Business leaders’ personal values,organisational culture and market orientation

In a world where competitive advantages based on technology, physical assets and large advertising budgets are fungible, business leaders’ personal values as an alternative or complementary influence on decision-making and market orientation have an intuitive appeal. Research findings based on data collected from 370 business leaders of independent indigenous companies in China suggest that business leaders with different sets of personal values create and develop different types of organisational culture. Leaders with openness to change values form an adhocracy culture, while leaders expressing conservation values promote a hierarchy culture. Different organisational cultures have different influences on market orientation. The hypothesised relationships between self-enhancement leaders and market culture and between self-transcendence leaders and clan culture were not supported. Finally, the article discusses the theoretical contribution of the study, managerial implications and suggestions for future research.     

Reference Process Flows for Telecommunication Companies

The telecommunication market is experiencing substantial changes. New business models, innovative services, and technologies require reengineering, transformation, and process standardization. Enterprise Architecture Frameworks support the transformation by specifying methods, procedures, and reference models. With the Enhanced Telecom Operation Map (eTOM), the TM Forum offers an international de facto reference process framework, based on specific features and requirements of the telecommunication industry. However, this reference framework only offers a hierarchical collection of processes on different levels of abstraction; a control view in terms of a sequential ordering of tasks and hence a real process flow as well as an end-to-end view on the customer are missing. In this paper, we extend the eTOM reference model by reference process flows, in which we abstract and generalize the knowledge about processes in telecommunication companies. With reference process flows, we aim to assist companies in achieving a structured and transparent re-structuring and re-design of their processes. We demonstrate the applicability and usefulness of our reference process flows in two case studies, and evaluate them by means of criteria for reference model evaluation. Our reference process flows have been accepted as a standard by the TM Forum and published as part of eTOM version 9. We further elaborate on those components of our approach which can be applied outside the telecommunication industry.     

Competitive Marketing Strategies: A Survey of Japanese Manufacturing Firms' Competitive Performance in the British Market

The role of Japanese corporations in world markets has become so crucial that an understanding of the rules of competition employed by the Japanese is essential for all those involved in international business. The aim of this survey was to gain an insight into the role marketing plays in affecting the competitive position of Japanese firms in the British market. In particular the researcher focused on the overall approach of Japanese companies to the marketplace and the process by which they identify and bring products to the market.

The broad findings emerging from this study present few surprises, Japanese companies do not seem to suffer from a “sales orientation”, a “production orientation” or “finance orientation” as opposed to a “marketing orientation”. The in‐roads being made into the British market are based by and large on a strategy aimed at satisfying customer needs and wants. Japanese companies saw their strengths in placing emphasis on research and engineering and bringing the right product to the market quickly and decisively.     

Implementing Marketing Strategy Through a Market Orientation

The adoption of specific marketing strategies is related to several factors in an organization including the organization's mission, objectives, resources, and market orientation. We report an exploratory study in which we define relationships between market orientation and marketing strategy in a high technology environment - the telecommunications industry in the United States. Market orientation is defined as a culture that influences how employees think and act. Our results indicate that a market orientation provides a context for the implementation of specific marketing strategies by serving as a moderator of operational marketing strategy. For example, those organizations who possess a strong market-oriented culture (high-spirited cultures) engage in value creation strategies such as market segmentation, developing new products/services for new markets, and product or service customisation. Those organizations possessing low market orientations (ineffectual cultures) generally practice less aggressive and internally focused strategies such as charging lower prices, providing limited customer service, product/service standardization, and undertake limited market research.     

Investigating a neglected part of Schumpeter’s creative army: what drives new-to-the-market innovation in micro-enterprises?

This paper tests a theoretical model to evaluate e-business capability and value in the fast growth small-to-medium enterprise (SME) context. We propose that e-business value depends on how fast growth SMEs deploy IT resources, strategic planning, culture, and business partnerships to develop e-business capability and business process competence which help these companies to achieve outstanding business performance. Structural equation modelling is employed to test our theoretical conceptualization on a cohort of 310 Australian fast growth SMEs across different industrial sectors. The results show that IT resources, strategic IT alignment, market orientation, and business partnerships do contribute significantly and indirectly to SME performance through the development of e-business capability and business process competence. Our study provides an initial empirical evidence to understand the relationship between IT and entrepreneurial SME performance. These findings have important implications for research and business practices.     

External environment and the moderating role of export market orientation

This research has two main objectives. The first is to fill the knowledge gap on the role which the external environment plays in the strategic behavior of exporting companies, taking into account the psychological distances between the domestic and foreign markets. The second aim is to clarify the role that market orientation plays in export activity, since the literature review shows conflicting results. The study provides insight into these issues through hypothesis testing of a conceptual model using a sample of 212 Spanish exporting companies. The results lead to two major conclusions: (a) in turbulent environments, exporting firms adapting the marketing mix program to the needs of foreign markets obtain a better export performance in highly competitive and psychologically distant markets; (b) although market orientation has a direct and positive effect on export performance, its main role is to support strategic decision making in exporting companies. In addition, market orientation moderates the relationship between marketing mix adaptation and export performance.     

Competitive strategy in the market-focused business

Market orientation is a business culture which enlists the participation of all employees for the purpose of creating superior value for its customers and superior performance for itself. A substantial body of research finds a positive relationship between a business's magnitude of market orientation and its performance. However, there has been no research into the competitive strategies through which a market-oriented business creates customer value. This paper extends previous work by showing that market-oriented businesses aggressively develop new products and services, focus on opportunities in market segments rather than in the mass market, and attempt to achieve competitive advantage both by increasing customer benefits and by reducing costs.     

Business process digitization, strategy, and the impact of firm age and size: the case of the magazine publishing industry

Despite increasing interest among researchers and practitioners in the field of Internet commerce, significant controversy remains regarding the large incumbent versus nimble newcomer dynamic. This paper explores issues related to firm age and size and the firm's propensity to engage in Internet-enabled process digitization by conducting an empirical investigation based on a sample of 150 firms in the magazine publishing industry. Results suggest that (a) differences exist as a function of firm age and size in the degree and manner in which firms digitize business processes through the Internet, (b) Internet-enabled digitization of business processes is associated with both strategies of innovation and of low cost, and (c) the digitization–strategy relationship is stronger for new versus established firms and for smaller versus larger firms.     

An empirical study about the impacts of China's accession to the WTO on the telecommunications industry in China

Post‐China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), China's telecommunication industry now needs to face a much stronger competition in a relatively open market that has a number of diverse rivalries. There are specific benefits and risks associated with both domestic telecommunication (telecom) companies and foreign investors in the telecommunication or information technology area. To meet with these new challenges and take advantage of the competitive, strategic advantages to penetrate the market, both China's telecom industry and foreign investors must understand the impacts of China's accession to the WTO on its telecommunication industry and hence make the necessary adjustments and/or implementation improvements. In specific, we carefully examine the impacts such as prices, quality, and local protectionism in this article. We draw the findings based on the data collected from a survey and the resulting statistic analysis.     

Businesses without glamour? an analysis of resources on performance by size and age in small service and retail firms

Research on factors influencing performance in new and small companies is extensive. Earlier work found that strategies (e.g. cost, quality, differentiation, etc.) affected performance contingent on industry conditions, the environment, and the entrepreneur’s background. Although this work provides a solid basis for understanding differences in entrepreneurial performance, some firms are limited in their choices of strategy due to size, age, or industry. Often these firms are in industries where entry barriers are low and competitive advantages are easily imitated.Small service and retail businesses operate in sectors where these conditions are apparent. Comprising more than 50% of all small firms, they require minimal start-up investments but face intense competition. Lacking the “glamour” of high innovation/high growth firms, service and retail companies are at the “end” of the value chain, their fortunes rising and falling as a result of the direct influence of the owner-founder. Hence, performance variation may be better explained by the capabilities of the firm or individual competencies of the owner-founder, that is the resource-base and resource combinations, rather than strategy.The strategic importance of an organization’s resources and capabilities is the foundation of resource-based theory. Resources are tangible and intangible assets tied to the firm in a relatively permanent fashion. Their combinations are heterogeneous and form the basis for product/market strategies. Studies of resources, strategies, and performance are emerging in the entrepreneurial area. Research shows that various resources in concert with different strategy types can lead to above average performance over the business life cycle, and that combinations of resources are related to survival. Yet the vast majority of work focuses on high growth, high tech, or manufacturing businesses. Less is known about the relationships of resources to performance in less “glamorous” sectors. In these small service and retail businesses, we speculate that resources, in particular human and organizational resources, may play a greater role in explaining performance than strategy. Further, as other authors have suggested, it is expected that the combinations of these resources will vary across age and size.This study examines the influence of human and organizational resources on performance in a sample of 195 service and retail firms operating in central New Jersey, using a structured questionnaire. All companies utilized a focus strategy (either focused cost or focused differentiation) and employed a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 100 employees. All measures had theoretical and/or empirical precedent and were tested statistically for reliability. We used factor analysis to reduce the independent variables to: two human resource variables (owner resources and commitment), one organizational resource variable (comprised of planning, systems, and staff skills), and one strategy variable (focused cost and focused differentiation). Control variables were business age, business size, environmental benignness, and industry growth. The dependent variable performance was measured in two ways: net cash flow and log of growth in employees over 3 years.The study first examined whether strategy or resources had a greater influence on performance. Results showed that strategy influenced performance less than human and organizational resources both individually and interactively. The influence of owner resources (background and attitudes) on net cash flow was stronger than on growth, where the only significant variable was industry (market) growth.To analyze effects of resources on performance by size, we divided the sample by size groupings, selecting the smallest (maximum five employees) and largest quartiles (minimum 16 employees), which were comprised of 55 and 50 companies, respectively. These analyses showed that owner resources, commitment, and organizational resources contributed positively to net cash flow in very small firms; however, interactive effects of these resource combinations were negative. For instance, owner resources and organizational resources together, and organizational resources and commitment together, resulted in less positive cash flow than when analyzed separately. This implies that different resource combinations can have negative influences in these very small firms.We examined age effects in the same manner as size—dividing the sample into age group quartiles and conducting an analysis only for very young (fewer than 5 years) and very old (minimum 19 years) groups, which comprised 54 and 52 companies, respectively. These analyses showed that although growth was more rapid among the youngest firms, there were no distinctive resource-based correlates to growth in either age group. Substantive increases in formalized systems and procedures were not apparent among the oldest of these companies compared with the youngest, contrary to previous work showing the evolution of these over business life cycles.Results of this study are applicable only in the context of service and retail firms, and, readers should note this sample was nonrandom and geographically concentrated. Our purpose was not to predict, but describe associations between resources and performance. This study shows that, for firms in competitive industries at the end of the value chain, type of strategy is less important than resource combinations for certain types of performance. Human and organizational resources are associated with more positive cash flow, whereas industry and market factors are related to growth. These results imply that firms seeking growth are best served by selecting and entering growth markets and industries. On the other hand, if strong positive cash flows are the primary objective, attention to combinations of resources is more important. For instance, owner-founders having a strong business and managerial background, and industry experience will need less formalized systems, whereas those owner-founders with weaker managerial resources might benefit from more formalized procedures and skilled staff.     

我国文化产业税收政策研究

我国文化产业已进入全面启动和快速发展阶段,文化服务业市场化程度较高,私营单位发展迅猛,经济效益大幅提高。国家为支持文化产业发展先后在增值税、营业税、所得税和关税及其他税种方面出台了一系列政策,但现行的税收优惠政策优惠方式单一、政策导向不突出、优惠期限较短、税负较重。为促进我国文化产业的快速发展,应调整税收优惠政策的思路,明确税收政策取向,制定文化产业发展政策;围绕文化产业发展需要,优化税收优惠政策;结合文化产业行业特点,提高税收优惠政策的针对性。     

Market orientation and design orientation: a management model

Market orientation and design orientation as strategic concepts have a proven impact on business results, but the direct relationship between these concepts has not yet been analysed. This research attempts to prove the relationship by studying the managerial implication of design orientation as it relates to market orientation. After analysing 28 case studies of Spanish companies well-known for their business excellence and their design orientation, a management model is proposed. The model is a management tool that offers companies a scheme for auto-diagnosis and a review of best-in-class design practices that have shown to improve business results.     

Marketing planning: Operationalising the market orientation strategy

Abstract

Despite strong empirical validation of the relationship between market orientation and business performance, the literature is inconclusive on the implementation of the strategy. This paper reviews the implementation of market orientation, and investigates the associations between market orientation and marketing planning and their associations with business performance. A survey of 216 Australian larger business organisations was conducted to find evidence of these relationships. The results highlight a close association between market orientation and marketing planning, with virtually the same level of association between them, and the business performance measures used. This evidence suggests that they arguably represent the same domain. The results suggest that marketing practitioners may use the marketing planning technique as an intangible productive resource to operationalise the market orientation strategy, and use it to design a specific style and magnitude of market orientation suitable for an organisation.     

Consumers as innovators in the electricity sector? Consumer perceptions on smart grid services

This article assesses the possibilities of using consumer innovation in the electricity sector, which is slow‐moving, yet faced with huge challenges and opportunities to become “smart” and “low carbon.” We study the benefits of engaging innovative consumers (“lead users”) in product, service, and business innovation in terms of (a) the capacity of lead user‐consumers to innovate in the highly regulated electricity market, (b) the attractiveness of such lead‐user generated ideas for mainstream consumers, (c) the usefulness of lead‐user engagement for companies in the energy industry, and (d) the usefulness of lead user engagement for the necessary broader societal transition processes. We conclude that consumers can stimulate industry‐wide innovation even in challenging contexts like “smart” and “low‐carbon” solutions and the highly regulated energy industry. Lead user‐consumers can also articulate societal and social responsibility concerns that are relevant for the entire market.     

Triad lessons: Generalizing results on high performance firms in five business-to-business markets

Significant differences are known to exist among organizations operating in different countries due to different national and organizational cultures, strategic orientations, and management styles. Less clear, however, is whether there are significant patterns of differences in how marketing-related factors drive performance in the most successful firms regardless of country. Building on a previous study of major Japanese firms [Deshpandé et al., 1993. Journal of Marketing 57, 22–27], an exploratory study compared samples of business-to-business relationships of Japanese, English, French, German, and US companies. We found the expected significant differences in organizational cultures, but found no country-specific slopes or intercepts in regressions relating factors such as innovativeness, organizational climate and culture, and market orientation to business performance. Successful firms appear to transcend differences in national culture and develop a common pattern of drivers of success which include primary focus on organizational innovativeness, a participative work climate, and an externally oriented organizational culture.     

Ethical Leadership as a Balance Between Opposing Neural Networks

This paper examines the impact of integrated reporting (IR) on the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues into the business model and the related economic and ESG performance changes. To investigate these internal and external transformational effects of IR, important differences between IR and alternative ESG reporting strategies are worked out. Using three matched samples of companies from around the world for the sample period 2002–2011, IR companies are matched with companies applying (a) no ESG reporting, (b) stand-alone ESG reporting, or (c) ESG reporting in the annual report. The results suggest that IR is a superior mechanism only for the integration of ESG issues into the core business model when comparing IR with the ESG reporting strategies of (a) no ESG reporting and (c) ESG reporting in annual reports. In comparison with (b), stand-alone ESG reporting, the results indicate that IR is negatively associated with the ESG integration level and with the economic and ESG performance. Moreover, this negative impact is lower for companies that have already implemented ESG management tools prior to the initiation of IR and is stronger for companies residing in countries with legal requirements for the disclosure of ESG information. A separate change analysis reveals that companies do not benefit from a switch from stand-alone ESG reporting to IR. Thus, this paper provides empirical evidence that contradicts the general notion of IR as a superior reporting mechanism, as the benefits of IR are driven by several factors.     

Business ethics and a state–owned enterprise in China

Since China's Reform Era began in 1979, corporations of all shapes and sizes mushroomed in the economic landscape. Among these companies, a few have distinguished themselves by their unique corporate cultures and financial performance. The Chinese state–owned enterprises (SOEs) are notorious for their inefficiency, conservatism, bloated bureaucracy, and obsoleteness. However, a few good SOEs stand out as corporations of excellence with commitment to business ethics. Very little study has been done on SOE corporate cultures and business ethics, especially in the western literature. This paper provides an insight into one such organisation – the Double Star Group of Qingdao. This paper includes the results of an empirical survey on Double Star's employees' perception of its corporate culture and business ethics.     

The Move to the Middle: Convergence of the Open‐Source and Proprietary Software Industries

In this paper we focus on open‐source software within the broader framework of the software industry. More specifically, we compare proprietary and open‐source software (OSS) companies in terms of three criteria: (a) approaches to the production of software; (b) business models; and (c) strategic interactions. We postulate three convergence hypotheses. First, there is evidence of convergence in production approaches: leading OSS firms tend to rely on R&D and acquisitions as intensely as leading proprietary companies do. Second, there is evidence of convergence in business models: through dual‐licensing models, top OSS firms derive substantial portions of their revenues from licenses, just as many proprietary companies do. Third, there is evidence of convergence in strategic interactions: the competitive strategies that a company follows do not really hinge on the ‘proprietary versus open‐source’ dichotomy, but on whether a firm feels threatened in the software layer where its core assets are located. This evidence of convergence raises a number of interesting questions for economic theory and for the analysis of the industry’s future evolution.     

我国制造业中小企业在跨国公司全球产业链中的价值定位

国际生产体制已进入网络化发展的新阶段,全球制造业正面临着产业链的重构,跨国公司将逐步把我国纳入其全球战略体系,实现全球一体化的生产、销售和研发。我国企业面临的国内国际竞争越来越激烈。对于我国制造业中小企业而言,当务之急是以跨国公司对华投资战略调整为契机,基于全球生产网络进行科学合理的价值定位,然后通过配套生产、OEM、合同制造、战略联盟等方式进入跨国公司全球产业链,向“小而精”、“专而强”方向发展。同时要适度进行产业链节点的横向扩张和纵向延伸,从而实现产业链升级。