AC951 CW2 Example Case Study.docx

AC951 CW2 Example Case Study.docx

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AC951CW2ExampleCaseStudy

DEPARTMENTOFACCOUNTING,FINANCEANDMANAGEMENT

AC951:

ResearchMethodsandMethodologiesinAccountingandManagement

Lecturers:

Dr.YuvalMillo&Dr.CeriWatkins

Session2006/7

AutumnTerm

COURSEWORKII

Researchdesignforarchitecturalinnovationsthatappearinthedisplay

technologyproductindustry

Theimportanceoftheinnovationinsocialsciencesgoesbacktothefirstindustrialrevolution.Manyscholarscalledattentiontotechnologicaladvanceclaimingthatithasamajorroleindrivingtheeconomicgrowthandshapingtheevolutionoforganizations（TushmanandNelson,1990）.Innovationcanoccurindifferentlevelsofsociallife.Forthepurposeofthisstudy,Ilookatinnovationattheorganizationallevel.DamanpourandEvan（1984）describeinnovationasadaptationofanideaorbehaviourthatisnewtotheorganization.Thisadaptationcanincludethegeneration,development,andimplementationofnewideasandbehaviours（Damanpour,1996）.Evenatanorganizationallevel,therecanbeseveraldimensionsofinnovation.Damapour（1996）describesthesedimensionssuchasadministrative,technical,product,andprocess.Inthisstudy,Iwillfocusonatechnicalinnovationinanewproductdevelopment.

Ofcourse,therearenotonlydifferentdimensionsofinnovationbutalsodifferenttypesofinnovation.Betz（2003:

73）describesradicalinnovationsasbasictechnologicalinnovationthatcreatesanewfunctionality.Ifinnovationisradical,theuncertaintycreatedbythenewknowledgeishigh,andtheeagernessofestablishedfirmstoinnovateintheradicalinnovationwillbelesslikelythentheentrants（Reinganum,1983;Henderson,1993）.Alternatively,incrementalinnovationisaminorchangethatimprovesperformance,features,orqualityoftheestablishedproductsandstrengthensthecompetitiveadvantageoftheestablishedfirms（TushmanandAnderson,1986;HendersonandClark,1990）.Thesetwocontradictingperspectivesoninnovationperceivethephenomenaasapropertyoffirms.

HendersonandClark（1990）underlinetheimportanceofdistinctionbetweenradicalandincrementalinnovation.However,theyalsosuggestthatitisincompleteandthesubjectofinnovationshouldbeexaminedingreaterdepth.Forexample,in1970’s

Xeroxwasthepioneeroftheplainpapercopiers（Clark1987,citedinHendersonandClark,1990）.However,itlosthalfofitsmarketsharewhencompetitorsintroducedsmallercopierstothemarket（ibid）.EventhoughXeroxinventedthecoretechnologiesandhadenormousexperienceintheindustry,itcouldnotcompetewithcompetitors.HendersonandClark（1990）suggestthatinsomesituations（likeXeroxexample）,radicalandincrementalinnovationperspectivesareunabletoprovidereasonswhyestablishedfirmscan’tmanagetheinnovation.Moreover,HendersonandClark（1990）proposeaframeworkcalledarchitecturalinnovation,whichaltersthelinkagesbetweenthecomponentswhilekeepingthecoreconceptsunchanged.As

Arrow（1962,citedinHenderson,1993）suggests,whenanewdominantdesignemergesforanindustry,theestablishedfirmstendtocreate“communicationchannels”and“informationfilters”inordertoincreasetheefficiencyofthefirm.Thesechannelsandfiltersevolveinsuchawaythattheyreinforcethearchitecturalknowledgecreatedbydominantdesign（HendersonandClark,1990）.Hendersonand

Clark（1990）claimsthatthesefiltersandchannelscanbehazardousfortheestablishedfirmssincetheymightbuildbarrierstoarchitecturalinnovation.

ThepurposeofmystudyistoinvestigatetherelevanceoftheframeworkcreatedbyHendersonandClarktodisplaytechnologyproductsmanufacturers（DTPMs）.ItisintendedtofocusontheprocessoftransitionfromCRT（cathoderaytube）toFPD（flatpaneldisplay）withrespecttonotionsintroducedinrhetoricofarchitecturalinnovation.HendersonandClark（1990:

12）statethat:

“architecturalinnovationisoftentriggeredbyachangeinacomponent...thatcreatesnewinteractions...”Inmyresearch,Iwillbeinvestigatingthechannelsandfiltersofafirm,whichwassuccessfulinimplementingthearchitecturalinnovation.Thiswillbeimportantforfirmsindisplaytechnologyproductsindustrysinceanewwaveofarchitecturalinnovationisonhorizon,whichistheorganicandpolymerlightemittingdiodedisplays（JISC,accessed5thDecember2006）.

OntologyandEpistemology

Inmyopinion,asocialscientistcannotpurelybelieveinobjectivismorsubjectivism,sincethepropertiesoftheresearchwillbethemostsignificantfactorthatwilldefinetheepistemologicalphilosophyoftheresearch.Thus,Iwouldidentifymyselfasapragmatistresearcher.Forpragmatism,themostimportantdeterminantoftheresearchepistemologyistheresearchquestionanddifferentapproachescanbesuccessfulforparticularquestion（Saundersetal.,2007）.Therefore,adeeperunderstandingisnecessarywhenItalkaboutchannelsandfiltersofafirmandtheirrelationshipwiththearchitecturalinnovation.

Aftertheemergenceofaradicalinnovation,firmsstarttocreateadominantdesign.Thearchitectureoftheproductbecomesstableandmoreeffortsareusedtoincreasethequalityandtheperformanceoftheproduct–incrementalinnovation（HendersonandClark1990）.Toincreasetheefficiencyoftheincrementalinnovation,firmstendtocreatedifferentsub-unitswheredifferentcomponentsoftheproductareinvestigated（ibid）.Acommunicationchannelisdefinedastheknowledgetransformationamongdifferentsub-units（ibid）.Thesechannelscanbeformal（suchasreporting）orinformal（i.e.askingtosomeoneaboutsomething）.Filtersarecreated（byindividuals）toidentifywhichinformationiscriticalintheinformationstream（Arrow,1974:

54）.HendersonandClark（1990）suggestthatfiltersandchannelsembodyarchitecturalknowledgeandintime,theybecomeimplicit.Theyalsoclaimthattheemergenceofarchitecturalinnovationcanbescreenedoutbecauseofchannelsandfilters（ibid）.Inthisresearch,myintensionistoinvestigatethechannelsandfiltersofaspecificfirmandunderstandthefirm’sstructure,whichmadepossibletoovercometheproblemscratedbyarchitecturalinnovation.

Ascanbeunderstoodformpurposeofmyresearch,Iamunlikelytouseapositivistepistemologyforthisresearch.First,oneofthekeyfeaturesofpositivistapproachisthegeneralizabilityofthefindings（Easterby-Smithetal.,2002）.SinceIaminvestigatingaspecificfirmforaspecificevent,itisnotrealistictoassumethatthefindingscanbeusedasafutureguidelinefordifferentfirms.Inaddition,Iamtryingtounderstandindividuals'（andgroups’）problemsolvingtechniquesandthiscanbedifficulttooversimplify.Second,thepositivistapproachsuggeststhatconceptsmustbegeneralizedinwaythatfactscanbemeasuredquantitatively（Easterby-Smithetal.,2002）.Myintensionistounderstandhowdifferentsub-unitsinteractwitheachothertosolveaproblem,andaquantitativemethodwillshowlittleinsightformyquestion.Therefore,Iamintendedtousequalitativemeasures.IbelievetheknowledgegainedfromthisresearchwillbeverysubjectiveandcontextualsinceIamlookingatthereflectionsofgroupsorindividualstospecificsocialphenomena.Itmustbeunderstoodthatthe“reality”thatisinvestigatedisbiasedaccordingtodifferentperspectives.First,thereisthebiasnessofindividualsthatwillbesubjecttotheresearchandsecond,thereisthebiasnessofresearcherthatwillanalyzetheindividuals,groupsandthesituation.Associalactorsintheworld,peoplehavebehaviorsandexperiences.Behaviorsarewhatwegetfromtheworldandexperiencesarewhatwemakesenseoftheworldbasedonourbehaviors.Whenthefocalpointoftheresearchistheindividualsandtheirinteractionswithsocialenvironment,researchermustlookatindividual’sexperiences,whichwillbeinevitablysubjective.

Also,theinteractionsbetweenobserverandparticipantwillcreateexperienceoneachother,becausethenatureoftheresearchisverycontextual.Finally,thebiasnessofresearcherwillbereflectedtohisorherfindingssinces\hewillreporttheexperiencethatisgainedfromtheinteractionswithparticipants.Onecanarguethatthesubjectivecharacteristicsoftheresearchwilldecreasethevalidityandreliabilityofthefindings.Nevertheless,itisessentialtoexplorethesubjectivemeanings.Inordertounderstandtheindividual’sactionsonemustunderstandtheemotionsthatmotivatetheindividual.Therefore,myepistemologicalstandforthisresearchisclosertotheinterpretivism/socialconstructionism,whichdefinesrealityasasociallyconstructedphenomenon（Easterby-Smithetal.,2002）.Inaddition,interpretivistapproachacknowledgesobserverasapartofthesensemakingprocess（Robson,2002）.

Asthenatureofmystudy,theresearchwillbeanexploratorystudywhereItrytounderstandtheexistenceofthearchitecturalinnovationinafirmandtheusageofchannelsandfiltersinproductdevelopment.Astheresearcher,Idonotintendtogiveanycausalrelationshipsbetweenarchitecturalinnovationandfirmsabilitiestomanageit.Myresearchwillnotexplainrelationshipsbetweentwoormorevariablesthatarepredefinedbeforethedatacollection.Rather,critiquesaboutrelationshipswillfollowthedatacollection.Hence,aninductiveapproachisnecessarywhichgivesafeelofwhatisgoingonandhelpstounderstandthenatureoftheproblem（Saundersetal.,2007）.Here,Imustunderlinethatarchitecturalinnovationisusedasatooltoidentifyspecificproblemsets.Theseproblemsetswillhelpmetounderstandarchitecturalinnovation