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.

Service Architecture and Modularity

Abstract: An understanding of the nature of service architecture and modularity is crucial to service design and innovation. Two sets of approaches are developed that further our understanding and support decision making. First is a systematic decomposition approach to architecture modeling that allows organizations to understand their current architecture, evaluate alternative architectures, and identify key interfaces between different parts of the service. Second, the article develops a service modularity function (SMF), a mathematical model indicating the degree of modularity deriving from unique services and the degree to which the modules can be replicated across a variety of services. Three areas are identified that can contribute to competitiveness: the possession of unique service modules or elements not easily copied in the short term by competitors; the ability to exploit these through replication across multiple services and/or multiple sites; and the presence of a degree of modularity, which in turn supports both customization and rapid new product development. The SMF can support decision making in the design of services and the exploitation of service innovation. In particular, the relationship between architecture and modularity and the roles of service contact personnel in the customization of services is shown to be complementary. It is proposed that service customization can be either combinatorial (the combination of a set of service processes and products to create a unique service) or menu driven (the selection of one or more services from a set of existing services/products to meet customer needs).

Economic Freedom and Entrepreneurial Activity: Some Cross-Country Evidence

Abstract: While much attention has been devoted to analyzing how the institutional framework and entrepreneurship impact growth, how economic policy and institutional design affect entrepreneurship appears to be much less analyzed. We try to explain cross-country differences in the level of entrepreneurship by differences in economic policy and institutional design. Specifically, we use the Economic Freedom Index from the Fraser Institute to ask which elements of economic policy making and the institutional framework are conducive to the supply of entrepreneurship, measured by data on entrepreneurship from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. We find that the size of government is negatively correlated and sound money is positively correlated with entrepreneurial activity. Other measures of economic freedom are not significantly correlated with entrepreneurship.

Knowledge Transfer in Multinational Corporations

Abstract: and Key Results ■ This paper develops and tests a model that analyzes the joint effect of four deter- minants of knowledge transfer - characteristics of knowledge, characteristics of both knowledge senders and receivers, and the relationships between them - on the degree of knowledge transfer from headquarters to subsidiaries. ■ The results of the statistical analysis challenge the view that the success of knowl- edge transfer is exclusively a function of the characteristics of that knowledge. To fully understand the process of knowledge transfer, it is important to include characteristics of the individuals involved in the transfer process as well as char- acteristics of the context in which knowledge transfer takes place.

What are the consequences of initiative-taking in multinational subsidiaries?

Abstract: The phenomenon of subsidiary initiative has received increasing attention in recent years, but the consequences of initiatives and the associated dynamics of headquarters–subsidiary relationships have received much less research attention. Building on resource dependence theory and self-determination theory we argue that two basic goals subsidiary managers pursue are to achieve autonomy vis-a-vis corporate headquarters, and influence over other units. We investigate how a subsidiary's past initiatives contribute to its bargaining power, and how headquarters’ response – through granting attention or monitoring – affects the realization of the subsidiary's goals. Using structural equation modeling, our hypotheses are tested by drawing on a sample of 257 subsidiaries located in three different countries (Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom). Our results show that subsidiaries are not able to increase their influence through initiatives unless they get headquarters’ attention. We also find that subsidiary initiatives have a direct effect on subsidiary autonomy, but the caveat is that initiatives also evoke headquarters monitoring, which in turn decreases the subsidiary's autonomy. In addition to providing insights into how subsidiaries can achieve their goals, the paper also sheds light on the critical role headquarters plays in leveraging initiatives, and the influence of individual subsidiaries in the multinational enterprise.

Gender and the construction of the professional accountant

Abstract: In the period from 1870 to 1930, accountancy in England and Wales emerged from being an ill-defined commercial occupation into an established profession During the same period, the occupation of clerk was progressively downgraded and feminized Whilst previous studies have examined these processes in detail, they have examined them separately In this paper, we show how these processes were closely linked and reveal the important part played by gender, by which we mean “knowledge about sexual difference” (Scott, 1988, p 2), in the development of the occupation of accountant in relation to that of clerk A particular focus of the paper is the ways in which gendered discourses of professionalism were deployed by the early accountancy bodies to establish and legitimate the difference between, not simply accountants and women, but between accountants and men in related occupations, such as clerks and bookkeepers We argue that establishing this difference was crucial to the construction of the “professional accountant” and the “success” of the professionalization project We conclude that by 1930, the “professional accountant” had come to be constituted, in part, as something that is “not a clerk or a bookkeeper” and, in part, as “something that is “not a woman”