Best fit,best practice,or stuck in the middle? The impact of unit ownership on unit HR performance in franchise systems

Franchising is an important form of entrepreneurial wealth creation in many retailing and service industries. Since Human Resource Management (HRM) is a critical factor in such industries, it is important to understand how franchisees—as semi-autonomous entrepreneurs—deal with HRM in their units and how this ultimately affects performance at the unit level. However, the very few studies linking franchisee HRM behaviors to performance have not included multi-unit franchising (MUF) as a type of unit ownership. Given the ever-increasing popularity of MUF and the unique characteristics of MUFs, this represents an important knowledge gap. We aim to fill this gap by building a theoretical framework on how the type of unit ownership affects unit HR performance within franchise systems. Building on agency, resource and entrepreneurship perspectives, we propose that units owned by single-unit franchisees (SUFs) and small MUFs (i.e., franchisees with a very small number of units) adopt a ‘best fit’ system regarding HRM, whereas company-owned units (COs) and units owned by larger MUFs (i.e., franchisees with a large number of units) typically adopt a ‘best practice’ system. Each system has its own advantages and disadvantages, which results in two contrasting propositions regarding their effects on unit performance. Moreover, we expect the units owned by medium-size MUFs to have the lowest performance since they are ‘stuck in the middle’ regarding their HRM system.     

Talent management,absorptive capacity,and firm performance: Does it work in China and Russia?

This article investigates the relationship between talent management (TM), absorptive capacity (AC), and firm performance. We build a theoretical framework and examine the mediating role of a firm's AC in TM–performance relationships in the contexts of China and Russia. We use a sample of 120 Chinese and Russian firms to provide empirical evidence of our hypotheses. Our results show for both Chinese and Russian firms, a well‐developed TM system positively influences a firm's ability to acquire, assimilate, and exploit knowledge as well as increase the overall level of a firm's AC. We also found support for the argument that TM has an indirect positive effect on firm performance through its AC; moreover, the effect is stronger for Chinese firms, specifically, within the link between AC and performance.     

Human resource strategies and firm performance: what do we know and where do we need to go?

This research review focuses on the links between human resource strategies and organizational effectiveness. It is likely that bundles of, or configurations of, activities are more important in enhancing labour productivity than any single activity. However, studies are typically limited in theoretical rigour, have quite small samples and are typically non-cumulative. The empirical basis of strategic human resources management is thus circumscribed.     

Port industry performance management: a meso-level gap in literature and practice?

Over the past decades, literature has been focusing increasingly on performance management. A great deal of studies have pointed out that performance management has evolved from mere financial measurements to a multitude of indicators, and that the subject being measured can range from micro-level (an organisation), meso-level (industry) to macro-level (regional or national) performance. The authors will research which academic literature has focused on the performance measurement and management of the meso-level and how that is translated in practice, with special attention for the port industry. In practice, the authors observe that mostly so-called ‘observatories’ are responsible for monitoring the performance of infrastructure industries. Within this context the authors will examine the cooperative efforts of the past 20 years between universities and the European port industry. Based on this analysis, research and policy recommendations will be made on industry performance management, with specific consideration for port industry performance management.     

Independent directors and family firm performance: does one size fit all?

How will the presence of independent directors affect family business performance? This question is still theoretically debated and empirically inconclusive. Because family businesses are a group of heterogeneous companies with different levels of family involvement in the business, the purpose of this paper is to empirically explore how the combination of different family business governance structures jointly shape the effect of independent directors on family business performance in an understudied Collectivist cultural setting. Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) on a sample of 74 Lebanese family firms this study finds that, depending on the family firm governance structure, the presence of independent directors on the board can lead to either positive or negative firm performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

French multinational companies’ strategies and co-ordination mechanisms: the role of human resource management in Europe and Nigeria

The everchanging European context may well lead to the evolution of MNCs’ strategies in Europe and to the evolution of the control mechanisms within their subsidiaries. The author analyses the issue from the angle of human resources management, considered as an informal control tool that is widely recognized by both scholars and managers. This research therefore aims at analysing whether or not and how HRM systems embody a possible integration process in the European economic space. The methodology is based on a case study from a French multinational company belonging to the automobile industry while the investigation, a comparative analysis of the headquarters-subsidiaries relationships in England, Spain and Nigeria, points out the specificity of the European context regarding corporate strategy orientations, subsidiary roles and personnel transfer policies. The major conclusions from such an analysis suggest a framework that gives prominence to the differentiation of the management process between Europe and Nigeria.

These results confirm previous literature on co-ordination mechanisms in complex business organizations.     

Redefining the field of European human resource management: A battle between national mindsets and forces of business transition?

This article examines the conflict between cultural heritage and the current forces of global competition in Europe. The nature of management in European organizations is in a state of transition, influenced by competing forces of economic, social, and political integration or disintegration. A review of European research is used to question the idealistic picture of the Single European Market as a unifying force that will simplify international human resource management in multinationals. Taking a comparative rather than international human resource management perspective, the paper identifies the factors that have created national patterns of HRM within Europe. A dynamic and comparative ‘force field framework’ of HRM is developed in order to understand the managerial frames of reference that are currently guiding the field. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Human resource management and early internationalization: is there a leap-frogging in international staffing?

The present study focuses on the international staffing of early internationalizers by linking the Ethnocentric, Polycentric, Regiocentric, and Geocentric (EPRG) concept with the Process Theories of Internationalization. On a dataset of 116 (N) German medium-sized companies, we test whether the determinants which allow firms to internationalize shortly after their inception, namely prior international experience, technological intensity, and networks, influence the firms' international staffing. We further elaborate whether this influence differs between early and late internationalizers. The empirical results show that prior international experience is not associated with the firms' international staffing at all, and thus, does not allow conclusions. Technological intensity increases the probability of the choice of an ethnocentric staffing policy, especially for early internationalizers. In contrast, networks enable firms, especially early internationalizers, to pursue regiocentric or geocentric staffing policies.     

Employee performance,well‐being,and differential effects of human resource management subdimensions: Mutual gains or conflicting outcomes?

The human resource management (HRM) literature supports the idea that coherent systems of HRM practices can induce attitudinal effects when perceived subjectively by employees. Recently, scholars have proposed that subdimensions of HRM systems exist and account for variance in outcomes. This study explores differential effects of three subdimensions of HRM systems (skill‐, motivation‐, and opportunity‐enhancing HRM practices) on employee innovative behaviours and well‐being. Our predictions are based on the mutual gains perspective, which specifies positive relationships between HRM practices and employee performance, and the conflicting outcomes perspective that links HRM practices to higher job demands and stress. Using data from the Finnish 2012 Practices of Working Life Survey, we find support for both the mutual gains and conflicting outcomes perspectives; however, we also show that the effects of the subsets of HRM practices are heterogeneous.     

Coaligning market requirements,quality capabilities,and human resource management: How will eastern Europe compete in manufacturing?

Eastern European manufacturing faces obstacles for competitiveness in responding to changes arising in the transition to open markets. For many Eastern European firms, coalignment of priorities is currently inadequate among three areas: new competitive standards, strategy for quality, and human resource participation. Using survey data from Romanian manufacturers we illustrate some reasons for misalignments and formulate research propositions involving coalignment for the transition into competitive markets. A contextual model, patterned after a model by Brewster (1995), portrays key environmental and organizational relationships in strategy formulation for the manufacturing transition.     

Evolution of the practices of human resource management in France towards a strategic model: rhetoric or reality?

This article analyses the evolution of the human resources management in France. The study attempts to understand the transformation of administrative practices of HRM towards strategic practices of HRM (SHRM) in the French context. It also shows the factors responsible for this change. The results of this study support the development in France of SHRM and the regression of administrative practices of HRM, although a third hybrid model of HRM seems to appear between both practices. This tendency towards SHRM is accentuated in large firms, quoted on the stock exchange, in services and finance sectors with international activities. This study confirms that the SHRM in France is reality rather than rhetoric.     

High-performance human resource practices and firm performance: the mediating role of employees’ competencies and the moderating role of climate for creativity

Drawing on the resource- and competency-based view, this paper examines the relationship between high-performance human resource (HR) practices and firm performance. Using a sample of 189 firms in mainland China, a positive relationship between high-performance HR practices and firm performance was found that was partially mediated by employees’ competencies. We also found the organisational climate for creativity to strengthen such relationship. The implications and future directions of these findings are discussed.     

Human factors in the transfer of the ‘Japanese best practice’ manufacturing system to Singapore

A detailed examination of the practices reported by managers in thirty-one affiliates of Japanese companies engaged in manufacturing in Singapore revealed a high degree of conformity with the Japanese best practice (also known as ‘lean production’) model in the way work is organized and in the shop-floor level manufacturing practices, but greater conformity to host country norms in the HRM practices applied to the local work-force. This is consistent with the patterns reported in the existing literature regarding Japanese transplants in other countries, including the US and the UK. Strong statistical relationships were found in the Singapore study among the work organization cluster, the manufacturing practices cluster, and the performance outcomes. No significant relationships were found between the HRM cluster and any of the ‘downstream’ variables (work organization, manufacturing practices or performance outcomes), but relatively heavy reliance on expatriates was found to be highly related to work organization, manufacturing practices and performance outcomes. These findings suggest that heavy reliance on expatriates may function as an alternative to Japanese-style HRM practices in situations where it would be unduly difficult or costly to extend the whole package of Japanese-style HRM practices to the local work-force.     

How do integrated quality and environmental management practices affect firm performance? Mediating roles of quality performance and environmental proactivity

Based on a sample of 208 Turkish firms, this paper investigates the integration of two management systems, quality management and environmental management, and explores the effect of this integration on firm performance. First, a conceptual framework was developed, relying on the premises of the resource‐based view. Second, mediating roles of quality performance and environmental proactivity were examined on the association between integrated quality and environmental management systems and firm performance. Among the underlying trends, both quality performance and environmental proactivity were found to fully mediate the relationship between integrated quality and environmental management and firm performance.     

Is best practice in development still viable? The case of financial management in fragile Afghanistan

The concept of best practice has few friends in international development; however, the wholesale rejection of best practice is incorrect. The article first reviews the critique of best practice by describing its four main features and analyses it through a case study of public financial management (PFM) in Afghanistan country using three donor-funded projects that employ a best practice approach. The PFM projects are evaluated based on the four components of the critique. The article concludes with a modest reassessment of the continued salience of best practice in international development.     

External and internal labour flexibility in Spain: a substitute or complementary effect on firm performance?

The contingent perspective in strategic human resource management maintains that it is necessary to observe the interaction between human resource practices by encouraging external and internal labour flexibility. An issue still to be resolved is whether this fit leads to a complementary or substitute effect on firm performance. In order to contribute to this debate, we examine how the relationship between external labour flexibility and firm performance is moderated by the degree of internal labour flexibility. To do this, we use the Survey on Business Strategies of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade on a sample of 1,403 Spanish industrial firms. The results show the existence of a substitute effect between the two types of labour flexibility. Using them simultaneously does not lead to greater benefits for firms.     

Diversification strategy,CEO management style and firm performance: an application of Heckman’s two-stage method

This paper aims to explore whether CEOs’ management style as agents or as stewards, which depends on their psychological and situational characteristics, moderates the effect of the diversification strategy on firm performance. After applying Heckman’s two-stage method to control econometrically for endogeneity bias in empirical work, results demonstrate that the relationship between diversification and profitability varies significantly depending on the management style of the diversifying CEO.     

Toward a non-organizational theory of human resource management? A complex adaptive systems perspective on the human resource management ecosystem in (con)temporary organizing

The emergence of the temporary organization has ushered in a new logic of organizing accompanied by paradigm-shifting challenges with respect to how the evolving nature of work, workers, and collective effort are to be understood. To capture the complexity inherent in this new order, and to broaden our focus from the organization to the enfolding ecosystem within which temporary organizing must be situated and understood, we engage in problematization to develop a multi-level framework for theorizing the contemporary human resource management ecosystem. Curating insights from complexity science, we conceptualize this ecosystem as a complex adaptive one and we propose a framework that integrates key structural (open boundaries and relational constitution), emergent (contextual and complex causality), and temporal (dynamic and adaptive) properties. To deepen lines of inquiry around these defining elements, we advance a series of propositions for testing, and we outline a range of theoretical, methodological, and practical implications that arise from our work.     

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.