Drivers of dynamic learning and dynamic competitive capabilities in international strategic alliances

Research on dynamic competitive capabilities (DCCs) is critical for businesses to operate effectively in a rapidly changing environment. The driving forces of the dynamic learning mechanism (DLM) play a decisive role in the evolution of DCCs that the resource-based view (RBV) has failed to clearly identify. By engaging in an empirical study with a sample of 363 strategic alliances in Taiwanese companies, this paper shows that learning intent and embedded learning positively influence the drivers of DLM, such as manager integration power, external linkages, codification of experience, and ambiguity, to both strongly and positively affect DCC development in high-level management of international strategic alliances.     

Alliances,Acquisitions and Multinational Advantage

This paper reviews recent empirical evidence to assess the implications of alliance formation and increasing merger and acquisition activity of multinationals in the context of the eclectic paradigm. Specifically, the paper will concentrate on the performance implications of international expansion via alliances and mergers, and their relationship to the so-called asset-augmenting foreign direct investment. It has been argued in the literature that the way in which multinationals are able to build on their existing advantages and to add to them by virtue of their international activities confers specific benefits to multinationality. We argue that the growth of cross-border acquisitions and alliances as modalities for international expansion has resulted from the continuing convergence of value-adding capabilities within the Triad, and while such activity can help to augment the asset base of the investing firms, it also has potentially anti-competitive implications.     

A Resource Based View of Privatization as Capabilities Development: Ownership and Networks

ABSTRACT

Privatization is a complex phenomenon that can be viewed as a transformational strategy and a frame-breaking event. We focus on the resource based view as the driver in trade sale privatization, and we extend the concept into collaborative networks, in which the acquiring firm, the other network participants and the firm being privatized all contribute resources that enable the combined entity to gain a competitive advantage. We offer six framing propositions and provide empirical evidence from a field study of Telmex, the privatized Mexican telecommunications firm.

RESUMEN. La Privatización es un fenómeno complejo que puede considerarse una estrategia de transformación, y un acontecimiento que rompe los marcos existentes. En este estudio enfocamos nuestro análisis en una perspectiva basada en que el recurso es un impulsor de la privatización a través de la venta de negocios, y ampliamos el concepto hasta incluir a las redes colaborativas mediante las cuales la empresa adquirente, la otra red participante y la empresa que está siendo privatizada contribuyen con recursos en unísono, que permiten que la entidad combinada adquiera una ventaja competitiva. Ofrecemos seis propuestas marco y pruebas empíricas de un estudio de campo de Telmex, la empresa mexicana de telecomunicaciones privatizada.

RESUMO. A privatização é um fenômeno complexo que pode ser visto como uma estratégica de transformação e um evento de quebra de parâmetros. Concentramo-nos na visão resource-based como força motriz da privatização, e estendemos o conceito para networks colaborativas, nas quais a empresa compradora, os outros participantes da rede e a firma que está sendo privatizada, todos contribuem com recursos que capacitam a entidade combinada resultante a ganhar uma vantagem competitiva. Oferecemos seis proposiç[otilde]es de modelo e apresentamos evidência empírica oriunda de uma pesquisa de campo sobre a Telmex, a empresa de telecomunicaç[otilde]es mexicana privatizada.     

A dynamic approach to the analysis of strategic alliances

The increasing trend in strategic alliance formation between major firms around the world, has prompted researchers from various disciplines to look at this phenomenon in great detail. In this paper, we review alternate approaches in the literature in this area. We then propose a non-linear dynamic approach to study the formation of competitive strategic alliances and contrast it with the traditional game-theoretic approach. The pros and cons of these two approaches are discussed with reference to a competitive alliance scenario. Dynamic models have significant managerial implications as they enable us to investigate ‘if-then’ type scenarios and project the impact of different strategies.     

Resolving the empty core: trust as a determinant of outcomes in three-party negotiations

This research examined how trust affected resource allocation in a three-party negotiation. Negotiators were presented with an empty core problem in which their theoretical share of resources exceeded the resources available for distribution. We tested which of three components of trust—reliability, predictability and empathy—predicted negotiators’ outcomes. We distinguished between absolute and relative trust. We found that relative trust was a more consistent predictor of individual outcomes than absolute trust and that the most trusted party in a network obtained the highest individual outcomes. This finding highlights the importance of social context in shaping trust judgements. The component of trust that predicted individuals’ outcomes was affected by structural power. High and low power negotiators benefited from conveying empathy (identity-based trust), whereas moderate power negotiators benefited from conveying predictability (knowledge-based trust). Low power parties also benefited from appearing unreliable (low calculus-based trust). The research reported in this paper was supported by a grant from the Australian Research Council. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2002 International Association of Conflict Management Conference, Park City, Utah.     

Relationship marketing management: Its importance in private label extension

Relationship marketing aims to generate long-term profitable relationships between partners. In the context of the convenience goods market, the present study considers private labels in traditional categories as a tool to develop effective relationships. The main contribution of the study is the use of the relationship approach to explain private label loyalty and the success of store brand extension strategies. Drawing upon a sample of 434 individual and using EQS software, this study shows that customer experience, satisfaction, trust, and commitment to private labels play an important role in customer loyalty toward private labels in convenience goods, increasing consumers' propensity to buy private labels in new categories such as durable goods. Generating trust and commitment, which ultimately result in loyalty, is therefore a strategic goal and a source of long-term profitability for retailers.     

瑞典绩效审计的发展和启示

目前,政府绩效审计的重要程度日益凸显,政府审计的重点也从财务审计逐渐向绩效审计转变。但是政府绩效审计在我国起步较晚,目前尚处于发展阶段,与之相关的理论成果尚不丰富,无法满足现实需要,绩效审计的法律法规、体系框架和评价标准等的建设仍待完善。西欧部分国家政府绩效审计的研究与实践起步较早,现已日趋成熟,学习他们的绩效审计经验,对我国绩效审计的理论发展和实践探索有着重要的意义。通过概括瑞典在绩效审计机制现状和发展历史方面的内容,分析其发展变迁的特征,总结瑞典绩效审计成果的经验,尝试从中提取出部分对我国政府绩效审计发展大有裨益的启发。瑞典在2003年之前的行政型审计体制模式与我国目前的审计状况有很大相通之处,其后续向立法型审计体制的转型相当成功,政府绩效审计成果显著并积累了丰富经验。以瑞典的政府绩效审计为研究对象,通过分析瑞典政府绩效审计模式的现状,研究其形成和发展的主要特点,尝试从中总结出适合于我国现阶段政府绩效审计发展的经验。     

External and internal influences on R&D alliance formation: Evidence from German SMEs

Relying on relational capital theory and transaction cost economics (TCE), this study identifies factors that impede or promote alliance formation in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Environmental uncertainty and knowledge intensity impede firms' R&D alliance formation; the focal firm's overall trust in partners enhances alliance formation. Trust interacts positively with environmental uncertainty and knowledge intensity to affect alliance formation in SMEs. The findings reflect data from a longitudinal sample of 854 German SMEs, captured over eight years from 1999 to 2007.     

Practice makes perfect: Entrepreneurial-experience curves and venture performance

This study tackles the puzzle of why increasing entrepreneurial experience does not always lead to improved financial performance of new ventures. We propose an alternate framework demonstrating how experience translates into expertise by arguing that the positive experience–performance relationship only appears to expert entrepreneurs, while novice entrepreneurs may actually perform increasingly worse because of their inability to generalize their experiential knowledge accurately into new ventures. These negative performance implications can be alleviated if the level of contextual similarity between prior and current ventures is high. Using matched employee–employer data of an entire population of Swedish founder-managers between 1990 and 2007, we find a non-linear relationship between entrepreneurial experience and financial performance consistent with our framework. Moreover, the level of industry, geographic, and temporal similarities between prior and current ventures positively moderates this relationship. Our work provides both theoretical and practical implications for entrepreneurial experience—people can learn entrepreneurship and pursue it with greater success as long as they have multiple opportunities to gain experience, overcome barriers to learning, and build an entrepreneurial-experience curve.     

Innovative capabilities: Their drivers and effects on current and future performance

This study investigates the role of a firm's orientation, both customer and competitor, in driving innovative capabilities and the impact of those capabilities on a firm's current and future performance. The study's contribution is threefold in that it (1) examines market-related exploitative and explorative capabilities in conjunction with product development exploitative and explorative capabilities in terms of their strategic drivers (firm orientation) and performance outcomes; (2) disentangles the effects of exploitative and explorative capabilities on current and future performance; and (3) examines the role of innovative capabilities within the particularly relevant, but understudied, context of exporting. The findings suggest that, although customer orientation relates to both exploitative and explorative capabilities, competitor orientation relates only to exploitative capabilities. Exploitative capabilities affect current performance, whereas explorative capabilities affect future performance. These findings are of crucial relevance to export managers in their quest to identify, extend, and create new market opportunities.     

The Importance of Sectoral Differences in the Application of Complementary HRM Practices for Innovation Performance

Recent theoretical and empirical analysis in the field of economic organization has focused almost exclusively on identifying organizational practices and complementarities between such practices, without regard for the type of activity in question. However, organizational theory suggests that more knowledge-intensive production activities often involve higher degrees of strategic uncertainty for firms and performance ambiguity in relation to individual employees. Therefore, the 'organic' or 'clan' form of organization - involving the application of 'new' HRM practices - is expected to perform better within knowledge-intensive sectors of the economy, as compared to other sectors. A sample of 726 Danish firms with more than 50 employees in manufacturing and private services is studied. The results show that HRM practices are more effective in influencing innovation performance when applied together, as compared with situations in which individual practices are applied alone. In other words, organizational complementarities obtain. Moreover, the application of complementary HRM practices is more effective for firms in knowledge-intensive industries ('high' and 'medium' knowledge-intensive industries).     

The interplay of counter-conformity motivation,social influence,and trust in customers' intention to adopt Internet banking services: The case of an emerging country

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the roles of counter-conformity motivation, social influence, and trust in explaining customers' intention to adopt Internet banking services. Data is collected from 245 respondents and analyzed using SmartPLS 2.0 M3. Results show that the intention to adopt Internet banking is mainly influenced by trust in the Internet banking services, followed by customers' counter-conformity motivation and performance expectancy. Social influence and trust in the physical bank, however, have indirect impacts on customers’ intention to adopt Internet banking. Effort expectancy has no effect on it.     

Leveraging firm-level marketing capabilities with marketing employee development

Using the theoretical foundations of the resource-based view of the firm, this study develops and measures marketing employee development capabilities and investigates how it moderates the relationships between brand and customer relationship management capabilities and firm performance outcomes. Based on a random sample survey of chief marketing executives from selected industries, combined with objective firm performance indicators and controls, results demonstrate that marketing employee development capabilities can leverage the relationships between firm-level marketing capabilities and customer satisfaction, market effectiveness, and objective financial performance. Further, these results show that such capabilities can be complementary and, in some cases, even substitute for each other, which improves organizational performance. Implications for researchers and marketing managers are discussed.     

REVERSE LOGISTICS: THE IMPACT OF TIMING AND RESOURCES

Although reverse logistics has become a competitive necessity in many industries, there is a lack of agreement as to when formal reverse logistics programs should be introduced. The current research examines the issue of program introduction timing (first, early, late) in the context of the automobile aftermarket industry. The findings indicate that firms developing formal reverse logistics programs early in their industries – but not first – may be best positioned; however, there is also evidence that the timing/performance relationship can be influenced by resource commitment.     

Productivity efficiency and firm size: An empirical analysis of foreign owned companies

There are various arguments about the impact of firm size on productivity growth. On one hand, it is claimed that large firms could be more efficient in production because they could use more specialized inputs, better coordinate their resources, etc. On the other hand, it is emphasized that small firms could be more efficient because they have flexible, non-hierarchical structures, and do not usually suffer from the so-called agency problem. This paper argues that size exerts an indirect effect on firms’ productivity, as it conditions the impact of internal factors on productivity. By using different methodological approaches to assess the impact of different characteristics of foreign owned firms on productivity, this paper analyzes to what extend the heterogeneous pattern of productivity can be accounted for by the levels of those factors.