Action Research as Experimentation

This paper suggests that the metaphors of experimentation and the laboratory are applicable when positioning action research vis-à-vis more conventional business school research. Following on from three different action research projects in a large multinational pharmaceutical company, the paper argues that an action researcher can never construct a sheltered environment wherein certain qualities of nature can be isolated, purified, and enhanced, but must always undertake research activities in vivo, in real life organizational setting. Still, the metaphor of the laboratory is applicable because it enables for an understanding of how what Ian Hacking calls interventions in the hard sciences share certain characteristics with the action research activities. When action researchers intervene within organizations, the activities are always experimental in nature, i.e., they can never be fully predicted or anticipated, but are initial steps in an emergent process of organizational change.     

Feasibility-Oriented Application of System Analysis in SMEs-The Cybernetic Approach of VSM Applied to Horticultural Retail Companies in Germany

Many approaches of business analysis focus on single disciplines or specific problems but ignore complex and dynamic interrelations between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), their stakeholders, and their business environment. In order to meet these challenges, the system analysis tool Vester sensitivity model (VSM) is applied on a reference company representative of the German horticultural retail sector. Based on the principles of system theory and (bio-) cybernetics, the VSM system building tool uses net thinking, heuristics, and a participatory approach to illustrate and evaluate the systemic role of relevant key variables, and their interrelations in the example company. In this article, the analytical steps of the VSM are applied up to the finalized effect system model of the reference company. As an innovative aspect, the article emphasizes how the multilevel process of the system analysis can be put into practice more effectively by using interactive media tools to enable the required communication and consensus by the participating stakeholder panel. Elements such as the manager’s ability of strategic planning, the organizational climate, and the company’s image were uncovered as critical, but also stabilizing key factors for such companies. Although the study focuses on the specific situation of German horticultural retail companies as the research subject, the suggested procedure of integrated knowledge generation is transferrable to any business, industry branch, and country. Especially scholars, advisors, and business analysts working in the field of SME management can use the concept to evaluate such systems in the overall context of the companies under investigation.     

Action Engagement: Improving Researchers’ Involvement in Action Research Projects

This article presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of Action Engagement. This is a methodological approach implying that researchers involve themselves in the organization by working as ordinary employees. Our problem statement is this: How will Action Engagement improve the quality of action research? Given the fact that the researcher has limited time to use in the initial phase, we intend to show that Action Engagement is an effective introduction to the daily organizational life. The data is from an automotive supplier and two hospitals in Norway. The analysis contributes to the field of action research in two respects. First, it offers a detailed and varied understanding of how a broad empirical basis can be obtained in an action research (AR) project. Second, it presents an empirically grounded understanding of how this method can be used to achieve increased credibility and trust in ways that enable the researcher to bring in new and important aspects in organizational dialogues.     

Action Research in Inter-Organisational Networks: Impartial Studies or the Trojan Horse?

This article addresses the distinct ethical challenges of action research in inter-organisational projects. Traditionally, the literature on action research has distinguished between two researcher roles: The problem-solver and the observer. Based on an action research project in a Danish inter-organisational network, a third role as legitimiser is identified as an ethical challenge. Potentially, the legitimacy that the researchers carry as academic knowledge-generating actors may be used by a particular company to involve other companies in the network. Thus, the researchers may be perceived as bringing into the other organisations a Trojan Horse containing the interests of this particular company. Lack of clarity in defining the role of the action researcher may thus jeopardise the trustworthiness of the researchers and the action research project. On the basis of the case study analysis, the article develops a number of preliminary points of ethical consideration for future research analysis.     

股票流动性影响我国企业科技创新的博弈机制

本文从股东与管理层信息不对称和目标不一致的视角,通过构建管理层和投资者的博弈模型解释股票流动性对我国企业科技创新的影响机制.本文通过模型分析发现股票流动性通过收购威胁和股东类型两种途径影响企业科技创新:在收购威胁下,股票流动性会抑制企业科技创新;在不同股东类型下,机构投资者的存在使得股票流动性降低企业科技创新,大股东作为投资者时,股票流动性既可通过提高增长率提升股票估值促进科技创新,亦可通过降低短期收益降低股票估值阻碍科技创新,综合影响取决于二者效应之和.非国有企业股票流动性对其科技创新为阻碍作用,国有企业股票流动性对其科技创新起促进作用.使用固定效应模型对博弈模型所得结论进行实证检验,实证检验结果与博弈模型结论相符,较好地验证了博弈模型分析的结果.     

IDEA: A Collaborative Organizational Design Process Integrating Innovation, Design, Engagement, and Action

This paper describes an innovative and successful 1-year organization change process. It captures a design-based inquiry that simultaneously applies creative, purposeful, and systemic thinking to a complex set of issues. Three significant findings result from this research. First, this paper discusses how the change process created the necessary and sufficient conditions allowing for the creation of an innovative organizational design that embeds both optimization and innovation. Second, Design Thinking was used to develop a 2-day participative design process we have called IDEA, an acronym for integrating innovation, design, engagement, and action. We believe that the IDEA organizational design process is replicable. Third, it describes an emergent and co-created change process. This paper concludes by raising questions for future transformative organizational design efforts.     

The Contribution of Innovation Strategy Development and Implementation in Active Facilitation of Pharmaceutical Front End Innovation

Front end innovation (FEI) represents the first building blocks of product development, but is often regarded as a weak link in innovation literature. Various theorists emphasize that a firm??s innovation can benefit substantially by improving the front end of innovation process (Reinertsen, Res Technol Manag 42:23?C31, 1999; Stevens and Burly, Res Technol Manag 46(2):16?C25, 2003; Verworn et al., R&D Manag 38(1):1?C19, 2008) and that innovation strategies play a central role in optimization of innovation (Clark and Wheelwright, Leading product development, Free Press, New York, 1995; Cottam et al., Eur J Innov Manag 4:88?C94, 2001; Morgan and Berthon, J Manag Stud 45(8):1329?C1353, 2008). Innovation strategies are suggested in literature (e.g. Page, J Prod Innov Manag 10:273?C287, 1993; Oke, J Change Manag 2(3):272?C281, 2002; Adams et al., Int J Manag Rev 8(1):21?C47, 2006; Igartua et al., Res Technol Manag May?CJune:41?C52, 2010) as a facilitator of innovation and may therefore also be targeted at FEI support. The pharmaceutical industry has experienced a worldwide decline in the number of applications for new molecular entities to regulatory agencies since 1997. Therefore high pressures are put on pharmaceutical research and FEI to produce more valid candidates and faster for drug development. This paper explores how pharmaceutical FEI can be actively supported through the development and implementation of an innovation strategy. The empirical field and applied methodology is an action oriented longitudinal case study of a Danish pharmaceutical company. The findings and key learnings from the study are presented as propositions of how innovation strategies can be applied to actively facilitate FEI and with measurable results.     

飞行仿真模型库及虚拟样机建模环境的研究

飞行仿真模型库是飞行实时仿真系统研究的基础，仿真建模环境是为了让用户快速，方便地建立仿真所需的模型，并向外系统提供接口，从而使建模者和软件编制人员分开，本文论述了在飞行仿真模型库及虚拟样机建模环境方面的研究，介绍一个自行开发的具有良好的继承性和可扩充性的飞行仿真建模的软件开发环境，在飞行仿真模型库和建模环境的基础上，探讨了虚拟样机技术在飞机优化设计中的应用。     

Action Research on Land Management in the Western Amazon, Peru – A Research Process, Its Outcomes and the Researcher’s Role

The article explores the action research process throughout a land management research project, with the ambition to reflect upon action research as a working approach. It is shown how this process is experienced from a researcher’s point of view and it critically analyses its methodology and process, outcome and the role of the action researcher.The learning environment known to farmers and framed by local institutions and practical experimentation, embedded in the local worldview, constituted a necessary starting point for achieving motivation and practical outcomes. Tight feedback loops between practice and reflection enabled joint learning and innovation and rapid implementation of measures suggested by the farmers. The approach could be particularly useful for local NGOs and local universities.     

信任与小微企业信贷:引入互利和利他动机的博弈与实证研究

银企信贷关系中的信任,可以有效减少代理成本和机会主义行为,对缓解小微企业信贷约束有重要启示.提出一个银企间信任的博弈分析框架,从自利、互利和利他三方面分析信任的动机,并通过问卷调查实证检验银行信任对小微企业贷款可获得性的影响.结果表明:1)信任对信贷博弈均衡结果产生关键影响,双方较高的互利倾向和正的利他倾向可促使帕累托最优均衡的实现,且随着关系距离的拉近和信任的加深,双方利他与互利倾向逐渐增强,信任与合作可能演化为长期稳定均衡;2)银行信任对小微企业信贷获取的影响显著,高程度的信任有助于提升小微企业的申贷成功率.为小微企业信贷中的信任研究提供了有力证据,也为解决小微企业融资难问题提供了参考.     

完善中小企业政策和服务体系的系统思考

通过中小企业"环境调适"政策和服务体系的系统分析,提出完善中小企业政策和服务体系的总体设计思路。通过双层紧迫性排序模型的运算,可对政策和服务体系各因素进行关联性的重点分析和系统思考。     

基于G2B跨组织信息共享视角的“信贷规模歧视”应对研究

针对"信贷规模歧视"问题,通过归因分析,识别"信贷规模歧视"的原因,并对企业、银行、政府的目标进行界定,为电子政务服务设计提供了前提依据;通过政府角色定位研究以及国外信用信息共享模式分析,为电子政务服务设计提供了实践借鉴;最后,通过政策法规、现实国情和理论基础的分析,构建了跨组织信息共享服务价值网络和服务模式,进而设计了基于电子政务的中小企业信贷决策和监控服务体系,为"信贷规模歧视"的解决提供了一个新的视角。     

企业合作网络位置对创新绩效的影响——以ICT产业为例

基于社会网络和协同创新理论,以2002~2014年ICT产业中企业、大学和科研院所联合申请并授权的专利数据为基础,通过负二项回归分析了8 727家企业在产业合作网络与产学研合作网络的网络位置对企业创新绩效的影响。结果表明：不同类型合作网络对企业创新绩效产生差异化影响,在产业合作网络中,企业点中心性与创新绩效呈倒U型关系,结构洞指标对创新绩效具有显著正向影响;在产学研合作网络中,企业点中心性对创新绩效没有表现出促进作用,而是呈U型关系,结构洞与创新绩效表现出倒U型关系。网络位置对创新绩效的差异化影响能够深化企业对合作创新的认识,有针对性地建立与不同组织之间的合作。     

高新技术企业创新资金配置风险预警的FOA-SVM模型及实证

为了提高创新资金的运营效率和为企业创新活动提供有效支撑,按照高新技术企业创新资金配置的生态化要求,从资金的来源、使用、偿还、收益分配四个维度进行风险分析并构建风险预警指标,给出创新资金配置的生态目标,将支持向量机二分类问题扩展到多分类并与果蝇优化算法结合构建风险预警的FOA-SVM (fruit fly optimization algorithm and support vector machines)模型,确定警度和警限,选取117家医药制造企业2016年数据进行模型验证并与GA-SVM (genetic algorithm and support vector machines)模型进行比较分析,研究表明,FOA-SVM模型分类准确率高而且对于高风险的误判率低,可以实现对高新技术企业创新资金配置风险的分类预警,为优化创新资金配置、防范与控制创新资金配置风险提供依据.     

Communicating Through Theatre: How Organizational Theatre Engages Researchers and Industrial Companies

In this article, we focus on the communicative aspects in action research (AR), and how we as action researchers have been inspired by working with a theatre company in enterprise development. The theatre showed us a different landscape concerning communication in the enterprise development process. We discuss how communication in AR traditionally is handled, and challenge AR by introducing how a theatre company creates engagement and involvement in the development process. Action researchers can enhance their research activity through using communication forms borrowed from theatrical performance in order to inspire and increase participants’ involvement in change processes.

区域技术创新生态经济系统失调及其实现平衡的途径

根据生态经济学理论、技术创新理论和区域发展理论,运用系统分析的方法,结合我国区域技术创新研究现状,提出了区域技术创新生态经济系统（RTIES）概念,探讨了RTIES的组成剖析了RTIES失调的原因,并提出了一些实现RTIES平衡的途径.本文的研究对实现从传统技术创新到生态技术创新过渡提供了理论依据,对推动我国循环经济发展起着一定的作用.     

Institutionalizing Insider Action Research Initiatives in Organizations: The Role of Learning Mechanisms

Managers face increasing pressure to find ways to surface, utilize and integrate bits and pieces of relevant knowledge that reside within and outside the organizational boundaries to address emerging challenges. Grappling with this issue and based on a longitudinal study with a biopharma company, this paper offers the notion that insider action research coupled with the design and management of learning mechanism tapestry can enhance continuous organizational learning and improvement. The institutionalization of the learning mechanism tapestry provided new capability that enhanced the organization’s agility as well as a way to stabilize insider action research role and practices.     

Developing Managers as Healing Agents in Organizations: A Co-Operative Inquiry Approach

This action research examines how a health service manager, with a clinical background, sought to develop his clinical skills in a management context. When asked to undertake an evaluation of an addiction counseling service, he found that there was evidence of systemic ill-health expressed through feelings of powerlessness, hurt, and alienation among the staff of the service. The article describes how the manager used action research, and in particular co-operative inquiry, to become an agent of healing in his own place of work. It illustrates how the co-operative inquiry process can be used to help individuals or groups to overcome feelings of alienation and powerlessness in organizations. By dealing with these feelings through a process of co-operative inquiry the conditions necessary to improve systemic health can be created to help develop a service and meet service objectives It explores the neglected subject of how managers can be agents of healing in organizations.     

贴牌生产还是自主创新:一个理论分析

对同行业内众多OEM厂商进行率先创新竞争进行了博弈分析,得出当OEM厂商数量增多时,其进行技术创新的动力将减弱;将企业分为初始状态、贴牌生产、经过贴牌再创新等可能经过的3个阶段,通过决策模型和组织学习理论的运用,揭示出了企业做何选择的理论条件;最后,提出了对管理者有助益的建议.     

Overcoming Challenges in Writing About Action Research—The Promise of the Development Story

There is great demand for articles and books describing what action researchers do but little methodological literature available explaining how researchers can go about writing such articles and books. This constitutes a serious challenge as writing high quality scientific texts is crucial for researchers to learn about and improve their practice. This paper addresses that challenge and offers a ‘recipe’ for writing, the development story, which aims to help action researchers reflect deeply on their empirical observations and convert these into concise and meaningful texts. The main purpose is to examine how using the development story as a support tool for writing impacts on engaged researchers’ field practice. We assess the value of the development story by using it to analyse and present an organizational development project in four Norwegian industrial service firms. We conclude that the development story can help instigating valuable reflection on the various roles researchers play out in the field, thereby helping them improve future practice. There is a need for more literature about analysis and writing adapted to the specific challenges of action research.