How Strategic Groups Act Competitively Within and Across Markets

Our study analyzes rivalry within and across markets of size‐defined strategic groups in the banking industry. We consider that, owing to group‐level effects, like efficiency and funding, the degree of rivalry of size‐defined strategic groups depends on whether the competitor is acting in the same or in a different market and whether the competing firms are within the same strategic group or in different groups. We estimate the effect of group interactions within and across loans and deposits markets on firm performance in the Spanish banking industry. We find evidences of rivalry as described in our hypotheses. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Scaling sustainability from the organizational periphery to the strategic core: Towards a practice‐based framework of what practitioners “do”

This paper explores what sustainability managers do when attempting to scale sustainability to a strategic level within their organization. Drawing on semistructured interview data with 44 sustainability managers in large, for‐profit companies, we identify three distinct scaling microstrategies that individuals use when scaling sustainability. We label these conforming, leveraging, and shaping. Our analysis also finds that sustainability managers deploy combinations of these microstrategies in three distinct approaches, which we call the assimilation approach, the mobilization approach, and the transition approach. Finally, we interrogate the degree to which employing these different approaches achieves a peripheral, intermediate, or strategic scale of sustainability within the organizations represented in the study. Our paper contributes to theory and practice at the interface of strategy and sustainability by developing a practice‐based Scaling Approach Framework, whereby an assimilation approach is associated with organizations with sustainability at a peripheral scale, a mobilization approach is associated with an intermediate scale of sustainability, and a transition approach is associated with scaling sustainability to a strategic level. From these results, we propose a Scaling Progression Model that reflects the phases that individuals progress through when scaling sustainability.     

Differences in RBV strategic factors and the need to consider opposing factors in turnaround outcomes

The resource‐based view‐related empirical literature has focused on one‐industry–one‐focal‐resource studies to provide support for its core tenets. We complement that literature with a first empirical analysis of multiple strategic factors, including opposing factors, and covering multiple industries, based on a recent survey of turnaround professionals. We focus on two issues. First, we explore what factor characteristics correlate to differences in the level of impact on firm performance that different types of factors have. Second, we explore the balance between opposing strategic factors (i.e., beneficial versus detrimental factors) relating to which turnaround outcome occurs. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Co‐evolution in Strategic Renewal Behaviour of British,Dutch and French Financial Incumbents: Interaction of Environmental Selection,Institutional Effects and Managerial Intentionality*

abstract How do incumbent firms and environments co‐evolve and how are firm‐level adaptation and selection at industry level interrelated? Can and do large established organizations renew themselves to adapt to their environment? Three single‐lens theories, relating to environmental selection, institutional theory, managerial intentionality, and a co‐evolutionary perspective are used to investigate strategic renewal of incumbent firms. We derive propositions and distinguish between three dimensions of strategic renewal and develop metrics to investigate our propositions in a multi‐level, multi‐country, longitudinal study of the European financial services industry. Our results provide the following insights. From an environmental selection perspective, we found incumbents have a preference for exploitation renewal actions. Country institutional environments appear to explain to what extent incumbents prefer internal and/or external renewal actions. Managerial intentionality seems to explain outlier behaviour and firm‐specific frequency and timing of renewal actions. From a co‐evolutionary perspective, interaction effects explain deviations from predictions derived from the single‐lens theories applied in this paper.     

Beyond the Anglo‐Saxon and North European models: social partnership in a Greek textiles company

Much of the literature examining social partnership focuses on either Anglo‐Saxon or North European countries, differentiating between liberal market economies (LMEs) and coordinated market economies (CMEs). These studies argue, quite correctly, that the institutional forces shaping partnership in the two types of economy differ markedly, with the consequence that partnership takes somewhat different forms at the workplace. By contrast, there is only limited research on social partnership in Mediterranean economies—such as Greece—even though there are strong reasons to suggest it may be quite different from both LMEs and CMEs because of relatively recent military influence at state level and less well‐developed systems of industrial relations at organisational level. This article examines the forces operating both at national and at local level that facilitate or hinder the development of social partnership. It is based on the results of interviews with government, industry and union officials and a case study of partnership in a textiles company in northern Greece. It concludes that institutional forces provided workers with more protection than they would have achieved in an LME but that ultimately competitive pressures and a lack of effective workplace representation limited the degree to which the state can influence the processes and outcomes of social partnership at local level.     

A Bayesian Semiparametric Competing Risk Model with Unobserved Heterogeneity

This paper generalizes existing econometric models for censored competing risks by introducing a new flexible specification based on a piecewise linear baseline hazard, time‐varying regressors, and unobserved individual heterogeneity distributed as an infinite mixture of generalized inverse Gaussian (GIG) densities, nesting the gamma kernel as a special case. A common correlated latent time effect induces dependence among risks. Our model is based on underlying latent exit decisions in continuous time while only a time interval containing the exit time is observed, as is common in economic data. We do not make the simplifying assumption of discretizing exit decisions—our competing risk model setup allows for latent exit times of different risk types to be realized within the same time period. In this setting, we derive a tractable likelihood based on scaled GIG Laplace transforms and their higher‐order derivatives. We apply our approach to analyzing the determinants of unemployment duration with exits to jobs in the same industry or a different industry among unemployment insurance recipients on nationally representative individual‐level survey data from the US Department of Labor. Our approach allows us to conduct a counterfactual policy experiment by changing the replacement rate: we find that the impact of its change on the probability of exit from unemployment is inelastic. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Empirical Analysis of Strategic Groups in the Airline Industry using Latent Class Regressions

Two major controversies in strategic group research have been whether strategic groups actually exist and if so what is the best methodological approach to identify them. One perspective on strategic groups suggests that a strategic group exists if and only if the performance of a firm in the group is a function of group characteristics after controlling for firm and industry characteristics. We test this theoretical position by developing and estimating a model for the airline industry using latent class regressions. Our analysis finds evidence for the existence of four distinct strategic groups of firms in the airline industry. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Antecedents and Outcomes of Diversity and Equality Management Systems: An Integrated Institutional Agency and Strategic Human Resource Management Approach

This study examines the development and impact of diversity and equality management systems (DEMS). A national sample of human resource managers from 155 Canadian firms responded to surveys about their firm's diversity and equality management (DEM) practices. Cluster analysis and latent class modeling identified three distinct approaches to DEM: classical disparity DEMS showing limited development of DEM‐related practices, institutional DEMS involving complex selection mechanisms and monitoring of employment statistics, and configurational DEMS linking diversity to business strategy. Hypothesis‐testing analyses indicated that both institutional and configurational DEMS were predicted by coverage by the Canadian employment equity program, federal contractor status, and the presence of a diversity expert on staff. Only configurational DEMS was predicted by inclusion of HRM in developing business strategy. Configurational DEMS positively predicted the employment of workers with disabilities and members of visible minority groups as well as ROA. These findings support the proposition based on strategic human resource management (SHRM) theory that DEM practices should be considered as bundles and that vertical linkage to strategy is important for DEM effectiveness. As such, SHRM theory explains how managers can structure strategic responses to institutional pressures that go beyond requirements to achieve strategic goals. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Strategic Flexibility in New High‐Technology Ventures

Strategic flexibility is a vital capability for new ventures to update their strategies in a timely manner. However, the role of external knowledge sources in new ventures’ endeavours to develop strategic flexibility are unclear. Drawing on the knowledge‐based and relational views, we explore the effect of two sources of external knowledge: new product development (NPD) alliances, representing tightly coupled sources, and loosely coupled sources such as industry associations. Our field study of 148 high‐tech ventures found that the extent to which firms utilize knowledge from NPD alliances has a curvilinear relationship with strategic flexibility, whereas the extent to which firms utilize loosely coupled sources has a positive linear relationship with strategic flexibility. We also found that in new ventures, decentralization of decision‐making and institutional support enhance knowledge integration, positively moderating these relationships.     

An Institutional Configurational Approach to Cross‐National Diversity in Corporate Governance

Corporate governance (CG) research has typically been studied from rather disparate disciplinary approaches, thereby offering myopic and often conflicting rationales. We develop an institutional configurational approach to integrate this ‘siloed’ field and explain CG patterns around the world. To do so, we draw on an inductive, theory‐building methodology based on fuzzy‐set logic to uncover the configurations across institutional actor‐centred domains and their impact on CG patterns. Empirically, we explore the necessary and sufficient causal conditions leading to different features of codes of good governance across 32 OECD countries. We generate propositions linking configurational institutional domains to code features. Our results show that a single institutional domain by itself is not sufficient to explain CG outcomes, and that these domains need to be considered in conjunction, leading, in turn, to the identification of four distinct configurational governance prototypes. Our study offers a comprehensive account of drivers of cross‐national differences in CG and yields useful insights for managing and regulating governance.     

Driving the electric bandwagon: The dynamics of incumbents' sustainable innovation

Given that entire industries face sustainability challenges, it is important to understand the dynamics that lead “firms‐in‐an‐industry” to engage in sustainable product innovation. To provide more insight into the question of how innovation activities spread from individual firm action to an industry‐wide engagement, this paper examines the automobile industry and the development of electric vehicles (EVs). The analysis covers automobile incumbents over a crucial decade for EV development in the industry, focusing on the different strategic motives that especially the so‐called “first movers” used to justify their earlier engagement. We find that EVs became a core pillar of the incumbents' technology strategies through a combination of coercive, normative, and mimetic pressures. Yet, the strategic motives to engage in EVs stayed poles apart between different companies. The insights from our study are relevant for those interested in the diffusion of sustainable product innovation and in incumbent behaviour in sustainability transitions.     

Why organizations adopt some human resource management practices and reject others: An exploration of rationales

This article explores reasons why organizations adopt or reject human resource practices. Four theoretical approaches are brought to bear on this issue. According to the economic approach, organizations adopt HR practices that are economically beneficial to them. Similarly, the alignment approach views firms as adopting HR practices if these practices are aligned with strategic objectives. In contrast, the decision‐making approach invokes a constrained‐ra‐tionality model of managerial judgment, and the diffusion approach attributes the adoption/rejection decision to institutional pressures that encourage imitation. Literature in these areas is reviewed and the implications for HR research and practice are discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Logics,Leaders, Lab Coats: A Multi‐Level Study on How Institutional Logics are Linked to Entrepreneurial Intentions in Academia

Situated in the context of academia, this study integrates ideas from institutional theory, person‐environment fit theory and leadership research to conceptualize and examine the cross‐level link between the organizational‐level institutional logic of research commercialization and the entrepreneurial intentions of researchers. Multi‐level analyses based on a sample of 254 researchers working for 85 research group leaders in 49 German research institutes reveal that two distinct attributes of research group leaders – that is, their track records of entrepreneurial behaviour and their entrepreneurial intentions – play a significant role in transmitting the organizational‐level logic to the individual level. We also observe a complementary interaction between organizational‐level commercialization logic and the entrepreneurial track records of leaders. We discuss how these findings advance our understanding of science commercialization through academic entrepreneurship and how they inform institutional theory and theory development in other domains of entrepreneurship research.     

Challenging ‘strategic HRM’ and the relevance of the institutional setting

One of the more fundamental aspects of the ongoing debate about the added value of HRM relates to ‘best’ practice versus ‘best‐fit’. Best practice suggests the universal success of certain HR practices, while best‐fit acknowledges the relevant impact of contextual factors. We argue that differences in embeddedness and in institutional settings between, for example, countries affect the nature of HRM. To understand this phenomenon, we are in need of additional theory. In this article we will use the theory of new institutionalism as a better way to understand the shaping of HR policies and practices in different settings. After a concise review of the latest debates in the area of strategic HRM, in which the resource‐based view is the dominant perspective, we turn to an analysis of HRM in different institutional settings, which suggests the need for additional theory: ie new institutionalism. We offer propositions to explain the impact of different institutional mechanisms, including coercive, normative and mimetic ones, on the shaping of HR policies and practices in organisations. The remainder of the article then focuses on possible implications for practitioners, theoretical implications for future research, and challenges for strategic HRM.     

Boardroom Strategizing in Professional Associations: Processual and Institutional Perspectives*

abstract This study examines strategic decision‐making at the boardroom level of two non‐profit professional associations, penetrating directors' strategic orientations, discourse and decisions in their holistic context. In comparison with the predominantly survey and interview based literature on board level strategy behaviour, this study employs a longitudinal complete member researcher, participant observer methodology. Its findings are analysed from an institutional theory perspective and reveal selective championing of strategies by directors, the evaluation of strategic proposals and progress in predominantly financial resource/outcome terms, and directors' attention to navigating strategic initiatives through organizational politics. Also revealed are private sector philosophies imported into the non‐profit boardroom, the predominantly ceremonial role of formal strategic plans, and an informally enacted strategic discourse. This study offers a unique insider view of strategizing at the highest organizational level.     

Critical Areas and Entry Points for Sustainability‐Related Strategies in the Sugarcane‐Based Ethanol Industry of Brazil

This study reveals five critical areas that Brazil's sugarcane‐based ethanol industry could capitalize on to incorporate sustainability into their firms' strategies. The emergent theoretical framework represents a starting point for further investigations aimed at integrating the sustainability construct and strategies for the industry. A growing body of literature calls for strategic management to adapt to complex and ever‐changing environments and sustainability trends. For many firms in developing economies, sustainability remains isolated from mainstream strategy, resulting in reactive approaches on the part of management. A qualitative research method – grounded theory – was used to induct from data. Five themes emerged from the analysis providing guidance on where sustainability‐related strategies ought to begin. This research posits that existing sectoral innovation systems could be used to channel sustainability‐driven innovations. In addition, a combination of public and private efforts to foster innovations based on the emergent themes could increase the value of industry under study, while lessening its social and environmental footprint. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Co‐evolution in an Institutionalized Environment*

abstract This paper examines the extent to which co‐evolution can take place within a heavily constrained environment and how changes in the degree of institutionalization are relevant to opportunities for exercising strategic choice at the level of the firm. It addresses these questions through a detailed case study of a major Brazilian telecommunications company, Telemig, covering its life span of 27 years from 1973 to 2000. The insights obtained advance the theory of co‐evolution by incorporating a political dimension of how organizations are transformed into new forms. In the case studied, new forms arose with radical changes in the rules affecting competition and with de‐institutionalization of the economic regime by coalitions of actors who were strategically located in networks that crossed system levels. Although the Telemig case presents circumstances different to those usually addressed by studies of co‐evolution, it nevertheless points to the virtues of combining a strategic choice approach with one that focuses on the isomorphic effects of institutional constraints.     

Flexible collective bargaining agreements: Still a moderating effect on works council behaviour?

We analyse the interaction between different labour market institutions in Germany, namely, industry‐level bargaining and firm‐level codetermination by works councils. In particular, we are interested in the moderating effect of flexibility measures on the link between the existence works councils and collective agreements on wages and productivity. In presence of institutional changes, the question is whether works councils in covered plants still generate rather than redistribute rents, given recent decentralisation processes in the German system of industrial relations. We augment a theoretical model to provide hypotheses, which are then tested using empirical analysis of representative German plant level data. We find that the existence of flexibility provisions in collective bargaining agreements does not alter the effect of works council on firms' wages. We find, however, that with flexibility provisions works council presence is associated with higher productivity levels than without such provisions. These findings, however, depend on the level of collective bargaining: they can only be observed in plants covered by industry‐level contracts, but do not hold in plants covered by firm‐level contracts.     

Industry,management capabilities and firms' competitiveness: An empirical contribution

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge of strategic factors that explain the competitive position reached by firms in their activity sector. We have used a survey carried out in 1999 on 287 executives that belong to the service sector in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. We have analysed the differential factors that distinguish the strategic performance of competitive vis‐à‐vis non‐competitive firms, by jointly assessing the variables representative of the sector (five competitive forces defined by Porter) and variables of an internal feature. Finally, we have moved the level of analysis from the industry to the firm; specifically, we have focused on managerial capabilities due to the significant role played by managers in the strategic decision‐making process. The use of cluster analysis to classify firms depending on their degree of competitiveness and the application of the See5 induction algorithm of rules and decision trees to determine the differential factors that distinguish competitive from non‐competitive firms, provide a methodological framework for the most significant contributions of this work. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.