags dynamiska kapacitet. Genom en fallstudie av ett väletablerat företag analyseras sambandet mellan samskapande med kunder och byggstenar för dynamiskt kapacitet. Relevant litteratur om samskapande och dynamiska förmågor har använts för att analysera de svar som samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Tidigare forskning och officiell information som delas online om företaget har också använts. Resultaten tyder på att samskapande med kunder har förbättrat byggstenarna för företagets dynamiska kapacitet för det undersökta företaget. Det faktum att samskapande med kunder har framkommit som en lovande innovationsstrategi för etablerade företag gör denna studie viktig för företag som utvärderar användningen av samskapande med kunder för att förbättra deras dynamiska kapacitet och upprätthålla deras konkurrensfördel.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tania Regina Gofredo.pdf: 853318 bytes, checksum: 3d3cb0c94536788bbac7e31bbf3fe3d8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-19 / With this work, we sought to deepen the relation between synchronization mechanisms and the interdependence of contractual strategic alliances of the Brazilian pharmaceutical sector. The analyzed companies are reputable manufacturers of medicines for human health, which represent 25% of total sales in the Brazilian market. We sought to create yet no definite propositions, based on the constructs of interdependence and synchronization mechanisms, together with information drawn from empirical research. The interest in focusing on the pharmaceutical industry has to understand that this is a sector characterized by complexity and dynamism in its competitive environment and therefore have incentives to seek knowledge beyond their organizational boundaries, becoming an industry highly susceptible to the establishment contractual strategic alliances for a number of organizational activities, such as research and development, manufacturing, marketing, distribution and supply. For this study, qualitative research was conducted exploratory, given that the most important for the realization of the study unit is working with people and all the worries involved. Primary data through systematic interviews with managers responsible for alliances sector companies, listed in the Electronic Bulário ANVISA were collected. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis, with categories defined a priori, and crossing cases. The research work has responded to the problem posed by the analysis of several propositions. It was concluded that, from the identification of interdependence created between partners in a strategic alliance contract, there is indeed the search for mechanisms of synchronization of activities that best fit this alliance, and that alternate according to the degree of interdependence is characterized by the type of alliance between the partners. / Com este trabalho, buscou-se aprofundar qual a relação entre mecanismos de sincronização e a interdependência em alianças estratégicas contratuais do setor farmacêutico brasileiro. As empresas analisadas são conceituadas fabricantes de medicamentos para a saúde humana, que correspondem a 25% do faturamento total do mercado brasileiro. Buscou-se ainda criar proposições não definitivas, baseadas nos constructos de interdependência e mecanismos de sincronização, conjuntamente às informações extraídas da pesquisa empírica. O interesse em focar na indústria farmacêutica se deu por entender que se trata de um setor caracterizado pela complexidade e dinamismo em seu ambiente de competição e, portanto, tem incentivos para buscar conhecimento além das suas fronteiras organizacionais. Desse modo, constitui-se em um setor altamente suscetível ao estabelecimento de alianças estratégicas contratuais para uma série de atividades organizacionais, como pesquisa e desenvolvimento, manufatura, comercialização, distribuição e fornecimento. Para este estudo, foi realizada pesquisa qualitativa com caráter exploratório, tendo em vista que a fonte mais importante para a concretização do estudo é o trabalho com as pessoas e todas as preocupações envolvidas. Foram coletados dados primários via entrevistas sistemáticas, com gestores responsáveis por alianças em empresas do setor, listadas no Bulário Eletrônico da ANVISA. Os dados foram analisados por meio de análise de conteúdo temática categorial, com categorias definidas a priori, e cruzamento dos casos. O problema de pesquisa proposto foi respondido por meio da análise de várias proposições. Concluiu-se que, a partir da identificação da relação de interdependência criada entre os parceiros envolvidos em uma aliança estratégica contratual, há de fato a busca pelos mecanismos de sincronização das atividades que mais se ajustem a essa aliança, e que se alternam conforme o grau de interdependência caracterizado pelo tipo de aliança estabelecida entre os parceiros.

This dissertation is an inquiry into the concept of value creation, motivated by a need for orientation in our demanding times. Based on the idea that true value only arises out of human (inter)subjective evaluations, we apply a psychological perspective on individual and collective value creation, thereby investigating a micro-foundation of value, as well as its application and operationalization. The dissertation is a cumulative dissertation that begins with an introductory chapter followed by four independent, yet connected studies. In Study 1, we develop a conceptual foundation for all other studies that involves a micro-foundation of value and value awareness as the competency to recognize fundamental evaluation categories as relevant. In Study 2, we conceptually delineate organizational public value and organizational reputation, two concepts of strategic relevance to organizations, that share similarities, but differ in fundamental dimensions. In Study 3 we operationalize value awareness through a practice-oriented instrument that helps individuals reflect, understand and develop their value awareness. In Study 4, we empirically investigate the link of an organization’s corporate social responsibility and work addiction via work meaningfulness and organizational identification, as well as value awareness. The studies are diverse and have multiple implications for research and practice. Overall, we suggest that individuals and collective entities should develop and operationalize their consideration of value creation on the level of (inter)subjective human experience. To realize actual value creation, many additional factors are important, but more value awareness could play a central role in increasing the chances of finding and creating more value for ourselves, others, and society as a whole.:INTRODUCTION Abstract Motivation and Purpose Theoretical Basis Research Objectives and Studies Excursion: The Leipzig Leadership Model Discussion of Findings Implications for Research Implications for Practice Conclusion References STUDY 1: MORE VALUE AWARENESS FOR MORE (PUBLIC) VALUE: RECOGNIZING HOW AND FOR WHOM VALUE IS TRULY CREATED 68 Abstract STUDY 2: SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL REPUTATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL PUBLIC VALUE Abstract Introduction Organizational Public Value and Organizational Reputation Comparing Public Value and Reputation Implications Conclusion References STUDY 3: THE VALUE AWARENESS PROFILE AS A NEW INSTRUMENT FOR INCREASING INDIVIDUAL VALUE AWARENESS: FOUNDATIONS AND FIRST EXPERIENCES Zusammenfassung Einleitung Theoretische Grundlagen: Wertschöpfung und Wertbewusstsein Wertbewusstsein messen und schaffen: Das Value Awareness Profile Evaluierung des Instruments auf Basis erster Anwendungserfahrungen Ergebnisdarstellung, Typifikation und Hypothesen Diskussion Fazit Literaturverzeichnis STUDY 4: TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING? ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CSR AND EMPLOYEE WORK ADDICTION Abstract Introduction The Positive Outcomes and Potential Risks of CSR for Employees Work Addiction: The Best-Dressed Mental Health Problem in Business Development of Hypotheses Method Results Discussion and Conclusion References