View Of Firm Research Articles

Marketing innovation: a resource‐based view of international and local firms

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to conceptualize a model for fostering innovation in marketing by virtue of the competitiveness that is an outcome of the collaboration between international and local firms working together in emerging markets.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use the case of an international brand and local firms in an emerging economy to illustrate and support the proposed framework.FindingsThe extant literature on competitiveness advocates the fit between business partners in association based on mutual value creation. This paper adopts a resource‐based view to support this approach. It contributes to knowledge about emerging markets by reflecting on the benefits gained by both international firms and local firms that are based in emerging markets as partners in association for business purposes.Practical implicationsThe study draws on managerial practices and existing literature to develop a conceptual framework that explains how a resource‐based association drives individual competitiveness, and how the integration of the competitiveness of both partners facilitates innovation in marketing.Originality/valueThis study uses a resource‐based view to explain the relationship between an international brand and its resellers in emerging markets. It contributes to the business‐to‐business marketing literature that discusses innovation as an important outcome of collaboration between international firms and their local business customer firms in emerging markets.

Strategy and Democracy. The historical case of English building societies.

In this paper, I provide a new historical perspective to the concept of strategy. Starting from a view of firms as social movement organizations, I redefine strategy as the quest to provide State-sanctioned entrepreneurial responses to democratic deficits. Drawing on the historical case of the English building society movement, I demonstrate how entrepreneurial responses that befit State power holders most in face of democratic grievances, are structurally advantaged, be it through fiscal, regulatory or political means. A combination of strategically and accidentally accumulated State support allowed building societies to leave behind other members of the friendly society movement during the period 1875-1945, only to reproduce this feat with clearing banks in the 1960s and 1970s. I analyse how building societies’ competitive advantage foundered as they failed to adapt to the changing geopolitical framework of British State sanction; and draw conclusions as to understandings of the sustainability of strategic success.

Corporate Sustainability: The Environmental Design and Human Resource Management Interface in Healthcare Settings

Purpose of the Paper: The purpose of this study is to provide healthcare organizations with a new perspective for developing strategies to enrich their human resource capabilities and improve their performance outcomes. The focus of this study is on leveraging the synergy between organizational management strategies and environmental design interventions. This paper proposes a framework for linking the built environment with the human resource management system of healthcare organizations. The framework focuses on the impact of the built environment regarding job attitudes and behaviors of healthcare workers. Research from the disciplines of strategic human resource management, resource-based view of firms, evidence-based design, and green building are utilized to develop the framework. The positive influence of human resource practices on job attitudes and behaviors of employees is one mechanism to improve organizational performance outcomes. Organizational psychologists suggest that human resource practices are effective because they convey that the organization values employee contributions and cares about their well-being. Attention to employee socio-emotional needs can be reciprocated with higher levels of motivation and commitment toward the organization. In line with these findings, healthcare environmental studies imply that physical settings and features can have a positive influence on job attitudes and the behavior of caregivers by providing for their physical and socio-emotional needs. Adding the physical environment as a complementary resource to the array of human resource practices creates synergy in improving caregivers' job attitudes and behaviors and enhances the human capital of healthcare firms. Staff, evidence-based design, interdisciplinary, modeling, perceived organizational supportPreferred Citation: Sadatsafavi, H., & Walewski, J. (2013). Corporate sustainability: The environmental design and human resource management interface in healthcare settings. Health Environments Research & Design Journal 6(2), pp 98-118.

The point of view of firms in Minas Gerais about the contribution of universities and research institutes to R&D activities

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the interactions between firms, universities and research institutes based in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The theoretical standpoint is the innovation system of developing countries. Multivariate cluster analysis is used, more specifically, the Grade of Membership method, to group firms with similar characteristics and evaluate their pattern of interaction with universities and research institutes. The main results show that the highest rates of interaction are found among firms that manufacture chemical products, cellulose, paper and paper products, followed by those engaged in the extraction of metallic and non-metallic minerals.

Knowledge transfer effectiveness of university‐industry alliances

Purpose – This paper attempts to propose an integrated model for measuring the knowledge transfer effectiveness in university‐industry alliances. The so‐called “RDCE” model is thereby proposed as an integrated model for measuring the knowledge transfer effectiveness. By combining inter‐organizational relations (IORs), knowledge‐based view (KBV) and resource‐based view (RBV) of firms, this paper aims to focus on the influence of determinant factors such as partner complementarities, partner attributes, the characteristics of the coordination and relationship quality between industrial companies and universities that may lead to the effectiveness of knowledge transfer.Design/methodology/approach – This framework thereby clarifies how mediating variables influenced the paths that constitute the direct, indirect and total effects of mediated models by integrating moderated regression analysis together with bootstrap resampling methods to ensure the precision in estimating confidence intervals of indirect effe...

A Firm Analysis Level of Supporting Industries in Hanoi City-Vietnam: Application of Resource-based View and Industrial Organization

This paper focuses on applying the resource-based view (RBV) of firms and industrial organization (IO) ofstrategic management field to explain performance in supporting industries in Hanoi - Vietnam. Specifically, webased our research on the integrated framework of RBV and IO and reviewed previous empirical researchesbefore deciding on testing relationships among organizational capabilities, industry effects, competitiveadvantage and performance. A multivariate analysis of survey responses of 102 firms belonging to supportingindustries in Hanoi city - Vietnam indicates that the firm’s organizational capabilities contribute to itscompetitive advantage that in turn, affects its performance and mediates the organizationalcapabilities-performance relationship, and that industry effects have both direct and indirect impact oncompetitive advantages. These findings have considerable implications for academics as well as practitioners.Finally, this study also provides directions for future research.

Inside the Black Box: Incentive Regulation and Incentive Channeling on Energy Markets

This paper aims to achieve more insight into the complex interplay between the “external” market regulations and “internal” regulations (corporate governance) of energy firms. In recent years, many countries have deregulated the incumbent energy monopolies and have introduced new modes of regulation. However, the new incentive schemes do not represent an unmitigated success story. A major problem seems to be the neoclassical framework that is used for the analysis of energy markets. Therefore, an important goal of this paper is to clarify the boundaries of neoclassical regulation theory. There are two restrictions that hamper the neoclassical analysis of energy markets. The first is the difficulty of overcoming the widely held “black box” view of firms. The second is the idea that agents always make rational choices. The paper proposes a kind of theoretical division of labor for understanding the effectiveness of regulatory schemes in energy markets. Neoclassical economics points out to the sources of market failure, and helps to identify where in particular on the supply chain one is likely to observe natural monopolies. Transaction cost economics explains appropriate governance of vertical relations along the supply chain. And organizational theories can elucidate what happens within firms: their response to regulation, competition, and relations with suppliers. A research agenda for the third component is proposed, drawing on insights from New Sociological Institutionalism and organizational behavior.

Antecedents and consequences of e-supply chain coordination capability for enterprises: an empirical study in China

Although e-commerce technology has greatly improved the efficiency of supply chain, the poor coordination capability for enterprises on the e-supply chain restricted the further improvement of firm performance. And studies on how to improve e-supply chain coordination capability become necessary. In this research, based on the resource-based view (RBV) of firms and transaction cost economics (TCE), we propose a model of e-supply chain coordination capability to describe antecedents and consequences of e-supply chain coordination capability for enterprises, and specifically explore the relationship among inter-organisational IT-related resources, e-supply chain coordination capability (ESCC) and firm performance. We use the method of partial least square (PLS) to verify theoretical model. The results show that: 1) the improvement of supply chain partnership rely on inter-organisational information system (IOS); 2) firms should pay the same attention to establish IOS and good relationships with their partners on the supply chain; 3) firms should evaluate the impact of e-supply chain coordination capability on firm performance through process performance directly, but rather through financial performance.

The Re-Source-Based View of the Firm

The Re-Source-Based View of the Firm

Board Tasks in Small Firms: The Importance of Motivation and Evaluations

The attention to board of directors in small firms is increasing. Traditionally they have been considered to be passive and labeled paper boards or aunt boards. However, boards in small firms are now undergoing major changes. In this paper we test hypotheses of what makes boards active and allows them to contribute to value creation. Activity is seen in relation to board task involvement. Predictions based on agency theory, resource dependence theory and the resource based view of the firm are used to explore board task involvement. In a sample of 347 small firms we got strong support for hypotheses highlighting the use of the knowledge of the board members and various board maintenance tools, such as regular board evaluations, to increase board task involvement. Various contextual variables were included as control variables, but few were significantly related to board task involvement. Actionable advice to boards in small firms is provided.

The firm as a viable system: managing inter-organisational relationships

The paper discusses the role played by business relationships within a view of the firm as a viable system. Attention is focused on relationships between firms and their supplying system, emphasising the way how such relationships affect firms’ innovation processes. The paper also considers the role of trust in enhancing the effectiveness of customer-supplier relationships and in promoting innovation. These aspects are discussed theoretically and further developed using the empirical example of the Ericsson subsidiary in Italy.

The Geographic Distance of Relocation Search: An Extended Resource-Based Perspective

On the basis of the extended resource-based view of firms, access to external resources can be argued to depend on a firm’s location. In this article, I test the notion that firms take the availability of these external resources at a given location into account in the distance of their relocation search. The results show that firms take the strength of, and distance to their interorganizational relationships, as well as regional characteristics, into account when determining the distance of their relocation search. They provide empirical validation of the importance of external resources in the resource-based view of firms. Moreover, they show how a particular type of dynamics, namely, location dynamics, can be used by firms to gain access to resources that can subsequently lead to competitive advantage.

Sense of place: From location resources to MNE locational capital

AbstractLocation is commonly perceived as a source of generic resources to all firms in a given place and, therefore, not something that leads to firm‐specific advantage. We challenge this view and suggest that multinational enterprises (MNEs) differ in their location capability, which enables them to create locational capital from generic location resources. Location capability is expressed in an MNE's ‘sense of place’—its recognition of the potential in a location and the actions it takes to create value from this potential. We outline the engagement, transformation and appropriation processes through which this happens and their implications for MNEs following multidomestic and global strategies. Thus, we advance an action‐based view of firms driven by their sense of place to change the very nature of location resources.

Inside the black box: incentive regulation and incentive channeling on energy markets

This paper aims to achieve more insight into the complex interplay between the “external” market regulations and “internal” regulations (corporate governance) of energy firms. In recent years, many countries have deregulated the incumbent energy monopolies and have introduced new modes of regulation. However, the new incentive schemes do not represent an unmitigated success story. A major problem seems to be the neoclassical framework that is used for the analysis of energy markets. Therefore, an important goal of this paper is to clarify the boundaries of neoclassical regulation theory. There are two restrictions that hamper the neoclassical analysis of energy markets. The first is the difficulty of overcoming the widely held “black box” view of firms. The second is the idea that agents always make rational choices. The paper proposes a kind of theoretical division of labor for understanding the effectiveness of regulatory schemes in energy markets. Neoclassical economics points out to the sources of market failure, and helps to identify where in particular on the supply chain one is likely to observe natural monopolies. Transaction cost economics explains appropriate governance of vertical relations along the supply chain. And organizational theories can elucidate what happens within firms: their response to regulation, competition, and relations with suppliers. A research agenda for the third component is proposed, drawing on insights from New Sociological Institutionalism and organizational behavior.

THE DANGERS OF DEEP KNOWLEDGE: NEW VENTURES IN THE U.S. SOLAR INDUSTRY

This paper addresses the tension between a knowledge-based view and a cognitive view of firms, asking the question of whether deep knowledge is always beneficial for technology ventures or whether the ability to be cognitively flexible may be more important for new venture development. We test this tension by examining the effects of expertise at the CEO and top management team on the likelihood of technology change among the population of U.S. solar photovoltaic manufacturing ventures between 1992 and 2007. Surprisingly we find that firms led by experts at both the CEO and management team level are actually more rigid, decreasing the likelihood of change. Furthermore, we find that firms led by non-experts (at the CEO and management team level) are in fact more flexible and likely to change technology. To explore these theories more we also conduct an interaction analysis in which we contrast the value of complementary knowledge, as suggested by the knowledge-based view, against the role of team structure...

Capabilities for managing service innovation: towards a conceptual framework

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and reflect on a set of dynamic capabilities for managing service innovation and applies a dynamic capabilities view (DCV) of firms for managing service innovation.

Towards the Micro-Foundations of Knowledge-Based Advantage: The Concept of Knowledge-Use Capability

The Knowledge-Based View of firms (KBV) views knowledge as the principal productive resource of the firm. While this view has generated significant scholarly work since its inception, less attention has been focused on the elemental social processes that lead to knowledge-based advantage. In this paper, I first present the findings of an inductive study in a single, mature, manufacturing industry (the US foundry industry). The study helped me develop the concept of “knowledge-use capability” that represents the micro-level practices that managers of firms in the industry engage in for adapting and expanding knowledge while facing challenging day-to-day situations. I then use the findings from Study-1 to test generalizable propositions in a large scale survey-based Study-2 (in the same industry) involving the role of knowledge-use capability in enhancing the effectiveness of a firm’s knowledge assets in generating incremental and radical innovation.

Industrial ecology and valuable organisational resources

The resource-based view of firms is an emerging framework that includes resources, barriers, and isolating mechanisms that help a firm to get sustained competitive advantage. To date, little attention is paid to addressing the implications of industrial ecology as a contributing factor to firm's competitive advantage. The paper explores industrial ecosystem's two approaches: product-based and geographical-based and how they can bring about competitive advantage. The paper also presents theoretical framework, showing the benefits accruing from both the approaches are result of competitively valuable firm capabilities and resources. The framework is then used to generate research propositions and questions to be tested later.

The Nature of Reciprocity in Family Firm Succession

Reciprocity is a theoretical framework that has a substantial pedigree, being a recurring concept in many religions and philosophical approaches. It is also an important aspect of organizational life. Inter-generational succession in family enterprises is the most critical determinant of their long-term survival (Morris et al., 1997). Reciprocal behaviour is inherent in family relationships and thereby an important influence on relationships within family firms. By applying reciprocity theory to family firm succession, we adopt an integrated view of family firms incorporating their kinship and community contexts, as a means of understanding the dynamics between family members and hence issues affecting survival. Existing theories of reciprocity, such as moral reciprocity, mutual reciprocity, univocal reciprocity and intergenerational reciprocity, are inadequate in helping us to understand the dynamics of family firm succession. A new development of reciprocity theory is proposed resulting in a conceptual framework for family firm succession called Bounded Intergenerational Reciprocity.

How do Miles and Snow's strategic types differ in their knowledge assets? Evidence from Italian SMEs

This paper takes a knowledge-based view of firms and discusses the importance of linking organizational knowledge assets into corporate strategy. In order to conceptualize knowledge assets, the paper adopts the intellectual capital (IC) framework, which distinguishes three IC components: human, structural and relational capital. As regards business strategy, the paper adopts Miles and Snow's model, which identifies three strategic types of successful organizations: Defenders, Analysers and Prospectors. The paper explores the ways in which the three strategic types differ in weighting the single components of their IC. This study represents an attempt to extend the Miles and Snow typology including the aspect of knowledge assets. The link between knowledge asset management and strategy is investigated by means of three case studies conducted in Italian small and medium enterprises from the food sector. The paper argues that firms of different Miles and Snow strategic types have different mix of IC components.