Article pp.149-151 du Vol.38 n°221 (2012)

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9 Contributors to this issue

13 Flexibility applied to human resources: compatibilities and contradictions Christophe Everaere

Since the 1980s, the search for flexibility leads companies to use different solutions such as temporary work, fixed-term contracts, part-time working, polyvalence, professional mobility, seasonal workers, subcontracting, collective competence, employee driven innovation, etc. The sources of flexibility are numerous. But are they compatible? Can companies use temporary workers, for instance, and ask them to be autonomous, creative and highly competent?

Contradictions occurs whether flexibility has simultaneously to do with precarious employment relationships, or with the search for sustainable competence and cooperative abilities; in other words, whether efficiency is looked for in a short term or in a long term perspective. After an exercise of review, classification and enumeration of the various possible sources of flexibility applied to the human resources, this article suggests substituting for the classical opposition internal flexibility vs. external flexibility, that of the qualitative flexibility (long term) vs.numerical flexibility (short term).

33 The strength of legal mafia-owned enterprises. A strategy based upon mutual property rights

Clotilde Champeyrache

The definition of the concept of mutual property rights leads to the specificity of its enforcement in the case of the mafia. This mode of intern functioning of legal enterprises owned by Mafiosi generates organizational advantages and diminishing property-linked costs. It constitutes a genuine long-term strategy that locks the enterprises within the hands of Mafiosi and reinforces the ascendancy of the mafia over its territory.

47 Announced share repurchase versusrepurchase shares achieved.

An analysis of decoupling

Evelyne Poincelot, Dominique Poincelot

Our analysis focuses on the relevance of the explanations of the repurchase of shares relatively to the low rate of actual redemption on the French market. We mobilize the major theoretical explanations and the study of buyback programs and test the assumptions justifying that there would be no intention to achieve significant redemptions after the announcement.

issue 221 February 2012

S U M M A R Y

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File: Innovation and knowledge sharing Guest Editors: Pascal Corbel, Gilda Simoni

71 Innovation and knowledge sharing Pascal Corbel, Gilda Simoni

77 Knowledge and innovation within business ecosystems.

The case of mobile services Amel Attour, Cécile Ayerbe

This research focuses on mobile touch-and-go services accessible by smartphones. These new mobile Near Field Communication (NFC) services are here studied within the project “Nice Futur Campus” (NFCampus). The aim of NFCampus is to develop a virtual student card integrated into a NFC mobile phone. The objective of this paper is to study knowledge sharing between the actors of this innovation. For that purpose, two theoretical frameworks are mobilized: the business ecosystems theory (EA) and the concept-knowledge theory. Thanks to this double framework, this research characterizes the types of knowledge which are necessary for the conception of an innovative services offer within an EA. It also enriches the analysis in terms of actors’ strategies. In the precise case, two types of fundamental knowledge are highlighted: the first refers to the uses and the second to the support. Only the first type of knowledge determines which actor is the leader of the EA.

95 The combination of knowledge for innovation.

The case of insurance services creation for the distributor Carine Deslée, Philippe Guirod

How to develop innovative services to enrich and differentiate an offer? How to successfully combine the knowledge of a distributor of products and an insurance actor to do so? This article shows through an action research how the C-K theory of innovative design can help. The process under study can be adapted to a large number of industries to generate joint innovations.

111 From absorptive capacity to insemination capacity Guillaume Imbert, Vincent Chauvet

This work explores the concept of absorptive capacity focusing on a relation service provider/customer. The objective is to analyse the mechanisms used by the consulting firm to ease the start and development of a knowledge absorption sequence for the client firm. Our explorative approach consists in a case study of a contract of innovation design. Results show that the consulting firm applies four triggering mechanisms, suggesting that these firms develop an

“insemination” capacity.

150 Revue française de gestion – N° 221/2012

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129 Internationalisation of corporate R&D in a polarised cognitive world space. From processes logic to situations logic

Virginie Jacquier-Roux, Nelson Camilo Montana, Claude Paraponaris Corporate R&D internationalisation is considered today as a knowledge augmenting strategy, in a polarised cognitive world space. But R&D internationalization is risky. What are the risks of wasting resources used by MNFs when they establish or take over laboratories abroad? What strategies do they apply to harmonize relations between their various R&D entities and, as such, help reduce these risks? These MNFs should develop inter-entity management skills, for which we provide a few of the keys to success. Our approach could indeed improve social interaction-related issues.

149 Summary

Summary 151