Strategic orientations,incentive plan adoptions,and firm performance: evidence from electric utility firms

This study examines the performance implications of the fit between strategic orientations and incentive plan characteristics. Research hypotheses are based on a framework that draws upon managerial discretion and agency theories to identify the links between firm strategy, managerial motivation and control, managerial risk-bearing, and incentive plan characteristics. A pooled cross-sectional, time series research design is used to test hypotheses in a sample of 50 electric utility firms. Consistent with theory, results indicate that annual bonus plans that use cash incentives and accounting measures of performance lead to better performance among firms with Defender strategic orientations. In contrast, firms with Prospector strategic orientations realize performance benefits when they adopt stock-based incentive plans and use market measures to evaluate managerial performance. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CEO transformational leadership and firm performance: A moderated mediation model of TMT trust climate and environmental dynamism

This study examines the role of top management team (TMT) trust climate in the relationship between CEO transformational leadership (TFL) and firm performance under dynamic environments. The research results based on a sample collected from firms in Vietnam show that TMT trust climate is a key mediator which can convert CEO TFL into better performance outcomes. Moderated-mediation analyses further reveal that the mediating effect of TMT trust climate is more significant in less dynamic environments. Our study contributes to the TFL theory by identifying a critical mechanism that intervenes in the relationship between CEO-level TFL and firm performance. We reveal how CEOs exert leadership influence on subsequent TMT dynamics and performance outcomes by navigating external environments. Moreover, our study offers insights with regard to the trust theory by uncovering TMT-level intragroup trust as a mediator, and thus complements most of prior examinations that focus on the moderating role of trust in workplace team contexts.     

SBU strategy and performance: The moderating effects of the corporate-SBU relationship

This study suggests that the link between an SBU strategy and performance is moderated by the SBU's relationship with corporate management. Information processing arguments suggest that this relationship, typically characterized by general measures of centralization, has been inappropriately conceptualized in prior research. An alternative view, one that considers which decisions and activities should be controlled by the individual SBU, is proposed and tested. The results of a study of 496 SBUs indicate that SBU performance is enhanced when: (1) SBUs with an external strategic orientation control environmental monitoring activities and strategic decision analysis, and (2) SBUs with an intraorganizational orientation control those activities relating to operations. Weaker SBU performance is associated with SBU control over those functions and activities not central to the SBU's business strategy. Therefore, it is suggested that the corporate-SBU relationship can either facilitate or inhibit the implementation of the SBU's intended strategy.     

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.     

The timing of market entry and firm performance: A perspective of institutional theory

Integrating literature from institutional theory with that from market entry research, we study the effects of a firm's early marketing entry on other firms' behaviors and performances. In addition, we also consider the moderating effect of other institutional factors, such as the firms' home-country culture and institutional environments in an emerging economy. Based on a review of all the relevant research, we develop a theoretical model with testable hypotheses. With empirical data from multi-national enterprises (MNEs) competing in China's insurance-service market, we test the hypotheses. Our data analyses show evidence that, other things being equal, early market entry can cause institutional imitation, in terms of market diversification, among imitators. At the same time, the imitation can be moderated by the home-country culture of the MNEs. In addition, the imitation of early market entry firms has some significant effects on the performance of imitators, including less deviation from the industry norm and better financial performance.     

Competencies and firm performance: examining the causal ambiguity paradox

Resource‐based theory argues that resources must be valuable, rare, inimitable, and lack substitutes to confer competitive advantage. Inimitability is a lynchpin of resource‐based theory and central to understanding the sustainability of competitive advantage. Although scholars recognize a positive relationship between causal ambiguity and inimitability, the relationship among critical resources called competencies, causal ambiguity, and firm performance remains an unresolved conundrum. One perspective suggests that causal ambiguity regarding competencies and performance is necessary among internal and external managers for sustainable competitive advantage because it severely limits imitation. Causal ambiguity, therefore, enhances firm performance. Another view holds that causal ambiguity places a constraint on the transfer and leveraging of these competencies within a firm. In this case, causal ambiguity may adversely influence firm performance. This paper takes a resource‐based view to develop and test hypotheses that relate managers' perceptions of causal ambiguity to their firm's performance. The hypotheses examine relationships between firm performance and (1) causal ambiguity regarding the link between competencies and competitive advantage, and (2) causally ambiguous characteristics of competencies. Research involving 224 executives in 17 organizations provides valuable insights into the relationships between causal ambiguity and firm performance. A model is then developed based on these findings. Particular consideration is given to the differing ways top and middle managers in a firm may experience causal ambiguity and to how these differences may be understood and managed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Network agility as a trigger for enhancing firm performance: A case study of a high-tech firm implementing the mixed channel strategy

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can reduce labor costs, free up capital investment and enhance firm's agility by full outsourcing of product manufacturing. OEMs can then focus on the most valuable processes, e.g. R&D and marketing. However, contract manufacturers (CMs) may decide to foster their own brand and forge their own relationships with retailers or distribution channels. The conflicts of interest between OEMs and CMs can be reduced by implementing a mixed channel strategy. Label licensing, the most essential component in the implementation, enhances the marketing capability of a CM and allows it to move up the value chain. In this research, a case study involving a supply chain network in the optical storage media industry is used to develop a conceptual model to explain how a mixed channel strategy and superior network agility enhance firm performance. This study argues that information system integration influences firm performance through network agility, and that the mixed channel strategy boosts financial performance. Moreover, the result proposes that network agility is associated with a moderating effect on the relationship between the mixed channel strategy and financial performance.     

Meta-analyzing ownership concentration and firm performance in Asia: Towards a more fine-grained understanding

We present a meta-analysis of the relationship between concentrated ownership and firm financial performance in Asia. At the cross-national level of analysis, we find a small but significant positive association between both variables. This finding suggests that in regions with less than perfect legal protection of minority shareholders, ownership concentration is an efficient corporate governance strategy. Yet, a focus on this aggregate effect alone conceals the existence of true heterogeneity in the effect size distribution. We purposefully model this heterogeneity by exploring moderating effects at the levels of owner identity and national institutions. Regarding owner identity, we find that our focal relationship is stronger for foreign than for domestic owners, and that pure “market” investors outperform “stable” or “inside” owners whom are multiply tied to the firm. Regarding institutions, we find that a certain threshold level of institutional development is necessary to make concentrated ownership an effective corporate governance strategy. Yet we also find that strong legal protection of shareholders makes ownership concentration inconsequential and therefore redundant. Finally, in jurisdictions where owners can easily extract private benefits from the corporations they control, the focal relationship becomes weaker, presumably due to minority shareholder expropriation.

Infusing flexibility into business-to-business firms: A contingency theory and resource-based view perspective and practical implications

Two questions motivate this research. What conditions foster flexibility and how might business-to-business firms infuse flexibility throughout their organizations? A synthesis of the strategic management, marketing, and new product development literature was undertaken, which provided an updated interdisciplinary focus. Contingency theory and the resource-based view perspective were utilized to enhance our knowledge and emphasize the importance of flexibility and organizational performance. Superior intra- and inter-firm flexibility are proposed to influence business-to-business marketplace success.     

A bittersweet phenomenon: The internal structure, functional mechanism, and effect of guanxi on firm performance

This paper explores the mechanism of guanxi and how it affects firm performance from a constructive perspective. It aims to contribute to the extant literature by investigating the negative side of guanxi and expounding on how guanxi functions, adversely impacting firm performance. Specifically, as guanxi grows, its negative effect leads to erosion of firm performance. Further, interorganizational trust and relationship-specific investment, as two potential mediators, can enhance and amplify the eroding effect of guanxi on firm performance.     

Institutional theory in business marketing: A conceptual framework and future directions

Institutional environments exert significant effects on organizational behavior, structure, strategy, governance, and process. To gain competitive advantage, managers are striving for legitimacy while maintaining efficiency. In line with this thinking, we propose the developmental process of institution-driven and legitimacy-embedded efficiency, and emphasize the confluence of legitimacy and efficiency in the context of business marketing. We then highlight several promising directions for further research on the development of institutional theory and its application in business marketing. Finally, we present a brief summary of each paper in this special issue.     

Cross-Functional collaboration,competitive intensity,knowledge integration mechanisms,and new product performance: A mediated moderation model

This study draws upon the structural contingency theory to develop a mediated moderation model in order to examine how knowledge integration mechanisms mediate the impact of competitive intensity on the cross-functional collaboration–new product performance relationship. A final sample of 182 Taiwanese manufacturing firms provides the data for the analyses. The results show that (1) competitive intensity weakens the effect of cross-functional collaboration on new product performance and (2) knowledge integration mechanisms mediate the negative effect of competitive intensity on the cross-functional collaboration–new product performance relationship. These results not only provide an explanation for the inconsistent findings documented in the marketing literature but also call on managers to take relevant actions to alleviate the negative influence of competitive intensity on the performance effects of cross-functional collaboration and knowledge integration mechanisms.     

沃尔玛的信息化之路与启示——基于信息依赖度分析模型的案例研究

本文首先对沃尔玛信息化过程中的关键事件资料进行收集、归纳整理和分析，然后对其信息化的过程进行阶段划分，以研究作为一个通过信息化而建立起强有力的竞争优势的成功企业所具有的信息化发展历程和特征。然后运用“基于信息依赖度的企业信息化战略分析模型”对这个案例进行了分析和评价．以对沃尔玛信息化战略规划取得成功的内在原因进行分析。本文最后总结了沃尔玛信息化成功之路的几点启示。     

Research in Purpose and Value for the Study of Technology in Secondary Schools: A Theory of Authentic Learning

This paper briefly examines the literature on (a) problem-based learning (PBL), including constructivism and problem solving, and (b) learning in context, including mediation, embodiment, distribution, and situatedness. We use this literature, our previous research [Hill & Smith Journal of Technology Education 9(1), 29–41 (1998)], and some initial findings from our present research as a basis for a theory that we call authentic learning. The Theory of Authentic Learning provides a theoretical framework on which to scaffold purpose and value for the study of technology in secondary school curriculum. Initial results from Year One of our present three-year study contribute to the refinement of our Theory of Authentic Learning. First, we present some relevant literature, then we illustrate the Theory of Authentic Learning, and finally we conclude with some preliminary findings from our present research.     

A stage-dependent model of resource utilization,strategic flexibility,and implications for performance over time: Empirical evidence from a transitional environment

It has long been recognized that there is a tradeoff between exploration and exploitation. How organizations utilize resources across time and space will affect firm survival and growth. In this paper, we examine resource utilization and performance implications over time in an environment undergoing fundamental institutional transformation. Based on a large archive of Chinese government data from 1988, 1992, and 1996, the study finds that (1) the impact of resource utilization is contingent on the degree to which different resources are committed to factors of production, (2) the impact is curvilinear and only valid within an “optimal” range, and (3) the performance implications change over time. As firms enter later stages of the transitional process, efficiency becomes less important as they shift their strategic focus from exploitation to exploration, which requires more flexibility. These findings have significant bearing on the issue of upgrading technological competitiveness in China as the country becomes increasingly integrated in the global economy. Such insights may also have implications for other emerging economies in Asia.