We develop a theoretical model to investigate how backward societies can improve their upgrading capabilities by transforming existing industrial agglomerations into dynamic clusters. Our main assumptions are two: first, emerging market economies are not uniform but characterized by variety of subnational regional and sectoral organizational and institutional configurations; second, the basic building block and unit of explanation in social sciences is personal action guided by some intention, which is heterogeneous across different actors. Based on these assumptions and the literature on human motives and social networks, we develop a purposeful approach to clusters and upgrading. We argue that governments can develop institutions with private actors that facilitate new types of relationships and improve the access local firms have to a variety of knowledge resources, a key ingre¬dient to upgrading. We illustrate this argument revisiting the literature on clusters and upgrading in Latin America and using two case studies in Argentina, a country better known for its volatility and lack of optimal social capital and institutions. We conclude with avenues for further research.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of team member diversity and internal social capital on project performance within the context of business plan competitions (BPCs). Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses survey data on 95 nascent entrepreneurial teams enrolled in an open-to-the-public BPCs. It assumes that higher levels of functional diversity as well as higher levels of internal social capital enhance the performance of nascent entrepreneurial teams in the crafting of their business plans (BPs). Findings – Under this particular context, where the needs for information processing and decision-making requirements are so high, teams having higher levels of functional diversity attained better performance. Inversely, teams with higher levels of internal social capital did not show a significant advantage in the development of the BP. Research limitations/implications – Limitations are associated with the exclusion of external social capital measures and not considering demographic faultlines, which might have some impact on the results. Besides, this paper has the limitation of basing its analysis upon teams within a BP contest. Theoretical implications stress that under contexts maximizing the difference between potential upside gains and downside losses, team diversity is expected to play a larger role for BP effectiveness and success than team members' internal social capital. Practical implications – Recognizing team prevalence and the impact of social dynamics amongst team members within entrepreneurial settings. Originality/value – The paper contributes with the impact of social dynamic processes on nascent entrepreneurial teams.

Prior studies of multimarket contact have investigated 'exploitation' rather than 'exploration' activities. We contrast effects of multimarket contact on entry and exit dynamics across these two settings. Based on analyses of biopharmaceutical firms’ competitive dynamics from 1989 to 1999, we find support for our theory that, while in exploitation, firms seek to optimize multimarket contact based on mutual forbearance benefits, in exploration, firms seek to reduce uncertainties through mimetic entry and exit. We also find that multimarket contact in exploration leads to competitive entry and exit in exploitation, but not vice-versa. We discuss implications for theory and practice.

Every generation of managers experiments with new organizational forms—new business models and the organizational structures and management processes required to support them. Much of the current experimentation with business and organizational models is occurring in knowledge-intensive industries such as biotechnology, computers, telecommunications, and medical and scientific equipment. The principal business model emerging in these and similar industries can be called market exploration. Market exploration is a firm’s pursuit of opportunities created by intersecting technologies and markets. The market exploration process is complex, involving technology development, product development, and commercialization in collaboration with customers and other firms, as well as involving the orderly development of markets that have large but unknown potential. Firms that want to be effective at market exploration must organize specifically for innovation—they must be able to build and manage an I-form organization. This article shows how many firms are moving towards and improving the I-form organization and discusses its purpose, key features, and benefits. http://cmr.berkeley.edu/search/articleDetail.aspx?article=5524

Inter-organizational models are both a well-documented phenomena and a well-established domain in management and business ethics, which rest on collaborative capabilities. However, mainstream theories and practices aimed at developing these capabilities are based on a narrow set of assumptions and ethical principles about human nature and relationships, which constrain the very development of capabilities sought by them. This paper presents an Aristotelian approach to collaborative entrepreneurship within and across communities of firms operating in complementary markets. Adopting a scholarship of integration approach and the evaluation of six studies of communities of organizations, we contribute an inter-organizational network model based on the assumptions about human motives and choice offered by Aristotle. We argue that the sustainability of inter-organizational communities depends on how rich is the set of assumptions about human nature upon which they are based. In order to develop and sustain collaborative capabilities in inter-organizational communities, a set of assumptions that takes both self-regarding and other’ regarding preferences as ends is required in order to avoid any kind of instrumentalization of collaboration, which is an end in itself. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. http://www.springerlink.com/content/001j3l7687738078/

Este artículo tiene como objetivo presentar una síntesis elaborada sobre las premisas que hacían de Sumantra Ghoshal una fuerza para el bien, tanto a través de sus más recientes desarrollos intelectuales como a través de su influencia en la práctica de la dirección. Para ello describe las definicones y hace explícitas las premisas e ideas en proceso en el momento del fallecimiento de Ghoshtal, en marzo del 2004. Plantea posibles desafíos a encarar en investigaciones futuras para seguir desarrollando el potencial de las teorías y la práctica de la dirección de modo que sean una fuerza para el bien.

This study analyses the value determinants of a portfolio of growth options and explores implications for strategic management. It focuses the analysis on four elements: the number of real options in the portfolio, constraints on the number of options that can be exercised, the volatility of underlying assets, and the correlation between underlying assets. These elements are articulated around a trade-off between growth options and switch options and are applied to different strategic situations of technological, market, and macroeconomic uncertainty.

This paper examines the effect of control changes on efficiency and productivity in the banking industry of Argentina. This industry represents an interesting case study as banks underwent corporate changes of different types including privatization, foreign acquisition of domestic banks and mergers and acquisitions among local institutions. Bank productivity is measured and decomposed into the effects due to returns to scale, technical progress and efficiency, while bank efficiency is related to a set of variables controlling for changes in bank ownership. The evidence suggests that control changes due to privatization had a positive short-term effect on productivity in part as a result of efficiency gains, which were then gradually lost over time. Results also indicate that foreign acquisitions led to stronger productivity performance of acquired banks, though they did not have any significant effect on efficiency. Finally, mergers and acquisitions had a negative impact on productivity as a result of scale effects despite the long-term efficiency improvements.

This research examines the determinants of firm’s growth. Our findings indicate that firms willing to grow substantially and government programs designed to boost firms growth should put emphasis on investing in newer technology, diversifying from regional markets into national and international markets, and delivering adequate returns, which provide the financial means to grow since these factors proved to be the most statistically significant explaining the growth of firms analyzed. The results also indicate that the growth of the firm was not significantly related with its size, which is consistent with Gibrat’s law.

Innovation is a complex activity in which new knowledge is applied to commercial ends. New knowledge is generated through a cumulative process in which knowledge is added, deleted, transformed, modified or simply reinterpreted. A substantial part of this knowledge reaches the firm from external sources. One of the most important changes in the organization of the innovation process within corporations in the last two decades has been the increasing awareness of the importance of external knowledge flows. Firms are gradually abandoning the idea that the generation of new knowledge is mostly an internal process. There are several different sources of external knowledge flows that the firm can try to appropriate and benefit from. One of them, the imitation process, has been depicted in the literature as an alternative to innovation; we see it more precisely represented as part of the innovation process itself. Innovation develops through imitation, and successful imitation might require a great deal of innovation as well. Most firms can be thought to innovate on some dimensions and imitate on others. When imitation implies the reinterpretation, modification and transformation of existing knowledge then the distinction between what is innovation and what is imitation tends to fade away. Understanding the process of imitation has thus very important implications for innovation strategies, for the diffusion of knowledge within industries and for economic development in general.

We propose a model that links seven different conceptions of entrepreneurship and maps them in relation to eight associated disciplines and theories, specifying their corresponding units and levels of analysis and stage in the entrepreneurial process. Entrepreneurship scholars are attempting to either carve out a distinctive domain for the field or build a distinctive theory of entrepreneurship. However, an obstacle for understanding entrepreneurship is the lack of integration of the assumptions implicit in different conceptualisations of entrepreneurship. We contribute a scholarship of integration approach for understanding the phenomena underlying these conceptualisations and linking entrepreneurship domain, theory, method, and policymaking.

Previous research has often seen alliances as a mechanism used by disadvantaged firms to seek new capabilities during environmental discontinuities. But are alliances an effective dynamic capability? In this paper, we find that less competent firms can use alliances to access new technologies, and show that alliances do indeed reduce the technological gap among competitor firms in terms of searching or accessing new technology. However, advantaged and disadvantaged firms seem to use different search routines in this process, and former are superior in internalizing new capabilities from their alliances. Thus, alliances are only partly effective as a catching-up mechanism. We discuss implications of these results for the literatures on strategic alliances, technological competition and dynamic capabilities.

Este trabajo desarrolla una justificación motivacional para la teoría de los stakeholders. La perspectiva metodológica es diferente y complementaria de las anteriores, que imponen consideraciones normativas a esta teoría. Enfocado en el proceso emprendedor, analiza los mecanismos que explican las acciones y el alineamiento de los distintos participantes. El argumento principal es que cada grupo de interés actúa motivado tanto por el resultado de sus acciones como por el aprendizaje que genera el proceso en sí mismo. A su vez, ese proceso, como motivación central, provee una identidad individual y colectiva y, en último término, explica el alineamiento de los distintos grupos. Este argumento tiene implicaciones tanto a nivel directivo como normativo.

La búsqueda de crecimiento internacional con frecuencia ha llevado a las multinacionales a ingresar a mercados emergentes, donde deben navegar a través de turbulencias económicas, políticas y sociales. Los rasgos ambientales particulares de América Latina plantean una serie de trade-offs a las multinacionales tanto a nivel estratégico como organizacional. Estos trade-offs tocan las fuentes de ventaja competitiva de las multinacionales y afectan sus recursos y capacidades clave. Al mismo tiempo, condicionan su comportamiento y sus supuestos sobre la región. Tras estudiar sistemáticamente el entorno de negocios latinoamericano, los autores han visto a los ejecutivos resolver estos trade-offs eligiendo e invirtiendo fuertemente en un extremo de la ecuación. Las multinacionales han desarrollado así capacidades valiosas en una dirección, dejando otras oportunidades inexploradas. Este enfoque, que llaman bipolar, resulta de aplicar soluciones globales prefabricadas a los entornos regionales, y la confianza excesiva en él puede dejar a las multinacionales más expuestas de lo que sospechan. Los autores proponen un enfoque sistémico basado en patrones de adaptación identificados entre multinacionales altamente exitosas en América Latina. Una de ellas es The Walt Disney Company, que los autores han elegido como ejemplo de coherencia sistémica. Considerada generalmente una de las compañías globales por excelencia, Disney ha sabido responder a los rasgos particulares de cada mercado regional que atiende. En América Latina, la empresa emprendió recientemente un revolucionario cambio para acercar la organización a las realidades del mercado, resolviendo exitosamente los trade-offs en tres procesos fundamentales: definición estratégica, alineación organizacional y estilo de liderazgo.

Conventional economic and management theories explain that business groups facing market liberalization policy reforms (i.e., competitive shocks) would have incentives to reduce corporate portfolios and increase internationalization. We empirically examine the strategic responses of Argentine business groups and, through an inductive theory building process, propose refinements to this theory. We argue that such a strategy process is moderated not only by differences in market forces set out by policy reforms across different economic segments but also by the path dependency of resources and capabilities as well as management decision-making style of individual business groups. We discuss implications for theory and practice.

We revisit the self-interest view on human behavior and its critique, and propose a framework, called self-love view, that integrates self-interest and unselfishness and provides different explanations of the relationship between preferences, behavior, and outcomes. Proponents of self-interest as the only valid behavioral assumption argue for simplified assumptions and clear models in order to propose precise prescriptions, while critics to this self-interest view argue for realistic assumptions and rich descriptions in order to reach better explanations. This debate inhibits theoretical development because it faces the problem of incommensurability of standards for choosing among paradigms. We propose the concept of self-love, or the inclination of human beings to strive for their own good and perfection, to remove the assumption self-interest vs. unselfishness. Self-love distinguishes between the object and the subject of motivation and therefore creates a bi-dimensional motivational space. This framework replaces the uni- dimensional continuum self-interest - unselfishness, specifies eight interrelated motives, and provides different expected relationships between preferences, behavior, and outcomes. We show that a better understanding of motivational assumptions, their embodiment in theories, and their influence on the very behaviors these theories assume provides managers and policymakers more alternatives for the designing of motivational contexts than in the case of assuming either self-interest or a permanent conflict between self-interest and unselfishness.

We believe that structural changes in a knowledge economy mean that managers will increasingly seek to make cooperative relationships the norm in their organizations. However, they are hampered in their attempts to do so by organization designs that institutionalize the dominant assumption about human intentionality, which sees people and their relationships as motivated by self-interest. We argue that the self-interest assumption runs counter to the types of cooperation required to leverage fully the potential of the knowledge-based firm since it provides for relatively restricted forms of social exchange. We propose that the assumption of excellence, as set out by Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics, provides a valuable alternative. We discuss four tenets of this assumption and find that they suggest important differences in organisation design that are more likely to encourage and institutionalize cooperative relationships. We explore these differences, considering their implications for practice and research.

This paper is about the impact of clusters on entrepreneurship at the regional level. Defining entrepreneurship as the creation of new organizations and clusters as a geographically proximate group of interconnected firms and associated institutions in related industries, this paper aims to answer three research questions: first, do clusters matter to entrepreneurship at the regional level? Second, if clusters are associated with different levels of entrepreneurship, what explains those differences? Third, what do the answers to the previous questions imply for academics and policy makers? To answer these questions, this paper distinguishes between clusters and industrial agglomerations and advances a theoretical model and empirical research to explain the impact of clusters on entrepreneurship at the regional level. This paper uses the 97 German planning regions as units of analysis to test the hypotheses. Using hypotheses testing and OLS fixed-effects model, this paper finds that clusters do have an impact on entrepreneurship at the regional level, but industrial agglomerations do not. Implications for academics and policy makers and suggestions for future research are given in the concluding section.

This study analyzes the trade-off between strategic flexibility and commitment for cases of simultaneous and related strategic investments under high levels of uncertainty. It develops a model that, using a Cournot game and real options theory, demonstrates that (1) a correlated strategic investment adds value to a portfolio of ongoing strategic investments in a decreasing marginal fashion, and (2) the new investment delays the development of the other investments. Managers who fail to recognize these properties may make strategic commitments that destroy value, even in the presence of options with individual positive values. An important feature of the model is that competitive advantages may flow from market power or from the capability of managing the portfolio.

This research investigates the effects of social capital in nascent entrepreneurial projects carried out by entrepreneurial teams. By surveying 33 nascent entrepreneurial teams, this paper explores how 1) the internal social structure of the team, which reflects the communication patterns and the feelings between the members; and 2) the team's external social structure, which is based on the diversity of ties that the members of the team have with outside parties, impact the advancement of a business idea. It was found that teams with high external social capital have a higher performance, while the empirical results failed to support that high internal social capital was better for team performance.

Many multinational corporations are now investing in emerging market economies (EMEs). At the same time, within these countries, local entrepreneurs are starting up new ventures or looking to expand existing businesses. Yet the rate of new venture failures in these markets is high. This book suggests that the best way for companies operating in EMEs to find a distinctive and sustainable market position is to address what is unique and valuable in the EME itself. The book presents a series of studies from different scholars, which help readers to understand the distinctive nature of EMEs. The contributors consider how entrepreneurial activities are successfully carried out in EMEs, how these activities can take advantage of new technologies, and what the main constraints are. Each article is written in an accessible style, free from jargon, making the collection suitable for readers with no prior technical knowledge.

El Global Entrepreneurship Monitor es un estudio anual que analiza las características del proceso emprendedor. ¿Por qué emprende la gente?¿Cuáles son sus aspiraciones?¿En qué rubros se fundan más empresas? En este capítulo, una radiografía del entrepeneurship en la Argentina.

El caso planea la problemática del sector energético en Argentina en 2008. Es un disparador para generar un trabajo de equipos con el objeto de tomar decisiones frente a una problemática real, actual y compleja.

En 1999, Michael Eisner, CEO de The Walt Disney Company dio un giro en la estrategia que había mantenido en la década de los ’90. Su meta principal dejaría de ser la de crear la empresa de entretenimientos más grande del mundo, para enfocarse en consolidar la rentabilidad de la compañía. Eisner consideraba que la mejor manera de aumentar la rentabilidad iba a ser reestructurando los mercados internacionales. Fue con esta visión que en 1999 decidió crear la división Disney Internacional y nombrar a Bob Iger como presidente de la misma. Bob Iger dividió los negocios en el exterior en tres grandes regiones y nombró a un presidente por cada una de ellas. Diego Lerner, fue designado presidente de Disney Latinoamérica. Tres semanas después de su nombramiento, Lerner le presentó a Iger una propuesta innovadora para reestructurar los negocios en la región. Una alternativa que intentaba adecuarse a la realidad de los países latinoamericanos, a las tendencias de la industria y a los objetivos de Eisner, pero sin embargo, iba en contra de la estructura global de la compañía. El caso esta preparado para discutir la relación entre la estrategia y la estructura de gobierno, poniendo énfasis en los desafíos que presenta competir en la región Latinoamericana.

Sobre los desafíos estratégicos que planteaba la nueva etapa de crecimiento que encaraba el diario La Nación a fines de 2004.

The case follows an Argentinean biotech firm as it sets future firm strategy future and decides how to fund it. Specifically, the firm is working on a method to produce Human Growth Hormone (HGH) through the milk of cloned cows. Economic and political uncertainties in Argentina complicate an otherwise challenging strategic decision. Students will be required to make a decision based on the conditions present at the time of the case.

Luego de una exitosa pesca en la peligrosa zona de Flemish Cap, la máquina de hielo del barco pesquero Andrea Gail se avería. Ante estas circunstancias, el capitán Billy Tyne debe decidir entre esperar a que pase la gran tormenta que los separa de la costa y perder la captura, o arriesgarse a atravesarla. La tripulación y el capitán deben tomar la decisión. El caso esta diseñado para servir a múltiples propósitos en un curso de análisis de situaciones de negocio (ASN). También puede ser utilizado en un curso relacionado con temas éticos.

Continuing with our research on how CEOs add value to their organizations and how they priorize their activities, from which we developed a practical framework presented in 2006/2008 at the SMS Conference, we deepen our research over 300 CEOs analyzing how differences among them may influence in the way they perform their job. Those differences condition what they understand about their job and which are their priorities. Understanding those differences allows us to have a better insight of the CEO’s job.

This study explores the permanent and transitory component of abnormal returns in a sample of firms competing in Latin America during the period 1990-2006. It uses a novel model that simultaneously estimates the permanent and transitory component for the firm-specific, industry and country effects. The main findings are that (1) the persistence of abnormal returns is around 51% of the yearly returns (autoregressive coefficient); (2) persistence is mainly driven by firm-specific effects, both at the permanent and transitory level; (3) industry is more important than country when considering the permanent component of abnormal returns; and (4) country is more important than industry when considering the transitory component of abnormal returns.

This study derives strategic implications for firms competing in turbulent macroeconomic environments like that of emerging economies. It analyses the effect of sudden-stops and phoenix miracles on the evolution of the industry and, consequently, on the viable strategies when competing in such environment. For that, the study presents a model that illustrates the industry life cycle and explores the effects of environmental turbulence on the evolution of the industry. It shows that such environments increment the likelihood of survival for those firms that either follows a first-mover advantage strategy or a niche strategy while increase the probability of failure for firms that follow a middle size strategy.

There is little doubt that organizational identity – that which is central, distinctive, and enduring about an organization – mediates in adaptive processes. Exactly how this mediation takes place, and whether it is favorable or unfavorable to adaptation, must still be fully established. We add to the literature on identity and adaptation by exploring the relationship between these two constructs in family firms operating in an emerging economy. Based on measures of strength of identity, we examine how identity affects the adaptive processes of issue identification, strategic impulse definition, and implementation, where we look at pace of adjustment. We find that strong-identity organizations are able to foresee relevant changes in their industries, define adequate strategic responses, and implement them in an evolutionary (i.e., smooth) manner. Conversely, loose-identity organizations misread industry trends, incur in strategic paralysis, and must eventually enforce revolutionary (i.e., violent) changes in order to ensure survival.

Esta ponencia sintetiza un meta-estudio sobre la evidencia empírica y los argumentos teoricos relacionados con el impacto de los clusters en la creación de empresas y el desarrollo regional en Latino América. Los argumentos teóricos y evidencia a nivel mundial están resumidos en dos artículos sobre la relación de referencia (Rocha, 2004; Rocha and Sternberg, 2005), derivados de una tesis doctoral premiada por la Unión Europea, Comite de las Regiones. La evidencia empírica en Latin America fue obtenida de tanto de experiencias de organismos internacionales, como de practitioners y académicos que escribieron en diversos estudios. Usando 44 estudios seleccionados de un total de 124 estudios sobre clusters, esta ponencia concluye que los clusters contribuyen tanto a la creación de empresas como al desarrollo empresario, regional y nacional. Sin embargo, los clusters Latino Americanos son también una fuente potencial de mayores disparidades socio-económicas debido a su débil configuración inter-organizacional comparada con clusters de países más desarrollados. Un foco exclusivo en el crecimiento económico y en clusters basados en empresas multinacionales sin considerar los mecanismos de gobiernos, las especificidades de Latino América y la coordinación entre políticas locales y nacionales puede empeorar el desarrollo económico en el largo plazo y aumentar las actuales disparidades existentes en Latino América.

We structure the paper as follows. First, we define the key concepts of our model. Then, we briefly review the literature on clusters, entrepreneurship, upgrading and regional development in Latin America and Argentina. After this review, we illustrate our argument via two case studies in Argentina, a country better known for its volatility and lack of optimal social capital and institutions. Implicit in these studies is a revelation of the variety of clusters by industry and region. Our analysis of the autoparts sector in the Province of Buenos Aires shows how knowledge diffusion and learning appears largely due to certain types of customer-supplier relationships. Our analysis of the wine sector in the provinces of Mendoza and San Juan then reveals how different paths of upgrading appear rooted in distinct public policies. Both cases reflect Ghoshal’s optimism for practices and policies that can transform learning relationships between organizations. Acknowledging that we are only at the outset of developing more rigorous and relevant theories based on purposeful explanations, we conclude with challenges for future research on development and upgrading in firms operating in emerging regions and nations.

The focus of this paper is on the cooperation between Danish affiliates in Argentina and their local partners. In particular, this paper focuses on the linkages and the transfer of resources between these firms and the impact of their interaction on the local partners. The overall research questions guiding this paper are: (1) Why do Danish invest in Argentina?; (2) How do the affiliates cooperate with local firms?; and (3) What is the impact of the cooperation on the partner firms?

There is little doubt that organizational identity – that which is central, distinctive, and enduring about an organization – mediates in adaptive processes. Exactly how this mediation takes place, and whether it is favorable or unfavorable to adaptation, must still be fully established. We add to the literature on identity and adaptation by exploring the relationship between these two constructs in family firms operating in an emerging economy. Based on measures of strength of identity, we examine how identity affects the adaptive processes of issue identification, strategic impulse definition, and implementation, where we look at pace of adjustment. We find that strong-identity organizations are able to foresee relevant changes in their industries, define adequate strategic responses, and implement them in an evolutionary (i.e., smooth) manner. Conversely, loose-identity organizations misread industry trends, incur in strategic paralysis, and must eventually enforce revolutionary (i.e., violent) changes in order to ensure survival.

The present study tests the theoretical framework on how CEOs add value proposed by Carrera et al (2006). According to this model, CEOs must manage three main processes for accomplishing their mission of providing continuity to their organizations: Business, Management, and Institutional Configuration Processes. This study tests the model through a survey with 89 CEOs, from medium to large Argentine firms and multinational companies within Argentina. Research results backed up the theoretical framework. To a further extent the study evidences inconsistencies between CEOs perception of their main concerns and the actual allocation of time they do daily to their tasks. In addition, by sample segmentation (concerning age, experience, capital origin and type of organization analysed), some broad differences among CEOs arose.

This paper presents three proposals for aligning personal motives, firm’s goals and societal needs. A growing number of scholars are turning their attention to the impact of assumptions on management theory and practice. The search for sustainable ways for aligning economic and social goals at different levels of analysis has been and it continues to be a key task of scholars from different disciplines and, therefore, management studies. This paper aims at contributing to the effort of these scholars by revisiting the dominant assumption underlying the relationship between economic and social goals and proposing alternative models for a sustainable alignment between people, firms and society in management studies and practices. In order to achieve this aim, this paper first revisits the assumptions and impact on practice of the dominant paradigm explaining the relationship between firm performance and societal needs. This paradigm, coined “the great trade-off illusion” –that is, the belief that firms must sacrifice financial performance to meet societal obligations-, assumes a permanent trade-off between economic and social performance and, therefore, is unable to explain and prescribe sustainable ways for aligning personal motives, firm’s goals and societal needs. After making explicit the assumptions and impact of the trade-off illusion dichotomy, this paper analyzes and build an alternative paradigm called “instrumental-alignment”. As in the case of the trade-off dichotomy, the instrumental alignment proposal does not allow for a sustainable alignment given its restrictive assumptions. In particular, this latter proposal is based on the assumptions of enlightened self-interest, profit maximization, societal material well-being, and a conflict between individual and collective rationalities, which create inherent trade-offs that create unsustainable alignments. In order to overcome the limitations of the trade-off and instrumental-alignment models, this paper proposes a third model, named “intrinsic alignment”. This model is based on the assumptions of excellence and practical or part-whole rationality, in which both self-interest and others´ interests are taken into account as ends and therefore are not assumed to be object of trade-offs. Therefore, this model allows a sustainable alignment between personal motives, firm goals, and societal needs because that alignment has value in itself. This paper ends with implications for academics, managers, and policy makers at the level of assumptions, practices, and outcomes.

This paper examines a new inter-organizational form which is emerging from collaborative innovation processes within and across communities of firms operating in complementary markets. Idea sharing think tanks around high tech centers at leading universities and, more generally, around clusters, are well-documented phenomena. These inter-organizational processes and forms rest on collaborative capabilities. However, mainstream theories and even policies aimed at developing these capabilities are based on an incomplete set of assumptions about human nature, which constrain the very development of capabilities sought by them. The argument of this paper is that the sustainability of the processes and results of the emergent inter-organizational communities depends on a richer set of assumptions about human nature than that provided by mainstream management theories. The risks and demands involved in the design and operation of cross-organization collaborative communities require a challenging set of assumptions about human nature, which go far beyond the notion of enlightened self-interest embedded in neo-classical economics and even beyond the more complex models of human needs and motivation currently employed. Building on this argument and the evaluation of actual communities of firms, this paper contributes an inter-organizational network model based on the assumptions about human motives and choice offered by Aristotle. The conclusions of this paper are twofold. First, it argues that enlightened self-interest hinders rather than fosters the process of developing collaborative capabilities, given that this process will stop when difficulties affecting the pay-offs of the relationship arise in the short run. Second, it explains that a set of assumptions that takes both self-regarding and other’ regarding preferences as ends is required in order to develop and sustain collaborative capabilities in the analyzed inter-organizational communities. Members of such communities have to understand and share these assumptions on a continuing basis in order to sustain their collaborative efforts and outcomes.

This study explores the firm-specific, industry and country effects for firms competing in an emerging market context. For the whole sample, we find that the firm-specific effect is the most important and relatively the same in magnitude than that of developed countries. However, when analyzing the sub-sample of abnormal performers, we found that the firm-specific effect decreases and context-specific effects (i.e., industry and country effects) significantly increase. In addition, permanent effects are greater in high performers than in average performers. We understand these results as evidence of the importance of selecting the adequate strategic group in the industry and of establishing the correct fit between capabilities and positioning.

This article uses a unique research design to statistically analyze how a firm‟s “public-private” network can shape its upgrading capabilities. Such a network includes a firm‟s ties to other firms as well as to associations, cooperatives, schools, and publicly supported institutions that aim to help firms innovate. We develop our argument through an examination of the transformation of the Argentine wine industry in two provinces that uses data from a unique field survey we designed and implemented in 2004-05 to statistically analyze the relative impact of firm-level factors, inter-firm networks, and ties to non-firm organizations and institutions. While inter-firm networks are vital to upgrading, institutions bring value to firms in helping reconfigure socio-economic relationships. First, they can help firms improve process and product upgrading capabilities and “graduate” them to more sophisticated inter-firm networks. Second, linkages to institutions appear especially helpful to the extent they help the firm gain access to a variety of knowledge in different communities of producers. Governments can aid upgrading and competitiveness, especially in emerging markets, by building public-private institutions that not only offer supply-side resources to firms but also act as bridges across regions.  

This paper revisits the assumptions of the dominant theory of cooperation –i.e. game theory- in order to build an alternative paradigm of cooperation based on excellence. The relationship between self-interest and others’ interests is at the core of cooperation, broadly defined as working together for a common purpose. This relationship has been mainly approached from a conflicting perspective, which is now commonly known as social dilemma –i.e. a situation in which individual rationality, which is based on self-interest, leads to collective irrationality. This paper argues that assuming self-interest as the only motive for cooperation overlooks the human potential for fostering cooperation based on a more comprehensive view of human motives. Based on the assumption of self-interest, the mainstream approach to cooperation, game theory, has focused on different strategies and structures for fostering cooperation, without paying attention to the motivational side. To overcome this limitation, this paper proposes the concept of self-love, or the inclination of human beings to strive for their own good and perfection, as an alternative lens to that of self-interest for uncovering the richness and potential of human motivation and its impact on cooperation. This paper shows that self-interest underlies only three out of eight possible generic motives for cooperation. The main thrust is that cooperation is rooted in human intentionality and conditioned, not determined, by organizational practices and contexts. The self-love view allows considering both excellence and duty as alternative bases for cooperation. These alternative motives consider both self-interest and others´ interests as ends simultaneously, which implies that they are not exchangeable commodities subject to end-means logic but qualitatively different goods subject to part-whole and practical rationality logic. This paper shows the potential richness of this approach comparing a self-interest view with an excellence view of cooperation based on cases from emerging and developed economies at both the intra-organisational and inter-organisational levels. Acknowledging that the way researchers see reality (assumptions) drives what they do (theories) and prescribe (implications for practice), this paper ends with theoretical and practical implications at the business and societal levels.

This paper revisits “the great trade-off illusion” –that is, the belief that firms must sacrifice financial performance to meet societal obligations- from the standpoint of its assumptions in order to build alternative paradigms for a sustainable alignment between personal interests, firm goals, and societal needs. The basic argument is that making explicit the assumptions on human nature, human relationships, firm goals and societal needs of the dominant paradigm is the starting point for building models and making prescriptions for a sustainable alignment. After making explicit the assumptions of the dominant trade-off illusion dichotomy and their impact on practices and outcomes, this paper analyzes an alternative paradigm called “instrumental-alignment”. This paper concludes that neither of these paradigms allows a sustainable alignment given their restrictive assumptions. In particular, the latter paradigm is based on the assumptions of enlightened self-interest, profit maximization, societal material well-being, and a conflict between individual and collective rationalities, which create inherent trade-off logic that, make alignments not sustainable: they are just instrumental to personal, firm, or societal ends. In order to overcome the limitations of the instrumental-alignment logic, this paper proposes an “intrinsic alignment” paradigm based on the assumptions of excellence and practical or part-whole rationality. In this paradigm, both self-interest and others´ interests are taken into account as ends and therefore are not assumed to be object of trade-offs. Therefore, this paradigm allows a sustainable alignment between personal interests, firm goals, and societal needs because the alignment of interests has value in itself. This paper ends with implications for academics, managers, and policy makers at the level of assumptions, practices, and outcomes.

Previous research has often seen alliances as a mechanism used by disadvantaged firms to seek new capabilities during environmental discontinuities. But are alliances an effective dynamic capability? In this paper, we find that less competent firms can use alliances to access new technologies, and show that alliances do indeed reduce the technological gap among competitor firms in terms of searching or accessing new technology. However, advantaged and disadvantaged firms seem to use different search routines in this process, and former are superior in internalizing new capabilities from their alliances. Thus, alliances are only partly effective as a catching-up mechanism. We discuss implications of these results for the literatures on strategic alliances, technological competition and dynamic capabilities.

Previous research has often seen alliances as a mechanism used by disadvantaged firms to seek new capabilities during environmental discontinuities. But are alliances an effective dynamic capability? In this paper, we find that less competent firms can use alliances to access new technologies, and show that alliances do indeed reduce the technological gap among competitor firms in terms of searching or accessing new technology. However, advantaged and disadvantaged firms seem to use different search routines in this process, and former are superior in internalizing new capabilities from their alliances. Thus, alliances are only partly effective as a catching-up mechanism. We discuss implications of these results for the literatures on strategic alliances, technological competition and dynamic capabilities.

The research question we investigate in this paper is why firms invest in multiple real options on alternative technological assets if their value is sub-additive. In particular, we study under which conditions a firm tends to have more redundant technological investments. In this respect, we advance that the main reason to create sub-additive real options resides in the value of the option to switch among multiple technologies. A switch option is the opportunity to exchange a real asset (for example, the present value of the future cash flows from an existing technology) with a potentially more valuable one, for example, the present value of the future cash flows from a new technology (Oriani and Sobrero, 2002). When the uncertainty mainly concerns alternative technologies, an option to switch has a high value because it reduces the negative consequences of investing in the wrong technology (McGrath, 1997; Hatfield et al., 2001).

This study analyzes the effects of deregulation and governance changes on bank efficiency and productivity in Argentina over the post-deregulation period. The Argentine banking industry represents an interesting case study as banks underwent corporate changes of all types over this period including privatization, foreign acquisition of domestic banks, mergers and acquisitions among domestic institutions and closures. The evidence indicates that privatization and foreign acquisitions realized efficiency gains in the short term but that these beneficial effects were lost over time. In contrast, the long-term effect of mergers and acquisitions was to lower efficiency with no significant changes in the short-term. The findings further indicate that productivity growth declined over the post-deregulation period as a result of positive but declining technical progress and inefficiency changes.

This paper is about the assumptions and the managerial and societal implications of two alternative approaches to cooperation. The relationship between self-interest and others’ interests is at the core of cooperation, broadly defined as working together for a common purpose. This relationship has been mainly approached from a conflicting perspective, which is now commonly known as social dilemma –i.e. a situation in which individual rationality, which is based on self-interest, leads to collective irrationality. This paper argues that assuming self-interest as the only motive for cooperation overlooks the human potential for fostering cooperation based on a more comprehensive view of human motives. Based on the assumption of self-interest, the mainstream approach to cooperation, game theory, has focused on different strategies and structures for fostering cooperation, without paying attention to the motivational side. To overcome this limitation, this paper proposes the concept of self-love, or the inclination of human beings to strive for their own good and perfection, as an alternative lens to that of self-interest for uncovering the richness and potential of human motivation and its impact on cooperation. This paper shows that self-interest underlies only three out of eight possible generic motives for cooperation. The main thrust is that cooperation is rooted in human intentionality and conditioned, not determined, by organizational practices and contexts. The self-love view allows considering both excellence and duty as alternative bases for cooperation. These alternative motives consider both self-interest and others´ interests as ends simultaneously, which implies that they are not exchangeable commodities subject to end-means logic but qualitatively different goods subject to part-whole and practical rationality logic. This paper shows the potential richness of this approach comparing a self-interest view with an excellence view of cooperation based on cases from emerging and developed economies at both the intra-organisational and inter-organizational levels. Acknowledging that the way researchers see reality (assumptions) drives what they do (theories) and prescribe (implications for practice), this paper ends with theoretical and practical implications at the business and societal levels.

How personal interests, firm goals, and societal needs can be aligned? This paper critically examines the underlying assumptions of the dominant “trade-off illusion” paradigm and proposes a new paradigm for the alignment between personal interests, firm goals, and societal needs. The first paradigm, which we call the “trade-off alignment” paradigm, assumes that the ultimate motivation of individuals is self-interest and their ultimate end is utility maximization. The interests of other people are considered as means for a personal end and, therefore, any supposed motive seeking the wellbeing of others can be reduced to self-interest, giving rise to what is called enlightened self-interest. As for the nature and goals of the firm, this paradigm assumes that firms are either a nexus of individual contracts or instruments for reducing opportunism, and their goal is profit maximisation. Finally, this paradigm assumes that the ultimate ends of societies are economic growth and material well being. Within this paradigm, the alignment between personal utility maximization and firm´s profit maximization is done using extrinsic incentives such as bonus, status or any kind of external reward. As for the alignment between the profit maximization goal of the firm and societal economic growth and well-being, that alignment is done by the market mechanism through the price system. The second paradigm, which we call “intrinsic-alignment”, assumes that the ultimate motivation of individuals is self-love or the inclination of human beings to strive for their own good and perfection. This paradigm creates the context for considering both self-interest and others´s interests as ends because it assumes that people have the potential for excellence-based behavior. Firms are viewed as cooperative systems for the creation and distribution of value and the ultimate ends of society are human and socio-economic development. Within this paradigm, the alignment between personal interests and firm´s goals is done by managers using extrinsic, intrinsic, and transitive incentives. As for the alignment between the goals of the firm and society, this is done through both the market mechanisms and managerial action based on the contribution of firms to society. In this paper, we argue that this latter paradigm is a better lens to understand the connection between personal interests, firm goals, and societal needs because it acknowledges both the instrumental and intrinsic dimensions of these phenomena. As from the development and comparison of both paradigms and based on a series of case studies, this paper concludes with a set of criteria for discriminating between firms more inclined towards a “trade-off alignment” paradigm and firms more oriented towards an intrinsic paradigm. These criteria contribute not only to managerial self-evaluation but also to future research on the implications of strategies based on two different set of assumptions about the nature and goals of the firm and society.

This paper reviews the theoretical arguments and empirical evidence in Latin America (LA) related to the impact of clusters on development and growth at the firm, regional, and national levels. Reviewing more than 60 empirical studies and a total of 146 clusters in LA, it concludes that clusters contribute to both development and growth at the firm and regional level, but they are a potential source of socio-economic divides. Exclusive focus on economic growth, potential high-tech clusters, and clusters of transnational corporations without consider governance mechanisms, LA specificities, and coordination between local and national policies will both hinder growth in the long run and increase existing disparities in LA countries.

This paper reviews the theoretical arguments and empirical evidence in Latin America (LA) related to the relationship between entrepreneurship –i.e. creation of new organisations-, clusters –i.e. geographically proximate group of firms and associated institutions in related industries, linked by economic and social interdependencies-, and development –i.e. expansion of socio-economic capabilities. The theoretical arguments support a positive bi-directional association between three pair-wise relationships: entrepreneurship and development, clusters and development, and clusters and entrepreneurship. However, associated empirical evidence shows that it is difficult to reach empirical generalisations on the second and third relationships due to conceptual and methodological constraints. Empirical evidence in LA is growing but still scarce to reach generalisations. However, several criteria related to purpose, content, and method are proposed to guide future research and policy making. Regarding purpose, it is proposed that future studies focus more on socio-economic capabilities (development) rather than on economic outputs (economic growth). Regarding content, it is necessary to consider LA specificities such as the emergent nature and particular configuration of LA clusters as well as the causes and consequences of the high level of entrepreneurship, differentiating between opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship. Finally, regarding method, the contribution of clusters to entrepreneurship and development should consider comparative research designs –i.e. firms within and not within clusters- controlling for the configuration and degree of development of clusters and industry type. It is speculated that entrepreneurship and clusters would contribute to development in LA countries if policy design targets development simultaneously with growth and considers the specificities of LA clusters and entrepreneurship. Exclusive focus on economic growth and potential high-tech clusters and clusters of transnational corporations without consider governance mechanisms and the nature of necessity based entrepreneurship will both hinder growth in the long run and increase existing disparities in LA countries.

The relationship between self-interest and others’ interests is at the core of cooperation, broadly defined as working together for a common purpose. This relationship has been mainly approached from a conflicting perspective, which is now commonly known as social dilemma –i.e. a situation in which individual rationality, which is based on self-interest, leads to collective irrationality. This paper argues that assuming self-interest as the only motive for cooperation overlooks the human potential for fostering cooperation based on a more comprehensive view of human motives. Based on the assumption of self-interest, the mainstream approach to cooperation, game theory, has focused on different strategies and structures for fostering cooperation, without paying attention to the motivational side. To overcome this limitation, this paper proposes the concept of self-love, or the inclination of human beings to strive for their own good and perfection, as an alternative lens to that of self-interest for uncovering the richness and potential of human motivation and its impact on cooperation. The main thrust is that cooperation is rooted in human intentionality and conditioned, not determined, by organizational practices and contexts. The self-love view allows considering both self-interest and others´ interests as ends simultaneously, which implies that these motives are not exchangeable commodities subject to end-means logic but qualitatively different goods subject to part-whole or practical rationality logic. The paper shows that self-interest underlies only three out of eight possible generic motives for cooperation and exemplifies the potential richness of the approach comparing a self-interest view with an excellence view of cooperation at both the intra-organizational and inter-organizational levels. The paper ends with directions for future research.

I develop a theoretical model to investigate whether clusters moderate the relationship between entrepreneurship and regional development. Distinguishing between industrial agglomerations and clusters, I use a socio-economic approach to integrate disparate theories based on their underlying assumptions. Industrial agglomerations and clusters have both positive and negative moderating effects, but clusters create better conditions to face competitive shocks. Conceptual, theoretical, and practical implications for academics and policymakers are proposed.

A growing number of scholars are turning their attention to the role of assumptions underlying our theories. Assumptions, or the lenses through which we see the reality, drive our theories and organizational designs, which in turn drive the results we get at the personal, organizational, and societal levels. This professional development workshop (PDW) is intended for scholars interested in the linkages between assumptions, theories, managerial practices, and the public good to provide an interactive forum to address those linkages. In particular, leading scholars will discuss (1) the linkages between assumptions and theory building, (2) the linkages between assumptions and managerial practice, (3) the linkages between assumptions and the public good, and (4) the importance of making our assumptions as explicit as possible in order to subject them to public scrutiny and understand their impact on theory building, managerial practice and the public good.

How corporate social responsibility (CSR) and bottom of the pyramid (BOP) strategies could interact in a synergistic way? Based on two different sets of assumptions on the nature and goals of the firm, this paper develops two paradigms under which that synergy could be created. The first paradigm, which we call instrumental, assumes that the social responsibility of the firm is embedded in its goal of profit maximization. Given this goal and the fact that it is logically impossible to maximize in more than one dimension at the same time, BOP strategies are a means to achieve the profit maximization goal. Therefore, the synergistic connection between BOP and CSR is done using an instrumental or means-end logic: the social responsibility of the firm is the maximization of profits and BOP strategies are alternative means to achieve that goal. The second paradigm, which we call intrinsic, assumes that the social responsibility of the firm is intrinsically embedded in its goals of creating and distributing value. In this view, BOP strategies, when adopted by a particular firm, are necessary parts of the value creation and distribution system. Therefore, the synergistic connection between BOP and CSR is done using a practical or part-whole logic: BOP strategies have not only an instrumental but also an intrinsic dimension that makes those strategies as necessary parts of the value-creation and distribution goals of the firm. In this paper, we argue that this latter paradigm is a better lens to understand the connection between CSR and BOP strategies, because it acknowledges both the instrumental and intrinsic dimensions of these phenomena. However, it stresses that focusing only on the instrumental dimension of CSR and BOP strategies will damage the value creating and distribution goals of the firm in the long run. At the same time, we argue that the intrinsic paradigm provides the criteria for a genuine approach to CSR and BOP, because, going beyond the instrumentality of these phenomena, derives their meaning from a broader view of the nature of the firm and its role in society. As from the development and comparison of both paradigms and based on a series of case studies, this paper concludes with a set of criteria for discriminating between firms more inclined towards an instrumental paradigm and firms more oriented towards an intrinsic paradigm. These criteria contribute not only to managerial self-evaluation but also to future research on the implications of CSR and BOP strategies based on two different set of assumptions about the nature and goals of the firm.

This study analyses the value determinants of a portfolio of growth options and explores implications for strategic management. It focuses the analysis on four elements: the number of real options in the portfolio, constraints on the number of options that can be exercised, the volatility of underlying assets, and the correlation between underlying assets. These elements are articulated around a trade-off between growth options and switch options and are applied to different strategic situations of technological, market, and macroeconomic uncertainty.

This study explores a motivational justification to stakeholder theory. This methodological perspective is different and complementary of previous ones that impose normative considerations for stakeholder theory. Focusing on the entrepreneurial process, it analyzes the mechanisms that explain stakeholders’ actions and stakeholders’ alignment. The main argument is that stakeholders’ act motivated by both, the external output of their actions and the realization of the process. The process by itself, as a central motivation, provides individual and collective identity, what ultimately explains stakeholders’ alignment. This argumentation has managerial and normative implications.

Previous research has proposed mutual forbearance in multimarket interactions among firms. But the empirical analyses of this hypothesis have taken place in 'exploitation' rather than in 'exploration' type contexts and it is unclear if such arguments also apply to the latter. A key distinction between exploitation and exploration contexts is the higher level of uncertainty in the latter case since it deals with future markets rather than present revenue streams. We derive alternative hypotheses based on mutual forbearance and imitation perspectives,. We test these implications in the context of biotech investments made by pharmaceutical firms during 1989-99. Unlike many previous studies we analyze entry as well as exit patterns in such investments, and extend the arguments to the case of “partial” investments. We find support for imitation behavior, but not for mutual forbearance. Additionally, we find that when firms enter uncertain markets through partial investments, the effects of multimarket contact are mitigated. Our study has important implications for the limits of the mutual forbearance approach in exploration, as well as for the development of alternative hypotheses in multimarket contacts.

Our framework proposes that CEOs must manage three main processes for accomplishing their mission of providing continuity to their organizations: Business, Management, and Institutional Configuration Processes. In this explorative study we examine 90 CEOs, from medium to large argentine firms and multinational companies within the Argentine context -an important test for CEOs during the 1999-2004 economic recession-crisis-recovery and growth period-, for confirming how they add value to the companies they manage. Aiming to improve the understanding of the value added by a CEO to his company, we have analyzed CEOs in-depth interviews and presentations to the MBA students at IAE during these 6 years. Research results have backed up our theoretical framework; the research could be encouraged in other countries.

This paper examines the Buenos Aires water concession during the post-privatization period. Despite a noteworthy improvement over public management, the evidence indicates that privatization goals have not fully achieved because coverage remained well behind targets, tariffs increased notoriously and the firm made significant profits. The breakdown of changes in economic profits into productivity and price components indicates that the markedly increase of profits originated almost exclusively in tariff increases, as the contribution of total factor productivity improvements and of input prices have been negligible. Firm profitability was also enhanced by a highly leveraged capital structure. A good part of the concession’s failures seem to be due to the presence of a weak and inexperienced regulator. Several contract renegotiations turned an initial access problem into an affordability one. Moreover, subsidy estimates indicate that the social tariff program reached about one tenth of potential targeted beneficiaries only, an outcome that resulted from a combination of both little funding and an increasing poorer user base. This clearly goes against the declared privatization objective of achieving universal service by the end of the concession period.

Este trabajo combina fundamentos teóricos simples con evidencias recientes que permiten reflexionar sobre las causas que motivan la crisis en el sector del gas natural y sus consecuencias para el sector. El trabajo presenta un breve análisis de la evolución de la industria del gas natural en Argentina e introduce un simple marco conceptual para examinar las causas de la crisis originada desde principios de 2002. El trabajo luego realiza un análisis económico muy simple sobre los servicios firmes e interrumpibles y examina la evolución de la capacidad de transporte, los motivos de los incrementos de las demandas de gas natural e intenta explicar las causas por las que las empresas parecen no realizar nuevas inversiones. Finalmente, el estudio discute algunos escenarios posibles sobre la evolución de la industria en el corto plazo y la racionalidad de las medidas adoptadas para el sector.

This study examines the impact of multimarket contact on entry into new markets in the Argentine banking industry over the 1994-2000 period using survival analysis techniques. The results suggest that banks with large asset bases and greater experience are more likely to expand into new markets when the level of demographic variables such as population density, demand or market growth are favourable. The findings imply that multimarket contact reduces the likelihood of entry into new markets and that other factors such as market dominance and market concentration also have a negative impact on entry. Finally, the results reveal that strategic similarity among multimarket competitors amplifies the negative effect of multimarket contact on the hazard of entry.

This presentation reviews the theoretical arguments and empirical evidence in Latin America (LA), Argentina, and Germany related to the impact of entrepreneurship and clusters on development and growth at the firm, regional, and national levels. LA countries face right now the alternative to adopt an entrepreneurial-cluster led strategy to foster development at the firm, regional and national levels. In effect, after the state-led import substitution strategy between 1950 and 1970 and the macro-economic liberalisation reforms and market-led strategies between 1980 and 2000, local development policies based on private-public partnership with emphasis on entrepreneurship as well as micro-economic rather than macro-economic reforms appear as the most appealing strategies. Using a sample of 21 empirical studies and a total of 146 clusters in LA, the total population of clusters in Argentina and the total population of clusters in Germany, this study concludes that entrepreneurship and clusters contribute to both development and growth, but they are a potential source of socio-economic divides, especially in Latin-American countries. Also, comparing LA with Germany, this study concludes that necessity entrepreneurship and emergent clusters are two features of LA countries that should not overlooked when proposing development policies based on the creation and agglomeration of firms in LA countries. Exclusive focus on economic growth and clusters of transnational corporations without consider governance mechanisms, LA specificities, and coordination between local and national policies will both hinder growth in the long run and increase existing disparities in LA countries.

The purpose of this presentation is to understand the role of assumptions in theory building and testing, with and specific application to regional studies and entrepreneurship. It is argued that different assumptions on entrepreneurship, regional agglomerations, and regional outcomes (SEE) lead to different measures and methods to study them (DO), and the combination of different assumptions, methods, and measures leads to different results on the relationship between entrepreneurship, regional agglomerations, and regional outcomes (GET). This presentation develops theoretical arguments and presents empirical evidence to support each part of the previous See – Do – Get argument.

This paper investigates empirically whether clusters moderate the impact of entrepreneurship on development at the regional level. To this end, it distinguishes between clusters and industrial agglomerations and tests four hypotheses on their positive and negative expected moderating impact on the relationship between the creation of businesses and job growth. These hypotheses are tested using the 97 German Planning Regions as the units of analysis and OLS fixed-effects as the research method. The results show that clusters positively moderate the association between entrepreneurship and development at the regional level, but industrial agglomerations do not. Implications for academics and policy makers and suggestions for future research are given in the concluding section.

El mismo trata sobre el impacto de los métodos de financiamiento no bancarios en el crecimiento de las empresas. En él se estudia como estos métodos afectan la performance de las empresas en el contexto de la economía argentina y explora como estas prácticas se interrelacionan con las actividades de innovación.

Building upon previous models of entrepreneurial networks evolution, where it is assumed that entrepreneurs play a significant role in shaping their network development, this paper elaborates on how certain actors’ characteristics impact on the development of social capital at the very initial stage of venture formation. Specifically, it establishes propositions on how the level of human capital and reputation of the nascent entrepreneur as well as the level of commitment to the new project bear upon the purposive investment in social capital.

According to the slim body of literature that exists about innovation in family owned companies, there seems to be a quite stable support for the premise that family owned companies are a major source of innovation. Despite the progress that has been made, and the preliminary understanding attained about family owned companies and their relationship with the incubation and the financing of innovative business endeavours, in part as the recreation of their own businesses, still we count with very little research on this domain. Furthermore, no investigation has been conducted about this topic in emerging economies, where the particularities of the environment provides the family owned companies with certain opportunities while with additional uncertainties. Based on an in-depth case study of a high technology innovative family owned company in Argentina, is to identify the key antecedents that foster and enable family firms to successfully engage in innovation over generations. Additionally, by studying the case of high technology innovation in an emerging economy, we also have the objective of shedding some light in the understanding of the rationale behind path breaking innovations in emerging environments were in addition to the traditional technological, financial, and market uncertainties, companies face macro-economical and institutional uncertainties.

Do we need Regional Organizations in our global company? The answer is normally, yes. But there seem to be only a few state-of-the-art patterns for their implementation. Some trends for regional organization schemes are currently emerging among international companies. Not all regions have the same importance for the parent company. Therefore, reasons driving regionalization may vary amongst regions. South America is an example to show how companies manage a ‘smaller’ region, and which criteria should be taken into account to be successful.

En un contexto de crisis como el actual, el consejo, el expertise y la capaciad de intervención de un Directorio es de gran valor para los empresarios de las PyMEs. En este artículo, se presentan algunos resultados de la investigación que el IAE y ADIRAS llevaron adelante dobre el gobierno de las PyMEs argentinas.

El objetivo de este ciclo es contribuir al estudio del trabajo de los CEOs y agregarle valor a las organizaciones. Se presentará un framework práctico testeado estadísticamente del contenido del trabajo de los CEOs.

Probablemente, las empresas de mercados emergentes estén mejor preparadas para enfrentar la crisis, debido a sus economías de constantes variaciones. Aprendieron la lección y ahora hay que ponerla en práctica: sólo se alcanzará el liderazgo en el mercado, mediante la innovación y el foco en el cliente.

In recent years, the large number of corporate scandals around the world involving global companies that used to enjoy spotless reputations, like Enron, Worldcom, Siemens, ABB, Parmalat, and many pharmaceutical firms, have brought about many harsh outcomes. This article offers leading academic stances on business ethics and describes the key traits of suitable ethic systems.

Las compañías con actividades en varios países de América latina buscan bajar gastos y mejorar la calidad de los servicios de su back offi ce a través de Shared Services Centres (SSC). Muchas veces esto es la consecuencia del reordenaminento de las subsidiarias en la región como parte de en una reorganización de la compañía. La idea de fondo es simple: juntando actividades de soporte como contabilidad, Management Information Systems (MIS), nómina, etc en un SSC para la región se gana escala, los costos bajan y el mayor volumen permite el empleo de recursos más califi cados aumentando la calidad.

El entretenimiento y la tecnología demandan tiempo y dinero, dos variables sumamente escasas para los segmentos más bajos de la población. ¿Cómo lo viven y qué implicancias tiene para quienes operan en esa industria?

Globalization has led to profound changes in the ways and forms under which cross-border firm cooperation takes place. Increasingly such firm cooperation takes place between firms in developed countries and firms in developing and emerging market economies. Much research interest has been given to cooperation with firms in Asia, and significantly less to cooperation between firms in Europe and in Latin America. This joint research project will focus on cooperation between Danish affiliate firms and their local partners located in Argentina.

The present study tests the theoretical framework on how CEOs add value proposed by Carrera et al (2006). According to this model, CEOs must manage three main processes for accomplishing their mission of providing continuity to their organizations: Business, Management, and Institutional Configuration Processes. This study tests the model through a survey with 89 CEOs, from medium to large Argentine firms and multinational companies within Argentina. Research results backed up the theoretical framework. To a further extent the study evidences inconsistencies between CEOs perception of their main concerns and the actual allocation of time they do daily to their tasks. In addition, by sample segmentation (concerning age, experience, capital origin and type of organization analysed), some broad differences among CEOs arose.

Esta nota sintetiza el método de toma de decisiones presentado en la nota “¿Un Método para Tomar Decisiones?“ (PE-N-106-IA-1-s). Es ideal para que el participante pueda tener a mano un pequeño documento a modo de repaso o ayuda memoria del método presentado

Esta nota técnica integra los conceptos expuestos en notas técnicas previas acerca del desarrollo de capacidades y del análisis industrial de una organización para introducir el concepto de posicionamiento de los negocios en la matriz de atractividad, que relaciona capacidades para competir con atractividad de la industria. La nota técnica provee herramientas para analizar el posicionamiento de los negocios de una organización por separado y en forma conjunta, como portafolio. Asimismo, la nota técnica trata temas relacionados con la atractividad de la industria en mercados emergentes, donde la formación de grupos estratégicos con negocios en industrias diversas permite realizar actividades como el tunneling (desvío de recursos de una empresa controlada a otra) y negociar en forma directa con el Estado.

En la misma se desarrolla la experiencia del Área Política de Empresa, como campo de estudio dedicado a la investigación y enseñanza del valor agregado por la Alta Dirección en las organizaciones humanas. Esta nota técnica recorre la visión y el entendimiento que ha ido desarrollando esta Área en IAE sobre la evolución que entre 1980-2004 ha tenido lugar en el mundo de las empresas y en el valor que en ellas se espera que agregue la Alta Dirección de las mismas.

Esta nota intenta brindar un paneo general del estado en que se encontraba la cadena agroalimentaria de la carne bovina en nuestro país en los inicios de 2002. No es su intención internarse en un análisis detallado de la misma, sino simplemente acercar una foto que permita mostrar cómo se encontraba, para que, a partir de aquí, quien lo desea, pueda embarcarse en un estudio más profundo del tema.

The present study tests the theoretical framework on how CEOs add value proposed by Carrera et al (2006). According to this model, CEOs must manage three main processes for accomplishing their mission of providing continuity to their organizations: Business, Management and Institutional Configuration Processes. This study tests the model through a survey with 270 CEOs, from medium to large Argentine firms and multinational companies within Argentina. Research results backed up the theoretical framework. To a further extent the study evidences differences between CEOs perception of their main concerns and the actual allocation of time they do daily to their tasks. In addition, by sample segmentation (concerning age, experience, capital origin and CEO category), some broad differences among CEOs arose.

In this paper I offer a synthesis of previous contributions on Aristotle’s economic thought. Aristotle dealt with the economic issues in his practical philosophy. He thus considered ‘the economic’ within an ethical and political frame. This vision is coherent with Aristotle’s specific ontological analysis of ‘the economic’. In this paper, I consider this ontology and the consequences of it for ethics, politics and the epistemology of economics.

Scholars of international business and development are increasingly concerned with the roles of institutions and social ties in shaping the ability of local firms in emerging markets to learn new practices from foreign transplants.  This article uses a unique dataset from the Argentine autoparts sector to analyze the impact of firm level, structural, and relational factors on different types of upgrading capabilities.  Social ties between firms are associated with improvements in upgrading capabilities, but are often too weak to compensate for the negative effect of structural factors, like supply tier.  However, supplier-customer relationships that are part of regular, disciplined discussions for product and process improvements appear to be beneficial for upgrading.  

This article uses a unique research design to statistically analyze how a firm‟s “public-private” network can shape its upgrading capabilities. Such a network includes a firm‟s ties to other firms as well as to associations, cooperatives, schools, and publicly supported institutions that aim to help firms innovate. We develop our argument through an examination of the transformation of the Argentine wine industry in two provinces that uses data from a unique field survey we designed and implemented in 2004-05 to statistically analyze the relative impact of firm-level factors, inter-firm networks, and ties to non-firm organizations and institutions. While inter-firm networks are vital to upgrading, institutions bring value to firms in helping reconfigure socio-economic relationships. First, they can help firms improve process and product upgrading capabilities and “graduate” them to more sophisticated inter-firm networks. Second, linkages to institutions appear especially helpful to the extent they help the firm gain access to a variety of knowledge in different communities of producers. Governments can aid upgrading and competitiveness, especially in emerging markets, by building public-private institutions that not only offer supply-side resources to firms but also act as bridges across regions.

Resumen Ejecutivo La crisis económica, política y social originada por la desordenada salida del régimen de Convertibilidad motivó un profundo cambio en las reglas de juego y las conductas de los usuarios de gas natural como de las empresas que participan en la industria. El Gobierno ha intentado evitar que la crisis tenga un impacto mayor, pero esas medidas parecen haber aumentado la incertidumbre jurídica en el sector. Casi tres años después, desde el Gobierno aún se sostiene que las dificultades para abastecer las mayores demandas de gas se deben a que las empresas no han realizado las inversiones necesarias y se insiste en que las tarifas no deberían revisarse hasta que las inversiones no sean retomadas. La industria plantea un enfoque opuesto porque afirma que las tarifas actuales no permitirían cubrir los costos de realizar nuevas exploraciones ni expansiones en capacidad de transporte. Las distribuidoras de gas parecen enfrentar además mayores dificultades, pues son las que deben arbitrar las mayores demandas con las limitaciones de la oferta y la capacidad de transporte del gas natural. Esas evidencias parecerían indicar que la prolongación del conflicto inevitablemente conduciría a un fuerte deterioro de la eficiencia de toda la industria. Este trabajo combina fundamentos teóricos simples con evidencias recientes que permiten reflexionar sobre las causas que motivan esa crisis y sus consecuencias para el sector. El trabajo presenta, primero, un breve análisis de la evolución de la industria del gas natural en Argentina e introduce, después, un simple marco conceptual para examinar las causas de la crisis originada desde principios de 2002. El trabajo luego realiza un análisis económico muy simple sobre los servicios firmes e interrumpibles y examina la evolución de la capacidad de transporte, los motivos de los incrementos de las demandas de gas natural e intenta explicar las causas por las que las empresas parecen no realizar nuevas inversiones. El trabajo finalmente discute algunos escenarios posibles sobre la evolución de la industria en el corto plazo y la racionalidad de las medidas adoptadas para el sector. Los resultados de este trabajo sugieren que el planteo de que las dificultades para abastecer las mayores demandas de gas se deben a que las empresas no han realizado las inversiones necesarias parece no ser válido, pues las evidencias indican que las inversiones realizadas en los segmentos de transporte y distribución condujeron hacia importantes aumentos de capacidad cuyo nivel de utilización en el año 2001 no era completo. Sin embargo, el rápido desplazamiento de la demanda provocado por la distorsión en los precios relativos de los combustibles que siguió a la devaluación condujo a que la industria pasara, en pocos meses, de una situación de exceso de capacidad de transporte a otra de exceso de demanda, principalmente por los aumentos en las de los usuarios con mayores posibilidades de sustitución. La devaluación también provocó que los costos de las empresas aumenten, pero por sobre todo que los de expandir la capacidad no se cubran por completo. El exceso de demanda ha provocado que las demandas de algunos usuarios no puedan ser satisfechas. Las proyecciones sugieren que esas dificultades podrían extenderse a los usuarios con contratos no interrumpibles. El análisis claramente indica que un aumento del precio eliminaría la demanda insatisfecha y permitiría a las empresas recuperar sus costos totales de producción, y otorgaría los incentivos suficientes para emprender nuevas expansiones en capacidad. Un motivo de preocupación, hasta que ello ocurra, se apoya en la reciente interposición de medidas cautelares que impiden a las distribuidoras interrumpir el suministro a usuarios que habían contratado ese servicio. La multiplicación de esas medidas podría provocar graves perjuicios al resto de los usuarios que no disponen de alternativas de sustitución y cuyos servicios no pueden ser interrumpidos. Parecería claro que la mejor forma de sortear la escasez de gas y su capacidad de transporte en el corto plazo sería postergar la demanda de quienes pueden, técnicamente, sustituir su consumo de gas natural de manera que la escasa oferta sea distribuida entre quienes carecen de esas alternativas de sustitución. Esa parecería ser, además, una decisión más justa.

This research examines the determinants of firm's growth. Results indicate that firms willing to grow substantially and government programs designed to boost firms growth should put emphasis on investing in newer technology, diversifying from regional markets into national and international markets, and providing adequate returns, which provide the financial means to grow since these factors proved to be the most statistically significant explaining the growth of firms analyzed. Consistently with Gibrat's law, the size of the firm was not significantly related with its growth.