Human resource management and business strategy links: an empirical study

Over recent years there has been an increasing interest in the field of human resource management. Currently, the literature encourages the consideration of human resources as strategic factors, not only because they play important role in strategy implementation, also because they are beginning to be reckoned as sources of sustainable competitive advantage. Relationships between human resource management and strategy have been studied from different perspectives. This article focuses on one of them. It examines matches between human resource practices and types of business strategy. The question addressed is: do human resource management practices vary with business strategy? To answer this question, empirical research was developed. Using data collected from 200 Spanish companies, this paper demonstrates significant associations between some human resource practices and business strategy in companies. Reported results support some of the previously established relationships. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Using human resource management to enhance competitiveness: Lessons from four excellent companies

Recent research has emphasized the strategic focus that human resource management must have in order for an organization to fully utilize its human resources in a competitive market. However, few empirical studies have been done to date regarding how human resource planning should be linked to strategy. An extensive in-depth study of four large, complex, and very successful companies supports the widespread belief that human resource management can be a powerful tool to enhance competitiveness when policies and practices are logically driven by a firm's strategy and by the key environmental factors it faces. This article describes that study and looks at how the areas of selection, appraisal, reward, and development are handled by these firms. Based on both the specific policies and the actual practices as perceived by middle managers (those that implement the policies), the article presents a contingency framework which offers guidelines as to how certain HRM practices should be implemented to gain competitive advantage.     

Explaining the succession of management fads

A continuing feature of personnel management and human resource management has the constantly changing ideas and approaches, many of which have been labelled ‘management fads’ and ‘flavour-of-the-month’ techniques. While the characteristics of popular applications such as team-building and customer care programmes are well known, little attention has so far been paid to explaining the changing preferences in human resource management ideas.

The paper is based on a historical analysis of management ideas (Huczynski, 1993). The author argues that the phenomenon of management fad succession is the result of the conscious and unconscious collusion between managers as consumers of management ideas and consultants as suppliers of such ideas. He concludes that, given the nature of capitalist economies, the process of management fad succession is unlikely to decline and, indeed, may accelerate as companies seek a competitive advantage.     

浅议中外人力资源管理的比较

一个高效的战略性人力资源管理体系的构建,有助于我国人力资本的扩展,有利于发挥我国的人力资源优势,有利于使我国在国际竞争中获取持续的竞争优势。做好战略性人力资源的管理,尤其是人才资源的管理,发挥人才资源在社会进步和经济发展中的基础性、战略性和决定性的作用,对于应对经济全球化的挑战和把握机遇,推动我国经济和社会的可持续发展,具有极其重要的指导意义。     

Management and employee involvement in achieving an environmental action-based competitive advantage: an empirical study

The objective of this work is to conduct an empirical study that shows whether certain management and human resource factors influence the achievement of an environmental action-based competitive advantage in a company. To this end, we have taken a sample of 110 factories. Management's deep involvement and its strategic integration, as well as employee motivation and participation, have a positive impact on the achievement of an environmental action-based competitive advantage in a company.     

Mastering the competencies of HR management

There is an emerging group of human resource professionals who see the opportunity to turn human capital strategy into a long‐term competitive advantage. Yet competence sustains this group as much as vision. Competent human resource professionals recognize the requirements of the profession and are willing to invest in maintaining and improving their skills and knowledge during rapidly changing times. But what determines competence? This article identifies the key components in measuring competency—intelligence, education, experience, ethics, and interests—and the importance of each in regard to human resource management. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Managing Human Resources in South Africa: A Guide for Internationals

ABSTRACT

With the political changes that took place during 1994 within South Africa, the country again, after many years of economic isolation, became a full member of the international community. Since then, many South African companies have attempted to become more competitive, and many international companies have shown a keen interest in doing business in the country. As a result of the important role that human resource management practices can play to help companies prosper and become successful, an investigation was undertaken within companies to establish to what extent HR practices were being applied. The results of the study are reported in this article.     

On becoming a strategic partner: The role of human resources in gaining competitive advantage

Although managers cite human resources as a firm's most important asset, many organizational decisions do not reflect this belief. This article uses the value, rareness, imitability, and organization (VRIO) framework to examine the role that the human resource (HR) function plays in developing a sustainable competitive advantage. Why some popularly cited sources of sustainable competitive advantage are not, and what aspects of a firm's human resources can provide a source of sustainable competitive advantage are discussed. The role of the HR executive as a strategic partner in developing and maintaining competitive advantage within the firm is also examined. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

提升企业人力资源价值途径的探析

在知识经济时代,人力资源在经济发展和企业保持竞争优势中具有重要作用。将价值工程原理运用到企业人力资源管理中,以最低的寿命周期成本实现人力资源使用者所需功能,提升人力资源价值,从而使企业获取最佳的经济效益,促进企业良好发展。     

Could HRM support organizational innovation?

Nowadays, it has become clear that the capacity of organizations to innovate and manage their human resources can be sources of competitive advantage. Recently, literature also asserts a positive relationship between human resource management and innovation. However, very little empirical research has specifically addressed those relationships. Using structural equations modelling with data collected from 173 Spanish firms, this study analyses them. Our findings show that innovation contributes positively to business performance and that human resource management enhances innovation. Implications for both academics and managers as well as future research lines are discussed.     

企业人力资源管理外包影响因素分析

发展核心业务,非核心业务采用外包(Outsourcing)策略,以提升企业核心竞争力,在现代企业得到普遍采用。人力资源管理作为企业战略及职能范畴的外包,近年来亦引起国内企业的高度关注并得到应用。文章旨在通过对人力资源外包的基础理论探讨,归纳影响人力资源外包决策的因素。     

In search of sustained competitive advantage: the impact of organizational culture,competitive strategy and human resource management practices on firm performance

We develop and test a dynamic model of co-specialized resources for competitive advantage. Using matched data from senior executives and human resource managers, we test the direct and interactive effects of high-performance human resource (HPHR) practices and organizational culture on firm performance. Although the HPHR practices were not an important influence on performance, our findings indicate that organizational culture can be a valuable resource for companies.     

Strategic human resource management,human capital and competitive advantage: is the field going in circles?

The resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm has been consistently used as a backdrop in strategic human resource management (SHRM) research and has the potential to bridge the ‘micro–macro’ divide. The tension between the SHRM and the strategic human capital literature, however, signifies that RBV has not reached its potential. In this paper, we begin with a brief review of the conceptual logic linking human resource management (HRM) practices and firm outcomes that aim at highlighting the different treatment of RBV in the SHRM and strategic human capital literatures. We then propose a conceptual model that suggests that HRM practices are not simple levers that enable firms to create sustainable competitive advantage, as most of the strategic human capital research postulates. On the contrary, we argue that HRM practices can contribute to a firm's sustainable competitive advantage not only by enhancing employees' ability, and offering motivation and opportunities, but also by shaping supply‐side and demand‐side mobility constraints.     

An exploratory study on the returns management process in an online retailer

The returns management process is gaining increasing importance both in academia and among supply chain professionals, not only as a tool in the practice of sustainability, but also for its strategic role in many economic sectors. Several studies show how efficiently returns management can reduce costs and provide a competitive advantage to companies. Likewise, electronic commerce, or e-commerce, has shown significant growth in many countries and, due to its very nature, it presents much higher return rates than traditional trade. However, despite the importance of returns management operation for electronic commerce, few studies explore this theme in the literature. The aim of this paper is to describe the process of returns management of the largest online retailer of the Brazilian market, showing its evolution and analysing its performance, as well as identifying its main shortcomings. We conclude with suggestions for improvements and the implementation of a more efficient system.     

竞争位势与竞争优势——对世界500强近13年的观察

从战略管理和竞争优势理论出发,通过对竞争位势理论的系统概括和完善,为战略管理和竞争优势之间建立了一座桥梁,丰富了竞争优势的内涵;同时,利用世界500强近13年的数据,通过理论假设和初步验证,初步探讨了企业外部和内部各个层面的位势差异与竞争优势的关系。     

“台账”考核法——土建项目管理基于岗位职责的员工绩效考核体系

为在激烈的市场竞争中求得生存与发展,企业必须培育自己的核心竞争力,因为核心竞争力是企业持续竞争优势的源泉;而人力资源作为企业的独特资源,对于核心竞争力的培育具有直接的影响。因此,建立有效健全的绩效考核管理制度成为企业的战略选择。     

Contributions of HRM throughout the stages of environmental management: methodological triangulation applied to companies in Brazil

The purpose of this research is to analyze the contribution of human resources management throughout the evolutionary stages of environmental management in Brazilian companies. A theoretical framework concerning environmental management and its evolution and the ‘greening’ of the functional and competitive dimensions of human resource management were developed. A methodological triangulation was developed in two complimentary phases. In the first phase, data were collected from 94 Brazilian companies with ISO 14001 certification. The data collected were analyzed and processed using statistical techniques. The conclusions of the first phase supported the second phase of this empirical research. The second phase consisted of a study of multiple cases in four Brazilian companies. The results show evidence of the first known empirical study of contributions of human resource dimensions throughout the stages of environmental management in Brazilian manufacturing companies.     

Human resources and sustained competitive advantage: a resource-based perspective

This paper integrates the theories and findings of micro-level organizational behaviour/human resource management research with the macrolevel resource-based view of the firm, specifically presenting a firm's human resources as an important potential source of sustained competitive advantage. Unlike practice-oriented discussions that assume the role of human resources as a source of sustained competitive advantage, we use the theoretical concepts from the resource-based view of the firm (Wernerfelt, 1984; Barney, 1991) to discuss how human resources meet the criteria for sustained competitive advantage in that they are valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable. The implications for developing human resources as a source of sustained competitive advantage are discussed, particularly examining the role of HR practices and managers in this process.     

社会资本、隐形控制与掏空——基于广东博信的案例研究

本文基于社会资本相关理论,采用案例研究方法,探讨国有上市公司民营化过程中,原管理层借助社会资本,通过隐形控制掌控上市公司,进而掏空上市公司的行为。通过对广东博信这一典型案例的深入研究,本文发现:在中国民营化的现实背景下,国有上市公司原管理层利用国有产权转移的机会,调动各种社会资本,实现对上市公司的隐形控制并掏空上市公司的行为确实存在。本文提供了在国有股股权转让的现实背景下,原管理层调动各种社会资本变相掏空上市公司的证据,丰富了掏空的相关理论,有助于学术界和实务界从社会资本这一视角重新审视掏空行为中控制权这一重要概念。     

Strategy, human resource management and performance: Sharpening line of sight

This paper builds on previous theory and research on strategy and human resource management to identify important linkages between the firm's strategy, its human resources, and performance outcomes. First, we review the relevant literature focusing in particular on the role of human resources in creating competitive advantage. We then present a multi-level model illustrating how human resource management practices can effectively align organizational, group and individual factors with the organization's strategy. We redefine line of sight as the alignment of organizational capabilities and culture, group competencies and norms, and individual KSAs, motivation and opportunity with one another and with the organization's strategy. Further, we propose that such alignment contributes to the creation of human capital and social capital, both of which are necessary to achieve and sustain superior performance. We conclude the paper with some implications for future research and practice.