IMP Journal最新文献

{"title":"Exploring the role of business relationships in start-ups’ life cycles","authors":"C. Cantù, Sepe Giorgia, Alessandra Tzannis","doi":"10.1108/IMP-07-2017-0037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/IMP-07-2017-0037","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000Differently from previous works that focused on the entrepreneur and on his ability to manage social relationships, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of business relationships in the different stages of the life cycle of a start-up.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000Since the paper aims to explore startups’ evolutionary phenomenon, it adopts a qualitative abductive methodology, presenting an in-depth study of two innovative Italian start-ups. The research is based on two steps. In the first one, the authors collected secondary data from start-ups’ reports and documents, financial indicators (when available) and processed them to understand their background. In the second one, the authors conducted ten semi-structured interviews, including face-to-face interviews, phone interviews and video conferences.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The paper presents a relationship-based life cycle model composed of four different stages, depending on the number and role of relationships developed. Indeed, since the beginning, start-ups adopt a relational approach and their evolution involves the shift from the focus on the entrepreneur to the centrality of a network approach based on interconnected relationships. The entering into a new stage of life cycle depends on relationships, mainly based on connected actors and resources shared and combined. Even if a key role is assumed by technology, the main resource is identified in the knowledge concerning the customer/user’s needs that require marketing competencies, human resources, relational capabilities. Thus, the shift from one stage to the next in the start-up’s life cycle is possible thanks to a parallel shift from a focus on the activities to a focus on those strategic and heterogeneous actors that ensure activities.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000In a traditional perspective, the start-up’s life cycle depends on activities, financial resources and revenues, as stated by previous life cycle models. In a different perspective, as depicted in our analysis, the evolution of a start-up depends on the portfolio of their business relationships. The role of business relationships is hence to facilitate the interconnections within specialized key actors, which allow start-ups to access strategic resources. These resources are essential in order to develop the activities that characterize the specific stage of the life cycle.\u0000","PeriodicalId":229252,"journal":{"name":"IMP Journal","volume":"35 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125105120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Networked interdependencies and interaction in a biotechnology research project","authors":"Artur Janusz, A. Bednarek, Leszek Komarowski, P. Boniecki, P. Engelseth","doi":"10.1108/IMP-01-2018-0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/IMP-01-2018-0009","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000The purpose of this paper is to reveal the interdependencies involved and how interaction takes place in the context of a project organization as a network of academic and business actors.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000This study focuses on relationships between business and academia and applies a single case research strategy. Data are collected through a series of theoretically sampled in-depth interviews including company observations. The single case study provides a rich narrative of the network structure and processes involved in establishing, implementing and completing a research project in Poland. The Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group network approach focusing on resource combinations that emerge in a network structure characterized by interdependency and integration is applied to analyze interaction in this project-organized network.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000Change in interdependencies, interaction and integration are analyzed individually, and in conclusion in relation to each other. While supply chain management literature postulates that integration is a management goal, a driver of successful business, this study points out that integration is an outcome of interaction in a context of changing interdependencies. This means that managerial focus should rather be driven to understanding the nature of network interdependencies, their path of change and how interaction is carried out in this emergent context.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000The study aims to help better understand the potential for research project cooperation by explaining how businesses and research units can cooperate through an understanding that integration is a complex phenomenon, focusing on how management may better support services production through careful consideration of that integration is developed through considerations of interdependencies as context of interaction in the varied business cultures a project network comprises. Project management is more a learning process than a planning process.\u0000","PeriodicalId":229252,"journal":{"name":"IMP Journal","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134398209","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Factors of business relationships change in agribusiness input distribution channel","authors":"Michał Gazdecki","doi":"10.1108/IMP-01-2018-0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/IMP-01-2018-0011","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000The purpose of this paper is to identify factors of change in business relationships among companies operating in agribusiness input distribution channel.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000This study, based on a qualitative approach applying network perspective, is focused on agri-markets for plant protection products. Primary data were collected via individual in-depth interviews with among managers of trade companies operating on agri-inputs products market.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000Although relation between input producers and trade companies on agri-inputs market is affected by a large number of factors, representatives of trade companies seem to be focused on a limited number of them. In particular two factors need to be underlined as main ones: contract conditions and structural changes on the markets which manifest themselves mainly by consolidation of market entities. The function differentiation of the trade companies results not only in generated sales but also in a larger intensity of interactions with other market operators and in the necessity of creating new relationships. In the long term, it may generate the intensification of competitive structures that occur at the same level in a distribution channel.\u0000\u0000\u0000Research limitations/implications\u0000Generalization based on qualitative approach employed in this paper requires further testing and quantitative validation.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000Even though agri-markets appear to be well-suited for studying network systems, such an approach has hardly ever been used. Interactions between different kinds of entities on agri-markets are incredibly strong and complex. The paper contributes to the two fields. First, it provides results related to the business relationship dynamics, especially factors that trigger relation change. Second, paper contributes to the agribusiness markets theory, especially from the structural point of view.\u0000","PeriodicalId":229252,"journal":{"name":"IMP Journal","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132146776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of business networks on foreign subsidiaries development","authors":"E. Baraldi, Francesco Ciabuschi, Olof Lindahl, Andrea Perna, G. Gregori","doi":"10.1108/IMP-01-2018-0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/IMP-01-2018-0003","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000The purpose of this paper is to explore two specific areas pertaining to industrial networks and international business (IB). First, the authors look at how business relationships influence the internationalization in time, from the establishment of the first subsidiary in a foreign market to the following ones, and in space, that is, across different markets. Second, the authors investigate how an increasing external network dependence of subsidiaries in their internationalization may cause a detachment of a subsidiary from the mother company as its knowledge becomes insufficient to guide a subsidiary’s internationalization.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000This paper utilizes an exploratory, longitudinal, single-case study of Loccioni – a manufacturer of measuring and automatic control systems for industrial customers – to illustrate the specific dynamics of the influences of industrial networks on the internationalization of subsidiaries.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The case study helps to elucidate the roles, entailing also free will and own initiative, of small suppliers’ subsidiaries which operate inside several global factories, and how “surfing” on many different global factories, by means of several local subsidiaries, actually supports these suppliers’ own international developments. This notion adds to our understanding of the global factory phenomenon a supplier focus that stresses how the role of suppliers is not merely that of being passive recipients of activities and directions from a focal orchestrating firm, but can also be that of initiative-takers themselves.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000The paper contributes to the IMP tradition by providing a multi-layered and geographically more fine-grained view of the network embedding companies that operate on internationalized markets. This paper thereby sheds light on a less investigated area of research within the IMP tradition: the link between internationalization in different countries and the interconnectedness between the industrial networks spanning these countries. At the same time, this paper contributes to IB theories by showing how a late-internationalizing SME can enter highly international markets by “plugging into” several established “Global Factories” as a way to exploit further opportunities for international expansion.\u0000","PeriodicalId":229252,"journal":{"name":"IMP Journal","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130362564","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The incubation process of mid-stage startup companies: a business network perspective","authors":"Francesco Petrucci","doi":"10.1108/IMP-07-2017-0043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/IMP-07-2017-0043","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000The purpose of this paper is to preliminary attempt to deal with the phenomenon of business incubation from the industrial network perspective (Hakansson et al., 2009). The study draws on the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) insights on new business formation and development in business networks as a starting point to shed light on the incubator–incubatee relationship content and development to see how this specific relationship influences the development process of a mid-stage business venture. The author believes that the IMP tradition – with its focus on interactions in business relationships – can positively contribute to implementing this neglected topic of incubation research.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000The paper develops a longitudinal case study describing a mid-stage start-up venture initiating and developing a business relationship with a private business incubator. The relationship is explored through an abductive research design grounded in the IMP ARA model of analysis. The investigation focuses on how the incubation process unfolds through resources’ and actors’ interactions at different scales of analysis: the focal dyad, the incubation internal environment and the surrounding network. Particular “contextual” emphasis is put on new venture’s prior relationships. The study reveals three main findings.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000Business incubation results as an emergent, and interdependent, process of interaction that develops among the incubator, the incubatee and external networked actors. In this perspective, the paper aims to re-discuss the role of the incubator in the process of forming and developing a new company considering its minor role in the wider developmental setting surrounding the incubatee.\u0000\u0000\u0000Research limitations/implications\u0000The paper introduces IMP concepts to business incubation debates, which can positively challenge and provide novel explanations about the recurring gaps of the literature. Further research should provide more detail on the role and functioning of interactive incubation in a business network context, addressing complex topics such as incubation performance and outcomes. Further research should also deepen and discuss the role of incubation relationships within the set of initial relationships of a new venture.\u0000\u0000\u0000Practical implications\u0000This analysis can be used to revise the general approach to the management and configuration of business incubators. Present insights could be helpful, in fact, to design more effective incubation offerings and models, as well as develop best managerial practices targeted at interacting with new venture especially in the resource dimension, both within and outside the incubation environment.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000The incubation dyad, as a unit of analysis, has been scarcely addressed in incubation research. This is central for addressing the role of interactions, relationships and networks in incubation, all elements which have been too scarcely investigated. In","PeriodicalId":229252,"journal":{"name":"IMP Journal","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130832244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Do sales people trust new customers because of who they are?","authors":"Piotr Gaczek, G. Leszczyński, M. Zieliński","doi":"10.1108/IMP-01-2018-0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/IMP-01-2018-0008","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000The purpose of this paper is to identify the interplay between the characteristics of trustee and trustor in trust formation at the initial stage of a relationship in the B2B context.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000The study was experimental. A situation was simulated in which sales managers choose prospective customers on whom his or her company should concentrate after entering the new market. A total of 108 managers participated in the study.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The results indicate that during the pre-relationship stage salespeople declared trust toward a prospective customer despite having no previous interactions with the other party. Salespeople start the trust-development process by gathering clues about the trustworthiness of the potential partner organization. The cognitive information provided to salespeople impacts interpersonal trust to a greater extent than effective communication. This influence is moderated by trustor trust propensity. There is no difference in the type of information about a trustor when it comes to organizational reliance.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This paper provides a new insight into research on trust in interorganizational relationships as the authors adopted the perspective of the supplier who is most frequently perceived as a trustee, rather than a trustor. It directs attention to the pre-relationship stage, which precedes the interaction that may lead to a relationship developing but also links the object of trust (trustee) with the subject of trust (trustor) and integrates two separate approaches to the ascendance of trust with its multi-dimensional and multi-level nature. Moreover, an experimental design that is rare in research on business relationships was implemented.\u0000","PeriodicalId":229252,"journal":{"name":"IMP Journal","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133695932","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of effectuation on small firm buying decisions","authors":"P. McGowan","doi":"10.1108/IMP-05-2017-0019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/IMP-05-2017-0019","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000The purpose of this paper is to consider the effect of effectuation logic on the buying intentions of small firm owner-managers.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000Literature relating to organisational buying, marketing and personal selling and entrepreneurial decision making was synthesised.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000This paper presents a conceptual model based on propositions relating to how effectuation logic may explain the predilection of small firm owner-managers to select trusted suppliers from within personal and business networks, and to engage on flexible terms. It suggests that supplier relationship decisions made using effectuation logic may enable wider choice of suppliers than the formal processes of large firms.\u0000\u0000\u0000Research limitations/implications\u0000The findings were developed from a narrative review of literature and are yet to be empirically tested.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000By synthesising research findings on small firm buyer behaviour, the IMP interaction approach and effectuation, it has been possible to develop a predictive model representing buyer–seller relationships in the context of small firms which suggests that owner-managers select suppliers in line with the principles of effectuation means and effectuation affordable loss.\u0000","PeriodicalId":229252,"journal":{"name":"IMP Journal","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127484613","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A conceptualization of suppliers’ and buyers’ abilities in product development","authors":"Lena Bjerhammar, J. Elbe","doi":"10.1108/IMP-10-2017-0052","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/IMP-10-2017-0052","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework of specified buyer and supplier abilities which may be apparent in processes when firms wish to develop products where other features than function are important.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000Data were collected through personal interviews with managers at eight major Swedish retail chains. The framework has been developed from an analysis of the data. Three of the cases are presented to illustrate how the framework may be applied.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The framework contains the concepts specification ability and description ability, which define and specify the demand abilities of the buyer, and the concepts translation ability, interpretation ability and implementation ability, which define and specify the problem-solving abilities of the supplier.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000The framework presented here contributes to the business relationship and network literature on product development processes by highlighting and conceptualizing the process between buying firms who have different abilities or even inabilities to specify and explain desired product qualities, and the suppliers who should interpret the demands of these buyers.\u0000","PeriodicalId":229252,"journal":{"name":"IMP Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130564360","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quality management systems as indicators for stability and change in customer-supplier relationships","authors":"P. Hallberg, Nina Hasche, J. Kask, Christina Öberg","doi":"10.1108/IMP-01-2018-0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/IMP-01-2018-0006","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000This paper extends the discussion on stability and change through focus on specific relationship characteristics. Quality management systems prescribe established routines for supplier selection and monitoring, and may thereby designate the nature and longevity of customer–supplier relationships. The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss the effects of quality management systems on stability and change in different forms of customer–supplier relationships.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000A number of illustrative examples based on participatory data and interviews help to capture different types of customer–supplier relationships (private/public; certified/non-certified) related to quality management systems.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000While certified customers in most sectors only need to prove that their suppliers have procedures in place, many customers equate this with requiring that their suppliers should be certified. The paper further shows that customers replace deeper understandings for their suppliers’ procedures with the requirement that they be certified.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000The paper contributes to the existing literature through integrating quality management systems literature with the business network approach. For business network studies, the discussion on quality management systems as constricting regimes is interesting and provides practical insights to the business network studies as such quality management systems increase in importance and spread.\u0000","PeriodicalId":229252,"journal":{"name":"IMP Journal","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117351169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Innovation in a globalized world","authors":"Jens Eklinder-Frick, Andrea Perna, Alexandra Waluszewski","doi":"10.1108/IMP-05-2017-0021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/IMP-05-2017-0021","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000Previous IMP research has shown that innovation benefits tend to gravitate across organisational, company and legal borders. However, OECD and EU policy assume that innovation investments will create benefits in close spatial relation to where these were made. The overall purpose of this paper is to consider how opportunities and obstacles of innovation appear from the perspective of: a national policy actor, its regional mediators and a policy supported and research-based firm engaged in innovation. A specific interest is directed to what interactive aspects that are considered by these actors; in the using, producing and developing settings.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000Influenced by the research question and theoretical point of departure the authors investigate what type of interfaces our focal actors recognise in the using, producing and developing settings. A total of 41 face-to-face and phone interviews focusing on each actor’s approach were conducted; 23 interviews in order to investigate the “policy side” of innovation attempts, while 18 interviews have been performed in order to understand a single business actor’s innovation approach.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The study shows that both the national policy agency and the regional policy mediators primarily operate within a developing setting, and furthermore, applies a rather peculiar interpretation of proximity. As long as the developing setting of the innovation journey is in focus, with the task to transfer academic knowledge advances to commercial actors, the proximity aspect is rather easy to fulfil. However, as soon as the producing and using settings of the innovation is taken into consideration, the innovation, if it survives, will gravitate to a producing setting where it can contribute to investments in place.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000The study investigates the opportunities and obstacles of innovation; the spatial aspects included, and how these are considered by: a national policy agency, a regional mediator and a policy-supported innovating firm, in order to juxtapose the policy doctrine with the experience of the business actors such policy wishes to support.\u0000","PeriodicalId":229252,"journal":{"name":"IMP Journal","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121213366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}