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.     

Venture capital financing,strategic alliances,and the initial public offerings of Internet startups

This study examines how Internet startups' venture capital financing and strategic alliances affect these startups' ability to acquire the resources necessary for growth. Using the initial public offering (IPO) event as an early-stage measure for Internet startups' performance and controlling for the IPO market environment, this study found that three factors positively influenced a startup's time to IPO: the better the reputations of participating venture capital firms and strategic alliance partners were, the more money a startup raised, and the larger was the size of a startup's network of strategic alliances.     

Training strategic thinking: Experimental evidence

Strategic behavior is crucial for strong firm performance, especially in competitive environments. Thus, designing a good strategy is a key issue for firms. Designing a strategy requires a combination of strategic thinking—which involves analyzing a firm's strategic environment, defining a vision of its future, and devising new ideas to out-think competitors – and strategic planning – which implies using these ideas to formulate a business plan. Although many firms excel at strategic planning, few devote enough resources to strategic thinking, which results in strategic insanity (i.e., firms repeatedly applying the same strategies with the expectation of different outcomes). To foster a strategic environment within a firm, firm managers and other workers must show willingness for active involvement in a firm's strategic decisions. Nevertheless, not everybody has the skills to do so, as many firms lack work force training programs. This study shows, experimentally, how training affects firms' strategic behavior. The starting point is two groups of individuals with initially equal qualifications who play in a sequential game whose rules hinder the calculation of equilibria. The members of only one of the groups previously receive a treatment entailing a process of training and learning that aims at fostering strategic thinking. The results point to a significant increase in the number of strategic decisions in the treatment group in sharp contrast to the control group, confirming the initial hypothesis (i.e., the positive impact of training).     

The entrepreneur's character,life issues,and strategy making: A field study

Although entrepreneurs seem to engage little in formal planning, strategy in entrepreneurial firms can exhibit identifiable patterns over time. The strategic orientations of such firms are particularly likely to reflect the priorities of their entrepreneurial CEOs. While researchers have looked at entrepreneurial traits in order to explain business start-ups and generic strategies, little attention has been paid to possible interactions between entrepreneurs' personal characteristics and the strategic options they choose to pursue. This study links entrepreneurs' strategy-making processes to their life issues, legacies of their past histories. Its finding suggests that an entrepreneurial firm will consistently pursue the strategic directions that most reflect the entrepreneur's set of life issues.     

Rationale of internationalization of China's national oil companies: seeking natural resources,strategic assets or sectoral specialization?

The bulk of the existing literature emphasized that China's companies sought strategic assets (technology, brands and access to markets) through internationalization in order to overcome latecomers' comparative disadvantage, while some studies suggested that these firms went after natural resources to address China's rising oil imports. The third argument (which we coin the ‘sectoral strength’ hypothesis) suggested that the upstream firms in extractive business would seek natural resources, whereas downstream ones would seek strategic assets. In this study, we examine the rationale of main overseas investment deals (‘going out’) of China's two largest national oil companies during 2002–2010 which were also China's top two non-financial firms with the largest outward investment stocks during 2004–2010. We conclude that these deals can be best explained by the ‘sectoral specialisation’ hypothesis supplemented with a consideration for strategic assets.     

Brand equity heterogeneity among strategic groups in service franchising

Independent franchisees work cooperatively with service franchisors to strengthen the franchisor's brand name. However, agency theory predicts that franchisor inputs such as brand names and operational routines might be harmed by franchisees' free riding. In addition, previous literature has addressed the issues of strategic group emergence and performance differences between groups in recent decades. Thus, this study builds upon an emerging symbiotic view of franchising behind agency theory and incorporates a strategic groups level of analysis to investigate whether franchisees have strong incentives to maintain standards as franchisor seeking market penetration. By investigating potential brand equity differences among service franchisors for Taiwanese telecommunications service chains, this study found that different strategic groups exist in service franchising chains. From replication testing, the current results demonstrate that service franchising brand equity heterogeneities exist among franchisors within and across strategic groups. Therefore, this study broadens agency theory's explanation of service franchising.     

Where the eyes go,the body follows?: Understanding the impact of strategic orientation on corporate social performance

This research seeks to address two questions with respect to firm corporate social performance (CSP): (1) “do different strategic orientations have differential impacts on a firm's overall CSP?”; and, if so, (2) “is there an effect of a firm's strategic orientation on the types of CSP that a firm implements?” Using a unique dataset that combines survey data on firms' strategic orientations for 115 US-based firms with CSP data from MSCI-ESG, we empirically examine the impacts on CSP levels of four different firm strategic orientations: customer, competitor, interfunctional coordination, and shareholder. Our empirical analysis demonstrates that (1) firms with a stronger orientation toward customers have higher levels of CSP overall, and (2) when firms have a stronger customer orientation, we find that the firm has higher CSP levels in domains dedicated toward secondary stakeholders, while firms with a stronger shareholder orientation exhibit higher levels of CSP dedicated toward primary stakeholders.     

Strategic customer development in China

With a population of 1.2 billion people, the People's Republic of China will be a driving economic force in the 21st century. This article will provide examples of the pertinent issues in any strategic customer development effort in China and discusses current sales, marketing and strategic customer development opportunities in China. The article is based on the author's visits and interviews at corporations and organizations including Motorola's offices in Tianjin and Beijing as recently as June 1996 and on the authors survey of various corporations and organizations conducting business in China and other global markets.     

What determines performance of cross‐border M&As by Chinese companies? An absorptive capacity perspective

Chinese companies are increasingly using cross‐border merger and acquisitions (M&As) as a vehicle to source knowledge or strategic assets, so as to enhance their competitive advantage. However, a critical question is: Can strategic assets be effectively acquired by Chinese firms, thereby leading to superior firm performance? This article addresses this fundamental question from an absorptive capacity perspective. This approach concentrates on how an acquiring firm's absorptive capacity influences its ability to identify, assimilate, integrate, and apply external new knowledge into commercial use. By comparatively examining two high‐profile international M&A deals completed by leading Chinese firms Lenovo and TCL, we argue that the performance of Chinese companies' overseas acquisitions is substantially affected by the acquiring firm's absorptive capacity at multiple dimensions, thus drawing strategic implications for multinationals in other emerging markets. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Arm's length and captive transactions: Patent-based view of control in internationalization

This conceptual paper responds to the need for examining the role of patent control over internationalization. It proposes the patent-based strategy of control, in other words, how 3Cs – complementarity, competitiveness, and conditions – impact the strategic decision on corporate control over the patent; thereby the option of commercialization between arm's length and captive transactions. It demonstrates the multiple theoretical natures of business strategies; emphasizes how strategic fit can impact the decision on control; addresses patents as intangible assets that form a comparative and competitive advantage rather than only as a legal right and that have bearing on strategic decision making. The paper proposes that the intention of high control over a patent drives the owner to opt for captive transactions; low control arm's length transactions. Nonetheless, the challenge lies before the decision is made; managers need to assess the ‘strategic fit’ elements that directly impact on the extent of control.     

以前瞻性技术预见等战略分析工具支撑关键核心技术的战略突破：集成电路领域案例

本文深入分析了国际半导体技术发展路线图（ITRS）在引领全球集成电路产业创新发展中的成功经验,旨在回答如何实现技术预见与产业战略发展和支撑政策制定过程深度融合,发挥技术预见等工具在不断修正对长期性、战略性领域未来发展趋势认识和支撑关键领域突破创新实践上的作用。在此基础上,对我国技术预见与前瞻性技术战略布局、政策制定的趋势发展提出三个思考：一是如何在国家产业技术创新政策决策过程提升战略与系统思维;二是有效整合技术预见与其他决策咨询工具支撑政策全过程;三是以技术预见为核心,构建政府产业技术创新决策咨询分布式网络体系。     

Configurations of strategic R&D decisions and financial performance in small-sized and medium-sized firms

This paper links the strategic decisions made in R&D during the financially turbulent period of 2009 to the firm's financial health in the period 2010–2013. The focus is on decisions made in R&D-active small and medium-sized enterprises in terms of absorptive capacity, open innovation, type of R&D, and the organizational structuring of R&D. Based on a representative set of R&D-active firms in Belgium, qualitative comparative analysis reveals that the outcomes in terms of financial performance related to optimal configurations of strategic R&D decisions depend on the firm's size and on the time-lag under consideration. Managers in small-sized firms are advised to pay particular attention to a more functionally-structured R&D approach in configurations of strategic R&D decisions. To increase medium-term financial performance, managers in medium-sized firms benefit from more engagement in research-oriented activities, more in-house innovation, and the enhancement of absorptive capacity in sets of strategic R&D decisions.     

The globalization of telcos: A normative view

As global forces are penetrating the local telephone markets, the authors argue that telcos are global by virtue of operating in such markets. The foreign expansion should aim at strengthening the home market's overall competitive position. Consequently, the strategic core needs to be clearly identified and offshore markets developed according to whether they are vital, critical, or only peripheral to the company's home base interests. Strategic anarchy must evolve into strategic hierarchy. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Surprendre positivement les clients : une tactique en marketing relationnel pour développer un avantage concurrentiel dans le secteur des services financiers

The turbulent environment in which financial institutions evolve motivates strategic thinking aimed at competitive advantage. Drawing from the literature on relationship marketing, one potentially successful strategy at the level of front line service is for financial advisors to behave in a pleasantly surprising way toward their clients (e.g., acknowledging a family member's birthday; covering a parking expense; giving tickets to an entertainment venue). We examine both antecedents and consequences of clients' perceptions of their advisors behaving in a pleasantly surprising way toward them. Antecedents included advisors' customer orientation, knowledge of client, and sense of humour. Consequences included clients' trust, satisfaction, purchase intentions, and word‐of‐mouth intentions. Several strategic recommendations and research avenues following from these findings are offered. Copyright © 2008 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Linking the formal strategic planning process,planning flexibility,and innovativeness to firm performance

This study explores the link between financial performance and the formal strategic planning process, planning flexibility, and innovativeness of 448 firms in a multi-industry sample. The results suggest that firms' formal strategic planning processes and planning flexibility are positively associated, and each is positively related to innovativeness. In addition, innovativeness fully mediates the relationships between firm performance and the formal strategic planning process and planning flexibility.     

我国海外国有投资面临国外安全审查的挑战及对策

21世纪以来,我国成为新兴的海外国有投资大国,但国有投资的国家战略目的及支持过于明显,因此我国的国有投资遭受了特别挑战。国家应对策略是,完善现代化企业治理体制,政企分开,国有企业在商业基础上经营,适当降低国有投资比例,减少海外国有投资的国家战略目的和财政支持等。我国国有投资者应对策略是,总结我国国有投资成功和失败的经验教训,参照国际准则组织运营国有投资,通过稀释控制权、放弃或降低敏感领域业务以及其他缓解措施,以降低或消除安全风险而通过审查。     

Environmental complexity,importance, variability and scanning behavior of Hong Kong executives

With the recent handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong executives face the challenge of formulating strategies in a very complex and uncertain environment. Using a sample of 55 Hong Kong Chinese executives, this study explored how executives' perceptions of their firm's external environment can affect their scanning behavior as measured by frequency and level of interest. Results indicated that executives intensified their scanning when perceived strategic importance of an environmental sector increased. Contrary to expectations, however, increased perceived environmental complexity did not decrease but increased executives scanning efforts of environmental sectors. No significant relationship was found between perceived strategic variability and scanning behavior.     

Age,order of entry,strategic orientation,and organizational performance

This paper proposes an empirical test of several hypotheses linking age, order of entry, and strategic orientations to a firm's performance. Three strategies are defined: cost-leadership strategy, innovative differentiation, and marketing differentiation. The aim is to show that the impact on performance of both age and each of the three strategic orientations may differ according to a firm's order of entry into an industry.Following Lieberman and Montgomery's (1998) evaluation of their major contribution on first mover advantage, we emphasize three points. First, we develop and test hypotheses related to early and late followers' strategic orientations, broadening the scope of traditional studies on pioneers. Second, the model combines the dimensions of a firm's age, order of entry, and strategic orientations, as well as industry conditions (stage of the industry, environmental unpredictability, and technology diffusion), to establish a contingent model of performance analysis. Finally, the empirical study deals chiefly with organizational performance and not market share, which is considered a typical advantage accruing to pioneers.In addition, the scope of the study (582 French manufacturing firms) provides the means to fill a void in empirical studies because it is a broad cross-sectional test on non-U.S. data. The firms are mainly private, small to medium-sized, and single or dominant business firms. Therefore, our assumptions must be understood as particularly applicable to this type of firm.The results reveal important lessons for practitioners. First, we did not find a first-mover advantage in terms of organizational performance. In addition, pioneers' organizational performance is enhanced by the cost leader strategy—contrary to our assumption emphasizing innovative differentiation for these firms. Second, early followers' performance benefits from innovative differentiation and marketing differentiation. Finally, late entrants developing a cost leader strategy have a significantly higher performance. All groups considered, late followers are the firms most sensitive to environmental uncertainty and age effects.Our study clarifies the impact of a firm's age and strategic orientations on its performance depending on the firm's order of entry. The implications of these results are particularly relevant for practitioners and entrepreneurs. First, a cost leadership strategy seems to be a guarantee for a pioneer to increase its organizational performance. New ventures should therefore take into consideration the fact that newness and innovative differentiation might not be the best strategic orientations for high performance in the long run. Second, as a second mover, however, developing a superior product and being able to market it efficiently appear to be the enhancing factors of firm performance. Third, for both pioneers and early followers, age does not significantly reduce their performance. However, the longer a firm waits before entering, the greater is the negative effect of age on its performance. This is due to the difficulty of resisting competitive erosion, because pioneers and early followers drive the changes in the industry. The identification of these effects should help managers and stakeholders to make more effective entry decisions to sustain a firm's advantage, leading to better performance and higher probability of survival.     

Pleasantly surprising clients: a tactic in relationship marketing for building competitive advantage in the financial services sector

The turbulent environment in which financial institutions evolve motivates strategic thinking aimed at competitive advantage. Drawing from the literature on relationship marketing, one potentially successful strategy at the level of front line service is for financial advisors to behave in a pleasantly surprising way toward their clients (e.g., acknowledging a family member's birthday; covering a parking expense; giving tickets to an entertainment venue). We examine both antecedents and consequences of clients' perceptions of their advisors behaving in a pleasantly surprising way toward them. Antecedents included advisors' customer orientation, knowledge of client, and sense of humour. Consequences included clients' trust, satisfaction, purchase intentions, and word‐of‐mouth intentions. Several strategic recommendations and research avenues following from these findings are offered. Copyright © 2008 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An empirically based operational definition of strategic purchasing

To develop an empirically based operational definition of strategic purchasing, a definition was first developed from the current literature. The definition was tested by first developing a model based on the current literature in the strategic management and strategic purchasing literature. The model resulted in four hypotheses. To test the hypotheses, survey responses from 739 firms were analyzed. Each of the following factors were positively related to the level of strategic purchasing as defined from the literature: status of the purchasing function; purchasing knowledge and skills; purchasing's willingness to take risks, and; purchasing resources. Therefore, it was concluded that the definition was valid and could include the four underlying characteristics.