Firm Adoption Research Articles

IFRS Adoption and Accounting Conservatism of Japanese Firms with Governance System Transition

This study examines whether there is a difference in the degree of accounting conservatism between firms that voluntarily adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and those that use local accounting standards in Japan, being a traditional code-law country that is undergoing changes in its governance system. The difference-in-difference approach reveals that the degree of conditional conservatism decreases for IFRS adopters and more sharply for Japanese accounting standards’ users between 2009/2010 and 2018/2019, resulting in relatively larger conditional conservatism for IFRS adopters. The regression analysis shows that the change in conditional conservatism is positively associated with IFRS adopters having a high foreign shareholders ratio. This study makes several contributions to the related literature. First, to the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to provide a comparative analysis of IFRS and Japanese accounting standards with respect to conservatism. Second, additional evidence is provided on the relationship between conservatism and corporate governance.

Information and Communication Technologies Adoption in Small Firms

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can provide a set of benefits to companies, such as efficiency gains in managerial activities, cost reduction and faster communication with consumers. The ICT literature has studies showing the positive impact that the IT adoption can generate on the company’s performance. ICT benefits are also extensive to small business, but their particular characteristics do not always support their adoption by these enterprises, especially when they are enterprises situated in developing countries. In this context, the aim of this paper was to identify how the ICT adoption and the ICT intention of use are in Brazilian small firms. We have used a case study and we have collected data from four enterprises. In order to collect the data, we used qualitative interviews, direct observation and documental analysis. The main results have shown that the owner’s characteristics, the understanding of the ICT benefits, the ICT complexity and the costs/time related to training people are factors associated with the ICT adoption and intention of use. Based on the literature review and on the empirical evidence, we have found that there is an opportunity cost related to postponing the decision of the ICT investments. We also discuss the role of geographical localization of the enterprises, which can contribute to the ICT literature.

Barriers to BIM implementation and ways forward to improve its adoption in the Nigerian AEC firms

PurposeBIM has much potential to improve the effectiveness of construction works with respect to design, construction and maintenance. However, many Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) firms are still lagging in the adoption and implementation of BIM in both developing and developed countries. The purpose of this study is to assess the barriers to BIM implementation, and examine the ways forward to improve BIM adoption within the Nigerian AEC firms.Design/methodology/approachA comprehensive literature review and questionnaire survey were used in the study. The survey targeted four different AEC firms. These include architectural firms, facility management firms, quantity surveying firms and structural engineering firms in Lagos, Nigeria. The data obtained were analyzed using mean score, standard deviation, Kruskal–Wallis test, and factor analysis.FindingsThe study identified 20 barriers to BIM implementation and identified ten ways forward to improve BIM adoption in AEC firms, particularly in Nigeria. The relative importance of both the identified barriers and the ways forward were gauged. The Kruskal–Wallis tests revealed that except for one (out of 20) identified barriers, and one (out of 10) identified ways forward; there is no statistical significant difference in the perceptions of four different AEC firms. The factor analysis result grouped the 20 identified barriers into three major factors to include: weak top management support and BIM environment related issues; cost of BIM software and training issues; and incompatibility, legal, contractual, and culture related issues.Practical implicationsThe significance of the study cannot be over-emphasized due to BIM relevance to construction stakeholders and researchers at large.Originality/valueThe study findings would inform the decisions of the construction stakeholders to make some policy recommendations capable of positively influencing the full BIM implementation in AEC firms.

The market value of sustainable practices in the luxury industry: An identity mismatch and institutional theoretical perspective

Shareholders of luxury firms uphold a view of identity mismatch between being luxury and sustainable. We examine the associated market value with sustainable practice adoption of luxury firms from an institutional theoretical lens and an identity mismatch perspective. Based on 289 announcements made by public luxury firms, results from event study show that the stock market reacts negatively to the announcements of sustainable practices. Nevertheless, the negative effect attenuates in more recent year announcements, and more profitable and smaller luxury firms. Our results alert managers to better align their sustainability goals with luxury firms' identity and the ever-changing environment.

‘Open source has won and lost the war’: Legitimising commercial–communal hybridisation in a FOSS project

Information technology (IT) firms are paying developers in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) projects, leading to the emergence of hybrid forms of work. In order to understand how the firm–project hybridisation process occurs, we present the results of an online survey of participants in the Debian project, as well as interviews with Debian Developers. We find that the intermingling of the commercial logic of the firm and the communal logic of the project requires rhetorical legitimation. We analyse the discourses used to legitimise firm–project cooperation as well as the organisational mechanisms which facilitate this cooperation. A first phase of legitimation, based on firm adoption of open licenses and developer self-fulfilment, aims to erase the commercial/communal divide. A second more recent phase seeks to professionalise work relations inside the project and, in doing so, challenges the social order which restricts participation in FOSS. Ultimately, hybridisation raises the question of the fair distribution of the profits firms derive from FOSS.

Which Came First, it or Productivity? Virtuous Cycle of Investment and Use in Enterprise Systems

While it is now well established that IT intensive firms are more productive, a critical question remains: Does IT cause productivity or are productive firms simply willing to spend more on IT? We address this question by examining the productivity and performance effects of enterprise systems investments in a uniquely detailed and comprehensive data set of 623 large, public U.S firms. The data represent all U.S. customers of a large vendor during 1998-2005 and include the vendor's three main enterprise system suites: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Supply Chain Management (SCM), and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). A particular benefit of our data is that they distinguish the purchase of enterprise systems from their installation and use. Since enterprise systems often take years to implement, firm performance at the time of purchase often differs markedly from performance after the systems go live. Specifically, in our ERP data, we find that purchase events are uncorrelated with performance while go-live events are positively correlated. This indicates that the use of ERP systems actually causes performance gains rather than strong performance driving the purchase of ERP. In contrast, for SCM and CRM, we find that performance is correlated with both purchase and go-live events. Because SCM and CRM are installed after ERP, these results imply that firms that experience performance gains from ERP go on to purchase SCM and CRM. Our results are robust against several alternative explanations and specifications and suggest that a causal relationship between ERP and performance triggers additional IT adoption in firms that derive value from their initial investment. These results provide an explanation of simultaneity in IT value research that fits with rational economic decision-making: Firms that successfully implement IT, react by investing in more IT. Our work suggests replacing either-or views of causality with a positive feedback loop conceptualization in which successful IT investments initiate a virtuous cycle of investment and gain. Our work also reveals other important estimation issues that can help researchers identify relationships between IT and business value.

Assessing the emergence of pro-biodiversity practices in citizen scientists of a backyard butterfly survey.

By monitoring biodiversity through citizen science programs, volunteers help scientists gather data at unprecedented temporal and geographical scales, and increase their knowledge and awareness of the surrounding biodiversity. While scientific outcomes of such programs may in the long run improve the state of biodiversity by informing environmental policies, direct benefits to biodiversity could arise locally if such experience of nature leads to biodiversity-friendly behaviors in volunteers. However, whether engagement into nature-based CS programs promotes individual behavioral changes remains poorly known. Here, we explored whether sustained participation in a nature-based citizen science program, called the French Butterfly citizen science project, is associated with changes in individual gardening practices. Specifically, using information provided by volunteers (n=2362, from 2006 to 2013), we quantified gardening practices that directly affect butterflies, through two different indices: provision of nectar resources, and pesticide use. We found quantitative evidence that individual gardening practices shifted with multi-year participation, towards increased provision of nectar resources and decreased use of pesticides. However, the reduction in pesticide use was weakened if the backyard was used to grow fruits or vegetables. Other variables such as the size of the backyard affected gardening practices. This study reveals that participation in a nature-based citizen science program can prompt biodiversity-friendly behaviors, and highlights citizen science not only as a way to collect ecologically sound data but also as a direct conservation tool. Yet, future interdisciplinary research remains critical to overcome factors limiting firm adoption of pro-biodiversity behaviors.

Business Analytics Adoption in Firms

Business Analytics Adoption in Firms

Exploring Information Technology’s Adoption in Restaurants

The purpose of the paper is to explore and compare the current use of information technology-related advances in chain and independent full-service restaurants, the factors that motivate managers of these types of restaurants to decide whether or not to implement such technology, and how these managers perceive the impact of technology on the firm. A case study analysis involving four northern Taiwan full-service restaurants was conducted to examine the framework of full-service restaurants to implement new technology. Propositions are developed that purport the information technology adoption and implementation characteristics of full-service restaurant firms while elucidating the distinctiveness between chain and independent firms.

Leveraging Micro‐Level Building Information Modeling for Managing Sustainable Design: United Kingdom Experience

Although the literature revealed the challenges and drivers to implement Building Information Modeling (BIM) in the building design industry in general, to date, there are few established methods and processes to overcome challenges of BIM adoption in building design, especially in sustainable building design for managing the project. At the present, BIM adoption in building design at micro level, that is, the level of architects, mainly focuses on barriers with little attention to method and the process of implementing BIM. Moreover, there is lack of a robust research method, that is, mixed method, to systematically investigate the process of implementing micro‐level BIM in building design, which is related to the factors, such as challenges and drivers to the challenges of BIM adoption. Furthermore, several studies have looked into micro‐level BIM adoption in architecture firms, but few of them focused on sustainable design. This emphasizes a need to investigate and explore micro‐level BIM implementation challenges alongside its drivers in building design and present methods and processes generated from architects’ perspectives to address the challenges during sustainable design for the project management, which is the aim of this paper. The research investigation was through a questionnaire that is followed by interviews with the leading architectural firms within the UK. The research reported in this paper is to present a clear view of challenges to micro‐level BIM adoption and a framework/road‐map to address the key challenges in managing sustainable building design projects, which are related to cultural resistance and culture change, top‐down management support, current key challenges and drivers, and client and project managers’ interests. The methods and processes that enhanced the framework can be instantly adopted for building design and for architectural companies including small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs).

Strategic Application Portfolio in SMEs*

This paper discusses the state of a small and medium enterprise's (SME) information needs in terms of its strategic application portfolio. Specifically, it examines the strategic information requirements of a manufacturing SME with the aim of understanding the application strategy needed to formulate the firm's IT adoption so that lessons could he learnt from such technology innovation. A case study approach was chosen in which information requirements of the firm were investigated. Analysis was done to examine the evidence of potential applications strategic to the .firm 's business mission, goals and functional requirements. Major deliverables include an enterprise-wide data model representing a high-level overview of the firm's information requirements, a business area classification, and portfolios of applications categorized according to strategic, operational, potential and support using the classical McFarlan and McKenney Strategic Importance Matrix.

Challenges of Industry 4.0 Technology Adoption for SMEs: The Case of Japan

In the light of several national advanced manufacturing strategies such as Industry 4.0 in Germany or the Made in China 2025 initiative in China, this article examines the challenges of Industry 4.0 adoption of Japanese small and medium-sized manufacturing firms. A technology adoption model for Industry 4.0 is developed and empirically tested with 38 manufacturing companies. The results yield that the market uncertainty of the firm’s business is a significant driver for adoption in the short, medium, and long-term. Relative competitive advantage matters in the short term and top management support in the long-term. No support has been identified concerning advanced manufacturing complexity and market transparency of Industry 4.0 solutions.

Dual isomorphic mechanisms and the role of a transnational agent

PurposeCorporate environmental innovation (CEI) is a proactive type of response to increasing public scrutiny regarding firms’ environmental performance. While past studies have overwhelmingly focused on coercive mechanisms and assumed a closed national institutional field, less attention has been given to non-coercive and transnational inter-firm mimetic mechanisms. This paper aims to investigate the joint effect of coercive isomorphic mechanisms from domestic institutions and mimetic isomorphic mechanisms from foreign multinational enterprises (MNE) on CEI adoption in domestic firms.Design/methodology/approachThe study’s empirical analysis is based on data from 1,967 firms from the 2010 Korean Innovation Survey, as well as other official statistics.FindingsThis study reports the following results: the direct effects of domestic institutions on CEI adoption in domestic firms vary according to institution type; foreign MNEs have a positive effect, whether using global or local CEI strategies; and the positive effect of foreign MNEs strengthens when the stringency of domestic environmental regulation increases.Originality/valueThis paper shows that CEI diffusion is driven by both coercive institutional pressures and inter-firm mimetic mechanisms, including their joint effects. Foreign MNEs act as boundary-spanners that activate a dual isomorphic mechanism, affecting social as well as economic development in host countries. Finally, evidence of interaction between domestic coercive and transnational mimetic mechanisms supports the authors’ contention that national institutional fields are increasingly interconnected.

Sustainable value chain practice adoption to improve strategic environmentalism in ICT-based industries

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the current value chain activities grounded on Porter’s value chain theory and to examine the drivers of strategic environmentalism that influence sustainable value chain adoption. This study further constructs a prescriptive model to reveal the extent to which information communication technology (ICT)-based industries are adopting sustainable value chain practices.Design/methodology/approach Data were collected using questionnaire from selected ISO 14000/14001-certified ICT-based firms in Malaysia and analyzed using partial least square-structural equation modeling.Findings Results reveal that the primary activities positively influence sustainable value chain. Moreover, results indicate that support activities significantly influence sustainable value chain adoption in ICT-based firms. Results further show that strategic environmentalism drivers have an impact on sustainable value chain adoption.Research limitations/implications Data were collected from ICT-based industries in Malaysia only. Additionally, this research extends the body of knowledge and offers theoretical implications for ICT-based industries in Malaysia and other emerging economies in adopting sustainable value chain activities.Practical implications Practically, this study assists ICT-based industries to change their current paradigm from the traditional operations to a more holistic approach toward supporting practitioners to simultaneously achieve social responsibility, environmental and economic growth.Social implications This study offers social implications for ICT-based industries to implement cleaner operations by decreasing CO2 emission, lessening energy usage, diminishing cost incurred and minimizing usage of natural resources, thereby increasing product recovery and recycle-ability of IT hardware.Originality/value This study is one of the first to address the issue related to sustainable value chain in ICT-based industry by providing a roadmap on how practitioners can implement sustainable initiatives or more significantly, how to infuse these initiatives in their current chain, while concurrently enhancing competitiveness. Furthermore, this paper examines the current activities implemented by practitioners toward sustainable value chain adoption and explores the correlation of the drivers of strategic environmentalism with regard to sustainable value chain.

Join In... and Drop Out? Firm Adoption of and Disengagement from Voluntary Environmental Programs

Voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) offer opportunities for companies and stakeholders to improve environmental outcomes valued by society in the absence of regulatory mandates. Research has ad...

Factors Activating Big Data Adoption by Korean Firms

ABSTRACT Big data is expected to drive the new digital transformation of society, government, and business. The proportion of firms implementing and utilizing big data, however, is not high. There are many challenges and obstacles related to firm adoption of big data. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors influencing the adoption of big data among Korean firms using the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework. The results of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and regression analysis from data collected from 50 experts and 226 companies, respectively, are as follows: the benefits from big data, technological capabilities, financial investment competence, and data quality and integration are perceived by the experts and the firms as the strongest determinants of adoption. Management support for big data, security and privacy, and government support and policy are also influential factors of firm big data adoption.

Design and Evaluation of Product Aesthetics: A Human-Machine Hybrid Approach

Aesthetics are critically important to market acceptance. In the automotive industry, an improved aesthetic design can boost sales by 30% or more. Firms invest heavily in designing and testing aesthetics. A single automotive “theme clinic” can cost over $100,000, and hundreds are conducted annually. We use machine learning to augment human judgment when designing and testing new product aesthetics. The model combines a probabilistic variational autoencoder (VAE) and adversarial components from generative adversarial networks (GAN), with modeling assumptions that address managerial requirements for firm adoption. We train and evaluate our model with industry data from an automotive partner—203 SUV images evaluated by targeted consumers and 180,000 high-quality unrated images. Our model predicts well the appeal of new aesthetic designs—43.9% improvement relative to a baseline and substantial improvement over both conventional machine learning models and pretrained deep learning models. New automotive designs are generated in a controllable manner. We empirically verify that automatically generated designs are (1) appealing to consumers, (2) identify designs introduced to the market in the future, and (3) spark creativity to help designers and management explore visual dimensions that affect aesthetic perception. The results suggest that machine learning offers significant opportunity to augment aesthetic design.

Cloud computing in high tech startups: evidence from a case study

ABSTRACTThis paper focuses on the implementation of cloud-based systems in startups to answer how and why hi-tech startups use cloud computing, an overlooked question to date. Thus, referring to an extended version of Ross and Blumenstein [2015. “Cloud Computing as a Facilitator of SME Entrepreneurship.” Technology Analysis & Strategic Management 27 (1): 87–101] framework, encompassing issues of context and culture following Spanò et al. [2019. “Context, Culture and Control: A Case Study on Accounting Change in an Italian Regional Health Service.” Journal of Management and Governance. doi:10.1007/s10997-019-09458-0], we analyse cloud adoption in startup firms and rely upon a case study of an Italian hi-tech startup. The case study allowed us to tap into the main issues relating to cloud implementation that is increased opportunities, reduced costs, scalability, access to global markets, and access to international venture capital. The results offer interesting insights to the literature on cloud computing, and also have some managerial implications in that they better unfold the effects played by context and culture.

FIRM TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION MODEL (F-TAM) AMONG SME'S: AN INTERACTIVE ECO-SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE

This paper seeks to test the Firm Technology Adoption Model (F-TAM) using data from a developing country context. The data for this current study were purposively collected from four hundred (400) SMEs in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. We used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) for our data analysis. Data revealed that, whereas employee factors can lead to firm adoption, firm factors of adoption do not lead to firm adoption if societal factors, characteristics of the innovation, and employee factors do not moderate the relationship between firm factors and firm adoption. Data also reveals that societal factors do not lead to firm adoption if employee factors do not mediate it. The theoretical contribution of this study is that it challenges the dominant idea in most of the earlier models that firm adoption of innovation will be realized, without reference to factors at other levels of adoption. This positioning of the F-TAM model is a significant departure from earlier models. For industry practitioners, these findings illustrate the essence of putting a premium on recruiting technologically savvy employees if the firm intends to adopt digital technologies.

Information and communication technology adoption in micro and small firms: Can internet access improve labour productivity?

AbstractThe rapid spread of information and communication technologies (ICT) may increase firms’ productivity with important consequences for job creation and for economic growth. This article contributes to this discussion by analysing the impact of internet adoption on labour productivity and the mechanisms shaping this relationship in Peruvian micro and small manufacturing firms over the period 2011–2013. The article estimates a reduced form where labour productivity is a function of internet adoption and other explanatory factors. Internet adoption is instrumented using a measure of the availability of financial opportunities for micro and small firms in Peru. Findings indicate that internet adoption: (a) increases firms’ labour productivity; (b) reallocates employment away from temporary administrative workers and non‐remunerated workers and expands employment of permanent production workers; (c) leads to the formalization of labour relationships, to the implementation of new organizational practices and to the improvement of training measures. While changes in employment and formalization of workers are linked to labour productivity gains, increases in training measures and organizational changes do not generate any additional productivity increase. Policies oriented to promote the adoption ofICTin micro and small firms can be beneficial to close the productivity gap with larger firms in Peru. Moreover, policies directed to the formalization of the workforce can provide an extra benefit, i.e. additional labour productivity gains in firms adopting the internet. Finally, policies oriented to the development of digital skills are also important to ease the re‐employment of those workers losing their jobs and the achievement of additional productivity gains that new organizational practices can provide.