Copenhagen Business School

About: Copenhagen Business School is a education organization based out in Copenhagen, Hovedstaden, Denmark. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Corporate governance & Entrepreneurship. The organization has 2194 authors who have published 9649 publications receiving 341898 citations.

Internationalization revisited: the big step hypothesis

Abstract: We refine internationalization theory by hypothesizing that international expansion is a discontinuous process characterized by an initial ‘big step.’ Firms have to build an infrastructure (e.g., architecture, management systems, and mind-set) to support international operations the first time they venture abroad, and subsequent international operations are able to leverage this infrastructure. Thus, we hypothesize that the internationalization process is characterized by: (1) firms taking a long period to make their first international investment; and (2) firms taking shorter but constant periods for subsequent investments. We examine the international expansion activities of 176 Danish firms and find support for these arguments.

Firms, incomplete contracts, and organizational learning

Abstract: This explorative paper argues that the central problem of economic organization is adaptation to unforeseen contin­ gencies. However, flexibility is a rather neglected issue in the theory of economic organization. This contrasts with much organization theory, in which the seeking and pro­ cessing of information about the organization's key uncer­ tainties is seen as a determinant of organizational form. The notion of incomplete contracts is argued to provide a means to bridging ideas from organizational economics and orga­ nization theory, particularly organizational learning. Incom­ plete contracts are not only important because they pro­ vide room for incentive problems, but more importantly be­ cause they allow firms to exploit processes of organizational learning that must always involve some unforeseen contin­ gencies. Firms are seen as efficient institutional responses to learning processes that involve strongly complementary problem-solving activities.

Simon on Problem-Solving: Implications for New Organizational Forms

Abstract: Two of Herbert Simon's best-known papers are "The Architecture of Complexity" and "The Structure of Ill-Structured Problems." We discuss the neglected links between these two papers, highlighting the role of decomposition in the context of problems on which constraints have been imposed as a general approach to problem solving. We apply these Simonian ideas to organizational issues, specifically new organizational forms. Specifically, Simonian ideas allow us to develop a morphology of new organizational forms and to point to some design problems that characterize these forms.