Selecting a marketing strategy for private hotels in Taiwan using the analytic hierarchy process

Grounded in the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm to competitive advantage, the current study attempts to identify specific resources and capabilities of small ventures by focusing on private hotels and by doing so develops an evaluation framework of marketing strategy in a service industry within its unique conditions. Given the complexity and difficulty of utilizing allocated specific and limited resources with a marketing strategy toward a competitive advantage for private hotels the purpose of the current study is to employ the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method to select a competitive marketing strategy for private hotels. After reviewing theory and research on competitive advantage in general and in the service industry in particular, the resources and capabilities are identified as managerial capabilities, customer-linking capabilities, market innovation capabilities, human resource assets, and reputational assets. Finally, the findings indicate that the differentiation strategy is the best strategy for private hotels. The study emphasizes the importance of allocating specific and limited resources and capabilities to evaluate and select an appropriate marketing strategy so as to capture a sustainable competitive advantage.     

The contingent influence of organizational capabilities on proactive environmental strategy in the service sector: An analysis of North American and European ski resorts

Our study of 134 North American and European ski resorts examines the influence of externally focused organizational capabilities on the generation of proactive environmental strategies under contingent effects of uncertainty in the general business environment. We find that the capabilities of strategic proactivity and continuous innovation are associated with proactive environmental strategies. Managerial perceptions of uncertainty in the general business environment moderate the deployment of the capability of continuous innovation at all levels of uncertainty and stakeholder engagement at low and average levels of uncertainty. The study contributes to the resource‐based view (RBV) by illuminating an important contingency under which capabilities are likely to be deployed to generate a proactive corporate strategy. Copyright © 2007 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Integrating nonmarket and market resources,strategy and performance in Chinese enterprises: a review of the field and a resource-based empirical study

The resource-based view (RBV) regards strategy as deploying resources to obtain a competitive advantage. This article adopts such a RBV, by a simultaneous consideration of nonmarket and market factors, and then an empirical analysis of the relationships between such nonmarket and market resources, strategies and performance, focusing specifically on Chinese enterprises. The results test hypotheses related to the integrated strategy and RBV of the firm on linkages of nonmarket and market components. Combining those two views, this study reveals that there is a high and positive correlation between nonmarket and market strategies, while nonmarket strategy has a positive indirect effect on market performance via nonmarket performance. These findings suggest that the RBV is an appropriate theory for addressing the shortcomings in integrated strategy research.     

New Challenges for International Business Research: A Review of Extant Research and the Unique Contributions of John Dunning

Relative to other fields, international business is a young field of study. Tracing its origins to the mid-1950s, the field began to develop unique theories and paradigms in the 1970s and 1980s. The field has developed rich research streams since and has become firmly established as an independent field of study and important part of university curricula. John Dunning (1902–2009) is widely regarded as a father of the field, carving out unique theories from his primary field of economics and through his efforts hiring and training future prominent international business scholars. This article examines the evolution of the international business field and unique contributions of John Dunning's research to the development of extant theory. It then reviews Dunning's last contribution—his fifth and last book entitled New Challenges for International Business Research: Back to the Future.     

“One of these days,things are going to change!” How do you make sense of market disruption?

The significance of mindsets is apparent in everyday business life. As today’s managers and companies face uncertainty and disruptive change in the business environment and markets, there is a growing need to understand and strategically address such change. This becomes challenging when disruptive market forces confront the institutional logic or rules of the game based on collectively acquired experience of doing business in the given field. In overcoming such challenges, managers’ hidden reasoning remains an untapped potential while their existing mindset influences what they attend to and what they decide to do. This article elaborates a diagnostic framework, accompanied by a tool to help managers make sense of disruptive markets and reflect individually and collectively on possible courses of action. The framework has two principal dimensions—strategic scope and focus—that are further divided into three business elements of strategic market-oriented management: offering, customer, and market. The tool offers a practical means of profiling individuals’ mindsets. In increasingly dynamic business environments, reflection capabilities represent a new source of competitive advantage.     

How international entrepreneurship characteristics influence Internet capabilities for the international business processes of the firm

This research explores the relationship between international entrepreneurship characteristics and the use of Internet capabilities for the international business processes of the firm. It has been suggested, that the accumulation of a firms Internet capability can assist international operations, especially when operating in fast changing dynamic Internet environments. However, international entrepreneurship characteristics which are seen as a precursor to leveraging Internet capabilities are still vague. Given this finding, eight case studies of small and medium sized travel and tourism firms were selected to investigate the influence of international entrepreneurship characteristics, and Internet capabilities for international business processes. Based on the eight in-depth case studies, the results signify that successful international entrepreneurial firms which encompass high levels of international innovativeness and proactiveness behaviour integrate Internet capabilities to a greater degree. Our findings also indicate that the prior international business experience, international risk-taking propensity and international networking characteristics are not necessarily precursors to successful integration of Internet capabilities for international business processes. On the contrary, international business experience and international networks actually lead to a reliance on traditional mechanisms of internationalisation and can dilute the development of Internet capabilities for international business processes.     

Turnaround and failure: Resource weaknesses and the rise and fall of Jarvis

Research employing the resource-based view (RBV) has overwhelming focused on the upside of resources, namely those that provide benefit to the firm. However, an emerging research stream suggests that the downside of resources, namely resource weaknesses, may be crucial in gaining a greater understanding of the key factors that contribute to firm performance and the ability to turnaround failing companies. We examine the infamous case of Jarvis, a firm that achieved a turnaround, but then experienced catastrophic failure. In so doing we explore the emergence of resource weaknesses, their nature and ability to combine to create a fatal organisational outcome.     

Unlocking the magic in successful tourism destination marketing: the role of sensing capability

ABSTRACT

Tourism destinations are facing an increasingly competitive environment, and the need to offer a compelling visitor experience is intense. However, destinations are hindered by the fragmented nature of their governance structure, with a disparate group of actors from service providers to local government agencies involved. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the tourism destination can respond effectively to changing market trends and develop a shared vision for the destination among the various actors. The resource-based view (RBV) of the firm perspective is adopted to identify the role of network management capabilities, which facilitate the coordination of actors needed to ensure destination efficacy, thereby addressing a lack of scholarly attention to marketing capability in the tourism destination. The empirical context is set in Killarney, Ireland’s most enduring and popular tourism destination. The findings point to the presence of a dynamic destination sensing capability in Killarney, which is driving a market-sensing capability and orchestration capability. This investigation provides important insight into how a successful tourism destination is able to sustain the magical ingredient of tourist engagement over two centuries.     

Exploring the role of dynamic capabilities in firm performance under the resource-based view framework

This study investigates the role of dynamic capabilities in the resource-based view framework, and also explores the relationships among different resources, different dynamic capabilities and firm performance. Employing samples of top 1000 Taiwanese companies, the findings show that dynamic capabilities can mediate the firm's valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable (VRIN) resources to improve performance. On the contrary, non-VRIN resources have an insignificant mediating effect. Among three types of dynamic capabilities, dynamic learning capability most effectively mediates the influence of VRIN resources on performance. Furthermore, the important role of VRIN resources is addressed because of their direct effects on performance based on RBV, as well as their indirect effect via the mediation of dynamic capabilities.     

Entrepreneurial founding team exits in rapidly internationalising SMEs: A double edged sword

Entrepreneurial founding teams (EFTs) are often essential to new venture creation and successful internationalisation. Although the composition of EFTs has been the subject of enquiry, little research exists into the exit of team members and the consequences for rapid internationalisation. We focus on EFT exits in rapidly internationalising small firms and develop categories of EFT exits. We explore the motivations and subsequent impact on internationalisation of case firms to illustrate each category/type of EFT exit. We find that exits are prevalent in the early stages of ventures, and may be either consensual or non-consensual. There are a number of motivations evident and EFT exits are often critical to continued internationalisation. We offer that EFT exits are not always negative, they can allow for the appropriate deployment of resources, extending RBV/KBV as whilst much research effort has been devoted to establishing what new resources/knowledge should flow into a firm, we show that to shed an EFT member and redeploy resources/knowledge can act as a catalyst to further internationalisation. Finally we discuss research, managerial and policy implications.     

Capabilities, Proactive CSR and Financial Performance in SMEs: Empirical Evidence from an Australian Manufacturing Industry Sector

Proactive corporate social responsibility (CSR) involves business strategies and practices adopted voluntarily by firms that go beyond regulatory requirements in order to manage their social responsibilities, and thereby contribute broadly and positively to society. Proactive CSR has been less researched in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) compared to large firms; and, whether SMEs are ideally placed to gain competitive advantage through such activity therefore remains a point of debate. This study examines empirically the association between three specified capabilities (shared vision, stakeholder management and strategic proactivity), proactive CSR and financial performance in SMEs. Using quantitative data collected from a sample of 171 SMEs in the machinery and equipment sector of the Australian manufacturing industry, we find that all specified capabilities are positively associated with adoption of proactive CSR by SMEs, and that proactive CSR is, in turn, associated with an improvement in firm financial performance. Evidence of a fully mediating role for proactive CSR on the association between capabilities and financial performance presented in this study aligns with RBV theory that suggests adoption of value-creating strategies that make the most effective use of a firm’s capabilities is essential to financial success. The study contributes to the CSR literature by demonstrating a case for SMEs being able to maximise financial returns whilst proactively making progress towards CSR.     

一种自适应DCT域数字视频水印方案

数字视频广播中的水印一般应当能够在视频编码的同时完成水印的嵌入。针对MPEG2视频压缩编码选用DCT变换进行数据压缩，提出一种自适应DCT域数字视频水印方案，数字水印主要嵌入在视频码流的I帧，嵌入强度和位置根据一定的准则自适应选取。实验结果显示，在不可感知性和鲁棒性方面，自适应方案具有良好性能。     

Is environmental labeling certification a “green passport” for firm exports in emerging economies? Evidence from China

As the demand for more environmentally friendly products continues to increase, environmental label certification (ELC), as a voluntary environmental practice (VEP), has become a commonly used strategy by firms responding the green demands of the international market. While ELC is playing an increasingly important role in global trade, how ELC affects firms’ exports, especially how it affects the exports of those firms in emerging economies, remains unknown. This study explores the impact of ELC on firms’ exports. Insights are provided from resource-based views (RBV) by analysing China's A-share listed manufacturing firms to estimate the impact of China's ELC on exports. Our empirical results show that ELC can promote firms’ exports, because ELC emphasizes firms to reduce pollutant from the source, thereby, brings about cost advantage and green product differentiated advantage to boost high-quality exports. Using a series of robustness tests, we provide corroborating evidence for our hypotheses. The export-enhancing effect of ELC is impacted by the institutional context of emerging economies, as specialized market intermediaries and greater openness to the global market strengthen the export-enhancing effect of ELC. This research not only contributes to the literature, but also provides a reference for policy-makers and managers in using ELC to develop green trade.     

Applicability of the resource-based and dynamic-capability views under environmental volatility

This study uses a group of informants and applies a step-by-step empirical process to examine the applicability of the resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic-capability view (DCV) to environmental volatility. Through examining 253 Taiwanese firms, this study finds that the explanatory power of DCV exceeds that of RBV in volatile environments. Firms that possess dynamic capabilities can effectively enhance their competitive advantages, despite facing highly volatile environments. Nevertheless, the RBV is effective in some ways and firms with valuable, rare, inimitable, and nonsubstitutable resources still possess competitive advantages. This article closes with theoretical and practical implications.     

Market orientation,product innovation and export performance: evidence from Chinese manufacturers

Based on resource-based view (RBV), this study examines the impact of marketing-related resource (market orientation) and innovation-related resources (innovation orientation and innovation resources) on exporters' performance (new product performance and overall export performance), as well as moderating role of environmental turbulence in the market orientation and export performance link. The questionnaire survey conducted among 220 manufacturing exporters reveals that there exist positive relationships among the constructs in question. This research departs from the majority of past research investigating the relationship among market orientation, product innovation and business performance in three aspects: (1) it examines the impact mechanism how market orientation improves new product performance and export performance through innovation orientation and innovation resources based on RBV, (2) it distinguishes among three constructs involved in product innovation activity, and (3) it extends the research from domestic markets to export markets. We conclude by discussing our contributions, the implications, and possible future extensions.     

Critical success factors determining performance of cross‐border acquisition: Evidence from the African telecom market

This study investigates the factors affecting Bharti Airtel's cross‐border postacquisition performance in an African market. This study describes the relationships among various factors such as technical capability, affiliated firm's absorptive capacity, and organizational learning capabilities, which determine the successful operations of the Zain acquisition deal in South Africa. This paper adopts a qualitative approach to identify factors that influence the postacquisition performance. Seven factors are identified based on the literature. Consequently, it has become a necessity to encapsulate these factors in suitable proportions. In this study, we have developed a total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) to analyze the postacquisition performance of Bharti Airtel in South Africa. Our research has highlighted six dynamic factors (organizational learning capability, knowledge management, technology capability, technology relatedness, acquirer's absorptive capacity, and national culture difference) that affect the firm's postacquisition performance. The interpretive structural model (ISM) and total interpretive structural model for postacquisition performance are built‐up. The developed TISM will support academics and practitioners to develop their understanding of acquisition performance of parent companies in the context of telecom business in the South African market.     

Traces of foreign retailers – local knowledge-spillovers and strategy adaption within retail internationalization

ABSTRACT

Since the 1990s certain retail companies have evolved into some of the largest and most dispersed transnational corporations worldwide. However, within the ‘new era of retail distribution’ retailers are increasingly divesting from foreign markets. This study addresses these recent and under-explored dynamics by revealing the traces transnational retail corporations leave after divesting from a country. It explores the aspect of learning of host market retailers from entering transnational corporations (TNCs) and examines how foreign knowledge is adjusted in the business strategies of these local actors. It takes a fresh empirical slant using qualitative interviews with host market retail managers including former TNCs’ subsidiaries operating under domestic ownership. The emerging economy of Turkey serves as an empirical example. The paper finds that foreign retailers transfer firm-specific resources to the local retail through (1) demonstration and imitation, (2) vertical linkages with suppliers, (3) joint ventures and acquisitions, and (4) labor turnover of TNC trained staff. Certain successful local companies adjust the foreign knowledge based on their local knowledge and strengths, their high level of flexibility and deep territorial embeddedness, and create ‘hybrid’ business strategies. These findings suggest that dynamic capabilities are crucial to successful retailing in an international competitive environment. TNC managers should work with local staff in partnerships of equals and managers of locally operating companies should incorporate new knowledge by hiring TNC trained staff.     

Entrepreneurship and strategic thinking in business ecosystems

Success in business ecosystems that include well-established companies and new ventures requires collaboration and competition, a task that demands strategic thinking to leverage a firm's resources and capabilities. Strategic thinking and the entrepreneurial activities in an ecosystem influence one another in a cycle that perpetuates and even sparks innovation. These interactions vary significantly across four types of business ecosystems—Orchestra, Creative Bazaar, Jam Central, and MOD Station—and determine the success and failures of new ventures and established companies. The nature and effect of the dynamic interactions in a business ecosystem can have profound implications for organizational success.     

Hat Deutschland ein Marktmachtproblem?

The long-term development of market power and business concentration is attracting considerable international attention. This is being driven by an intersectoral increase in market power — particularly in the USA but also in other countries — as observed in current empirical research. This is seen as a cause for macroeconomic developments. The Monopolies Commission — which has the mandate in Germany to report on business concentration — concluded in its current report that although the concentration of turnover in Germany has recently been relatively constant, the price-cost markups of companies have risen significantly after the crisis. In addition, indirect corporate links via institutional investors represent a potential competition problem.     

Making Location Decision Based on Regional Industrial Capabilities: A Case of a Distributor

This article presents a structured process to make facility location decisions based on regional industrial capabilities. It presents a framework for collecting business intelligence on major cities of the region of interest. In the next step, the collected business intelligence is incorporated into a quantitative decision analysis model for facility location. While the proposed framework is generic and builds on the existing international business and supply chain management literature, the article mainly focuses on the facility location problem of a distribution firm that is not well represented in the literature. Two cases—one each for new and established distributors who are trying to sell to the Mexican market—are presented in the article.