Emotions and Learning from Terminated R&D Projects–A Multiple
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TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT MÜNCHEN Lehrstuhl für Betriebswirtschaftslehre – Entrepreneurship Emotions and learning from terminated R&D projects – A multiple-case study research Dennis Warnecke Vollständiger Abdruck der von der Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften der Technischen Universität München zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Doktors der Wirtschaftswissenschaften (Dr. rer. pol.) genehmigten Dissertation. Vorsitzende: Univ.-Prof. Hana Milanov, PhD Prüfer der Dissertation: 1. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Dr. Holger Patzelt 2. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Frank-Martin Belz Die Dissertation wurde am 23. Oktober 2012 bei der Technischen Universität München eingereicht und durch die Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften am 15.02.2013 angenommen. Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968) II Important note This dissertation contains statements and quotes from engineers and managers from a large multinational cooperation. The usage of these statements in quotes serves exclusively to prove cognitive effects in corporate practice in a scientific manner. The used evidence and statements represent in no way a judging or assessing comparison of the subsidiaries themselves, their processes, their methodologies or practices. Assessments, especially on emotions and level of learning, have been derived by the author and thus include a certain level of subjectivity based on the personal interpretation of the author and a second, independent researcher. The objective of this research is to examine cognitive effects, whose existence and impact is acknowledged by psychology and has been proven in the scientific community, in corporate practice. The author dissociates himself from any judging or valuing conclusions on the quality of any actions or management practices of the respective subsidiaries as this is not the purpose of this dissertation and the interviews have not been evaluated based on this perspective. III Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my scientific advisors. I want to sincerely thank Prof. Dr. Dr. Holger Patzelt for his guidance, advice and most valuable comments. He has provided the best encouragement and environment a PhD student could think of. Furthermore, I want to thank Prof. Dean Shepherd, PhD for his great support and for my fantastic time at Kelley School of Business. Additionally, I want to express my deepest gratitude to Prof. Dr. Nicola Breugst and Dr. Anne Domurath, who have been a continuous source of support, scientific insights and discussion partners during this dissertation. Other people who have been very helpful during this time are my colleagues from the Technische Universität München, sincere thanks for the great working atmosphere, support and a lot of fun first and foremost to my fellow PhD students at the chair, Dr. Judith Behrens, as well as to our office management team Madeleine Schmidt and Carmen Lieske. The most important contributors, however, have been the interviewees and discussion partners of the companies, which I unfortunately cannot thank by name for confidentiality reasons. Nevertheless, I am sincerely grateful for their time and insightful interviews, providing the essential input and basis for my research. Without their support, this dissertation would not have been possible. Finally, my deepest and most sincere gratitude belongs to my family, my wonderful wife Melanie who supported my work and accepted long working hours not only during the day. Furthermore, I would like to thank my mother Roswitha for permitting my education and her continuous and unconditional support. Last but not least, Lars, Werner and my colleagues from work, especially Armin, Katharina and Markus, for acting as valuable sparring partners and sources of advice on various topics during the research as well as my employer for providing the opportunity to pursue the PhD during a leave. IV Table of contents Important note....................................................................................................................... III List of figures ..........................................................................................................................IX List of tables............................................................................................................................. X List of appendices...................................................................................................................XI List of abbreviations............................................................................................................. XII Abstract................................................................................................................................XIII Zusammenfassung...............................................................................................................XIV 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research questions ..................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Approach and structure .............................................................................................. 5 2 Theoretical foundation, key definitions and constructs................................................ 7 2.1 Project......................................................................................................................... 7 2.1.1 Terminology......................................................................................................... 7 2.1.2 Advantages of projects and project organization forms....................................... 8 2.1.3 Disadvantages of projects and project organization forms ................................ 11 2.2 Research & development as a key function within organizations ........................... 12 2.2.1 R&D as a core function in the business model of a firm ................................... 12 2.2.2 R&D as an enabling activity in the value chain................................................. 13 2.2.3 The R&D process............................................................................................... 14 2.2.4 The importance of the R&D function as setting for this dissertation................. 15 2.3 Uncertainty and R&D project failure....................................................................... 17 2.3.1 R&D project failure in extant literature ............................................................. 17 2.3.1 Definition of failure............................................................................................ 21 V 2.4 Negative affect related to project failure.................................................................. 22 2.5 Learning from failure ............................................................................................... 26 2.5.1 Learning: Definition and facets of learning ............................................................ 27 2.5.2 Learning from failure in extant literature................................................................ 33 2.5.3 Prerequisites and barriers to enable learning from failure ...................................... 36 2.5.4 Systematic learning from failure............................................................................. 38 3 Design of empirical investigation and methodology.................................................... 42 3.1 Selection of research strategy................................................................................... 42 3.2 Case study design..................................................................................................... 46 3.3 Validity and reliability of the study.......................................................................... 53 3.4 Data collection.......................................................................................................... 56 3.4.1 Interview approach and setup............................................................................. 57 3.4.2 Interview questionnaire, pre-test and execution................................................. 60 3.4.3 Additional data sources ...................................................................................... 63 3.5 Data analysis ............................................................................................................ 63 3.5.1 Preparation of analysis ....................................................................................... 65 3.5.2 Coding of data .................................................................................................... 65 3.5.3 Assessment of codes........................................................................................... 68 4 Case outlines and within-case analyses ........................................................................ 73 4.1 Within-case analysis approach ................................................................................. 74 4.2 Introduction to the subsidiaries that comprise the individual cases......................... 76 4.2.1 Subsidiary A....................................................................................................... 76 4.2.2 Subsidiary B....................................................................................................... 77 4.2.3 Subsidiary C....................................................................................................... 77 4.2.4