我国信息技术投资对企业盈利性的影响

本文通过分析影响利润的主营业务收入与费用支出,研究了我国上市公司IT投资对企业净利润的影响及其滞后效果,发现IT投资对主营业务收入的增长有显著且持续的作用,但IT投资也带来了企业费用的增加;IT对净利润的贡献逐年递增,在投资后第三年呈现显著效果;与此同时,IT投资对这几项经营指标的影响远远大于非IT投资。另外,在行业差异的分析中发现非制造业企业的IT投资绩效明显好于制造业企业,可带来持续显著的主营业务收入与净利润的增长。     

MODELING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FIRM IT CAPABILITY,COLLABORATION, AND PERFORMANCE

The development and use of information technology (IT) have been thematic in recent literature. IT has been viewed as an enabler of internal and external firm collaboration, which is the foundation of supply chain management. Firm collaboration and information sharing, in turn, are expected to improve firm performance. A model of the relationship between firm IT capability, internal and external collaboration, and firm performance is proposed and tested, using empirical data. The findings show that firm IT capability directly impacts internal and external collaboration as well as firm performance. This finding has important implications for managers as they evaluate investment in information technologies.     

Information Technology and the Performance of Japanese SMEs

This paper examines the impact of investment in information technology (IT) on the performance of Japanese firms. My findings imply that there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between IT and firm profitability and innovation, but only for small firms. These results underscore the importance of investment in IT for small companies. The acceptance of IT by this sector is fundamental to the success of structural adjustment in the Japanese economy.     

Firm resource and first mover advantages: A case of foreign direct investment (FDI) in China

This paper examines the relationship between firm resources and first-mover advantages with regard to foreign direct investment (FDI) in China. While this study replicates some previous research on the issue, it also builds on the previous research by developing new theoretical arguments and adopting different research methods. Based on research on the resource-based view of the firm, we hypothesize that firm resources will moderate the relationship between the timing of entry and firm performance. Empirical analyses of data from a sample of MNEs competing in China show evidence supporting our hypotheses.     

Working capital management,corporate performance,and financial constraints

This paper examines the linkage between working capital management and corporate performance for a sample of non-financial UK companies. In contrast to previous studies, the findings provide strong support for an inverted U-shaped relation between investment in working capital and firm performance, which implies the existence of an optimal level of investment in working capital that balances costs and benefits and maximizes a firm's value. The results suggest that managers should avoid negative effects on firm performance because of lost sales and lost discounts for early payments or additional financing expenses. The paper also analyzes whether the optimal working capital level is sensitive to alternative measures of financial constraints. The findings show that this optimum is lower for firms more likely to be financially constrained.     

How to create information management capabilities through web 2.0

Over the last two decades investment in information technologies (IT) has been sufficiently high to be considered economically relevant. However, it has not been easy to prove that there are positive effects of these investments on organisational performance. This study questions the validity of directly relating web 2.0 initiatives to firm performance without taking into consideration other complementary assets such as managerial skills in IT, organisational restructuring and a culture of change. If these factors are not present, IT may not in fact produce any benefits whatsoever. The authors approach this problem using the resource-based view and propose the construct information management capability as a measure to gather the integration of the various co-specialised and complementary capabilities, whether technological or human and organisational, necessary in order to obtain competitive advantages in information use. A scale is created to measure this construct, the reliability and validity of which are demonstrated.     

EXAMINATION OF A PATH MODEL RELATING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE WITH FIRM PERFORMANCE

This article draws on the resource‐based view of the firm to investigate the mechanisms through which information technology (IT) impacts firm performance. Research suggests that the relationship between IT and firm performance may be both direct and indirect. In this study, a path model is tested that proposes a firm's IT infrastructure resources as having both a direct impact on organizational performance, as well as an indirect effect that is propagated through its impact on an intermediate organizational resource, a firm's logistics information system (LIS). The results suggest that positive firm performance may be derived directly from an organization's superior IT infrastructure, as well as indirectly, through its enabling impact on LIS's. These findings contribute to our understanding of the nature of the relationship between IT and firm performance by exploring the value of IT at both the process and organizational levels.     

The criticality of CMO-CIO alignment

This year, chief marketing officers (CMOs) will spend more money on IT than chief information officers (CIOs). This rapid shift in responsibility is creating a growing divide between CIOs and CMOs over firms’ IT investment decisions and actions, which is of increasing significance to firm performance. Understanding and managing this CIO-CMO divide is important in light of the magnitude of investment involved—global IT spending is estimated to exceed $4.1 trillion by 2018—and CEOs’ belief that technology is a critical success factor for future firm performance. Heretofore, there has been little investigation regarding the unique relationship between the CMO and CIO. The research reported herein addresses this shortcoming by revealing the results of in-depth interviews with CMOs and CIOs across multiple industries. The results identify the nature and sources of conflict between the two roles as well as the management-related mechanisms to overcome them, revealing the need for CEOs to focus on managing four specific sources of CMO-CIO conflict: perspective, goals, accountability, and structural conflict. While the CEO has the power to create the management-related mechanisms that promote greater CMO-CIO alignment, we also detail steps that the functional leaders can take to put the mechanisms in place should the CEO fail to do so.     

IT Investment and Innovation Performance of Industrial Enterprises: Empirical Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies

In this paper, a theoretical frame on how the IT investment influences the innovation performance of enterprise is set up, and the data of Chinese industrial listed companies is used to conduct an empirical test. The study shows that IT investment can improve the innovation performance of enterprises on the whole, but there is heterogeneity among different types of enterprises. Specifically, IT investment of low-innovation strategy-oriented enterprises has a stronger effect on innovation performance than high-innovation strategy-oriented enterprises; IT investment of large enterprises has a more significant effect on innovation performance; and IT investment of state-owned enterprises has a stronger effect on innovation performance than that of non-state-owned enterprises. These conclusions not only provide microscopic evidence for the promotion of innovation performance by IT investment of industrial enterprises, but also have important policy implications for the integration of informatization and industrialization and the construction of a digital China.     

Adoption of Mobile Internet Services: An Exploratory Study of Mobile Commerce Early Adopters

The extent to which investment in information technology (IT) is related to organizational performance and productivity remains an open question in the minds of managers responsible for such investment decisions. Most past research into this relation has been based on cross-sectional analyses of 1-year periods. Attempts to determine relations between IT investment and the associated effect of that investment in such short periods have resulted in mostly mixed or negative findings. This study is thought to be the first to apply a multiyear, cross-sectional analysis. In the research, covering a 3-year period and involving firm-level data for a broad cross-section of U.S. industry, we found positive relations between higher levels of IT investment and selected measures representing organizational performance and productivity. These results, being based on multiyear analysis, are thought to be an important contribution in view of the fact that much of the existing literature in the area has failed to explain conclusively the economic impact of IT investment on organizational performance and productivity.     

Information Technology Investments and Organizational Productivity and Performance: An Empirical Investigation

The extent to which investment in information technology (IT) is related to organizational performance and productivity remains an open question in the minds of managers responsible for such investment decisions. Most past research into this relation has been based on cross-sectional analyses of 1-year periods. Attempts to determine relations between IT investment and the associated effect of that investment in such short periods have resulted in mostly mixed or negative findings. This study is thought to be the first to apply a multiyear, cross-sectional analysis. In the research, covering a 3-year period and involving firm-level data for a broad cross-section of U.S. industry, we found positive relations between higher levels of IT investment and selected measures representing organizational performance and productivity. These results, being based on multiyear analysis, are thought to be an important contribution in view of the fact that much of the existing literature in the area has failed to explain conclusively the economic impact of IT investment on organizational performance and productivity.     

Managing the foreign investment portfolio: How industry and governance diversity influence firm performance

Foreign investment has been seen as an important strategy for learning about new technologies and markets. However, the link between the characteristic of a foreign investment portfolio and firm performance has not been examined in detail. Using panel data from 199 Taiwanese firms, this study examines how the foreign investment portfolio in terms of industry and governance diversity influences firm performance. This study finds that governance diversity has an inverse U-shaped relationship to firm performance, whereas industry diversity does not. In addition, this study also finds that their relationships are affected by R&D capability and industry profitability. The empirical findings of our study are useful for firms that invest in emerging economies.     

The determinants of foreign direct investment in China: The case of Taiwanese firms in the IT industry

This study illustrates the factors that affect a firm's intention to engage in foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, using Taiwanese firms in the Information Technology (IT) sector as an example. By building upon the literature, we investigate a firm's decision to engage in FDI by taking industry and firm factors into consideration. This study applies an event history technique to perform an empirical analysis, taking into account the conditional probability of the element of time. These factors are analyzed in a dynamic context using a sample of 667 Taiwanese firms in 10 industries between 1996 and 2005. We find that network linkages, the expansion of markets, and China's incentive policies positively affect the intention to engage in FDI. A firm with a higher degree of export orientation and larger firm size also has a strong effect on motivating FDI.     

The Dynamic Relationship Between Investments in Brand Equity and Firm Profitability: Evidence Using Trademark Registrations

Abstract

Most marketing practitioners and scholars agree that marketing assets such as brand equity significantly contribute to a firm’s financial performance. In this paper, we model brand equity as an unobservable stock that results from up to 30 years of past brand-related investment flows. Using firm-specific trademarks as investment proxies, our results show a significant long-run impact on financial performance. The dynamic profile of brand-related investments has an inverted-U shape that reaches its peak after 11 years. On average, it takes four years before brand-related investments show a positive return, and investments older than 19 years show no significant impact. For the median trademarking firm, brand equity contributes €265,000 to annual profits.     

The Behaviour and Performance of Young Micro Firms: Evidence from Businesses in Scotland

This paper is an empirical study, making appeal to firsthand evidence gathered by face-to-face interviews with the owner-managers of 150 small firms in Scotland. It investigates the performance of the micro firm in the early years of its life cycle, by reference to four key behavioural characteristics: (i) strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis; (ii) the gathering of trade intelligence on the firm's rivals; (iii) the use of information technology (IT) in the business; and (iv) financial form and the owner-manager's preferences as regards the form of their equity stake holding. Seven propositions, based on the evidence accumulated, are formulated, and tested. These are illustrated by boxplots and cross-tabulations, and supported with chi-square statistics for testing measures of association. Taken together, the data provide an illuminating picture of the strategic behaviour of the young micro firm, and the subsequent effect that actions can have on firm performance. In particular, it is found that the use of IT in clusters of devices has a highly significant positive association with performance.     

Symbiotic ownership,cultural alignment,and firm performance: A test among international strategic alliances

Based on a sample of 61 international firms in China with industry symbiosis, we examine the effects of cultural alignment on firm performance. We first predict that symbiosis will have a negative effect on firm performance. After that, focusing on the most dimension of culture, i.e., collectivism/individualism, we also predict that in a society with a high collectivistic value, organizational collectivism will be positively correlated with firm performance because of its alignment with the prevailing societal culture. Finally, we predict that this cultural value should have a moderating effect on the relationship between symbiosis and performance. Data are collected from multiple sources to test these predictions. The results of the data analyses show the benefits of building a collectivistic organizational culture for firms with a high level of industry symbiosis.     

Performance, Internationalization, and Firm-specific Advantages of SMEs in a Newly-Industrialized Economy

In light of the lack of empirical evidence regarding issues of internationalization as they affect small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from newly-industrialized economies (NIEs), this study aims to expand the applicability of existent internationalization theories. So far, such theories have largely been developed with MNCs from industrialized economies in mind. In examining a 1996 sample of 1,419 Taiwanese SMEs, we found that the relationship between internationalization and performance could be graphically depicted as one of inverted U-shaped curvilinearity, and that a specific level of internationalization corresponded to maximum profitability. Our empirical findings also confirmed a relationship of U-shaped curvilinearity between advertising investment and performance, indicating that a minimum level of investment is required in order for advertising to be effective. Investments in research and development (R&D) were also shown to be positively associated with firm performance. The external validity of our internationalization theories regarding SMEs from NIEs was generally supported, though some modifications allowing for consideration of the particular context of individual SMEs will ultimately become a necessity.     

The Long‐Term Impact of Entrepreneurial Self‐Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Orientation on Venture Performance

We collected multi‐wave survey data to assess the lagged effects of entrepreneurial self‐efficacy (ESE) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on firm performance over a five‐year period. The results of our study indicate that ESE and EO are both positively associated with firm performance but in different, and interesting, ways. Entrepreneurially self‐efficacious founder/managers may help improve the performance of very young firms but such benefits dissipate over time. An EO, on the other hand, does not appear to be particularly beneficial to very young firms. However, our results suggest an EO may play an increasingly valuable role as new firms mature.     

Organizational Learning and CRM Success: A Model for Linking Organizational Practices,Customer Data Quality,and Performance

A high quality customer database is a cornerstone of successful interactive marketing strategies and tactics. Based on the notion that customer data quality is not only a technical but also an organizational problem, this study develops and tests an organizational learning framework of the relationship between organizational processes, customer data quality and firm performance. The findings show that high quality customer data impact both customer and business performance and that the most important driver of customer data quality comes from the executive suite. A large portion of the impact of organizational culture on performance is mediated by customer data quality and data sharing. The results support the presence of a hierarchy of effects for enhancing data quality that runs from organizational learning (committed to a shared vision for CRM data), to cross-functional learning (marketing/IT cooperation, marketing/IT integration) to functional learning (data sharing).     

R&D,firm growth and the role of innovation persistence: an analysis of Finnish SMEs and large firms

R&D investment and growth in SMEs and large firms relate in a complex way. This paper analyses what role persistence of innovation output plays in shaping that relationship. We apply a vector auto-regression model to Finnish firm-level data and summarize the lead–lag relationship and complex co-movements of R&D growth and firm growth series. We found only continuous product and process innovators to have positive associations between R&D growth and sales growth. Also the associations between sales growth and subsequent R&D growth were stronger for continuous innovators than for occasional innovators, but only for product innovators. In the case of process innovators it is the occasional innovators that exhibit a stronger association between sales growth and subsequent R&D growth. In addition, our results vary between large and small firms. We express the need for further research on innovation dynamics and growth of SMEs analysing the interactions between different innovation activities.