Academic Entrepreneurship: What are the Factors Shaping the Capacity of Academic Researchers to Identify and Exploit Entrepreneurial Opportunities?

This paper aims at improving our understanding of the attributes of academic researchers that influence the capacity to identify and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities. We investigate a number of factors highlighted in the literature as influencing the entrepreneurial activities undertaken by academics. Our results show that identification and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities are shaped by different factors. While identification of commercial opportunities is driven by prior entrepreneurial experience and the excellence of the academic work, exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities is driven by the extent of previous collaboration with industry partners, cognitive integration and prior entrepreneurial experience.Academic entrepreneurship; Opportunity identification; Opportunity exploitation; Spin-offs; Patenting; University-business collaboration

How do projects decouple from coercive pressures? A study of decoupling in construction projects

Purpose How organisations interact with and respond to environmental pressures has been a long-term interest of organisational scholars. Still, it remains an under-theorised phenomenon from a project perspective. So far, there is limited understanding of how projects, which are composed by a constellation of organisations, “respond” to institutional pressures that are exerted on them. This research takes the perspective of projects as adopters/implementers of institutional pressures and analyses how they interact with, and respond to, such pressures. More specifically, this research explores how construction projects respond to the pressure of a Building Information Modelling (BIM) mandate. Design/methodology/approach Multiple in-depth case studies were conducted to explore the practical implementation of a BIM mandate in the UK and understand how the construction projects responded to the coercive pressures to implement a new policy mandate for process digitalisation. Multiple sources were employed for data collection and the data were analysed inductively. The findings identify a hybrid response comprising four distinct ways that projects might respond to an institutional pressure. Findings We find that projects decouple both from the content and from the intended purpose of a policy, i.e. there are two variance of a policy-practice decoupling phenomenon in projects. The findings also reveal the underlying conditions leading to decoupling. Originality/value We advance decoupling literature so that it better applies to the temporary, distributed and interdependent work conducted via projects. Second, we define decoupling in projects as a provisional and fragmented process of wayfinding through heterogeneous institutional spaces, and discuss the potential policy-practice assemblages in projects, influenced by how, if and when project members' activities decouple from the many and often contradicting institutional pressures they face. Third, we discuss how the qualitatively different forms of decoupling that we identified in our work may act as part of a legitimation process in ambiguous situations whereby projects might share a resemblance of conformity with institutional pressures when they are de facto only partially conforming to them

LINKING FIRMS IN VALUE BUSINESS ECOSYSTEMS: TOWARDS A CLASSIFICATION MODEL

This paper contributes to the business ecosystem literature by offering a classification model that allows for the differentiation of intercompany connections. The researchers found that the definition of a business ecosystem lacks separation in the types of connection between companies. Business ecosystems were found to differentiate significantly, from loosely coupled to highly regulated and organised company relationships. Work with practitioners has shown that some may even result in newly founded business ventures. The authors are therefore proposing a classification model for business ecosystems that allows further classifications in studies. The outcome of this study has helped practitioners to operationalise product service and service business ecosystems

Congruence and its role in manufacturing strategy: an audit of goals and systems

This thesis is concerned with the realisation of manufacturing strategies. It describes the development and testing of a structured methodology which can be used to determine some of the reasons why a firm may be unable to implement its manufacturing strategy. The methodology is known as a "congruence audit". It is widely accepted that manufacturing strategies are important, but little has been written about how they should be developed and implemented. In the literature which does exist, however, a key theme is consistency, with many authors arguing that strategies can only be realised through consistency of decision making and action. Given that people are ultimately accountable for most of the decisions and actions taken in an organisation, it can be argued that consistency of decision making and action might best be achieved if; (a) there is widespread empathy with the organisation's strategic goals (goal congruence), and (b) the organisation's signalling systems - especially those concerned with goal setting, performance measurement, feedback and reward - induce decision making and action which is consistent with these goals (system congruence). This research set out to test two propositions: (a) That a process which can be used to identify areas of either goal or system incongruence (a congruence audit) can be developed. (b) That such a process can be used to identify some of the reasons why a firm may be unable to realise its manufacturing strategy. There were three main phases to the research. Phases one and two involved the development and testing of processes for identifying areas of either goal or system incongruence. Phase three involved the integration of these processes and the application of the resultant congruence audit. In total four companies participated directly in the study. Managers from a further fourteen were consulted. The key findings can be summarised under the categories of content and process. In terms of content, the data gathered during the congruence audits indicate that the level of goal congruence is highest between a firm's senior managers and those employees who work on the shop floor. Furthermore they suggest that the way in which the goal setting, performance measurement, feedback and reward systems influence employees, varies both from firm to firm and across the organisation's hierarchy. Most importantly, they imply that one of the main reasons firms are unable to realise their manufacturing strategies is that senior managers often inadvertently encourage their subordinates to pursue courses of action which are inappropriate. In terms of process, the congruence audit serves as a structured means of: - Defining what a management group believes manufacturing should be doing. Identifying what other employees think manufacturing actually is doing. Establishing whether any mismatches in perception occur. Determining whether such mismatches in perception are a function of the organisation's goal setting, performance measurement, feedback or reward systems. Provoking debate so that the issues raised can be resolved. It should be noted that as this thesis focuses on the development and testing of a process within a limited set of firms, further research is required to confirm the findings and to explore whether the congruence audit can be used more widely