Related variety and firm heterogeneity. What really matters for short-run firm growth?

ABSTRACT

In recent years, two concepts have become key elements in economic geography: related variety and firm heterogeneity. The first one predicts that knowledge spillovers within a region/local system occur among firms operating in ‘different but related’ sectors. The second one assumes that knowledge spillovers can occur among ‘different’ firms belonging to the same localised sector/industrial cluster. Using a sample of 27,817 Italian manufacturing firms observed during the period 2010–2013, this paper analyses the role played by related variety and within-sector firm heterogeneity on short-run employment growth. The results suggest that both related variety and within-sector firm heterogeneity have a positive effect, although the latter has a higher impact than the former. These results confirm the role played by related variety, but identify firm heterogeneity as a potential additional source of local knowledge spillovers.     

The Relationship between Slack Resources and the Performance of Entrepreneurial Firms: The Role of Venture Capital and Angel Investors

In this study, we seek to further delineate factors that condition the relationship between slack resources and firm performance. To do so, we develop and test a model that establishes the role of venture capital (VC) and angel investors as powerful external stakeholders who positively moderate the slack–performance relationship. In addition, we provide more insight into this relationship by examining differences between these two types of private investors and by examining the role of their ownership stakes. We test our hypotheses using a sample of 1215 private firms, including VC‐backed firms, angel‐backed firms, and similar firms without such investors. We find that the presence of VC investors positively moderates the relationship between both financial and human slack resources and firm performance, while angel investors only positively moderate the effect of human resource slack. Further, VC investors are only marginally better at helping entrepreneurs to extract value from human resource slack than angel investors and they are no better when it comes to financial slack. Finally, we find that the impact of financial and human resource slack on firm performance is more positive in VC‐backed firms when investors hold high ownership stakes, an effect which is significantly stronger than when angel investors hold high ownership stakes.     

基于可拓评价方法的房地产开发企业核心能力评价

研究了房地产开发企业核心能力的分析维度及指标体系,构建由模糊决策分析法和可拓评价方法组成的新型房地产开发企业核心能力评价模型;并引入倒推法对评价结果进行分析,尝试对单个房地产开发企业的核心能力进行评价。     

It Takes Three to Tango: Exploring the Interplay among Training Intensity,Job Autonomy,and Supervisor Support in Predicting Knowledge Sharing

This study explored whether the relationship between perceived training intensity and knowledge sharing is prone to combined moderating influences. We operationalized perceived training intensity as a challenge stressor, in accordance with the challenge‐hindrance framework of work stressors. The results of a study of 129 employees from three Norwegian service industries revealed a positive relationship between perceived training intensity and supervisor‐rated knowledge sharing for employees reporting high levels of perceived job autonomy and high levels of perceived supervisor support. In contrast, we found a negative relationship between perceived training intensity and supervisor‐rated knowledge sharing for employees reporting high levels of perceived job autonomy and low levels of perceived supervisor support. These findings suggest that supervisors are of vital importance in facilitating knowledge sharing among employees in settings where developmental challenges are prevalent and perceptions of job autonomy are high. Implications for future research and practice are also discussed. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

会计师事务所与客户的双边匹配

以2013年至2018年A股上市公司及为其提供审计服务的国内会计师事务所为研究样本,基于双边匹配理论探讨了审计市场中会计师事务所与企业之间的匹配情况对审计质量和审计风险的影响。研究结果表明,综合实力较强的会计师事务所倾向于与综合实力较强的企业进行匹配,呈现出审计双方综合实力相当的一种正向类聚匹配：当双方匹配程度越高时,企业可操纵性应计利润较少,审计质量越高;同时,当审计双方匹配度越高时,审计风险越低。上述结果证实了审计市场上会计师事务所与客户匹配的有效性和重要性,并对通过双边匹配提高会计师事务所的审计质量、降低审计风险,为审计市场资源优化配置提供了理论指导。     

A graduates ’ satisfaction index for the evaluation of the university overall quality

In the higher educational setting, students provide a relevant contribution to the quality of educational services. In such a context, the measurement of the perceived quality and related satisfaction for the university experience are of primary interest to evaluate the efficiency and efficacy of the learning processes. In this contribution, we aim at assessing the overall quality of the graduates’ university experience in terms of internal and external efficacy by applying the ECSI (European Customer Satisfaction Index) methodology, based on structural equation models and primarily developed in the context of customer satisfaction. For this aim, we propose a modified ECSI model tailored for the higher educational setting, explicitly taking into account the differences among groups of degree program. The study is carried out on data collected by the AlmaLaurea surveys at the University of Florence (Italy) in the period 2014–2017 and concerns a sample of more than 2,000 graduates. We find out eight latent variables that contribute to define the overall quality of university experience. These variables are differently affected by the type of degree program, with the highest levels of external efficacy observed for degree programs belonging to the educational, health, and engineering groups. It also turns out that interventions on the internal efficacy (i.e., quality of hardware and quality of humanware) have a direct positive effect on the university (i.e., loyalty) and an indirect positive effect on the society (i.e., external efficacy).     

How to respond to competitors' green success for improving performance: The moderating role of organizational ambidexterity

With increasing environmental competitions between companies, there is a pressing need to explore how the environmental pressures from rivals influence focal firms' actions and the subsequent performance consequences. On the basis of social contagion theory and upper echelons theory, we examine whether firms respond to competitors' green success through green supplier integration, which further improves firm performance, and the moderating effect of organizational ambidexterity. The research explores hypothesized relationships adopting hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrapping method by collecting survey data from 206 Chinese manufacturers. Our findings suggest that competitors' green success positively influences green supplier integration. Green supplier integration mediates the impacts of competitors' green success on financial and environmental performance. In addition, the combined dimension of organizational ambidexterity plays a positive moderating role in the impacts of green supplier integration on financial and environmental performance. This study expands previous literature and managers' practices on green supply chain management.     

Research continuum on consumer education and brand knowledge: A critical analysis

Consumer education and brand knowledge have emerged as the dynamic tool in the complex marketplace today that actively stimulate the cognitive behavior of consumers toward developing purchase intentions and buying decisions. The general objective of this study is to critically review the previous studies on the role of brand literacy, transfer and perceptions of knowledge, purchase intention, shopping ambiance and customer satisfaction, and illustrate the consumer decision making process induced by the above factors. The literature review reveals that brand education plays significant role as a driver of decision making among consumers, which not only empowers consumers in developing perceptions on the brand but also helps the companies on brand co-designing and knowledge dissemination process. Consumer literacy and brand knowledge helps the consumers in assessing the brand value, competitive advantage, and operational efficiency of the brand toward building purchase intentions. The effects of the increasing levels of customer expertise in the marketplace today is seen as the outcome of consumer education and perceived brand knowledge.     

Does Size Matter? Evaluating Corporate Environmental Disclosure in the Australian Mining and Metal Industry: A Combined Approach of Quantity and Quality Measurement

There are an increasing number of companies in the mining and metals sector disclosing environmental sustainability information in their annual reports, sustainability reports and corporate internet web pages. However, there is ongoing debate about the relationship between the quantity and the quality of environmental disclosure. That is, does an increase in number equate to an increase in quality? This study investigates the relationship between the quantity and the quality of environmental disclosure reports. Using content analysis, we examine the environmental disclosure of 55 Australian mining and metal companies which are listed among the Australian Securities Exchange's (ASX) Top 100 mining and metal sector companies. We find that the size of firms influences both the quantity and the quality of corporate environmental disclosure. That is, we find that market capitalization is positively and significantly correlated to the quantity (number of words) and the quality of disclosure. We also confirm that there is a very highly significant, positive correlation between quantity (number of words) and quality of environmental disclosure. In order to investigate any differences between the top performing group and the bottom performing group in terms of environmental disclosure quality, further analysis also confirms that there is a positive relationship between the quantity and the quality of environmental disclosure. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

High‐Performance Work Systems in Professional Service Firms: Examining the Practices‐Resources‐Uses‐Performance Linkage

Professional service firms (PSFs) play an important role in the knowledge‐based economy. Their success is highly dependent on their people, the knowledge resources they possess, and how they use these resources. However, how to systematically manage human resources to attain high performance is not fully understood. This study addresses this issue by investigating the linkage mechanisms through which high‐performance work systems (HPWS) influence the performance of PSFs. We integrate resource‐based and dynamic capability theories in order to identify and investigate two intervening mechanisms that link HR practices to firm performance. The first mechanism is the intellectual capital resources comprising the human, social, and organizational capital that HPWS create. The second mechanism is the uses to which both HPWS and resources can be applied, operationalized as organizational ambidexterity, the simultaneous exploitation of existing knowledge and exploration of new knowledge. These mechanisms are hypothesized to link HPWS to firm performance in the form of a practices‐resources‐uses‐performance linkage model. Results from a longitudinal study of 93 accounting firms support this linkage model. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.