Human resource management – a national business system perspective

Abstract

Although a sizeable body of academic literature has attempted to explain the role of national business systems in the context of human resource management (HRM), there is still little research on the extent to which institutional features explain patterns of HRM in the emerging economy of Dubai. Different institutional settings tend to generate their own organisational arrangements to manage their employees, and it is important to understand how this interplay works. From an economic perspective, Dubai is important, mainly due to its promising diversification of its economy and its political stability. From a national business system perspective, the institutional environment represents a peculiar case, because it differs from many other emerging markets with respect to the strong co-ordinating role of the state, the strong segmentation and specialisation of tasks, roles, skills and authority, especially between nationals and expatriates, and a unique employment system. Thirty-two in-depth interviews with HR managers, and extensive document reviews, reveal that these elements of the institutional environment are related strongly to specific patterns of HRM practices, including distinctive policies for national employees and expatriates. The insights generated in this study explain the particularities of HRM in Dubai from a national business system perspective.     

Business service firms,service space and the management of change

The growth of business service firms represents the latest stage in a continuing twentieth century process of technological and organizational restructuring of production and labour skills. It is associated with the rising information intensiveness of production and the development of an economy of signs. Business service activities located in service spaces drive innóva.tions both in production technology and in management systems. The co-presence of business service firms with their clients as well as other business service firms shapes the possibilities of trust between them. A detailed case study of the way in which large client firms utilize the services of independent business service companies is provided. This is followed by an examination of the relationship between small firms and business service expertise. A dual information economy may be developing in which large firms are able to search for specialist business service expertise irrespective of its location, while SMEs are tied into local providers of more generalist expertise.     

民营企业跨国并购战略的制度创业过程研究

本研究采用案例研究方法,通过对中国林德集团收购德国帕西姆机场过程的分析,探索了新兴市场企业在成熟市场跨国并购过程中通过制度创业实现资源整合从而创造竞争优势的过程。本研究从制度视角探索了跨国并购的制度创业动因、机制和资源整合路径。突破了以往基于成熟市场的交易成本理论和组织学习理论通过股东收益和组织学习能力获取的传统跨国并购理论认识范式。研究发现,制度环境会影响组织通过制度创业建构合法性从而获得竞争优势资源;企业决策者的创业意愿和能力会影响企业制度创业成果;决策者意愿和能力与制度环境的互动机制影响制度创业效率;企业场域位势的嵌入程度较低以及处于业务和制度边界交界地带的企业,会实施制度创业改变企业的场域位势;企业通过制度创业跨越制度障碍形成的合法性成为企业新的竞争优势资源。     

Innovation Offshoring,Institutional Context and Innovation Performance: A Meta‐Analysis

Innovation offshoring (IO) has become a widespread management practice. Yet, evidence on the performance implications is inconsistent, and scattered across disciplines and contexts. We argue that the benefits firms can derive from IO depend on the institutional environment at home. Drawing on recent work on institutional theory in international business, we explore institutions that facilitate reverse knowledge transfer and/or institutional arbitrage with respect to innovation‐related activities. The results of our meta‐analysis that synthesizes evidence from 48 samples show that IO is related positively to innovation performance. As predicted, this relationship is moderated by differences in the institutional environments across countries. Specifically, when national innovation systems are weak at home, IO appears to enable institutional arbitrage strategy whereas Confucian cultures enable more effective reverse knowledge transfer. However, contrary to our expectations, the beneficial effects of IO appear to have diminished over time.     

The consequences of private equity acquisitions for employees: new evidence on the impact on wages,employment and productivity

There is growing controversy on the HR consequences of private equity acquisitions, especially when the existing management team is replaced. Much of the debate thus far has centred on the use of limited panels of case studies and industry surveys. This article, in contrast, uses both in‐depth interviews with relevant stakeholders and objective company data to compare firms subject to private equity acquisitions against a control group of non‐acquired firms. Our interviews provide insights into key issues that are investigated in the subsequent empirical analysis. Our core findings are that firms subject to a specific type of private equity acquisition – institutional buyouts – are associated with job losses, lower wages and lower productivity. This evidence is consistent with the notion that this type of private equity acquisition has negative employment consequences without any corresponding improvement in productivity.     

On the role of institutional factors in shaping working capital management policies: Empirical evidence from European listed firms

The study examines the impact of institutional factors on working capital management for a sample of 5431 European listed firms over the period 2010–2018. Employing a weighted least squares (WLS) methodology, we provide empirical evidence on the role of institutional quality in shaping the working capital policies of European listed firms. The results indicate that firms located in countries with a stronger institutional framework maintain lower levels of working capital on average. The results are robust to different subsamples of firms. The study complements the extant literature by analyzing the effects of institutional quality on working capital management, across a large number of different institutional systems specific to developed and transition economies alike. The results are useful for practitioners and policy makers in understanding the relationship between institutional quality and short-term firm-level decisions.     

Exploring the effects of mergers and acquisitions on acquirers' sustainability orientation: Embedding,adding, or losing sustainability

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have been primarily investigated from a shareholder-centric perspective of economic value maximization. However, this type of strategic initiatives also carries relevant implications for companies' capacity to respond to increasing social and environmental concerns among their stakeholders. In this study, we explore the processes related to, and nonfinancial consequences of, acquisitions involving sustainability-oriented firms. Leveraging interviews with business decision makers and secondary data covering the pre- and post-acquisition phases, we find three main paths leading the acquiring firms to embed, add, or lose sustainability. Therefore, three possible post-acquisition outcomes emerge, associated with differences in acquirers' focus on sustainability infusing the deal rationale, their due diligence activity, and practices of stakeholder management and integration in the post-acquisition phase.     

我国企业集团化与企业绩效关系理论研究

企业集团化是指企业之间通过股权与其他方式的联结，组建企业集团的行为。作为一种在我国改革开放后新出现的组织形式，企业集团引起了我国众多学者的研究兴趣。本文主要以资源依存理论为基础，从企业的层面来探讨我国企业集团化能否为企业或股东创造价值。     

Institutional distance,host country and international business experience,and the use of parent country nationals

This study examines how the institutional distance between a host country and a home country influences foreign subsidiary staffing, and how overseas business experience moderates the effect of institutional distance. Hypotheses regarding the effect of institutional distance on foreign subsidiary staffing are empirically tested using a sample of 2,980 foreign subsidiaries of Japanese firms. This study shows that although the ratio of parent country nationals to subsidiary employees decreases when firms face greater institutional distance, the absolute number of parent country nationals assigned to the subsidiary increases. This study also shows that firms with more overseas business experience replace host country nationals with parent country nationals when there is greater institutional distance.     

Exploring the interaction of firm-level change and national institutional environments in shaping employment and union relations: a comparative case study of four European airlines

Drawing on the example of the airline industry, this paper explores in a longitudinal comparative case study the question of how firm-level changes and national institutional environments interact in shaping employee and union relations. Adding to previous research in comparative institutional analysis and comparative employment relations, we illustrate that the way in which industry pressures and national-level effects play out to influence employee and union relations depends on firm-level changes, mainly in the form of firm growth, acquisitions and the foundation of new subsidiaries. We show in particular that depending on firm-level changes, the very same firm might engage differently with a given institutional context at different points in time. Hence, our work illustrates the importance of firm growth, acquisitions and the foundation of new subsidiaries in explaining the shifting interaction between the firm and its institutional environment, and its implications for changing employee and union relations within firms.     

The role of human resource management in cross-border mergers and acquisitions

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have become the dominant mode of growth for firms seeking competitive advantage in an increasingly complex and global business economy. Although human resource management (HRM) can play a value-adding role in the merger process, existing research and evidence does not clearly demonstrate how it can do so. This paper addresses the neglected human side of M&As by providing a strategic fit framework to assess the link between M&A strategy and HRM strategy. Because cross-border M&As are of an order of magnitude more complex than domestic mergers, we examine contingencies in national contexts that influence outcomes in the merger process. We draw on recent empirical evidence to highlight HRM roles in terms of resources, processes and values that reflect the influence of both strategic fit and national context in the integration stage of cross-border M&A.     

A labour market perspective on management training and development in Europe

This paper uses recent survey data to undertake a comparative analysis of management development across six Western European countries. Unlike most studies that compare management development practices, we rely on an institutional labour market perspective to compare managerial skills development and training. We suggest that, while there are few differences in terms of the priority firms from different countries give to developing managers, the methods that are used and skill profiles can differ considerably. Furthermore, institutional change may also challenge some conventional views of how managers are being developed. We conclude by distinguishing four country systems that reflect a series of common characteristic strengths and weaknesses of national managerial training systems.     

Who are ‘managing’ the lawyers in China? Control and commitment in an evolving institutional and cultural context and gendered implications

National legal systems are distinctive with strong institutional legacies and societal contexts. Research on the lawyers' work and their operating environment in China has been limited. This study fills part of this gap by investigating the nature of work and career prospect, with gendered implications, in six Chinese law firms. We argue that the lack of commitment to each other between the employer and the lawyers is a result of the governance structure, culture and business process of the law firms, societal norms, market pressure and the active involvement of other stakeholders. The political, economic, social and physical insecurity that engulfs lawyers' work environment undermines their ability to uphold justice for the weak, standards of the profession and ethical values of the society. The study has implications for western law firms operating in China as well as for Chinese law firms that intend to internationalize as part of an emerging trend of Chinese professional services firms. It also has broader implications for human resource management of professional services organizations in China.     

Financial characteristics of acquiring firms and their relation to the wealth effects of acquisition announcements

This paper examines the sources of value to acquiring firms to expand the understanding of mergers and acquisitions. The firmspecific rationale that motivate firms to acquire other firms are examined, along with how these rationale impact the shareholder wealth of acquiring firms when the acquisitions are announced. A logit regression model is utilized to compare financial characteristics of acquiring firms to those of non-acquiring firms. The relation of these characteristics to the shareholder wealth effects experienced by acquiring firms when they announce acquisitions is also examined. The results support hypotheses that firm size and cash-flow payout impact the decision to acquire. Capital structure, management performance, and cash-flow payout are related to the wealth effects of acquisition announcements. Better fitting models result when industry effects are controlled by measuring firm characteristics as relative deviations from industry values.     

Evaluating human capital: an exploratory study of management practice

The article explores the development of systems of human capital evaluation in a number of large UK firms. Human capital is a much used term in business literature, and it is widely recognised that firms need to develop mechanisms to determine the value of their employee base. An extensive human capital literature has developed in which the authors propose elaborate systems for measuring a firm's human assets. This article does not seek to offer yet another human capital model. Rather, the aim is to examine the management practices through which human capital evaluation is undertaken. The article is based on an exploratory study of such practices in 11 major firms in the UK. The findings are highlighted as follows. First, we note the preference for internal over external (static accountancy‐based) reporting. Secondly, we highlight the diverse nature of human capital evaluation systems that exist across UK business. Thirdly, we explore the relationship between practices of evaluation and the role and position of the HR function within the firm. Finally, in conclusion, we address the implications of the human capital perspective for practitioners, arguing that there is no single formula that can be applied to its evaluation. We go on to suggest that the importance of the human capital concept and its measurement may lie in its ability to re‐frame perceptions of the relationship between the contribution of employees and the competitive performance of the business.     

Defining and improving technology transfer business and management processes in university innovation centres

The complex and dynamic behaviour associated with technology transfer business processes combined with the technological risk involved in the participating small firms, has led to a lack of business process definition and improvement in this area. Furthermore, the embryonic firms are highly individualistic with differing needs for assistance and development. There may also be a tendency to provide infrastructure and basic services with an avoidance of business process definition and hence, improvement.The aim of this paper is to investigate how potential business and management inputs can be used to define and to suggest improvements for two key technology transfer business processes, namely the technology licensing process and the business building process.A stratified pathway process mapping approach is used. This research approach includes semi-structured interviews with University Innovation Centre small firms, focus groups with Innovation Centre stakeholders and best practice benchmarking.The findings indicate that a modified processual approach can be adopted to define key business processes within technology transfer. Using this approach it is possible to show where business and management interventions can most effectively be deployed in each process.     

International takeover laws and corporate cash holdings

We examine the impact on corporate cash holdings of international merger and acquisition (M&A) laws, which facilitate corporate takeovers. We use the staggered enactment of M&A laws from 1992 to 2005 and a sample spanning 34 jurisdictions, and find that levels of corporate cash holdings increase after passage of M&A laws. We also find that firms with better operating performance, higher earnings volatility, higher P/E ratio, and in jurisdictions with high M&A intensity hoard more cash after the enactment of M&A laws. These firms decrease dividends and capital expenditure and increase cash-based acquisitions in the post-M&A law period. Additional analysis shows that the effect is manifested in the subsample of firms in jurisdictions with better institutional environments. Lastly, we find that investor valuations of cash holdings decrease after the enactment of M&A laws. Collectively, our results suggest that managers hoard cash to finance M&A activities after the enactment of M&A laws, driven by the motive of empire-building, and that cash hoarding behaviors are viewed by investors as value-decreasing.     

Institutional monitoring,coordination and corporate acquisitions in China

Within the context of corporate acquisition decisions of China’s Publicly Listed Corporations (PLCs), this paper investigates the monitoring and coordination behaviour of institutional shareholders. Institutional shareholders are divided into four groups: large outsider, large insider, small outsider and small insider. The outsider and insider categorization, respectively, represents the absence of significant business links with relevant PLCs. In China, institutional shareholders tend to either monitor the acquisitions decisions of PLCs or coordinate their response with the controlling shareholders (coordination in the present context amounts to cooperation). Using micro data from China’s stock market over the 2003–2008 period, we find that (through ex-ante coordination with the controlling shareholders) the insider institutional investment tends to increase the likelihood of PLC acquisitions. However, through ex-ante monitoring of the PLC acquisition offers, the outsider institutional investment tends to decrease the acquisition likelihood. We find that, through ex-post monitoring of PLC acquisitions, institutional investors with large shareholdings can help improve the post-acquisition performance of Chinese PLCs. On the other hand, institutional investors with small shareholdings tend to coordinate their actions with the controlling shareholders. Accordingly, small institutional shareholders cannot affect the post-acquisition performance of China’s PLCs. Finally, we find that the so-called ‘cherry-picking effect’ exists only in the case of large outsider institutional investors.     

Firm-level determinants of tax evasion in transition economies

Business tax evasion is an important issue for governments. Yet the factors that determine business tax evasion have not been sufficiently examined in the literature in general, and in transition contexts in particular. To address this gap, this study uses the WB/EBRD Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) database with a sample of over 12,692 firms from 26 transition economies. Applying various modelling strategies, we argue that tax evasion is a function of firm-level and institutional-level variables. We contribute to the literature by providing robust evidence showing that the perceived tax burden has a positive impact on tax evasion. We also find that the tax evasive behaviour of firms is positively influenced by low trust in government and in the judicial system as well as by higher perceptions of corruption and higher compliance costs. We find that smaller firms, individual businesses and firms in sectors that are less visible to the tax administration are more likely to get involved in evasive behaviour. Overall, institutional factors play an important role in determining firms’ tax evasion behaviour in transition economies. This finding has important policy implications.     

Financial bootstrapping and venture development in the software industry

Access to finance has been identified as a significant constraint on the development of technology-based businesses. Although important, institutional venture capital and business angel finance are used by only a small proportion of new and growing ventures. The role of bootstrapping – defined here as access to resources not owned or controlled by the entrepreneur – has been largely overlooked in studies of small firm financing. This paper redresses this omission by analysing the role and importance of bootstrapping in product development and business development in the independently-owned software industry. Results from two regions of the UK – Northern Ireland and South East England – are compared with equivalent data from the USA (Massachusetts). Overall, bootstrapping techniques are less extensively used in the Northern Ireland industry than in South East England, and in both regions bootstrapping is less common than in Massachusetts. This may account for the smaller employment size, growth profile and stronger service/consulting orientation of these firms. Moreover, there appear to be considerable variations in the use of bootstrapping. Larger firms tend to make more use of bootstrapping for product development, and consider it more important than do smaller firms, who more highly value business development-related bootstrapping. Small firms are also more likely to use and value cost-reducing bootstrapping techniques, whereas larger firms make more use of the exploitation of value-chain based relationships.