Organizational capabilities and business performance: When and how does the dark side of managerial ties matter?

Though the dark side of business-to-business relationships exists at both the firm and personal level, recent research evidence suggests that the theoretical conceptualization and empirical investigation concerning the latter is still under development. Building upon theoretical perspectives of organizational capability, organizational networking and social capital theories, this study investigates the boundary conditions of personalized business-to-business relationships (managerial ties) on business performance. Specifically formulated hypotheses are tested using the perceptions of senior executives in 137 Taiwanese firms operating in a variety of industrial sectors. Our study extends extant literature by revealing that the dark side of managerial ties is evident in the perceived management capability-political ties-performance and technology capability-business ties-performance interplays. More importantly our survey results are corroborated by evidence from interview results with twelve senior executives. Such findings collectively demonstrate the dark side of political ties (governmental interference in employment, blockage of information flow as well as conflicts of interest), and business ties (reciprocal obligations, time consuming factors and maintenance costs).     

For whom? – The governance of organic food and farming in the UK

The challenge of organic agriculture – that it might provide new forms of participation around food – has been hard to encapsulate in the conventional circuits of democracy. One answer to this ‘offer’ has been for consumers to purchase organic items as a way of demonstrating support for the organic sector. This paper argues that although this strategy may have been successful in the past, there is increasing evidence that there is a convergence between sections of the organic movement and the dominant multiple retailers. Through a wide range of evidence, including an analysis of how organic products are promoted and of how organic farm businesses are configured, this paper suggests that the potential of the organic movement is increasingly being circumscribed.     

Does how you pay influence the share of healthy items that you Buy? Assessing differences in nutritional quality of food purchases by payment type

Shoppers that use cash as a form of payment are more likely to evaluate the necessity of an item they purchase than shoppers that pay with other forms of payment, such as credit cards. In this paper, we hypothesize that the use of cash may nudge shoppers to buy more healthful food items. We empirically evaluate whether the payment method affects the nutritional quality of food purchases. We also test whether the effect of payment type differs between food-at-home and food-away-from-home events. Specifically, we test whether shoppers purchase a higher share of nutritious food items when they pay with cash compared to when they use credit and debit cards. We use the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) data that tracks individual’s food purchases over one week. Using the Guiding Stars Program (GSP) algorithm to measure the nutritional quality of food items, we calculate the share of healthy items purchased at each event. We find that shoppers using cash purchase a higher share of healthy items than when they use credit or debit cards, and this nudging effect is primarily driven by food-away-from-home purchases.     

Does R&D offshoring lead to SME growth? Different governance modes and the mediating role of innovation

Research summary : In this article, we address the role of R&D offshoring strategies in the sales growth of small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). We propose that different governance modes of R&D offshoring—insourcing versus outsourcing—may lead to growth, but that they differ in their effects. In turn, we argue that innovation mediates the relation between international R&D sourcing strategies and sales growth. Based on a large database of SME manufacturing enterprises in Spain, we find that offshore outsourcing positively affects sales growth both directly and indirectly, while offshore insourcing only affects sales growth indirectly via innovation results. The analysis reveals different contributions of each governance mode to sales growth and the mediating role of innovation in the relation between R&D offshoring and firm growth. Managerial summary : We analyze how different governance modes of international R&D sourcing—offshore insourcing and outsourcing—may contribute to growth in SMEs. Modes of offshore R&D outsourcing positively affect the growth of sales in two ways. One effect is direct, produced by improved efficiency, flexibility, enhanced resources, and access to new markets. And the other effect is indirect as offshore R&D outsourcing favors the achievement of innovations, and this in turn, positively affects firm growth. For their part, captive modes only exert an indirect effect. Offshore R&D insourcing contributes to the achievement of innovations, and thus, ultimately to firm growth in so far as these innovations enable SMEs to increase sales. Therefore, innovation results perform a mediating role in the relation between R&D offshoring and sales growth. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spillover effects of investment in big data analytics in B2B relationships: What is the role of human capital?

Economy-wide investment in Big Data Analytics (BDA) offers retailers a number of opportunities and while there is some evidence that new technologies have been widely adopted by retailers, it also transpires that many retailers have yet to fully exploit the benefits of BDA. Most research on Big Data and productivity (or performance) tends to focus on internal factors that prevent retailers from fully exploiting their investment in BDA. Research has paid scarce attention to the benefits that can accrue to the focal firm from the upstream investment in BDA and the features of the B2B marketing environment that may hamper (or enhance) these benefits. Unlike the previous literature, the paper tests the extent to which retailers, by having access to larger share of graduate workforce at regionally, can benefit more from inter-industry upstream investment in BDA than retailers located in areas where such workforce is scarce. Using data from ORBIS, KLEMS and QLFS, we show that retailers located in regions with a larger proportion of graduate workforce benefit more from inter-industry upstream investment in BDA as they tend to be more efficient on average. Equally, upstream investment in BDA is positively associated to frontier shifts over time (i.e. technical progress).     

Decomposition analysis of the telecommunications sector in Indonesia: What does the cellular era shed light on?

Indonesia is currently enjoying rapid development in the telecommunications sector despite the economy having been heavily dependent for almost four decades on the two largest sectors: the manufacturing industry and trade. The telecommunications sector has played an important role in stimulating economic growth in the country during the last few years, with an annual growth rate higher than that of other sectors. This contribution is supported to a great extent by the rapid diffusion of telephony, in particular cellular telephony, as the number of subscribers increased from just 2.1 million in 1999 to 170 million in 2011. Previous studies investigating the impact of the telecommunications sector on the economy aggregate the impact of the sectors on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) without further scrutiny of what sources of growth telecommunications has contributed. Hence, an interesting question arises as to whether the achievement of cellular diffusion is also followed by structural change in the telecommunications sector. That said, this study aims to decompose the output of telecommunications into several sources of growth: domestic final demand, export effect, import substitution effect and technological coefficient effect. A particular interest in this study is to compare the source of growth concerning domestic final demand and the technological coefficient effect. The main tool for analysis in this study is the Input–Output (IO) method, while the time series of the investigation covers the period 1975–2008, allowing comparison of structural changes in the telecommunications sector between the pre- and post-cellular eras. The study found that the coefficient multiplier of the telecommunications sector, which was approximately 1.8 during the 1980s, had decreased to only 1.3 by the end of 2008. Consequently, the final demand from the telecommunications sector contributed less to economic output in the late 2000s compared to the impact in the 1980. Moreover, the cellular era that started in the early 2000s also brought about a trend of changes in telecommunications output. While final demand remains very dominant, the technological coefficient effect has diminished as the source of telecommunications output. This finding indicates a lower ability of the telecommunications sector to build an inter-industry relationship with other sectors. A possible explanation for this result is the cellular uses which are much less related to business activities than that of fixed telephony dating back to the 1970s in Indonesia.     

Inventory investment and production in Europe during the “Great Recession”: Is there a pattern?

The paper examines the nexus between inventory investment and the change in aggregate production during the “Great Recession” of 2008/09 for 29 European countries. A fairly uniform pattern emerges. Inventory investment is positively correlated with changes in production and follows the latter with a time-lag of two to three quarters. Very few countries (Austria, Greece, Spain and Switzerland) diverge from the typical pattern. This might hint to problems with respect to data quality.     

Who is governing whom? Executives,governance, and the structure of generosity in large U.S. firms

We examine how organizational structure influences strategies over which corporate leaders have significant discretion. Corporate philanthropy is a strategic activity commonly managed through a specific, differentiated organizational structure—the corporate foundation—that formalizes and constrains the influence of individual senior managers and directors on corporate strategy. Our analysis of Fortune 500 firms from 1996 to 2006 shows that characteristics of senior management and directors affect corporate philanthropic contributions. We also find that organizational structure constrains the philanthropic influence of board members, but not of senior managers, a result contrary to what existing theory would predict. We discuss how these findings advance understanding of how organizational structure and corporate leadership interact and how organizations can more effectively realize the strategic value of corporate social responsibility activities.     

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.     

Network resource stocks and flows: how do alliance portfolios affect the value of new alliance formations?

We examine how new network resources accessed through alliance formations interact with network resources present in a firm's alliance portfolio. We test our theoretical model using event study methodology and data from the global air transportation industry. We find that the market rewards firms forming alliances that contribute resources that can be synergistically combined with firms' own resources as well as with network resources accessed through their alliance portfolios. Our results also indicate that the market penalizes firms entering into alliances that create resource combinations that are substitutes to resource combinations deployed by existing alliance partners. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Britain and BrExit: Is the UK more attractive to supervisors? An analysis of the wage premium to supervision across the EU

We studied which European Union (EU) economy was more attractive prior to Brexit for employees in supervisory positions. We estimate the extra wage that supervisors earn relative to their subordinates—the wage premium to supervision (WPS)—at different quantiles of distribution of wages for 26 European economies. We find that the UK rewards supervisors more than other EU economies. Moreover, the WPS increases with wage and so increases wage inequality. Over 10% of the WPS depends on the national economic context. We discuss the implications for immigration and policymakers in relation to the post-Brexit process.     

When does (not) a coopetitive relationship matter to performance? An empirical investigation of the role of multidimensional trust and distrust

Despite substantive evidence showing mixed results on the association between a coopetitive relationship and performance, surprisingly little theory explains the contingencies under which a coopetitive relationship does (or does not) matter to performance. By combining insights from the trust-distrust literature and 18 in-depth managerial conversations, this study unpacks the multidimensional nature of trust (i.e., goodwill and competence) and distrust (i.e., malevolence and discredibility) and suggests that the effect of a coopetitive relationship matters to performance, when both trust and distrust are present (at moderate to high levels), but fails to do so when one of them is low and the other is high. The results based on a sample of Swedish firms provide full support for the hypotheses. In terms of theoretical contributions, this study challenges the old wisdom suggesting trust as good and distrust as bad, extends the current understanding of trust and distrust beyond their one-dimensionality, and provides a novel approach to understanding when a coopetitive relationship performs well and when it does not. In terms of practical relevance, it suggests that firms adopt a paradox mindset (with a focus on both trust and distrust) to unlock the positive potential of a coopetitive relationship.     

Standing out in the crowd: How unique are the lobbying patterns of the broadcast and wireless industries?

This study examines if, in addition to increasing lobbying expenditure amounts, corporations in the broadcast and wireless industries are also attempting to change lobbying strategies in order to gain competitive advantage. This study examines possible changes in lobbying strategies though the lens of institutional isomorphism, a mechanism of institutional theory. Using institutional isomorphism, the study examines if the broadcast and wireless industries have altered lobbying strategies in the face of competition. This examination is conducted through the construction and analysis of an original data set of lobbying expenditures for the broadcast and wireless industries from 1998 to 2012.     

Researchers’ willingness to engage in knowledge and technology transfer activities: an exploration of the underlying motivations

Increasingly, universities have become conscious of their important role as centres of knowledge generation and diffusion. Accordingly, they have put in place policies, methods and resources to increase knowledge and technology transfer (KTT) activities. However, succeeding in this endeavour is not that easy. An active involvement of researchers is fundamental. Literature examining researchers’ attitude towards KTT activities is limited, offering a partial view on the subject. This study aims at bringing new light to this issue. First, we identify those factors that influence researchers’ willingness to engage in KTT activities. From a comprehensive literature review, we distinguish between intrinsic motivations, extrinsic motivations and university support and services as critical elements. A scale is developed and validated. Second, the scale is applied to the case of R&D contracts. The sample consists of 249 researchers from one of the biggest Spanish universities. Results suggest that the proposed scale has a good fit, indicating that it can be considered as a good instrument for measuring researchers’ willingness to get involved in KTT activities. Policy implications and directions for future research are provided.     

‘From boom to where?’: the impact of crisis on work and employment in Indian BPO

This article locates Indian business process outsourcing (BPO) within the global supply chains of business services delivery and an international division of service labour. It acknowledges the BPO market's essential dependence on demand from lead firms in the United States and United Kingdom. Drawing on a conceptual synthesis of the Global Commodity Chain, Global Value Chain and Global Production Network frameworks, the article examines the impact of 2008's financial crisis on employment, work organisation and the experience of work in Indian BPO. Employer/industry sources and employee interviews reveal reconfigured local labour market dynamics, tightened work discipline, an extensification of working time, work intensification and unprecedented growth in job insecurity. Such changed characteristics suggest a watershed that raises questions concerning the sustainability of models of BPO work constructed in pre‐crisis years.     

Is a Big Entrant a Threat to Incumbents? The Role of Demand Substitutability in Competition Among the Big and the Small

We establish a model of market competition between large and small firms and investigate the way in which demand substitutability affects how the entry of big firms impacts incumbents. We focus on the relative strength of two opposing effects of entry on large incumbent firms’ demand: the direct substitution effect among large firms (negative) and the indirect feedback effect through the change in small firms’ aggregated behavior (positive). If the substitutability between large and small firms is sufficiently high, the indirect effect dominates the direct effect and large incumbents’ equilibrium prices and profits increase. We show that welfare effects are ambiguous, which calls for careful assessment when regulating large firms’ entry.     

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.     

Convergence and unbundling of corporate R&D in telecommunications: is software taking the helm?

This paper presents a view of the changing structure of corporate R&D in telecommunications – one that is close to Adam Smith’s insightful and enduring idea of division of labor – that perhaps we are witnessing the beginnings of vertical disintegration and unbundling of important segments of the industry’s R&D activity. The paper maintains that the emergence of an independent software industry – aided by the convergence of computer, telecommunications and imaging technologies – and the rapid growth of technology-based alliances are at the heart of this trend. So extensive is the vertical disintegration of R&D that, in 1997, the top 10 independent software vendors in the US spent more on R&D than the combined spending by AT&T and Lucent whose sales were well over three times as large. It appears that the source of future innovation in the telecommunications industry lies not in its services segment but rather in telecommunications and Internet equipment firms and independent software firms. Increasingly, the fortunes of large service providers like AT&T will depend less on innovation and more on their ability to configure and market complete one-stop-shopping solutions to customers by combining internal resources with outsourced technologies, products and services.     

Who replies to consultations,and what do they say? The case of broadband universal service in the UK

Over the last decade or so, access to broadband services has become increasingly important. While many in the UK already benefit from the provision of broadband, some, especially those located in more rural and remote areas, do not – they may not be able to access the Internet and when they do, their connection and consumer experience may be poor. After trying to resolve this through a stream of different initiatives, the UK government announced a broadband universal service obligation (USO) of 10 Mbps in late 2015. Ofcom, the telecommunications regulator, launched a consultation in April 2016 and sought the views of interested parties. The consultation attracted considerable interest, but after the submissions from orchestrated campaigns are discounted just over 100 responses remain. But who contributed and what did they say? To explore these two questions, this paper adopts a qualitative approach, using NVIVO, to analyse the responses to the consultation. We show that contributions were highly diverse, reflecting both the complexity of the issue as well as its politicised nature. A lack of agreement among the responses is revealed and divergent views on key issues like the appropriateness of 10 Mbps, whether this should change, how it should be funded or what technologies should be used exist. In this paper, we provide a critical discussion of and derive implications for the broadband USO. We tentatively conclude that those in rural and remote areas that the USO intends to help are caught between two countervailing forces – speed and cost deployment – that interact to ensure that whatever resolution to provide broadband access, some will likely be unhappy.