Various Types Of Firms Research Articles

The impact of intelligent investment on corporate green innovation: Moderating effects of executive green perception and environmental regulation

As firms increasingly invest in intelligent technologies while facing environmental pressures, it is crucial to understand the relationship between these investments and green innovation. This study aims to investigate how intelligent investment influences corporate green innovation, as well as the moderating roles of executive green perception and environmental regulation. Multiple regression analyses are employed to test our hypotheses through the use of panel data from Chinese A-share listed companies (2007–2022). According to the research findings, intelligent investment has a significant positive impact on green innovation, and this effect is further amplified by stronger executive green perception and more stringent environmental regulations. It is noteworthy that various types of firms are affected differently by this effect. State-owned enterprises and pollution-intensive industries exhibit stronger positive relationships, while non-high-tech sectors show more pronounced impacts. These findings enhance our understanding of how firms leverage technology to drive sustainable innovation, offering valuable insights for managers seeking to align tech investments with their goals of sustainability, and for legislators and administrators designing effective environmental regulations. It is recommended that policymakers take into account the establishment of regulatory frameworks that are conducive to intelligent investments, thereby fostering green innovation across various industries.

Guarantee employment or guarantee wage? Firm-level evidence from China

This study investigates how firms respond to the economic shock and discusses policy implication that whether the government should prioritize guaranteeing employment or guaranteeing wage. Using a comprehensive dataset, our research reveals negative effects of lockdown policies on firms' performance. In response, firms opted to reduce employment rather than cut wages. This strategy remained consistent across various types of firms and different lockdown measures. However, reducing employment without cutting wage is superficial. In fact, firms internally reduced the employment of informal workers, so that to stabilize the wages of formal employees. This study sheds light on the phenomenon of increased unemployment and income inequality during the pandemic, and advocates for prioritizing vulnerable groups to ensure their employment.

Fostering a safety culture in manufacturing through safety behavior: A structural equation modelling approach

Creating a robust safety management system is crucial for fostering a culture of safety in the workplace, particularly in industries like manufacturing where improvements are still needed. This study aimed to assess the impact of safety behavior on safety culture within the manufacturing sector. Employing a quantitative approach, questionnaires were distributed to 342 employees in manufacturing firms during data collection. The collected data underwent analysis using structural equation modeling (SEM) through IBM-SPSS-AMOS 24.0 to test the proposed model. The study findings revealed that components of safety behavior, specifically safety compliance and safety leadership, have a significant influence on safety culture. This implies that prioritizing safety behavior and culture is vital for occupational safety and health, aligning with guidelines set by responsible entities to ensure a secure work environment. The insights gained from this research can be instrumental in highlighting the importance of safety culture, the pivotal role of leadership, the complex nature of safety culture, and the potential for measuring and enhancing it. By understanding these implications, organizations can foster a safety-centric culture that not only protects employees but also enhances overall performance. Additionally, this research contributed to the existing literature by examining an integrated higher-order construct model using the SEM technique, predicting the model by 53 percent. The insights garnered from this study are applicable to various types of firms, emphasizing the integral role of safety culture in any organization.

Mobile payments and interoperability: Insights from the academic literature

We connect various streams of academic literature to analyze how alternative competition and regulatory policies may affect the development of digital financial services, and particularly of mobile payments. Our main objective is to highlight the extent to which existing models, often coming from related industries (such as telecom, payments, and banking) can be applied to study the effects of mobile money interoperability. We focus on four dimensions of interoperability. First, we consider mobile network interoperability (whether clients of one telecom can access another telecom's payment services) in connection with the IO literature on tying. Second, we discuss platform level interoperability (the ability to send money off-network) in light of the literature on compatibility. We also build on the behavioral IO literature to suggest how the effects of interoperability may be very heterogeneous across various types of firms and consumers, or even backfire. Third, we consider interoperability in the cash-in-cash-out agent network, in light of the literature on co-investment in network industries, and of more specific studies on ATMs' interoperability. Fourth, we discuss how the literature in banking and on data ownership can be used to understand interoperability of data. We conclude with some broader remarks on policy implications and on possible directions for future research.

Improving relative performance evaluation process of employees within a peer group

PurposeRelative performance evaluation (RPE) is a widely practiced employee appraisal process in the services industry. In a global delivery model, teams are spread across different geographical locations. The team members work on various tasks under the guidance of different managers and at times under more than one manager for performing the same task. Such complexities make RPE of the team members quite challenging. The paper proposes a methodical step-by-step approach to simplify the evaluation process without compromising on the rigour.Design/methodology/approachRPE has followed three different approaches. First is the traditional way, wherein evaluators had a common meeting to discuss and arrive at relative evaluation and ranking of members of the peer group employees. In the second, the number of evaluators and employees in a peer group were split in to 2 subgroups. The evaluators provided independent ratings and rankings. Simple mathematical tool then derived the combined ranking. In the third approach, each evaluator evaluated each employee in the peer group and provided the relative ranking for each employee. Again, mathematical tools provided the final ranking considering inputs from all evaluators. All the three evaluation approaches were analysed through an inter-rater agreement method.FindingsAll the three approaches for evaluation provided similar results giving confidence that less time-consuming methods could be adopted by evaluators without compromising on the rigour of the evaluation. The outcome of the exercise proved effective as the complaints reaching the ombudsmen reduced as compared to the earlier years. Considerable evaluation time was also saved. The study described in this paper is carried out in a non-unionized, Indian private sector services firm. Its effectiveness in other set ups is yet to be tested.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is carried out in the Indian Engineering services firm operating in the Knowledge based sector. Though study results are encouraging, the adaptability of methodology across different sectors and geographies is yet to be tested. More broad based studies are needed to evaluate suitability across firms and regions.Practical implicationsRelative evaluation exercise is challenging for evaluators. Although openness in evaluation is desired, it also makes evaluators uncomfortable in appearing to be taking sides or being opposing a candidate's ranking. The proposed approach brings in anonymity to each evaluator without scarifying individual evaluation.Social implicationsThe proposed methodology can be deployed across different services industries as the proposed methodology is business domain agnostic. It can be easily ported and tailored to align with an individual organization's evaluation philosophy. The suitability and effectiveness of the method can be studied under various types of firms like manufacturing, private, public, NGO, labour oriented, etc. As the proposed method reduces efforts, the stake holders can focus on understanding the relation between employee performance measurement, employee engagement, and long-term outcomes related to employee performance evaluation.Originality/valueThe proposed employee evaluation method leverages inter-rater reliability and agreement tool as a consensus approach to the relative performance ranking exercise. Such an approach to relative performance ranking is original as no prior studies with such an approach are found in the existing Literature.

MARKET-ORIENTED REFORMS AND FIRMS’ INNOVATION: EVIDENCE FROM CHINA

Based on a micro dataset of Chinese manufacturing firms, we examined the effect of market-oriented reforms on innovation of Chinese manufacturing firms and its mechanisms. Results show the following. (1) The market-oriented reforms significantly improved the innovation performance of Chinese manufacturing firms. Among the various components of the market-oriented process, the development of the product markets had the greatest effect on promoting firms’ innovation. (2) Alleviating the financial constraint of firms and triggering the “competition effect” were important ways for market-oriented reforms to improve innovation performance. (3) The effect of market-oriented reforms on the innovation of various types of firms (different industry types, scale types, ownership types, regional types, exporters and non-exporters) was not the same, and significant heterogeneity was observed. This study enriches the research literature on market-oriented reforms and firms’ innovation and provides new micro evidence for understanding the effect of market-oriented reforms on firms’ innovation performance.

Human capital expansion and firms’ export product quality: Evidence from China

In 1999, the Chinese government implemented the university enrollment expansion policy, which resulted in the rapid increase in college graduates in 2003. This study conducts a quasi-natural experiment and uses the difference-in-difference (DID) method to deeply analyze the impact of human capital expansion on firms’ export product quality. Robustness tests revealed that human capital expansion significantly improves the export product quality of Chinese manufacturing firms. Fixed asset investment and innovation of firms must be promoted for human capital expansion to improve firms’ export product quality. A significant amount of heterogeneity exists in how human capital expansion impacts the export product quality across various types of firms.

Talent Flow Network, the Life Cycle of Firms, and Their Innovations.

This paper explores how talent flow network and the firm life cycle affect the innovative performances of firms. We first established an interorganizational talent flow network with the occupational mobility data available from the public resumes on LinkedIn China. Thereafter, this information was combined with the financial data of China’s listed companies to develop a unique dataset for the time period between 2000 and 2015. The empirical results indicate the following: (1) The breadth and depth of firms’ embedding in the talent flow network positively impact their innovative performances; (2) Younger firms’ innovations are mostly promoted by the breadth of network embedding, but this positive effect weakens as firms increase in age; (3) Mature firms’ innovations are primarily driven by the depth of network embedding, and this positive effect strengthens as firms increase in age. This paper enriches and deepens the studies of talent flow networks, and it provides practical implications for innovation management based on talent flow for various types of firms at different development stages.

Managing employees in Thai family firms: the mutuality perspective

Managing employees in Thai family firms: the mutuality perspective

Managing Expats and Their Effectiveness: A Comparative Study

Abstract Objective: This paper investigates how expatriates and UAE citizens understand the effectiveness of expats’ performance and significance in the workplace. In addition, it explores the difficulty of managing expats to achieve operational excellence. Methodology: A questionnaire was sent to over 1000 subjects whose feedback was analysed using descriptive statistics. A t-test has been used for the inferential part whenever requirements allowed it; in case this was not possible, a Mann-Whitney U test was used. Findings: The results of the conducted statistical analysis suggest that expats think it is difficult to be managed in the UAE compared to the locals who find it relatively easy to manage them. Furthermore, expats believe their effectiveness as a distinct competency to organizations is much higher compared to UAE citizens. Value Added: The results of the conducted statistical analysis point some important conclusions about the way that expats and local Emiratis view differently in managing expats and effectiveness of expats. Recommendations: A further research of this study can be done by examining various types of firms and organizations, by distinguishing them based on their provided services. Comparison among the 7 emirates could also be examined. Comparison between the views of different nationalities of the expats would be very interesting. Other parameters to be examined include age, educational level, nationality (or country of origin), and marital status of the participants.

Business travel decisions and high-speed trains: an ordered logit approach

The paper studies the potential impact on business travel of the new high-speed railway line project, called AlpTransit, which will link Lugano, the small economic hub of the southern part of Switzerland, with Zurich, one of the major Swiss economic centres, situated north of the Alps. Thanks to this infrastructure, travel time between the two cities will decrease considerably from about three hours to less than two hours by the end of 2020.
 The question that we pose in this paper is what impact high-speed trains could have, in the short to medium term, on business travel between the two hubs (ex-ante evaluation). Indeed, given the travel time, firms could increase their business-to-business one-day trips, boosting face-to-face interactions within and among enterprises. Our curiosity more specifically regards the potential impact of the change in travel time on the propensity to travel of employees with different functions in various types of firms.
 An on-line survey was conducted among firms located in Ticino, the Swiss Canton that includes Lugano. The data are analysed using four ordered logit models, one for each employee category (CEO, administrative staff, sales personnel, specialists), since hierarchical position and professional status influence business travel characteristics. Results show that internal firm characteristics, such as sector, frequency and destination of current business travels significantly influence the propensity to travel to Zurich more often thanks to AlpTransit.

Rebalancing in China: A taxation approach

The rebalancing of the Chinese economy is analyzed through a heterogeneous taxation of various types of firms. Based on a two-country dynamic general equilibrium model, the paper applies tax reforms to raise consumption, reduce some firms' overinvestment (overcapacities) and maintain a high level of welfare.To rebalance consumption and investment, taxation may allow reallocating a part of the labor force to firms that are not overinvesting (via business taxes and social security contributions). Moreover, the correction of distortions in production factor costs (capital and labor) is necessary during certain reforms applied in the model; that is, on the one hand, higher credit costs for firms that face soft budget constraints (via financial transactions taxes) and, on the other hand, a catch-up of foreign firms' wages by domestic firms (via social security contributions).These tax reforms bring welfare benefits to households and stabilize the welfare reaction to productivity shocks. Another interesting result is that in this framework, the rebalancing of the domestic demand in China does not require the readjustment of the external financial position. Indeed, the aggregate savings rate remains high and the supply of domestic assets is reduced.Finally, another model proposes a heterogeneous taxation of consumption across home and foreign goods to enhance consumption.

Stability of family firms during economic downturn and recovery

Family firms are often associated with the notion of greater stability. The goal of this article is to explore the differences in privately held family and nonfamily firms in various types of stability, including stability in the number of employees, revenue, earnings and assets. Using multiple linear regression analysis in a sample of 384 family and 1 795 nonfamily firms from the Czech Republic, we found that family firms tend to be more stable in terms of revenue and number of employees, but only during times of crisis. However, their greater employment stability results in worse labour productivity and their earnings become more volatile. During the post-crisis period, there are no significant differences in stability between family and nonfamily firms. Moreover, family firms have been found to grow less during both the economic downturn and the recovery. We suggest that the feature of stability that is so often attributed to family firms by popular, but also academic papers, should be used with caution.

Rebalancing in China: A Taxation Approach

The rebalancing of the Chinese economy is analyzed through a heterogeneous taxation of various types of firms. Based on a two-country dynamic general equilibrium model, the paper applies tax reforms to raise consumption, reduce some firms' overinvestment and maintain a high level of welfare. To rebalance consumption and investment, taxation may allow reallocating a part of the labor force to firms that are not overinvesting. Moreover, the correction of distortions in production factor costs (capital and labor) is necessary during certain reforms applied in the model; that is, on the one hand, higher credit costs for State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and, on the other hand, a catch-up of foreign firms' wages by domestic firms (public and private). In this model, firms' credit cost is a key channel because it impacts both firms' investment and household consumption (through returns on savings). These consumption and investment reforms bring welfare benefits to households, and the results are close to direct welfare maximization. In this framework, the rebalancing of the domestic demand does not require the readjustment of the external financial position because the aggregate savings rate remains high and the supply of domestic assets is reduced. Finally, another theoretical framework proposes a heterogeneous taxation of consumption across home and foreign goods to enhance consumption.

Innovation and technology creation effects on organizational performance

The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationships among innovation, technology creation, quality management, information management capability and organizational performance. This study contributes to the research on the effect that diversification has on organizational performance under conditions of uncertainty. Firms benefit from either low levels of diversification due to efficiencies in processing innovation knowledge, or from high levels of diversification due to access to broad information management capabilities that facilitate the solving of complex problems and the ability to direct a firm along different trajectories. The use of comparative methods in this research includes multiple regression analysis (MRA) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). These analyses demonstrate that an fsQCA can successfully identify conditions that are adequate for successful organizational performance outcomes. The results indicate that an fsQCA outperforms an MRA and successfully models both types of data with causal complexities. The model looks across industries and across various types of firms; at the same time, the differences among industries and firms are also investigated. This study's findings provide useful insights into how firms' members should reinforce their collaborative behaviors and activities to enhance their competitive advantages.

Exploring Factors Affecting End-user Performance of Information Systems

Organizations continue to invest increasingly in various types of information systems implementations, such as enterprise resource planning and supply chain management systems, primarily because of the belief that these investments will lead to increased productivity for employees. A present interest has remained in forming accurate insights into how users interact with information systems to perform tasks. As an increasing number of companies have adopted enterprise resource planning systems, there is a need to understand the impact of enterprise resource planning systems on individual job performance. A fundamental question for business managers in various types of firms is how to attain better performance from end users of information systems. Information systems researchers continue to have difficulty telling managers what they need to do to achieve the highest level of performance from end users. In this paper, therefore, we conjecture that a better starting point to address this issue is to carefully identify all the important factors related to end-user performance with the aim of forming a more inclusive model. Our model has been validated and statistically tested, suggesting a more inclusive site for examining the utilization and impacts of information systems. The findings support the strength of the study model in explaining a large part of variance in user performance. The results indicate that system quality, task technology fit, and information quality are the most important factors that lead to better end-user performance.

Does Psychological Capital Drive the Effort of Marketers?

This study attempts to answer the question “Does psychological capital drive the effort of marketers?” Using a survey data set collected from 364 marketers working for various types of firms in Ho Chi Minh City, we found that each component of psychological capital has a direct and positive impact on job effort of marketers. These findings suggest that firms could enhance the effort of marketers in performing their job by establishing a human resource management system focusing not only the human capital but also on the psychological capital of marketers.

Marketers' psychological capital and performance

Purpose– Realizing the importance of psychological capital of marketers for their work, the authors aim to investigate the mediating role of quality of work life, job effort, and job attractiveness in the relationship between psychological capital and job performance of marketers in a transitioning market, Vietnam.Design/methodology/approach– To test the mediating role of quality of work life, job effort, and job attractiveness in the relationship between psychological capital and job performance, the authors used a survey data set collected from 696 marketers working for various types of firms in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.Findings– The authors found that psychological capital has both direct and indirect impacts, mediated by quality of work life, job attractiveness, and job effort, on job performance of marketers.Practical implications– The findings suggest that firms should pay attention to psychological capital in their recruiting, training, and development programs.Originality/value– This study documents the mediating role of quality of work life, job effort, and job attractiveness in the relationship between psychological capital and job performance of marketers in a transitioning market, Vietnam.

Anti-Dumping Duty and Firm Heterogeneity: Evidence from Korea

In general, AD policy is known to protect domestic producers from dumped products. In terms of “protection,” government implements AD policy by expecting domestic firms to gain competitiveness through increased productivity. Using Korean firm data, this paper analyzed the effects of AD protection on changed firm-level productivity before and after the imposition of AD duties.In contrast to results from recent AD research, we show a negative effect of AD protection on estimated productivity of protected firms during the AD protection period. Estimating the productivity of protected firms by comparison of various types of firms confirms the robustness of our results that AD protected firms experience productivity losses during the imposition of AD duties.Investigating the channels behind our results, we consider two factors; internal firm structure and external market conditions. We first examine the changes of company account variables that influence firm productivity during AD protection period. Using DID specifications, we find that AD protection do not have significant effects on average protected firms’ wages and investments in capital and R&D, implying that firms have no significant movements towards production shift during the protection period. On the other hand, examining the effects of domestic competition in protected industries on firm productivity, we find that firms have different productivity changes depending on the level of concentration intensity among import-competing industries. In particular, concentration reduces firm productivity in highly-concentrated industry clusters, while concentration has an ambiguous effect on firm productivity in moderately-concentrated industry clusters. These results provide evidence that the imposition of AD duties has heterogeneous effects on firm productivity depending on the market structures. All of our analysis implies that the effects of AD policy may lead to different consequences depending on the country characteristics. In particular, we show that if a country is not yet industrialized, such that its economy is affected by small number of large firms, AD policy will not likely be effective in gaining competitiveness among protected domestic firms.

Ethical characteristics of human resources management in Chinese enterprises: An empirical study based on content analysis of employee manuals

This paper identifies five dimensions of human resource management ethics (HRME) from the extant literature, namely ethical values, rights, fairness and justice, openness, and ethical care. Based on employee manuals of 160 companies, this paper conducts a content analysis to identify the characteristics and differences of HRME in various types of firms and different industries. Results indicate that the status quo of HRME in Chinese firms is far from being satisfactory due to the lack of ethical care, unfair and nontransparent employee appraisal procedures and outcomes. The results also show that there are significant differences in the five dimensions of HRME among state-owned enterprises, private enterprises, joint ventures, and foreign companies. It is also found that there is no significant interaction effect between enterprise ownership type and industry on HRME.