Search results
1 – 10 of 13Pablo Salgado Sánchez, Daniel López-Fernández and Victoria Lapuerta González
Since 2009, different challenge-based learning (CBL) activities have been implemented at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), with a shared objective: provide the students a…
Abstract
Since 2009, different challenge-based learning (CBL) activities have been implemented at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), with a shared objective: provide the students a learning experience that covers the acquisition of technical knowledge, soft skills, and other generic competences, while bringing them closer to the current technologies and industry. The shared background of these activities is the participation of Master's students of aerospace engineering in the preliminary design of a space mission. During the 18/19 academic year, the UPM participated in the 2018 ESA Concurrent Engineering Challenge (ESA CEC), where the students complemented their technical knowledge with dedicated training in Concurrent Engineering and learnt how ESA assesses the feasibility of real space missions. This experience further motivated the organization of the UPM CEC, which was first executed in the 19/20 academic year (and is expected to be carried out in future courses). After a decade implementing CBL, different research methodologies and instruments have been used to evaluate its impact on different aspects of the learning process. In this chapter, we describe the main CBL activities performed, focusing on the instruments used to evaluate them. We draw attention to the main advantages and disadvantages of implementing CBL from a learning perspective, as well as the associated impact in the student's motivation and student–teacher relationship. In many cases, different teaching scenarios are assessed, thus making it possible to compare CBL against traditional methods.
Details
Keywords
Angélica Ferrari, Daniel Magalhães Mucci and Franciele Beck
This study aims to adopt a replication strategy based on Cherchem (2017), and hence this study investigates how generational involvement moderates the relationship between…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to adopt a replication strategy based on Cherchem (2017), and hence this study investigates how generational involvement moderates the relationship between organizational culture and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in Brazilian family businesses, disentangling each of the EO dimensions.
Design/methodology/approach
This study developed a survey with 107 Brazilian family businesses operating in the textile and clothing industries. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SmartPLS-SEM).
Findings
The results for the direct paths indicate that clan and hierarchical cultures are positively related to EO. As for the moderating effect, only one generation of the family involved in management tends to stimulate a stronger relationship between the clan culture and the EO. In contrast, when multiple generations exist, the positive relationship between the EO hierarchical culture becomes stronger. Furthermore, this study found different relationships between organizational culture and each of the EO dimensions (proactiveness, innovativeness, risk-taking, competitive aggressiveness and autonomy) and differences in the moderating effect of generational involvement.
Originality/value
Unlike the findings of Cherchem (2017), the authors observed that, in addition to clan culture, hierarchical culture can also act as an enhancer of entrepreneurial strategies. On the other hand, generational involvement influences the relationship between organizational culture and the level of EO (and its dimensions), reinforcing those internal family characteristics that can foster entrepreneurial strategies in family businesses, whose findings align with Cherchem (2017). Moreover, it contributes to the investigation of each of the dimensions of EO separately.
Details
Keywords
Macarena López‐Fernández and Gonzalo Sánchez‐Gardey
The purpose of this paper is to link previous research on diversity, social capital and strategic human resource management (SHRM), and propose a model to explain how an SHRM…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to link previous research on diversity, social capital and strategic human resource management (SHRM), and propose a model to explain how an SHRM system can moderate the effects of diversity on cognitive and relational dimensions of social capital.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative methodologies were used to address the study's research questions and hypotheses drawing on aggregated data obtained from 53 groups (228 individuals).
Findings
The empirical evidence analyzed rejected a deterministic view of the consequences of diversity, assuming that the extent to which they benefit group social interaction depends on certain conditions that can be managed by SHRM. Adopting a configurational point of view, it is concluded that different SHRM configurations can be used, depending on the effects of diversity that the organization wishes to moderate.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should consider the particularities of the sample.
Practical implications
To define diversity‐oriented SHRM strategies, firms must start with a systematic analysis of their diversity profiles, studying the concrete relational and cognitive dynamics that heterogeneity causes.
Originality/value
This model considers the SHRM system as a construct that determines social interaction between employees and therefore moderates the effects of demographic and human capital diversity on group performance.
Details
Keywords
Juan Antonio Giménez Espín, Daniel Jiménez Jiménez and Micaela Martínez Costa
This paper aims to adopt Cameron and Quinn’s analysis of organizational culture and March’s learning framework to analyze the type of organizational culture (OC) that promotes…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to adopt Cameron and Quinn’s analysis of organizational culture and March’s learning framework to analyze the type of organizational culture (OC) that promotes learning competences and whether exploration and exploitation competences (ambidexterity) improve the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM) results (excellent results). In addition, this research tests if these competences exercise a mediating effect in the relationship between OC and performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A model is proposed whose relationships have been tested using structural equations. The sample was obtained from the SABI database. Two hundred valid questionnaires were returned via a webpage, in which four managers from each of the 200 organizations responded.
Findings
The results support the proposed relationships. Adhocracy, hierarchy and market culture have a positive relationship with excellent results. A hierarchical culture develops exploitation competences, and a market culture develops learning ambidexterity. Moreover, exploration and exploitation increase results. Finally, these two cultures indirectly influence results through exploration and exploitation competences.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed model can help managers who implement the EFQM model to better understand how the culture of their organization promotes learning and how these two variables improve their performance.
Practical implications
Because the EFQM model requires organizations to use a knowledge management system to enhance the effect of the enabliers criteria on excellent results, the managers of these companies must know that only market and hierarchy cultures are suitable for it. Besides, this study highlights the importance of two cultural values for the implementation of the EFQM Model and, therefore, to promote excellent results: market orientation and process control.
Originality/value
This study fills an existing gap in the literature by combining exploitation, exploration, OC and EFQM results in a single model and highlights the importance of market orientation and process control for excellent results and knowledge exploration and exploitation.
Details
Keywords
Bang-Ning Hwang and Mu-Yen Hsu
For most manufacturing firms, technological innovations are usually the key strategies to gain their competitive advantages. However, competing strategically through service…
Abstract
Purpose
For most manufacturing firms, technological innovations are usually the key strategies to gain their competitive advantages. However, competing strategically through service provision is becoming an important strategy for most industries. A growing demand for packaged product and service delivery is blurring the traditional boundaries between manufacturing and service firms. This trend is called “servitization.” Prior research had different perspectives on the relationship between technological innovations and servitization. Some argued that as servitization exerts the innovative convergence of products and services, the possession of appropriate readiness and absorption capacity through technological innovations for a manufacturing firm is critical to the success of servitization. In contrast, some argued that the knowledge gained from developing technological innovations cannot be applied to the creation of services due to the fundamental difference between technology and service. These contradicting arguments motivated the authors to study the relationship between technological innovations and servitization a step further. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
To address the research gap, the authors conducted an empirical study based on the large-scale samples from the second Taiwan Community Innovation Survey (Taiwan CIS). A multivariate logistic regression model was applied in the research.
Findings
The authors found that different types of technological innovations, namely product innovation and process innovation, have different impacts on servitization. The innovativeness level of the technological innovation moderates the relationship between technological innovation and servitization. Based on the above findings, this research specifically explains the causes of the contradictory results of the prior research.
Originality/value
The values of this research are twofold. Its academic contribution rests on bridging the literature of innovation and servitization, and on providing a model to clarify the relationships among technological innovation type, level of innovativeness and servitization. Its practical contribution lies in its establishment of a guideline that illuminates manufacturing firms reinforcing service delivery through their existing technological innovation trajectory.
Details
Keywords
Service innovation in networks (SIIN) is of utmost importance particularly to business-to-business firms for their profitability, growth and long-term competitive advantage. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Service innovation in networks (SIIN) is of utmost importance particularly to business-to-business firms for their profitability, growth and long-term competitive advantage. This paper aims to investigate several critical aspects of extant SIIN research: its current state, theoretical standpoints, determinants, and outcomes. Based on the findings, implications for business-to-business service innovation research are drawn.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a systematic literature review. Extant publications were located from large electronic databases, analyzed, and the findings have been compiled to answer the predefined questions.
Findings
The paper illustrates the overall state of extant SIIN research and presents its major topics. It reveals the six key theoretical perspectives that have been applied in SIIN studies. Determinants that affect SIIN, as well as its potential positive and negative outcomes, are shown. In addition, gaps in the existing knowledge-base have been identified and have led to the laying out of paths for future research.
Research limitations/implications
The review does not cover publications that were unavailable in the electronic databases employed, or were not written in English. However, the succinct presentation of accessible knowledge provides multidimensional theoretical understandings as well as empirical insights into SIIN research.
Practical implications
Managers may benefit from this study by understanding the determinants that they may influence, and the potential changes that may accompany the positive and negative outcomes of SIIN.
Originality/value
The analytical review provides a concise synopsis of existing knowledge on service innovation in networks, and discusses its implications for business-to-business research and firms, which will be of interest to both academics and practitioners.
Details
Keywords
Ioannis Kinias, Ilias Kampouris and Stathis Polyzos
It is widely accepted that coauthorship and collaboration promotes intellectual partnerships and improves the quality of publications. This paper examines the relationship between…
Abstract
Purpose
It is widely accepted that coauthorship and collaboration promotes intellectual partnerships and improves the quality of publications. This paper examines the relationship between collaboration, productivity and publications in the field of family business.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors identify the most prolific authors, affiliations and countries and focus on the evolution of research in the field of family business. In doing so, the authors employ social network analysis to discover the structure of the networks and the ways in which authors, institutions and countries interact.
Findings
The empirical results show that collaboration is positively related to productivity, and there is significant evidence that the shaped networks exhibit small-world characteristics, a condition in which collaboration within authors becomes integrated in conjunction with time.
Practical implications
The findings highlight the mechanics of collaborative research production and can be useful to understand the importance of collaboration patterns to be followed in the field of family business.
Originality/value
The contributions are as follows: (a) application of social network analysis to model the coauthorship patterns among individuals, institutions and countries in family business; (b) distinguishing the most degree-central authors in the social network of collaborating academics; (c) investigation of the academic collaborations in family business that have the characteristics of a small-world social network and (d) suggesting a unique connection, through published keywords, between the research priorities of the most central or prolific authors with the research trends in the family business literature. The authors demonstrate that authors' collaboration becomes integrated in conjunction with time.
Details
Keywords
Marco Savastano, Nicola Cucari, Francesco Dentale and Ari Ginsberg
The purpose of this paper is to identify and empirically examine the dynamic capabilities (DC) that drive the development of digital manufacturing capabilities (DMC) and the role…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify and empirically examine the dynamic capabilities (DC) that drive the development of digital manufacturing capabilities (DMC) and the role of DMC in mediating their influence on firm performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the dynamic capabilities view (DCV) of the firm, the authors develop a set of hypotheses that are tested through a survey of 110 managers in the manufacturing sector. The hypothesized model is tested through structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results indicate that although higher-order DC (HODC) have a strong influence on firm performance, their effects are partially mediated by the DMC that they generate, by positively affecting the extended production process.
Practical implications
The analysis contributes to a better understanding of the interplay between levels of the DC hierarchy by finding that DMC play an important role in translating HODC into enhanced firm performance.
Originality/value
By complementing the DCV with the disruptive innovation theory in a specific fast changing context, this study introduces a new construct (DMC) providing an original and considerable contribution to the literature. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first empirical study that includes and assesses all these elements together in the context of the manufacturing industry.
Details
Keywords
While the literature has examined various motives and benefits of quality management frameworks, it is limited with respect to marketing related motives and benefits. More…
Abstract
Purpose
While the literature has examined various motives and benefits of quality management frameworks, it is limited with respect to marketing related motives and benefits. More specifically, previous research has not considered empirically the relationship between marketing motives and benefits of quality award models. To address this, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between perceived marketing related motives and benefits and to analyze the influence of the sources of marketing motivations that lead companies to adopt this global standard for its perceived benefits in an Arab context.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative study to examine the relationships between the proposed motives and benefits using structural equation modeling was carried out.
Findings
The findings reinforce the view of marketing motives as a dynamic construct, which has an influence on quality awards model implementations. Also, the marketing related and performance drivers to implement the quality award model have a degree of influence on the benefits that is significantly higher than external related ones.
Research limitations/implications
The main implication of this study is that marketing has a role to play in shaping an organizations “excellence” journey. It is yet another strategy to attract customers while striving for higher performance. Therefore, the motives for pursuing excellence should embed marketing related factors as well. The results will also enable aspiring organizations to refine their improvement methods, encouraging them to prioritize on their marketing motives and build on their excellence portfolios.
Originality/value
The paper proposes an empirically tested conceptual framework that examines vital issues concerning the internalization of the total quality management approach through award models, thus, providing valuable outcomes for decision-makers through business excellence frameworks.
Details