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The relationship between type of organization, learning, and product failures

Faculty Advisor

Date

2014

Keywords

organization types, organizational learning, organizational response, product failures, product recalls

Abstract (summary)

Prior studies on product failures have examined their consequences for the performance of firms, typically showing them to be negative. Failures leading to product recalls and their negative consequences have become an issue of contemporary concern, prompting more attention to antecedents. This conceptual paper presents an analysis of the antecedents of product failures using strategic choice theory and organizational learning perspectives. The Miles and Snow typology is used to explain that prospectors can be expected to have the most incidents of product failures, learn least from them, and respond reactively toward them. Defenders should have the least incidences of product failures, learn most from them, and respond proactively toward them. Finally, analyzers should fall somewhere between prospectors and defenders. Thus, the trauma inherent in product failure events provides organizations of each type varying opportunities for learning, leading to different expected rates and responses.

Publication Information

Muralidharan, Etayankara, and André Laplume. "The Relationship Between Type of Organization, Learning, and Product Failures." Current Topics In Management 17 (2014): 63-82. http://ezproxy.macewan.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=119768319&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

DOI

Notes

Item Type

Article

Language

English

Rights

All Rights Reserved