Employee-owned and capitalist firms: is performance linked to ownership?

This paper does a comparative analysis of the economic performance between employee-owned firms (EOFs) and conventional capitalist companies (non-employee-owned firms, NEOFs). EOFs show good economic performance if the different objectives that distinguish them from NEOFs are considered. These differences stem precisely from the different capital-ownership structures. Nevertheless, the results deteriorate if profitability and productiveness are analysed. The results for productivity differ from theoretical thought which considers that the main differences between these two types of structures should be explained by the double condition people have as both partners and workers in the EOF; this link between company and workers should translate into increased productiveness. The results of the analysis do not empirically demonstrate the positive effects that were expected with an EOF structure. There are, however, sufficient motives for extending the study to the compared analysis of other subjects that work under specific legal regulations and even to the compared analysis of other regulative forms that exist in other Member States of the European Union.     

Is transformational leadership always good for employee task performance? Examining curvilinear and moderated relationships

Transformational leadership, generally considered as a desirable leadership style, has positive effects on various performance outcomes of employees; however, its productivity has been called into question because of a relative neglect of its negative aspects. Addressing this gap, an attempt at rethinking the relationship between transformational leadership and employee performance is important. The paradoxical perspective indicates that conflicting positive and negative effects of transformational leadership can coexist, which provides possibility and rationality for thorough consideration of employees’ task performance influenced by transformational leaders. Integrating the principle of diminishing marginal utility and the “Too-Much-of-a-Good-Thing (TMGT)” effect, this research explores an inverted U-shaped relationship between transformational leadership and employee task performance. Furthermore, applying social cognitive theory, we assume an employee’s proactive personality moderates the curvilinear influence of transformational leadership on employees’ task performance. As expected, results from a study of data from 209 supervisor-subordinate relationships from China showed that the inverted U-shaped relationship between transformational leadership and employees’ task performance was moderated by employees’ proactive personality. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Is transformational leadership always good for employee task performance? Examining curvilinear and moderated relationships

Transformational leadership, generally considered as a desirable leadership style, has positive effects on various performance outcomes of employees; however, its productivity has been called into question because of a relative neglect of its negative aspects. Addressing this gap, an attempt at rethinking the relationship between transformational leadership and employee performance is important. The paradoxical perspective indicates that conflicting positive and negative effects of transformational leadership can coexist, which provides possibility and rationality for thorough consideration of employees’ task performance influenced by transformational leaders. Integrating the principle of diminishing marginal utility and the “Too-Much-ofa-Good-Thing (TMGT)” effect, this research explores an inverted U-shaped relationship between transformational leadership and employee task performance. Furthermore, applying social cognitive theory, we assume an employee’s proactive personality moderates the curvilinear influence of transformational leadership on employees’ task performance. As expected, results from a study of data from 209 supervisorsubordinate relationships from China showed that the inverted U-shaped relationship between transformational leadership and employees’ task performance was moderated by employees’ proactive personality. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

TQM and performance: Is the relationship so obvious?

This study explores the relationship between total quality management (TQM) and firm performance taking TQM as an internally consistent system of practices. The study tests the link between the two variables using the universal approach, analyzes whether the most competitive firms are those adopting TQM, and tests for an isomorphic effect on other firms. The study uses a sample of Spanish firms that have received TQM prizes at the national or regional level between 1997 and 2003 and a control sample for comparison. The findings indicate that in the absence of any evidence to confirm the universal hypothesis, TQM pioneers experience performance gains, because of the early implementation of the system; however, late adopters do not experience similar results. Firms using a TQM system are not necessarily better than their counterparts are, before putting the system into action. The study uses panel data that takes into account the unobservable heterogeneity between individuals and the dynamics of firms' financial variables.     

To agree or not to agree? A meta-analytical review of strategic consensus and organizational performance

The premise underlying most of the research on strategic consensus is that a higher degree of consensus has a positive impact on organizational performance. Empirical studies, however, have produced inconsistent results for the strength and direction of this relationship, as well as for the role of potential moderators. With this meta-analysis, we provide empirical support for a positive effect of strategic consensus on organizational performance, and offer evidence for the existence of several moderators of the aforementioned relationship, which we then discuss as fruitful avenues for future research. This study enhances our understanding of this important strategy process construct and benefits managerial practice by discussing means for improving the realization and implementation of strategies.     

Three Pathways to Case Selection in International Business: A Twenty–Year Review,Analysis and Synthesis

With its focus on locational context, International Business (IB) is a prime candidate for the application of Case Study (CS) methodology. Yet many IB scholars still have doubts about CSs, possibly because strategies for their selection and disclosure procedures may lack rigor. The purpose of this article is to document and discuss CS selection in IB research, make suggestions for improvement, and thus raise the standard and status of CS research.Using qualitative content analysis, this paper examines CS selection strategies in four IB journals (1995–2014), relating them to chosen theoretical purposes and logics employed. Our results indicate that 12% of the 333 investigated CS articles lacked a section on methodology, and 41% of papers reported no indication of how CSs were selected. Drawing insights from the dataset, we propose and distinguish between theory-driven and phenomenon-driven CS selection approaches. In light of our evidence, best-practice papers are identified and apportioned to coherent pathways connecting theoretical purpose, logic and CS selection strategies. In doing so, we address the link between case selection and theorizing in CSs and advocate greater methodological sophistication and transparency of CS selection reporting in IB research.     

Impact of market orientation on firm’s customer-based performance: the moderating role of employee orientation

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we examine the influence of employee orientation (EO) on converting constituent dimensions of market orientation (MO) into customer-based performance (CBP) and consider the robustness of these relationships in the context of firm age and size. Based on a sample of 410 mid-to-senior-level managers working in UK service industries, we find that all three dimensions of MO positively influence CBP. While highlighting the utility of employing a multidimensional approach to evaluate the customer-based outcome of MO implementation we highlight the nuanced role of EO in strengthening the MO–performance relationship and emphasise the crucial role employees play in implementing different strategic orientations in a perceivable way to customers.     

The missing link? Understanding the relationship between individual and organisational learning

This article recognises that individual learning plays a key role in organisational learning. It identifies that there has been little empirical research to date exploring the interaction between individual and organisational learning. New research is presented from a company engaged in organisational learning, by a case study investigation utilising qualitative and quantitative research methods. The article explores key issues in training and development related to the interaction of individual and organisational learning, and concludes that individual learning is related to organisational learning through a range of factors including positive learning climate, active informal learning by individuals, and effective communication of skills and knowledge.     

Umpire and batsman: Is it cricket to be both?

The paper is a response to Richard De George's essay, Theological Ethics and Business Ethics. It defends the possibility of theologically oriented approaches to business ethics by pointing out certain deficiencies in business ethics narrowly based on the premisses of analytic moral philosophy. In particular it argues, in a manner consistent with Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue (1981), that such a program of business ethics is insufficiently critical of its own roots in the social fiction of bureaucratic rationality. After showing how this ideology governs De George's negative judgments on theological approaches to business ethics, the author outlines a program of critical reflection that would draw from the intellectual traditions of both theology and philosophy in order to facilitate a dialogue in business ethics that no longer is captive in the Iron Cage of bureaucratic rationality. Dennis P. McCann is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at De Paul University. He has served on the faculties of Reed College and Lewis and Clark College. He is the author of Christian Realism and Liberation Theology (1981) and a co-author of Polity and Praxis: A Program for American Practical Theology (1985).     

Do export status and export intensity increase firm performance?

This study examines the effects of export status and export intensity on the performance of firms in Ghana. Our measures of performance include productivity and profitability. Using the Regional Project on Enterprise Development (RPED) dataset covering the period 1991–2002, the results of this study indicate that export status and export intensity have positive effects on productivity, confirming the learning‐by‐exporting hypothesis. Competition on the international market exposes exporting firms to new technologies, and this has the potential of increasing their productivity. Thus, economic policy initiatives should be directed at encouraging firms to enter the export market. Existing exporters should also be motivated to intensify their exporting efforts by exporting more of their output to foreign markets. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Can a positive approach to performance evaluation help accomplish your goals?

Organizations typically depend upon performance evaluation measures to provide feedback to managers regarding the achievement of strategic objectives. However, performance evaluation is often focused on negative aspects of performance, suggesting that managers may not be receiving enough reinforcement of the positive elements of their decisions. When applied effectively, performance measures not only create desirable motivation, but also encourage communication and the exchange of information among managers. Under this scenario, individual managers achieve their personal goals, while the organization satisfies its strategic objectives. The application of positive organizational scholarship principles to performance evaluation metrics can help make the evaluation process more effective. Using performance measures framed in a positive manner can help generate more creativity, more problem-solving ability, and greater communication among managers, leading to progress toward organizational objectives. We illustrate this approach with the application of positive metrics to the balanced scorecard for mid-level managers in implementing business strategy.     

Business and the Environment: Is There More to the Story?

Actions taken to improve the environment are frequently good for profits, but many executives, including economists, are not fully aware of just how good businesss environmental record is. As a result, they often have difficulty responding to critics. This article will present three major points: 1) the environment of the United States is much improved over the past several decades, and businesss pursuit of profits has been an important factor; 2) the publics information about business and the environment is poor; and 3) this faulty information fosters the impression that business is evading its responsibilities.JEL Classification Q50     

Can formalization, complexity, and centralization influence knowledge performance?

Based on the theory of organizational design and on the theory of knowledge, this paper analyzes how the traditional variables which define a firm's organizational structure (formalization, complexity, and centralization) influence knowledge performance (the degree to which a firm generates knowledge internally and uses it to reach a competitive advantage). The paper tests three hypotheses using a sample of 164 large Spanish firms. The results show that organizational complexity and centralization exert a positive and a negative influence, respectively, on knowledge performance, which confirms the two hypotheses related to these variables. However, the analysis reveals no empirical evidence to confirm the hypothesis according to which formalization and knowledge performance have a positive relationship.     

Technology and intermediation: do banks pass the gains to their customers?

A key function of the banking system is to facilitate intermediation between borrowers and lenders. In this paper we single out for attention the money transmission function of banks to test whether intermediation costs have been reduced by technology and passed on to consumers. Using data for the commercial banking sector in Ireland over the period January 1986 to August 1996, we find that the gains from technology in the provision of banking services, provided they exist, have not been passed on to the bank customers in the form of a lower bank interest rate spread.     

Beyond the corporation: Who represents business to the government and public?

A new kind of business leadership has emerged during the past decade, a leadership devoted to the public interest. What are the stages that characterize the development of these leaders?     

Leadership and Ethics: Corporate Accountability to Whom, for What and by What Means?

This paper argues that ethical evaluation of leadership requires standards of assessment that are independent of the definition of "leader." It suggests that Stakeholder Theory is incapable of providing a substantive standard of assessment. It suggests an alternative model for adjudicating between stakeholders' conflicting claims of right and it applies that method to determine what responsibilities corporate management might have to employees and how management might be held accountable for discharging those responsibilities.     

Quality of past performance: Impact on consumers’ responses to service failure

The conceptual model developed in this paper for the airline industry examines the relationship between quality of past service performance and consumers’ responses to service failures (causal attributions, emotions and satisfaction). The empirical results obtained indicate that for those consumers with higher perceptions of quality the causes underlying service failures are seen as less stable and less controllable by the firm than the causes identified by consumers with lower perceptions of quality. Attributions about the failure not only influence satisfaction directly but also moderate the effect of quality on satisfaction. We also analyse the mediating effect of negative emotions on the relationship between service failure attributions and consumer satisfaction.