How Does Executive Strategic Human Resource Management Link to Organizational Ambidexterity? An Empirical Examination of Manufacturing Firms in China

Despite a plethora of studies that demonstrate the positive impact of strategic human resource management on firm performance, existing knowledge of the processes through which such gains can be achieved remains limited. This study aims to extend our knowledge by investigating the mechanism through which a teamwork‐oriented executive strategic human resource management system impacts organizational ambidexterity. Specifically, by integrating the resource‐based view and information‐processing theory, we examine the mediating role of top management team effectiveness and the moderating role of knowledge–sharing intensity from middle managers to top management teams. Drawing on a multiple‐source and multiple‐respondent survey from 144 manufacturing firms in China, we show that top management team effectiveness partially mediates the effect of the executive strategic human resource management system on organizational ambidexterity. Moreover, knowledge‐sharing intensity from middle managers to top management teams strengthens the effect of the executive strategic human resource management system on organizational ambidexterity. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A Temporal Approach to Retrenchment and Successful Turnaround in Declining Firms

This study extends current understanding of the retrenchment–turnaround relationship in declining firms by introducing a temporal approach and arguing that the effectiveness of retrenchment as a strategy is contingent on its adoption early in turnaround attempts. Drawing from the two‐stage turnaround model and insights from the literature on downward spirals in organizations, we develop and test a theoretical model that explains how temporal considerations in retrenchment influence the likelihood of successful turnaround. Using a matched pair sample of 96 US firms, we find that declining firms that implement retrenchment actions early have a higher likelihood of successful turnaround. The findings also indicate that while two specific retrenchment actions, early divestments and early geographic market exits, significantly contribute to the likelihood of successful turnaround, early layoffs do not. Overall, the findings shed some light on the importance of timing strategic actions in organizational turnarounds. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Moving beyond a legal‐centric approach to managing workplace romances: organizationally sensible recommendations for HR leaders

The goal of this article is to encourage human resource (HR) leaders to think more strategically about managing workplace romances. The traditional legal‐centric management approach focuses on minimizing risks of workplace romances. We advocate embedding the legal‐centric approach within a broader and more strategic organizationally sensible approach that provides a balanced focus on minimizing risks and maximizing rewards of workplace romances. Drawing from the empirical workplace romance literature, we derive a set of organizationally sensible best‐practice recommendations that HR leaders can adopt to manage risks and rewards of romantic relationships in organizations. Implementing our more strategic recommendations should provide the added benefit of elevating HR professionals' roles as organizational leaders. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Strategic human resource management,human capital and competitive advantage: is the field going in circles?

The resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm has been consistently used as a backdrop in strategic human resource management (SHRM) research and has the potential to bridge the ‘micro–macro’ divide. The tension between the SHRM and the strategic human capital literature, however, signifies that RBV has not reached its potential. In this paper, we begin with a brief review of the conceptual logic linking human resource management (HRM) practices and firm outcomes that aim at highlighting the different treatment of RBV in the SHRM and strategic human capital literatures. We then propose a conceptual model that suggests that HRM practices are not simple levers that enable firms to create sustainable competitive advantage, as most of the strategic human capital research postulates. On the contrary, we argue that HRM practices can contribute to a firm's sustainable competitive advantage not only by enhancing employees' ability, and offering motivation and opportunities, but also by shaping supply‐side and demand‐side mobility constraints.     

Opportunity identification for sustainable entrepreneurship: Exploring the interplay of individual and context level factors in India

Sustainable entrepreneurship is becoming an increasingly established topic within the entrepreneurship literature. The phenomenon of businesses incorporating social and environmental agendas within their core activities has gathered an increasing academic interest. However, few empirical studies have explored the stage of opportunity identification in the sustainable entrepreneurship process in a more systematic manner, even more so in non-Western contexts such as India. We structure our analysis using a framework situated in the conventional entrepreneurship literature and the literature on National Business Systems (NBS). We conduct a qualitative study to explore the motivations of Indian sustainable entrepreneurs in two sectors: sustainable energy and ethical clothing. While we find that the conventional entrepreneurship based framework provides crucial insights to understand opportunity identification within sustainable entrepreneurship, we also observe a number of features unique to sustainable entrepreneurship in the Indian context—including the personal backgrounds of the participants as well as prioritization of motivational factors. Importantly, we find notable within-country variation in the contextual factors that appear to shape motivational dynamics. In the words of one participant, “there are many Indias” rather than one monolithic approach to sustainable entrepreneurship in India.     

Corporate Entrepreneurship Activities through Strategic Alliances: A Resource‐Based Approach toward Competitive Advantage*

abstract Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) activities may significantly benefit from interfirm strategic alliances, although such benefits have not been sufficiently examined in the literature. In this paper, a resource‐based framework is presented to examine how strategic alliances offer entrepreneurial firms needed resources that may not otherwise be available. We argue that CE activities are likely to lead to resource gaps. We compare various options to fill resource gaps, and identify the pros and cons of the alliance approach. We then discuss the resource conditions that provide competitive advantage for a firm, if alliances are properly used to help implement CE. Finally, we examine how different types of alliance (e.g. joint ventures, R&D alliances, and learning alliances) facilitate various CE activities, including innovation, corporate venturing, and strategic renewal.     

Strategic human resource management and inertia in the corporate entrepreneurship of a multinational enterprise

Abstract

Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) supports sustained competitive advantage through the continuous exploration and exploitation of new sources of knowledge. With an emphasis on combining knowledge in new configurations, strategic human resource management (HRM) activities are core to these entrepreneurial endeavours. We explore how strategic HRM activities may facilitate and impede CE through a rich, qualitative case study of three local entities within a business unit of a large multinational enterprise facing business stagnation and low levels of corporate entrepreneurship. Responding to a call for more empirical research that probes the subtle and complex interactions between HRM activities and other organisational factors affecting CE, we identify a configuration of inter-dependent factors that mutually reinforce each other and sustain inertia in corporate entrepreneurship. We also make two novel contributions to theory by (1) elaborating the links between organisational process-orientation, strategic HRM and CE; and (2) refining to our current understanding of human competencies for CE.     

Dynamic correlation multivariate stochastic volatility with latent factors

Modeling the correlation structure of returns is essential in many financial applications. Considerable evidence from empirical studies has shown that the correlation among asset returns is not stable over time. A recent development in the multivariate stochastic volatility literature is the application of inverse Wishart processes to characterize the evolution of return correlation matrices. Within the inverse Wishart multivariate stochastic volatility framework, we propose a flexible correlated latent factor model to achieve dimension reduction and capture the stylized fact of ‘correlation breakdown’ simultaneously. The parameter estimation is based on existing Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. We illustrate the proposed model with several empirical studies. In particular, we use high‐dimensional stock return data to compare our model with competing models based on multiple performance metrics and tests. The results show that the proposed model not only describes historic stylized facts reasonably but also provides the best overall performance.     

Start‐up financing: How founders finance their ventures' early stage

Although the entrepreneurship literature has advanced our understanding of start‐up financing, little is known about the mechanisms founders use to finance the beginning of a venture. Drawing upon resource‐based view, this study relocates bootstrapping is a strategic choice rather than a necessity. By analysing the financial behaviour of 3,017 new business owners, we reveal owner‐financed bootstrapping is a strategic choice rather than a necessity. We also demonstrate related techniques that are used independent of industry, initial capital, financing difficulties, and impeded revenues.     

Resources and market definition: Rethinking the “hypothetical monopolist” from a resource‐based perspective

We reassess the concept of the hypothetical monopolist as a device for relevant market definition. The hypothetical monopolist test (also known as the Small but Significant Non‐transitory Increase in Price test) is a clever, intuitive way of thinking the relevant market in antitrust, and is gaining ground in strategic management. The test, however, implicitly disregards resource characteristics in relevant market delineation, focusing exclusively on demand side substitutability. In reassessing the hypothetical monopolist, we make 2 general contributions to the strategy literature. First, using cooperative game theory, we advance a precise resource‐based definition of the hypothetical monopolist. Second, we demonstrate how this definition broadens our conventional understanding on 2 important topics: resource complementarities and disruptive innovations. In doing so, we complement and strengthen the hypothetical monopolist test as a device for management (strategic) and public policy (antitrust) analysis.     

The Link Between Diversity and Equality Management Practice Bundles and Racial Diversity in the Managerial Ranks: Does Firm Size Matter?

Invoking strategic human resource management (SHRM) theory and tenets of the resource‐based view of the firm, we explore how two bundles of diversity and equality management (DEM) practices influence racial diversity in the managerial ranks. By considering the conceptualization of DEM practices and the moderating role of firm size, our study disentangles subtle nuances in the DEM practices–racial diversity in managerial ranks relationship. Based on a sample of 137 Fortune 1,000 firms over a two‐year period, our results suggest that minority opportunity‐based DEM practices and manager accountability DEM practices positively relate to racial diversity in managerial ranks, and these relationships are stronger in smaller companies than large ones. Theoretical and practical implications for a strategic perspective on future diversity management research are elaborated.     

Overcoming liabilities of origin: Human resource management localization of Chinese multinational corporations in developed markets

Despite the rapid growth of Chinese outward foreign direct investment in developed markets, many Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs) suffer from liabilities of origin (LOR)—capability‐ and legitimacy‐based disadvantages associated with the country of origin. This study identifies localization as a strategic mechanism through which Chinese MNCs overcome their LOR. With a specific focus on human resource management (HRM), we examine how factors associated with firms' perceived LOR, including springboard intent, local competition, and host country regulatory pressures, affect Chinese MNCs' adoption of local HRM practices in developed markets. We differentiate HRM practices that managers intend to adopt from those that are actually implemented and explore how state ownership affects the intention–implementation gap. Based on a sample of Chinese MNCs in the United States, we find that springboard intent, local competition, and host country regulatory pressures are positively associated with intended, but not implemented, HRM localization. Further examination demonstrates that springboard intent and local competition have significant effects on implemented HRM localization among private businesses but not in state‐owned enterprises (SOEs). The managerial constraints and resource endowment of Chinese SOEs may hinder their overseas subsidiaries from implementing local HRM practices to address LOR.     

The coalescence between synergies and conflicts of interest in a top consultancy firm: an analysis of the implications for consultants' attitudes and behaviours

The management of human resources represents a critical strategic function for consultancies. For such organisations, the HRM literature aligned to the resource‐based view prescribes practices that centre on strengthening the relationship between a consultancy firm and its staff. However, this insular framework fails to take adequate account of consultants' engagement with external actors, particularly clients. This article explores the interplay between the synergies and conflicts of interest generated by the relational environment in which consultants operate and the implications of these tensions for consultants' attitudes and behaviours in a leading international consultancy firm. The findings from this study advance our understanding of the factors that affect the management of these key human resources and contribute to growing critiques calling for the refinement of the resource‐based view.     

Environmental management and the “soft side” of organisations: Discovering the most relevant behavioural factors in green supply chains

Anchored in the resource‐based view theory, the objective of this research is to empirically analyse the behavioural factors affecting the green supply chain management (GCSM) performance in a fast‐growing emerging economy by taking an empirical data set of 101 responses from personnel in the mining sector. Behavioural factors in green supply chains are still a critical challenge—not yet a well‐explored academic subject—when the focus is on the mining industry of emerging economies like India; the lack of studies in this field could be a factor preventing the Indian mining industry becoming more green. In terms of methodology, original survey data were processed through AMOS 4.0, adopted for assessing the causal connection among the six constructs, that is, top management support, teamwork, workplace culture, resistance to change, green innovation, and green motivation. We further explore the input from the human side of GCSM by highlighting that top management support and green motivation are the most crucial behavioural factors that influence GCSM in the Indian mining sector. The study will be helpful for mining companies because it will enable them to identify the areas that require their attention for enhancing GCSM performance related to behavioural aspects.     

The RBV theory foundation of strategic HRM: critical flaws,problems for research and practice,and an alternative economics paradigm

The resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm is a guiding paradigm for strategic HRM research. This article explores the RBV–strategic HRM intersection, identifies and critiques RBV weaknesses and problem areas, develops new implications for RBV–strategic HRM theory and empirical work, and develops an alternative economics‐based decision model for making HRM choices. The article focuses on four RBV–strategic HRM dimensions: HRM performance and the ‘no rules for riches’ proposition; alternative definitions of value and competitive advantage and implications for strategic HRM's dependent variable; neglect of marginal decision rules and consequent misprediction of optimal HRM adoption; and the impact on employee relations of RBV‐guided rent‐capture practices. Numerous implications for theory and practice are developed; also suggested is a new paradigm approach for strategic HRM theory.     

Uncovering competitive and institutional drivers of HRM practices in multinational corporations

Current international human resource management (IHRM) literature focusing on multinational corporations (MNCs) presents evidence of both similarities and differences in the HR practices adopted in different global locations. However, the drivers behind this duality require more detailed investigation. This article focuses on exploring why MNCs position themselves within global markets as they do, exploring how extant theory can help explain the drivers behind both global and national HR practices. Based on a worldwide sample of in‐depth interview‐based case studies of well‐known MNCs, we explore the ways in which different firms react to both institutional and competitive pressures in selecting their approach to HRM. The findings uncover a differentiation between external global competitive isomorphic pressures, external national institutional isomorphic pressures, and internal processes of strategic choice and competitive differentiation. It is suggested that MNCs face all three drivers of HRM simultaneously, leading to different patterns of practice adoption, adaptation and innovation.     

Corporate Turnarounds: The Duality of Retrenchment and Recovery

Corporate turnaround research has described retrenchment and recovery as contradictory forces that should be addressed separately. While a few scholars have argued that retrenchment and recovery are interrelated and may have to be integrated, others have contended that such arguments are flawed since they downplay the contradictions between the two activities. In this paper, we clarify the nature of the retrenchment–recovery interrelations, as well as their importance for turnaround performance. Drawing on the paradox literature, we argue that retrenchment and recovery form a duality: they are both contradictory and complementary. Integrating the two activities allows turnaround firms to create benefits that exceed the costs of their integration, which affects turnaround performance positively. We test our arguments through an empirical study of 107 Central European turnaround initiatives and find evidence for the assumed duality between retrenchment and recovery. Our main contribution is integrating the hitherto disparate theory perspectives of corporate turnaround into an overarching framework.     

Managing multiple forms of employment in the construction sector: implications for HRM

The construction industry is one of the largest and most complex industrial sectors in the UK. The industry's failure to adopt progressive human resource (HR) practices is routinely blamed on the challenges of operating in a fragmented, project‐based environment reliant on subcontracting. This research examines the extent to which existing HR theory accounts for the particular employment context of project‐based organisations operating in volatile markets. Drawing upon case study research from two different divisions within a large contracting firm, this article explores the extent to which different contracting arrangements impinge on attempts to reposition human resource management (HRM) as a strategic function along the business partnering model. Elevating the role of the HR function is found to be difficult to reconcile with the concurrent demands of managing multiple forms of employment arrangements. The research reveals a need for HRM models that account for the specificities of complex, differentiated organisations that operate in multiple environments.     

Environmental Change, Human Resources and Organizational Turnaround

Research on turnaround has largely focused on the impact of retrenchment and repositioning, and has paid less attention to the impact of changes in the task environment and human resources on recovery from decline. Moreover, all of the empirical research on turnaround has been conducted on private organizations. We develop a new model that is derived from theories of environmental and human resource effects on organizational performance. We apply this model to failing school districts in Texas, and find that turnaround is influenced by changes in the munificence and complexity of task environments, and the appointment of a new chief executive and front-line staff.     

Are loyalty shares an effective antidote against short‐termism? Empirical evidence from Italy

Corporate short‐termism is arguably one of the main causes of economic, social, and environmental unsustainability. This paper studies the effectiveness of loyalty shares—shares granting extra dividends or voting rights to shareholders holding them for a specified period of time—in limiting short‐termism. Although there are arguments both supporting (antidote view) and opposing (poison view) loyalty shares' effectiveness, empirical evidence on the theme is scant. By employing earnings management as a proxy for corporate short‐termism and by relying on a hand‐collected database of Italian firms, we find that loyalty shares can serve as an effective antidote against short‐termism. This study contributes to academic literature on corporate governance and accounting and informs the debate among policymakers on loyalty shares' effectiveness.