Generic strategies and firm performance in SMEs: a longitudinal study of Austrian SMEs

This paper studies the impact of generic strategies on firm performance using a longitudinal study of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Austria. In two surveys, data on the strategic behavior and performance of the same group of firms were gathered for the period from 1992 to 2002. The study expands existing literature, which provides little evidence whether the persistent commitment to a generic strategy over a longer period pays off or whether strategic change is the rule in SMEs, reflecting their flexibility as a potential competitive advantage. We consider the traditional generic strategies of cost-efficiency and differentiation, but also examine the group of firms that have no clear strategy or are “stuck in the middle.” Within this group, we distinguish between those companies that deliberately combine traditional low cost production and differentiation, i.e., follow a combination strategy, firms that change their strategy and those that have no strategy. We argue that a combination strategy is a viable strategic choice for SMEs in the long run. We found that the majority of firms pursued a persistent strategy over a 10-year period, but that companies that changed their generic strategy did not produce inferior results to those that adhered to a single strategy over the entire period. Our results reveal that firms that follow a combination strategy outperform companies with no generic strategy in terms of profitability and growth and achieve higher profitability than companies that follow a differentiation strategy.     

Competing on the edge: Implications of network position for internationalizing small- and medium-sized enterprises

Three generic competitive strategies attributed to internationalizing SMEs of targeting niches, differentiating products and leveraging networks fail to adequately explain how SMEs win customers in other countries against both large and small competitors. This study distinguishes competitive strategy (how firms compete) from competitive advantage, and from competitive engagements where firms deploy their competitive advantages to win customers within business network relationships. By abductively reasoning from the competitive engagements entered into by the internationalizing SMEs from the Fleet Management Systems industry segment in New Zealand, we show that these firms often compete with foreign rivals by using their position on the edge of a business network to leverage information asymmetries across structural holes. We contribute by integrating this conception of internationalizing SME competitive strategy with the business network foundations of the Uppsala internationalization process model.     

Antecedents to differentiation strategy in the exporting SME

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face various constraints related to size and resource base. Such firms face additional liabilities when they venture into foreign markets. Given such conditions, exporting SMEs should develop and leverage appropriate orientations and strategies, with a view to maximizing firm performance. In this paper, we examine the antecedents to differentiation strategy in the exporting SME. We focus on differentiation strategy because, among the generic strategies, it provides especially important competitive advantages to SMEs. Using survey data from several hundred SMEs, we examine key factors that support the use of differentiation strategy in exporting smaller firms. Findings support our model and hypotheses, and reveal strong roles for Entrepreneurial Orientation, International Growth Orientation, and International Learning Orientation, in the development of Differentiation Strategy. Findings hold implications for SMEs and resource-constrained firms generally.     

Formal vs. Informal CSR Strategies: Evidence from Italian Micro, Small, Medium-sized, and Large Firms

Recent research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) suggests the need for further exploration into the relationship between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and CSR. SMEs rarely use the language of CSR to describe their activities, but informal CSR strategies play a large part in them. The goal of this article is to investigate whether differences exist between the formal and informal CSR strategies through which firms manage relations with and the claims of their stakeholders. In this context, formal CSR strategies seem to characterize large firms while informal CSR strategies prevail among micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. We use a sample of 3,626 Italian firms to investigate our research questions. Based on a multi-stakeholder framework, the analysis provides evidence that small businesses’ use of CSR, involving strategies with an important impact on the bottom line, reflects an attempt to secure their license to operate in the communities; while large firms rarely make attempts to integrate their CSR strategies into explicit management systems.     

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.     

An Investigation of Entrepreneurial Orientation,Perceived Environmental Hostility,and Strategy Application among Chinese SMEs

Little is known about how Chinese small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) respond to their competitive environment. We predict that when industry competition is intense, entrepreneurial Chinese SMEs tend to perceive more environmental hostility than do their nonentrepreneurial peers. The perceived environmental hostility further drives these firms to choose marketing strategies but not cost control or innovation strategies. Data from 170 Chinese SMEs confirm our hypotheses, indicating that though some entrepreneurial orientation (EO) effects transcend different economy types, other EO effects differ significantly as the environment changes.     

Small businesses as a research subject: Some reflections on knowledge of small businesses and its effects on economic theory

Most economists agree in their view of small and medium-sized enterprises, or small businesses (SMEs), as a marginal scientific subject. They may go so far as to ignore them, either because they think these economic units do not lend themselves to conventional economic studies — studies which, for instance, take into account the sacred cow theory of economies of scale — or because they see them as being not really different from big businesses.However, at least a few economists have recognized, first, the many characteristics differentiating SMEs from big firms, and second, their increasing importance in terms of numbers and job creation within economies. Among these few, Schumpeter was one of the first to show the importance of entrepreneurs and SMEs as the main variable of change in an economy. Simon and Lucas also explained the difference between small and big firms through the differing abilities required by managers to run them. Penrose looked at the question from another point of view by highlighting the interstices taken up by SMEs to fulfil needs that cannot be fulfilled by bigger units. Critics of the theory of economies of scale showed that such economies may be offset by a number of diseconomies, thus justifying the efficiency of many SMEs. More recently, Mills and Schumann suggested that SMEs compensate for their lack of economies of scale by their production flexibility, particularly in today's turbulent economy.The limits of traditional economic theory are clearly demonstrated by the fact that it does not take account of all these theories, concepts and ideas. It thus neglects a number of important economic phenomena, including the persistence and current expansion of SMEs. Consideration of such phenomena may lead to the development of a new economic theory based on the concepts of instability and contingency, together with the behaviour of entrepreneurs and small firms, thus tending to contradict, in particular, the concept of equilibrium in conventional economic theory.A first version of this paper has been presented as invited speaker at the symposium of TETRA Group at Lyon, France, 30–31 May 1990. I thank the colleagues Fritz Rieger, Frances Solé Parrellada, Jacques Filion and the two referees for their very interesting suggestions on a preliminary second version.     

Environmental strategy and exports in medium,small and micro-enterprises

Growing corporate internationalization and the emergence of environmental concerns are two of the main trends in the business world. This paper analyzes whether strategies for environmental protection can help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as they internationalize their activities through exports. Personal interviews were conducted with 123 general managers of exporting SMEs from the Spanish food industry. The results show a relationship between advanced environmental strategies and export intensity for the sampled firms. However, the size of firm plays a role in this relationship, as the relationship between advanced environmental strategies and exports is stronger with an increase in the size of the SMEs. Authors discuss implications of these results for practitioners and future research.     

Firm Size and Innovation in European Manufacturing

The paper investigates the differences between small, medium-sized and large firms regarding their performance in the introduction of new products and processes. After a review of the relevant literature, two models are proposed and tested in search for different business strategies and innovation inputs connected to product and process innovations. The empirical analysis uses innovation survey (CIS 2) data at the industry level for 22 manufacturing sectors, broken down in three firm size classes, for eight European countries. Special attention is devoted to tackling the issues of possible endogeneity of the regressors and of unobserved sectoral heterogeneity. The results – strengthening the findings of previous studies – show that product and process innovations, though having some complementarities, are associated to different innovative inputs and strategies pursued by firms. Systematic differences also emerge between the behaviour of large firms and SMEs.      

Process innovation strategy in SMEs,organizational innovation and performance: a misleading debate?

This article contributes to the study of process innovation as a growth strategy for SMEs, enriching and complementing the well-researched debate about product innovation. Thus, under-researched process innovation strategies are analyzed, and their antecedents and innovative performance implications explored. The results show that process innovation strategy is mainly shaped by the acquisition of embodied knowledge, which acts as a key mechanism for countering firms’ weak internal capabilities. As process innovation is mainly production oriented, performance consequences are measured using the production process indicators of cost reduction, flexibility and capacity improvement, avoiding traditional misguided measures based on sales, which are more product oriented. Drawing on information for 2,412 firms taken from Spanish CIS data, our results suggest that R&D efforts are not positively related to production process performance, but that the latter is improved by the synchronous co-adoption of organizational and technological innovation. SMEs conducting a process innovation strategy rely heavily on the acquisition of external sources of knowledge in order to complement their weak internal innovative capabilities, and their pattern of innovation shows clear-cut differences from traditional R&D-based product innovation strategies. The article uses a resource-based view framework to generate hypotheses.     

What drives the export performance of small and medium-sized subcontracting firms? A study of Korean manufacturers

Building on the resource-based view and network theory, we propose and test a framework of export antecedents of subcontracting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Whereas the internationalization of firms has been extensively studied in general, little is known about what drives the exports of subcontracting SMEs which play a very important role in the manufacturing sectors of East Asian economies. These subcontracting firms operate under very different conditions from other companies, resulting in specific ways they leverage their resources, capabilities and customer networks. An analysis of survey data from 1733 subcontracting SMEs in three South Korean manufacturing industries reveals that the firms’ export orientation and export intensity are related not only to their technological resources and their executives’ managerial capabilities, but also to features of their subcontracting network ties. Our study suggests that due to the specific nature of their business, subcontracting firms’ internationalization antecedents need to be analyzed in the context of their business environment which is strongly shaped by their customer relationships.     

Small & Medium Gold & Fashion Enterprises (SMEs) in Arezzo,Italy: Competitive Challenges and Strategic Implications

ABSTRACT

This paper provides some empirical evidence on organizational characteristics and strategies of firms in the Italian gold and fashion industries. The analysis is based on a data set of three SME clusters in Arezzo (a city and province in Tuscany, Italy, southeast of Florence) which led us to the identification of two main alternative strategies which can be implemented when facing the new global competition: a firm-centered brand strategy and an outsourcing strategy (a supply alliance with co-branding possibilities with one or more large Italian firms). We analyzed the resources and competencies of firms that adopted different export marketing strategies and further explored the relationship between strategic choices and performance of participating firms (measured in terms of growth, innovation, and export capabilities). The results show that the choice of a strategy is strongly influenced by the ability of SMEs to respond to changes in consumer behavior and competition, and that some variables significantly affect performance. Both strategies can be effective, and in some cases it is suggested to follow the middle of the road competitive approach: combining the two strategies, exporting own brand directly to the end markets and collaborating with a large firm in order to achieve a sustainable and significant competitive advantage.     

Trading activities,productivity and markups: Evidence for Spanish manufacturing

This work analyses the firms' internationalisation strategies of importing intermediates and exporting output, and the potential rewards of these activities in terms of total factor productivity (TFP), as a proxy for marginal costs, and markups. It further deepens into the study of the relationship between internationalisation strategies and markups by disentangling whether it operates through affecting firms' marginal costs and/or firms' prices. The panel database employed in this paper is the Spanish Survey on Business Strategies (ESEE) for the period 2006–14. Results in the paper distinguish between SMEs and large firms and indicate that there is high persistence in the performance of these activities and in firms' TFP and markups. For SMEs, we obtain rewards from importing inputs as well as exporting output in terms of TFP and markups. For large firms, we obtain rewards in TFP from the importing activity and rewards in markups from the exporting activity. Finally, we find evidence that the effects of internationalisation strategies on markups are due to both a price channel and a marginal cost channel.     

The Determinants of the Location of Foreign Direct Investment by Japanese Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Japanese manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have actively undertaken Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Asia since the mid-1980s. FDI contributes to economic growth of the FDI recipient countries, as it brings in not only financial resources for investment but also technologies and managerial know-how, which are important factors for promoting economic growth. Recognizing these benefits of receiving FDI, policy makers in developing countries have formulated various strategies to attract FDI. This paper examines the factors in the host countries that would attract FDI by Japanese SMEs. Our results show the importance of both supply-side and demand-side factors in the recipient countries for attracting FDI by Japanese SMEs. Supply-side factors include abundance of low-wage labor, availability of well-developed infrastructure, and good governance of the host government, while an important demand-side factor is the presence of sizable local market. In addition, Japanese SMEs regard industrial agglomeration, which has a element of both supply and demand factors, as an important factors making FDI decision. Supply-side factors are found to be important for attracting Japanese FDI in developing countries, while demand-factors play a role in attracting Japanese FDI in developed countries. A comparison of the results for SMEs to those for large firms reveals that SMEs are more sensitive to the conditions in the host countries in making their FDI decision. In particular, SMEs regard the availability of low-wage labor, well-developed infrastructure, and industrial agglomeration as important elements much more than large firms. High sensitivity of SMEs to local economic conditions in their decision on FDI location may be explained by their limited availability of financial and human resources and high dependence on overseas production in their business. In light of these findings, we conclude that countries interested in hosting FDI have to provide a very attractive business environment.     

Outsidership,network positions and cooperation among internationalizing SMEs: An industry evolutionary perspective

Immigrant entrepreneurship, like other market entries, continues to be examined in most studies as an event, and not as a process of ongoing interactions and exchanges that would adequately address the influence on such a transition of collaborative engagements and of industry evolution in the host market. Adopting an industry evolutionary perspective, we examine the facilitating role played by cooperative strategies among immigrant-run SMEs. Using a small number of valued customer and competitor relationships, we draw from case studies to show how both immigrant and native run SMEs gain knowledge and resources through collaborative engagements to extend into new customer segments. These relationships enable them to mitigate their outsidership by adopting positions on the edges of networks that allow them to avoid competing directly against other internationalizing SMEs abroad or in their home markets. Using context to build an industry evolutionary perspective, we observe their entry into collaborative engagements with intermediaries in other business networks to build additional industry segments in the less understood maturing industry phase. This study shows how native-run Italian internationalizing SMEs accessed the resources of immigrant Chinese business networks and developed capabilities for mutual benefit.     

Trade credit and SME profitability

Financial literature discusses the motives for trade credit provision by suppliers in depth. However, there is no empirical evidence of the effect of granting trade credit on the profitability of small and medium-sized firms. We examine the profitability implications of providing financing to customers for a sample of 11,337 Spanish manufacturing SMEs during the 2000–2007 period. This article also examines the differences in the profitability of trade credit according to financial, operational, and commercial motives. The findings suggest that managers can improve firm profitability by increasing their investment in receivables and that the effect is greater for financially unconstrained firms (larger and more liquid firms), for firms with volatile demand, and for firms with bigger market shares.     

Effect of R&D tax credits for SMEs in Japan: a microeconometric analysis focused on liquidity constraints

This article estimates the effect of research and development (R&D) tax credits for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by utilizing the propensity score matching method to correct any possible selection bias. This study also examines whether the impact of tax credits differs with firms’ characteristics such as their industry, size, and liquidity constraints. Empirical results show that R&D tax credits induce an increase in SMEs’ R&D expenditures. Moreover, we find that the effect of R&D tax credits on liquidity-constrained firms is much greater than on unconstrained firms.     

Open innovation practices in SMEs and large enterprises

Few studies on open innovation (OI) address OI practices in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and how their use of OI and the resulting benefits differ from those of large enterprises. The lack of resources in SMEs to engage in looking outward is said to be a barrier to OI, but at the same time this shortage is cited as a motive for looking beyond organisational boundaries for technological knowledge. We investigate how OI dimensions impact the innovative performance of SMEs in comparison to large companies. The key finding is that the effects of OI practices in SMEs often differ from those in large firms. SMEs are more effective in using different OI practices simultaneously when they introduce new products on the market, whereas this is less the case for large firms. Turnover from new products in SMEs is driven by intellectual property protection mechanisms, while large firms in this case benefit more from their search strategies.     

A 'business opportunity' model of corporate social responsibility for small- and medium-sized enterprises

In their book 'Corporate Social Opportunity', Grayson and Hodges maintain that 'the driver for business success is entrepreneurialism, a competitive instinct and a willingness to look for innovation from non-traditional areas such as those increasingly found within the corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda'. Such opportunities are described as 'commercially viable activities which also advance environmental and social sustainability'. There are three dimensions to corporate social opportunity (CSO) – innovation in products and services, serving unserved markets and building new business models. While small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have traditionally been presented as non-entrepreneurial in this area, this paper demonstrates how SMEs can take advantage of the opportunities presented by CSR. Using data from 24 detailed case studies of UK SMEs from a range of sectors, the paper explores the numerous CSR opportunities that present themselves to SMEs, such as developing innovative products and services and exploiting niche markets. There are inevitable challenges for SMEs undertaking CSR, but by their very nature they have many characteristics that can aid the adoption of CSR; the paper explores these characteristics and how the utilisation of positive qualities will help SMEs make the most of CSOs. Integrating CSR into the core of a company is crucial to its success. Using the case studies to illustrate key points, the paper suggests how CSR can be built into a company's systems and become 'just the way we do things'. There are a number of factors that characterise the CSO 'mentality' in an organisation, and Grayson and Hodges's book describes seven steps that will move a company in the direction of a 'want to do' CSO mentality. This paper adapts these steps for SMEs, and by transferring and building on knowledge from the 24 detailed case studies, it develops a 'business opportunity' model of CSR for SMEs.