Internationalization and entrepreneurial orientation of family SMEs: The influence of the family character

Internationalization is an important entrepreneurial strategy for promoting the long-term growth and survivability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Family involvement in top management teams (TMTs) can explain the heterogeneous behaviors of these firms’ international entrepreneurship process. This paper analyzes the moderating effects of the family’s influence on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and internationalization with two TMT diversities found only in family firms: the family TMT ratio and generational involvement. An analysis of 191 Spanish family SMEs indicated that entrepreneurial orientation plays a significant role in explaining the degree of internationalization in family firms and that a diversely formed TMT shapes this relationship. A high concentration of family members in managerial positions hinders the international entrepreneurship process. This fact highlights the importance of hiring non-family managers to promote internationalization. The results also reveal that involving multiple generations in decision-making hampers entrepreneurial internationalization, generating control and coordination problems.     

Beating the recession blues: Exploring the link between family ownership,strategic marketing behavior and firm performance during recessions

This study explores whether family firms exhibit unique marketing behavior and whether their unique behavior in turn helps them outperform non-family firms during periods of economic contraction. Findings based on a sample of 275 large publicly listed U.S. firms reveal that family firms outperform non-family firms during recessions. This superior performance is partially driven by family firms' proactive marketing behavior and their relatively strong emphasis on corporate social responsibility (CSR). During recessions, while non-family firms tend to decrease their advertising intensities and rates of new product introduction (NPI), family firms are likely to maintain relatively high levels of advertising intensity and rates of NPI. Unlike non-family firms, family firms are also likely to maintain high levels of corporate social performance (CSP) during recessions. These results underscore the benefits of proactive marketing behavior and a continued emphasis on CSR during economic downturns. The authors also add to the scant family-firm literature, demonstrating the family firm to be an effective organizational form.     

The supply-side of environmental sustainability and export performance: The role of knowledge integration and international buyer involvement

Most of previous studies seek to understand buyer perspectives in green supply chain relationships and devote inadequate attention to the strategic role of upstream suppliers. Drawing on a market-oriented approach to sustainability, this paper examines the enabling factors and processes that underpin how export suppliers from emerging economies leverage their strategic intent to develop knowledge integration capacity for achieving improved export performance. The results from a sample of Chinese exporters show that the relational capacity of knowledge integration mediates the performance impact of market-oriented environmental sustainability, and such a mediating process of leaning is further enhanced by international buyer involvement. We reveal that relationship efforts should be directed at developing integrative capacity involving key partners for implementing proactive environmental strategy in international business-to-business (B2B) markets. This study contributes to the research of supply chain sustainability in a global context.     

The effect of language use on the financial performance of microfinance banks: Evidence from cross-border activities in 74 countries

This multi-year study examines the relationship between financial performance and language use, observing 405 partnerships between microfinance banks and their international financial partners in 74 countries. Drawing on language research in international business, we find that microfinance banks based in English-speaking, French-speaking, and Spanish-speaking countries have higher performance. Furthermore, the linguistic distance between the home country of a microfinance bank and the home country of its international partner(s) is negatively related to its financial performance. Our large-scale study confirms the effect of language use on organization-level financial performance and extends research on language in multinationals from intra-firm to inter-firm relationships.     

External technology acquisition and firm performance: A longitudinal study

External technology acquisition has been viewed as an important method used by firms to achieve higher economic returns. However, only a few studies have evaluated the contribution of external technology acquisition to firm performance. This lack of research is surprising because the benefits of external technology acquisition to innovation output have been emphasized extensively in the literature. This study therefore investigates the extent to which external technology acquisition effects a firm's performance, and how this effect is moderated by internal R&D efforts. This analysis concentrates on the electronics-manufacturing industry, taking advantage of the relative abundance of data on longitudinal investigation variables. A longitudinal sample allows this examination to control extraneous effects and to provide more convincing evidence for the relationship between external technology acquisition and firm performance. The analytical sample comprises a total of 341 Taiwanese electronics-manufacturing firms over the period from 1998 to 2002. The least square dummy variable analysis method reveals that external technology acquisition does not provide a significant contribution to firm performance per se; however, the positive impact of external technology acquisition on firm performance increases with the level of internal R&D efforts. Verifications for robustness and the split-sample analyses both validate the results in the setting of larger firms.     

Tracking the relationship between environmental management and financial performance in the service industry

Attention to the relationship between environmental management and financial performance has been growing. Research in this area has, however, tended to focus primarily on manufacturing industries. Our goal in this study is to analyze the relationship between environmental management and financial performance in the context of the service industry. Using a cross-sectional sample of 1,228 service organizations spanning a wide range of business activities, we test a series of five hypothesized relationships using both univariate and multivariate analyses. The results are robust across the dataset and show conclusively that environmental management does indeed positively affect financial performance in the service sector.     

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.     

A meta-analysis of the impact of price presentation on perceived savings

Pricing is one of the most crucial determinants of sales. Besides the actual price, how the price offering is presented to consumers also affects consumer evaluation of the product offering. Many studies focus on “price framing,” i.e., how the offer is communicated to the consumer —is the offered price given along with a reference price, is the reference price plausible, is a price deal communicated in dollar or percentage terms. Other studies focus on “situational effects,” e.g., is the evaluation for a national brand or a private brand, is it within a discount store or a specialty store. In this article, a meta-analysis of 20 published articles in marketing examines the effects of price frames and situations on perceived savings. The results reveal many features that significantly influence perceived savings. For instance, while both the percent of deal and the amount of deal positively influence perceived deal savings, deal percent has more impact. Further, the presence of a regular price as an external reference price enhances the offer value of large plausible deal and implausible deals, but not of small plausible deals. Thus, high value deals should announce the regular price, but not low value deals. Overall, the results have several useful insights for designing promotions.     

The influence of price on the relationship between involvement and consideration set size

This study examined the relationship between involvement and consideration set size for a product category featuring wide variability in the price and quality of choice alternatives. The use of a heterogeneous choice domain is considered important because it gives consumers the opportunity to make price and quality tradeoffs in the selection of their consideration sets. The results indicate that in such a choice context, the total effect of involvement on consideration set size is positive. A path analysis of the data indicates the reason for this positive relationship was that high-involvement subjects set wider latitudes of acceptance for price and thus were more likely to consider the more expensive models in the choice domain.     

Timing is everything: A meta-analysis of the relationships between organizational performance and innovation

The relationship between innovation and firm performance has been uncertain. In previous empirical tests of both causal directions of the organizational performance and innovation relationship, the temporal sequence of research designs has often been flawed. We meta-analytically test both temporal sequences of this relationship using 158 effect sizes from 55 empirical studies. We find that many empirical studies hypothesized one temporal sequence (e.g. innovation and future performance), but used data based on the opposite temporal sequence (e.g. past performance and innovation). Correcting the studies based on the actual temporal sequence used reveals that while the relationship between innovation and future performance is positive (based on economic rent-seeking), the relationship between past performance and innovation is less clear, especially when the study's framing is taken into account. Focusing on temporal sequencing suggests new research avenues on the organizational performance and innovation relationship.     

The death of firms: exploring the effects of environment and birth cohort on firm survival in Sweden

This paper investigates the death of firms and seizes a long-term perspective. It investigates the life spans of nearly 2,200 firms in seven birth cohorts of Swedish joint-stock companies, founded during seven separate years between 1899 and 1950. Research has traditionally emphasized individual- and micro-oriented factors in explaining post-entry performance, or has often focused on the influence of firm-specific structural factors (firm age and size). A less attended field recognizes environmental forces. This paper focuses on the interaction between the micro and macro levels, and combines structural and environmental factors. Employing a cohort approach, it relates firm survival to firm age and size, as well as to the effect of cohort affiliation and environmental change over time (period effects). During macroeconomic expansion, the risk of death decreases. Cohort effects are also evident. Firms founded during times of economic crisis exhibit lower survival rates. Consequently, cohort affiliation and environmental forces, i.e. period effects, can explain differences in death rates in different firm populations.

Capabilities and competitive tactics influences on performance: Implications of the moment of entry

This article examines the implications that the moment of market entry has for the effect of capabilities and competitive tactics on firm performance, using a sample of 253 companies from the information and communications technology industry. The results show that technical capabilities and low cost orientation are learning factors in the firms' performance, regardless of the moment of entry into the market. The study shows how the two perspectives of competitive strategy and resource-based view complement each other to incorporate different competitive factors in a coherent model for the study of entry timing. The study takes the sustainability model of competitive advantage further, by demonstrating that certain capabilities and competitive tactics can allow pioneers and early followers to achieve and maintain superior performance in a dynamic, hostile and with high level of imitation industry. This study also shows that the availability of a combination of marketing capabilities and low cost orientation will allow late followers' firms to take advantage of early entrants' mistakes.     

Social capital of entrepreneurs and small firm performance: A meta-analysis of contextual and methodological moderators

Despite a surge of studies examining the role of social capital in the entrepreneurial process, no quantitative assessments exist of the empirical evidence to date. To resolve seemingly conflicting results, we conducted a meta-analysis of the link between entrepreneurs' personal networks and small firm performance and identify new moderators affecting this relationship. Analyses of 61 independent samples indicated that the social capital–performance link was positive and significant (r_c = .211). Effect sizes of weak ties were smaller than those of structural holes, while network diversity had the largest positive effect on performance. Results also showed that the social capital–performance link depends on the age of small firms, the industry and institutional contexts in which they operate, and on the specific network or performance measures used. Based on these findings, we develop recommendations for future research on the contingent value of social capital for small firms.     

Consumers' green involvement and the persuasive effects of emotional versus functional ads

This study compares the effects of four types of ads: a functional green ad promoting the environmental advantages of a product, an emotional green ad using a visual representation of pleasant natural scenery, a mixed type green ad using functional and emotional strategies, and a control group. Findings of an experimental study using a representative sample of U.S. consumers suggest that both the emotional and the mixed-type ads significantly affect brand attitude, mediated by attitude toward the ad. These effects do not depend on consumers' green involvement. Functional ads, in contrast, only impact brand attitudes when involvement, measured as green purchase behavior or green product attitudes, is high.     

The export performance of emerging economy firms: The influence of firm capabilities and institutional environments

We advance a two-stage theoretical model which contends that the export performance of emerging economy firms (EEFs) will depend both upon their firm-specific capabilities and their home institutional environments. Specifically, we argue that EEFs will be more likely to export when facing more uncertainty at home from greater political instability, substantial informal competition, and high corruption. Furthermore, we hypothesize that firms’ export intensities will be contingent upon specialized internal capabilities such as a skilled workforce, top managerial experience, and access to external technologies. We test these hypotheses using a dataset of more than 16,000 firms from the four BRIC economies (i.e., Brazil, Russia, China and India). Our results confirm that political instability and informal competition have robust effects on the export propensity of EEFs, whilst export intensity is contingent upon the availability of skilled workers and access to external technologies via licensing.     

学术型创业家与企业绩效的关系研究

This study attempts to identify factors influencing the performance of enterprises established by academic entrepreneurs(AE) and to explore the relationship between these factors and enterprise performance. To this end, the authors propose a three-dimension model consisting of academic entrepreneurs’ personal traits, human capital, and the entrepreneurial environment. Data of 84 AEs from 12 Chinese universities are used to empirically test and improve the model. Theoretical contributions and implications are also discussed.      

International involvement of established SMEs: A systematic review of antecedents,outcomes and moderators

This article seeks to review the present state of research on established SME's international involvement. Based on a literature review of 121 articles, we develop an integrative framework that examines the antecedents, outcomes and moderators of SME international involvement. We critically assess and examine how the literature has evolved over the last three decades. Particular attention is paid to discussing the main findings, theoretical and methodological inconsistencies, and to providing suggestions for future research. The review reveals that while international involvement research has made considerable progress over the last few years, its advances have been uneven and leave important areas of research unexplored.     

Antecedents of firm performance in emerging economies: Business groups,strategy, industry structure,and state support

A rich literature has investigated the antecedents of firm performance in developed economies, resulting in a consensus view that firm resources and strategy are the key determinants. Several arguments, however, suggest that in emerging economies other factors are more important for firm performance. This study analyzes the impact of firm strategy and industry structure as well as business group membership and state support on firm performance in an advanced emerging economy, Turkey. Using a data set compiled from a selection of the 1000 largest manufacturing firms in this country, the study employs several regression models to identify the main determinants of firm performance as measured by productivity and net profit margin. In contrast to studies of developed economies, the investigation finds that firm-related factors (competitive strategies) do not significantly influence performance; instead factors related to industry structure and business group membership are the strongest determinants of firm performance; further, state support interacts with business group membership and is positively related to productivity.     

浅谈如何构建中小板上市公司的财务绩效评价体系

我们都知道,在当今企业的发展与管理道路上,中小板上市公司的整体管理绩效正在不断的扩展与深化。这就要求我们更加重视对于中小板上市公司的整体财务绩效评价体系的建立。本文通过解析中小板上市公司的财务绩效体系的构建,力求能够帮助中小板上市公司完善自身上市的条件,为各大投资者提供更优、更完善的投资信息,并以此逐步的深化、扩展中小板上市公司的发展动力、潜力。     

中美银行业员工报酬业绩敏感度比较研究

金融危机之后,银行业员工过高的薪酬水平,引发社会各界的多方质疑,本文试图对不同制度背景下中美银行业员工报酬业绩敏感度进行比较研究。我们发现:两国银行业员工绩效报酬机制存在显著差异,美国银行业员工薪酬与公司绩效呈显著正相关关系,而我国银行业员工薪酬与公司绩效相关性较弱,需要进一步完善银行业报酬激励机制。