Response to McGahan and Porter's commentary on ‘Industry,corporate and business‐segment effects and business performance: a non‐parametric approach’

In the comment on Ruefli and Wiggins (2003), a number of points are made supporting the variance component analysis approach to determining the importance of industry, corporate, and business segment factors on business segment performance. This response addresses in more detail the nature of the methodological and statistical assumptions made by variance components analysis or ANOVA and their implications for the ‘puzzling’ results obtained when these techniques are employed. The response then contrasts the variance‐based methodologies with a non‐parametric approach used in Ruefli and Wiggins (2003) that makes fewer and weaker assumptions and yields more robust and more internally consistent results. The response also examines the limitations of employing an autoregressive approach to measuring persistence of abnormal profits and contrasts it with a non‐parametric methodology presented in the article. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Is performance driven by industry‐ or firm‐specific factors? A response to Hawawini,Subramanian, and Verdin

Hawawini, Subramanian, and Verdin (2003) examined the relative impact of industry‐ vs. firm‐level factors shaping firm performance. They demonstrated that variance in firm performance attributable to industry‐level factors increases, while variance attributable t to firm‐level factors decreases when ‘exceptionally’ higher‐ and lower‐performing ‘outlier’ firms in each industry are excluded. They concluded that previous research underestimated the relative impact of industry‐level factors for ‘average’ firms that make up the bulk of an industry. We take issue with their methods used to identify and exclude outliers as well as their conclusions drawn from such analyses. Rather than excluding true ‘outlier’ firms, we argue that they incorporated an artificial restriction of within‐industry sample variance that almost deterministically led to lower firm and higher industry variance component estimates. We demonstrate this point with a comparable sample of data to which we apply progressively greater restrictions on within‐industry sample variance leading to similar results. Finally, we show that exclusion of firms from a data sample based on commonly understood standards of outlier identification leads to little change in industry and firm variance component estimates compared to full‐sample estimates. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Industry,corporate, and segment effects and business performance: a non‐parametric approach

The literature investigating the degree to which firm performance is associated with industry or corporate factors has recently been subject to criticism on the grounds of both methodological shortcomings and incomplete interpretation of results. Our research goes beyond these critiques to raise more basic issues concerning the assumptions underlying variance decomposition, the methodology dominating the antecedent literature. Performance data and categorizations from a sample consistent with those employed in the recent literature are analyzed via a new non‐parametric methodology. Results here indicate that corporate factors were over an order of magnitude better predictors of business unit profit position than were industry factors—which were found not to have been significant predictors. Further, underlying performance relationships were seen to have shifted over time. A key implication of these results for researchers is that they provide additional evidence that managers can have a strategic influence on business performance. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Managerial decision making and firm performance under a resource‐based paradigm

A framework is presented that connects managerial decision making to resource building and firm performance. The framework takes a behavioral view of decision making and distinguishes two distinct decision‐making processes. First there is the creative conceptualization of new resource configurations that are intended to deliver competitive advantage. Then there is the painstaking development of resources required to implement strategy. We argue that heterogeneity in the resources of rival firms arises from the interplay of these two processes: resource conceptualization and resource development. Heterogeneity spawns performance differences that can be explained ex ante from characteristics of managerial decision‐making processes. We illustrate the approach in a simulated decision‐making environment representing a highly competitive and dynamically complex industry. Results from repeated simulation experiments conducted with executive and MBA students show vast differences in performance among firms, even when they started with identical resource positions. In a departure from traditional resource‐based literature, we explain how these differences stem from path dependent accumulation of resources and spontaneous variety in the way rivals conceptualize resources. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Strategic resources and performance: a meta‐analysis

Resource‐based theory (RBT) has emerged as a key perspective guiding inquiry into the determinants of organizational performance. Since the early 1990s, numerous studies have examined RBT's assertion that the extent to which organizations possess strategic resources is positively related to performance. Although many studies appear to support this assertion, there is no consensus regarding how strongly strategic resources relate to performance. To help resolve this issue, we meta‐analyze 125 studies of RBT that collectively encompass over 29,000 organizations. Our conservative estimate is that the effect size of the strategic resources–performance relationship is r?_c = 0.22. Moderator tests suggest that the resources‐performance link is stronger (1) when resources meet the criteria laid out in RBT and (2) for those performance measures that are not affected by potential value appropriation. When resources meet RBT's criteria and when performance measures are not affected by potential appropriation, the strength of the relationship grows to r?_c = 0.29. This suggests that the identification, development, and distribution of value from strategic resources should be a primary consideration for scholars, managers, and shareholders. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Resource ambidexterity through alliance portfolios and firm performance

Research summary : Partner resources can be an important alternative to internal firm resources for attaining dual and seemingly incompatible strategic objectives. We extend arguments about managing conflicting objectives typically made at the firm level to the level of a firm's alliance portfolio. Specifically, will a balance between revenue enhancement and cost reduction attained collectively through partner resources accessed via a firm's various alliances be similarly beneficial for firm performance? Additionally, how do strategic attributes of alliance portfolio configuration, specifically alliance portfolio size and partner resource scope, condition the balance‐performance relationship? Based on data from the global airline industry, we find support for the balance‐performance relationship, though such balance is less beneficial for firms in the case of access to a broader resource scope per partner . Managerial summary : Increasing revenue and reducing costs simultaneously can potentially enhance firm competitiveness. We highlight that an alliance strategy can be an important alternative to internal resources for attaining such dual strategic objectives, particularly when partner resources accessed through alliances are treated collectively as portfolios. We examine the importance of balancing product‐market extending and efficiency‐improving partner resources in the global airline industry as well as the impact of two alternate strategies for accessing resources through alliances: fewer partners with more resources per partner or more partners with fewer resources per partner. We find that resource balance at the portfolio level helps airlines improve performance. Our results also suggest that managers should be cautious of accessing too many resources through just a few partners . Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intra‐industry diversification and firm performance

We study how intra‐industry product diversity affects firm performance by analyzing the implications of expanding a firm's product line within its core business. We conjecture that increases in product diversity initially undermine performance because of negative transfer effects but then improve it due to economies of scope. We further theorize that this U‐shaped effect of product diversity becomes more pronounced as the firm increases the intensity of its technology investment, yet is likely to be attenuated by the firm's accumulated experience with intra‐industry diversification. Data on 156 U.S.‐based software firms operating from 1990 to 2001 furnish support for these conjectures. Our study advances emerging research on intra‐industry diversification by underscoring some of its contingent performance effects. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An empirical examination of transaction‐ and firm‐level influences on the vertical boundaries of the firm

A large literature has successfully employed transaction cost economic theory to describe how exchange conditions affect the optimal form of organization. However, this approach has historically not accounted for the influence of firm‐specific attributes on the governance decision. This paper develops a model based on insights from transaction cost economics, the resource‐based view, and real options theory to examine how transaction‐level characteristics, firm‐specific capabilities, and product‐market scope influence the governance of production. Empirical evidence derived from analysis of 469 make‐or‐buy decisions involving 117 semiconductor firms indicates that decisions regarding the governance of production activities are strongly influenced by both transaction‐ and firm‐level effects. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Value,rareness, competitive advantage,and performance: a conceptual‐level empirical investigation of the resource‐based view of the firm

The resource‐based view of the firm (RBV) hypothesizes that the exploitation of valuable, rare resources and capabilities contributes to a firm's competitive advantage, which in turn contributes to its performance. Despite this notion, few empirical studies test these hypotheses at the conceptual level. In response to this gap, this study empirically examines the relationships between value, rareness, competitive advantage, and performance. The results suggest that value and rareness are related to competitive advantage, that competitive advantage is related to performance, and that competitive advantage mediates the rareness‐performance relationship. These findings have important academic and practitioner implications which are then discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Empirical research on the resource‐based view of the firm: an assessment and suggestions for future research

The resource‐based view (RBV) is one of the most widely accepted theories of strategic management. However, to date no systematic assessment of the RBV's level of empirical support has been conducted. In response, a sample of RBV‐grounded empirical articles was analyzed from which it was found that the RBV has received only modest support overall and that this support varies considerably with the independent variable and theoretical approach employed. It is therefore suggested that scholars avoid the tendency to test models reflecting early incarnations of the RBV and instead test those that incorporate its more contemporary theoretical extensions. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of within‐industry diversification on firm performance: synergy creation,multi‐market contact and market structuration

This paper examines the effect of diversification upon intra‐industry performance. We propose that intra‐industry diversification promises three sets of benefits, which, separately and in combination, provide firms with a competitive advantage: synergies arising from economies of scope; premiums from mutual forbearance enabled by multi‐market competition; and efficiencies derived from market structuration. The additive and integrative effects of the first two have not been explored. The benefits of market structuration remain untheorized and thus untested. The test of our theoretical model in the Canadian general insurance industry indicates that mutual forbearance provides advantage under specified conditions, that market structuration also provides advantages, but that diversification per se does not. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Market orientation,job satisfaction,product quality,and firm performance: evidence from China

This article examines the processes by which market orientation (MO) affects performance using a cross‐level approach. The results of a survey of 2,754 employees from 180 firms in China show that organization‐level MO culture leads to unit‐level MO behavior, which improves employee‐level job satisfaction and then product quality, which in turn fosters organizational performance. In particular, MO behavior fully mediates the effects of MO culture on employee satisfaction, product quality, and organizational performance. Leadership quality strengthens the effect of MO culture on unit‐level MO behavior. Moreover, MO behavior enhances firm performance indirectly through employee job satisfaction and product quality. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of opportunities and founder experience on new firm performance

Much prior research in entrepreneurship has focused on the role of the founder's knowledge in affecting new firm performance. Yet, little is known about how and why the entrepreneurial opportunity itself shapes outcomes in this arena. We begin filling in this critical gap in the literature by examining how the riskiness of the opportunity not only affects start‐up performance, but also conditions the relevance of the founder's distinct knowledge endowments. Analyses of a sample of 451 new firms show that the riskier the opportunity, the greater the performance of the start‐up, above and beyond founder characteristics. Moreover, the value of founder knowledge is relative to the type of opportunity exploited: high‐risk opportunities favor founders with managerial experience, whereas low‐risk opportunities favor founders with industry experience. 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.     

The risk‐return paradox for strategic management: disentangling true and spurious effects

The concept of risk is central to strategy research and practice. Yet, the expected positive association between risk and return, familiar from financial markets, is elusive. Measuring risk as the variance of a series of accounting‐based returns, Bowman obtained the puzzling result of a negative association between risk and mean return. This finding, known as the Bowman paradox, has spawned a remarkable number of publications, and various explanations have been suggested. The present study contributes to this literature by showing that skewness of individual firm' return distributions has a considerable spurious effect on the empirically estimated mean‐variance relationship. I devise a method to disentangle true and spurious effects, illustrate it using simulations, and apply it to empirical data. It turns out that the size of the spurious effect is such that, on average, it explains the larger part of the observed negative relationship. My results might thus help to reconcile mean‐variance approaches to risk‐return analysis with other, ex‐ante, approaches. In concluding, I show that the analysis of skewness is linked to all three streams of literature devoted to explaining the Bowman paradox. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A resource‐based view of manufacturing strategy and the relationship to manufacturing performance

This paper examines manufacturing strategy from the perspective of the resource‐based view of the firm. It explores the role of resources and capabilities in manufacturing plants that cannot be easily duplicated, and for which ready substitutes are not available. Such resources and capabilities are formed by employees' internal learning based on cross‐training and suggestion systems, external learning from customers and suppliers, and proprietary processes and equipment developed by the firm. Based on data from 164 manufacturing plants, the paper empirically demonstrates that competitive advantage in manufacturing (as measured by superior plant performance) results from proprietary processes and equipment which, in turn, is driven by external and internal learning. The implication is that resources such as standard equipment and employees with generic skills obtainable in factor markets are not as effective in achieving high levels of plant performance, since they are freely available to competitors. The paper also demonstrates the important role of internal and external learning in developing resources that are imperfectly imitable and difficult to duplicate. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experience and scale and scope economies: trade‐offs and performance in development

This paper examines how knowledge created by firm experience (learning economies) and scale and scope economies affect performance in firms' development activities. The empirical results suggest that each factor has a significant effect on development performance. Moreover, knowledge that results from greater experience within a particular technological area, when combined with knowledge spillovers from greater scope in other technological areas, significantly improves development performance. The results suggest that experience shapes and facilitates firms' abilities to absorb knowledge spillovers. Our empirical findings thus provide a more nuanced examination of the drivers of performance and have implications for the management of firms' development activities. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing the effects of mergers and acquisitions on firm performance,plant productivity,and workers: newl evidence from matched employer‐employee data

Empirical studies of mergers and acquisitions typically focus on firm‐level financial performance. In contrast, we use human capital theory to model these events as transactions that simultaneously have cross‐level, real effects on workers, plants, and firms. Our empirical analysis is based on longitudinal, linked employer‐employee data for virtually all Swedish manufacturing firms and employees. We find that mergers and acquisitions enhance plant productivity, although they also result in the downsizing of establishments and firms. Firm performance does not decline in the aftermath of these ownership changes. We conclude that such transactions constitute a mechanism for improving the sorting and matching of plants and workers to more efficient uses. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Product‐market strategy and the marketing capabilities of the firm: impact on market effectiveness and cash flow performance

We report on two studies (a single and a multi‐industry) that empirically investigate a nomological network of relationships between strategic business unit product‐market strategy (differentiation, cost‐focus, and product‐market scope), marketing capabilities (architectural and specialized capabilities, as well as their integration), and business unit performance (market effectiveness and subsequent one‐year objective cash flow), along with a series of controls. Addressing important lacunae in the resource‐based view our main research objective is to augment understanding of how critical firm‐level marketing capabilities enable the realization of strategy, thus, further advancing both the resource‐based view and more recent capabilities theorizing. Specifically, we test seven hypotheses and find strong evidence that both architectural and specialized marketing capabilities, and their integration, positively mediate the product‐market strategy and derived business unit performance relationship. In contrast to many extant studies, both survey and objectively measured data are combined, and because the secondary data collected contains both resource‐level (input) data and subsequent one‐year financial data, a higher level of confidence may be attributable to our findings. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Firm‐specific knowledge resources and competitive advantage: the roles of economic‐ and relationship‐based employee governance mechanisms

The resource‐based view of the firm emphasizes the role of firm‐specific resources, especially firm‐specific knowledge resources, in helping a firm to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. However, the deployment of firm‐specific knowledge often requires key employees to make specialized human capital investments that are not easily redeployable to other settings. Thus, in the absence of effective safeguards and trust building devices, employees with foresight may be reluctant to make such specialized investments. This study explores both economic‐ and relationship‐based governance mechanisms that might mitigate this underinvestment problem. Effective use of these governance mechanisms enables a firm to obtain greater performance from its efforts to deploy firm‐specific knowledge resources. Empirical results further support these key arguments. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.