Effects of Business Environment on Operations Strategy: An Empirical Study of Retail Firms in China

Abstract

The impacts of business environmental factors on operations strategy choices in a manufacturing context have been heavily researched. However, how managers of service firms in developing countries such as China develop operations strategy has yet to receive any significant attention among researchers. Drawing on the manufacturing literature, we examine, in the Chinese context, the relationships between business environmental factors (such as business cost, competitive hostility, labour availability, and environmental dynamism) and operations strategy choices (such as low cost, quality, flexibility and delivery performance). Employing a path analytic framework, we have identified strong linkages between business environment (viz. business cost, competitive hostility and environmental dynamism) and operations strategy choices. We have found that environmental dynamism (such as changes in retail technology and innovations in new service development) had the strongest influence on the degree of emphasis placed on operations strategy choices. However, environmental concerns about labour availability do not appear to have any direct effect on the operations strategy selections among retail firms in China.