Benevolent leadership and follower performance: The mediating role of leader–member exchange (LMX)

This study examines leader?Cmember exchange (LMX) as a mediator of the relationship between benevolent leadership and follower task performance and extra-role performance. Using a sample of 223 leader?Cmember dyads in a nonprofit organization in the People??s Republic of China, results indicate that benevolent leadership and LMX are positively related to follower task performance and organizational citizenship behavior towards the organization (OCBO). Findings also support that LMX partially mediates the relationship between benevolent leadership and follower task performance as well as fully mediates the relationship between benevolent leadership and OCBO. Implications for the theory and practice of leadership in Asia are discussed.     

Governance and capabilities: Asia’s entrepreneurial performance and stock of venture forms

Asian economies display large evident differences in their entrepreneurial capabilities and performance. While existing explanations of these differences have largely focused on formal and informal background institutions, we instead emphasize differences in national stocks of venture forms. We suggest that alternate venture forms, because of their different governance characteristics, possess unique entrepreneurial capabilities and pursue distinct opportunities. Consequently, nations must possess a diverse and balanced stock of venture forms and have such forms engaged in the unique and complementary activities for which they are best suited. Viewed in this light, addressing national limitations in entrepreneurial performance requires changes in stocks of venture forms. In developing the policy implications of our analysis, we highlight the past successes and current development challenges of Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China.     

Entrepreneurial firms’ network competence,technological capability,and new product development performance

Successfully developing new products is critical to an entrepreneurial firm’s continued success. Based on the resource management model, this study aims to answer the key research question: how entrepreneurial firms leverage network competence and technological capability to enhance their new product development (NPD) performance in a turbulent environment. Using data collected from 134 entrepreneurial firms in China, we investigate the performance effects of network competence and technological capability, and the moderating effects of technological turbulence and market turbulence. Our findings show that network competence has a positive impact on NPD performance and technological capability plays a mediating role between network competence and NPD performance. Technological turbulence enhances the performance effects of network competence and technological capability; market turbulence advances the performance effect of network competence, but fails to exert significant negative impact on that of technological capability. We discuss managerial implications of our findings and offer directions for future research.     

Favor in exchange for trust? The role of subordinates’ attribution of supervisory favors

Favor exchange is known to be essential for building personal relationships (guanxi) in China. In two studies, we explore the effect of supervisory favors on subordinates’ trust in supervisor; we further explore how subordinates’ attributions of supervisory favors affect trust in supervisor independently and in interaction with supervisory favors. We find evidence that supervisory favors has a positive effect on trust in the supervisor; merit attribution of supervisory favors has a positive effect on trust in the supervisor but personal favor attribution has a negative effect; merit attribution also moderates the effect of supervisory favors such that supervisory favors has a stronger positive effect on trust in the supervisor for subordinates who make higher merit attribution than for those who make lower merit attribution. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Who leaves,where to,and why worry? employee mobility,entrepreneurship and effects on source firm performance

We theorize that the value provided by the firm's complementary assets has important implications for the exit decisions of employees and their subsequent effects on the firm's performance. Using linked employee‐employer data from the U.S. Census Bureau on legal services, we find that employees with higher earnings are less likely to leave relative to employees with lower earnings, but if they do, are more likely to create a new venture than join another firm. Employee entrepreneurship has a larger adverse impact on source firm performance than moves to established firms, even controlling for observable employee quality. Our findings suggest that in knowledge intensive settings, managers should focus on tailoring compensation packages to help minimize the adverse impact of employee entrepreneurship, particularly among high performing individuals. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Estimation of the Effects of New Brands on Incumbents’ Profits and Consumer Welfare: The U.S. Processed Cheese Market Case

I estimate the effects of new brands on market competition and consumer welfare in the U.S. processed cheese market. I find that an observed increase in consumer welfare was attributable mainly to an increase in the number of brands in the sample market, while the price effect, which measures welfare change caused by adding new brands to existing brands, decreased welfare as the prices of the existing brands increased in a large portion of sample markets. The price increase was most pronounced among the introducers existing brands. I also find that the data used in the paper identify a significant enhancement of consumer welfare as a result of the change in product characteristics provided by new brands even if a large portion of welfare gain is explained by the assumption on the error term in the utility function.JEL classification: D40, D60, L13, L66, H20     

Creating relational rents: The effect of business groups on affiliated firms’ performance in Indonesia

This research attempts to extend the discussion of business groups in emerging economies by treating business groups as a form of interorganizational network that generates relational rents among affiliated firms by creating technological and managerial capabilities. Based on the relational view, this research investigates whether value created by business groups depends upon sharing, combining, and exchanging unique and specific resources or assets among affiliated firms. Results show that technological capabilities contribute to create relational rents in terms of affiliated firms’ investment in R&D and human capital. Managerial capabilities also contributed to generating relational rents through investment in managerial knowledge acquisition for affiliated firms without R&D units and in training for affiliated firms with R&D units. However, learning by exporting and learning from imported input do not yield relational rents within business groups. Overall, these findings reveal that business groups as interorganizational networks are contingent on their internal, unique, and specific capabilities, as social capital theory argues.

Does imitation reduce the liability of foreignness? Linking distance,isomorphism, and performance

Research summary : Research demonstrates that foreign firms from institutionally distant countries imitate the practices of domestic firms (i.e., adopt an isomorphism strategy). The conjecture has been that pursuing such a strategy can help foreign firms counteract the deleterious performance consequences associated with institutional distance; yet there is scant evidence of such. This study treats isomorphism as an endogenously selected strategy influenced by institutional distance to examine its performance consequences. Using a dataset of 80 foreign banks from 25 countries operating in the United States, we find that foreign firms from institutionally distant home countries benefit initially from selecting an isomorphism strategy. However, the benefits diminish with experience. Managerial summary : Multinational companies experience great difficulty in managing institutional distance, and research suggests that one way to overcome distance‐related constraints is to imitate the strategies of local companies. Unfortunately, we do not know enough about the performance‐related consequences of engaging in such imitative behavior. This study examines whether imitating local firms improves performance for multinational companies from institutionally distant markets. We find that imitation improves a firm's performance at first; however, with experience those same strategies result in performance decrements. Managers of multinationals should therefore be careful not to get locked into imitative strategies that provide performance benefits upon entry, but that fail to provide benefits over time. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The analysis of economic performance of China’s industrial textiles and nonwovens industry during the first half of 2008

The yuan appreciation, together with the rising material and labor costs, China's industrial textiles factories feel the squeeze during the first half of 2008. But, the year of 2008 also witnessed a fast growing of industrial textiles after the snow havoc and earthquake.     

How are we doing on poverty and hunger reduction? A new measure of country performance

The paper presents a new composite indicator – the poverty and hunger index (PHI) – to measure countries’ performance toward achieving millennium development goal No.1 (MDG1) on halving poverty and hunger by 2015. Building on the statistical structure of the human development index, the PHI combines all five official MDG1 indicators, thereby generating insights on a country’s net progress towards its own goal, as opposed to progress measured by a single yardstick. Nonparametric analysis on the PHI components provides further evidence on the nature of the relationship between poverty and hunger measures, while cross-country results show significant variance in progress between and within regions. An extension of the PHI allows for consideration of the rate of progress made by each country in its own terms; that is, based on where it needs to be to attain all 5 MDG1 targets by 2015. Countries needing priority attention are identified, as well as areas for future research and recommendations for post-2015 initiatives.     

Manufacturer–reseller e-business arrangements: The impact of inequity on relationship performance and the moderating role of dependence

Manufacturer–reseller e-business arrangements are changing the nature of channel relationships. When manufacturers supply e-business tools to their resellers, resellers may perceive that the benefits of technology are not shared equitably. This research explores this issue by examining two technology based antecedents of perceived inequity from the reseller perspective. We also examine the impact of perceived inequity on relationship performance, and the moderating role of reseller dependence on the proposed inequity–performance link. The results of the empirical test involving a sample of 224 resellers suggest that perceived inequity negatively impacts relationship performance, while reseller dependence plays a moderating role. Implications of these findings for researchers and managers are discussed.     

Too much of a good thing? Absorptive capacity,firm performance,and the moderating role of entrepreneurial orientation

Absorptive capacity (ACAP) refers to a firm's ability to acquire, assimilate, transform, and exploit new knowledge. Research has yet to acknowledge the possibility of limits to the financial returns of this important strategic construct. This study suggests an inverted‐U shaped relationship between ACAP and financial performance. Based on data from 285 technology‐based small and medium enterprises, we observe gains within three prospective, secondary measures of growth to diminish beyond lower levels of ACAP, even turning negative and becoming harmful beyond intermediate levels. We find that entrepreneurial orientation (EO) moderates the ACAP‐performance relationship, enhancing financial gains at lower levels of ACAP and mitigating the decline in financial performance at higher levels of ACAP. Further, with higher EO, higher ACAP can be achieved before financial returns diminish.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Production Remains Stable and Investment Shows Recovery Signs The analysis of economic performance of China’s cotton textile industry

Indeed,there is some evidence the government's stimulus package is producing results.Investment of cotton textile industry shows recovery progress and production remains stable.     

Entrepreneurial orientation and SME performance in China’s changing environment: The moderating effects of strategies

Recent research has found an inverted U-shape relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance in the Chinese context. Building on Miles and Snow??s (1978) strategy framework and Scott??s (1995) country institutional profile, we propose that prospector and analyzer strategies align better with entrepreneurial orientation to allow firms to fully benefit from their risk-taking, proactiveness, and innovativeness. Data collected from 155 SMEs in China confirmed that prospector and analyzer strategies alleviated the curve significantly. The defender strategy enhanced the curvilinearity, yet this moderating effect was insignificant. Implications for policy-makers, international businesses, and entrepreneurial firms in China are discussed.     

How do SOEs and FIEs affect POEs’ performance in emerging economies? Moderating effects of managerial ties

Asia Pacific Journal of Management - In emerging economies, informal ties are important instruments that firms use to overcome market competitiveness disadvantages. Higher proportions of...     

The Effects of Homeownership on Children's Outcomes: Real Effects or Self‐Selection?

This article examines whether there is a “homeownership effect” for lower‐income racial and ethnic groups who have been the target of public policies to expand homeownership. We use two different methods to account for selection, statistical matching and instrumental variable analysis; test direct and indirect (mediator) effects of homeownership on children's cognitive achievement, behavior problems and health using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its Child Development Supplement; and replicate the main effects tests using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We find little evidence of beneficial homeownership effects and suggest that previous analyses may have mistaken selection differences for the effect of homeownership itself.     

Using creative problem solving to promote students’ performance of concept mapping

The purpose of the study was to explore that using creative problem solving can promote students’ performance of concept mapping (CMPING). Students were encouraged to use creative problem solving (CPS) in constructing nanometer knowledge structure, and then to promote the performance of CMPING. The knowledge structure was visualized through CMPING which helps students to improve their performance. The participants were 42 college juniors who selected the course “Nano-environmental Engineering Technology”. Four instruments were used to classify student learning performance (meaningful learning, rote learning and non-learning). This study included three main issues: (1) Student learning quality was determined by the change in concept map construction. (2) In-depth interviews were applied to understand student’s CPS process. (3) Student interaction quality in a discussion board on a web-platform was evaluated. The results showed that meaningful high-level learners successfully applied CPS in constructing concept maps and they presented better performance of CMPING. Rote learners’ results were in the second place, and non-learners achieved the worse outcomes. It is suggested that a future teaching study can use creative problem solving to promote students’ performance of CMPING in other courses.     

Personality and other attributes,qualities, abilities and opinions of some ‘A’ level design students

Many claims have been made of a subjective nature that some students studying A level Design develop certain personal qualities and attributes not found in some students who study other academic A levels. The research describes attempts to quantify these claims and as a result provides a firmer basis for the understanding of the effects on students of studying design.     

The analysis of economic performance of China’s garment industry during the first half of 2008

During the first half of 2008, snow havoc, earthquake, the yuan appreciation, together with the rising material and labor costs has made the main economic benefit index in China’s garment industry decreased synchronously.     

To be different,or to be the same? The interactive effect of organizational regulatory legitimacy and entrepreneurial orientation on new venture performance

New ventures often encounter a strategic dilemma of whether to differentiate themselves from or to conform to other businesses in the industry. The present study joins this ongoing debate by asking the following question: How will organizational regulatory legitimacy and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) interactively impact new venture performance (NVP) in the context of emerging economies? Drawing on institutional theory, we developed competing hypotheses regarding the interactive impact of organizational regulatory legitimacy and EO on NVP. Employing a dataset of 116 entrepreneurial firms in China, results indicate that although organizational regulatory legitimacy and EO improve NVP independently, their interaction is negatively linked to performance. We derive several implications from these findings in an effort to guide future research.