A Qualitative Study for Measuring Warehouse Performance Using Triangulation Approach

This research aims to validate a structural equation modeling （SEM） model for measuring warehouse performance using data from an international company in Australia （company G）. Moreover, a methodological triangulation method was also adopted to test whether different methodological approaches produce convergent findings about warehouse performance measurement （WPM）. These three different methods are the SEM model, the multiple case research study, and validation of the SEM model using data from 80 companies in Thailand and a company in Australia. With the results from the triangulation method, it is obvious that the SEM model can be used to measure the performance of warehouses in Thailand and Australia. Since the SEM model consists only of significant indicators, it is more appropriate than company G＇s scorecard. Furthermore, the SEM model can overcome the limitations of traditional models by allowing companies to compare their performance over time.     

Effects of export product diversification on quality upgrading: an empirical study

This paper empirically examines the effects of export product diversification on overall export quality in a panel data set of 115 countries from 1970 to 2010. It uses the data sets of the overall export quality and three export diversification measures of the International Monetary Fund: the extensive margin (variation in the number of new products exported), the intensive margin (variation in export values among existing exports), and the overall (Theil) index. It finds that export quality has only been increasing with a higher variation in export values among existing exports in low- and lower-middle-income countries. It also observes that export quality has been increasing with both a higher variation in export values among existing exports and new products exported in upper-middle- and high-income countries. The results are robust to the changing measures of controls in the benchmark model, the inclusion of many other controls; i.e. various measures of globalization, country size, factor endowments, macroeconomic stance, etc., and the exclusion of outliers.     

积分媒介影响员工主要工作结果的纵向比较研究

组织内以激励为目的的积分其性质是具有少量交换价值的激励性媒介。员工根据自己的积分数量并基于组织积分奖励计划和兑换规则获得少量的物质和非物质回报。采用积分的目的是促使员工广泛参与组织的生产、技术和管理过程,提高组织运营效率。本文首先提出积分媒介对员工角色内绩效和角色外绩效影响的基本假设,并以上海三家工厂122名的员工为样本为研究对象,通过主管对这些员工实施积分一段时间前后的角色内和角色外绩效的对比评价检验了上述假设。结果表明,施以积分媒介能有效提升员工的任务绩效以及利他、责任担当和建言水平。     

Innovation,external technical linkages and small firm commercial performance: an empirical analysis from Western New York

This paper examines the role of external service linkages in the innovation and market peformance of small manufacturing firms (SMFs). Survey data from a technological cross-section of 146 Western New York SMFs are summarized. The data suggest a helpful role for consultants in the product development efforts of innovative firms, especially those that serve foreign export markets. Several multiple discriminant models are presented, each of which suggests an interactive connection between SMF commercial performance, externa) technical links, innovation propensity and in-house R&D. It is argued that innovative SMFs that exploit specialized technical services perform significantly better than comparably sized firms that rely solely on in-house resources. It is also argued that the quality of a region's producer service environment may have a significant bearing on the growth potential of its SMF population. The paper concludes by discussing the main academic and public policy implications that flow from the empirical results.     

The association between continuing professional education and financial performance of public accounting firms

This study investigates the relationship between continuing professional education (CPE), a mechanism of professional training, and financial performance of public accounting firms. Both training subject (partner and assistant) and training location (internal and external) are included. Public accounting firms are categorized as big, medium, and small-sized ones. Empirical data are obtained from the 1992–1995 Survey Report of Public Accounting Firms in Taiwan, published by the Financial Supervisory Commission, Executive Yuan, Taiwan, ROC. Univariate test and multiple-regression model are employed to examine the financial performance effects of CPE. Main results indicate that both professional training of assistants and external professional training are positively related to financial performance in big-sized firms. Next, we document a significantly positive association between internal training of assistants and financial performance in either big-, medium-, or small-sized firms. Finally, both external professional training of partners in big-sized firms and external professional training of assistants in small-sized firms are positively related to financial performance. Few prior studies investigate professional training of public accounting firms by a regression model due to availability of empirical data. Accordingly, evidences obtained in this study provide useful information to partners for decision-making in public accounting firms under the considerably competitive audit market.     

Environmental dynamism,human resource flexibility,and firm performance: analysis of a multi-level causal model

While strategic HRM scholars have conceptualized HR flexibility as an important source of sustainable superior firm performance in dynamic environments, the process through which HR flexibility creates value for the firm has not been empirically investigated. Based on a study of 98 manufacturing and 103 service firms from a wide array of industries in India, this paper attempts to illuminate the black box of causal linkages between environmental dynamism, flexibility of human assets, and firm level human-, operational-, and financial-outcomes by developing and testing a multi-level causal model. Evidence indicates that HR flexibility mediates the influence of environmental dynamism on firm performance and that irrespective of the nature of the industry and the degree of environmental turbulence, superior firm performance ensues when HR flexibility as actually possessed by the firm matches the environmental demands for such flexibility as perceived by the firm managers. The results also support the notion of HR value chain that postulates that HR system has direct impact on firm-level HR outcomes which are most proximal, and its effects on increasingly more distal operational- and financial-outcomes are mediated by HR outcomes. The findings of the study suggest that HR practices as a system have both direct and indirect (mediated by behavioral flexibility) effects on firm-level HR outcomes. Existence of significant direct effects signifies that HR practices play an important role as a structural mechanism in achieving superior firm performance.     

Influence of the sector and the environment on human resource practices' effectiveness

The aim of this work is to examine the effect that human resource practice has on performance. From a database made up of 250 companies in Spain and by means of a regression analysis, we test empirically whether human resource practices generate positive results under any circumstance or if their effectiveness depends on certain contexts. In this respect, focusing the study on the activity sector and the environment, we analyse whether high levels of competition in the environment and service companies constitute more attractive contexts for the adoption of high involvement practices.     

Are multinational teams more successful?

Teams have become increasingly multinational in many sectors. The impact of national diversity on team performance is, however, controversial. On the one hand, multinational teams may have access to a greater variety of task-relevant expertise, which should increase the team performance. On the other hand, national diversity may complicate team collaboration and increase team conflict. Applying panel econometrics to 4284 team observations in a globalized sector, we find evidence that multinational teams perform worse than teams with less national diversity.     

A multiple group analysis of the training transfer model: exploring the differences between high and low performers in a Korean insurance company

This study suggests an integrative transfer of training model and examines the influence of pre-training performance on the relationship between work environment variables and transfer-related variables. Structural equation modeling was conducted with data collected from 365 Korean employees of a large general insurance firm. They were all participants in a leadership development program. The results of multi-group analyses revealed that the influence of work environment variables on transfer-related variables was moderated by employees' pre-training performance. The findings of the study imply that a more elaborate training transfer model that considers performance not just as an outcome variable, but also as an antecedent variable is required. Also, it is proposed that different strategies should be applied to promote transfer of training based on the employee's level of pre-training performance.     

Limits to strategic HRM: the case of the Mauritian civil service

Taking as its starting point the impressive evidence for the strategic human resource management (SHRM) model's effect on organizational performance, and for the relationship between public staff management and economic growth, the paper offers the civil service of Mauritius as a case study of SHRM's relevance to developing countries. It finds that SHRM is not practised in Mauritius, nor is it feasible in the near future, because it is not widely known, because there is no strategic management framework, because staff management is highly centralized and because political will to make radical changes in staff management is lacking. The case study does not support claims that SHRM and its associated practices have a universal validity, or that public staff management is a ‘magic bullet’ that delivers economic growth. Improvements to staff management in Mauritius, and possibly other developing countries, will require a creative and piecemeal adaptation of Anglophone ‘good practice’ that respects political, economic and social realities.