Suchergebnisse

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of personal interaction in customer relationship management in the project business. The research question addressed is: How is personal interaction intertwined with the management of customer relationships in the project business?


Design/methodology/approach
– The authors connect an extensive knowledge of personal interactions in industrial business relationships with research on social interaction in the project business to enrich their understanding of customer relationship management in that business. Exploratory case study is used to empirically examine two firms providing project business solutions: one provides highly-tailored technological solutions to the process industry, and the other provides professional engineering services to that same industry.


Findings
– The study reveals two specific functions that connect personal interaction with customer relationship management. These two functions explain the importance of personal interaction and disclose the contents of interaction that should be considered in relationship and project management. Furthermore, the authors illustrate how two situational factors influence and are influenced by personal interaction.


Originality/value
– The study suggests specific conceptualization of personal interaction as a part of project business management.

Abstract
This article explores preconditions and developmental dynamics of institutional innovation in higher education organizations as an outcome of a collaborative educational initiative – a university-based experimental space. Such collaborative learning configurations are often designed to stimulate local economic development after a downturn in regional industrial landscapes. The experimental space studied here had a twofold mission: providing re-skilling and re-education opportunities for unemployed ICT professionals and equipping them with business and employment bonds with regional game industry companies. To imbue a static outcome of institutional innovation with dynamic features, and to further develop the concept of Triple Helix spaces, we incorporated three sequential forms of institutional work in our analysis: boundary work, distancing work, and anchoring work.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the formation of strategic networks between second-tier actors in the context of a construction megaproject. The research question addressed is: How do second-tier strategic networks form in high uncertainty projects?Design/methodology/approachThis is a qualitative single-case study, which examines strategic network formation in the context of a nuclear power plant construction project. Focused interviews with parties involved or having an interest in the megaproject were used as the primary data collection method.FindingsThe conditions for network formation in a megaproject context are specified with a focus on the determinants of uncertainty. A total of six second-tier network types with different formation conditions and potential roles in the project are characterized.Research limitations/implicationsAnalyzing the prerequisites of strategic network formation and examining the characteristics of various networks (that are either planned, taking shape or existing between the companies) in this specific context creates a basis for further study of network formation over network levels.Practical implicationsThe formation of strategic networks is critical for many actors in the construction and related industries who are willing to participate in large projects. With the help of our findings, managers are able to define opportunities to orchestrate early phase network formation processes in uncertain circumstances, such as megaprojects.Originality/valueThe contribution of this paper lies in the close examination of strategic network formation from the second-tier actor perspective under circumstances of high uncertainty related to the early phases of megaprojects. Likewise, the illustration of different types of evolving nets in different phases of uncertain projects offers a contribution to the present discussion on strategic nets.

Prior research on professional boundary work emphasises the importance of subtle interactions among affected individuals when a new role is inserted into an established professional setting, which inevitably changes the prevalent division of labour. Thus, managers may set reflective spaces for professionals to collaboratively arrange their boundaries and make room for the new professional. This ethnomethodologically oriented study examines boundary arrangements in work development meetings in a university hospital, while professionals made room for a new role, a hospitalist. Examining professionals' naturally occurring interactions in reflective spaces, the findings depict seven categorisations for the hospitalist. Elaborating on the dynamics of these categorisations, we propose that technically based categorisations sustain stability, and context-bound categorisations allow change in work practices, whereas their combination enables transformation within the institutional context. Accordingly, the study adds to the literature on the transformative potential of reflective spaces by illuminating the intertwining of engaged professionals' boundary talk in interaction with the consequences of configurational boundary work in relation to a new professional role.