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The World Wide Web has become the medium of choice for the distribution and use of information by individuals, teams, organizations, and communities. Web sites—the collection of web pages that make up the World Wide Web—are the fundamental means by which that information is retrieved and distributed. Understanding the factors that impact the complexity of a web site is a key step toward effective retrieval and distribution of information and its ultimate use in collaborative activity. This paper proposes three major dimensions of factors that impact the complexity of a web site: (1) cognition, (2) content, and (3) form. These three dimensions and their associated factors comprise how individuals perceive a web site, the content that is located at the site, and the manner in which the web site is constructed. A model and associated propositions are presented, and implications of this approach for research and practice are discussed. This multidimensional view of web site complexity provides a richer approach to understanding how complexity might be examined and, ultimately, reduced. This paper relates to collaborative work through individuals and their interaction with a web site. This interaction is, in fact, a communication between the individual using a web site and an individual, group, or organization responsible for the design of the web site. Additionally, the individual perspective is a necessary starting point for collaborative use between and among people.

Abstract. This article examines how sense-making activities in the entrepreneurial, growth-oriented small firm influence performance outcomes. It employs various constructs drawn from the literature and explores how each one affects others, leading to a dynamic model of sense making in the firm. Important constructs include the collective schema- the set of moreor- less shared beliefs that inform and guide the firms members; their heterogeneity or diversity; and their propensities to engage in affirmative story telling and proactive issue diagnosis. The model recognises the possibility of exceptional contributions to collective sense making by salient figures with entrepreneurial propensities, notably members of the entrepreneurial founder team (EFT). The article uses data from two growth-oriented British SMEs to examine the model empirically, enabling a critique of it and a discussion of the ways in which entrepreneurial growth-oriented SMEs may enhance their performance through a better understanding of collective sense making dynamics.

This paper shows for a sample of 134 large firms in twenty industries that industry character mediates the relationship between degree of initial internationalization achieved by mature, domestically rooted firms and the complexity and centrality of their strategy frames. Specifically, complexity of strategy frames is positively related to degree of initial internationalization in multi-domestic industries, while centrality of strategy frames is both positively related to degree of initial internationalization in global industries and negatively related to degree of initial internationalization in multi-domestic industries. The findings have implications for understanding the type of learning internationalizing firms engage in and the relationship between specific internationalization strategies and the strategy frames they support. Hermann, Nadkarni and Pérez December, 2003 1DRAFT!!! Strategy Frames, Industry Context and Internationalization DRAFT!!! The initial phase of internationalization is an uncertain, complex, and difficult strategic context (Yip, Gómez Biscarri, and Monti, 2000). Newly internationalizing firms have to match strategy to the demands imposed by foreign environments (Eriksson, Johanson, Majkgård, and Sharma, 1997; Roth & Morrison, 1992). A critical contingency is the nature of their industry’s

We extend the Western strategic management literature on environmental scanning to the entrepreneurial context by surveying business owners in two countries. Specifically, using the framework of Daft, Sormunen and Parks (1988), we test how perceived environmental uncertainty in seven environmental sectors and information accessibility influence scanning frequency of venture owners in the U.S. and India, two dissimilar entrepreneurial settings. Overall, entrepreneurs in India scan more frequently than do U.S. entrepreneurs, and the perceived rate of environmental change and accessibility of information are associated with their scanning. In the U.S., only perceived information accessibility prompts scanning. These results, which depart from inferences drawn from samples of managers in the Western literature, offer potential for extending scanning theory by cross-culturally broadening the theoretical nexus between organization theory, strategy and entrepreneurship in more fully understanding scanning behavior. Key Words: entrepreneurship, scanning, strategy 2 The literatures of organization theory and strategic management are replete with discussion of the influences of environmental complexity and volatility on organization decision-making, structure and

This study examines the moderating effect of global and multidomestic industries on the relationship between domestic mindsets — knowledge structures that top managers use to make strategic decisions — and multinationality. Based on data of 171 firms from 20 industries, we found that: 1) complexity (breadth) of domestic mindsets was positively related to multinationality in multidomestic but not in global industries and 2) centrality (focus) of domestic mindsets and multinationality were positively related in global industries but negatively associated in multidomestic industries. These results highlight the differences in the domestic mindsets required to cope in global and multidomestic industries.

impact of new product launch strategies

It was founded in 2003, and named after Professor Tjalling C. Koopmans, the Dutch born Nobel Prize laureate in economics in 1975. In the discussion papers series the Koopmans Institute publishes results of ongoing research for early dissemination of research results, and to enhance discussion with colleagues. Please sent any remarks or questions on the Koopmans institute, or this series to P.vanDriel@econ.uu.nl ontwerp voorblad: WRIK Utrecht