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A new point of view in the IS reference discipline discussionKjærgaard, Annemette; Vendelø, Morten Thanning (København, 2007)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Information Systems scholars continuously debate about the nature of the IS discipline. Recently a series of articles have discussed whether the IS field has reached the status of a reference discipline. We address this issue by examining the application of the theory of sensemaking in IS research. Our findings show that the prospects for IS as a reference discipline are not promising. Based on these findings we suggest that IS scholars hallucinate when they a) assume that to become a 'real' academic discipline, IS has to become a reference discipline, and b) believe that IS will become a reference discipline in time. Hence, we describe the IS reference discipline discussion as a misconception, which should be abandoned in the pursuit of a stronger IS discipline. Academic legitimacy, information systems research, reference disciplines, theory application, theory of sensemaking URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6452 Files in this item: 1
04_2007.pdf (576.2Kb) -
A missing link between Schumpeter's theories of economic development, business cycles and democracyBecker, Markus C.; Esslinger, Hans Ulrich; Hedtke, Ulrich; Knudsen, Thorbjørn (København, 2002)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The present article introduces Development, a new, unpublished and hitherto unknown article written by Joseph A. Schumpeter. It was originally written in 1932 and titled Entwicklung. Development is remarkable since it helps understand the unity of Schumpeter’s work and significantly adds to Schumpeter’s known works on a number of issues that were central to his theory of economic development. Development shows that Schumpeter considered the explanation of novelty as the most important unsolved scientific problem. For Schumpeter, entrepreneurship remained a good description of novelty, but, by his own admission in Development, nothing is explained thereby. On the optimistic side, Schumpeter indicates that theoretical advances might be forthcoming that can help a better understanding of the social dynamics which gives rise to novelty. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6910 Files in this item: 1
linkwp02-19.pdf (98.01Kb) -
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Abstract: Recent studies of the impact of science parks have questioned traditional assumption about the effect of the parks on innovation and economic growth. Most studies tend to measure the effect by rather traditional measures, revenue, survival of new firms, without taking into account, that knowledge has gained a growing importance in the new economy. If we shift focus to organization theory discussions on new knowledge and innovation has specialized in relation to the process of creation, managing, organizing, sharing, transferring etc. of knowledge. The evaluation of science parks has to relate to the changed role of knowledge in the creation of economic growth. With the help of the concept of the ba from Nonanka, the article discuss if or how traditional organized science parks can become central actors in the new knowledge production or has to be viewed as an outdated institution from the industrial society. Keywords: knowledge creation, ba, science parks, knowledge management URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6365 Files in this item: 1
wp15-2004.pdf (133.9Kb) -
Sanchez, Ron (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Part I of this paper applies the principles of the philosophy of science and the derived scientific method to analyze the foundational concepts and core proposition of the Resource-Based View (RBV) as popularized by Barney (1986, 1991, 1997). This analysis identifies seven fundamental conceptual deficiencies and logic problems in Barney’s conceptualization of "strategically valuable resources” and in Barney’s VRIO framework for identifying strategically valuable resources that can be sources of sustained competitive advantage. Three problems -- the Value Conundrum, the Tautology Problem in the Identification of Resources, and the Absence of a Chain of Causality -- relate to the RBV’s and VRIO’s failure to provide an adequate conceptual basis for identifying strategically valuable resources. The Uniqueness Dilemma, the Cognitive Impossibility Dilemma, and an Asymmetry in Assumptions about Resource Factor Markets result in an inability of the VRIO framework to support identification of resources that can be sources of sustained competitive advantage. More fundamentally, the core proposition of the RBV – that resources that are strategically valuable, rare, inimitable, and organizationally embedded are sources of sustainable competitive advantage – is argued to result directly in the Epistemological Impossibility Problem that precludes use of the scientific method in RBV research. This paper argues that until these conceptual deficiencies and logic problems are recognized and remedied, the RBV – in spite of its current popularity -- is and will remain theoretically sterile and incapable of contributing in any systematic way to the development of strategy theory. Part II of this paper then suggests how foundational concepts developed within the competence perspective on strategy provide essential remedies for the identified deficiencies and problems in the RBV -- and thereby provide a more conceptually adequate basis for representing the nature of firms in the scientific study of their interactions and competitive outcomes. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7231 Files in this item: 1
wp02-2008.pdf (629.3Kb) -
Ernø-Kjølhede, Erik (København, 2000)[More information][Less information]
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The case of the Resource-based viewFoss, Nicolai J. (København, 2005)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Does the RBV represent a case of scientific progress? And has it emerged as the dominant approach to the analysis of competitive advantage for this reason? Conventional criteria for scientific progress, notably those of the growth of knowledge literature, are not particularly helpful for understanding this. Instead, it is argued that in order to understand why the RBV is an instance of scientific progress, we should begin from the notion that reduction is at the heart of progress in science, and that many scientists implicitly or explicitly hold this view. The RBV is a case of scientific progress because it identified theoretical mechanisms at levels lower than those that were usually investigated in strategy research prior to the RBV. Unfortunately, the micro-emphasis of the RBV gave way during the 1990s to more aggregative modes of theorizing (i.e., the capabilities approach). Thus, the RBV represents an "unfinished revolution" as there is still considerable potential to dig deeper in the deep structure of competitive advantage. Keywords: Resource-based view, mechanisms, reductionism, competitive advantage, transaction costs, property rights. JEL Code: L2, M1 URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7481 Files in this item: 1
cbs forskningsindberetning smg 31.pdf (531.8Kb) -
what types of firms use universities as a source of innovation?Laursen, Keld; Salter, Ammon (København, 2003)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Abstract This paper examines the factors that influence whether firms draw from universities in their innovative activities. The link between the universities and industrial innovation, and the role of different search strategies in influencing the propensity of firms to use universities is explored. The results suggest that firms who adopt "open" search strategies and invest in R&D are more likely than other firms to draw from universities, indicating that managerial choice matters in shaping the propensity of firms to draw from universities. Key words: University-industry links, innovation, external search strategies JEL Codes: C25, C42, O31, O32 URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7260 Files in this item: 1
03-16.pdf (758.8Kb) -
Sørensen, Carsten (København, 1999)[More information][Less information]
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7146 Files in this item: 1
soerensen_seasonality_wp9914.pdf (426.2Kb) -
Lessons for the EU from United States History, 1789 - 1861Sweeney, Richard J. (København, 2003)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: If secession or expulsion ends in a "velvet divorce," as with Czechoslovakia, costs are minimal and the split is relatively unimportant. High costs arise if a federation splits into mutually hostile, comparably sized regions. Perhaps the majority of splits lead to dangerous hostility. A well-designed constitution minimizes the likelihood of hostile splits by limiting the issues that are dealt with at the federal level, by providing checks and balances, and by establishing due process under the rule of law. Preventing the conditions under which a hostile split may arise is more costeffective than trying to optimize the terms of a split or to find last-minute compromises to forestall the split. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6786 Files in this item: 1
wplefic122003.pdf (396.6Kb) -
Why Didn’t the U.S. Civil War Go On and On?Sweeney, Richard J. (København, 2003)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The post-Civil War reconciliation between the North and the South is a very rare event in the history of civil wars. The South was thoroughly beaten. Top generals, particularly Robert E. Lee, saw further fighting as "useless effusion of blood." There was no call by top Confederate leaders for continuing the fight with the type of bushwacking that occurred in Missouri and Kansas. Reconstruction is often thought of as harsh, but compared to the standards of history Confederates were by and large treated well after the Civil War. Within a decade or so of the end of the Civil War, conservative white elites had established political, economic and social dominance in the South. They had lost their "slave property" and the "government of our own." They could never get back slavery, and a government of their own was not worth fighting for. There was little reason for the kind of persistent low-level guerilla warfare that often occurs after civil wars, or the organization of a succession of rebellions. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6810 Files in this item: 1
wplefic132003.pdf (447.2Kb) -
Herlau, Henrik; Tetzschner, Helge (Esbjerg, 2001)[More information][Less information]
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Leander, Anna (København, 2007)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: On September 16 2007 the employees of the U.S. security firm Blackwater became involved in a shooting incidence in the Nisour Square in Baghdad. They were escorting a U.S. State Department delegation, which according to the firm, came under attack. According to by-standers, the Blackwater employees opened fire unprovoked, shooting in all directions and seemingly at anyone moving, including those trying to flee or help those wounded. 17 Iraqis civilians died in the incidence and at least twice as many were wounded. President Al-Maliki immediately came out to "revoke Blackwater’s license” for operating in Iraq and Iraqi authorities engaged the process of ending contractor impunity in their country. However, it soon became clear that there was no license to revoke and that the Iraqi government may not have the authority to deny Blackwater the right to operate in Iraq, let alone decide the fate of private contractors more generally. On their part, the U.S. authorities promised to open their own investigation and expressed regret at the civilian casualties but did not end their contracts with Blackwater in Iraq or elsewhere. The incapacity of the Iraqi government to impose its authority and right to control the use of force on its territory, to hold Blackwater and/or its employees accountable for the incidence, made Jeremy Scahill conclude that: "nothing gives a more clear indication to the Iraqis that they don’t have a sovereign government” (2007). Scahill is right in pointing to the limitations of the Iraqi government’s role as the ultimate authority deciding on laws on Iraqi territory. However, it does not follow that the Mansour incidence is illustrative of the extent to which the private markets for force have undermined sovereignty generally. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7033 Files in this item: 1
wp 2007-5.pdf (162.5Kb) -
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Abstract: This paper argues that security belongs to a specific category of commodities: “contested commodities” around which there is an ongoing and unsettled symbolic struggle over whether or not they can and should be though of as commodities (section 1). The contested nature of commodification has implications for how markets function; market practices tend to be defined and organized in ways that minimize their contentiousness and obfuscate their expansion. The paper looks at the implications of this argument for the conceptualization of the security. It focuses on the three central articulations of contestation: the discussion about whether the use of force can be left to the market, whether it can be so in the international realm and the discussion about whether or not markets trigger increased insecurity. It shows how this specific articulation of contestation has produced markets where the practice/definition of security is as public rather than private (section 2), as inside rather than outside (section 3) and as a responsible reaction to a threat rather than as something contributing to the constitution of threats (section 4). Conceptualizations of private security consequently have to be devised to capture these practical consequences of contested commodification; they need to capture the private in the public, the inside in the outside and the securitizing in the response to threats. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7964 Files in this item: 1
Contested_Commodity_working_paper.pdf (152.8Kb) -
Schwenen, Sebastian (Frederiksberg, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The regulatory approach to supply security in electricity markets has been substantially altered since power markets were partly privatized and reregulated in the mid 1990’s, when regulators chose to rely on market based prices and decentralized commercially based decisions on generation capacities. Prior to this market restructuring power systems basically worked as planned economies, however, the decentralization of production decisions introduced stochastic elements to electricity systems. Additionally, since the early 2000’s, power generating companies, often incentivized by the state, started increasing the share of renewable but intermittent energy sources in their generation portfolios. Due to its intermittency the production process of wind, solar and hydro power is difficult to plan and therefore the final amount of power that enters the market at each point in time becomes difficult to predict. As the level of power supply intermittency increases, so also do the number of challenges that market based approaches face in organizing secure power systems.... URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8376 Files in this item: 1
Sebastian_Schwenen.pdf (781.2Kb) -
on the art of duality in learning partnershipsMorsing, Mette; Vendelø, Morten (København, 1995)[More information][Less information]
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Hedman, Jonas (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Historically, organizations developed their information systems in-house. Today, a large portion of information systems development is based on acquisition of pre-made information systems, so called commercially off the shelf (COTS) systems. This approach of developing information systems requires new skills and methods supporting the process of evaluating and selecting information systems. This paper presents a method for selecting COTS systems. The method includes the following phases: problem framing, requirements and appraisal, and selection of systems. The idea and distinguishing feature behind the method is that improved understanding of organizational’ ends’ or goals should govern the selection of a COTS system. This can also be expressed as a match or fit between ‘ends’ (e.g. improved organizational effectiveness) and ‘means’ (e.g. implementing COTS systems). This way of approaching the selection of COTS systems as viewing COTS systems as a ‘mean’ to reach organizational ‘ends’ is different from the mainstream view of information systems development, which view information systems development as a problem solving process, and the underlying ontological view in other COTS selection methods, which focus on selection of functionality not reaching organizational ends. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7999 Files in this item: 1
CAICT_Com_12010.pdf (83.34Kb) -
Interpreting and Learning from the Rise and Decline of the Oticon Spaghetti OrganizationFoss, Nicolai J. (Frederiksberg, 2001)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Infusing hierarchies with elements of market control has become a much-used way of simultaneously increasing entrepreneurialism and motivation in firms. However, this paper argues that such “internal hybrids,” particularly in their radical forms, are inherently hard to successfully design and implement, because of fundamental credibility problems related to managerial promises to not intervene in delegated decision-making ¾ an incentive problem that is often referred to as the “problem of selective intervention.” This theoretical theme is developed and illustrated, using the case of the world-leading Danish hearing aids producer, Oticon. In the beginning of the 1990s, Oticon became famous for its radical internal hybrid, the ”spaghetti organization.” Recent work has interpreted the spaghetti organization as a radical attempt to foster dynamic capabilities by imposing loose coupling on the organization, neglecting, however, that about a decade later, the spaghetti organization has given way to a more traditional matrix organization. This paper presents an organizational economics interpretation of organizational changes in Oticon, and argues that a strong liability of the spaghetti organization was the above incentive problem. Motivation in Oticon was strongly harmed by selective intervention on the part of top-management Changing the organizational structure was one means of repairing these motivational problems. Refutable implications are developed, both for the understanding of efficient design of internal hybrids, and for the more general issue of the distinction between firms and markets, as well as the choice between internal and external hybrids. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7894 Files in this item: 1
DRUID_01_16.pdf (186.7Kb) -
Lessons from the Causes of the American RevolutionSweeney, Richard J. (København, 2003)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Because the conflicts that led to the American Revolution mainly arose from constitutional issues, the history of these conflicts offers lessons for the design of the new European Union constitution. One lesson is the importance of avoiding needless conflicts between federal and member-state governments. In particular, forcing decisions on where sovereignty lies may cause great conflict. Another lesson is that a federal system depends on good will among the federal and member-state governments, and because this good will is easily dissipated, efforts should be made to nurture it. Federal exercise of power will often alienate member states; thus, a sensible strategy is to grant the federal government only the minimal powers that a strong consensus agrees it must have, and to change these powers only by strong consensus. Removing "democratic deficits" may not be sufficient in many cases to give legitimacy to exercise of federal power; minorities may require protection by constitutional limits on federal powers. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6782 Files in this item: 1
wplefic102003.pdf (372.3Kb) -
IT and the Construction of the Competent PatientLangstrup Nielsen, Henriette (København, 2003)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Initiatives in medical practice that are said to re-insert the subject, thereby overcoming the problems of objectifying practices in earlier times, often operate with a notion of bodies and selves as pre-established entities. In this paper, I will try to show some of the work it takes to produce or perform self-monitoring subjects who participate in keeping their asthmatic bodies in control through the use of an online control center. I argue that the bodies in control and the competent selves related to this technology depend on the establishment of a chronically ill body and on the decentering and incorporation of the clinic in everyday life. Passages into the body are to be kept open in real-time through the involvement of materially heterogeneous arrangements. The distributed character of this work creates and is dependent on an ambiguity in relation to the question of agency. Who or what acts, decides, looks, knows and so on, is not necessarily defined or otherwise clear in the day-to-day use of the technology. Instead, agency becomes performed in particular instances, where it might become the property of one part of the network or another. Creating the asthmatic as a free, autonomous agent in this instance depends on blurring other nodes in the network in the day-to-day use of this technology, these being, the physician, the technology, and the scientific set-up. As such, I argue that agency in the form of the self-monitoring competent ill, is best understood as a successful performance of invisible passages and links that hook up bodies, other selves, science and medical practices. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6713 Files in this item: 1
papers in organization, no. 50.pdf (282.6Kb) -
Keuschnigg, Christian; Nielsen, Søren Bo (København, 2007)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: In financing start-up firms, venture capitalists carefully select among alternative projects, design incentive compatible financial contracts and support portfolio companies with value enhancing managerial advice. This paper considers how venture capitalists can induce self-selection among entrepreneurial firms with different qualities by designing appropriate contracts and offering commercial support. We study the efficiency of the competitive market equilibrium with respect to the level and quality of entrepreneurship and the level of effort by entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. We also provide comparative statics results with respect to basic preference and technology parameters. Venture capital, entrepreneurship, self-selection, moral hazard. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7707 Files in this item: 1
artikel 07.pdf (407.6Kb)