Brand compass: charting a course to improve firm performance

This study contributes to the internal brand management domain from a firm asset perspective. We argue brand compass is an inside-out identity-focused firm asset consisting of brand vision, brand commitment and shared brand understanding. We build a theoretical argument for examining brand compass together with two important outward focused orientations: market orientation and innovation orientation. Through structural equation modelling, within the context of retailing, the findings chart a course to improve firm performance.     

Enterprise‐level training in developing countries: do international standards matter?*

Several studies have examined the determinants of training in developing countries but few have paid attention to the potential importance of international standards such as ISO 9000 or ISO 14000 on the firm's training decision. This article examines training determinants using recent employer surveys for five developing countries: Ethiopia, Honduras, Indonesia, Morocco and Nicaragua. It finds that ISO certification status is an important determinant of training, even after controlling for other characteristics such as workers’ formal schooling, firm size, industry and foreign ownership. This points toward the importance of international standards, including product quality and production standards, for firm training. The article also discusses policy implications related to the findings and provides directions for further research.     

Policy-driven clusters,interfirm interactions and firm internationalisation: Some insights from Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor

This paper investigates the impact of social and business interactions on firm internationalisation within the context of an industrial cluster created from scratch by policymakers. Based on in-depth interviews with firms in Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor cluster, our findings suggest that a permanent cluster of this nature may not be able to stimulate the development of frequent, spontaneous, informal interaction and rich social networks often seen in ‘organic’ clusters, thus limiting the cluster's effect on firm internationalisation. However, the paper also shows that ‘temporary clusters’, such as trade shows and conferences, organised by policymakers on a regular basis within the broader context of the permanent cluster, can help firms to quickly acquire relevant knowledge.     

Managing in an economic crisis: The role of market orientation in an international law firm

This research paper contributes to the understanding of the relationship between market orientation and performance in the context of a law firm during a time of economic crisis. The contribution is twofold, adding to the fairly limited research on market orientation within law firms, and to the limited research on the role of market orientation in times of economic crisis. The findings, from the questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews within practice groups of a large multinational law firm, conclude that market orientation is important during an economic crisis. Those practice groups with higher market orientation scores withstand the increased turbulence and outperform those practice groups with lower market orientation scores.     

Interpreting value in the customer service experience using customer-dominant logic

Abstract

Traditionally, customer value has been examined from the perspective of the firm. New understandings of customer value from the customer-dominant logic perspective of services emphasise the need to move away from the service-dominant perspective and adopt a customer-based approach that considers value within the broader context of a customer’s lifeworld. This article explores how individual customers make sense of their participation in an extraordinary, commercially-driven consumption experience. A phenomenological approach is taken to understand the lived experience of these participants. The findings of this exploratory study reveal the highly complex nature of value in the experience in the chosen context of luxury driving experience days. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Top management team heterogeneity and firm performance: An empirical research on Chinese listed companies

An empirical study of the 2001–2002 data from 356 Chinese companies listed in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges indicates that within the social context of China the characteristics of a firm’s top management team have a different impact on firm performance from those of foreign countries. Also, the tenure heterogeneity and functional experience heterogeneity of the top management team are inversely related to firm performance. This paper analyzes and discusses the findings in detail and points out areas for future research. Translated from Guanli Pinglun 맜理评论 (Management Review), 2006, 18 (5): 54–60     

Is innovation always beneficial? A meta-analysis of the relationship between innovation and performance in SMEs

The performance implications of innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have attracted considerable interest among academics and practitioners. However, empirical research on the innovation-performance relationship in SMEs shows controversial results. This meta-analysis synthesizes empirical findings in order to obtain evidence whether and especially under which circumstances smaller, resource-scarce firms benefit from innovation. We find that innovation-performance relationship is context dependent. Factors such as the age of the firm, the type of innovation, and the cultural context affect the impact of innovation on firm performance to a large extent.     

Corporate social responsibility and competitive advantage: A developing country perspective

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has attracted wider research interests over recent decades. While some studies have examined the impact of CSR activities on firm competitive advantage (CA), the findings so far remain contradictory. Moreover, the role of export orientation, firm strategy, and structure on the association between CSR and CA has not been explicitly examined. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the moderating role of export orientation, firm strategy, structure, and firm size on the association between CSR and CA. Using a sample of 179 responses from management staff in organizations across five sectors in a developing country context of Ghana, the study found positive effects of CSR on CA. The study contributes to the resource‐based view (RBV) scholarship by confirming the important complementary effect of export orientation and organizational structure as important resources and capabilities on the CSR–competitiveness relationship. However, no evidence of a moderating effect of firm strategy, or firm size on the CSR–CA relationship was found. These findings are instructive, impactful, and enrich the existing literature on CSR and strategy. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed.     

Usefulness of financial ratios in a single industry

This paper reports the findings of a study on the relationship and ratio grouping of a well-published set of financial ratios within the context of a single, homogenous industry. The findings provide some insight into the validity of using single-industry ratio averages as standards to evaluate individual firm performance. Factor analysis was used to study the interrelationship among the ratios and to determine whether these ratios group in the “traditional” category of ratios suggested in the financial statement analysis literature. This analysis was followed by a cluster analysis of the composite ratios derived from the factor analysis to determine whether any consistent and stable statistical grouping of firms developed over time within the industry. These analyses were done for 72 companies for the period 1966–1975 using Dunn and Bradstreet ratios and Compustat data.     

Small and medium size firm’s marketing competitive advantage and environmental initiatives in the Middle East

The paper explores Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) in Saudi Arabia within the context of environmental sustainability. The objective of the study is to examine whether SME’s sustainable marketing competitive advantage through environmental initiatives can positively associate to a firm’s environmental (green) best practices and stakeholder influences; similarly, it also identifies if best practices mediate environmental costs and competitive advantage. A sample of 181 responses are obtained and are analysed using factor analysis, multiple regression and their interaction effects. The findings show that the association between firms that have competitive advantage due to environmental initiatives were found to be significant for best practices and indirect stakeholder influences. Furthermore, the results identified that by using environmental best practices, SMEs can lower their environmental costs to gain marketing competitive advantage. These findings highlight the function of environmentalism and how it can influence practitioners.     

Multiple directorships in emerging countries: Fiduciary duties at stake?

This study investigates the effect of multiple directorships on firm performance, using a database of non‐financial firms listed on the Pakistan stock exchange. Prior literature provides inconsistent evidence on the relationship between multiple directorships and firm performance in an emerging country context, which may be the result of overlooking both the large differences in institutional environments among emerging countries and the dynamic endogenous relationships between board variables and firm performance. We aim to contribute to this academic debate by focusing on directorship appointments to multiple boards in a weak institutional context. Corporate governance practices, such as boards with outside directors exercising their fiduciary duties, are crucial for effective governance in weak institutional environments. However, serving in multiple directorships is expected to compromise the execution of director duties. Using a dynamic system Generalized Method of Moments model, our findings show, indeed, a negative effect of multiple directorships on firm performance in a weak institutional environment. Building on the premise that corporate governance is conditional in nature, we also tested the moderating influence of firm size on this relationship, but we did not find supporting evidence in a dynamic model setting. Our results have important practical implications for policy makers as well as firms.     

Effects of Informal Institutions on the Performance of Microenterprises in the Philippines: The Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Orientation

The study investigates the effects of informal institutions and entrepreneurial orientation on the performance of microenterprises at the subnational level within a developing country context. Using structural equation modeling based on a large-scale survey of 735 microenterprises in the Philippines, it is found that informal institutional factors and entrepreneurial orientation are associated with firm performance. However, further analysis reveals a strong mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation on the informal institutions-firm performance relationships. This finding is novel and adds to our understanding of the mechanism through which informal institutions affect firm performance, particularly for microenterprises in developing countries.     

Individual and organizational learning from inter‐firm knowledge sharing: A framework integrating inter‐firm and intra‐firm knowledge sharing and learning

Literature has highlighted but not explored links between knowledge sharing and learning at inter‐firm and intra‐firm levels. Using the single case of an aviation refuelling company as the basis for our research methodology and collecting data through 34 semi‐structured interviews, we develop a framework that integrates knowledge sharing and learning at inter‐firm and intra‐firm levels. We show that intra‐firm knowledge sharing capabilities facilitate the diffusion of inter‐firm learning within organizations. Moreover, inter‐firm trust manifests in different forms that affect individual and organizational learning. The purpose of collaboration determines what a firm learns or discards. The findings are important for organizations facing a shortage of skills. © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Talent management motives and practices in an emerging market: A comparison between MNEs and local firms

This paper compares the differences in talent management motivations and practices between MNEs and local firms in the emerging market of Turkey. It uses institutional theory and the resource based view of the firm to explain these differences. Examining data from 201 firms the findings show significant differences between the talent management motives of MNEs and local firms, with MNEs having more tactical motivations for their talent management systems. The study also shows significant differences in the talent management practices between MNEs and local firms, with MNEs implementing more robust systems of talent management overall. The findings indicate that the motives for TM and the practices that are pursued by organizations are society-bound. The study of TM motives and practices has to be framed within the context of the institution as this shapes the way in which actors perceive and respond to environmental and organizational stimuli and the extent to which they seek to protect the rules that shape and structure their environments.     

Private Firms and Corporate Governance: An Integrated Economic and Management Perspective

This article provides a definition of corporate␣governance and highlights the challenges in adapting understanding of governance to the privately-held firm. We emphasize the need to develop the scope of governance in privately-held firms beyond the traditional agency theory focus in the financial economics literature relating to large publicly-listed corporations. There is a need to draw on and integrate an array of theoretical perspectives from both economics and other social science disciplines as well. We present a schematic model of corporate governance which places the contributions presented in the special issue in context and which serves as a guide to highlighting gaps in the research base. We review the principal issues relating to corporate governance in privately-held firms which relate to: governance in different organizational contexts (institutional context; the industrial sector within which the firm finds itself, the ownership context of the firm, and the stage within the firm’s life-cycle); the scope of corporate governance; and other internal governance mechanisms to be considered We identify areas for further research on corporate governance in privately-held firms with respect to processes of governance, organizational contexts, assumptions about the owners, executive remuneration, financial reporting, the nature of the dependent variable relating to the expected outcome of different approaches to governance and various methodological issues. We suggest a need to develop governance codes for privately-held firms that are flexible enough to take account of the different types of governance needs of firms at different stages in their life-cycle.      

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.     

Corporate governance and firm performance in emerging markets: Evidence from Turkey

This is a study of the relationship between context, internal corporate governance and firm performance, looking at the case of Turkey, an exemplar of family capitalism. We found more concentrated ownership, often in the hands of families, led to firms performing better; concentrated ownership means that controlling families bear more of the risks of poor performance. Less predictably, given that the institutional environment is so well attuned to family ownership, we found that mechanisms that accord room for a greater range of voices and interests within and beyond families – larger boards and foreign ownership stakes – seem to also make for positive performance effects. We also noted that increase in cross ownership did not influence market performance, but was negatively associated with accounting performance. Conversely, we found that a higher proportion of family members on boards had no discernable effect on performance. Our findings provide further insights on the relationship between the type of institutions encountered in many emerging markets, internal corporate governance configurations and firm performance.     

Using CRM to Model Firm Performance in a Business-to-Business Market

Customer relationship management (CRM) is the widely accepted approach for gathering, examining, understanding and translating information related to customers into managerial action. CRM is investigated in the context of new product performance (NPP). CRM enhances NPP as well as firm performance. This study investigates the impact of CRM on NPP through the moderation of top management support and an innovative culture, as well as the impact of CRM on firm performance through the mediation of NPP. A questionnaire survey is used for data collection from marketing managers of 159 firms in Pakistan in the B-to-B market. Hypotheses were tested using SEM in SMART PLS. This research shows that CRM directly affects firm performance, while NPP partially mediates the relationship of CRM and firm performance. These findings have significant implications for the practitioner. This study delivers insights to managers and academicians about the role of CRM in enhancing NPP and improving firm performance. In general, the study provides new insights into CRM by integrating top management support and an innovative culture. The research extends our understanding that top management support and innovative culture do not moderate the relationship of CRM with new product performance in a B-to-B context.     

The Life Cycle Model as a Framework for Understanding Barriers to SME Growth in Hong Kong

There is limited research on turnaround in the Asian context, particularly from a contextual perspective. This article reports the findings of an exploratory study of turnaround strategies and management at the level of the firm in Malaysia using a case study approach. The contextual impact along dimensions such as different ethnic/cultural background, ownership types and role of government has been examined in seven case studies of Malaysian firms. The findings reveal some differences among the firms, as well as turnaround characteristics similar to those reported in recent literature on East Asian versus western turnaround. These findings are discussed and propositions for future research made.