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In recent years, increased attention has been paid to issues of responsibility across the entire product lifecycle. Responsible behaviour of organizations in the product chain is dependent on the actions of other parties such as suppliers and customers. Only through co-operation and close interaction between the different parties involved is it possible to come to a specified form of responsible chain management. Drawing on stakeholder theory and literature on the resource-based view of the firm, this article presents a framework for assessing the organizational capabilities of responding to claims from internal and external parties. Interpretations of stakeholder interests, integration into business processes, monitoring these processes, and communication with stakeholders are the central processes in this framework. The application of this framework to three cases of responsible

Value creation in fine arts: a system dynamics model of inverse demand and information cascades

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- Theme: managing for strategic flexibility in dynamic markets- Paper intented for post conference publication Please contact:

Rapid growth rates of new businesses in the telecommunication industry can only be achieved if existing large sales organizations can be adapted to integrate innovative products and services. These stem from small firms or development units. The challenge is to systematically update the large organization’s operational routines. We analyze a case of a telecommunication manufacturer that changed its organizational structure, in order to cope with the interface problems between the product & solution management department and the large sales/operations department. This interface was seen to be unsatisfactory; i.e. long lead times, inefficiencies, dissatisfaction of employees. Grounded on the case data, we will investigate how business units of large organizations can cope with managerial issues that arise at the interfaces between new entrepreneurial ventures and the existing organization. As a local theory for this case, we have identified two dynamic capabilities: incubating and grafting. These support two phases of this entrepreneurial venturing process. We refer to entrepreneurial venturing as an interface process between technological innovations generated by small entrepreneurial ventures and the subsequent ramp up of the sales organization. 1.

A critical research agenda for organisational performance measurement

Acknowledgement: Thanks are due to Richard Laughlin and fellow members of the Management Managers are continually under pressure to measure the performance of their organisation, but there is little empirical evidence about the impact of measurement on performance. Furthermore, many measurement tools and techniques lack clear theoretical foundations. This paper proposes investigations into neglected aspects of organisational performance measurement, reflecting the concern of managers and illustrating the potential impact of theoretical developments on practice. Issues about theory, epistemology and methodologies that accompany such a research agenda, are also raised. 1. Preamble This paper may be a bit unusual for a formal conference discussion as it concentrates neither on presenting empirical results, nor on developing theoretical explanations, but simply seeks to make the case for more of both of these. As such, it is ‘work in the early stages of progress ’ on which feedback on all aspects of the paper will be welcome. And as befits a primarily qualitative and subjectivist-inclined researcher, I felt it important to put the

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Evolutionary theory of business activity studies how firms are selected out of environments that they do not fit, but most existing work under-emphasizes the distinction between acquisition and dissolution as selection processes. We address this gap with a multi-level analysis that investigates how managerial and functional organizational capabilities affect whether struggling firms exit by acquisition or dissolution. We demonstrate that managerial and functional capabilities have heterogeneous effects on selection processes, with managerial capabilities having particularly strong influence on acquisition exits by struggling firms. The work provides a bridge between adaptation and selection views on organizational change; exit by dissolution represents selection of both firms and capabilities, while exit by acquisition represents firm selection but capability adaptation. Key words: Selection, capabilities, acquisition, dissolution, evolutionary theory, business dynamicsOne of the fundamental tensions in strategic management theories of business evolution concerns the distinction between adaptation and selection when firms encounter problems. Early strategic management research typically assumed that business change primarily occurs by adaptation, in which executives of struggling firms actively lead strategic change of their underlying business capabilities (e.g., Cyert and March, 1963; Andrews, 1971). The evolutionary theory revolution of the 1970s and 1980s then