I know something you don't know!: The role of linking pin directors in monitoring and incentive alignment

Increasing regulatory pressures have created specialization within boards, with more requirements and responsibilities being refocused to the committee level. Using data from S&P 1,500 firms, we find that board committee overlap associated with linking pin directors (i.e., those serving simultaneously on the audit and compensation committees) is an important conduit for knowledge transfer between boards' monitoring and incentive alignment functions. These directors are associated with lower executive compensation and influence pay mix. In studying the dynamics behind this process, we find that newly created linking pins improve monitoring effectiveness whereas recently dissolved linking pins decrease it. We also find that linking pins are all the more important when managers make less conservative accounting choices. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Competing for government procurement contracts: The role of corporate social responsibility

Research Summary: This study examines whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) improves firms’ competitiveness in the market for government procurement contracts. To obtain exogenous variation in firms’ social engagement, I exploit a quasi‐natural experiment provided by the enactment of state‐level constituency statutes, which allow directors to consider stakeholders’ interests when making business decisions. Using constituency statutes as instrumental variable (IV) for CSR, I find that companies with higher CSR receive more procurement contracts. The effect is stronger for more complex contracts and in the early years of the government‐company relationship, suggesting that CSR helps mitigate information asymmetries by signaling trustworthiness. Moreover, the effect is stronger in competitive industries, indicating that CSR can serve as a differentiation strategy to compete against other bidders. Managerial Summary: This study examines how companies can strategically improve their competitiveness in the market for government procurement contracts—a market of economic importance (15–20% of GDP). It shows that companies with higher social and environmental performance (CSR) receive more procurement contracts. This effect is stronger for more complex contracts, in the early years of the government–company relationship, and in more competitive industries. These findings indicate that firms’ CSR can serve as a signaling and differentiation strategy that influences the purchasing decision of government agencies. Accordingly, managers operating in the business‐to‐government (B2G) sector could benefit from integrating social and environmental considerations into their strategic decision making.     

国有煤炭企业人力资源管理的问题与对策

基于对中煤进出口公司的研究,归纳了人力资源管理在数量、质量、结构、职能等方面所存在的问题,从观念、制度、专业水准与客观环境等方面分析原因,并提出树立先进理念、规范岗位设置、提升人力资源规划水平、增强培训与开发针对性等匹配性对策。     

Intellectual capital and corporate value in an emerging economy: empirical study of Taiwanese manufacturers

Competitive success now is based less on the strategic allocation of physical and financial resources, and more on the strategic management of intellectual capital. Although intellectual capital is intangible and cannot be accurately measured, companies must develop methods of increasing corporate value by proactively focusing on intellectual capital management. This study examines the relationship between intellectual capital and corporate value in an emerging economy.
This study employs an intellectual capital perspective, resource-based view and a financial perspective, and investigates how to apply the concept of intellectual capital to value creation. After reviewing the relevant literature, this study identifies human capital, organizational capital, innovation capital and relationship capital as four constructs of intellectual capital. Corporate value is measured using three selection methods: (1) Market/Book value, (2) Tobin' Q and (3) Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC™). Through a questionnaire survey and secondary data collection, this study applies the Structure Equation Model to analyze the relationships among four constructs of intellectual capital, as well as the relationship between intellectual capital and corporate value.
From the empirical findings, for Taiwanese manufacturers, a positive relationship exists between intellectual capital and corporate value. This study visualizes and mobilizes intellectual capital to articulate eight value creation paths.     

Role of resource gap and value appropriation: effect of reputation gap on price premium in online auctions

In this study, we draw on the resource‐based view of the firm and on value‐based models of strategy to examine when firms appropriate value from their superior resources. We argue for the need to take into account the role of the resource gap between competitors rather than the absolute resource stock of the focal firm when examining the resource‐performance relationship. In particular, we investigate whether the ability of a reputable seller to command a price premium is influenced by the reputation gap (i.e., the reputation differences between the focal seller and its closest competitor standardized by the reputation stock of both sellers). We test our hypotheses on 72 matched pairs of online transactions screened from more than 2,000 auctions of new mobile phones on the Polish Internet auction site Allegro. We find that the ability of a reputable seller to command a price premium (1) increases with the size of the reputation gap between the focal seller and its matched competitor, and (2) becomes increasingly smaller for each additional unit of the seller reputation gap. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unbundling the effects of institutions on firm resources: The contingent value of being local in emerging economy private equity

How do host country institutions influence the value of a firm's local resources? Using a novel dataset on the performance of 47 private equity (PE) firms in 49 emerging economies, we show evidence that the answer depends on the type of institution. Focusing on conditions at the time of initial investment, we find that PE firms with local origins and foreign PE firms with local experience performed better when contract enforcement institutions were weak than when they were strong. Financial development, in contrast, may have undermined the value of PE firm local origins. These results help reconcile contrasting findings on how host country institutions influence performance and lead us to contend that unbundling institutions is necessary for continued development of the institutions‐based view. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Financial resource availability and corporate social responsibility expenditures in a sub‐Saharan economy: The institutional difference hypothesis

Studies done in developed economies have demonstrated a positive relationship between financial resource availability and CSR. Arguments that we term the Institutional Difference Hypothesis (IDH) drawn from the institutional literature, however, suggest that institutional differences between developed and developing economies are likely to result in different CSR implications. Integrating the logic of IDH with insights from slack resources theory, we argue that there exists a negative relationship between financial resource availability and CSR expenditures for firms in Ghana, a sub‐Saharan African emerging economy. We use lagged data from the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre and find that Return on Sales, Return on Equity, and Net Profitability were consistently associated with lower CSR expenditures. We highlight the implications of our findings for research and managers. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The performance implications of resource and pay dispersion: The case of Major League Baseball

Research summary: Building on research in strategic management that has found that high levels of pay dispersion are detrimental to firm performance; we examine the potential dependence of those findings on similar dispersion in the latent potential of those resources to contribute to performance. We find that congruence between resource value dispersion and pay dispersion is positively related to organizational performance. Additionally, we find that this congruence moderates the effects of both organizational resources and organizational pay levels on organizational performance. These findings contribute to a growing line of research that explores the implications of key human resource value and pay combinations for organizational performance. Managerial summary: While differences in income between key employees (i.e., dispersed pay) can instill feelings of inequity and be detrimental to organizational performance, such differences may also increase the odds of attracting star talent and help performance. In the context of Major League Baseball (MLB), we find that performance improves when dispersions in pay are congruent with the dispersion in the contributions that team members make to their organizations. We also find that the positive effects on performance of higher total pay and of level of organizational talent are enhanced by congruent pay and contribution dispersions. These findings suggest organizations may benefit from consistent dispersions in pay and talent and that important contributions by key organizational members need to be visible when organizations have dispersed pay structures. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Imbrications of institutional logics: the case of an e‐government initiative in Greece

This paper examines critically whether e‐government initiatives can be conceived of as representing a shift from a bureaucratic to a citizen‐centric institutional logic. We draw upon a longitudinal study of a Greek e‐government initiative that introduced one‐stop shops for the delivery of government services. Based on institutional theory, we provide a framework that illustrates the domains of institutional change that accompany e‐government projects and show how such institutional change can be understood as complex imbrications of contrasting institutional logics rather than one institutional logic displacing another. We argue that imbricated logics may have many unintended consequences which are not simply the outcome of either of the logics but are emergent from the imbrication.     

Marketing and technology resource complementarity: an analysis of their interaction effect in two environmental contexts

The dynamic capabilities perspective posits that a firm can leverage the performance impact of existing resources through resource configuration, complementarity, and integration, but little empirical research addresses these issues. We investigate the effects on performance of marketing capabilities, technological capabilities, and their complementarity (interaction), and whether these effects are moderated by low vs. high technological turbulence. Results from SEM two‐group analyses (with controls) show that both main effects positively impact performance in both environmental contexts. However, (1) their interaction effect is significant only in the high‐turbulence environment; (2) the marketing‐related main effect is lower in the high‐turbulence environment; and (3) the main effects of technology‐related capabilities are the same in both environments. Our research suggests that the synergistic performance impact of complementary capabilities can be substantive in particular environmental contexts: while synergistic rents cannot always be obtained, it is possible to leverage existing resources through complementarity. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Resource complementarity and value capture in firm acquisitions: The role of intellectual property rights

Extant literature holds that firm acquisitions create value through innovation if the knowledge bases of the acquirer and the target complement each other. Little is known about the value that patents associated with a target's knowledge convey to the acquirer, i.e., their value in securing market exclusion and freedom to operate in R&D. We argue that such property rights hold preemptive power allowing firms to capture the value from combining complementary technologies and to realize gains from trade in strategic factor markets. Our results for a sample of 1,428 acquisitions indicate that—controlling for technological value—acquired preemptive power is an important determinant of the acquisition price, particularly when the acquirer is technology intensive and acquired patents are highly related to the acquirer's knowledge base. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ties' repeatedness,partners' social value,and alliance portfolio performance in emerging economy: The moderating roles of firm-government linkages

Repeatedly collaborating with previous partners or following peers' decisions are two primary strategies employed by emerging economy firms in selecting their alliance partners. As a result, the alliance portfolios of firms often feature a high level of ties' repeatedness and partners' social value—the extensiveness of a firm's partners being selected by other players in the industry. However, few studies examine whether these two features can result in superior alliance portfolio performance. Leveraging data collected from 566 fund product distribution alliances initiated by 62 fund companies in a 5-year period (2007–2011), we find that ties' repeatedness does not significantly improve alliance portfolio performance. In fact, a high level of social value of the current partners produces a negative effect. However, firms' linkages to governments can change the performance consequences of these two features. As a category of formal government–firm linkages, state ownership improves the positive effect of ties' repeatedness on alliance portfolio performance, while it strengthens the negative effect of partners' social value. As a category of informal linkages, political ties weaken the positive effect of ties' repeatedness on alliance portfolio performance but cannot significantly alleviate the negative effect of the social value of current partners.     

Business model innovation: The effects of exploratory orientation,opportunity recognition,and entrepreneurial bricolage in an emerging economy

Business model innovation takes shape through a process of experimentation. This study holds that exploratory orientation is a key initiating factor of the experimentation process, and opportunity recognition and entrepreneurial bricolage both are actions constituting this process and thereby serve as conduits between exploratory orientation and business model innovation. Based on a survey data of Chinese firms, this study finds the positive relationship between exploratory orientation and business model innovation is mediated by opportunity recognition and entrepreneurial bricolage. The findings not only enrich the discipline’s knowledge on the antecedents of business model innovation but also extend the implications of exploratory orientation, opportunity recognition, and entrepreneurial bricolage to business model innovation.     

The role of a central actor in increasing platform stickiness and stakeholder profitability: Bridging the gap between value creation and value capture in the sharing economy

To survive and prosper, firms need to be able to capture the value they create. The role of the central actor in developing a viable multi-stakeholder platform resides in its ability to continuously manage synergies between the value it enables and creates, and the value it appropriates. However, capturing value is more difficult than its creation, which often results in a rather short lifespan of many platform-based businesses. Existing literature, however, neglects the role of the central actor in orchestrating value in these platforms, and mostly focuses on mechanisms through which diverse stakeholders gain financial benefits and appropriate value for themselves. With an aim to contribute to this research field, we draw upon stakeholder theory and a longitudinal case study of HeadBox, the first online B2B sharing economy-based platform that enables businesses to offer and hire inspiring off-site spaces and associated services in the United Kingdom. We put forward a Platform Stickiness – Stakeholder Profitability Framework that establishes the missing connection between value creation and value appropriation by the central actor in multi-stakeholder platforms. The framework integrates eight ‘value-driving’ mechanisms that impact the central actor's ability to establish synergies between value creation and capture within a platform.     

Ambidexterity and performance in multiunit contexts: Cross‐level moderating effects of structural and resource attributes

Research suggests that unit‐level ambidexterity positively impacts subsequent unit performance but theory and testing on this impact remain impoverished. We develop a cross‐level model suggesting that structural and resource attributes of the organizational context significantly shape the relationship between unit ambidexterity and performance. Using multisource and lagged data from 285 organizational units located within 88 autonomous branches, results from hierarchical linear modeling show that this relationship is boosted when the organization is decentralized, more resource munificent, or less resource interdependent. We also find that structural differentiation of the organization does not condition the unit ambidexterity‐performance relationship. Through this cross‐level theory and testing, we develop a richer explanation of the effectiveness of ambidextrous units operating in multiunit contexts. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Talented people and strong brands: The contribution of human capital and brand equity to firm value

Research and managerial practice generally contend that human capital and brand equity constitute a company's most valuable resources. Relying on similar underlying theoretical rationales, research on the value relevance of these two resources has developed in different disciplines. Combining diverse data sources, the authors examine the simultaneous effects of brand equity and human capital on firm value. In addition, they consider how much the effects of these two resources differ between services and manufacturing. Results provide evidence for a complementary relationship between human capital and brand equity and show that both resources create relatively more value in a service setting. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Creating value in the face of declining performance: firm strategies and organizational recovery

Firms that have failed to meet the performance expectations of investors must seek new ways of creating value or face the loss of financial support. Using resource‐based arguments, we find that valuable and difficult‐to‐imitate strategies that recombine the firm's existing stock of resources to create new products, processes, or technologies have a positive effect on organizational recovery as measured by investors' expectations. Similarly, acquiring new resources through mergers or acquisitions also has positive effects on investors' expectations. In contrast, valuable and difficult‐to‐imitate strategies that provide the firm with access to new resources through alliances or joint ventures do not affect investors' expectations of performance. We also find that taking actions that are not valuable and difficult‐to‐imitate either have no effect on performance or may lead to further performance declines. Lastly, our results show that valuable and difficult‐to‐imitate strategic actions that use existing resources in new ways contribute the most to organizational recovery. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Resource-performance relationships in industrial export ventures: The role of resource inimitability and substitutability

Drawing on resource-based theory and insights from qualitative fieldwork we examine resource drivers of export venture performance in industrial firms using primary data from German and UK industrial-goods manufacturers. Our results indicate that while the levels of individual export venture resources are not directly related to export venture performance in the firms in our sample, many of the resources are related to two important characteristics of resources — namely the inimitability and non-substitutability of the mix of resources available to the export venture. Furthermore, we find that that resource inimitability and non-substitutability are directly related to export venture performance. Taken together these results demonstrate the important role that inimitability and non-substitutability play in mediating the resource-to-performance relationship in the industrial goods export ventures in our sample. Our study provides some of the first direct evidence supporting a key premise of the resource-based view of the firm — that the competitive imitability of a firm's resources and the inability of rivals to use substitute resources to execute a similar strategy are important drivers of firm performance.