Managing the human resource in Indian SMEs: The role of indigenous realities

This paper discusses how issues of people management are addressed in Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It also highlights the indigenous approaches to human resource management (HRM) that have surfaced in the Indian SME context. The research formulation has been built on the mapping of people-management practices in two SME case studies, one of which is also a family-based organization. The analysis shows that indigenous realities in HRM in Indian SMEs relate mainly to the provision of financial, emotional and social support to the workforce; employee involvement (EI) practices; recruitment; skill development; managing employee relations; and managing vis-à-vis labor law framework. The paper argues that in the sphere of people management in SMEs, the willingness to innovate and formalize the HR systems is constrained by a kind of bounded rationality, i.e., the owners of SMEs mostly believe that they are already doing what is humanly possible in this regard. The analysis has an important message for concerned practitioners—in order to realize their full potential and to progress towards fulfilling their vision; SMEs eventually have to intertwine indigenization and formalization for their people management approaches.     

Constraints,internationalization and growth: A cross-country analysis of European SMEs

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are known to face barriers which limit their ability to grow. We build on resource dependency theory and the resource-based view to investigate how SMEs are able to achieve venture growth in the face of these constraints by adopting internationalization and inter-firm collaboration strategies. Based on a large sample of European SMEs, our research demonstrates the importance of distinguishing between specific dimensions of internationalization and inter-firm collaborations, in particular between exporting and importing, and between formal and informal collaborations – as well as context-specificity of these strategies with respect to the types of constraints SMEs face.     

Institutional pressures and international market orientation in SMEs: Insights from the French wine industry

In this research, we examine how external institutional pressures influence international market orientation (IMO) in small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs). We use institutional theory and insights from the international entrepreneurship literature to predict how different formal regulative pressures (from national and international sources) as well as different informal normative pressures (from distributors and end-consumers) influence IMO in SMEs. We test our hypotheses using survey data from 107 small wineries across all of the main wine-producing regions in France. The results provide support to the central assertion that it is outside pressures on decision-making – rather than an endowment of internal resources and capabilities – that influence IMO in SMEs. External regulative sources have the strongest effects with pressures on decision-making from national laws having a negative impact on IMO and those from international laws having a positive impact on IMO. We find partial support for the effect of normative pressures from distributors and end-consumers. Implications for theory and management of internationalization in small firms are discussed.     

Driver Management That Drives Carrier Performance

The trucking industry provides the majority of transportation services in the United States. Truck drivers, particularly their driving performance, which influences how customers perceive motor carriers, are integral to the success of their firms. Hence, driver management is a topic of great interest to the trucking industry, logistics practitioners, and logistics researchers. Although the logistics literature does address issues relating to driver management, advice is scarce regarding how motor carriers might manage drivers to improve operational performance and thus the bottom line. Our results shed light on the processes whereby some formal controls directly influence operational performance, whereas others indirectly influence operational performance; that is, in the latter case, the influence of formal controls on operational performance is mediated by certain informal controls. According to our findings, motor carrier firms that employ a combination of formal and informal controls perform better operationally than firms that do not do so. And, thus, those employing such a combination of controls will realize a larger market share.     

Resources,home institutional context and SMEs’ exporting: Direct relationships and contingency effects

Research highlights the role of resources in SMEs’ exporting but is less forthcoming with respect to entrepreneurial perceptions of home institutional quality. Drawing on institution-based lenses, we distinguish among formal, informal, and regulatory institutions, which in concert with firm resources are expected to influence SMEs’ export behavior. Our predictions are tested on a sample of 150 firms located in Greece. The analysis of direct relationships shows that formal and informal institutional dimensions affect significantly, but differently, SMEs’ export activity. The analysis of interaction effects demonstrates that resource decisions for exporting are contingent upon entrepreneurial perceptions of the home institutional context, such that SMEs respond to formal and informal domestic institutional weaknesses by intensifying resource allocations to fuel export sales. In an opposite direction, export regulatory complexity reverses the positive resources-exporting link. These findings suggest the importance of home institutions in the exporting field.     

Formal vs. Informal CSR Strategies: Evidence from Italian Micro, Small, Medium-sized, and Large Firms

Recent research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) suggests the need for further exploration into the relationship between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and CSR. SMEs rarely use the language of CSR to describe their activities, but informal CSR strategies play a large part in them. The goal of this article is to investigate whether differences exist between the formal and informal CSR strategies through which firms manage relations with and the claims of their stakeholders. In this context, formal CSR strategies seem to characterize large firms while informal CSR strategies prevail among micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. We use a sample of 3,626 Italian firms to investigate our research questions. Based on a multi-stakeholder framework, the analysis provides evidence that small businesses’ use of CSR, involving strategies with an important impact on the bottom line, reflects an attempt to secure their license to operate in the communities; while large firms rarely make attempts to integrate their CSR strategies into explicit management systems.     

Professional HRM Practices in Family Owned‐Managed Enterprises*

This study examines determinants of professional human resource management (HRM) practices within a sample of approximately 700 small to medium‐sized firms. Predictions from the agency theory and the resource‐based view of organizations lead to alternate hypotheses regarding the direct and indirect negative effects of family ownership and management on the usage of professional HRM practices. Results support predictions for both direct and indirect effects. These indirect effects occur through intermediary variables that reflect organizational complexity, such as firm size, (the presence of a) formal business plan, and HRM specialization. The findings lend partial support to both theories.     

Government role,governance mechanisms,and foreign partner opportunism in IJVs

Although institutional environments are important determinants of transaction costs in IJV management and performance, prior studies have paid limited attention to their impacts on partner opportunism. Building on institution theory, this study examines how the characteristics of the host country government affect IJV foreign partner opportunism. The authors posit that host government resource dependence and policy uncertainty increase foreign partner opportunism, and their impacts are constrained by formal (i.e., contract specificity) and informal (i.e., shared vision) governance mechanisms, respectively. The empirical results from a primary survey of IJVs show that contract specificity is effective in curtailing the effect of resource dependence on foreign partner opportunism. In contrast, shared vision weakens the effect of policy uncertainty on foreign partner opportunism. These findings provide important research and managerial implications on how to manage foreign partner opportunism in IJVs.     

Employee Training in SMEs: Effect of Size and Firm Type—Family and Nonfamily

The study examined the main and interaction effects of size and firm type on a variety of informal and formal training programs in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Samples of 448 family and 470 nonfamily SMEs were separated into four size groups and differences were assessed using multivariate analyses of variance. The results point to prevalence of informal training for all sizes and an increase in adoption of formal, structured, and development-oriented training with increasing firm size (especially for firms with 20–99 employees). This pattern was evident for nonfamily but not for family firms. For family firms, formal training programs increased significantly during the critical growth phase only (20–49 employees). Gaps in employee training between the two types of firms were greatest at 50–99 employees but narrowed thereafter at 100–199 employees. The approach to employee training in family SMEs is in consonance with their slower growth, informal management styles, limited financial resources, and greater emphasis on efficiency compared with nonfamily SMEs.     

A measurement model of the dimensions and types of informal organizational control: An empirical test in a B2B sales context

Sales organizations are replete with informal forms of organizational control. Despite this, marketing and management literature has primarily focused on the theoretical development and empirical testing of formal, managerial forms of control. One reason research on informal controls has lagged is a lack of comprehensive measurement scales. Specifically, existing measures of the three principal types of informal controls—self, social, and cultural—do not capture the full dimensionality of the constructs (i.e., information, reward, and punishment aspects of informal controls). The authors take steps to remedy this situation by (1) outlining nine distinct dimensional types of informal control based on organizational control theory, (2) developing scales to measure the nine informal control constructs in a qualitative field study with 28 B2B salespeople, and (3) empirically validating the scales by establishing their psychometric properties and nomological validity using data collected from a diverse panel of 750 B2B salespeople.     

Linking strategic HRM,performance management and organizational effectiveness: perceptions of managers in Singapore

Strategic human resource management (SHRM) theory is predicated on the assumption that effective human resource management (HRM) processes have the capacity to contribute significantly to organizational effectiveness, expressed in terms of productivity, flexibility, effectiveness, efficiency, return on investment, competitiveness, and ultimately, profitability. Earlier research studies have explored the overall value-adding potential of HRM processes as a whole. Few have focused on the links between strategic HRM, performance management systems and organizational effectiveness, and even fewer have examined these relationships in Southeast Asia. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by examining the perceptions of a split sample of senior managers in Singapore. It reveals an interesting gap between their rhetoric and the realities of their performance management systems, and suggests future research directions.     

正式与非正式知识搜索、知识属性与产品创新

基于正式、非正式搜索的视角,以217家浙江中小型制造企业为样本,研究外部知识搜索对产品创新绩效的影响机制。实证结果表明：正式和非正式搜索对产品创新绩效均具有显著的正向影响,而知识缄默性正向调节正式搜索和产品创新绩效之间的正向关系,负向调节非正式搜索与产品创新绩效之间的正向关系;技术复杂性负向调节非正式搜索与产品创新之间的关系。上述发现确认了外部知识搜索在中小企业创新活动中的重要作用,同时也从知识属性角度识别了影响外部知识搜索效能的重要情境条件。     

The Interplay of Project Control and Interorganizational Learning: Mitigating Effects on Cultural Differences in Global,Multisource ISD Outsourcing Projects

Research into global, multisource, information systems development outsourcing projects has uncovered management challenges, including cultural differences on multiple levels. While control mechanisms and interorganizational learning have been shown to contribute to the mitigation of cultural differences in such projects, a gap persists regarding the effect of the interplay between these mechanisms. This study employs an exploratory single-case study design to analyze how formal and informal control mechanisms and interorganizational learning interact and thus contribute to the mitigation of cultural differences in global, multisource, information systems development outsourcing projects. With the key finding that the influence of informal controls and interorganizational learning on formal controls changes over time, this research helps expand the domain of control dynamics in global IS projects. This study also contributes to literature on ways to handle cultural differences in global, multisource, IS outsourcing projects.     

The international market selection of Chinese SMEs: How institutional influence overrides psychic distance

The purpose of this research is to contribute to the ongoing debate about whether psychic distance still plays a vital role in the internationalisation of SMEs from emerging markets. Drawing on the prior research which suggests the salient impact of institutional factors on internationalisation, we investigate the role of home country institutions in international market selection. Adopting a multi-case methodology, we collected semi-structured interview data from six small and medium-sized manufacturing firms in China. Our findings suggest that while psychic distance is still important in some circumstances, both formal institutions, such as government support, and informal institutions, such as business and political guanxi, enable Chinese SMEs to choose psychically distant markets. Our findings also indicate that informal institutions interact with formal institutions to further influence SMEs’ international market selection. This research contributes to SME internationalisation studies by revealing how formal and informal institutional factors override psychic distance in influencing international market selection.     

Effective Elements to Establish an Ethical Infrastructure: An Exploratory Study of SMEs in the Madrid Region

The purpose of this study is to identify the elements that can be implemented to achieve an ethical infrastructure, in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The ethical infrastructure is considered as a set of formal and informal systems, leadership, climate and culture, related to ethical issues. The research was carried out through interviews and focus groups with managers from 28 companies in Madrid, all signatories to the Global Compact. The identified key elements in SMEs are leadership, informal managerial and formal communication. This study also explores different factors that influence the effectiveness, implementation, and sustainability of the ethical infrastructure in SMEs, discovering some factors that can act as both accelerators and barriers such as pressure from customers. Additional findings regarding the concepts of ethics and corporate social responsibility in SMEs, dilemmas and characteristics of the culture and climate are also presented.     

Strategic Choice and Organisational Context in HRM in the UK Hotel Sector

Human resource management in the UK hotel industry is typically held to be informal, instrumental and associated with poor employment relations. Some studies, however, have identified incidences of more formal, high-commitment HRM indicating greater diversity in employment practices. Using original research undertaken in south-west England, this article examines this diversity and the influence of organisational context in the formation of HRM strategy. By identifying patterns of employee relations practice it is possible to examine the influence of market factors and establishment size and the extent to which there is scope for strategic choice in HRM. The research indicates that whilst larger hotels operating in stable product markets might be more likely to display formal or strategic approaches to employee relations compared to the industry as a whole, this sub-sector still appears significantly divided in the extent to which managers feel able, willing or compelled to invest in associated practices.     

Organization Context and Human Resource Management in the Small Firm

This paper examines the relationship between organization contextual variables and human resource management (HRM) practices in small firms. The proposed model is based on an integration of theoretical perspectives, including the resource-based approach, institutional theory, transaction cost economics (TCE), and concepts from strategic management. The model is explored empirically, with qualitative and quantitative analyses of data collected from a sample of sixteen small Dutch firms. Specific contextual variables examined include company size, the presence of a collective labor agreement, having a large firm associate, either as supplier, purchasing group or franchiser, and the company's strategic orientation toward growth (growth strategy). An important finding is the significance of having a large firm associate. Companies with a large firm associate are more likely to report having employer-based training programs. As predicted, company size is associated with more formal HRM practices, including greater regularity of performance appraisal and greater likelihood of employer-based training. A weak relationship is found between a more growth-oriented strategy and greater formality of these two HRM practices. Predictions based on collective labor agreements are not supported. The paper concludes that the findings warrant further research on the relationship between organization contextual variables and the formalization of HRM practices, although a clearer definition of the latter variable is needed in future research.     

中小企业人力资源管理存在的问题及对策研究

当前,我国中小企业在人力资源管理方面存在的问题,主要有缺乏人力资源战略规划,缺乏完善的人力资源开发和培养体系,人员考核与激励机制不规范等,原因在于中小企业缺乏必备的人力资源管理知识,人才观念落后,缺乏良好的企业文化支支撑等。中小企业做好人力资源管理工作,需要科学构建人力资源管理体系,采取积极有效的人力资源管理战略,以科学规范的人力资源配置来为企业的永续发展服务。同时,在做好人力资源规划、培训与开发、考核与激励的基础上,努力构建发展型的企业文化,坚持以人才为本,重视员工在企业中的价值,从而使人力资源管理发挥最大的效用,促进企业实现持续快速发展。     

Individual,Organizational, and Institutional Determinants of Formal and Informal Inter‐Firm Cooperation in SMEs

Inter‐firm cooperation has been considered an important strategy for SMEs to overcome competitive difficulties. Despite the relevance of this strategy there are no studies that jointly consider how entrepreneurs' characteristics, organizational factors, and institutional features influence SMEs to establish cooperative agreements. In order to bridge this gap, we analyze what factors at these three levels explain inter‐firm cooperation and whether formal and informal inter‐firm agreements are explained by different factors. Our research is based on a survey of 1,587 Spanish SMEs and the results show that individual, organizational, and institutional factors contribute to jointly shape the decisions concerning inter‐firm cooperation.     

International Opportunity Recognition among Small and Medium‐Sized Family Firms*

Current research in the field of entrepreneurship emphasizes the importance of opportunity recognition as a key element in the entrepreneurial process. It has been recognized that network ties, activeness and alertness, and prior knowledge are related to how entrepreneurs recognize new opportunities. However, it is unclear how important these factors are when a firm explores opportunities for entry into a foreign market. In this exploratory case study, covering the international opportunity recognition of eight family‐owned small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), we found that the firms in question mainly recognized international opportunities by establishing new formal ties rather than using existing informal or family ties. The findings also indicated that due to the small size and the flexibility of the management team in family SMEs, these firms were able to react quickly to new international opportunities. However, there was no direct relationship between the prior knowledge of the firms and their international opportunity recognition. In addition, we found that trade exhibitions formed the primary context for the international opportunity recognition of the SMEs in this study. These findings motivate a set of five propositions that may lead to further studies on this topic.