Why does eco‐innovation differ in service firms? Some insights from Spain

Although environmental innovation studies have traditionally focused on manufacturing firms, the distinctive features of eco‐innovation activities carried out by service firms require special attention. Using the Spanish Commumity Innovation Survey (CIS), this paper determines which are the main drivers of undertaking eco‐innovation and investigates the similarities and differences between service and manufacturing firms within the five sub‐groups of services (supplier dominated, scale intensive physical networks, scale intensive information networks, science‐based, and others). The results confirm that the main eco‐innovation triggers are similar—technological push factor orientation (internal R&D and persistence) and firm size—while the impact of market pull factors and public environmental legislation differ within the services sub‐groups. In addition, we find a high degree of heterogeneity within service firms. In contrast to traditional service firms, those in the groups involving R&D activities, information networks, and scale‐intensive physical networks exhibit intensive eco‐innovation performance and show a high level of green indicators.     

Worker–Plant Matching and Ownership Change*

Is a change in ownership an opportunity for the new owners to make systematic changes to the workforce of the acquired plant? Using matched employer–employee data, we document changes to the workforce along observable and unobservable dimensions of worker quality around the time of ownership change. We observe above-average separations of workers around domestic acquisitions. This is associated with a decline in unobserved worker quality in the plant. Foreign acquisitions are not associated with above-average worker turnover; instead, new foreign owners share rents with the high-skilled workers who are already in the plant before the acquisition.     

Unleashing the dynamics of product-market ambidexterity in the pursuit of international opportunities: Insights from emerging market firms

Extending the current debate surrounding ambidexterity, this study examines how emerging market firms pursue international opportunities by leveraging the dynamics of strategic ambidexterity in product and market domains. The investigation draws on longitudinal and multiple sources of data from four Chinese multinational firms. Two follow traditional or incremental internationalization pathways, whilst the other two pursue rapid or accelerated internationalization. The study offers a more dynamic perspective to help understand the evolving nature of ambidexterity with respect to the routes of strategic product and market development options. In particularly, the findings reveal that incremental internationalization is characterized by structural ambidexterity combining product exploitation with market exploration at the initial stages, whereas accelerated internationalization is best explained by market exploration and exploitation (or market ambidexterity) when first entering foreign markets. Moreover, firms were found to maintain strategic priorities through structural and punctuated ambidexterity across product and market domains at later stages of internationalization. This study contributes to the dynamic perspective of strategic ambidexterity for seizing international opportunities among emerging market firms.     

Environmental sustainability orientation and performance of family and nonfamily firms

Despite the growing research evidence on the effect of environmental sustainability orientation (ESO) on firm outcomes, contingent factors that may influence the strength of this relationship have received little scholarly attention. In this study, we use insights from the literature on ESO and family business to introduce family status and firm age as moderators in the ESO‐performance linkage. Using time‐lagged data from 253 small and medium‐sized enterprises in Ghana, we found the impact of ESO on firm performance is amplified for nonfamily firms but not significant for family firms. Our evidence suggests it is stronger among older firms than younger ones. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Family CEO and board service: Turning the tide for export scope in family SMEs

Adopting the socioemotional wealth perspective, we argue that the presence of a family CEO in family SMEs negatively affects export scope, but that such negative effect is mitigated by board service. We develop and test a model that considers the synergistic combination of family management and another important aspect of family governance in the context of family firm internationalization: the service behavior of the board of directors. The empirical evidence from a sample of 248 Belgian family SMEs shows that governance is crucial to overcoming the problems of family management: family CEOs may negatively influence export scope, but board service is able to turn the tide so that the family CEO effect becomes positive. With such novel findings, we contribute to international business and family business studies     

Paving the way for children: Family firm succession and corporate philanthropy in China

We investigate whether internal succession in family firms motivates founders to engage in corporate philanthropy. We argue that founders who intend to pass control of the firm to their children are likely to prepare for the internal succession by building up family assets such as reputation and political connections through corporate philanthropy. Supporting our argument, we find that both the likelihood and the amount of philanthropic donations increase when listed family firms in China are in the internal succession process. The effect of successions on philanthropic donations is stronger for family firms that have political connections or are located in areas with stronger government influence in the local economy. The effect concentrates on family firms when heirs are young and inexperienced. When heirs are established, family firms actually make fewer philanthropic donations. Our results remain robust after addressing endogeneity issues.     

Corporate name change: Investigating South African multinational corporations' postacquisition performance

It has long been argued a multinational corporation (MNC) needs to be able to leverage the firm‐specific advantages to overcome the liability of foreignness in the host markets so the MNC can enjoy the benefit of internationalization while competing with the indigenous firms in the host market. However, emerging‐market MNCs, which have the nontraditional ownership advantages, such as flexibility and cost‐advantage, may require different international strategies to realize the anticipated profit in their cross‐border acquisitions. This article takes an organizational identity approach to study how the foreign identity of South African MNCs constitutes the source of liability and negatively impacts their postacquisition performance. We find South African MNCs that adopted a corporate name change for their acquired subsidiaries experienced worse postacquisition return on asset than the South African MNCs who did not do so. On the other hand, facing a large economic distance, South African MNCs that facilitate the acquired subsidiary corporate name change enjoy better postacquisition performance.     

Innovation and productivity in family firms: evidence from a sample of European firms

ABSTRACT

Using firm-level data, we estimate the returns to R&D investments for a sample of European manufacturing firms over the period 2007–2009. Results confirm that R&D efforts are positively related to productivity regardless of firm type (family or nonfamily firms). Additionally, we find that family firms invested more in R&D than nonfamily firms, but the returns to their R&D investments are low, emphasizing that they have a lower capacity to translate R&D investments into economic gains.     

Multidimensionality of HRD in small tourism firms: A case study of the Republic of Ireland

This case study explores multiple dimensions of human resource development (HRD) in small tourism firms (STFs) within the Republic of Ireland. Underpinned by the evolutionary resource-based view (ERBV) and institutional logics, this study investigates owner-manager/senior manager and employee perceptions of the internal and external STF context and how such contextual contingencies shape their perceptions and experiences of multiple dimensions of HRD. Our study highlights (a) a dynamic interaction between external institutional logics and internal contextual factors, with the owner–manager acting as a key agent in shaping HRD dimensions; (b) actors within STFs are able to reconcile potentially conflicting institutional logics to create a dynamic HRD approach; (c) STFs implement HRD in a coordinated manner, imbued with elements of formality and informality, and (d) significant differences exist between owner-manager and employee perceptions of HRD dimensions. We discuss the implications of the findings for both research and practice.     

Mindfulness,socioemotional wealth,and environmental strategy of family businesses

The study advances knowledge in the field of business strategy and the environment by incorporating mindfulness theory into the research on socioemotional wealth (SEW) and its environmental consequences in family businesses. Using an integrative model, the paper investigates the relationship between mindfulness SEW dimensions and family firms' environmental strategies, specifically in developing sustainable products and processes. This study also proposes the firm's capabilities as a mediator in this relationship, while market turbulence is a moderator in the relationship between the firm's capabilities and sustainable products and processes. The empirical results show that in protecting SEW, specifically in the identification of family members with the firm and binding social ties, mindfulness provides a rich endowment that develops appropriate capabilities to produce sustainable products and processes. While the moderating role of market turbulence is insignificant, we can infer that irrespective of how turbulent (or not) the market is, the firm's capabilities are a key determinant of sustainable products and processes. Our findings offer theoretical and managerial implications for sustainable practices in the family business context.