Frans van den Bosch

Bio: Frans van den Bosch is an academic researcher from Erasmus University Rotterdam. The author has contributed to research in topics: Competitive advantage & Corporate governance. The author has an hindex of 54, co-authored 215 publications receiving 19700 citations. Previous affiliations of Frans van den Bosch include Erasmus Research Institute of Management & University of Twente.

Knowledge Characteristics of Internal Network-Based Forms of Organizing.

Abstract: This paper argues that analyzing knowledge flows can contribute substantially to assessing the extent to which firms make use of internal network strategies. It suggests a new method that focuses o...

Top Management Team Search and New Knowledge Creation: How Top Management Team Experience Diversity and Shared Vision Influence Innovation

Abstract: This article probes the vital role a top management team (TMT) plays in the coupling of knowledge elements assembled through local and nonlocal search into radically new, exploratory innovations and incrementally new, exploitative innovations It theorizes that the materialization of exploratory and exploitative innovations from a firm's recombinatory stock of knowledge elements is contingent on the interplay between a TMT's experience diversity and its shared vision Multigroup structural equation modeling of data from a large cross-section of firms in the Netherlands supports the theoretical model We find that although greater variation in TMT experiences fosters exploratory innovations, lesser variation promotes exploitative innovations A shared TMT vision moderates these relationships We discuss the implications for research and practice

On the necessity and scientific challenges of conducting research into strategic value creating management models

Abstract: . In his Farewell Lecture, referring to the statement “Nothing is as practical as good theory”, Professor Van Den Bosch elaborates on developing “good” Management Theory and its practical application to business and society. Management is likely to be the most valuable resource of goal-oriented organizations. However, nowadays in the media and in public debate the diminishing legitimacy of managers is coming under discussion. This raises the challenging question: are managers losing their societal legitimacy? If this is the case, the second question arises: how can a more solid theoretical foundation of Management contribute to new insights in terms of its role – as an alternative to the Market – as a coordinating mechanism for creating value for business and society? Regarding both questions, the following four scientific challenges are addressed. First, the case is made that a managerial perspective on Research into Management is required. Second, taking a context-neutral approach in defining Management, it is proposed to focus on generic core activities of Management. Third, it is suggested that the creation of strategic value for society should be defined as the purpose of Management of organizations. Fourth, based on recent contributions to the literature, the importance for practice of strategic value creating Management Models are discussed, including a current appli - cation in the context of Shared Value Creation. Finally, the problems and challenges of changing the Management Model of an organization, i.e. Management Innovation, are highlighted. The lecture is concluded with four recommendations. These recommen - dations are directed to scientists in the field of Research in Management, to Schools of Management, to the practice of Management, and to governmental and regulatory agencies. These agencies have to look after Management Models and their strategic value creation for society. In the context of the present financial and economic crisis, it is recommended these agencies have to consider correcting not only the “Invisible Hand” of the Market, but also paying due attention to its close connection with the “Visible Hand” of Management.

Increasing effectiveness of managing strategic issues affecting a firm's reputation

Abstract: Reputations rise and fall. In this Part of the Corporate Reputation Review attention focusses on companies whose star is waning. The presentations made at the Stern School of Business conference and now published below comprise a distillation of the insights gained by a senior crisis-management practitioner, as well as three case studies and three more empirically-oriented crisis communication studies. Included in panelists' presenta- tions are theoretical frameworks which seek to explain the behavior of managers and opponents during crisis situations.

Absorptive Capacity: A Review, Reconceptualization, and Extension

Abstract: Researchers have used the absorptive capacity construct to explain various organizational phenomena. In this article we review the literature to identify key dimensions of absorptive capacity and offer a reconceptualization of this construct. Building upon the dynamic capabilities view of the firm, we distinguish between a firm's potential and realized capacity. We then advance a model outlining the conditions when the firm's potential and realized capacities can differentially influence the creation and sustenance of its competitive advantage.

The knowledge-creating company : how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation

Abstract: How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.

Clusters and knowledge: local buzz, global pipelines and the process of knowledge creation

Abstract: The paper is concerned with spatial clustering of economic activity and its relation to the spatiality of knowledge creation in interactive learning processes. It questions the view that tacit knowledge transfer is confined to local milieus whereas codified knowledge may roam the globe almost frictionlessly. The paper highlights the conditions under which both tacit and codified knowledge can be exchanged locally and globally. A distinction is made between, on the one hand, the learning processes taking place among actors embedded in a community by just being there dubbed buzz and, on the other, the knowledge attained by investing in building channels of communication called pipelines to selected providers located outside the local milieu. It is argued that the co-existence of high levels of buzz and many pipelines may provide firms located in outward-looking and lively clusters with a string of particular advantages not available to outsiders. Finally, some policy implications, stemming from this argumen...

The knowledge-creating company

Abstract: How have Japanese companies become world leaders in the automotive and electronics industries, among others? What is the secret of their success? Two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, are the first to tie the success of Japanese companies to their ability to create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. In The Knowledge-Creating Company, Nonaka and Takeuchi provide an inside look at how Japanese companies go about creating this new knowledge organizationally. The authors point out that there are two types of knowledge: explicit knowledge, contained in manuals and procedures, and tacit knowledge, learned only by experience, and communicated only indirectly, through metaphor and analogy. U.S. managers focus on explicit knowledge. The Japanese, on the other hand, focus on tacit knowledge. And this, the authors argue, is the key to their success--the Japanese have learned how to transform tacit into explicit knowledge. To explain how this is done--and illuminate Japanese business practices as they do so--the authors range from Greek philosophy to Zen Buddhism, from classical economists to modern management gurus, illustrating the theory of organizational knowledge creation with case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, Nissan, 3M, GE, and even the U.S. Marines. For instance, using Matsushita's development of the Home Bakery (the world's first fully automated bread-baking machine for home use), they show how tacit knowledge can be converted to explicit knowledge: when the designers couldn't perfect the dough kneading mechanism, a software programmer apprenticed herself withthe master baker at Osaka International Hotel, gained a tacit understanding of kneading, and then conveyed this information to the engineers. In addition, the authors show that, to create knowledge, the best management style is neither top-down nor bottom-up, but rather what they call "middle-up-down," in which the middle managers form a bridge between the ideals of top management and the chaotic realities of the frontline. As we make the turn into the 21st century, a new society is emerging. Peter Drucker calls it the "knowledge society," one that is drastically different from the "industrial society," and one in which acquiring and applying knowledge will become key competitive factors. Nonaka and Takeuchi go a step further, arguing that creating knowledge will become the key to sustaining a competitive advantage in the future. Because the competitive environment and customer preferences changes constantly, knowledge perishes quickly. With The Knowledge-Creating Company, managers have at their fingertips years of insight from Japanese firms that reveal how to create knowledge continuously, and how to exploit it to make successful new products, services, and systems.