Suchergebnisse

Cheap goods from a foreign competitor threaten our industries; have we been here before? What can the west learn from the way it handled phenomenal Japanese growth, and does it apply to China? Adapted from the source document.

Start a simplicity revolution! Complexity is one of the biggest challenges facing modern business. It is slowing companies down, costing them over 10% of their profits and harming employee morale. Yet very few people are offering practical advice on how to solve this problem. From Complexity to Simplicity will equip you and your business with the understanding, tools and inspiration you need to identify and eradicate harmful complexity from your company or organisation. Based on cutting-edge research, it takes you through real business case-studies and offers a practical 'how to' approach to tackling this growing problem. ₅ What is complexity? What is simplicity? ₅ The true financial costs of complexity ₅ The impact of complexity on managers, employees and different parts of the business ₅ How to change the behaviours that create business complexity ₅ How to identify where complexity is hurting you most ₅ Clear guidance on how to remove harmful complexity from processes, organisation design, strategy, product and service portfolios ₅ How to reduce the everyday complexity of work life From Complexity to Simplicity will show you how to start your own simplicity revolution and achieve business success. So keep it simple and make more money!

Purpose– This paper aims to examine how multinational enterprises (MNEs) and local partners, including suppliers, customers and competitors in China, improve their innovation capabilities through collaboration. This collaboration was analysed as a three-way interaction between the ownership-specific (O) advantages or firm-specific assets (FSAs) of the MNE subsidiary, the FSAs of the local partner and the location-specific assets of the host location.Design/methodology/approach– The propositions are examined through a survey of 320 firms, supplemented with 30 in-depth case studies, based in Mainland China.Findings– It is found that the recombination of asset-type (Oa) FSAs and transaction-type (Ot) FSAs from both partners leads to new innovation-related ownership advantages, or "recombinant advantages". Ot FSAs, in the form of access to local suppliers, customers or government networks are particularly important for reducing the liability of foreignness for MNEs.Originality/value– The study reveals important patterns of reciprocal transfer, sharing and integration for different asset categories (tacit, codified) and different forms of FSA and explicitly links these to different innovation performance outcomes. The paper reports on these findings, making an empirical contribution in an important context (China-based partnerships). This paper also contributes to conceptual developments, connecting various kinds of FSA, tacit and codifiable assets and "recombinant advantages". Limited conceptual, methodological and empirical contributions are made in linking asset integration with (measurable) innovation performance outcomes in international partnerships.

This paper argues that features of Japanese organizations, previously held to be the foundations of innovation, change and flexibility, can equally be significant barriers to change, innovation and adaptation in turbulent economic environments. This paper draws on two in-depth case studies of Japanese organizations. It shows how, in both cases, these firms displayed specific weaknesses in the ways in which they integrate and bundle knowledge, in particular around their research and development (R&D) functions. Despite the adoption of strategies of technological innovation and internationalization, the data suggest that the pursuit of both strategies is beset by barriers of inertia. Embedded internal network connections and knowledge-sharing routines between central R&D and other divisions are inappropriate for the revised strategy. Existing external connections, with preferred suppliers and customers within keiretsu structures, and close relationships with existing R&D partners retard these firms' strategic flexibility. With a limited variety of latent routines, knowledge, capabilities and agency to draw on when needed, these firms have limited organizational responsiveness and high levels of path-dependency.