Building relationship innovation in global collaborative partnerships: big data analytics and traditional organizational powers

This study examines how relationship innovation can be developed in global collaborative partnerships (alliances, joint ventures, mergers, and acquisitions). The recently emerging theory of big data analytics linked with traditional organizational powers has attracted a growing interest, but surprisingly little research has been devoted to this important and complex topic. Therefore, after developing the theoretical foundations, our study empirically quantifies the links between the theoretical constructs based on the data collected from chief executive officers, managing directors, and heads of departments who work in contemporary global data‐and‐information driven collaborative partnerships. The results from structural equation modeling indicate that the relationship innovation depends on the power of big data analytics and non‐mediated powers (NMP, expert and referent). The power of big data analytics also mediates the correlation between NMP and relationship innovation. However, mediated powers (coercive and manipulative) negatively affect the power of big data analytics and relationship innovation. The interaction effects further depict that analytically powered partnerships have better relationship innovation compared with those which focus less on the analytical power. Consequently, the contributions of this study provide a deeper understanding of mechanisms of how modern collaborative partnerships can use big data analytics and traditional organizational powers to co‐create relationship innovation.     

Managerial actions and stock transactions during financial distress: Some empirical evidence

Should the current managers remain in control of the firm during financial distress? We address this issue by examining whether managers who take value-maximizing actions also refrain from abnormal selling of their own shares in the firm. Our empirical results show that managers in the action firms do not engage in abnormal selling even during periods of frequent earnings losses. These managers exhibit higher net purchases than the nonaction managers. Thus, trading behavior of the managers and the actions taken during poor performance both appear to be consistent with stockholder interests.     

The relationship between laissez-faire leadership and burnout: Mediation through work alienation and the moderating role of political skill

We tested the relationship between laissez-faire leadership and job burnout and the mediating role of work alienation in this relationship. We also examined the moderating role of political skill in the relationship between laissez-faire leadership and burnout. Based on time-lagged (three waves, two months apart) survey data collected from 272 employees in 92 firms operating in China, our results showed that laissez-faire leadership was positively related to burnout both directly and via work alienation. Moreover, the positive relationship between laissez-faire leadership and burnout was contingent on political skill, such that the relationship was weak when political skill was high. The study provides useful suggestions to help managers curb employees' feelings of burnout and work alienation.     

Using CRM to Model Firm Performance in a Business-to-Business Market

Customer relationship management (CRM) is the widely accepted approach for gathering, examining, understanding and translating information related to customers into managerial action. CRM is investigated in the context of new product performance (NPP). CRM enhances NPP as well as firm performance. This study investigates the impact of CRM on NPP through the moderation of top management support and an innovative culture, as well as the impact of CRM on firm performance through the mediation of NPP. A questionnaire survey is used for data collection from marketing managers of 159 firms in Pakistan in the B-to-B market. Hypotheses were tested using SEM in SMART PLS. This research shows that CRM directly affects firm performance, while NPP partially mediates the relationship of CRM and firm performance. These findings have significant implications for the practitioner. This study delivers insights to managers and academicians about the role of CRM in enhancing NPP and improving firm performance. In general, the study provides new insights into CRM by integrating top management support and an innovative culture. The research extends our understanding that top management support and innovative culture do not moderate the relationship of CRM with new product performance in a B-to-B context.     

Human capital inequality and income inequality: testing for causality

This study investigates the causal relationship between human capital inequality and income inequality in case of Pakistan. The annual time series data ranging from 1973 to 2009 is used for econometric analysis. Johanson co-integration and Granger Causality tests are used to confirm the existence of long run relationship and the causal relationship between human capital inequality and income inequality. The results indicate that there is positive relationship between the two types of inequalities in the long run. The estimates of causality test indicate that income inequality causes the human capital inequality but human capital inequality does not cause income inequality. Policy initiatives to reduce income inequality may empower people economically to avail skill building opportunities and accumulate their human capital through access to educational services.     

Leaving studies because of lack of interest: an analysis of the risk factors of school dropouts in Pakistan

Quality & Quantity - Among all the students dropping out of school for different reasons in Pakistan in 2017, nearly 23% of the students dropped out because they were not...     

Implanting competitive strategy: A contingency approach

Competitive business strategies are often formulated with little regard given to the articulation format. This paper examines the strategy formulation process from a systems perspective and argues that articulation of a competitive strategy, such that sustained competitive advantage is created, requires consistency along the entire business chain. Internal consistency within the business chain is built through inter‐linkages. The inter‐linkages are made through four inter‐connective elements: human resources, technological resources, information resources and financial resources. It is argued in this paper that the human factor is of major importance since it integrates the other inter‐connective elements and therefore represents a key factor in the process of articulation and implementation. In view of the critical role of the human element in articulation of business strategy for competitive advantage, the paper develops a human‐factor related contingency framework. The developed contingency framework examines Porter's (1980, 1985) generic strategies with respect to congruent requisites necessary for building competitive advantage.     

Proportional Odds Models with High‐Dimensional Data Structure

The proportional odds model is the most widely used model when the response has ordered categories. In the case of high‐dimensional predictor structure, the common maximum likelihood approach typically fails when all predictors are included. A boosting technique pomBoost is proposed to fit the model by implicitly selecting the influential predictors. The approach distinguishes between metric and categorical predictors. In the case of categorical predictors, where each predictor relates to a set of parameters, the objective is to select simultaneously all the associated parameters. In addition, the approach distinguishes between nominal and ordinal predictors. In the case of ordinal predictors, the proposed technique uses the ordering of the ordinal predictors by penalizing the difference between the parameters of adjacent categories. The technique has also a provision to consider some mandatory predictors (if any) that must be part of the final sparse model. The performance of the proposed boosting algorithm is evaluated in a simulation study and applications with respect to mean squared error and prediction error. Hit rates and false alarm rates are used to judge the performance of pomBoost for selection of the relevant predictors.     

Mimicking repurchases

We study the tendency of firms to mimic the repurchase announcements of their industry counterparts. We argue that a firm, by repurchasing its shares, sends a positive signal about itself and a negative one about its competitors. This induces the competing firms to mimic the behavior of the repurchasing firm by repurchasing themselves. Using a broad sample of US firms from the period 1984–2002, we show that, in concentrated industries, a repurchase announcement lowers the stock price of the other firms in the same industry. The other firms react by repurchasing themselves to undo these negative effects. Repurchases are chosen as a strategic reaction to other firms’ repurchase decisions and are not motivated by the desire to time the market, i.e., to take advantage of a significantly undervalued stock price. Therefore, repurchasing firms in more concentrated industries experience a lower increase in value in comparison with their counterparts in less concentrated industries in the post-announcement era. Alternative methodologies used to estimate long-term performance confirm that it is only the repurchasing firms in low concentration industries that outperform the market, their non-repurchasing peers, and their counterparts in more concentrated industries by amounts that are economically and statistically significant.     

R&D expenditures and implied equity risk premiums

This study investigates the relationship between research and development (R&D) expenditures and risk premiums implied in the costs of equity capital. We posit that R&D expenditures represent an information risk factor resulting from both information asymmetry about R&D between investors and managers and low-quality R&D reporting that impairs the coordination between investors and managers with respect to managers’ investment decisions. Our results support our position by showing a positive association between R&D expenditures and implied equity risk premiums. From this research along with prior studies, investors can have better knowledge about the risky nature of R&D expenditures that drive up implied risk premiums and at the same time provide opportunities to earn excess returns in a short to long horizon. Accounting standard setters can benefit from this study’s findings that R&D expenditures represent an off-balance-sheet risk factor and thus warrant reconsidering SFAS No. 2 for potential capitalization of R&D expenditures.