Board gender diversity and firm performance: The moderating role of firm size

This paper investigates the relationships among board gender diversity, firm performance, and firm size. Our paper provides new insights into the relationship between board gender diversity and firm performance by examining whether firm size alters the impact of board gender diversity on firm performance. We use a panel data from A-share-listed non-financial firms in China to examine the relationship during the period of 2007–2012. Our finding demonstrates that the gender diversity on the board has a positive impact on firm performance if and only if the value of firm size is less than some critical value. In addition, we also find that firm size may undermine the positive impact of board gender diversity on firm performance. This paper contributes to the literature by offering a contingency approach to examine the relationship between board gender diversity and firm performance as well as shedding light on the relationship in the context of a developing economy.     

Multimarket Contact and the Use of Power in Buyer–Supplier Relationships

Buyers and suppliers often have multiple business relationships with each other across different geographical and product markets, forming a potentially complex web of connections. What happens between the firms in one geographical or product market may influence their interactions in others. Prior research in strategic management has found that similar multimarket contact in horizontal relationships between competitors has important consequences for the firms’ use of market power. However, the consequences of multimarket contact in vertical buyer–supplier relationships remain unexplored. Building on resource‐advantage theory, this study proposes that multimarket contact between buyers and suppliers is linked to their respective propensity to use three types of mediated power in their relationships (i.e., reward, coercion, and legal legitimate) and that the effects of multimarket contact differ between buyers and suppliers. A vignette study with 143 purchasing managers and 137 business‐to‐business sales managers tests the developed hypotheses. The findings show that a higher level of multimarket contact encourages suppliers to use legal legitimate power to a greater extent and encourages buyers to use reward power to a greater extent but legal legitimate power to a lesser extent.     

The effect of international venturing on firm performance: The moderating influence of absorptive capacity

Companies have vigorously pursued opportunities for profitability and growth through international venturing. Yet, research evidence on the performance benefits of international venturing activities has been contradictory. Applying an organizational learning framework, we propose that the expected effects of international venturing activities on financial performance depend on companies' absorptive capacity. Data from 217 global manufacturing companies show that absorptive capacity moderates the relationship between international venturing and firms' profitability and revenue growth. These results urge executives to build internal R&D and innovative capabilities in order to successfully exploit the new knowledge acquired from foreign markets.     

Internationalization and firm performance of SMEs: The moderating effects of CEO attributes

This paper examines the impact of CEO attributes on the internationalization–performance relationships of SMEs. Based on the upper echelons and information processing theories, we argue that CEOs play an important role in the internationalization of SMEs. Furthermore, some of the attributes of CEOs who have a greater information processing capability have positive moderating effects on the internationalization–performance relationship. Using panel data of 187 Taiwanese SMEs that expanded abroad, we find that age, educational level, international experience, and duality of the CEO have moderating effects on the relationship between internationalization and firm performance.     

Corporate culture and absorptive capacity: The moderating role of national culture dimensions on innovation management

Firms have to strive for innovation constantly in order to gain and retain a competitive advantage, which renders absorptive capacity (ACAP) – a firm’s ability to absorb and apply external knowledge – highly relevant. Based on data obtained from 592 CEOs and managers of firms in Austria, Brazil, Germany, India, Singapore, and the United States, we show how ACAP can be fostered in an international context. We analyze how corporate culture affects potential as well as realized ACAP and how national culture dimensions moderate these relationships in a fit-as-moderation model. We reveal that the adhocracy culture supports potential and realized ACAP, whereas the market and hierarchy cultures hinder both potential and realized ACAP. Moreover, the relationship between corporate culture and potential ACAP is stable across national culture dimensions, whereas selected national and corporate cultures are more effective in fostering realized ACAP. These results open up opportunities for researchers and support firms in their attempts to foster their firms’ knowledge management processes.     

儒家文化对中国企业出口产品质量影响研究

儒家文化是中国传统文化的重要组成部分。中国企业在国际化发展中,可否借助儒家文化提高出口产品质量仍是一个未知的学术问题。文章采用2001年到2007年中国海关和中国工业企业数据库数据,运用新制度经济学理论中非正式制度对人类行为的影响机制以及历史的信息和数据来解释文化对经济行为的影响,通过理论和实证的分析,研究结果表明儒家文化促进了我国企业产品出口质量的提升,并对民营企业影响大于对国有企业和外资企业。文章不仅分析了中国儒家文化中的经济学价值,对如何提升中国企业出口产品质量和竞争力,增强传统文化自信力提供了证据和新探索路径。     

The OFDI patterns and firm performance of Chinese firms: The moderating effects of multinationality strategy and external factors

The purpose of this paper is to examine how multinationality strategy, home political influence, and host-country risk explain the performance consequences of OFDI patterns of firms in the most important emerging economy, China. Two main patterns of OFDI (‘born global’ natured multiple simultaneous and IP-natured gradually growing) have been dominant in China during its first OFDI as a latecomer. In contrast to the conventional IP argument, we hypothesize that the multiple simultaneous pattern of a born-global nature leads to better performance. We also hypothesize that firm multinationality strategy and home political influence play greater roles in enhancing the performance effect of the multiple simultaneous pattern than another pattern, i.e., IP-natured gradually growing pattern. Using panel data of 4619 observations from 261Chinese publicly listed firms from 1991 to 2011, we find a superior performance effect for the multiple simultaneous pattern. Further, we find a greater moderating effect of firm multinationality strategy and home political influence affecting the OFDI and performance relationship undertaken by the multiple simultaneous pattern than by the gradually growing pattern. Our study extends understanding of OFDI patterns in emerging economies and suggests that the analysis of performance consequences should focus on external and firm factors that may facilitate the performance effect.     

Geographic diversification,product diversification,and firm cash flow volatility: the moderating effect of firm dynamic capability

Literature is largely inconclusive on the effects of geographic diversification and production diversification on firm performance. This impedes the understanding of diversifications and hinders the decision-making process in global practice. Further, performance indicators in the literature are mainly constrained to the returns aspect of the firm. Risk side factors such as the volatility of cash flow are largely neglected. This paper explores the inconclusive pattern of diversifications from the perspectives proposed by resource-based theories and dynamic capability theories. It examines how firm capability dichotomizes the relationships between diversifications and firm cash flow volatility. Results confirm that capability the roles of both geographic and product diversifications. A high capability is a necessary condition by which diversification strategies by themselves, or their joint effort, can benefit the firm.     

基于儒家价值观的鲁浙商业文化比较研究简

资源、地理、人文和历史等方面的差异催生了各具特色的区域商业文化,区域商业文化又导致了区域间经济发展中的巨大差异。因此,商业文化的产生、影响因素和衍变过程成为理论界和实务界的研究热点。文章选择两个商业文化颇具特色的省份——浙江省和山东省,就两个省份在商业文化的形成、商帮特点、儒家文化对传统和新鲁浙商业文化的影响进行了比较分析,阐述了鲁浙两省商业文化的异同、优劣势及其作用效果,提出了优化鲁浙商业文化的若干对策建议,以期为我国商业文化尤其是鲁浙商业文化创新提供一定借鉴。     

Linking two dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation to firm performance: The moderating role of environment and industry life cycle

The term “entrepreneurial orientation” has been used to refer to the strategy-making processes and styles of firms that engage in entrepreneurial activities. A popular model of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) suggests that there are five dimensions of EO—autonomy, innovativeness, risk taking, proactiveness, and competitive aggressiveness (Lumpkin and Dess 1996). This paper reports on two of those dimensions—proactiveness and competitive aggressiveness. Proactiveness refers to how firms relate to market opportunities by seizing initiative in the marketplace; competitive aggressiveness refers to how firms react to competitive trends and demands that already exist in the marketplace. Despite these distinctions, prior research has tended to equate these two concepts and argued that they have a similar effect on firm performance. This paper investigates how these two approaches are related to each other, how they are related to performance, and how their function differs in the environments in which firms exhibit these approaches to strategy making. These distinctions are important because proactiveness and competitive aggressiveness represent distinctly different avenues to entrepreneurial success.A field study was conducted in which 124 executives from 94 firms were surveyed. These were executives from non-affiliated, non-diversified firms who were actively involved in strategic decision making at the top level of the firm. All firms reporting had at least one respondent who was an owner. Analysis of the data was conducted in two phases. In phase 1, factor analysis was used to examine the distinctions between different dimensions of EO. Proactiveness and competitive aggressiveness emerged as two separate factors indicating that these two strategy-making modes were perceived differently by the executives in the study. In the second phase, the relationship of these two dimensions to performance was analyzed in various contexts. Initial tests found that proactiveness was positively related to performance but competitive aggressiveness tended to be poorly associated with performance.Subsequent tests of the EO-performance relationship indicated that the stage of industry life cycle tended to favor one entrepreneurial orientation over another. The performance of firms in the early stages of industry development was stronger when their strategy making was proactively oriented. In contrast, a competitively aggressive frame of mind was helpful to firms in more mature stages of industry development. These findings were supported by other tests of the business environment. In dynamic environments, characterized by rapid change and uncertainty, proactive firms had higher performance relative to competitively aggressive firms. In hostile environments, where competition is intense and resources are constrained, competitively aggressive firms had stronger performance.The findings suggest that these two different approaches to entrepreneurial decision making may have different effects on firm performance. The differences were particularly apparent in the way firms relate to their external environment. Proactiveness—a response to opportunities—is an appropriate mode for firms in dynamic environments or in growth stage industries where conditions are rapidly changing and opportunities for advancement are numerous. But such environments may not favor the kind of combative posturing typical of competitive aggressiveness. Firms in hostile environments, or in mature industries where competition for customers and resources is intense, are more likely to benefit from competitive aggressiveness—a response to threats. A further implication of this research is that the dimensions of an entrepreneurial orientation, often considered to be positively related to performance under all conditions, may not always be associated with successful outcomes. This study indicates that the dimensions of EO often vary independently rather than covary, suggesting that the extent to which an entrepreneurial approach to strategy making is useful will frequently depend on the organizational or environmental conditions under which such decisions are made.     

Cultural differences and synergy realization in cross-border acquisitions: The moderating effect of acquisition process

Research on cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) consistently recognizes the importance of cultural differences, yet it lacks consensus on whether it has a positive or negative impact. While tied to the purpose and consequences of an acquisition, synergy realization has not received much attention in research on culture-performance relationship. Focusing on synergy realization in CBAs and applying a process and conditional perspective, we propose the relationship between national/ organizational culture differences and synergy realization to be moderated by the quality and extent of due diligence and post-acquisition coordination. Drawing from cross-cultural interaction and inter-organizational learning arguments, we further propose idiosyncratic effects of cultural differences in different synergy realization contexts, where we contrast explicit with implicit synergy realization. Our analysis is based on a unique survey on a sample of 103 cross-border acquisitions. The results indicate that both national and organizational culture differences exert a negative impact on the realization of implicit synergies while no impact on the realization of explicit synergies. National culture differences are found to have a stronger negative effect than organizational culture differences on synergy realization. Sufficient culture and human due diligence prior to the acquisition is found to significantly moderate the impact of high cultural differences.     

National cultural distance and initial foreign acquisition performance: The moderating effect of integration

This paper examines the effect of national cultural distance on the performance of foreign acquisitions. While some studies have argued that this effect should be negative and others that it should be positive, we argue that this depends on the level of post-acquisition integration. We hypothesize that large differences in national culture reduce foreign acquisition performance if the acquired unit is tightly integrated into the acquirer, but that they enhance acquisition performance if post-acquisition integration is limited. Analyzing a sample of 102 cross-border acquisitions by Dutch firms in 30 countries, we find strong empirical support for this hypothesis.     

Country effect on firm performance: A multilevel approach

The debate about the impact of environmental constraints on firm performance in developing countries is relevant for business enterprises and governments. However, the academic literature offers limited empirical evidence comparing firm performance in emerging and developed countries. This paper performs a statistical analysis based on a sample of more than 10,000 firms in a 10-year span. A cross-classified 3-level hierarchical linear model allows the estimation of country, industry and country-industry interaction effects, which have roughly the same relative importance each. The analytical procedure is able to estimate the influence of each specific country on firm performance and produce a ranking of nations based on this effect. Country effects have a greater positive influence on firm performance in emerging countries than in more developed economies.     

The moderating effect of brand orientation on inter-firm market orientation and performance

Abstract

While prior research has shown that market and brand orientation are key contributors to successful business performance, research to date has not fully explored how inter firm collaboration for these two key orientations can enhance business performance. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the relationship between inter-firm market and performance; to test for the moderating role of brand orientation in that relationship. A total of 169 completed pairs of surveys were collected of small and medium enterprises operating internationally in a variety of industries in Switzerland. The results show that inter-firm market and brand orientation are two antecedents of marketing and financial performance. The impact of inter-firm market on marketing and financial performance is significant when the brand orientation is favorable. This study extends previous research by examining the moderating role of brand orientation on inter firm market orientation, which is important, especially for firms wanting to increase their brand reputation by entering into partnerships with other firms. Further research is indicated, to identify the key moderators of the driving force of inter-firm market in relation to business performance and the reason why maintaining a strong brand presence is important in the international marketplace.     

Small firm internationalization through experiential learning: The moderating role of socialization tactics

The importance of experiential knowledge for small firm internationalization has been emphasized in the process model of internationalization, the international new venture or born-global frameworks and the management characteristics perspective in the exporting literature. However, none examines in detail under what conditions experiential learning is more important for internationalization. We borrow insights from the socialization tactics literature to theorize how the context, content and social aspects of a foreign sojourn offer different opportunities for the acquisition of experiential knowledge to support the internationalization of small firms. We suggest that socialization tactics moderate the relationship between individual international experiential knowledge and small firm internationalization. We propose that the opportunities for international experiential learning are superior when the socialization context is individual and formal (rather than collective and non-formal), the socialization content is sequential and fixed (rather than random and variable) and when socialization involves serial and investiture (rather than disjunctive and divestiture) social aspects.     

The effect of institutional quality on firm export performance in emerging economies: a contingency model of firm age and size

It is widely accepted that countries with sound formal and informal institutions create more robust environments for firm performance. However, due to the liabilities faced by firms without available slack and/or market power, we contend that institutions are especially important for new and small firms. Unfortunately, there is little research examining the potential moderating effect of firm size or age on the relationship between institutional quality and export performance. In response, we hypothesize that institutional quality will be more important to increasing the export performance of new and small firms compared with their large, established counterparts. We test our hypotheses using data from the World Bank’s World Business Environment Survey. The results of our analyses offer support for our model, although some institutional variables appear to be more important to export performance than others. We conclude by discussing the implications of our results.     

The relationship between network structure and international channel performance: a moderating effect of E-business activity

This study is an investigation of international marketing channel modes, relationship with an export company's network of business, e-business activity, and marketing channel performance. An initial case study of three international enterprises was followed up with a questionnaire survey based on a model derived from the literature and the results of the case organisations. The main influences identified from the questionnaire survey were local market conditions and the level of cooperation between channel members. The main differences detected among the network's structural relationships resulted from differing degrees of centralisation. Different channel modes resulted in different degrees of mutual trust, centralisation, profitability, and formality in the relationship between an enterprise and its overseas contacts. The level of electronic business activity was positively related to the level of cooperation with channel partners and to the sales performance of the channel.