Reserach Areas

 

BRANDING
 
In order to survive and prosper, all companies need to create a unique and favourable position for their product- or corporate brands in the mind of customers and other stakeholders. This is why branding has become a major issue in marketing research and practice. Moreover, branding is a useful focus of application for research within a number of marketing areas. Eight faculty members are doing research which, directly or indirectly, is relevant for branding decisions. This research covers a broad range of areas such as, consumer research, brand alliances, inter-organizational relations, market research methods, brand management, corporate social responsibility and service innovation.
 
 
Researchers (internal)
Professor Einar Breivik
Professor Sven A. Haugland
Professor Leif E. Hem
Associate professor Ingeborg A. Kleppe
Professor Herbjørn Nysveen
Professor Helge Thorgjørnsen
Associate professor Aksel Rokkan
Professor Magne Supphellen
Professor Sigurd V. Troye
 
 
Prominent international relations
Professor Richard Bagozzi, Michigan State University, USA
Professor Jean Noel Kapferer, HEC, France
Professor Roy Howell, Texas Tech University, USA
Professor Durajrai Maheswaran, Stern School of Business, USA
Professor Michael Dahlén, Stockholm School of Economics
 
 
Selected recent publications:
 
Breivik, E. og Thorgjørnsen, H. (2008) " Consumer-Brand Relationships: An Investigation of Two Alternative Models", Journal of the Academy of Marketing Sience, Vol 36(4).
White, T.B., Zahay, D., Thorbjørnsen, H. og Shavitt, S. (2008). " The Role of Personalization in Increasing the Response Rate of Email Solicitations", Marketing Letters, Vol 19.
 
Howell, R.D, Breivik, E. Wilcox, J.B. (2007). Reconsidering formative measurement, Psychological Methods, 12.
 
Lunnan, R., Haugland S. (2008). Predicting and measuring alliance performance: A multidimensional analysis, Strategic Management Journal, 29.
 
Heide, J.B., Wathne, K.H., Rokkan, A. (2007). Interfirm monitoring, social contracts, and relationship outcomes, Journal of Marketing Research, 44.
 
Nelson, M.R., Brunel, F.F., Supphellen, M., Manchanda, R.V. (2006). Effects of culture, gender, and moral obligation on charity advertising across masculine and feminine cultures, Journal of Consumer Psychology, 16.
 
Thorbjornsen, H., Pedersen, P.E., Nysveen, H. (2007). ”This is who I am”: Identitiy expressiveness and the theory of planned behavior, Psychology & Marketing, 24.
 
Xie, C., Bagozzi, R.P., Troye, S.V. (2008). Trying to prosume: toward a theory of consumers as co-creators of value, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36.
 
 
 

KNOWLEDGE IN ORGANIZATIONS:

 
ORGANIZATIONAL ANTECEDENTS AND
 
STRATEGIC CONSEQUENCES

Research Themes
“Knowledge” has been all the rage for more than a decade in a number of fields in management studies. A “knowledge movement” that cuts across traditionally separate disciplines in business administration has emerged. The strategy field has witnessed a proliferation of approaches that all place knowledge center stage; the international business field is in the process of developing a view of the multinational corporation as a knowledge-based entity; network ideas that stress connections between knowledge nodes are becoming increasingly influential; and, of course, knowledge management has become hugely influential. The common thread that runs through all this is the shared conviction that the management of knowledge of whatever kind has become a critical issue for competitive dynamics, international strategy, the building of resources, the boundaries of firms, human resource management and many other issues.
 
While the present research efforts link up with this knowledge movement, they seek to provide a stronger foundation for the understanding of the organizational and strategic role of knowledge. In spite of the strong prominence of “knowledge management” themes (broadly conceived) in contemporary management research, there are numerous gaps in the research literature. Thus, the participants in this recognized research area seek to contribute to the following research themes:
 
1)     The micro-foundations of knowledge processes in organizations (i.e., processes of creating, sharing, transferring, integrating, etc. knowledge). For example, how does the role of management, change when productive activities move towards employees expending intelligent effort in situations involving joint production under multitasking and inputs and outputs that are costly to measure? What is the model of “organizational man” that is adequate to the understanding of these changing conditions?
(N. Foss, Haukedal, Stensaker).
 
2)     Knowledge governance – that is, which organizational instruments and governance mechanisms should be deployed to govern which knowledge processes (under an efficiency norm)? How much of the extant body of organizational economics can be applied to cast light over this issue? Which modifications do we need to introduce?
(K. Foss, N. Foss, Gooderham, Haugland, Ulset)
 
3)      Strategic role of knowledge – for example, how can knowledge creation be fostered by corporate venturing and intra-preneurship? What are the performance implications of the control and deployment of knowledge assets? (K. Foss, N. Foss, Lien)

 
4)      Firm-specific knowledge, organization, and the external environment – for example, how does the internal organization of the firm influence its absorptive capacity? How does the firm’s ability to engage in and benefit from relational exchange depend on its knowledge base? (Haugland, N. Foss, Ulset)
 
In terms of fields in management research, this recognized research area contributes to a number of fields, such as strategic management, human resource management, economic organization, entrepreneurship, and internal business.
 
Researchers (internal)
  • Professor Kirsten Foss
  • Professor Nicolai Foss
  • Professor Arent Greve
  • Professor Paul Gooderham
  • Professor Sven Haugland
  • Professor Willy Haukedal
  • Associate Professor Lasse Lien
  • Associate Professor Inger Stensaker
  • Associate Professor Svein Ulset
  • Senior Researcher Torstein Nesheim (SNF)
     
 
Relations
This recognized research area has excellent relations to leading international scholars in fields such as strategic management, human resource management and international business. [To be detailed].
 
Projects
Research projects are defined above (Research Themes, points 1) – 4)). The research area engages in cooperative relations with business to make the research actionable.  In addition, the research area seeks to attract external funding from public as well as private sources. [To be detailed].
 
Representative publications
 
Svein Ulset. 2008. “The Rise and Fall of Global Network Alliances,” Industrial and Corporate Change.

 

Kirsten Foss. 2008. “Authority in the Knowledge Economy,” in Oliver Williamson and Per-Olof Bjuggren. Advances in Transaction Cost Economics.

 

Kirsten Foss and Nicolai Foss. “Understanding Opportunity Discovery: The Anteceding Role of Transaction Costs and Property Rights,” forthcoming, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal.

 

Nicolai Foss. 2007.“The Emerging Knowledge Governance Approach.” Organization.

 

Nicolai Foss and Snejina Michailova. 2008. Knowledge Governance: Processes and

Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

 

Nicolai Foss, Marjorie Lyles and Henk Volberda. ”Absorbing the Concept of Absorptive Capacity,” forthcoming, Organization Science.

 

Gooderham, Paul and Erik Døving. 2008. “Dynamic Capabilities as Antecedents of the Scope of Related Diversification,” Strategic Management Journal (forthcoming).

 

Gooderham, Paul and Svein Ulsett. 2000.”’Beyond the M-form’: Towards a Critical Test of the New Form” International Journal of the Economics of Business, 9

 

Aksel I. Rokkan and Sven A. Haugland. 2002. ”Developing Relational Exchange: Effectiveness and Power,” European Journal of Marketing.

 

Randi Lunnan and Sven A. Haugland. 2008. “Predicitng and Measuring Alliance Performance: A Multidimensional Analysis,” Strategic Management Journal.

 

Willy Haukedal and Kjell Grønhaug. 1995. “Creativity and Innovation Management,” Creativity and Innovation Management 4: 4-13.

 

Lasse Lien and Peter G. Klein. 2006. „Relatedness and Acquirer Performance,” in Cary L. Cooper and Sydney Finkelstein, eds., Advances in Mergers and Acquisitions, 5.

 

Stensaker, Inger and Joyce Falkenberg. 2007. Making Sense of Different Responses to Corporate Change. Human Relations 60.

 

Stensaker, Inger and Christine Meyer 2006. Developing Capacity for Change.  Journal of Change Management 6.

 

 


 
THE INTERNATIONAL
STRATEGY AND MANAGEMENT (ISAM)
RESEARCH GROUP
 
  Research Themes
Since the early 1990s there has been a dramatic internationalization of Norwegian firms. For example, the proportion of foreign employment in the 30 largest Norwegian manufacturing firms rose from 8 percent to 34 percent in 1990 and by 1996 to about 60 percent. With the evolution of Norwegian firms as multinational enterprises (MNEs), Norwegian firms are confronted by a set of new strategic and management challenges that revolve around geographical, cultural and institutional distance. Dealing successfully with these challenges involves the development of a new repertoire of strategic, organizational and leadership capabilities.
Increasingly there has been an interest on the part of Norwegian MNEs to engage with the ISAM group of researchers at NHH’s Department of Strategy and Management to facilitate the identification and development of relevant global capabilities. One manifestation of this is that, in collaboration with NHH’s consultancy arm, AFF, we have developed a network of 25 MNEs that meets each quarter to explore international strategic and management challenges.
Beyond ISAM’s special focus on the applicability of the Scandinavian leadership style beyond egalitarian Scandinavia, its research domain spans the core themes of contemporary international strategy and management including:
·        internationalization entry strategies and the organizational and leadership capabilities required to effectuate these;
·        international leadership development;
·        knowledge transfer in knowledge-intensive multinational enterprises;
·        the cross-cultural transferability of human resource management systems
 
Researchers (internal)
 
·        Professor Bjarne Espedal
·        Professor Paul Gooderham (Co-ordinator)
·        Professor Odd Nordhaug
·        Post-doctoral fellow Karen Modesta Olsen
·        Associate Professor Inger Stensaker
·        PhD student Christina Roe Steen
·        Associate Professor Svein Ulset
 
In addition there is a close cooperation with the following SNF researchers and AFF consultants
·        Michelle Farooqui (AFF)
·        Per Heum (SNF)
·        Atle Jordahl (AFF)
·        Arne Kjøde (AFF)
·        Dr Rune Rønning (AFF & SNF)
 
 
Projects
 
ISAM comprises a number of externally funded projects of which the GOLD project, with a three year budget of NKR 9 million is the largest. Another substantial project is that of the Statoil-Hydro merger. Most of ISAM’s projects are embedded in networks of leading international researchers, including
·        the Cranet-network,
·        the CEMS-L’Oreal research group,
·        the European Management Development network
·        the Employment Practices in MNEs network.
 
GOLD: Project director – Professor Paul Gooderham
Focus – global organizational leadership development that promotes knowledge-sharing in knowledge-rich MNEs. The project involves close cooperation with AFF, Rieber & Søn, Yara and Veidekke.
 
Statoil-Hydro merger: Project director – Associate professor Inger Stensaker
Focus – studies of the merger of two of Norway’s foremost multinational companies.
 
CEMS-L’Oreal Values Project: Project director – Professor Odd Nordhaug
Focus – cross-cultural study of value systems among European elite business students.
 
Cross-cultural HRM: Project directors – Professors Odd Nordhaug & Paul Gooderham
Focus – using the 45 country data set, Cranet,comparisons of HRM systems.
 
Employment practice in MNEs:Project director – Dr Karen Modesta Olsen
Focus – cross-national studies of human resource and knowledge management practices in MNCs.
 
European Management Development: Project director – Associate professor Bjarne Espedal
Focus - The leadership required for effective knowledge creation, transfer and commercialization in European firms.
 
Knowledge governance in MNEs: Project director – Associate professor Svein Ulset
Focus – knowledge governance mechanisms for effective knowledge management in MNEs
 
 
 
Representative publications
 
Espedal, B. (2004). Management and Leadership Development in Norway:
Discrepancies between Talk and Action, Advances in Developing Human Resources.
6, 470-485.
 
Espedal, B. (2005). Management Development: Using internal or external resources in developing core competence, Human Resource Development Review. 4, 1-23.
 
Fenton-O’Creevy, M., Gooderham, P.N. and Nordhaug, O (2008). Human Resource
Management in US subsidiaries in Europe: Centralization or Autonomy? Journal of
International Business Studies. 39(1), 151-166.
 
Gooderham, P.N., Nordhaug, O. International Management: Cross-Boundary Challenges
(2003). Blackwell: Oxford and Boston.
 
Gooderham, P.N., Nordhaug, O. and Ringdal, K (1999). Institutional determinants of organizational practices: Human resource management in European firms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(3), 507-531.
 
Gooderham, P.N., Nordhaug, O. and Ringdal, K (2006). National Embeddedness and
HRM in US Subsidiaries in Europe and Australia. Human Relations. 59(1), 1491-1513.
 
Gooderham, P. and Ulset, S. (2002). ‘Beyond the M-form’: Towards a Critical Test of the New Form. International Journal of the Economics of Business. 9(1), 117-138.
 
Mabey, C. and Gooderham, P.N. (2005) The impact of management development on the organizational performance of European firms. European Management Review 2(3), 131-142.
Meyer, C.B. and Stensaker, I. 2006. Developing Capacity for Change. Journal of Change Management. 6, 217-231.
Nesheim, T., Olsen, K. M., and Kalleberg, A. L. (2007). Externalizing the Core:
Firms’ Use of Employment Intermediaries in the Information- and Communication
Technology Industries. Human Resource Management, 46 (2), 247-264.
 
Olsen, K M. and Kalleberg, A. L., (2004) “Non-standard Work in Two Different
Employment Regimes: Norway and the United States” Work, Employment, and Society,
18(2), 321-348.
 
Stensaker, I. and Falkenberg, J. 2007: Making Sense of Different Responses to Corporate Change. Human Relations. 60(1): 137-177.
 
Ulset S. 2008. The rise and fall of global network alliances. Industrial and Corporate Change, 17: 267-300.