MNC-third world business unit performance: Application of strategic elements

MNC-Third World business undertakings have often faced disappointing results. Partly because of this, the environmental forces in the developing nations have become more constraint-ridden for the operation of multinational firms. In this article, proposals are made on how the results of business co-operation between MNCs and Third World regions may be improved by attempting to structure appropriate linkages among product/market choices, types of business agreements and generic strategy considerations.     

海尔的"人单合一"--来自丰田和戴尔的启发

从战略作用上看，“人单合一”是海尔为了成为真正的国际名牌而提出的一种新的国际化战略．也是其实现持续发展的新模式，从形成机理上看，“人单合一“是海尔市场链思想的深化．是“每一个人都是一个SBU”理念在广度和长度上的延伸。     

The trusted general manager and business unit performance: empirical evidence of a competitive advantage

Employee trust for the general manager is proposed as an internal organizational characteristic that provides a competitive advantage for the firm. This paper empirically examines the relationship between trust for a business unit's general manager and organizational performance. Trust was found to be significantly related to sales, profits and employee turnover in the restaurant industry. Managers who were either more or less trusted differed significantly in perceptions of their ability, benevolence and integrity. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Actions speak louder than modes: antecedents and implications of parent implementation capabilities on business unit performance

Firm boundaries and strategic execution affect the firm's ability to generate rents, grow, and survive. Boundaries are determined through governance mode choices, such as whether to make or buy a particular good or activity. While significant work has addressed the performance implications of this fit, less attention has been directed toward strategic execution, or implementation. In particular, the impact of corporate parents has been understudied. We suggest that parent‐level implementation capabilities of operating expertise gained through related experience and coordination from collocation combine with governance mode choices to jointly affect performance. By employing theories of organizational economics and testing predictions in casual dining chains, this paper unpacks the relationship between implementation, governance mode choice, and performance. Our findings suggest that parent capabilities may be more important than mode choice fit and that parent benefits are contingent upon mode choice and type of performance. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Examining a key corporate role: The influence of capital allocation competency on business unit performance

Research on the role of the corporate office in firm performance has focused on establishing how much performance variance can be attributed to a “corporate effect,” with little attention devoted to understanding how this influence occurs. In this study, we model capital allocation competency as a dynamic managerial capability and find that lower levels of allocation competency in the form of excess investment to business units with relatively poorer future prospects reduce business unit performance. We also find that market conditions affect performance implications of capital allocation—allocation competency is more salient in more competitive markets. These results enhance our understanding of how the corporate office influences business unit performance through its role in allocating capital across business units. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Corporate and industry effects on business unit competitive position

We partition the variances of market shares, which we use as surrogates for competitive position, of the business units of all public manufacturing companies available in the Trinet data base into industry factors, corporate parent‐specific factors, and business unit‐specific factors. Our results differ somewhat from Rumelt's (1991) , which decomposed variances in profitability. We find that corporate parent effects on market share are considerably greater than zero when lines of business are defined more narrowly, when small business units are included, and when firms are medium‐sized. Our results suggest that the relative importance of corporate, industry, and business unit effects depends on the types of criteria, such as the level of industry aggregation, whether small business units are included, and firm size, that are used to construct samples. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Measuring organizational performance in the absence of objective measures: The case of the privately-held firm and conglomerate business unit

Strategic management researchers often encounter problems obtaining objective measures of selected aspects of organizational performance that are reliable and valid. With privately-held firms, such data are frequently unavailable. With conglomerate business units, all or parts of such data are inextricably interwoven with corporate-wide data. This paper examines the usefulness of subjective performance measures, obtained from top management teams, when problems are encountered in obtaining accurate performance data.     

Strategic alignment and performance of market-seeking MNCs in China

This study explores the environment–strategy–performance relation of foreign firms, especially those with a market-seeking mandate, in China. The results indicate that the Analyzer orientation is best suited to the turbulent Chinese market, which has been undergoing an economic transition in recent years. There is also a significant difference in financial performance among market-seeking MNCs depending on strategic orientations, with the Analyzer orientation producing the highest performance. The Prospector and the Defender orientations lead to poor financial performance because of the mismatch with China's market, which is highly dynamic and complex. Our findings reiterate the importance of understanding local market traits and opportunities and developing proper strategic configurations for market-seeking MNC subsidiaries, especially in an emerging economy like China. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Product competence exploitation and exploration strategies: The impact on new product performance through quality and innovativeness

The ability to manage existing assets and capabilities (exploitation) and the development of new capabilities (exploration) are arguably among the most relevant new product success factors. However, while exploitation-related capabilities are based on certainties regarding the efficiency of a company, exploration-related capabilities require the analysis of new technologies and processes. In existing literature, there is a gap concerning the trade-off between the exploitation and exploration of competences. Based on the theoretical background of Resource Based Theory, Dynamic Capabilities Theory and Discovery and Creation Theory, a model is proposed to analyze this gap. In this study, which examines 197 manufacturing organizations, we build on the dualities of the two types of competences and their impact on speed-to-market and market performance. The findings indicate that the choice between exploitation and exploration depends on the goals of new product development. While exploitation increases product objective quality, exploration enhances product innovativeness to the firm. Furthermore, we found that both exploitation and exploration constitute important success factors when it comes to launching new products. Finally, moderate effects of competitive intensity and market turbulence are also examined. High levels of market turbulence improve the results of exploitation, while low levels of competitiveness may encourage exploration.     

Market orientation, guanxi, and business performance

The purpose of this research is to investigate the role of guanxi in the relation between market orientation (MO) and business performance (financial and strategic). In this study, based on prior findings, we have proposed that an interaction between MO and business guanxi is likely to be positively related to both financial and strategic performance. The interaction between MO and political guanxi is proposed to be negatively associated with financial and strategic performance. In this study we focus on the competitor orientation and interfunctional coordination of the MO components. Our findings advance the existing guanxi and MO-performance literature by revealing that; (a) business guanxi has both positive and negative effects on business performance (financial and strategic), (b) political guanxi has both positive and negative moderation effect on financial performance and a negative influence on strategic performance, (c) the alignment of guanxi and MO can be extended to the MO competitor and interfunctional coordination components, and (d) a proper match between guanxi and the MO elements is important. The outcomes of this study have implications for marketing managers and research concerning MO, guanxi, and business performance.     

Diversification strategies,business cycles and economic performance

Two major diversification strategies of firms are examined: diversification into related businesses and diversification into unrelated businesses. The first strategy attempts to exploit operating synergies. In the second, the firm attempts to gain financial benefits from its ability to increase leverage due to a greater stability of cash flows. The study utilizes a large sample affirms to assess empirically the benefits and costs of these two diversification strategies by developing a new measure of diversification across business cycles and economic sectors. This new measure is compared with Berry—Herfindahl type measures of total diversification and recent measures of diversification into related businesses. The results indicate that pure financial diversification is associated with (a) more stable cash flows, i.e. lower operating risk; (b) increased levels of leverage; and (c) lower profitability. These observations are in accord with the theory. We also reaffirm that firms which diversify into related businesses have, on the average, higher profitability than non-diversified firms, although these results are not always statistically significant.     

Product and environmental social performance: Varying effect on firm performance

Corporate social performance (CSP) consists of actions in different domains that vary in the information they provide stakeholders, and hence, in their effect on firm performance. To demonstrate this, the authors examine the impact of CSP on firm performance in two areas—the product and the environment, referred to as product social performance (PSP) and environmental social performance (ESP), respectively. PSP has a stronger positive impact on firm performance compared to ESP. The findings using disaggregated measures of PSP and ESP indicate negativity bias in that PSP weakness has a stronger negative impact on firm performance compared to PSP strength. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Innovativeness: Its antecedents and impact on business performance

In this study, we address three research questions: (1) Why are some industrial firms more innovative than others? (2) What effect does innovativeness has on business performance? (3) Does the linkage between innovativeness and business performance depend on the environmental context? Accordingly, we draw on various theoretical perspectives to develop hypotheses that propose market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, and learning orientation as key antecedents to innovativeness, as well as a direct relationship between innovativeness and business performance. A model is devised and tested that examines these relationships in general and in the context of varying market turbulence. Findings confirm the validity of the model and afford various insights on the role of market turbulence in the proposed relationships. Lastly, implications are offered on the antecedents and consequences of organizational innovativeness.     

Product configurator impact on product quality

More and more firms today rely on product configurators to more efficiently and effectively meet increasingly diverse customers’ needs. In literature, however, the discussion of the performance outcomes of product configurator use is limited and largely based on anecdotal evidence. Our paper contributes to fill this gap by developing and empirically testing hypotheses about the relationship between product configurator use and product quality. We find empirical support for the hypotheses that product configurator use improves product quality and that this relationship is negatively moderated by the difficulty for a company to determine the needs of its target market. We conclude by discussing implications of our findings for both research and practice.     

Strategy,strategy-making,and performance in a business game

In a recent study, Segev (1987) examined the relationships among strategy, strategy-making, and performance, focusing on the connection between two important typologies: Miles and Snow's (1978) concept of strategic types and Mintzberg's (1973) concept of strategy-making modes. The findings of that study clearly indicated links between the two, and partially supported propositions asserting the effects of the strategy/stategy-making fit on organizational performance. In the current study a business game served as the vehicle for examining this tripartite relationship. The two typologies were applied to the firms' in the game, and then an inquiry was made into the relationships between them. An hypothesis regarding the effect of fit on performance was tested, and the findings compared with previously reported empirical results.     

发电企业经营性能的探讨

本文分析了不同容量的火电机组及热电联产机组各自在电力市场中的优势,探讨了提高这些机组经营效益的可能性。     

Centralization of intragroup equity ties and performance of business group affiliates

Research summary : Although prior research has suggested that equity ties are important for business groups, less attention has been paid to the specific mechanisms through which equity ties create value. We develop a framework that specifies how centralization of intragroup equity ties affects the performance of group affiliates. We use the exogenous shock of the 2008 financial crisis and a difference‐in‐differences analysis of 51,730 observations of business group affiliates in Taiwan to show that centralization of equity ties enhances affiliate performance, but such effects weaken when the environment becomes turbulent. Moreover, we find that listed affiliates obtain fewer benefits from centralization than unlisted affiliates. Overall, our study deepens scholarly understanding of not only how groups create value, but also how value is differentially appropriated among affiliates. Managerial summary : Our research speaks directly to owner‐managers of business groups with respect to creating an optimal equity network structure that binds the affiliated firms of the group. Our findings suggest to managers that the overall structure of equity ties in a business group has major implications for the performance of the affiliate firms of the group, and the network structure within the group should be designed deliberately and thoughtfully on an on‐going basis. In particular, control through centralized equity ties is performance‐enhancing in normal periods, but such control may be counterproductive as turbulence increases in business environments, or as the number of listed group firms increases. Hence, owner‐managers may consider optimizing the network structure by lowering the degree of centralized equity ties under such circumstances, or at a minimum, lowering centralized control. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Product development in the chemical industry: A description of a maturing business

To help us understand the massive complexity of the chemical industry, Robert A. Linn breaks it down into product/market sectors that show differing business requirements, and hence, differing new product development requirements. This is an important industry that has struggled through the 1970s with sharp changes in external pressures and very little technological excitement. Where are the new product opportunities in an industry such as this? How do you pursue them? On the basis of his years of experience in the industry, Linn offers some suggestions and some challenges for managers.     

观感质量检查在单位工程的应用

针对修订的《建筑工程施工质量验收统一标准》(GB50300-2001)复制新标准中“单位(子单位)工程观感质量记录”表,评分标准不明确问题,提出辅助评分办法。     

Generic business strategies,organizational context and performance: An empirical investigation

Some of the common organizational requirements prescribed for generic business strategies of cost leadership and differentiation are empirically examined in a study consisting of 69 business units. The results suggest the fit between business unit strategy and the internal organization of multi-business companies does have an effect upon business unit performance.