Inter-firm Level Research Articles

Firm level evidence on diffusion and returns on ICT: a study on Indian informal MSMEs

ABSTRACT Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays a major role in reorienting business operations across the globe, but their impact may vary in different businesses. A developing nation's informal micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have a significant developmental role in the economy. Thereby, we focus on two related questions: What factors determine ICT adoption among informal MSMEs? Second, what is the collective impact of ICT and Human resources (HR) on firm economic performance? Using a nationally representative sample of more than 250,000 Indian informal firms, we found three important conclusions. First, several firm and organizational level factors impact ICT adoption at intra and inter-firm levels. Second, the least productive and Micro firms could extract relatively higher ICT returns. Third, mixed results for ICT-HR complementary effects indicate the relevance of the ICT-productivity paradox.

Platforms Enhancing Proximity in the Digital Era

Platforms have the ability to create connected digital spaces where different actors co-exist and work together. The paper explores the power of platforms as enablers of a new channel of proximity, called digital proximity. It argues that platforms enable interactions, information flows, and network formation through digital proximity, which can effectively reinforce externalities complementing existing proximity forms or bypassing physical space barriers. Firms and industries adopting platform-based tools can create meaningful channels for increasing their proximity at an intra- and inter-firm level. The study uses data from the Digital Economy and Society database covering 25 EU countries for the years 2019 and 2021. It calculates the degree of adoption by EU firms at the national level for a set of selected platform-based technologies closely related to different proximity forms. It investigates the relationship between digital proximity, firm size, and industry, also introducing a geographical dimension. The evidence suggests that large firms have managed to integrate platform-based technologies to a greater extent, whereas small and medium firms still lack leveraging the full power of platforms. Increased adoption at the country level is also related to increased productivity, indicating the geographical dimension of platforms. The paper argues that platforms can be seen as a new means for balancing uneven spatial capabilities for producing proximity, indicating a high potential for fostering territorial cohesion. It concludes by suggesting that future research should measure the effects of digital proximity on development and their causal relationship to better elaborate on the implications of platforms on development.

Level of Adoption and Use of Knowledge Management Practices in Supply Chains

Business competition nowadays involves entire supply chains (SCs) rather than individual firms, and companies, with appropriate ways, need to coordinate and co-manage knowledge resources, activities, and innovative efforts in collaboration with their partners for improved competitiveness. Knowledge management (KM) practices and their adoption in single firms to manage inter-firm relationships can be of great help, but the current studies on this aspect are very fragmented. There is still insufficient knowledge of what practices are adopted to manage knowledge and how intensely these are used in inter-firm relationships and especially in supply chains. This study contributes to filling this gap by measuring the level of adoption and intensity of use of KM practices in companies. Also, it provides a comparison between their use at the intra- and inter-firm level. A survey of a sample of European large- and medium-sized manufacturing firms was used. A descriptive statistical analysis and a correlation analysis were performed. The study confirms that KM practices are used in companies, but with a varied level of adoption and intensity of use among firms. Especially, it resulted that KM is less used at an inter-firm level, and there is a relatively higher variation among firms in the inter-firm use rather than the internal context. On the other hand, the correlation analysis revealed that the more intensely firms used KM internally, the more likely they will intensely employ them to manage knowledge in SC relationships. The usefulness of the study lies in the fact that improving the awareness of business managers and consultants, both at firm and inter-firm, can facilitate introduction and development of KM programs.

Embracing green supply chain collaboration through technologies: the bridging role of advanced manufacturing technology

PurposeThe implementation of green collaboration has evolved from the interfirm level to the supply chain level, which requires more participation in information and manufacturing technologies. Despite many efforts to green supply chain collaboration (GSCC), the research on how to enhance it from a technological perspective remains unclear. Thus, this study aims to address this gap by exploring how to enhance green supplier, internal and customer collaboration through using information technology (IT) and advanced manufacturing technology (AMT), which further accelerates environmental and economic performance.Design/methodology/approachThis study was conducted based on survey data collected from 213 manufacturing firms from different industries. The direct effects of the conceptual model were tested using the method of structural equation modeling (SEM), whereas the bootstrapping method tested the mediation effects of AMT between IT and GSCC.FindingsThe results show that green supplier collaboration (GSC) is significantly associated with environmental performance, while green customer collaboration (GCC) is positively related to economic performance. Green internal collaboration not only enhances green supplier and customer collaboration but also boosts environmental and economic performance. IT directly improves green internal collaboration but is negatively related to GSC and insignificantly related to GCC. However, AMT not only enhances green internal, supplier and customer collaboration but also mediates the relationship between IT and green supplier and customer collaboration.Originality/valueThis study offers comprehensive and novel insights into GSCC from a technological perspective, giving rise to meaningful contributions to green practices for both scholars and practitioners.

Value co-creation for digital innovation: An interorganizational boundary-spanning perspective

Despite the enthusiasm for engaging in interorganizational collaboration to enable digital product innovation, firms often face challenges in integrating knowledge across organizational boundaries. Our research examines how collaborating firms use Interorganizational Systems (IOS) tools and project coordinators to overcome knowledge boundaries in different types of ideation tasks. Drawing on boundary-spanning theory, we conceptualize IOS tools as boundary objects, project coordinators as boundary spanners, and the interdependence of ideation tasks as moderators of the impacts of boundary objects and spanners on knowledge integration. Our findings suggest that IOS tools help overcome syntax and semantic knowledge boundaries by transferring and sharing information when the interdependence of idea implementation tasks is high, and project coordinators help overcome pragmatic knowledge boundaries by building reciprocity of innovation participants when the interdependence of idea generation tasks is high. Our research contributes to value co-creation literature by developing a boundary-spanning mechanism to explain the roles of boundary objects and boundary spanners in overcoming different knowledge boundaries to enable digital product innovation at the inter-firm level.

Signposts on the Path to Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) Entrenchment in Business Relationships: A Conceptual framework and Research proposal

Like the entrenched managers who manage to keep their positions despite corporate governance mechanisms, this paper aims to develop our understanding of the LSPs entrenchment process in business relationships, its initial conditions and its generative mechanisms by mobilizing the concepts of power and dependency in logistics outsourcing. The paper seeks to answer a central question about how the entrenchment of LSPs occurs and develops in business relationships, if attention were paid to the LSP’s leadership in the relationship and its ability to balance power relations to entrench the shipper’s dependency. To do, authors mobilize a theoretical framework of managerial entrenchment from the organizational finance and the power-dependency at inter-firm level and transpose the entrenchment theory to inter-organizational relationship in logistic. The Managerial interest of this research arises from the importance of modelling the LSPs entrenchment process to help shippers to monitor their growing dependency on LSPs and continuously map their power profile.

Enhancing Hospital Performance: the role of interfirm dynamic capabilities from the information processing view

ABSTRACT In today’s increasingly volatile world, organisations including healthcare providers need interfirm dynamic capabilities to make timely responses to supply chains changes. There has been a wealth of literature on dynamic capabilities; however, very few are at interfirm level and even fewer are conducted in the healthcare industry. Grounded in information processing view, this study contributes to the literature by examining interfirm dynamic capabilities in the context of healthcare delivery networks. It proposes the interfirm dynamic capabilities as a form of information processing capability with five dimensions: sensing, learning, coordination, collective mind and partner development. Using data collected from healthcare delivery networks, this study explores the impact of interfirm dynamic capabilities on hospitals’ performance. The findings suggest that the fit between a healthcare delivery network's interfirm dynamic capabilities and information processing requirements will improve its operational capabilities, which will lead to better performance.

Hub firm transformation and industry cluster upgrading: innovation network perspective

PurposeThis research paper examines how hub firm transformation and restructuring of network partnerships shape the development of industrial clusters in China.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaire data were collected from 210 managers (response rate 70.9 percent) from the manufacturing industrial clusters in Eastern China.FindingsThe results inform that a cluster’s hub firm transformation influences the evolution of the cluster. Though the hub firm may possess transformation capabilities, the cluster is likely to be weakened if network partnerships and resource synergy are not formed amongst the cluster members.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper, in examining the individual- and firm-level attributes of orchestration capability and their interactions, sheds light on the firm level and inter-firm level relationships between resources and innovation in an industrial cluster.Practical implicationsTo facilitate learning and the upgrading of firms within an industry cluster and promote a cluster’s innovation network, policymakers can initiate preferential policy measures to cultivate support to strategically transform a cluster’s hub firm, thus fostering cluster network growth.Originality/valueThe paper studies the evolution of clusters by investigating the hub firm transformation and member firm interaction. Focusing on the inter-firm network interactions lends a richer understanding of the nuances of the evolution of industrial clusters in Asia.

Indirect Transactions at a Global Scale

This paper advances theory on arm’s length transactions by considering their causes and consequences in a novel context- global trade transactions. The study is made possible by merging comprehensive bilateral trade data from the United Nations (UNCOMTRADE) with a propriety dataset capturing bilateral payments provided by the Society of Worldwide Interbank Financial Transfers (SWIFT). The resulting dataset reveals that more than two-thirds of bilateral trade relationships are structured indirectly- African countries export their products to a trade partner, but that importing partner does not pay the exporter directly. My analysis reveals the attributes of country-level transaction relationships that use this indirect payment structure, what the performance implications are for indirect payments ties, and why countries that initially use indirect payments ties subsequently switch to direct payments (the triad closes) or vice versa. Results show that indirect payments are more likely when countries have higher gravity-based distances, dissimilar administrative institutions, weaker governance institutions, and trade in more substitutable goods. Indirect transactions, however, are associated with lower stability and lower growth in all these relationships with the exception of those with weaker governance institutions, where intermediaries are a benefit to the transacting parties. Overall, the evidence strongly suggests that direct, embedded transactions at a global level are associated with similar positive benefits that scholars have found at local, inter-firm levels. A concluding discussion highlights five important questions for future research to consider than cannot be answered by this study.

Life below excellence: exploring the links between top-ranked universities and regional competitiveness

ABSTRACT This paper examines interactions between the presence of top-ranked universities and other conditions that encourage regional competitiveness. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was conducted to assess the combined effect of the conditions. The analysis yields several noteworthy conclusions. First, no single condition is necessary for a region to be competitive. Second, R&D expenditure is important for regional competitiveness. Third, different configurations of conditions are sufficient for high competitiveness in different regional clusters. Furthermore, some of these configurations do not include the presence of top-ranked universities. A ‘magic recipe’ consists of the combination of a private research system, an inter-firm collaboration network and high levels of human capital. The analysis shows that university excellence is valuable. However, in terms of its contribution to regional development, it is not crucial and must always be contextualised. This conclusion is important for smart strategic planning of local knowledge systems.

Intra-Firm and Inter-Firm Challenges in Servitization Ecosystem: Experiences from Five Product-Centric Firms in Different Industries

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the challenges in the servitization journey of product-centric firms from an ecosystem perspective, considering both intra-firm and inter-firm levels. Prior research addresses the challenges of servitization in many sectors from different perspectives. However, the majority of studies primarily focus on the provider of an offering. There is a lack of in-depth studies on analysing servitization challenges from the broader set of network actors including customers, suppliers, and sub-suppliers at the intra-firm and inter-firm levels. A multiple case study method was used to analyse five product-centric firms from different industries that were engaged in servitization. At intra- firm level, our analysis shows that ‘coordination’ is a major challenge for the provider, supplier, and sub-suppliers, and that ‘uncertainty’ and ‘risk’ is a major challenge for the provider, customer, and supplier. At inter-firm level, ‘partnership management’ found to be a most significant challenge for provider, customer, supplier, and sub-suppliers. The study contributes to the discussion of the relational view approach for servitization research.

Managing systemic uncertainty: The role of industry-level management controls and hybrids

We study how multiple firms voluntarily design inter-firm mechanisms to manage industry-level systemic uncertainty. Facing a threat of systemic uncertainty that cannot be addressed by any one firm, we explain how the Australian cotton industry mobilised hybrids and boundary spanners to develop an industry-level solution at the inter-firm level. We apply resource dependence theory to extend Miller, Kurunmäki and O'Leary (2008), and identify a broader range of hybrid characteristics (novel, inter-firm, public/private and open source) than currently acknowledged in accounting studies. We use these characteristics to explain how hybrid organisational forms and hybrid control processes operate at the inter-firm level to develop and share a solution to systemic uncertainty, which are subsequently applied at the firm-level. Our findings also show how boundary spanners can operate with less tension in larger industry-level collaborations, explained using our resource dependence conceptualisation. This responds to Dekker's (2016) calls for more inter-firm research clarifying how controls operate beyond the firm.

Postdisaster Social Capital, Adaptive Resilience and Business Performance of Tourism Organizations in Christchurch, New Zealand

The resilience of tourism organizations is an important issue for destinations. While studies examine the social capital of firms, researchers have yet to understand the relationship between social capital (structural, relational and cognitive) and organizational resilience as predictors of business performance. This study evaluates these relationships at the interfirm level among tourism organizations in the postdisaster context of Christchurch, New Zealand, where business performance for some tourism operations was severely impacted. Surveys of tourism organizations reveal that structural capital has a positive relationship with both cognitive and relational capital. Only relational capital has an influence on adaptive resilience. Adaptive resilience has a significant influence on business performance. By showing which elements of social capital contribute to adaptive resilience, these findings can be used by tourism organizations in their recovery phase to direct investments in building resilience and strengthening interfirm relationships.

Managing Coopetition within Multibusiness Firms: A Focus on the Production Allocation Process

Through the in-depth analysis of the case of an intraindustry diversified firm operating in the semiconductor industry, this paper identifies the sources and treatment of coopetitive tensions among divisions in the production allocation process. We offer three contributions to coopetition inquiry at the intrafirm level. First, we show the role of corporate headquarters in “inducing cooperation” among competing divisions to effectively exploit production capacity. Second, we unravel that the temporal separation of competition and cooperation may turn crucial to manage intrafirm coopetition tensions. Third, we identify a coopetition sequence in which we observe that competition follows cooperation. Interestingly, this sequence goes to the opposite direction vis-a-vis the one that typically occurs at the interfirm level.

Supply Chain Management Control of Fish Canning Industry in Morocco

Management control is increasingly adapted to the changes taking place at inter-firm level of business exchanges. By taking the form of an interorganizational control, the latter aims to reduce uncertainty, avoid opportunism and seek to make the most of an exchange relationship between two organizations. This article analyses some of the main studies dealing with inter-organizational control in the context of supply chain. We present literature review on this type of control, its typology and its approaches and theories. Thanks to its marine biological heritage, Morocco is a world exporter of sea products. The fish preserve sector occupies an important place in the Moroccan economy with a large turnover. This paper presents an exploratory study of this sector where we try to explain the functioning within the canneries of the Souss Massa region in terms of logistic management, the management control function, the management of transport and costs and finally the performance management methods. Based on 12 interviews with managers of canneries in the region, the results of this exploratory study will form the basis on which we will base our main study.

Board Rudiments and the Executive Attitude Towards Corporate Risk-Taking

This paper examines the effect of key board distinctiveness on managerial risk-taking behaviour. Using a total sample of 121 firms made up of 1,166 corporate directors and 847 firm-year observations, the study finds robust evidence across the three stages of estimation that suggests power separation in terms of CEO non-duality is negatively associated with executive risk-taking due to enhanced board assertiveness and independence. Board size is inversely associated with the variability of market value measure both within and at inter-firm levels. With average board membership in the study sample made up of 10 directors, the study finds crucial empirical evidence that points to the key benefits of large board configuration including the social capital, diversity of thoughts, knowledge, and experience, effectiveness and vigilance which curtails executive entrenchment. In contrast, the paper records positive association between the presence of foreign directors and corporate risk-taking. Due to their wealth of experiences, foreign directors tend to have more strategic sense of purpose and are likely not to hesitate in taking appropriate risk decisions when it really matters. While the paper finds little evidence that suggests a within-firm positive relationship between board independence and managerial risky propensities, there was no evidence found to indicate that board quality and ethnic diversity affects corporate risk-taking.

The Embedding of Transnational Entrepreneurs in Diaspora Networks: Leveraging the Assets of Foreignness

In this paper we examine how foreign actors capitalize on their ethnic identity to gain skills and capabilities that enable them to operate in a new and strange environment. We explore the mechanisms by which Bulgarian entrepreneurs in London use their ethnic identity to develop competitive advantage and business contacts. We find that the entrepreneurs studied gain access to a diaspora network, which enables them to develop essential business capabilities and integrate knowledge from both home and host country environments. The diaspora community possesses a collective asset (transactive memory) that allows its members to remove competition from the interfirm level to the network level (i.e., diaspora networks vs. networks of native businesspeople). Additionally, the cultural identity and networks to which community members have access provide bridging capabilities that allow diaspora businesspeople to make links to host country business partners and thus embed themselves in the host country environment. Thus, this paper adds to the growing body of work showing how foreignness can serve as an asset in addition to its better-known role as a liability.

Leveraging the Assets of Foreignness in the Transnational Domain

In this paper, we examine how foreign actors capitalize on their ethnic identity to gain skills and capabilities that enable them to operate in a new and strange environment. We explore the mechanisms by which Bulgarian entrepreneurs in London use their ethnic identity to develop competitive advantage and business contacts. We find that the entrepreneurs studied gain access to a diaspora network, which enables them to develop essential business capabilities and integrate knowledge from both home and host country environments. The diaspora community possesses a collective asset (transactive memory) that allows its members to remove competition from the interfirm level to the network level (i.e., diaspora networks vs. networks of native businesspeople). Additionally, the cultural identity and networks to which community members have access provide bridging capabilities that allow diaspora businesspeople to make links to host country business partners and thus embed themselves in the host country environment...

Buyer-supplier relationship decline: A norms-based perspective

Positive buyer-supplier relationships rely on a set of underlying behavioral expectations held by individuals. These ‘norms’ regulate partner behaviors through a set of implicit (dis)incentives. Despite the importance of norms, few studies consider their role in relationship decline. Drawing on an in-depth ethnography, this study focuses on norms at the inter-personal level and at the inter-firm level to uncover how these subtle social rules affect relationship decline. The study identifies three key phases of relationship decline: unawareness, divergence and degeneration. The study also considers the role of individuals' bounded reliability and its contribution to norms violations. We identify two new elements (perceptual inconsistencies and divergent schema) that appear active early in relationship decline and that contribute to other elements of bounded reliability. The findings yield a theoretically grounded, empirically informed framework of relationship decline, with direct relevance to complex buyer-supplier relationships, particularly in capital and technology intensive industries.

Using Platforms to Pursue Strategic Opportunities in Service-Driven Manufacturing

Strategy research posits that in dynamic environments, firms must base their strategies not on leveraging the past, but on fostering constant change. This research explores how platforms can be used as semistructures to pursue strategic opportunities in manufacturers’ service networks. A platform strategy combining product and organization approaches is identified at the interfirm level. The results show that platforms are perceived to extend the physical product’s capacity to produce new usage scenarios, facilitate interfirm information flows and enable collective benefits, and create awareness of new value potentials. The study calls for more research regarding a systemic approach to solution business.