Institutional Environment, Managerial Attitudes and Environmental Sustainability Orientation of Small Firms

This study examines the direct impact of three dimensions of the institutional environment on managerial attitudes toward the natural environment and the direct influence of the latter on the environmental sustainability orientation (ESO) of small firms. We contend that when the institutional environment is perceived by owner?Cmanagers as supportive of sound natural environment management practices, they are more likely to develop a positive attitude toward natural environment issues and concerns. Such owner?Cmanager attitudes are likely to lead to a positive and proactive orientation of their firms toward environmental sustainability. The study uses survey data from 166 small manufacturing firms located in three Philippine cities. First, the study develops and tests the measurement models to examine the validity of the constructs representing the firm??s institutional environment, managerial attitudes toward the natural environment and the ESO of firms. Second, the study develops and tests the structural models examining the institutional environment?Cmanagerial attitudes?CESO linkages. Multi-sample invariance structural model analysis shows the mediating role of managerial attitudes in the institutional environment?CESO nexus. The findings show that ESO is a construct comprising three dimensions: knowledge of environmental issues, sustainable practices and commitment toward environmental sustainability. The cognitive, regulatory and normative elements of the institutional environment are strongly linked to positive managerial attitudes toward environmental sustainability, which in turn, positively influences the firm??s overall ESO. Managerial attitudes play a mediating role in the institutional environment?CESO linkages. The managerial, practical, research and policy implications of the research findings are discussed.     

Internationalization processes in stable and unstable market conditions: Towards a model of commitment decisions in dynamic environments

This article proposes a managerial decision framework to deal with internationalization whether in stable or dynamic environments. While displaying the effects of unstable and stable environmental settings on commitment decisions, the framework is the result of an inferential abductive approach that merges the risk management model with empirical data collected from a 32-year longitudinal case study on nine Swedish MNCs. The longitudinal analysis shows that when environmental changes are perceived as detrimental, firms tend to decrease their tangible assets and commit in a more intangible way. On the opposite, when changes to the environment are perceived as beneficial, firms follow an incremental path of commitment, preferably in tangible kind. The findings contribute new knowledge to understand such diversities in commitment decisions as divestment, wait-and-see, market-exit and re-entry.     

Strategic intent and performance: The role of resource allocation decisions

The notion that a firm's strategic intent can affect its performance through managerial actions has become prominent in the organization literature. In this research, we propose that strategic aggressive firms will foster decisions that favor holding low levels of slack and low levels of R&D investments, resulting in increased firm ROI, and that a firm's risk preference will moderate the indirect effect of strategic intent on performance. Findings from moderated mediation analyses on data from 130 firms in manufacturing industries support our hypotheses. Specifically, the indirect effect of a firm's strategic intent on a firm's performance is moderated by its risk aversion, such that when risk aversion is high, the indirect effect of strategic intent on performance through slack is strengthened. Similarly, the indirect effect of strategic intent on firm performance through R&D investments is strengthened, when risk aversion is high.     

Nearshoring,reshoring, and insourcing: Moving beyond the total cost of ownership conversation

As firms from across all manufacturing sectors are rethinking their outsourcing and offshoring strategies, there is the potential for a manufacturing renaissance in the U.S. The findings from this case study suggest that the current manufacturing relocation shift is not perceived by manufacturers as a long-term business strategy (as outsourcing has been). As such, the results suggest that manufacturing relocation decisions based exclusively on models such as total cost of ownership (TCO) will not deliver anticipated near-term costs savings. In addition to TCO, firms must have access to information concerning the complexity of the outsourced manufacturer’s manufacturing and supply chain processes in order to fully evaluate the ‘as-is’ outsourced function against ‘to-be’ manufacturing relocation opportunities.     

The influence of cooperative relations of small businesses on environmental protection intensity

This study examines the relationship between cooperative business relations in small businesses (fewer than 50 employees) and environmental protection, one of the most important policies of social responsibility in manufacturing. We reviewed the literature and carried out an empirical study of 930 small manufacturing firms in Spain. Results indicate that small businesses that maintain and improve their cooperative relations through business networking with universities, competitors, suppliers and customers spend more on environmental protection. The managerial, practical, research and policy implications of the obtained research findings are discussed.     

Perceived Greenwashing: The Effects of Green Marketing on Environmental and Product Perceptions

Many firms are striving to improve their environmental positions by presenting their environmental efforts to the public. To do so, they are applying green marketing strategies to help gain competitive advantage and appeal to ecologically conscious consumers. However, not all green marketing claims accurately reflect firms’ environmental conduct, and can be viewed as ‘greenwashing’. Greenwashing may not only affect a company’s profitability, but more importantly, result in ethical harm. Therefore, this research extends past greenwashing studies by examining additional influences on and outcomes of perceived greenwashing. To do so, we conducted two studies, an interview study with consumer product and consulting firms, as well as an experiment examining consumers interacting with a company website. For these studies, we used multiple methods, including interviews, questionnaires, and neurophysiological techniques. We found that perceived greenwashing relates not only to environmental and product perceptions, but also to consumers’ happiness while interacting with the website. We also found that website interactivity relates to perceived greenwashing, environmental and product perceptions, and to the amount of interaction with the website. We conclude by discussing managerial and ethical implications for research and practice.

     

Uncertainty and Information Search Activities: A Study of Owner–Managers of Small High-Technology Manufacturing Firms

This study examines the relationship among perceived strategic uncertainty (PSU), environmental scanning, and the information sources used by owner–managers of a sample of 153 small high-technology manufacturing firms. The results suggest that increased scanning activities are associated with high levels of PSU. Perhaps most importantly, the results also suggest that owner–managers of younger firms respond to uncertainty differently than their counterparts in more mature firms. Specifically, owner–managers of younger firms appear to respond to higher PSU by relying more heavily on personal and external information sources. Owner–managers of older firms, on the other hand, rely more heavily on internal and impersonal information sources to address environmental uncertainty.     

Knowledge,innovation and firm performance in high- and low-technology regimes

Industries with greater aggregate levels of research and development (R&D) intensity are home to higher rates of firm-level innovation, according to survey data from 845 Canadian manufacturing firms. And, though innovation is more common when industry dynamism is high, innovative firms are likely to enjoy revenue growth, irrespective of the industry in which they operate. The research also shows that firm knowledge, industry dynamism and innovation interact in the way they influence firm performance. A highly skilled workforce is most beneficial to firm performance in dynamic environments, while firms in stable manufacturing industries benefit more from investments in training.     

The Influence of Consumers’ Cognitive and Psychographic Traits on Perceived Deception: A Comparison Between Online and Offline Retailing Contexts

In this article, we examine the role of several consumers’ cognitive and psychographic traits in their perceptions of retailers’ deceptive practices (perceived deception) and the different effects on perceived deception associated with online vis-à-vis in-store shopping. Building on theoretical models of persuasion in consumer behavior, we hypothesize that the antecedents of perceived deception in traditional settings are the same as those on the Internet, while the intensity of the impact of these antecedents differs between the online and the offline environment. Results suggest that the effects of individual’s cognitive traits (Internet-based information search and perceived Internet usefulness) and risk aversion on perceived deception are more relevant when consumers shop online than when they purchase from traditional stores. Conversely, psychographic traits (shopping enjoyment and materialism) play a more important role in explaining perceived deception in the traditional shopping context as compared to the online channel. Several theoretical and managerial implications are derived from these findings.     

Entrepreneurial proclivity: its environmental conditions and growth consequences

To contribute to the entrepreneurial marketing (EM) literature, this study investigates how business unit growth relates to environmental risks and rewards (i.e., environmental dynamism and market growth rate) and three facets of entrepreneurial proclivity (i.e., innovativeness, risk-taking, and proactiveness). The authors find that perceived environmental dynamism has a direct and positive influence on strategic business units' innovativeness and proactiveness. Moreover, this study explores the interplay between the risk and reward facets of the market environment and reveals that firms are most likely to adopt EM strategies in a high-growth, highly dynamic business environment. The results also show that whereas the industry growth rate promotes a firm's market expansion, but not market sustention, the firm's innovativeness and proactiveness positively influence both market expansion and sustention.     

The impact of management capability on the resource-performance linkage: Examining Indian outsourcing providers

The increase in offshore outsourcing of information technology-enabled business processes has renewed scholarly attention to better understand the dynamics of service provider firms. In this study, we examine how offshore outsourcing service providers’ internal and relational resources and capabilities jointly predict their economic performance. Analysis of data collected from a sample of 105 Indian service providers suggest that rent generation from firm-specific, idiosyncratic resources is positively moderated by the level of management capability possessed by such firms. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed and avenues of future research are offered.     

How market orientation and outsourcing create capability and impact business performance

For most firms, developing the capability to compete and perform is crucial. The literature suggests that market orientation and outsourcing are two such sources for building capabilities in the marketplace. However, the relative contribution of market orientation and outsourcing to capability and superior business performance is unclear. To bring clarity, two pathways through which market orientation and outsourcing build capability and enhance business performance are proposed. Using data from foreign and Indian firms, the results indicate that both market orientation and outsourcing contribute to building capability, and that outsourcing further contributes to business performance. Also, it was discovered that low‐risk market‐oriented and high‐risk outsourcing firms experienced a positive impact on business performance. The implication of these results for managers is that market orientation and outsourcing can be complementary tools in their efforts to build capability, enhance business performance, and manage risky environmental conditions. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

社会情感财富与家族企业国际化：环境动态性的调节效应研究

文章基于浙江和重庆制造业家族企业的问卷调查数据,采用因子分析和多元回归分析方法,对中国情境下的家族企业社会情感财富进行了直接测量,并探讨了社会情感财富对家族企业国际化的影响及国内行业环境动态性的调节效应,研究结果表明：中国家族企业社会情感财富可区分为家族控制、家族认同、社会资本、家族代际传承意愿4个不同方面;家族代际传承意愿对家族企业国际化有显著的正向影响,社会资本对家族企业国际化有显著的负向影响;随着国内行业环境动态性的增加,家族代际传承意愿对家族企业国际化的正向影响程度减弱,社会资本对家族企业国际化的负向影响程度增强。     

Effect of climate-related risk on the costs of bank loans: Evidence from syndicated loan markets in emerging economies

Based on a novel dataset that combined syndicated loans originated in the emerging market economies with greenhouse gas emission intensity data of borrowers, this study examines whether and to what extent banks in these emerging markets have factored in climate transition risk in their lending decisions. On loan pricing, our results suggest that banks in these emerging markets have started to price-in climate transition risk for loans to emissions-intensive sector since the Paris Agreement. This could reflect their increased awareness of a climate-transition risk towards such firms. The extent of the transition risk premium is also found to be dependent on the environmental attitude of banks. Specifically, green banks are found to charge a higher loan spread than other banks, when lending to the same brown firm after the Paris Agreement. Apart from pricing a transition risk premium in the loan spread, we find evidence that banks may also consider imposing more stringent non-pricing contractual terms, such as shortening loan tenor and imposing collateral requirement, on brown firms especially when the associated credit risk impacts on these firms are more uncertain.     

Ownership effects on direction of multinationality: Evidence from Indian EMNEs

An essential yet challenging decision that emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) must make when setting up a subsidiary abroad is whether to do it in developed or emerging market economies. The extant literature has rarely probed what influences the location choice of EMNEs' outward investments. This paper aims to address this gap and hypothesizes that large shareholdings by promoters or foreign institutional investors negate agency problems (due to managerial risk aversion) and enhance the propensity to pursue risky but value-accrediting upmarket strategies. Furthermore, this paper argues that these beneficial effects of large owners are significantly weaker for group-affiliated firms compared to their standalone counterparts. We test our proposed hypotheses using a proprietary, longitudinal dataset during 2007–2013 for 213 Indian multinational firms and find support for our arguments.     

The performance implications of outsourcing customer support to service providers in emerging versus established economies

Recent discussions in the business press query the contribution of customer-support outsourcing to firm performance. Despite the controversy surrounding its performance implications, customer-support outsourcing is still on the rise, especially to emerging markets. Against this backdrop, we study under which conditions customer-support outsourcing to providers from emerging versus established economies is more versus less successful. Our performance measure is the stock-market reaction around the outsourcing announcement date. While the stock market reacts, on average, more favorably when customer-support is outsourced to providers located in emerging markets as opposed to established economies, approximately 50% of the outsourcing firms in our sample experience negative abnormal returns. We find that the shareholder-value implications of customer-support outsourcing to emerging versus established economies are contingent on the nature of the customer support that is being outsourced and on the nature of the outsourcing firm. Customer-support outsourcing to emerging markets is less beneficial for services that are characterized by personal customer contact and high knowledge embeddedness than for customer-support services that involve impersonal customer contact and are low on knowledge embeddedness. Firms higher in marketing resource intensity and larger firms benefit more from outsourcing customer-support services to emerging markets than firms lower in marketing resource intensity and smaller firms.     

An empirical investigation of the antecedents and performance outcomes of export innovativeness

The present study develops and empirically tests a conceptual model of the organizational, strategic, and environmental drivers of export innovativeness. The relationship between export innovativeness and export performance is also examined. Using data collected from 168 small- and medium-sized direct exporters, we find that decentralization in decision making, export market orientation, information exchange and export market dynamism have a significant influence on exporting firms’ degree of innovativeness. Furthermore, export innovativeness has a significant positive effect on export performance. Several theoretical and managerial implications are derived from these findings. Directions for future research are also provided.     

Organizational Learning: An Empirical Assessment of Process in Small U.K. Manufacturing Firms

Organizational learning is increasingly being mentioned in the literature as a mechanism for assisting small firm survival. There exists, however, limited empirical evidence to validate the benefits claimed for the concept. A survey of small U.K. manufacturing firms was undertaken to ascertain whether entrepreneurial firms use higher-order (or double-loop) learning. Additional research aims included assessing whether organizational learning confers information management advantages and contributes to the upgrading of managerial competencies. The results suggest entrepreneurial firms do utilize higher-order learning and are able to manage information more effectively than non-entrepreneurial firms. Some evidence was found to support the view that higher-order learning influences certain managerial competencies. The implications of these findings are discussed and proposals presented on the needs for further research     

Trade and Innovation in Services: Evidence from a Developing Economy

Studies on innovation and international trade have traditionally focused on manufacturing because neither was seen as important for services. Moreover, the few existing studies on services focus only on industrial countries, even though in many developing countries services are already the largest sector in the economy and an important determinant of overall productivity growth. Using a recent firm‐level innovation survey for Chile to compare the manufacturing and ‘tradable’ services sector, this paper reveals some novel patterns. First, even though services firms have on average a much lower propensity to export than manufacturing firms, services exports are less dominated by large firms and tend to be more skill intensive than manufacturing exports. Second, services firms appear to be as innovative as – and in some cases more innovative than – manufacturing firms, in terms of both inputs and outputs of ‘technological’ innovative activity, even though services innovations more often take a ‘non‐technological’ form. Third, services exporters (like manufacturing exporters) tend to be significantly more innovative than non‐exporters, with a wider gap for innovations close to the global technological frontier. These findings suggest that the growing faith in services as a source of both trade and innovative dynamism may not be misplaced.     

External Determinants and Financial Outcomes of an Eco‐friendly Orientation in Smaller Manufacturing Firms

With the significant growth of problems relating to the natural environment, an increasing number of firms are engaged in environmentally friendly activities. This paper reports the results of a study conducted among 153 small‐sized manufacturing units located in Cyprus, focusing on the external drivers and financial outcomes of their eco‐friendly orientation. The findings confirmed the instrumental role of environmental regulations, environmental public concern, competitive intensity, and market dynamism in harnessing an eco‐friendly orientation within the small firm. They also underline the critical role of this orientation in enhancing the firm's financial results, although this link was found to be stronger when the firm possesses adequate resources and capabilities committed to environmental activities. Our study contributes to the literature by putting together, in a theoretically anchored, integrative, and causal fashion, concepts and ideas that touch upon important aspects of small firms' environmental behavior that have been only tangentially studied in the past, namely the role of external forces in stimulating sensitivity to green issues, the dynamics of forming an ecological orientation within the organization, the positive link between eco‐friendly thinking and financial performance, and the importance of supporting ecological actions with appropriate organizational resources/capabilities. Critical implications for small business managers and public policymakers are also derived from the study findings.