IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wsi/ijimxx/v21y2017i06ns1363919617500475.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Resolving The Commitment-Flexibility Dilemma In New Technology Ventures

Author

Listed:
  • SIHEM BEN MAHMOUD-JOUINI

    (GREGHEC-i3/CRG, HEC, 1 Rue de la libération, 78351 Jouy en Josas Cedex, France)

  • PHILIPPE SILBERZAHN

    (#x2020;EM Lyon Business School, 23 Avenue Guy de Collongue, 69130 Écully, France)

  • THOMAS PARIS

    (GREGHEC-i3/CRG, HEC, 1 Rue de la libération, 78351 Jouy en Josas Cedex, France)

Abstract

In their attempt to define radically new product–market pairs, according to the literature, new technology ventures (NTV) are confronted with an apparent dilemma. On the one hand, they should delay key commitments to remain flexible in the face of high uncertainty. On the other hand, commitments are necessary to enable learning and progress. Based on the longitudinal study of four NTVs, we find that the entrepreneurs resolve this dilemma by (i) defining their product and market progressively through iteration and learning, and by (ii) basing this progressive definition on stakeholders’ commitments. We analyse this approach and label it “commit and learn”. Following an inductive methodology, we suggest a conceptual framework to enhance the understanding of commitment as a multi-dimensional concept for new ventures.

Suggested Citation

  • Sihem Ben Mahmoud-Jouini & Philippe Silberzahn & Thomas Paris, 2017. "Resolving The Commitment-Flexibility Dilemma In New Technology Ventures," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(06), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:ijimxx:v:21:y:2017:i:06:n:s1363919617500475
    DOI: 10.1142/S1363919617500475
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S1363919617500475
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1142/S1363919617500475?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Svenja C. Sommer & Christoph H. Loch & Jing Dong, 2009. "Managing Complexity and Unforeseeable Uncertainty in Startup Companies: An Empirical Study," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(1), pages 118-133, February.
    2. Ann-Marie Nienaber & Gerhard Schewe, 2014. "Enhancing Trust Or Reducing Perceived Risk, What Matters More When Launching A New Product?," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 18(01), pages 1-24.
    3. Shantanu Bhattacharya & V. Krishnan & Vijay Mahajan, 1998. "Managing New Product Definition in Highly Dynamic Environments," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(11-Part-2), pages 50-64, November.
    4. Joe Tidd, 2014. "Conjoint Innovation: Building A Bridge Between Innovation And Entrepreneurship," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 18(01), pages 1-20.
    5. Editors The, 2008. "From the Editors," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 2(2), pages 1-3, January.
    6. Shepherd, Dean A. & Douglas, Evan J. & Shanley, Mark, 2000. "New venture survival: Ignorance, external shocks, and risk reduction strategies," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 15(5-6), pages 393-410.
    7. Gonçalo Pacheco-De-Almeida & James Henderson & Karel Cool, 2008. "Resolving the Commitment vs. Flexibility Trade-Off: The Role of Resource Accumulation Lags," Post-Print hal-00576358, HAL.
    8. Michael T. Pich & Christoph H. Loch & Arnoud De Meyer, 2002. "On Uncertainty, Ambiguity, and Complexity in Project Management," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(8), pages 1008-1023, August.
    9. Editors The, 2008. "From the Editors," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-1, July.
    10. Pacheco-de-Almeida , Gonçalo & Henderson, James E. & Cool , Karel, 2008. "Resolving the Commitment vs. Flexibility Trade-Off: The Role of Resource Accumulation Lags," HEC Research Papers Series 987, HEC Paris.
    11. Stefan H. Thomke, 1998. "Managing Experimentation in the Design of New Products," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(6), pages 743-762, June.
    12. Birger Wernerfelt & Aneel Karnani, 1987. "Competitive strategy under uncertainty," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(2), pages 187-194, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Puay Khoon Toh & Taekyu Kim, 2013. "Why Put All Your Eggs in One Basket? A Competition-Based View of How Technological Uncertainty Affects a Firm’s Technological Specialization," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(4), pages 1214-1236, August.
    2. Lotta Hassi & Satu Rekonen, 2018. "How Individual Characteristics Promote Experimentation In Innovation," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(04), pages 1-30, May.
    3. Agathe Gilain & Pascal Le Masson & Benoit Weil, 2018. "Managing Learning Curves In The Unknown: From ‘Learning By Doing’ To ‘Learning By Designing’," Post-Print hal-01900961, HAL.
    4. Li, Xu & Vermeulen, Freek, 2021. "High risk, low return (and vice versa): the effect of product innovation on firm performance in a transition economy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120268, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Rosalie L Tung & Günter K Stahl, 2018. "The tortuous evolution of the role of culture in IB research: What we know, what we don’t know, and where we are headed," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(9), pages 1167-1189, December.
    6. Benischke, Mirko H. & Guldiken, Orhun & Doh, Jonathan P. & Martin, Geoffrey & Zhang, Yanze, 2022. "Towards a behavioral theory of MNC response to political risk and uncertainty: The role of CEO wealth at risk," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(1).
    7. Laurent, Catherine E. & Berriet-Solliec, Marielle & Kirsch, Marc & Labarthe, Pierre & Trouve, Aurelie, 2010. "Multifunctionality Of Agriculture, Public Policies And Scientific Evidences: Some Critical Issues Of Contemporary Controversies," APSTRACT: Applied Studies in Agribusiness and Commerce, AGRIMBA, vol. 4(1-2), pages 1-6.
    8. Hsu, Dan K. & Burmeister-Lamp, Katrin & Simmons, Sharon A. & Foo, Maw-Der & Hong, Michelle C. & Pipes, Jesse D., 2019. "“I know I can, but I don't fit”: Perceived fit, self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial intention," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 311-326.
    9. Axarloglou, Kostas & Visvikis, Ilias & Zarkos, Stefanos, 2013. "The time dimension and value of flexibility in resource allocation: The case of the maritime industry," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 35-48.
    10. Lude, Maximilian & Prügl, Reinhard, 2021. "Experimental studies in family business research," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 12(1).
    11. Batistič, Saša & Černe, Matej & Kaše, Robert & Zupic, Ivan, 2016. "The role of organizational context in fostering employee proactive behavior: The interplay between HR system configurations and relational climates," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 579-588.
    12. Dan K. Hsu & Johan Wiklund & Richard D. Cotton, 2017. "Success, Failure, and Entrepreneurial Reentry: An Experimental Assessment of the Veracity of Self–Efficacy and Prospect Theory," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(1), pages 19-47, January.
    13. Krueger, Norris & Bogers, Marcel L.A.M. & Labaki, Rania & Basco, Rodrigo, 2021. "Advancing family business science through context theorizing: The case of the Arab world," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 12(1).
    14. Jana Schmutzler & Edward Lorenz, 2018. "Tolerance, agglomeration, and enterprise innovation performance: a multilevel analysis of Latin American regions," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 27(2), pages 243-268.
    15. Choi, James J. & Haisley, Emily & Kurkoski, Jennifer & Massey, Cade, 2017. "Small cues change savings choices," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 378-395.
    16. Sylvain Lenfle & Christoph Loch, 2017. "Has Megaproject management lost its way ? Lessons from History," Post-Print hal-03640779, HAL.
    17. Catherine Welch & Eriikka Paavilainen-Mäntymäki & Rebecca Piekkari & Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki, 2022. "Reconciling theory and context: How the case study can set a new agenda for international business research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(1), pages 4-26, February.
    18. Sirola, Nina & Pitesa, Marko, 2018. "The macroeconomic environment and the psychology of work evaluation," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 11-24.
    19. Weber, Ellen & Büttgen, Marion & Bartsch, Silke, 2022. "How to take employees on the digital transformation journey: An experimental study on complementary leadership behaviors in managing organizational change," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 225-238.
    20. Sturt W Manning & Brita Lorentzen & Lynn Welton & Stephen Batiuk & Timothy P Harrison, 2020. "Beyond megadrought and collapse in the Northern Levant: The chronology of Tell Tayinat and two historical inflection episodes, around 4.2ka BP, and following 3.2ka BP," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(10), pages 1-38, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wsi:ijimxx:v:21:y:2017:i:06:n:s1363919617500475. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Tai Tone Lim (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.worldscinet.com/ijim/ijim.shtml .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.