Moderating Effect Of Firm Size Research Articles

The Impact of Corporate Reputation on Firm Risk: A Panel Data Analysis of Spanish Quoted Firms

Researchers have traditionally addressed the influence of corporate reputation on firm performance, but have not considered the influence of corporate reputation on firm risk. This research develops hypotheses regarding the opposing influence of corporate reputation on a firm's systematic risk, unsystematic risk and total risk, as well as the moderation effect of firm size and industry concentration. Using a panel data method, these relationships are analysed, controlling for the effects of endogeneity, for a sample of Spanish quoted firms in the period 2001–2007. Specifically, two complementary analyses are performed. The first distinguishes firms included and not included in the MERCO index of the most reputable firms. The second analyses the impact of corporate reputation for the sub‐sample of most reputable firms. Being reputable reduces a firm's unsystematic risk and total risk, but increases systematic risk. In addition, firm size weakens these influences of corporate reputation on firm risk. However, among the most reputable firms, differences in reputation score have a lower effect on risk. Specifically, the corporate reputation level only influences firm unsystematic risk. It seems that what matters is not the degree of corporate reputation, but whether being or not being reputable is the question in terms of risk.

Acquiring International Knowledge and Experience: Internationalization of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Purpose – This paper intends to understand the importance of acquiring international knowledge and experience and its relationship in the internationalization of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Malaysian context. Within this scope, this study sets out to further the discussion by comparing the global orientation of SMEs in Malaysia with their different levels of firm size. In a nutshell, the study further understands the moderating effect of firm size between the relationship of international knowledge and experience, and internationalization of SMEs. Design/Methodology/Approach – The study is based on literature review in the areas of SMEs internationalization, international knowledge and experience, and the firm size. The data was collected using a survey instrument among 300 internationalized enterprises located in the northern region of Malaysia. Findings – The results suggest that those firms that acquire international knowledge and experience have no significant relationship with firm internationalization. However, when firm size is used as a moderating factor, acquiring international knowledge and experience shows some importance for internationalization of firms. Interestingly, international knowledge and experience are important for relatively smaller firms. In other words, firm size is significant when relatively smaller SMEs acquire international knowledge and experience. It poses some implications for managers and policy makers. Originality/Value – This study explores the use of the index of internationalization to measure the internationalization of SMEs in Malaysia. Keywords: International knowledge and experience, index of internationalization, firm size.

Supply chain collaboration: Impact on collaborative advantage and firm performance

Facing uncertain environments, firms have strived to achieve greater supply chain collaboration to leverage the resources and knowledge of their suppliers and customers. The objective of the study is to uncover the nature of supply chain collaboration and explore its impact on firm performance based on a paradigm of collaborative advantage. Reliable and valid instruments of these constructs were developed through rigorous empirical analysis. Data were collected through a Web survey of U.S. manufacturing firms in various industries. The statistical methods used include confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (i.e., LISREL). The results indicate that supply chain collaboration improves collaborative advantage and indeed has a bottom-line influence on firm performance, and collaborative advantage is an intermediate variable that enables supply chain partners to achieve synergies and create superior performance. A further analysis of the moderation effect of firm size reveals that collaborative advantage completely mediates the relationship between supply chain collaboration and firm performance for small firms while it partially mediates the relationship for medium and large firms.

Patent cross-licensing, the influence of IP interdependency and the moderating effect of firm size

This paper analyzes technological interdependency as the key factor for companies’ motivation to engage in cross-licensing transactions. It gives evidence on how the incentive effects for mutual technology transfers vary by firm size and the degree to which a firm has to rely on its competitors’ intellectual property (IP dependency). Even though IP dependency exists also among smaller firms, cross-licensing has previously only been analyzed for large firms. This paper fills this gap in the empiric literature using original survey data among German manufacturing companies. Findings suggest that the influence of firm size and IP dependency on the use of cross-licensing can not be regarded separately. While the effect of IP dependency on the relevance of cross-licensing itself has a clear positive effect this seems to be true to a higher extent for small firms and decrease for larger companies. A possible reason for the interaction effect between these two factors is that larger firms have better odds of achieving a technological workaround which can serve as an alternative to in- or cross-licensing; furthermore small high tech firms might need to explicitly use cross-licensing to secure the freedom to operate while a large firm’s patent portfolio itself can serve as an implicit insurance by posing a threat which prevents other technology holders to file patent infringement cases.

Performance implications of information technology implementation in an apparel supply chain

Purpose – Many firms operate in the belief that IT investments will increase their profit. However, can every firm benefit from IT investments? Will IT investments enhance all aspects of performance? This study seeks to empirically investigate the moderating effects of firm size on the relationship between the level of IT adoption and three performance levels, operational, financial, and strategic, in a context of apparel supply chain.Design/methodology/approach – Using Dillman's (2000) mail survey method, a mail survey was sent out to 1,500 US apparel manufacturing companies and 113 usable data were analyzed.Findings – The results indicated that firm size was a significant moderator variable for operational (lead time), but not strategic and financial performance. Specifically, large firms' operational performance increased after IT adoption.Practical implications – All IT investment cannot be assumed to be made with equal effectiveness. The same level of adoption or investment does not guarantee the sam...

Exploration and exploitation alliances in biotechnology: a system of new product development

AbstractWe link the exploration–exploitation framework of organizational learning to a technology venture's strategic alliances and argue that the causal relationship between the venture's alliances and its new product development depends on the type of the alliance. In particular, we propose a product development path beginning with exploration alliances predicting products in development, which in turn predict exploitation alliances, and that concludes with exploitation alliances leading to products on the market. Moreover, we argue that this integrated product development path is moderated negatively by firm size. As a technology venture grows, it tends to withdraw from this product development path to discover, develop, and commercialize promising projects through vertical integration. We test our model on a sample of 325 biotechnology firms that entered 2565 alliances over a 25‐year period. We find broad support for the hypothesized product development system and the moderating effect of firm size. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Human resource outsourcing and organizational performance in manufacturing firms

Considerable anecdotal evidence suggests that an organization's use of outsourcing will have an influence on its performance. However, few empirical examinations of the outsourcing–performance relationship have been conducted. In this study, we analyze the relationship between the outsourcing of human resource (HR) activities, namely training and payroll, and firm performance. In addition, we hypothesize that the outsourcing–performance relationship is not the same for all firms. As a result, we test for the potential moderating effects of firm size. Our sample consists of 94 manufacturing firms representing 16 two-digit SIC code industries. Results indicate that both training and payroll outsourcing have implications for firm performance. However, findings regarding a moderating effect of firm size were inconclusive.

ORGANIZING FOR PUBLIC ISSUES: ENVIRONMENTAL AND ORGANIZATION PREDICTORS OF STRUCTURE AND PROCESS.

A study of 41 firms in the utility industry was conducted to investigate the relationship between environmental and organizational factors and variability in firm structures to address social issues. Results indicated that crises, media exposure, and interest group pressure were related to the development of issues management structure. Top management involvement with issues was also related to structure. Partial support was found for the moderating effect of firm size.