A Multidimensional Approach to the Influence of Environmental Marketing and Orientation on the Firm’s Organizational Performance

Since it implies a reduction in the quality and the quantity of the natural resources, environmental degradation is a present day problem that requires immediate solutions. This situation is driving firms to undertake an environmental transformation process with the purpose of reducing the negative externalities that come from their economic activities. Within this context, environmental marketing is an emerging business philosophy by which organizations can address sustainability issues. Moreover, environmental marketing and orientation are seen as valuable strategies to improve a firm’s competitiveness. However, the literature that has analyzed the link between environmental strategies and firms’ results has been inconclusive and contradictory. In this study, we propose and test a model that analyses how the implementation of ecological issues within a firm’s marketing strategy and orientation influences organizational results. Data were obtained through a survey sent to Spanish manufacturing firms. The results show that environmental marketing positively affects firms’ operational and commercial performance and this improvement will influence their economic results. Moreover, environmental marketing is revealed as an excellent strategy to obtain competitive advantages in costs and in product differentiation. Thus, this study agrees with the researchers who affirm that environmental strategies positively affect firm’s competitiveness while reducing environmental impact.     

The effects of entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation, and marketing subunit influence on firm performance

The study investigates how an organization’s entrepreneurial orientation moderates the interplay between market orientation and marketing subunit influence on firm performance. The hypothesized model predicts that the positive interaction between market orientation and marketing subunit influence has a weaker effect on firm performance under conditions of high entrepreneurial orientation. The regression and supplementary analyses provide support for most predictions and, most importantly, for a negative three-way interaction effect: At higher levels of entrepreneurial orientation, the positive moderating effect of marketing subunit influence on the market orientation–business performance relationship is reduced. The authors discuss the managerial and theoretical implications of their findings and provide a number of directions for further research.

我国农业政策性银行定位分析

中国农业发展银行自成立以来,定位不够准确,业务范围变化较大,农业政策性银行的作用发挥不充分。同时,伴随着我国的粮食流通体制改革,农业银行业务萎缩,坏账增加,亏损严重的问题已日益突出。针对中国农业银行面临的困境,应借鉴国外政策性农业银行的经验,结合中国国情,制定专门法律,明确中国农业发展银行永久性金融机构地位,同时,农业银行应大力拓展业务范围,为解决三农问题发挥应有的作用。     

Arbitrators’ characteristics and decision-making records,gender of arbitrators and grievants,and the presence of legal counsel as predictors of arbitral outcomes

Labor arbitration helps define employee and employer rights and responsibilities. Evidence indicates that the advocates at arbitration tend to concern themselves with issues unrelated to the facts of the case or to the rights and responsibilities of the parties involved. More specifically, before the hearing, management and union advocates often dwell on issues such as the importance of the arbitrators’ personal characteristics and their decision-making history, the likely effects of the gender of arbitrators and grievants, and whether the presence of legal counsel impacts the arbitral outcomes. The purpose of this study is to examine whether these non-case-related factors actually can be associated with differing awards by arbitrators. This study may be the first in which the arbitrators’ decision-making history (award orientation) is a primary issue. Of all the issues studied, the arbitrator’s disciplinary award orientation is the only one with a consistent impact on arbitral outcomes. We conclude that the energy and resources expended by the advocates concerning non-case-related issues would be better spent in preparing their cases for arbitration and in examining the potential impact of arbitration on the rights and responsibilities of management and its employees.     

External cooperation and entrepreneurial orientation in industrial clusters

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between external cooperation and entrepreneurial orientation (EO). This relationship is explored in cluster environment, wherein entrepreneurial organizations compete and cooperate simultaneously to pursue opportunities. The following hypothesis is tested: External cooperation is positively correlated with entrepreneurial orientation. The hypothesis is tested with a correlation analysis on a sample of 77 small-sized enterprises operating in the Malopolska region in Poland, wherein several clusters are active. Additionally, the regression analysis is conducted to examine the associations between inter-organizational cooperation and EO dimensions. The findings confirm that external cooperation is positively correlated with EO. This observation is confronted with a pro-competitive approach that is a constitutional element of the entrepreneurship concept. Moreover, the findings show that the correlation between external cooperation and a firm’s performance is stronger than between some other EO dimensions and performance. Additionally, the findings show the important role of relationships between organizations and their clients. In the paper, several remarks for development of the theory are discussed, including the need for incorporating inter-organizational cooperation into a set of entrepreneurial traits and reflecting it in entrepreneurial orientation scales. The findings confirm the importance of that direction of theory development that focuses on inter-organizational collaboration in the context of entrepreneurship.     

创业导向、外部知识获取与创业机会识别

创业活动是创新、就业和经济增长的重要来源。企业家通过持续探索创造新业务,促进社会和经济的发展和繁荣。本文基于资源基础理论和知识基础理论,以大众创业浪潮为研究背景,深入揭示创业导向、外部知识获取与创业机会识别之间的关系,并以中国246份创业新企业为样本进行了实证研究。研究结果表明：创业导向对新企业的机会识别和外部知识获取均具有积极影响;外部知识获取在创业导向和新企业的机会识别之间起到部分中介作用;此外,市场知识获取比技术知识获取对创业机会识别的影响更为突出。     

安徽城市群的发展定位探讨

城市群的发展深刻影响着一个国家或区域的竞争力,对经济持续稳定发展具有重大意义,但其发展规模和方向是有规律可循的,并需要一个成长的渐进过程。安徽城市群在发展和规划过程中,由于自身定位不清和地方利益的驱动,部分城市、城市群之间不顾现实发展基础和城市群发展的客观规律,盲目贪快求大,严重影响了城市群的正常形成进程。为此,安徽在城市群的发展过程中,需要更为审慎的态度,在明确发展什么样的城市群,谁来主导发展以及如何发展这样一个准确定位分析的基础上,通过运用培育优势产业集群、提升中心城市极化功能、完善城市等级结构、建立跨行政区域的协调组织和多元化城市群治理机制等方法和措施,来推进安徽城市群在符合内在发展规律的基础上逐步形成与发展。     

The relationship between high performance work systems and employee proactive behaviour: role breadth self‐efficacy and flexible role orientation as mediating mechanisms

Drawing on the contextual perspective, this study provides novel empirical evidence on how the organisational context (specifically, the firm's human resource strategy) has an effect on employee proactivity. We use matched data from managers and employees in 102 Spanish professional service firms to examine how high performance work systems contribute to enhance employee proactive behaviours through two motivational variables: role breadth self‐efficacy and flexible role orientation. Results of a multilevel study demonstrate that role breadth self‐efficacy mediates between HPWS and employee proactivity, but flexible role orientation does not mediate this relationship.     

市场导向对物业服务企业绩效的影响——基于组织学习的中介效应研究

以北京、山东、湖南、广东四省市的物业服务企业为样本,借鉴成熟的市场导向量表和组织学习量表设计调查问卷,就物业服务企业市场导向对绩效的影响进行实证研究,结果表明,市场导向对企业绩效有正向的直接作用,同时通过组织学习对企业绩效产生间接的正向作用,即组织学习为不完全中间变量。研究证明,我国物业服务企业实施市场导向战略能够有效提升企业绩效,基于环境和行业发展的独特性,在实施市场导向战略时尤其要注重开展组织学习。