Dynamic learning as entrepreneurial action in the context of open innovation:an instrumental case from a communities-of-practice perspective

Recent scholarly discussion on open innovation put forward the notion that an organisation's ability to internalise external knowledge and learn from various sources in undertaking new product development is crucial to its competitive performance. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to how growth-oriented small firms identify and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities (i.e. take entrepreneurial action) related to such development, in an open innovation context, from a social learning perspective. This chapter, based on an instrumental case-firm, demonstrates analytically how learning as entrepreneurial action takes place, drawing on situated learning theory. It is argued that such learning is dynamic in nature and is founded on specific organising principles that foster both inter- and intracommunal learning. © 2012, IGI Global.

Evaluating the skills strategy through a Graduate Certificate in Management:an experiential learning theory approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how a UK business school is addressing the Government's skills strategy through its Graduate Certificate in Management, and to identify good practice and development needs and to clarify how the Graduate Certificate is adapting to the needs of Generation X and Millennial students. The paper also aims to test Kolb and Kolb's experiential learning theory (ELT) in a business school setting. Design/methodology/approach – A case study methodology was adopted. In order to get a cross-section of views and triangulate the data, three focus groups were held, supported by reading documentation about the programme of study. Findings – The skills strategy is not just an ambition for some business schools, but is already part of the curriculum. Generation X and the Millennials have more in common with the positive attitudes associated with older generations than stereotyped views might allow. ELT provides a useful theoretical framework for evaluating a programme of study and student attitudes. Research limitations/implications – The research findings from one case study are reported, limiting the generalisability of the study. Practical implications – Good practice and development needs are identified which support the implementation of the Government's skills strategy and address employer concerns about student skills. Originality/value – New empirical data are reported which supports the use of ELT in evaluating programmes of study and student attitudes to work.

Work-life balance benefits:employee attitudes and behaviors through the lens of social exchange theory

The question of what to provide employees in order that they reciprocate with desirable behaviors in the work place has resulted in a great amount of work in the area of social exchange. Although offering fair compensation, including salary or wages and employee benefits, has been extensively studied, the effects of offering specific types of benefits, such as work-life balance benefits, and the intangible rewards that such an offering inadvertently offers, has only been minimally explored. Utilizing past literature, this current research examined the offering of work-life balance benefits, the value employees place on those benefits, the communication of the benefits by the organization to employees, and their effect on employee attitudes and behaviors. The goal was to identify the effect on desirable outcomes when work-life balance benefits are offered to determine the usefulness to the organization of offering such benefits. To test these effects, a study of an organization known to offer a strong work-life balance benefits package was undertaken. This was accomplished through the distribution of questionnaires to identify the possible relationships involving 408 employee respondents and their 79 supervisors. This was followed with interviews of 12 individuals to ascertain the true reasons for links observed through analysis. Analysis of the data was accomplished through correlation analysis, multilevel analysis and regression analysis generated by SPSS. The results of the quantitative analysis showed support for a relationship between the offering of work-life balance benefits and perceived organizational support, perceived distributive justice, job satisfaction and OCBO. The analysis also showed a lack of support for a relationship between the offering of work-life balance benefits and organizational commitment, OCBI and IRB. The interviews offered possible reasons for the lack of support regarding the relationship between the offering of work-life balance benefits and organizational commitment as well as organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBI and IRB). The implications of these findings on future research, theory and practice in the offering of work-life balance benefits are discussed.

What does "good" look like? A three-country examination of marketing practice

Grounded in configuration theory, this study investigates the notion of co-alignment of business orientation, marketing assets and marketing capabilities, and their relationships to performance. Using these criteria, profiles of high performing businesses were derived and assessed against a three country sample of Brazil, China and the UK. Findings are consistent, statistically significant and invariant across the sample. They show that businesses with ideal profiles significantly outperform competitors in terms of market-based performance, customer satisfaction, and financial performance. Furthermore, profiles of top performing organizations are similar across countries with respect to their orientations, assets, and capabilities. Only customer-based assets, network capabilities, and customer and shareholder orientations were different. Implications and future research directions are subsequently addressed.

The state of the art in organizational cognitive neuroscience:the therapeutic gap and possible implications for clinical practice

In the last decade, researchers in the social sciences have increasingly adopted neuroscientific techniques, with the consequent rise of research inspired by neuroscience in disciplines such as economics, marketing, decision sciences, and leadership. In 2007, we introduced the term organizational cognitive neuroscience (OCN), in an attempt to clearly demarcate research carried out in these many areas, and provide an overarching paradigm for research utilizing cognitive neuroscientific methods, theories, and concepts, within the organizational and business research fields. Here we will revisit and further refine the OCN paradigm, and define an approach where we feel the marriage of organizational theory and neuroscience will return even greater dividends in the future and that is within the field of clinical practice.

Practitioners are from Mars; academics are from Venus? An investigation of the research-practice gap in management accounting

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to identify and gain insights into the significance of barriers contributing to the purported "gap" between academic management accounting research and practice. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on diffusion of innovations theory, this study collects and analyses data from a questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews with 19 representatives of the four principal professional accounting bodies in Australia. Findings: Professional accounting bodies perceive the gap between academic research and practice in management accounting to be of limited concern to practitioners. The two most significant barriers to research utilisation by practitioners are identified as: difficulties in understanding academic research papers; and limited access to research findings. In acting as a conduit between the worlds of academia and practice, professional bodies have an important role to play by demonstrating the mutual value to both academics and practitioners resulting from a closer engagement between MA research and practice. Research limitations/implications: As one of the few empirically-based, theoretically informed investigations exploring the research-practice gap in management accounting, this study provides insights rather than "answers". Its findings therefore serve as a foundational basis for further empirical and theoretical enquiry. Originality/value: This study contributes to the conversation about the "research-practice gap" in management accounting by adopting a distinct theoretical vantage point to organize, analyse and interpret empirical evidence obtained from Australian professional accounting bodies about management accounting practice. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Innovating engineering education: the RVS approach:an empirically grounded method to improved practice and enhanced student experience

This paper builds on previous work (Clark, 2009; Clark & Andrews 2011, 2014) to continue the debate around a seemingly universal question…“How can educational theory be applied to engineering education in such a way so as to make the subject more accessible and attractive to students? It argues that there are three key elements to student success; Relationships, Variety & Synergy (RVS). By further examining the purposefully developed bespoke learning and teaching approach constructed around these three elements (RVS) the discourse in this paper links educational theory to engineering education and in doing so further develops arguments for the introduction of a purposefully designed pedagogic approach for use in engineering education.

Using cognitive load theory to interpret student difficulties with a problem-based learning approach to engineering education:a case study

This article reports on an investigationwith first year undergraduate ProductDesign and Management students within a School of Engineering and Applied Science. The students at the time of this investigation had studied fundamental engineering science and mathematics for one semester. The students were given an open ended, ill-formed problem which involved designing a simple bridge to cross a river.They were given a talk on problemsolving and given a rubric to follow, if they chose to do so.They were not given any formulae or procedures needed in order to resolve the problem. In theory, they possessed the knowledge to ask the right questions in order tomake assumptions but, in practice, it turned out they were unable to link their a priori knowledge to resolve this problem. They were able to solve simple beam problems when given closed questions. The results show they were unable to visualize a simple bridge as an augmented beam problem and ask pertinent questions and hence formulate appropriate assumptions in order to offer resolutions.

The political discourse and material practice of technology enhanced learning

Technology discloses man’s mode of dealing with Nature, the process of production by which he sustains his life, and thereby also lays bare the mode of formation of his social relations, and of the mental conceptions that flow from them (Marx, 1990: 372) My thesis is a Sociological analysis of UK policy discourse for educational technology during the last 15 years. My framework is a dialogue between the Marxist-based critical social theory of Lieras and a corpus-based Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of UK policy for Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) in higher education. Embedded in TEL is a presupposition: a deterministic assumption that technology has enhanced learning. This conceals a necessary debate that reminds us it is humans that design learning, not technology. By omitting people, TEL provides a vehicle for strong hierarchical or neoliberal, agendas to make simplified claims politically, in the name of technology. My research has two main aims: firstly, I share a replicable, mixed methodological approach for linguistic analysis of the political discourse of TEL. Quantitatively, I examine patterns in my corpus to question forms of ‘use’ around technology that structure a rigid basic argument which ‘enframes’ educational technology (Heidegger, 1977: 38). In a qualitative analysis of findings, I ask to what extent policy discourse evaluates technology in one way, to support a Knowledge Based Economy (KBE) in a political economy of neoliberalism (Jessop 2004, Fairclough 2006). If technology is commodified as an external enhancement, it is expected to provide an ‘exchange value’ for learners (Marx, 1867). I therefore examine more closely what is prioritised and devalued in these texts. Secondly, I disclose a form of austerity in the discourse where technology, as an abstract force, undertakes tasks usually ascribed to humans (Lieras, 1996, Brey, 2003:2). This risks desubjectivisation, loss of power and limits people’s relationships with technology and with each other. A view of technology in political discourse as complete without people closes possibilities for broader dialectical (Fairclough, 2001, 2007) and ‘convivial’ (Illich, 1973) understandings of the intimate, material practice of engaging with technology in education. In opening the ‘black box’ of TEL via CDA I reveal talking points that are otherwise concealed. This allows me as to be reflexive and self-critical through praxis, to confront my own assumptions about what the discourse conceals and what forms of resistance might be required. In so doing, I contribute to ongoing debates about networked learning, providing a context to explore educational technology as a technology, language and learning nexus.

Strategic planning research:toward a theory-driven agenda

This review incorporates strategic planning research conducted over more than 30 years and ranges from the classical model of strategic planning to recent empirical work on intermediate outcomes, such as the reduction of managers’ position bias and the coordination of subunit activity. Prior reviews have not had the benefit of more socialized perspectives that developed in response to Mintzberg’s critique of planning, including research on planned emergence and strategy-as-practice approaches. To stimulate a resurgence of research interest on strategic planning, this review therefore draws on a diverse body of theory beyond the rational design and contingency approaches that characterized research in this domain until the mid-1990s. We develop a broad conceptualization of strategic planning and identify future research opportunities for improving our understanding of how strategic planning influences organizational outcomes. Our framework incorporates the role of strategic planning practitioners; the underlying routines, norms, and procedures of strategic planning (practices); and the concrete activities of planners (praxis).

A származtatott termékek árazása és annak problémái az egyensúlyelmélet szempontjából (Pricing of derived products and problems with it in terms of equilibrium theory)

A szerző röviden összefoglalja a származtatott termékek árazásával kapcsolatos legfontosabb ismereteket és problémákat. A derivatív árazás elmélete a piacon levő termékek közötti redundanciát kihasználva próbálja meghatározni az egyes termékek relatív árát. Ezt azonban csak teljes piacon lehet megtenni, és így csak teljes piac esetén lehetséges a hasznossági függvények fogalmát az elméletből és a ráépülő gyakorlatból elhagyni, ezért a kockázatsemleges árazás elve félrevezető. Másképpen fogalmazva: a származtatott termékek elmélete csak azon az áron képes a hasznossági függvény fogalmától megszabadulni, ha a piac szerkezetére a valóságban nem teljesülő megkötéseket tesz. Ennek hangsúlyozása mind a piaci gyakorlatban, mind az oktatásban elengedhetetlen. / === / The author sums up briefly the main aspects and problems to do with the pricing of derived products. The theory of derivative pricing uses the redundancy among products on the market to arrive at relative product prices. But this can be done only on a complete market, so that only with a complete market does it become possible to omit from the theory and the practice built upon it the concept of utility functions, and for that reason the principle of risk-neutral pricing is misleading. To put it another way, the theory of derived products is capable of freeing itself from the concept of utility functions only at a price where in practice it places impossible restrictions on the market structure. This it is essential to emphasize in market practice and in teaching.

Innovációs kalandozások az elmélettől a stratégiáig = Innovation adventuring from theory to strategy

A cikk célja, hogy közelebb vigye az olvasót az innováció és az innovációmenedzsment kérdésköréhez. A tanulmány az innováció témakörének feldolgozását a vállalatelméleti alapoktól kezdi, majd konkrét stratégiai megfontolásokig jut el a cikk végére. A tanulmány széles körű hazai és nemzetközi szakirodalom alapján tárja fel az innováció vállalatelméleti gyökereit. A felhasznált irodalom nem ragad meg elméleti szinten, hiszen a tanulmány lefordítja ezeket az elméleti koncepciókat valós, gyakorlatorientált üzleti nyelvre. Célja, hogy a nagyvilágban szétszórt elméleteket letisztítsa, és a modern kori menedzsmentelvekkel szintetizálja. A cikk az innovációt a vállalati értékteremtés szemszögéből vizsgálja. Megállapítja, hogy az innováció számos vállalatelmélet tanait integrálja egybe, aminek következtében a stratégiai implikációk is széles spektrumon mozoghatnak. Ahogy az innováció változást indukál a szervezetben, úgy bukkannak fel komplex optimalizálási dilemmák, amelyek a turbulens gazdasági környezetben, a rövidülő reakcióidők miatt, egyre nagyobb kihívást okoznak a menedzserek számára. A cikk ezeket a dilemmákat mutatja be vitaindító attitűddel, valamint az elmélet és a gyakorlat szintetizálásával. ____ The aim of the article is to bring the reader closer to the topic of innovation management through several company theories and strategic implications. This study is based on a wide range of international literature which is interpreted in a practice oriented way. This article is summarizing the sporadic information on innovation as well as makes an effort on synthesizing this knowledge. The aspect of observation is mainly based on corporate value creation. As innovation causes changes into the organization company leaders have to face complex economic optimization questions. These management dilemmas are not easy to solve in this turbulent business environment. This article tries to highlight these strategic level issues around innovation management by synthesizing theoretical knowledge with business implications.

The tonglen experiences of individuals with established sitting meditation practices: a grounded theory study

While there is an ever expanding body of research on various forms of meditation, there is currently a relative absence of academic literature on tonglen. A form of meditation which involves both visualizations and breathing elements, during tonglen one takes in the negativity and suffering experienced by others and, in return, sends back happiness and compassion. The current study explores the tonglen meditation experiences of individuals who have established sitting meditation practices. A qualitative, grounded theory approach was used in looking at what tonglen means to participants, how they engage with the practice, why they practice tonglen, and what they perceive to be the benefits of tonglen in the context of a 28 day practice period. Based on the findings from this study, a model was developed that describes the tonglen experiences of participants.

The process of implementing a new baby-friendly hospital initiative for nurses: a grounded theory study

Maternity nursing practice is changing across Canada with the movement toward becoming “baby friendly.” The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) as a standard of care in hospitals worldwide. Very little research has been conducted with nurses to explore the impact of the initiative on nursing practice. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine the process of implementing the BFHI for nurses. The study was carried out using Corbin and Strauss’s method of grounded theory. Theoretical sampling was employed, which resulted in recruiting and interviewing 13 registered nurses whose area of employment included neonatal intensive care, postpartum, and labour and delivery. The data analysis revealed a central category of resisting the BFHI. All of the nurses disagreed with some of the 10 steps to becoming a baby-friendly hospital as outlined by the WHO. Participants questioned the science and safety of aspects of the BFHI. Also, participants indicated that the implementation of this program did not substantially change their nursing practice. They empathized with new mothers and anticipated being collectively reprimanded by management should they not follow the initiative. Five conditions influenced their responses to the initiative, which were (a) an awareness of a pro-breastfeeding culture, (b) imposition of the BFHI, (c) knowledge of the health benefits of breastfeeding, (d) experiential knowledge of infant feeding, and (e) the belief in the autonomy of mothers to decide about infant feeding. The identified outcomes were moral distress and division between nurses. The study findings could guide decision making concerning the implementation of the BFHI.

The Significance of Critical Theory for Restorative Justice in Education

Restorative Justice (rj), a distinctive philosophical approach that seeks to replace punitive, managerial structures of schooling with those that emphasize the building and repairing of relationships (Hopkins 2004) has been embraced in the past two decades by a variety of school systems worldwide in an effort to build safe school communities. Early studies indicate rj holds significant promise, however, proponents in the field identify that theoretical and evidence-based research is falling behind practice. They call for further research to deepen the current understanding of rj that will support its sustainability and transformative potential and allow it to move from the margins to the mainstream of schooling (Braithwaite 2006; Morrison & Ahmed 2006; Sherman & Strang 2007).