Source Of Sustainable Competitive Advantage Research Articles

Expatriate knowledge utilization and MNE performance: A multilevel framework

We present a multilevel conceptual framework of expatriate knowledge utilization. Drawing from the resource-based view and multilevel approaches to expatriate utilization, we describe how individual expatriate characteristics (task-related and intercultural competencies, and motivation to transfer knowledge) and international adjustment, as well as subsidiary characteristics (absorptive capacity and knowledge sustainability) influence knowledge transfer effectiveness. We also draw from outward knowledge transfer and expatriate learning perspectives to address the cyclical nature of the process. As such, we include the effect of expatriate learning not only in continued knowledge flows to the subsidiary, but also in knowledge flows to the home division. We offer several implications for research on practice, including the notion that knowledge transfer to the subsidiary should continue upon repatriation, and that outward knowledge transfer can begin before repatriation. The framework reiterates that expatriates are valuable human capital and a source of sustained competitive advantage to the MNE.

The role of guanxi in buyer–supplier relationships in Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises – a resource-based perspective

This paper examines the role of guanxi (personal relationships or connections) in buyer–supplier relationships in Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), through exploratory research that gained access to companies actually using guanxi. The resource-based view provided a systematic approach for analysing the role of guanxi in terms of its potential to be a source of sustained competitive advantage. Business guanxi connections were identified as possessing the potential to be considered an organisational resource. This study identified several valuable attributes of guanxi at the organisational level. However, the guanxi-based advantage can only be sustained under certain conditions. SMEs should create an organisational environment that encourages their employees to actively establish and maintain guanxi connections within the company and beyond. However, companies in China need to recognise that firms that possess superior technological skills or capabilities have a stronger bargaining power, as they are able to deliver quality at competitive prices over the long run.

Technology outsourcing in human resource activities in hospitality

Purpose– Human resource technologies in the hospitality industry are a means by which an organization can gain competitive advantage technologically. The technology-oriented human capital embedded in an organization's human resources is a source of sustainable competitive advantage in an industry that is heavily dependent on people and makes it unique and inimitable. This study uses data collected on 34 different practices to provide a snapshot of current practices in the hospitality sector, which can be used to benchmark individual technology operations against the current norms. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach– This paper uses survey data collected from dozens of managers working in the hospitality sector on the level of outsourcing of 34 different HRM practices to provide a snapshot of current practices in the hospitality sector.Findings– Starting with the theoretical predictions of total cost of ownership and transaction cost analysis, multiple regression models are used to test whether or not human resource outsourcing (HRO) technology-related activities in hospitality are associated with negative outcomes, such as higher voluntary turnover of good employees.Research limitations/implications– This is one of the first articles to explore HRO technology in the hospitality sector and the findings suggest that what an organization outsources matters.Practical implications– These results can be used by hospitality managers to benchmark their operations against the current HRO technology norms.Originality/value– It is expected that the type of HR technology-related activities outsourced in hospitality will affect how employees and employers view and react to HRO in hospitality.

International expansion of U.S. full-service restaurants: Positive and increasing effects on financial performance

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the current study found that full-service restaurant companies increasingly perform better as their degree of international expansion increases once their international stores reach 8.3% of their total store units, while the impact is significantly lower for quick-service restaurant companies for U.S. based companies. This study argues that various degrees of tacit knowledge required by operating full-service restaurant companies and quick-service restaurant companies explain the major reason for significant differences in success of international operations. As a firm's accumulated tacit knowledge for international operations becomes a source of sustainable competitive advantage, U.S. full-service restaurant companies increasingly perform better than U.S. quick-service restaurant companies; this disparity in performance is due to the relatively easy-to-transfer knowledge and standardized approaches of the U.S. quick-service restaurant companies.

Sources of sustainable competitive advantage: the case of rice-milling firms in Thailand

Purpose– This paper aims to investigate the effect of several valuable resources (organizational reputation, human resource management (HRM) practices, networks, and vertical integration in production) in explaining the performance of rice-milling firms in Thailand.Design/methodology/approach– Resource-based view (RBV) theory was used to explain that the particular bundle of firm resources can become the source of sustainable competitive advantage and thereby improve the business's performance. Semi-structured in-depth interviews and questionnaire were used to collect data from Thailand rice exporters. Then regression technique was employed for data analysis.Findings– Results from a survey of rice mills involved in international export showed that organizational reputation, some HRM practices, and networks were significantly related to firm's performance, but vertical integration was not.Originality/value– This study supports the basic assertion of RBV theory that a set of firm specific resources could be applied in ways that enhance sustainable competitive advantage.

Superstar inventors—Towards a people-centric perspective on the geography of technological renewal in the multinational corporation

This paper develops a people-centric perspective on the geographical dispersion of technological renewal in the multinational corporation (MNC). We contend that a large proportion of all foreign technological advancements can be attributed to a handful of individual inventors, suggesting a blockbuster effect of subsidiary technological development. This suggests that analyses carried out at the subsidiary or firm level disguise significant yet largely unexplored variation in the technological contributions made by individual members of these foreign units. To support this proposition, the paper draws upon an original data set that comprises all of the advanced foreign subsidiaries of 21 Swedish MNCs between 1893 and 2008, and follows their patenting activity in order to document the distribution of inventive activity, both across and within individual subsidiaries. The findings at the subsidiary level show that the distribution of technological activity and contribution to the overall multinational group is significantly skewed; the paper then empirically explores the assumption that a similar distribution also applies at the level of individual inventors. The results point to a pattern whereby most inventors make only occasional and limited technological contributions and, instead, more significant numbers of new technological discoveries are attributable to a select group of exceptionally inventive individuals. In the light of the results, we suggest the fruitfulness of applying a people-centric perspective on the sources of sustained competitive advantage of the MNC, the management of geographically dispersed capabilities in the multinational network, and the geographical sources of technological renewal in the MNC.

Inventors and the Idiosyncrasy of Organizational Knowledge

Firms that build on their own knowledge have organizational knowledge that is more idiosyncratic, and such organizational knowledge could be a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Using an intra-firm inventor network, we examine which inventors in the firm are likely to contribute to developing this idiosyncrasy by building on their firm’s knowledge. A longitudinal examination of 9,840 inventors from eight large pharmaceutical firms using patent data supports our hypotheses that the structural centrality of inventors in the intra-firm network and the degree to which they span the structural holes in that network have independent and interactive effects on the use of organizational knowledge in their innovation activities. These findings have implications for research on exploration/exploitation, organizational knowledge, and knowledge networks.

Micro-Foundations of Firm-Specific Human Capital: When Do Employees Perceive Their Skills to be Firm-Specific?

Drawing on human capital theory, strategy scholars have emphasized firm-specific human capital as a source of sustained competitive advantage. In this study, we begin to unpack the micro-foundations of firm-specific human capital by theoretically and empirically exploring when employees perceive their skills to be firm-specific. We first develop theoretical arguments and hypotheses based on the extant strategy literature, which implicitly assumes information efficiency and unbiased perceptions of firm-specificity. We then relax these assumptions and develop alternative hypotheses rooted in the cognitive psychology literature, which highlights biases in human judgment. We test our hypotheses using two data sources from Korea and the United States. Surprisingly, our results support the hypotheses based on cognitive bias – a stark contrast to the expectations embedded within the strategy literature. Specifically, we find organizational commitment and, to some extent, tenure are negatively related to employee perceptions of the firm-specificity. We also find that employer provided on-the-job training was unrelated to perceived firm-specificity. These findings suggest that firm-specific human capital, as perceived by employees, may drive behavior in ways not anticipated by existing theory – for example, with respect to investments in skills or turnover decisions. This, in turn, may challenge the assumed relationship between firm-specific human capital and sustained competitive advantage. More broadly, our findings may suggest a need to reconsider other theories, such as transaction cost economics, that draw heavily on the notion of firm-specificity and implicitly assume widely shared and unbiased perceptions.

Towards A Theory of Perceived Firm-Specific Human Capital

Strategy research has drawn attention to firm-specific human capital as a source of sustained competitive advantage, at least in part because it may encumber employee mobility. However, it is also typically assumed that employees are reluctant to invest in firm-specific skills because such investments may come at the cost of developing general skills, thereby reducing individuals’ attractiveness in the labor market. We argue that the logic behind this theory depends on the oft-violated assumption that firm-specific human capital is accurately and objectively perceived among labor market participants and that relaxing this assumption limits conclusions that can be drawn regarding competitive advantage. The key takeaway is that perceptions of firm-specificity, even if inaccurate, can be more important than objective firm-specific human capital in determining the likelihood that firm-specific human capital can be a source of sustained advantage. By relaxing the assumption of strong form labor market efficiency, we develop propositions regarding how firms can facilitate and manage perceptions of firm-specificity, thereby increasing the likelihood that a competitive advantage can be sustained.

Designing a Conceptual Framework of Knowledge Management Process in Banks

In an era characterized by changing customer requirements, decreasing product life cycles and complex systems and processes, knowledge centric activities are becoming the primary source of sustainable competitive advantage in manufacturing and service organizations. In this regard knowledge is considered as the most important organizational resource. (Penrose 1959) (1) .It is this knowledge which has the capability to generate new knowledge, which can be disseminated to the relevant points of actions and embodied into the systems, processes, products and services. One of the important reasons that organizations have focused on Knowledge Management is because it employs a holistic approach through the acquisition, creation, organizing, sharing and applying of knowledge. The implementation of knowledge management in an organization according to (Shankar and Gupta, 2005) (2) involves the integration of knowledge from the domains of strategy, structure, processes, and technology, thus, making it difficult for the organizations to do so. The literature review suggests that knowledge is essential for organization's profit(Yang &Chen,2007) (3) as it reduces the operating cost, increases the returns to scale and adds value to the organization (Ofek and Sarvary, 2001) (4) but Nonaka (2007) (5) feels that organizations of the 21 st century are far from creating adequate knowledge-based competence necessary for gaining competitive advantage. The difficulty for many organizations stems from the fact that there is a lack of a coherent framework to guide the implementation of Knowledge Management process in organizations' especially as we move away from simple tasks to organization-wide complex problems. In order to understand the circulation of knowledge a simple list of elements and processes is inadequate. There is a need for a holistic framework where all are integrated into a dynamic coherent whole. Thus this paper focuses on identifying a relevant framework for the process of capturing the knowledge flow in Banks and identifying whether different categories of banks score the same or different in terms of the process components of the knowledge management identifying the reasons and thereby suggesting the remedial measures.

HRM- A Literature Survey

There is an ongoing debate in research over the source of organisational competitive advantage. Researchers and business leaders have looked for it in both external and internal environments of business .However, given such challenges of the globalization, day in and day out innovation, usage of internet platform to increase business, selection and recruitment , training and development to name a few and then again, attract and retain high performing workforce. and the fact that the traditional sources of competitive advantage (e.g. natural resources ,access to financial resources ,economies of scale etc )no longer suffice ,growing relevance has recently been attributed by both researchers and practitioners to human resources and their management. Researchers have argued that human resources may be seen as a source of sustained competitive advantage for organizations. The underlying assumption is that human resources are unique to the extent that competitors cannot imitate them. This paper seeks to identify human resource management practices that contribute to company performance across different organizations .The paper also seeks to identify the tools necessary to handle the current challenges faced by organizations in the current scenario.

Social Capital: A Source of Sustained Competitive Advantage for Consumer Co-operatives

Competitive advantages of consumer co-operatives have received increasing scholarly attention during the recent years. In the extant literature, co-operative social capital (derived from the co-operative values, purpose, and principles) has been identified as a source of competitive advantage for co-operatives. However, the literature lacks empirical evidence concerning how the sources of social capital are developed and utilized in consumer co-operation and what strategic benefits consumer co-operatives achieve by utilizing and developing different sources of social capital. Our paper is directed toward this end. In our study, we thematically analyze 20 qualitative interviews with executives, managers, and supervisory board chairs of Finnish retail and service organization S Group and its co-operatives.Our findings indicate that there are several sources of social capital for consumer co-operatives (e.g. interacting and sharing a common identity). Further, we consider how these sources of social capital are interrelated to different dimensions of social capital (communal, relational, and cognitive). We also describe the strategic benefits that the different dimensions of social capital create, the most important finding being that social capital may help consumer co-operatives to achieve a sustained competitive advantage by providing resources for managing institutional dependencies and customer-relations.

The Role of Perfromance Measurement Systems within Family Businesses: a Proposed Balanced Scorecard Model

There was found to be a significant gap between theory on family business and performance measurement systems (PMSs): the theory underlines the importance of PMSs for family businesses, but little research on how implement these systems is available. In this study we propose the adoption of PMSs tools, specifically Balanced Scorecard (BSC), for family businesses; the design of the model depends on the typical issues of family businesses, more specifically social capital and trust, based on effective governance. Social capital represents a distinctive characteristic of family business. Considering that system trust constitutes the basis of social capital, we outline the role PMSs can play in sustaining system trust; PMSs are crucial to the alignment between the management and strategic vision of the organization.The BSC proposed represents a PMSstool that makes governance effective, because it creates the basis for alignment between management and strategic vision of the organization (both from family and business point of view), consistently with family members expectations. The study is organized in different sections. Firstly, we analyse the characteristic of family businesses that must be considered to design BSC: literature review includes the sources of sustainable competitive advantage, focusing the attention on the interaction between family and business, underlining the central role of social capital; then the concept of trust is investigated as it provides the basis of social capital. Secondly, we discuss how PMSs can be adopted to make governance effective. Then we consider the opportunity to adopt BSC as PMSs tool. On the basis of literature review, some propositions are presented to link family business, social capital, trust, PMSs and BSC. Finally, we propose a BSC model for family businesses: we also discuss the reasons why we have chosen BSC framework and the conditions under we have designed the model. Implications are drawn as conclusions; the paper ends with some limitations of the study and opportunities for further researches.

Sustainable Enterprise Excellence: towards a framework for holistic data-analytics

Purpose – Sustainable Enterprise Excellence (SEE) is defined and developed through integration and expansion of business excellence modeling and sustainability thought. The intent is to enable simple yet reliable enterprise assessment of triple bottom line (TBL) performance and produce actionable enterprise foresight that can enable next best practices and sources of sustainable competitive advantage through innovation. Design/methodology/approach – Key elements of SEE are identified from various business excellence and sustainability reporting sources, including the Global Reporting Initiative, the UN Global Compact 10 Principles, and criteria of the European Quality Award and America's Baldrige National Quality Award. From these a model and key criteria are distilled, maturity scales developed, and a simple means of assessment presented. Findings – A compact model and supporting maturity assessment approach similar in structure to those behind established excellence awards are developed that enable ente...

HYBRID MODELING APPROACH TO COMPETITIVENESS THROUGH FAST STRATEGY

Understanding the sources of sustained competitive advantage is the fundamental task of strategic management research. An interesting concept of fast strategy has emerged, which builds a firm's competitiveness from its ability to react to change more rapidly than its competitors. We approach this concept with a simulation model based on a hybrid modeling technique. The simulation model is used to test the profitability of the fast strategy concept in different business environment conditions. The theoretical finding of our study supports the fast strategy concept and shows that there are some internal and external factors that control the value of agility. The methodological finding of this work is that the hybrid modeling technique offers an interesting platform for understanding the effects of environmental dynamics in strategic and technology management research.

Generation Y: evaluating services experiences through mobile ethnography

PurposeThis paper suggests mobile ethnography as a method for data collection, where Generation Y customers are integrated as active investigators. The paper aims to contribute to the debate on museums as experience‐centred places, to understanding how the experience is perceived by Generation Y, to identifying the customer journey, to providing an insight into service experience consumption and to deriving managerial implication for the museum industry of how to approach Generation Y.Design/methodology/approachMobile ethnography is applied to the National Museum of Australia in Canberra with a sample of Generation Y visitors as the future visitor market.FindingsThe paper finds that there is a need to involve museum management in measuring museum experiences, especially with regard to the definition and improvement of the service‐delivery processes. Service experience must be appropriately managed by museum operators by collecting, evaluating, storing and reusing relevant data on customer experience. Mobile ethnography and tools such as MyServiceFellow offer an important potential source of sustainable competitive advantage by improving customer experience, particularly for Gen Y.Research limitations/implicationsThe most significant limitation is the exploratory nature of the single case study derived from a small sample within only one museum.Originality/valueThis is one of the few studies to have addressed mobile ethnography in a service context and examined the museum experience of Generation Y. The paper finds that there is a need to involve museum management in service design to improve the service‐delivery process, especially with regard to the different mindsets of the Millennials.

Innovative Human Resource Practices in U.S. Hospitals: An Empirical Study

Contemporary organizations increasingly recognize human resource (HR) capabilities as a source of sustained competitive advantage; about 80% of an organization's value is attributable to intangible assets, including human assets and capital. Some scholars consider effective human resource management (HRM) the single most important factor affecting organizational performance. This study examined (1) the extent to which HRM strategies were included in organizational strategic planning and (2) the association between the involvement of senior HR professionals in strategic planning and the use of innovative HR practices in U.S. hospitals employing strategic HRM theory. A survey was administered to 168 chief executive officers and HR executives from 85 hospitals during spring 2005. Binary logistic regression was conducted to determine whether HRM involvement was associated with the use of innovative HRM strategies in the hospitals. We found significant associations between HRM strategy inclusion in the strategic planning process and senior HR professionals' involvement in organizational strategic planning and in three innovative HR activities: finding talent in advance for key job openings (odds ratio [OR] = 4.61, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.10-7.38), stressing organizational culture and values in the selection process (OR = 3.97, 95% CI: 1.01-3.97), and basing individual or team compensation on goal-oriented results (OR = 6.17, 95% CI: 1.17-3.37). Our data indicate that innovative HR practices were underused in some U.S. hospitals despite their potential to improve overall hospital performance. Hospitals that emphasized effective HRM were more likely to use some of the innovative HR approaches. In this article, we discuss this research and the practical implications of the findings.

Perceptions of Firm-Specific Human Capital: Untenured and Uncommitted

Drawing on human capital theory, strategy scholars have emphasized firm-specific human capital as a source of sustained competitive advantage. This study challenges some critical implicit assumptions of extant theory by exploring how workers actually think about firm-specificity. We test several theoretical predictions using longitudinal data from Korea and the United States. Contrary to extant theory, we find that organizational tenure and commitment are negatively related to workers’ reported firm-specificity of their skills. Consistent with this, we also find that employees in managerial occupations report that their skills are relatively less firm-specific. Employer provided on-the-job training was not significantly linked with employee reports of firm-specificity. This may call into question the assumed relationship between firm-specific skills and sustained competitive advantage. We offer explanations for these counterintuitive findings and discuss the implications for future theoretical and empirical work on firm-specificity.

Intellectual capital and relational capital: The role of sustainability in developing corporate reputation

Purpose: Intellectual capital offers a potential source of sustainable competitive advantage and is believed to be the source from which economic growth may sprout. However, not many papers analyze the effect of sustainability in the elements involving intellectual capital. This paper seeks to highlight the key role played by corporate sustainability on corporate reputation as one of the key components of relational capital based on the knowledge-based theory. In order to fulfill this objective we consider economic, social and environmental dimensions of corporate sustainability. Design/methodology/approach: Authors develop a structural equation model to test the hypothesis. The study was tested using data collected from a sample of 400 Spanish consumers. Findings: The structural equation model shows that sustainability plays a vital role as antecedent of corporate reputation and relational capital. Findings suggest that economic, social and environmental domains of sustainability have a positive direct effect on corporate reputation. Additionally, this study shows that economic sustainability is considered to be the most important dimension to enhance corporate reputation. Research limitations/implications: Relational capital involves several dimensions which have not been incorporated to this study. Thus, future studies may analyze the role of corporate reputation and sustainability in the formation and development of the different relationships that conform relational capital. Finally, the complicated economic

The Relationship between Innovation and Firm Performance: An Empirical Evidence from Turkish Automotive Supplier Industry

Innovation is widely regarded as one of the most important sources of sustainable competitive advantage in an increasingly changing environment, because it leads to product and process improvements, makes continuous advances that helps firms to survive, allows firms to grow more quickly, be more efficient, and ultimately be more profitable than non-innovators. The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between innovation and firm performance. The survey of this study is conducted on top level managers of 113 firms operating in the automotive supplier industry which is one of the most innovative industries in Turkey, as of the year 2011. The obtained data from the questionnaires are analyzed through the SPSS statistical package program. Analysis results demonstrated that technological innovation (product and process innovation) has significant and positive impact on firm performance, but no evidence was found for a significant and positive relationship between non- technological innovation (organizational and marketing innovation) and firm performance.