Organizations enter alliances with each other to access critical resources, but they rely on information from the network of prior alliances to determine with whom to cooperate. These new alliances modify the existing network, prompting an endogenous dynamic between organizational action and network structure that drives the emergence of interorganizational networks. Testing these ideas on alliances formed in three industries over nine years, the authors show that the probability of a new alliance between specific organizations increases with their interdependence, but also with their prior mutual alliances, common third parties, and joint centrality in the alliance network. The differentiation of the emerging network structure, however, mitigates the effect of interdependence and enhances the effect of joint centrality on new alliance formation. 3

Recent research suggests that people obtain useful knowledge from others with whom they work closely and frequently (i.e., strong ties). Yet there has been limited empirical work examining why this is so. Moreover, other research suggests that weak ties provide useful knowledge. To help integrate these multiple findings, we propose and test a model of two-party (dyadic) knowledge exchange, with strong support in each of the three companies surveyed. First, the link between strong ties and receipt of useful knowledge (as reported by the knowledge seeker) was mediated by competence- and benevolence-based trust. Second, once we controlled for these two trust dimensions, the structural benefit of weak ties became visible. This latter finding is consistent with prior research suggesting that weak ties provide access to non-redundant information. Third, we found that competence-based trust was especially important for the receipt of tacit knowledge. We discuss implications for theory and practice. 2

CONTENTS 1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 1 1.1 Why do we need special multilevel analysis techniques? .................. 6 1.2 Multilevel theories ............................................................................... 7 1.3 Models described in this book ............................................................. 8 2 Multilevel Regression Models ............................................................. 11 2.1 The basic two-level regression model ............................................... 11 2.2 Computing parameter estimates and analysis strategy .................. 16 2.3 An example of a simple two-level regression model ......................... 24 2.4 Standardizing regression coefficients ............................................... 26 2.5 Interpreting interactions ................................................................... 27 3 Working with HLM, VARCL and MLn

Current cost estimation techniques have a number of drawbacks. For example, developing algorithmic models requires extensive past project data. Also, off-the-shelf models have been found to be difficult to calibrate but inaccurate without calibration. Informal approaches based on experienced estimators depend on estimators' availability and are not easily repeatable, as well as not being much more accurate than algorithmic techniques. In this paper we present a method for cost estimation that combines aspects of algorithmic and experiential approaches (referred to as COBRA, COst estimation, Benchmarking, and Risk Assessment). We find through a case study that cost estimates using COBRA show an average ARE of 0.09, and show that the results are easily usable for benchmarking and risk assessment purposes. 1 Introduction Project and program managers require accurate and reliable cost estimates to allocate and control project resources, and to make realistic bids on external contracts. ...

Implications for the Globalization of Electronic Commerce Privacy concerns and willingness to participate in relationship marketing differ around the world. Using a sample of Internet users from 38 countries matched against the Internet population of the United States, we tested hypotheses relating variance in information privacy concern to differences in cultural values, national regulation of privacy, and familiarity with Web privacy practices. Cultural values and national regulation had a significant influence on privacy concerns, as did the sensitivity of the context of data collection. After controlling for differences in demographics and Internet experience, there were significant residual differences between the privacy concerns of consumers from six regions: U.S.; Canada, the UK, and Ireland; Continental Europe (current members of the EU); Australia and New Zealand; and Other Countries. While there are substantial areas of agreement, for example, that private information should not

Much empirical research has been done recently on evaluating and modeling interrater agreement in software process assessments. Interrater agreement is the extent to which assessors agree in their ratings of software process capabilities when presented with the same evidence and performing their ratings independently. This line of research was based on the premise that lack of interrater agreement can lead to erroneous decisions from process assessment scores. However, thus far we do not know the impact of interrater agreement on the cost of assessments. In this paper we report on a study that evaluates the relationship between interrater agreement and the cost of the consolidation activity in assessments. The study was conducted in the context of two assessments using the emerging international standard ISO/IEC 15504. Our results indicate that for organizational processes, the relationship is strong and in the expected direction. For project level processes no relationship was found. ...

We are indebted to Editor Anne Tsui, and three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this paper.

Abstract not found

this paper are adapted from Hofstede (1994). ing about successful new products in organizations with centralized authority (Parry and Song 1993). One way top management contributes to new product suc- cess is to facilitate communication and coordination among functional areas and to resolve NPD inter func- tional conflicts. Because authoritarian behavior by su- periors and passive obedience by subordinates are expected in cultures with high power distance, the cost of implementing top-down decisions may be relatively low. Therefore, we expect the hierarchical method of conflict resolution to be more productive in cultures with higher power distance scores than in cultures with lower power distance scores. Third, a high score on uncertainty avoidance implies that people are reluctant to take risks and that they work better in a more structured and formalized environ- ment. Since the hierarchical method uses authority to resolve interfunctional conflicts, it leads to a less risky and more structured decision-making process than the competition method. Thus, we expect that the hierar- chical method of conflict resolution will be more effec- tive in cultures with higher levels of uncertainty avoidance, and that competition will be more effective in cultures with lower levels of uncertainty avoidance. Fourth, cultures with a long-term orientation place a high value on the future. Managers with a long-term orientation may prefer decisions that preserve relationships for the future at the cost of an inferior short-term decision. As we have observed, competition--with its emphasis on imposing one's own view by force without considering the interests of others--and accommodation --a willingness to give up one's own interests to satisfy the wishes of others--often lead to one-si...

In this article, the authors investigate whether the fit between consumers ’ image and the image of an innovation, commonly referred to as image congruence, has an impact on customers’attitudes toward innovative services as well as the intention to use these new services. Moreover, situational influences (i.e., private vs. public, and friends vs. colleagues) are examined. The results of the two experiments show that not only does image congruence have a significant impact on consumer attitudes and the adoption decision, but there is also an interaction between image congruence and the consumption situation. Contrary to the authors’expectations, consumers with low image congruence are influenced more by their surroundings than consumers with high image congruence. It seems that as long as the fit between the consumer’s self-image and the service image is high, signals from the consumer’s environment are overruled.