The variable effects of dynamic capability by firm size: the interaction of innovation and marketing capabilities in competitive industries

Although investments in marketing and innovation capabilities theoretically help firms to compete in dynamic markets and enhance performance, company size has a strong influence on whether this is the case. In a test of a proposed conceptual model, this study of 692 small, medium, and large enterprises found that large firms prospered from building dynamic capabilities under conditions of high industry competitiveness, while investments in innovation and marketing individually diminished small firms’ performance. The effect was mixed for medium-size firms. In small enterprises, however, dynamic capability proved to be crucial in order to withstand competition. Therefore, taking into account these firms’ limited resources, managerial efforts should be focused on the integration of marketing and innovation capabilities, because each capability alone does not have a significant positive impact on performance. In medium-sized enterprises, the support of marketing capability is required to raise profitability under conditions of high industry competitiveness; otherwise, innovation would not lead to actual profits. For large enterprises, industry competitiveness was found to be a less serious threat to performance, and instead is a catalyst to the development of capabilities, suggesting that managers of such firms should focus on building long-term strategic advantages.     

Strategic entrepreneurship and competitive advantage of established firms: evidence from the digital TV industry

Although strategic entrepreneurship in established firms is recognized as a vital source of sustainable competitive advantage, this field has no clearly developed research paradigm. This study proposes a conceptual framework to investigate dimensions of strategic entrepreneurship and its function in sustainable competitive advantage of established firms in a modern volatile environment, through the lens of the dynamic capability view. By conducting a systematic literature review of previous research documents and considering conceptual interrelationships between strategic entrepreneurship and dynamic capabilities, we propose categories that comprise dimensions of a firm’s strategic entrepreneurship: environmental sensing, opportunity seizing, strategic flexibility, entrepreneurial orientation and organizational learning. We establish a conceptual framework of strategic entrepreneurship in which entrepreneurs’ managerial capabilities of environmental sensing, opportunity seizing, strategic flexibility and entrepreneurial orientation closely interact with organizational learning, thereby facilitating sustainable performance of established firms. Following empirical studies of established firms in the digital TV manufacturing industry, the proposed conceptual framework suggests that each dimension of strategic entrepreneurship plays a critical role in competitive advantage of firms. In addition, case study results indicate that a firm’s position and evolutionary path form antecedent factors influencing entrepreneurs’ managerial capabilities and organizational learning of established firms.     

Towards risk-aware roadmapping: Influencing factors and practical measures

In spite of the significance of uncertainty and risk in strategy, there is still a general lack of attention to their explicit consideration in strategic planning processes. This lack of attention is also obvious in roadmapping in its application to strategic and innovation planning. This paper introduces and explores the concept of risk-aware roadmapping, which explicitly manages uncertainty and risk in roadmapping, and sheds light on what such a process will entail given the factors that influence it. The study adopts a qualitative approach involving in-depth interviews with roadmapping experts and case studies of roadmapping exercises. This paper contributes to knowledge by providing a process that adds three significant steps to the standard risk management process, to suit roadmapping and strategic front-end innovation planning and identifying the risk of missing valuable innovation opportunities, which is very often overlooked in practice. Theoretical implications for organisational sensemaking are identified especially in the use and management of constraints for sensemaking activities such as innovation planning.     

Strategic marketing practices and the performance of Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan

This paper reports on a survey of the strategic marketing practices of 218 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan. The survey's results indicate that while the higher performing Taiwanese SMEs give a higher priority to marketing than to other business functions in corporate planning, they are still sales- or production-oriented. The higher performing Taiwanese SMEs are more aware of strategic planning tools, but they make less use of them. They compete with value-added products and good buyer-seller relationships. The findings suggest that broad, small firm marketing principles, specifically generated from countries in the West, to some extent contribute to the success of Taiwanese SMEs. Interestingly, however, the specific marketing practices of these small firms are different from those of their Western counterparts. The research results provide additional evidence to support the theory that both Chinese cultural value orientations and mediating environmental factors play significant roles in shaping the attitudes and behaviour of Taiwanese owner-managers and, in turn, the marketing practices of Taiwanese SMEs.     

Shaping the organisational context for corporate entrepreneurship and performance in Iran: the interplay between social context and performance management

Abstract

Prior research highlighted the importance of an organisational context stimulating autonomous behaviour when trying to increase levels of corporate entrepreneurship. From a social exchange perspective, we argue that firms in developing countries need to complement such supportive practices with performance-oriented practices. Our findings indicate that Iranian firms with an organisational context characterised by an interaction of social context and performance management have more engagement in corporate entrepreneurship, and that corporate entrepreneurship mediated the relationship between the organisational context and firm performance. This provides a better understanding of the way firms in developing economies can shape their organisational context to promote corporate entrepreneurship in order to achieve better firm performance.     

Marketing in SMEs: the role of entrepreneurial sensemaking

Marketing literature has emphasized the factors hampering marketing planning and strategizing in small firms, in particular resource scarcity, lack of specialized structures and competences. Recent streams of literature in entrepreneurial marketing have nonetheless shown that small firms do engage in peculiar marketing strategies and activities that do not necessarily reflect codified processes observed in large organizations. Within this line of research, the article aims at contributing to extant theory in entrepreneurial marketing placing under scrutiny the generative moments of marketing strategies in small firms. Through the integration of literature in entrepreneurial marketing and in entrepreneurship and through the analysis of four case studies, the article proposes a conceptual framework that emphasizes the centrality of entrepreneurial sensemaking in small and medium-sized enterprises?? marketing strategies. We posit that entrepreneurs are engaged in the construction of interpretive frameworks that, when explicated and made accessible to consumers and stakeholders, legitimate novel business ideas and logics. These interpretive frameworks structure the content and processes of marketing activities. Theoretically, the article aims at contributing to the debate on marketing in small businesses shedding light on the processes underlying the formation of marketing strategies. Propositions are offered to guide future empirical research based on the proposed conceptual framework.     

The experience of work in India's domestic call centre industry

The strategic importance of human resources and their contribution to the effectiveness of business firms are receiving increasing recognition worldwide. In this study, I examine different approaches to human resource management (HRM) practices for business firms in different performance categories. Findings obtained from a study of 315 firms in Taiwan demonstrate that organizational performance is significantly related to the management of such human resource functions as planning, staffing, appraisal, compensation, and training and development. The results also indicate that successful firms are often those that adopt a highly effective approach to the management of their human resources.     

Strategic human resource management and inertia in the corporate entrepreneurship of a multinational enterprise

Abstract

Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) supports sustained competitive advantage through the continuous exploration and exploitation of new sources of knowledge. With an emphasis on combining knowledge in new configurations, strategic human resource management (HRM) activities are core to these entrepreneurial endeavours. We explore how strategic HRM activities may facilitate and impede CE through a rich, qualitative case study of three local entities within a business unit of a large multinational enterprise facing business stagnation and low levels of corporate entrepreneurship. Responding to a call for more empirical research that probes the subtle and complex interactions between HRM activities and other organisational factors affecting CE, we identify a configuration of inter-dependent factors that mutually reinforce each other and sustain inertia in corporate entrepreneurship. We also make two novel contributions to theory by (1) elaborating the links between organisational process-orientation, strategic HRM and CE; and (2) refining to our current understanding of human competencies for CE.     

基于中小企业战略规划的战略能力研究

通过对辆外研究现状的梳理,根据企业能力理论和战略管理理论,从支撑企业战略的能力的角度上分析中小企业的发展规律.本研究主要是结合中小企业战略规划和战略能力的关系来研究识别、培育和提升中小企业的战略能力,使企业具有持续竞争优势,并不断做大做强,确保中小企业可持续发展,对于充分发挥中小企业的中坚力量作用,促进国民经济健康发展,具有重要的理论与现实意义.     

煤炭企业市场营销策略探析

煤炭企业的市场营销战略定位,必须综合考虑我国的宏观社会经济发展现状、行业环境和企业内部环境等多种因素来深入分析目标市场的变化特点,进而定位选择营销战略。文章深入剖析了煤炭企业营销现状,提出应该从加强人员管理、提高营销管理水平方面寻求突破和创新,为企业的营销战略规划指明方向。     

The strategic use of contingent workers in Hong Kong's economic upheaval

This research examines strategy in the use and purposes of contingent employment in four retail firms under different economic conditions in Hong Kong. Data from in‐depth qualitative case studies found that the four firms – three Japanese and one British – had different organisational responses to the economic conditions caused by the increase of sales before the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and the shrinkage of sales afterwards. One such response concerned the companies' employment policies, especially in their use of contingent workers. Some tended to have an ad hoc opportunistic approach to the use of contingent workers, while others were more strategic and incorporate long‐term planning in their labour utilisation strategy. Implications are drawn relating to companies' use of contingent employment to changes in the contextual environment regarding their long‐term development.     

Missing a strategic marketing trick? The use of online social networks by UK charities

• This paper explores the use of online social networks in the charity sector. Twelve major UK charities from a range of sectors and three digital marketing agencies were selected to provide rich interview data on the current adoption of online social networks by UK charities. The empirical findings illustrate the diverse drivers in adopting online social networks including regaining control of a brand, external pressures and gaining new audiences. Levels of usage differed significantly and the resistors consistently cited were the lack of skills and resources. The strategic marketing implications for the development of online social networks are also outlined for the UK charity market. The value provided by this paper stems from exploring the organisational perspective rather than the consumer experience of contributing to social networks, within a context which is often overlooked, the charity sector.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performative entrepreneurship: identity,behaviour and place in adventure sports Enterprise

This research explores entrepreneurial identity and place in adventure sports within the emerging field of sports entrepreneurship. A growing body of literature has established the broad parameters of sports entrepreneurs mainly within the fitness sector. This study applies a performative entrepreneurship lens to explore the embedded nature of identity, behaviour and place amongst mountain bike (MTB) trainers and guides. This qualitative study is based around interviews with six trainers/guides conducted via online forums as well as participatory observations made on a group ride and of a communal response to the natural environment through trail building. Findings illustrate that unlike the fitness sector where there is a more established market and where entrepreneurs often move from employment to self-employment within the sector, the MTB adventure sports entrepreneur operates in a less formalised market resulting in less formal strategic planning. ‘Place’ is an important factor in the performative nature of enterprise in this study and it is clear that it is through lifestyle entrepreneurship that the individuals are ‘performing’ identity.

     

In what sense ‘regional development?’: entrepreneurship,underdevelopment and strong tradition in the periphery

This paper explores whether entrepreneurship can help less successful regions to improve their regional economic situation, without all the benefits that entrepreneurship brings when being ‘stripped out’ to more successful regions. The paper uses the idea that peripheral regions possess qualities of tradition and underdevelopment, and that these help to anchor new firms into these regions, resistant to their concentration in core regions. The paper explores whether particular entrepreneurial events can be regarded as ‘densifying’ the regional entrepreneurial environment, thereby making a positive contribution to its economic development. The paper explores the role of these negative anchors to the entrepreneurial events and the densification process by following a sequence of high-technology spin-out firms in the North East of England. Using a realist methodology attempting to interview all the firms within the sequence which could be found, the paper discovers that quite positive advantages exist within these negative qualities.The paper then considers whether these processes, such as plant closure, might drive entrepreneurship in all regions.     

移动商务成功关键因素分析

从分析移动商务的内涵及其意义入手,研究了影响移动商务发展的原因,并在此基础上提出移动商务走向成功的关键因素:移动商务战略规划、强大的技术支持、先进的营销手段。     

浅析网上书店的客户关系管理

本文以Amazon、BolChina及当当网上书店为例,从营销管理、销售管理和服务与技术支持三个方面进行CRM技术分析。相关的比较分析表明:CRM系统是网上书店提升客户满意度和忠诚度,增加企业利润和竞争力的关键所在。其CRM系统的理念、功能,对类似的网络零售业有极强的借鉴和启发作用。     

Strategic HRM and organisational learning in the Chinese private sector during second-pioneering

This study examines the relationship between strategic human resource management (HRM) and organisational learning in Chinese private firms during the second-pioneering stage, which involves a process of transition from ‘opportunism’ to ‘capability building’. It specifically examines how this relationship is influenced by environmental uncertainty and guanxi dependence. Using data from a face-to-face survey of 107 Chinese private firms, the findings show that strategic HRM has a positive effect on all four dimensions of organisational learning: knowledge acquisition, knowledge distribution, knowledge interpretation and organisational memory. In addition, task environmental uncertainty positively moderates the relationship between strategic HRM and organisational learning. However, the moderating effects of institutional environmental uncertainty and guanxi dependence on this relationship are not significant. These results highlight the importance of strategic HRM for organisational learning in uncertain task environments to promote organisational transition.     

金融危机下中国房地产企业战略调整能力——基于万科的案例研究

房地产泡沫和经济危机对中国房地产企业有着重要影响,本文采用案例研究方法考察房地产领先者万科公司在此背景下的战略调整能力,利用边缘竞争理论和企业家精神及战略领导力等理论,研究王石领导的万科有效进行企业战略调整能力。本文发现,企业家具有的战略执行力在动荡环境下能够发挥出更为前瞻性的作用。而房地产企业所具有的组织结构有序性和无序性结合,从资金、土地和营销方面获取过去优势、并为明天做准备的时间边缘平衡以及掌握开发的时间节拍,并通过布局的转化与过渡的时间节奏平衡,将推动企业有效应对危机。     

构筑企业营销力的战略营销研究

新环境下企业的竞争主要表现为营销力的竞争,而营销力的打造取决于企业的战略性思考。在瞬息万变的商业环境下,进行战略营销是企业打造其营销力,实现可持续发展的根本途径。本文提出了基于战略营销理念下的企业营销力模型,在比较分析传统营销和战略营销的基础之上,探讨了战略营销的内涵和模型。     

探讨我国第三方物流企业成长的营销战略问题

由于市场竞争和资源分散,我国第三方物流企业客户资源很不稳定,使处于幼苗状态的很多企业很难成长壮大。营销是现代企业在一定技术平台支撑基础上的管理重心．第三方物流作为市场营销的一个重要因素或者营销战略体系中的一个重要分支已经是许多类型的企业一个重要共识和利用的工具。物流影响企业市场营销的效果,它既是企业经济发展和市场扩张的制约因素,也是企业寻求利涡增长的一个突破点。