Management and Marketing - Theses
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ItemOrganizational innovation: the role of the board of directors in creating dynamic capability( 2015)Major streams of research on non-executive directors ("NEDs") have focused on their relationship with management and their resource provision function. However, when emerging changes go beyond the knowledge and current resources of the organization, such as when the changes are novel to the organization or require innovative responses, organizational dynamic capability -- the ability to sense external threats and opportunities, develop strategies in response, and transform the organization to carry out the strategies -- can be important to the organization's survival. There has been little attention to the role of the NEDs in ensuring organizational dynamic capability, essential as it may be to the organization. This thesis presents a model which offers that dynamic capability oriented activity (activity which, on its face, may influence organization dynamic capability), performed by the NEDs as a group (the board) or by any of the NEDs, predicts organizational dynamic capability performance which in turn predicts overall organization performance. In a survey-based investigation of the first element of the model, this thesis makes several contributions: (1) It provides a way to directly measure board (the NED part) activity and, in doing so, it responds to several decades of academic requests to advance and open new avenues of research on corporate boards by opening up the boardroom black box through direct examination of director activities; (2) it operationalizes the dynamic capability concept empirically along the sensing, seizing, and transformation elements provided by Teece (2007) which to date has mostly been limited to a theoretical concept; (3) it empirically finds that NED activities may exceed their compliance related governance duties and that some of the primary predictors of NED dynamic capability oriented activities may be NED (group) perceptions of the importance of their duties to provide resources, prevent downside events, and create upside potential, and NED (group) perceptions of themselves and the organization; (4) it finds that the relation between the duties and the DC-activities may offer an explanation for ambiguous results of prior studies of agency theory and the board; and (5) it provides empirical support for some of the activities that resource dependence theory presumes to be taking place. Copyright 2016 Conan L. Hom.
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ItemCustomer co-production and its impact on new product success across strategic types( 2015)The active participation of customers in a firm’s new product development (NPD) processes has long been discussed as a way to increase the alignment between the firm’s market offerings and its customers’ needs and preferences, and is ultimately suggested to create a competitive advantage for the firm. Yet, suggestions for when and how to engage in co-production activities are largely based on theoretical considerations and case-based research that tends to focus on individual methods for customer participation (e.g., focus groups, the lead user method, idea contests), and the according findings are ambiguous at best. This thesis represents one of the first studies to investigate how firms utilize co-production approaches on a larger scale—across different methods, across stages of the NPD process, across different firms, and taking into account internal resources relevant to customer co-production projects. Particularly, the thesis seeks to explain the mixed results found in prior literature by considering the firm’s overarching business strategy (represented by Miles & Snow’s strategic types) as a contingency factor. This dissertation substantially contributes to research on customer participation in NPD processes by integrating a business strategic perspective for the configuration and application of co-production approaches. In two empirical studies, we first investigate the existence of persistent archetypes of co-production approaches (Paper 1, Part A) and the performance implications of utilizing these approaches contingent on the firm’s strategic orientation (Paper 1, Part B). The second study (Paper 2) seeks to consolidate contradicting views on the benefits and impediments of utilizing customer co-production prevalent in prior research. Specifically, we propose that co-production constitutes a form of external (or market-based) slack, which, in combination with internal slack resources can either benefit or diminish the success for NPD projects. Further, we investigate the notion that the modifying influence of internal slack varies for firms following different strategic orientations. We find, in Paper 1, that the success implications of co-production are indeed largely contingent on the firm’s strategic stance. That is, firms that strive for innovative leadership tend to benefit more from utilizing approaches that involve customers in more extensive ways, while less progressive firms tend to benefit more from less extensive co-production approaches. The results of Paper 2 show that co-production is beneficial under low slack conditions but can hamper NPD efficiency and project discipline when internal slack is high—to a point where the negative effects of slack outweigh the positive effects of customer co-production. Consistent with the findings of Paper 1, this effect appears to be more pronounced for firms aiming for innovation leadership and less pronounced given defensive business strategy. Theoretical and practical implications as well as directions for future research are discussed.
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ItemRedesigning hospital care, an innovation implementation process( 2012)It is well observed that healthcare in Australia continues to face financial, operational, efficiency, reputation and quality challenges. The establishment of the Redesigning Hospital Care Program (RHCP) by the Department of Health Victoria (Department) in 2008 was commissioned to create a focus on improvements in efficiency, access and service quality innovations, to identify replicable, scalable and transferrable models which could be commissioned across the Victorian health system. Participating HCOs were assisted to assess their readiness for redesign, using a redesign readiness tool, and to inform a return on investment (ROI) discussion. Using a healthcare based total quality management (TQM) framework as a theoretical lens, this study uses multiple cross case analysis to research the success of the RHCP to date, including what has worked effectively and where there are opportunities for project improvement. A semi structured interview process was used for case analysis which followed a disciplined reference to the case protocol. This process was used due to the subject matter and richness and diversity of the case data. Thematic coding based on case interviews, field notes as well as organisational annual quality reports facilitated intra and inter - case / cross case analysis. The analysis of the qualitative data was conducted concurrently with data gathering and triangulated with case participant documents. The study also explores those HCO characteristics identified in the literature, with respect to innovation implementation and change management capacity. The case study organisations represented in this report have been nominated by the Department as exemplars of HCOs that have had varying degrees of success with respect to RHCP implementation to date. Finally, the study describes key elements identified throughout the case analyses, of critical success factors informing the profile of a redesign ready organisation. These findings include a focus on leadership, a commitment to improvement capability and systems, striking a manageable balance between innovation implementation and risk management, and having a clear focus on results through all levels of the organisation. It also identifies recommendations for further study.