The relationship between new venture entry mode and firm performance

Grounded in the knowledge-based view of the firm, this paper compares the performance outcomes from different modes of new venture entry. Data from new hotels entering the United Kingdom between 2006–2010 was used to explore how entry mode (i.e., franchised or independent) impacts post-entry firm performance. Controlling for market demand and market segments, this study found that affiliation with a franchise made it easier for new owners to ramp up revenues in the first six months if the service had a high level of operational complexity (e.g., full-service hotels). After this initial benefit period no significant performance benefit accrued to branded full-service hotels. In contrast, hotels that offered less complex services obtained higher levels of performance when relying on independent status vs. brand affiliation between six and twenty-four months after entry. Implications of the results are offered in the context of determining the value of explicit versus tacit knowledge obtained from external sources versus going it alone as an entrepreneur.     

营运资本管理与企业绩效关系实证研究

本文研究了营运资本政策与经营绩效的关系,通过对中国零售业、制造业（以家电业为例）、建筑业中的上市公司分不同行业进行实证分析和检验,发现：流动资产、流动负债所占比例与企业绩效的关系分行业有所不同;企业的流动资产周转率与企业绩效的相关性大小,主要取决于总资产周转率封企业业绩的作用大小以及流动资产占总资产的比重;营运资本政策对总资产主营业务利润率的影响较显着;营运资本政策越激进企业绩效也越好。但也有一些例外行业。不同行业的企业所选营运资本政策存在显着的差异性。     

A meta‐analytic investigation of the relationship between HRM bundles and firm performance

Human resource management bundles consisting of multiple complementary practices are typically considered superior to individual best practices in influencing firm performance. This study investigates the relationship between three such bundles (empowerment, motivation, and skill‐enhancing) and business outcomes (retention, operating performance, financial performance, and overall performance ratings). A meta‐analysis of 239 effect sizes derived from 65 studies reveals that HRM bundles have significantly larger magnitudes of effects than their constituent individual practices, are positively related to business outcomes, and display effect sizes that are comparable to or larger than those of high‐performance work systems. These findings reaffirm the case for firm‐level investments in synergistic HRM combinations and highlight the importance of investing in complementary practices. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Postauditing capital assets and firm performance: An empirical investigation

The argument presented in this paper is that the adoption of sophisticated postaudit procedures should be associated with improved firm performance. Based on a matched-pair experimental design, utilizing the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test and a newly developed statistic to test for a change point, empirical evidence is provided to support this argument.     

Exploring the relationship between HRM and firm performance: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies

Existing literature on human resource management (HRM) practices and firm performance suggests that there is a positive association between the two variables. Most of the studies, however, are based on cross-sectional datasets and only few of them use panel or longitudinal datasets, which better allow the researchers to deal with problems of endogeneity. This paper draws on meta-analysis techniques to estimate the effect size of the relationship between high performance work practices (HPWPs) and firm performance measures based on the available longitudinal studies. We also examine whether the effect is greater for a combination of HPWPs than for individual HPWPs, and for operational performance than for financial performance. The results from statistical aggregation of eight longitudinal HRM-performance studies demonstrate an overall reported correlation of 0.287. Additionally we find that a set of integrated, mutually reinforcing HPWPs has a stronger impact on firm performance than do HRM practices individually and that, this effect is statistically invariant between operational performance and financial performance.     

Product configuration,ambidexterity and firm performance in the context of industrial equipment manufacturing

The practice of configuring products to individual customer orders has found application in a variety of industry contexts, but little is known about the specific capabilities that firms develop to successfully compete when offering configurable products. Our research begins to fill this gap in the context of industrial equipment manufacturing. Drawing from the ambidexterity literature, we argue that firms have to balance dual goals of reducing variation and promoting variation in their product configuration activities by fostering two distinct firm-level capabilities: product configuration effectiveness (PCE) and product configuration intelligence (PCI). Specifically, we hypothesize that the simultaneous presence of PCE and PCI—that is, product configuration ambidexterity (PCA)—drives superior firm responsiveness and, indirectly firm sales and operating margin. However, we also contend that responsiveness gains through PCA can diminish with product complexity and can increase operating cost. We test these hypotheses by collecting both primary and secondary data from a sample of 108 European industrial equipment manufacturing firms. Results from our analyses indicate that PCA has an indirect effect through responsiveness on sales and operating cost but not on operating margin, with this effect diminishing with product complexity. Taken together, our results suggest that investment in developing PCA may represent a conundrum for industrial equipment manufacturing firms, because it translates into market but not financial advantages, and it is intertwined with product design decisions. We conclude this study with a discussion of the findings for theory and practice.     

The relationship between trust,HRM practices and firm performance

Numerous researchers have begun to examine organizational trust and its influence on the workforce. However, little empirical research has focused on the conditions that engender organizational trust – those that make managers more willing to accept the vulnerability inherent in certain managerial actions that are part of human resource management. This study evaluates the trust mechanism and the way HRM practices mediate its impact on improving organizational performance. One hundred and four HR managers from the leading companies in the Israeli industrial, service and trade sectors, based on sales and operating revenue, completed questionnaires. Overall, we found that HR managers are more likely to offer training and shape the internal promotion system when trust is high. In addition, we found that firms exhibited higher organizational performance when trust is high. The paper also presents some of the model's implications.     

An empirical investigation of environmental performance and the market value of the firm

This paper analyzes the shareholder value effects of environmental performance by measuring the stock market reaction associated with announcements of environmental performance. We examine the market reaction to two categories of environmental performance. The first category includes 417 announcements of Corporate Environmental Initiatives (CEIs) that provide information about self-reported corporate efforts to avoid, mitigate, or offset the environmental impacts of the firm's products, services, or processes. The second category includes 363 announcements of Environmental Awards and Certifications (EACs) that provide information about recognition granted by third-parties specifically for environmental performance. Although the market does not react significantly to the aggregated CEI and EAC announcements, we find statistically significant market reactions for certain CEI and EAC subcategories. Specifically, announcements of philanthropic gifts for environmental causes are associated with significant positive market reaction, voluntary emission reductions are associated with significant negative market reaction, and ISO 14001 certifications are associated with significant positive market reaction. The difference between the market reactions to the CEI and EAC categories is statistically insignificant. Overall, the market is selective in reacting to announcements of environmental performance with certain types of announcements even valued negatively.     

Chief executive officers' sustainability orientation and firm environmental performance: Networking and resource contingencies

Although the existing literature supports the relationship between chief executive officers' (CEOs') sustainability orientation (SO) and entrepreneurial behaviour, empirical studies exploring how SO drives firm environmental performance (FEP) are lacking. In addition, the potential moderating effects of firm-level factors on this relationship are less understood. We contribute to filling this gap by examining the moderating effects of political connections and financial slack on the relationship between SO and FEP. Using data obtained from 297 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana, our results reveal that SO is positively related to FEP. In addition, our results show that the effect of SO on FEP is negative when firms have stronger financial slack and when firms are highly politically connected.     

Ambidextrous culture,contextual ambidexterity and new product innovations: The role of organizational slack and environmental factors

Contextual ambidexterity, defined as the simultaneous pursuit of alignment and adaptability at business unit, is linked to several organizational outcomes including improved performance and innovation outcomes. Extant research posits ambidextrous organizational culture as an important enabler to contextual ambidexterity but suffers from a lack of a well‐meaning scale for the same. In addition, there is very little understanding as to how tasking and facilitating environment can be on firms' endeavour for contextual ambidexterity and the outcomes thereof. Therefore, the current piece of research has twin objectives using two separate studies. First, to develop a scale for ambidextrous organizational culture construct and second, to analyse the role played by the external forces (munificence and dynamism) and internal slack resources on the relationships between ambidextrous organizational culture and contextual ambidexterity and between contextual ambidexterity and new product innovation outcomes through an empirical investigation in India. Using structural equation modelling on data from 414 respondents, we found environmental munificence to strengthen the relationships between ambidextrous organizational culture and contextual ambidexterity and between contextual ambidexterity and new product innovation outcomes. On the other hand, environmental dynamism had a dampening impact on these relationships. Our findings also suggest that for low slack organizations, dynamic and unmunificent environments magnified the negative impact on an organisation's ambidexterity efforts and new product innovation outcomes.     

Corporate sustainability and financial performance: Collective reputation as moderator of the relationship between environmental performance and firm market value

Markets value superior corporate sustainability performance in part because investors use a firm's environmental performance as a signal of desirable but difficult-to-observe attributes, such as the firm's integrity capacity. Yet a signaling conflict can arise when a firm belongs to an organizational form that has a collective reputation for being unethical. In such circumstances, the firm's environmental performance may no longer credibly signal its underlying integrity capacity, leading markets to adjust downward the value they would otherwise place on the firm's environmental performance. Using longitudinal data on South Korean firms, we find that improvements in firm environmental performance lead to smaller increases in market values for firms belonging to a poorly reputed organizational form. However, firms can partially recover lost value by adopting firm features that reduce the signaling conflict, thereby restoring the notion of corporate sustainability performance driving firm market values.     

A contingency-configurational view of purchasing operations: The mediating role between supplier relationship and firm performance

The literature has considered purchasing and supply management activities from a strategic perspective, but the tactical role of purchasing operations has yet to be explored. Purchasing operations represent the internal modus operandi for transactions with suppliers, comprising three main activities – purchasing transactions, purchasing document management, and purchasing assessment – and supportive activities like purchasing knowledge management. Following the contingency theory, we hypothesize that these internal activities mediate between external supplier relationship management and firm performance (financial, customer and delivery performance). Complementarily, we adopt the configurational theory to hypothesize that this link between external and internal activities can be combined to increase firm performance. To test this contingency-configurational view of purchasing operations, we conducted a quantitative survey with 234 companies. The regression results of the contingency analysis show that purchasing operations activities have a full mediation role in most relationships between supplier relationship management and firm performance, while knowledge management positively moderates the association between purchasing assessment and customer performance. Moreover, the cluster analysis for the configurational analysis shows that supplier relationship management and purchasing operations follow maturity levels of joint implementation of internal and external activities. Our findings shed light on the purchasing operations by defining the activities representing this concept and showing their role in supply management. We also contribute to practice by proposing an integrative system that helps managers organize the firm's purchasing and supply management activities.     

The effects of internal versus external integration practices on time-based performance and overall firm performance

This paper examines the effects of integration practices on time-based performance and on overall firm performance (financial and market share). Integration practices are grouped into two categories: (1) external strategic design integration, which reaches across firm boundaries to involve suppliers and customers and (2) internal design-process integration, which comprises more tactically oriented, integration practices that match design requirements and process capabilities. First, regression results show that both internal and external integration are related to time-based performance, which in turn is related to firm performance. Thus, two indirect routes to firm performance are identified. Second, hierarchical regression reveals that integration directly affects firm performance even after time-based performance is accounted for. Finally, we found that the interaction of internal and external integration is significantly related to both market share and financial performance (after controlling for all other effects). This latter result suggests that the joint use of external and internal integration practices has a synergistic effect on firm performance.     

An expanded investigation into the relationship of corporate social responsibility and financial performance

While many studies have examined the relationship of the two constructs of financial performance and CSR, little consensus has emerged. This study investigates the relationship through a set of comprehensive and long-term financial measures, which include both accounting and market returns. Also, an established CSR database generated through a validated CSR research instrument is used in a new, more thorough manner. While the regression analyses reveal no relationship to exist between the constructs, a number of methodological factors are proposed to play a role in contributing to such findings.     

Endogeneity and the relationship between board structure and firm performance: a simultaneous equation analysis for the Athens Stock Exchange

The main goal of this paper is to examine the relationship between the three most important characteristics of the board of directors with firm performance. More specifically, we investigate whether the independence of the board, the leadership structure and the board size, are exogenous determinants to the firm's performance, using a simultaneous equations framework. Our database is composed of firms quoted in the ASE, starting from 146 observations in 2000 and ending with 232 firms in 2006. The findings suggest that the board independence and the leadership structure do not affect the firm performance. On the other hand, an inverse relationship between board size and firm performance is observed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploration and exploitation and firm performance variability<Emphasis>:</Emphasis> a study of ambidexterity in entrepreneurial firms

A challenge young entrepreneurial firms usually face is reducing variability in firm performance in order to mitigate survival difficulties. This paper suggests ventures should have a clear preference for either exploration or exploitation, because such an approach to ambidexterity reduces variability in firm performance. We specifically concentrate on the moderation effects of firm size and environmental dynamism in a sample of young entrepreneurial firms. We found evidence for the effects of lower performance variability in dynamic environments. This is an important insight, because environmental dynamism is a contingency where performance variance is considered problematic for entrepreneurial firms. Our research has implications for the establishment phase of entrepreneurial firms as it suggests they should carefully consider how much they explore to be as different as possible and how much they exploit to be as effective as possible. This is particularly important when they are younger and exposed to dynamic environments.     

Impact of supplier relationship management practices on buying firm performance: comparison of the United States and China

In 2007, Krause, Handfield, and Tyler examined the relationship between various aspects of social capital and buyer performance in the buyer-supplier dyad by surveying buying firms within the United States. This study extends the (Krause et al. in J Oper Manag 25:528–545, 2007) study by replicating it in two different contexts (industry and China). The original study was conducted in the automotive and electronic industries in the United States, while the current study was conducted in both manufacturing and service industries in the United States and China. We found that the difference of information sharing between the two United States populations is the only difference attributed to industry differences. Overall, study results indicate that buyer commitment positively impacted buying firm performance in China; while buyer commitment and shared values impacted buying firm performance in the United States. These findings suggest that certain aspects of social capital are important in China, but differences do exist between the two countries that may be attributed to culture. Therefore, researchers should consider the impact of country culture when conducting studies in China.     

The roles of tacit knowledge and OCB in the relationship between group‐based pay and firm performance

Researchers have suggested various mechanisms through which group‐based pay may affect firm performance, but few have provided direct empirical field tests of these mechanisms. In this paper, we argue that group‐based pay systems lead to more organisational citizenship behaviours (OCB) and facilitate the sharing and creation of tacit knowledge among core employees. OCB and tacit knowledge in turn enhance firm performance. Regression results show that group‐based pay is positively related to firm performance and that the relationship is partially mediated by core employees' OCB. We discuss implications for compensation theory and research.     

Understanding variation in the relationship between environmental management practices and firm performance across studies: A meta‐analytic review

The relationship between environmental management practices and firm performance has continuously received much attention in academic research. As existing literature on the link of the two constructs is characterized by heterogeneous research characteristics and mixed empirical evidence, one interesting question arises: Do research characteristics affect the magnitude and direction of the relationship between environmental management practices and firm performance? Amassing a database of 92 studies, 199 effect sizes, and 72,258 firms, we examine this question by conducting a meta‐analysis. The characteristics investigated in this study include item number of performance measures, year of data collection, industry type, economic development, and Hofstede's five cultural dimensions. A meta‐regression reveals that environmental management practices are positively associated with firm performance and that the degree of this association depends on these contexts. Specifically, the environmental management practices–performance relationship increases with year of data collection, is stronger with multiple item measures, and is higher for firms in developed countries and in cultures characterized by high power distance, low individualism, low uncertainty avoidance, and low long‐term orientation.