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The capitalist and socialist societies of the 20 th century assigned firms different roles within their economic systems. Enterprises transforming from socialist to market economies thus face fundamental organizational restructuring. Many former state-owned firms in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe have failed at this task. These firms have pursued primarily defensive downsizing, rather than strategic restructuring, as a result of both internal and external constraints on restructuring strategies. Building on the organizational learning and resource-based theories, we analyze strategies available to management in privatized, former state-owned enterprises in transition economies to restructure their organization. Both internal forces promoting or inhibiting the restructuring process, and external constraints arising in the transition context are examined. A model and testable propositions are developed that explain post-privatization performance. Implications of our research point to the ways in which firms should manage and develop their resource base to transform to competitive enterprises.

This paper argues that not only Edith Penrose, but also Harold Demsetz should be seen as a dominant source of inspiration for RBP scholars, that these two crucial influences hold different and even conflicting views of the economic process, and that they helped found different research areas and research approaches within the RBP. Based on this discussion, the paper argues that the conflicting legacies of Penrose and Demsetz threathen the coherence of the RBP, that a central problem in the RBP is the lack of understanding of the process of resource-creation which tends to give the perspective a retrospective character, but that work on technological innovation and change, framed in the broader theoretical context of Austrian and evolutionary economics, may help remedy this shortcoming.

This paper argues that complementary human resource practices play an important role in the development of a knowledge-based theory of firm differences. We find that firm types and knowledge strategies impact combinations of human resource practices employed in support of current activity systems and innovation. While recent evidence suggests that consistency among human resource practices is conducive, e.g. for productivity increases, research on complementarities among human resource management practices remains sparse, and focussed on single industries or firms. Additionally, little is known whether and how human resource practices support activity systems in different firm types and innovation. This paper addresses this gap by investigating the impact of firm type, knowledge strategies pursued, and external linkages on the application of complementarity human resource practices in a multisectoral sample of 684 manufacturing and 1,200 non-manufacturing firms. We develop hypotheses from the knowledge-based perspective, the theory of complementarity, and the strategic human resource literature. Our results support prior findings about complementarity between human resource practices, but complementarity effects differ in strength. Additionally, combinations of practices applied differ significantly with contingency factors such as knowledge strategies pursued and firm type. Thus, calling for a stronger integration between strategic management and human resource management.

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Knowledge has received increased attention as the basis to explain differences in firm performance. Yet, the knowledge-based view of the firm in strategic management is still a contested and unmapped terrain with no unified clear-cut theories. This paper critiques existing contributions to knowledge-based views and highlights tensions in the field. We introduce an integrated knowledge-based view of the firm that encompasses and extends previous contributions and acts as a foundation for a future research agenda.

We thank an anonymous reviewer for exceptionally detailed feedback and Todd Chiles, Richard

Opportunity exploitation is a necessary step in creating a successful business in the entrepreneurial process, yet there has been little conceptual and empirical development of this issue in the literature. This study examines the decisions of entrepreneurs to begin exploiting business opportunitiesfrom a resource-based viewv. Our analysis of a sample of entrepreneurs whose businesses are located in incubators suggests that entrepreneurs are more likely to exploit opportunities when they perceive more knowledge of customer demand for the new product, more fully developed necessary technologies, greater managerial capability and greater stakeholder support. Moreover thefindings of this study shed a light on a less emplhasized aspect of the resource-based view: the new product's anticipated lead time acts as an enhancing moderator in entrepreneurs ' exploitation decision policies. bInplicationsforfuture research on opportunity exploitation are discussed. © 2003 Elsevier Itnc. All rights reserved. Entrepreneurship involves phenomena and processes related to discovering, evaluating, and exploiting opportunities to create future goods and services (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000). The outcome of this process is new products or services or both. Newness, however,

Enhanced information sharing among criminal justice agencies is a critical concern and a goal of much IT investment. Understanding agencies ’ capabilities to achieve this goal is central to successful planning and investments, but indeed a difficult endeavor. The difficulty rests in part on the multiple and divergent theory frames for describing and understanding capability. This paper proposes a way of describing and assessing capabilities that goes beyond traditional resource-based models of organizational capability to include ideas from institutional and practice based perspectives. In this new perspective, capabilities are seen as multidimensional phenomena that are resource based and embedded in organizational routines, but we argue they are enacted through work practices, located in and bounded by their institutional contexts. The paper draws on literature from strategic management, information systems and organizational studies as well as practice theories to support this perspective. It then describes how this multidimensional perspective was used to develop an assessment tool for use in the criminal justice information initiatives. This is followed by a brief description of how the capability assessment tool was developed with a national panel of practitioners responsible for justice information integration initiatives and then applied within the context of one initiative. The test results illustrate the potential of the extended model in building a fuller understanding of the dimensions of organizational capability in practice and the utility of practical tools based on these dimensions. Categories and Subject Descriptors K.6.1 [Project and People Management]: Life cycle management techniques (e.g., PERT/CPM), Staffing, Strategic