CALL FOR PAPERS - 10th Ratio Colloquium for Young Social Scientists
"Organizing Digitalization", Stockholm, August 26-27, 2016
Highlights:
- Cross-disciplinary social sciences colloquium focused on digitalization
- Collaborative and stimulating atmosphere for young scholars to develop papers
- Keynotes by J.P. Eggers (NYU) and Ola Henfridsson (Warwick)
- Accommodation and travel costs covered for participants with accepted full papers
The Ratio Institute hereby invites junior scholars in management, economics, economic history, sociology, etc. to submit proposals for a cross disciplinary research colloquium in Stockholm, Sweden. The aim of this Colloquium is to bring together researchers in different fields working on the emergence, effects, diffusion, organizing, and strategic management of digitalization.
While digitalization is by no means a recent phenomenon, the way it shapes business processes across industries (Greenstein, Lerner, & Stern, 2013) is expected to have tremendous impact on economic growth (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2014), competition (Porter & Heppelmann, 2014), and innovation (Dougherty & Dunne, 2012; Yoo et al., 2012). Digital technologies are characterized by data homogenization and by their capacity to transform previously inaccessible data or data that has been hard to codify into useful information. In short, digital artifacts are "embedded in wider and constantly shifting ecosystems such that they become increasingly editable, interactive, reprogrammable, and distributable" (Kallinikos, Aaltonen, & Marton, 2013: 357). Given these features of digital technologies and their increasing diffusion and importance for various sectors of society, scholars predict "significant shifts in strategies for the organizational form for addressing market opportunities" (Greenstein, Lerner, & Stern, 2013: 119).
A common understanding of digitalization is that products, processes, services, and even strategies at various levels have become increasingly interconnected (Bharadwaj et al., 2013), hence requiring significant shifts in firms' business models (Björkdahl, 2009; Keen & Williams, 2013) and management practice innovations to cope with such changes (Khanagha et al., 2013). In the related field of technological disruption, scholars have also addressed the need for studying managers' cognitive representations of their firms' capabilities as these are likely to play a role in the selection, adoption, and outcome of digital technologies in organizations (Benner & Tripsas, 2012). Thus, the managerial cognitive representations in directing search and adaptive processes (Eggers & Kaplan, 2009; Kaplan
& Tripsas, 2008; Tripsas & Gavetti, 2000) in relation to digitalization of industries are important factors requiring deeper understanding.
In addressing these various aspects of digitalization, the ambition of this Colloquium is to advance a sophisticated perspective on the interplay between digitalization and management innovations. However, we especially welcome papers dealing with, but not limited to the following issues:
-Implications of digitalization on organizational design?
- How do organizations respond to the challenges and opportunities of digitalization in their business models?
- How do digitalization initiatives interplay with strategy practices and processes?
- What management practice innovations have resulted from digitalization?
- How does digitalization prompt shifts in capability cognition and vice versa, how does capability cognition interplay with digitalization efforts?
- How do firms capitalize on information imperfections in the face of digitalization?
- What new power and control mechanisms evolve from digitalization?
Submitted proposals (5 pages, see further details below) are expected to be work in progress: they should be developed into complete papers by July 15 (see important dates below), but still be unpublished. We expect the submitted proposals to adopt multiple approaches, including process and variance studies, qualitative in-depth studies and quantitative studies, using data on single corporations, industries, or across countries. Proposals will be selected after a double-blind review process based on relevance for the Colloquium theme and potential for stimulating discussion.
Around 20 papers are usually accepted, following review of submitted abstracts. Senior PhD students, postdocs, and assistant professors are eligible for participation. Discussants will be appointed to each accepted paper; all participants are expected to read and comment on papers assigned to them.
Both the colloquium and hotel accommodation will be free of charge for participants. Ratio will also reimburse reasonable budget travel expenses for all participants with full paper submissions.
RCYSS is renowned for offering participants the opportunity to interact in depth, exchange constructive comments, and share insights in a stimulating intellectual environment.
Important dates and deadlines
March 31: Deadline for submission of proposals
April 29: Applicants will be notified of whether they have been accepted or not
June 30: Last date for registration
July 15: Deadline for submission of full papers
Guidelines
- Proposals should not exceed a total of 5 pages and 3000 words, including charts, graphs, diagrams, and references.
- Abstract of 125 words.
- Only electronic submissions to karl.axelsson@ratio.se will be accepted.
- Maximum of one (1) proposal, either as an author or a co-author, may be submitted.
Applications should include the following
- A research proposal
- A one page summary of your research interests and a CV
Conveners
Robert Demir, PhD, Lancaster University and Ratio Institute (robert.demir@ratio.se)
Karl Wennberg, Professor, Linköping University and Ratio Institute (karl.wennberg@liu.se)
Magnus Mähring, Professor, Stockholm School of Economics (magnus.mahring@hhs.se)
Submission and inquiries: Karl Axelsson, Ratio Institute (karl.axelsson@ratio.se)
Keynote speakers
J.P. Eggers, NYU-Stern.
Ola Henfridsson, University of Warwick.
About Ratio
The Ratio institute is an independent multidisciplinary research institute based in Stockholm, Sweden. Researchers have a background in academic disciplines such as Business History, Economics, Economic Geography, Entrepreneurship, International Business, Management, Philosophy, Political Science, and Sociology.
The aim of the Ratio Colloquium for Social Scientists (RCSS) is to consolidate, integrate, and further develop ongoing efforts in understanding the interplay between institutions and corporations in economic growth. RCSS is an annual event organized in conjunction with ongoing research projects at the Ratio Institute. Topics in the last three years have included: "Skills for Growth", "Financing Innovations", and "Technological Discontinuities and Industrial Transformation". The Ratio Institute has previously attracted distinguished scholars such as Howard Aldrich (University of North Carolina), Richard N. Langlois (University of Connecticut), Deidre McCloskey (University of Illinois), and Mary Tripsas (Carroll School of Management, Boston College) to its scholarly events.
References
Benner MJ, Tripsas M. 2012. The influence of prior industry affiliation on framing in nascent industries: the evolution of digital cameras. Strategic Management Journal 33(3): 277-302
Bharadwaj A, El Sawy OA, Pavlou PA, Venkatraman N. 2013. Digital business strategy: toward a next generation of insights. MIS Quarterly 37(2): 471-482
Björkdahl J. 2009. Technology cross-fertilization and the business model: The case of integrating ICTs in mechanical engineering products. Research Policy 38(9): 1468-1477
Brynjolfsson E, McAfee A. 2014. The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies. W.W. Norton & Company: New York
Dougherty D, Dunne DD. 2012. Digital science and knowledge boundaries in complex innovation. Organization Science 23(5): 1467-1484
Eggers JP, Kaplan S. 2009. Cognition and Renewal: Comparing CEO and Organizational Effects on Incumbent Adaptation to Technical Change. Organization Science 20(2): 461-477
Greenstein S, Lerner J, Stern S. 2013. Digitization, innovation, and copyright: What is the agenda? Strategic Organization 11(1): 110-121
Kallinikos J, Aaltonen A, Marton A. 2013. The ambivalent ontology of digital artifacts. MIS Quarterly 37(2): 357- 370
Kaplan S, Tripsas M. 2008. Thinking about technology: Applying a cognitive lens to technical change. Research Policy 37(5): 790-805
Keen P, Williams R. 2013. Value architectures for digital business: beyond the business model. MIS Quarterly 37(2): 643-647
Khanagha S, Volberda H, Sidhu J, Oshri I. 2013. Management Innovation and Adoption of Emerging Technologies: The Case of Cloud Computing. European Management Review 10(1): 51-67
Porter ME, Heppelmann JE. 2014. How Smart, Connected Products are Transforming Competition. Harvard Business Review 92(11): 64-88
Tripsas M, Gavetti G. 2000. Capabilities, cognition, and inertia: evidence from digital imaging. Strategic Management Journal 21(10-11): 1147-1161
Yoo Y, Boland Jr RJ, Lyytinen K, Majchrzak A. 2012. Organizing for innovation in the digitized world. Organization Science 23(5): 1398-1408
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