A capability-based view of organisational renewal : Combining opportunity- and advantage-seeking growth in large, established European and North American wood-industry companies

The purpose of this study was to extend understanding of how large firms pursuing sustained and profitable growth manage organisational renewal. A multiple-case study was conducted in 27 North American and European wood-industry companies, of which 11 were chosen for closer study. The study combined the organisational-capabilities approach to strategic management with corporate-entrepreneurship thinking. It charted the further development of an identification and classification system for capabilities comprising three dimensions: (i) the dynamism between firm-specific and industry-significant capabilities, (ii) hierarchies of capabilities and capability portfolios, and (iii) their internal structure. Capability building was analysed in the context of the organisational design, the technological systems and the type of resource-bundling process (creating new vs. entrenching existing capabilities). The thesis describes the current capability portfolios and the organisational changes in the case companies. It also clarifies the mechanisms through which companies can influence the balance between knowledge search and the efficiency of knowledge transfer and integration in their daily business activities, and consequently the diversity of their capability portfolio and the breadth and novelty of their product/service range. The largest wood-industry companies of today must develop a seemingly dual strategic focus: they have to combine leading-edge, innovative solutions with cost-efficient, large-scale production. The use of modern technology in production was no longer a primary source of competitiveness in the case companies, but rather belonged to the portfolio of basic capabilities. Knowledge and information management had become an industry imperative, on a par with cost effectiveness. Yet, during the period of this research, the case companies were better in supporting growth in volume of the existing activity than growth through new economic activities. Customer-driven, incremental innovation was preferred over firm-driven innovation through experimentation. The three main constraints on organisational renewal were the lack of slack resources, the aim for lean, centralised designs, and the inward-bound communication climate.

Hermann von Schrenk : a biography: botanist, plant pathologist, wood preserving scientist, pioneer in American wood preservation, forest scientist, forester, timber engineer.

Mode of access: Internet.

The story of American Bank Note Company.

Mode of access: Internet.

Federal Trade Commission vs. United States Steel Corporation, American Bridge Company, American Sheet & Tin Plate Company, Carnegie Steel Company, American Steel & Wire Company, Illinois Steel Company, Minnesota Steel Company, Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Compay [sic], et al., respondents. State of Illinois, state of Iowa, state of Minnesota and state of Wisconsin, amici curiæ. Statement of case, [vol. I-II]. H.G. Pickering, attorney for amici curiæ. ... K.E. Steinhauer, attorney for Commission. Cordenio A. Severance and William W. Corlett, attorneys for the respondents.

Paged continuously.

Annual report of the American Sugar Refining Company.

Reports for 1915-<1958> have title: Annual report.

The first twenty years; a history of the growth and development of the American Rolling Mill Company, Middletown, Ohio, beginning 1901 and ending 1922.

Mode of access: Internet.

Lima Township (Mich.) residences

Left to right: Oak Lawn Farm Res. of Thos. S. Sears, Sec. 6, Lima Tp. Mich.; Res. of Elias Westfall, Sec. 9, Lima Tp. Mich.; Res. of Thomas Jewett, Sec 20, Lima Tp., Mich.; Res. of Richard Goodwin, sec. 9, Lima Tp. Mich.; Res. of Geo. H. Mitchell, Sec 28, Lima Tp., Mich.; Res. of Sampson Parker, Sec 24, Lima Tp. Mich. Publication information: Chicago, Ill. : Everts & Stewart, 1874.

Catalogs of Michigan-based automobile companies.

Mode of access: Internet.

Hoover Steel Ball Company Plant, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Image from publication: The evolution of the steel ball industry. Hoover Steel Ball Company (Ann Arbor, Mich.), [1917]

Ford Motor Company Visitor Reception Center, Dearborn, Michigan, 1971 (unbuilt project)

[Conceptual Sketch of Scheme 1], untitled. Ink sketch on white paper, 8 1/2 x 11 inches [from photographic copy by Lance Burgharrdt]