Using meta‐analytic structural equation modeling to advance strategic management research: Guidelines and an empirical illustration via the strategic leadership‐performance relationship

This paper demonstrates how meta‐analysis can be combined with structural equation modeling (MASEM) to address new questions in strategic management research. We review this integration, describe its implementation, and compare findings from bivariate meta‐analyses, a direct‐effect structural equations model, and two mediating frameworks using data on the strategic leadership and performance relationship. Results drawn from 208 articles that collectively included data on 495,638 observations demonstrate the new insights available from MASEM while also suggesting a revision to conventional thinking on strategic leadership. Whereas some theories posit that boards of directors influence firm performance through monitoring and disciplining the top management team, MASEM provides more support for the view that boards mediate the top management teams' decisions. Implications for applying MASEM in strategic management are offered. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A resource‐based view of manufacturing strategy and the relationship to manufacturing performance

This paper examines manufacturing strategy from the perspective of the resource‐based view of the firm. It explores the role of resources and capabilities in manufacturing plants that cannot be easily duplicated, and for which ready substitutes are not available. Such resources and capabilities are formed by employees' internal learning based on cross‐training and suggestion systems, external learning from customers and suppliers, and proprietary processes and equipment developed by the firm. Based on data from 164 manufacturing plants, the paper empirically demonstrates that competitive advantage in manufacturing (as measured by superior plant performance) results from proprietary processes and equipment which, in turn, is driven by external and internal learning. The implication is that resources such as standard equipment and employees with generic skills obtainable in factor markets are not as effective in achieving high levels of plant performance, since they are freely available to competitors. The paper also demonstrates the important role of internal and external learning in developing resources that are imperfectly imitable and difficult to duplicate. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interorganizational alliances and the performance of firms: a study of growth and innovation rates in a high‐technology industry

This paper investigates the relationship between intercorporate technology alliances and firm performance. It argues that alliances are access relationships, and therefore that the advantages which a focal firm derives from a portfolio of strategic coalitions depend upon the resource profiles of its alliance partners. In particular, large firms and those that possess leading‐edge technological resources are posited to be the most valuable associates. The paper also argues that alliances are both pathways for the exchange of resources and signals that convey social status and recognition. Particularly when one of the firms in an alliance is a young or small organization or, more generally, an organization of equivocal quality, alliances can act as endorsements: they build public confidence in the value of an organization's products and services and thereby facilitate the firm's efforts to attract customers and other corporate partners. The findings from models of sales growth and innovation rates in a large sample of semiconductor producers confirm that organizations with large and innovative alliance partners perform better than otherwise comparable firms that lack such partners. Consistent with the status‐transfer arguments, the findings also demonstrate that young and small firms benefit more from large and innovative strategic alliance partners than do old and large organizations. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Toward a contingent resource‐based theory: the impact of information asymmetry on the value of capabilities in veterinary medicine

The paper investigates the contingencies which define valuable resources in professional medical services. We identify activities with credence, experience, and search qualities in medical service industries in general, and in veterinary practices more specifically. We propose that different capabilities are needed to deliver different services and test whether the contingent combination of capabilities for particular services is linked to the performance of veterinary practices. For example, we expect that practice capabilities which help to retain clients are necessary for the successful delivery of services with experience qualities. We find evidence of performance benefits of client retention in a sample of 193 veterinary practices. We also find that in markets where competition from a new form of entrant is especially intense, an independent veterinarian’s credence activities combine with its experience and search activities to jointly improve practice profitability. Since the new entrants’ resources are mainly effective in the delivery of services with search qualities, the practice capabilities of the independent veterinarians that allow them to offer services with credence and experience qualities can be seen as a type of isolating mechanism. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring the role of spatial relationships to transform knowledge in a business idea — Beyond a geographic proximity

The “space” dimension has characterized the aggregation of firms, ranging from industrial districts to clusters. Within a local system, as emphasized by the Triple Helix model (Etzkowitz & Leydesdorff, 2000), universities, firms, and public institutions generate synergies by producing and exploiting technological knowledge. From this perspective, local relationships become synonymous with spatial relationships characterized by geographic proximity. However, is it possible to find different dimensions of proximity influencing spatial relationships in order to support innovation? This paper demonstrates that different proximity dimensions influence firms' boundaries and the development of spatial relationships through which actors interact to develop resource combinations identified in innovation. After a review of the these topics, the paper provides findings related to the spatial relationships developed by Petroceramics as a hosted spin-off of the Italian Technological Pole (POINT) as well as its subsequent relocation to the Kilometro Rosso Science Park. As such, this paper deals with how technological knowledge is transformed into a business idea through spatial relationships based on different dimensions of proximity.