The effects of the keiretsu on the export performance of Japanese companies: help or hindrance?

This study investigates the effect that membership in a financial keiretsu has on the export performance of Japanese manufacturing companies. Companies that belong to one of the six major financial keiretsu are found to have lower export ratios than similar companies who are not members. The negative effects of keiretsu membership appear confined to producer goods companies where intergroup linkages such as preferential trading relationships are tightest. Additional evidence from the producer goods sector showing that keiretsu members do less well on other measures of company performance supports the argument that the cartel-like properties sometimes ascribed to the keiretsu actually reduce competitiveness, thus dampening export performance. In general, the data do not support recommendations that non-Japanese companies might look to keiretsu-type alliances as an organizational strategy that will lead to competitive advantage in global markets. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Is the value created necessarily associated with money? On the connections between an innovation process and its monetary dimension: The case of Solibro's thin-film solar cells

While IMP research has implicitly identified the intricate and unfair connection between innovation and its monetary dimension, there is a lack of studies which explicitly focus on this connection. Consequently, there is also a lack of concepts with which to investigate the role of money and its connections with other resources in the business landscape. This paper aims to contribute to an increased understanding of this phenomena, by explicitly investigating the connection between the social-material and the monetary dimensions of an innovation journey. We analyze a case study on new type of thin-film solar cells; an innovation journey in which both the social-material and monetary dimensions involve public and private actors and transcend national borders. We identify five key connections between social-material resources and the monetary dimension: (1) Monetary flows finance new resource combinations; (2) the monetary dimension evaluates social-material resources, even though it does so in highly subjective, erratic and negotiated ways; (3–4) business deals and monetary flows both enable and block actions on social-material resources; and (5) business deals distribute, although very unevenly, the costs and benefits of social-material resources among the involved actors.     

The use of variance decomposition in the investigation of CEO effects: How large must the CEO effect be to rule out chance?

Variance decomposition analysis is often used to examine the degree to which CEOs influence their companies' performance (the so‐called CEO effect). Such studies play an important role in a body of literature that investigates the effect of leadership on organizations. In this paper, I argue that these previous studies have an important underlying flaw. Empirically, these studies wrongly attribute the performance effect of randomness—of chance—to the CEO. I demonstrate how randomness can affect the measured effects in a variance decomposition analysis, and I show that this is especially problematic for the measurement of CEO effects. I demonstrate how this results in a greatly inflated CEO effect and develop an approach to correct for it. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Friend or foe? The effects of managerial politics on NPD team communication,collaboration and project success

Much existing work on new product development (NPD) team integration takes an economically rational perspective, specifying appropriate systems, structures and interactions. Few studies however have explored the effects of politics on working relationships between technically trained managers (TTMs; e.g., research and development managers) and marketing managers (MMs) during NPD. Our results reveal that intra-team politics has positive and negative effects on TTM/MM communication. This is important because communication positively influences collaboration and NPD success. Moreover, the effects of communication variables on these two outcome variables differ depending on whether one is a TTM or MM.     

Viewpoint: Is the ban on deception necessary or even desirable?

Deception has long been barred from the mainstream experimental economics literature based upon worries that any deception could pollute the participant pool, leading most participants to suspect that researchers are potentially lying about the incentives they face. Nonetheless, debates regarding the definition and acceptability of deception in experimental economics are common. Experimental psychologists have long employed deception as an essential part of their methodology and have studied the impacts of deception on participants in subsequent experiments. I propose the use of experimental economics to determine the impacts of deception, using empirical evidence to guide research norms and practice.     

The bonding effects of relationship value and switching costs in industrial buyer–seller relationships: An investigation into role differences

Despite the established importance of buyer–seller relationships in B-to-B markets, research to determine the differential effects that keep suppliers and customers in a relationship has been scarce. Referring to transaction cost analysis, this study investigates how switching costs and relationship value as perceived by each side unfold their bonding forces in such a relationship. Based on a large scale survey administered in Germany, Korea, New Zealand, and Argentina among marketing/sales and purchasing managers the study shows that relationship value has a stronger impact on intentions for relationship enhancement, search for alternatives and switch intention than switching costs for both buyers and sellers. Only with regard to relational tolerance and only for buyers do switching costs play a greater role than relationship value. Furthermore, buyers base their future relationship intentions more on the current state of the relationship than suppliers. Our results suggest that role differences must be taken into account when studying institutional arrangements in B-to-B markets.     

When communication quality is trustworthy? Transactive memory systems and the mediating role of trust in software development teams

While the importance of communication frequency to transactive memory system (TMS) development has well been established, few studies have been done examining the relationship between communication quality and transactive memory systems in software development teams. This study empirically tests the relationships between communication quality and TMS, and the effect of TMS on team effectiveness. We also examine the mediating effect of trust on the link between communication quality and TMS. By investigating 86 software development teams in China, the results suggest that: (1) communication quality has a positive effect on TMS; (2) the link between communication quality and TMS is mediated by benevolence‐ and competence‐based trust; and (3) TMS has a positive impact on team performance. Theoretical and managerial implications of the study findings are discussed.     

Direct intervention or indirect support? The effects of cooperative control measures on farmers’ implementation of quality and safety standards

In recent years, labor-intensive agricultural products from developing countries have exhibited inferior performance in international trade due to quality and safety incidents, among which pesticide residue is a major issue. Aiming to improve food quality and safety in the context of cooperatives, we introduced three categories of control measures: outcome control, process control and social control. Based on the Pre-Harvest Interval Standard (PHIS), we selected three indices, farmers’ implementation rate of PHIS, absolute distance to PHIS and relative distance to PHIS, to evaluate appropriateness of pesticides use, reduction of pesticide residue and safety improvements of agricultural products. By using random sampling survey data, we empirically analyzed the marginal effects of control measures and their combinations on food quality and safety standards. The empirical results show that implementing process control, namely, unified production standards or supply of unified agricultural inputs, can comprehensively improve farmers’ implementation rate of PHIS, absolute distance and relative distance to PHIS respectively by 34.9%, 3.2 days and 46.0% on average. While the effects of outcome control (safety inspection) and social control (bonus-penalty incentive or training) are restricted to other measures. Therefore, we suggest cooperatives should take farmers’ features, implementation conditions and the effects of control measures into consideration in order to make a sustainable management plan for improving food quality and safety and enhancing competitiveness in international markets.     

Tit for tat? Abusive supervision and counterproductive work behaviors: The moderating effects of locus of control and perceived mobility

Previous research has identified both individual differences and perceived situational variables such as self-esteem and organizational justice as the antecedents of counterproductive work behaviors (CWB). This article focuses on employees’ perceived interpersonal interaction. More specifically, the relation between abusive supervision and subordinates’ counterproductive work behaviors toward the organization is examined. Using a sample of 198 dyads employees and their immediate supervisor (N = 396) from a multinational company in China, this research finds that abusive supervision results in increased levels of sabotage, withdrawal, production deviance, and theft. This research also examines the moderating effects of locus of control and perceived mobility on the relationships between abusive supervision and subordinates’ CWB toward the organization. The results suggest that locus of control moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and sabotage, production deviance and theft, but not abusive supervision and withdrawal; perceived mobility moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and withdrawal and theft, but not abusive supervision and sabotage and production deviance. Practical implications for human resource management are discussed.     

Is the Patent System an Even Playing Field? The Effect of Patent Attorney Firms

The patent system underpins the business model of some of the fastest-growing companies. Used appropriately, it should support frontier technologies and nurture new firms. Used perniciously, it can stifle innovation and protect established technological behemoths. We analyze patent examination decisions at the American, European, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese patent offices and find evidence that patent attorneys have a surprisingly significant role in the patent system. Our results suggest that some forces within the examination system maintain the uneven playing field by allocating monopoly rights to inventors with better access to influential attorneys, rather than leveling it by favoring inventors with better, nonobvious ideas. Attorney quality is most important, vis-à-vis invention quality, in less codified and more rapidly changing technology areas such as software and ICT.     

Lighting the way or stealing the shine? An examination of the duality in star scientists' effects on firm innovative performance

Do star employees enhance or constrain the innovative performance of an organization? Using data from 456 biotechnology firms between 1973 and 2003, we highlight the duality of the effects that stars have on firm performance. We show that while stars positively affect firms' productivity, their presence constrains the emergence of other innovative leaders in an organization. We find that firm productivity and innovative leadership among non‐stars in a firm are greatest when a star has broad expertise and collaborates frequently. We offer cross‐disciplinary insights into the role of human capital as a source of competitive advantage, suggesting that the value of human capital in a firm is contingent on the mutual dependence inherent in high‐status employees' relationships with other individuals in a firm. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can food waste behavior be managed within the B2B workplace and beyond? The roles of quality of green communication and dual mediation paths

Food waste is becoming increasingly a crucial issue to organizations, but little is known about workplace food waste reduction among frontline employees in the business-to-business (B2B) context regardless of the salience of frontline employees with such a behavior as green intermediaries in B2B supply chains. Our research seeks to fill this gap by investigating how and when quality of green communication in the B2B workplace influences frontline employees' workplace and household food waste behavior, as well as the relationship between these two types of food waste behavior among frontline employees. The dataset for this study came from sales employees in manufacturing companies based in Vietnam. The results unveiled the roles of employees' green role identity and harmonious environmental passion as the dual mediation paths for the relationship between quality of green communication and employees' intention to reduce food waste, which in turn attenuated both their workplace and household food waste behavior. The positive relationship was noted between employees' workplace food waste behavior and their household food waste behavior. The results further demonstrated the boundary condition role of household leftovers reuse routines to enhance the link between intention to reduce food waste and food waste behavior. The implications are discussed on initiatives for reducing B2B frontline employees' food waste behavior, thereby transforming them into green agents in B2B supply chains.     

Breaking institutionalized corruption: Is the experience of the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption generalizable?

The literature on corruption has seldom analyzed how institutional changes and the management of anti-corruption agencies could affect the success in transforming a relatively corrupted society into a cleaner one. Using the institutional changes of Hong Kong after the establishment of its anti-corruption agency in 1974, we identify the key changes in its institutional environment and the management of the agency that led to its success. We discuss the possibility that this experience can be generablizable to other societies such as the China Mainland.     

Is the future static or dynamic? The role of culture on escalation of commitment in new product development

Escalation of commitment in new product development has been studied extensively for the last four decades but the impact of culture on the escalation phenomenon remains largely unexplored. This study investigates how culture impacts the decision to escalate or deescalate commitment to new products. Americans are analytic thinkers whereas Chinese tend to be holistic thinkers. When it comes to decision making, analytic thinkers focus on field independent and abstract factors and believe that future is linear and static, whereas holistic thinkers focus more on contextual factors and believe that future is dynamic and nonlinear. Hence, Chinese are more likely to escalate their commitment relative to Americans on receiving a negative performance report in the new product development process. A lab experiment using weekend MBA students and managers was used to test this underlying hypothesis. The findings confirmed that analytical thinkers use fewer factors than holistic thinkers in making new product decisions, and that Chinese managers are more likely to escalate their commitment relative to American managers. The decision to escalate or de-escalate was moderated by perceived product innovativeness.     

Whose experience matters in the boardroom? The effects of experiential and vicarious learning on emerging market entry

Using an organizational learning perspective, we develop arguments about vicarious learning through board interlocks and its relation to experiential learning. Although it is well established that firms learn from board interlocks, little attention has focused on which types of interlocks are most consequential and why. We distinguish between the relative advantages of various tie attributes such as experience, authority, and credibility and argue that these distinctions lead to measureable differences in learning outcomes. We further demonstrate that whether vicarious learning substitutes or complements focal firm experiential learning depends upon the type of interlock involved. After accounting for the endogeneity of ties, we find support for our framework in a longitudinal analysis of foreign investments by German firms in emerging economies between 1990 and 2003. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.