Integrating computers and marketing management: A European overview

The authors look at the role of computers in marketing management, examining some current literature on computers and marketing decision support systems (MDSS). They then present the results of a survey to gauge the extent to which computers are being used by marketing management in Europe, and explore the potential for accelerating the process of integrating computer technology into the marketing manager's job. Specifically they examine the current personal computers (PCs) usage patterns of 50 marketing executives in a selection of high-performing industrial corporations in Europe.The article then briefly highlights areas of greatest PC applications by these executives and the benefits they have brought in practice. It also identifies the problems they have experienced and their views on how better and more effective utilization can be made of the technology in order to enhance their managerial capabilities.     

Venture Capital Syndication: Synthesis and future directions

This paper reviews and synthesizes the extant literature on venture capital syndication. By considering the questions of how, why and when syndication affects the performance of venture capitalist (VC) firms and their portfolio ventures, a schematic structure of the syndication literature is formed and areas for further research are identified. The results of the review show that, while the venture‐level aspects are relatively well understood, the current literature lacks an understanding of how and why syndication affects the performance of VC firms. This suggests that more attention should be directed towards syndication as a component of the overall strategy of VC firms.     

How high-commitment HRM relates to PC violation and outcomes: The mediating role of supervisor support and PC fulfilment at individual and organizational levels

Psychological contract (PC) constitutes a theoretical framework for; explaining labor relationships, and it has been considered as a; mediation step between structural variables and processes and work and; organizational outcomes. Whereas PC (un)fulfillment; showed consistent relationships with variables such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, performance, or absenteeism, the effects of PC; violation (emotional answers that develop after perceptions of PC; breach) have been less investigated. In addition, structural antecedents; of PC constructs had included Human Resources (HR) practices. This paper aims to extend; research on PC and its role as a mediator between HR practices and work; outcomes, both at individual and organizational levels. Specifically, we; examined the impact of human resource practices on employee performance; and sickness absences through a sequence of supervisor support, PC; fulfillment and PC violation. In a sample of 4648 employees from 214; companies of seven different countries, our results indicate that high-commitment; human resource practices were significantly and negatively; related to PC violation through supervisor support and positively to PC; fulfillment; in turn, PC violation was negatively related to employee; performance and positively to sick leave. These relationships at the; individual level were partially replicated at the organizational level, developing partial homologous models and showing that shared perceptions; about HR practices lead to shared perceptions on PC affecting collective; outcomes. Therefore, the findings shed new light on PC theory, regarding; the mediating role of PC constructs and negative emotions in the; relationships between HR practices and support from supervisors and performance at individual and organizational levels.     

风险资本与智力资本协同条件分析与效应检验

运用协同学的原理与方法对风险资本和智力资本的协同条件及变化进行了定性分析,并对二者的协同效应进行了基于风险投资持股比例的门槛效应检验。结果显示:(1)协同效应下智力资本对企业绩效显著地存在“单门槛效应”,风险投资持股比例可以作为判断风险资本与智力资本发生协同作用的条件;(2)当风险投资持股比例高于门槛值时,智力资本会加速提升企业的资产利用效率和市场价值,但这一现象在企业人力资本增值效率方面的表现并不理想。研究结论表明智力资本的增值作用仍有提升空间,但协同效应的发挥需要满足一定的条件,客观上要求创业企业要有针对性的引进风险投资,以便改革、增强并利用智力资本。     

多阶段风险投资过程中控制权转移范围研究

本文从风险投资活动的具体实践特点出发,给出了多阶段风险投资过程时序模型,并对各个阶段的风险投资特点进行分析,对控制权转移进行了量化研究,得出在每个阶段为满足投资需求所产生的从创业企业家到风险投资家的控制权转移范围。在此结果上得出影响控制权转移范围的主要因素,并分析了主要影响因素对控制权转移范围的影响方向。相应的实证研究结果有力地支撑了该文理论分析的结论,得出的控制权转移范围将会为具体的风险投资决策活动提供有价值的理论依据以及参考。     

Venture Capital Investment Opportunities in Biodiversity Markets

A consumer-driven change in commodity markets has generated the birth of a number of emerging markets for products and services. These markets represent an alternative to traditional management of natural resources that have destroyed our biodiversity. Organic production, ecotourism, sustainable fisheries, sustainably harvested forest products,are all sectors with a positive link with biodiversity. The markets for these products and services have all emerged as a reaction to consumer demand, influenced by awareness campaigns, and have developed through the participation of independent certifiers.Biodiversity-linked markets are still small and informal in many ways. However, as this article will show, the number of participants, volumes traded and degree of institutional organization are growing at incredibly fast rates. In our opinion, these markets present interesting investment opportunities for current players in the markets, as well as for smart venture capitalists. We describe each biodiversity-linked market, the main players (producers, traders, certifiers and retailers), under what rules they operate, and why, in our opinion, they present interesting investment opportunities. We illustrate our argument with some example of investments undertaken through the fund management activities of A2R, specifically through the management of Terra Capital.¹     

Writing from practice

This study investigates the effects of integration change on the integration success of German acquisitions in Poland. It is argued that the degree of integration change has a positive impact on two success measures, namely, economic growth and efficient co-operation, in the acquisition target. It is further argued that process transparency, participation and positive reinforcement are moderators in this relationship between degree of integration change and integration success. Hypotheses are tested on 521 Polish employees from twenty-nine German acquisitions made in Poland between 1991 and 1999. The results show that there was a positive relationship between degree of integration change and integration success as expected and that only process transparency emerged as a significant moderator of this relationship. Consequences for post-acquisition management after German acquisitions in Poland and limitations of the study are discussed.     

Marketplace Competition in the Personal Computer Industry*

A decision regarding development and introduction of a potential new product depends, in part, on the intensity of compeitition anticipated in the marketplace. In the case of a technology-based product such as a personal computer (PC), the number of competing products may be very dynamic and consequently uncertain. We address this problem by modeling growth in the number of new PCs as a stochastic counting process, incorporating product entries and exits. We demonstrate how to use the resulting model to forecast competition five years in advance.     

Intra-industry diversification effects under firm-specific contingencies on the demand side

How do firm-specific, demand-related factors influence the relationship between intra-industry diversification (IID) and performance? Recent findings regarding the performance effects of IID depict a complex picture with curvilinear relationships and several contingencies. However, firm-specific contingencies on the demand side have remained unexplored. We analyze how IID relates to firm performance (market share) in the German automotive industry using panel data between 1999 and 2008. We specifically focus on a firm's high-quality brand image as a demand-side contingency. We find support for our hypotheses of complex curvilinear relationships as well as for moderating effects of brand quality. Our results have significant theoretical implications for the IID literature.     

风险投资的地理亲近：对中国风险投资的实证研究

风险投资的地理亲近是指风险投资机构倾向于投资其所在地周边的企业。利用CVSource数据库,搜集2010年至2012年623家风险投资机构对1 020家企业的2 973轮风险投资交易事件信息,采用1：1配伍设计,运用STATA进行relogit回归分析,研究空间距离对投资交易达成可能性的影响。研究结果表明,随着两地空间距离的增加,风险投资交易达成的可能性降低,投资金额对空间距离与投资发生可能性之间关系起倒U形的调节作用,风险投资机构的经验调节二者之间的反向作用,经验丰富的风险投资机构不很在意目标企业的位置,其经验可以在某种程度上消除距离带来的不利影响。     

营运资本管理效率对公司盈利能力的影响——基于中国制造业上市公司的经验证据

本文使用2004-2006年我国沪深两市519家制造业上市公司作为研究样本,考察营运资本管理效率与公司盈利能力之间的关系.研究发现,公司盈利能力与反映营运资本管理效率的综合指标现金周期显著负相关,而且与现金周期的各组成部分应收账款周转期、存货周转期和应付账款周转期显著负相关.研究结果表明,管理层可以通过制定适当的信用政策和存货政策,将现金周期、应收账款周转期、存货周转期和应付账款周转期控制在合理的最优水平,实现营运资本的高效周转,提高公司盈利能力.     

Capital structure decisions in family firms: empirical evidence from a bank-based economy

This paper analyzes the question if and how founding families influence the capital structure decision of their firms. By using a unique, partially hand-collected panel dataset of 660 listed German companies (5,135 firm years) over the period 1995–2006, we come up with the following results: German family firms have significantly lower leverage ratios than non-family firms. With respect to the question how families influence the capital structure of their firms, we can show that the family impact is mostly driven via management involvement. In this context, we also detect that the presence of a founder CEO has a strong negative effect on the leverage ratio. Our results prove to be stable against a battery of robustness tests, including the influence of other types of blockholders and the firms’ life cycle. Moreover, we use a propensity-score based matching estimator to alleviate concerns of reverse causality. Overall, our study suggests a strong, negative and causal relationship between family firm characteristics (especially family management) and the level of leverage.     

创业投资管理对企业绩效表现的影响

本文以2004-2008年深圳中小板的上市公司为样本,围绕企业首次公开发行这一重要的创业投资(以下简称"创投")退出方式,研究创投机构对其支持企业上市后经营业绩和股市表现的影响.结果表明,创投支持企业上市时的规模和年龄均显著低于非创投支持企业,且前者在上市首日的抑价水平显著高于后者.从长期表现来看,虽然在锁定期内创投支持企业和非创投支持企业的经营业绩和股市表现没有显著差异,但解禁后前者的业绩下滑幅度显著高于后者,且股票投资收益率更低.进一步研究发现,企业抑价水平和长期绩效下滑幅度与其创投机构的从业年限显著负相关;此外,国有创投机构支持企业的抑价水平及绩效下滑幅度显著低于非国有创投机构支持企业.这些结果验证了Gompers[1]提出的"逐名动机"假说,表明我国创投行业目前存在急功近利的倾向;创投机构为尽快实现投资收益、证明自己的实力会促使其投资企业过早上市,并且过度追求短期业绩而对企业的长期发展造成一定负面影响.     

风险环境下企业信息系统项目控制对绩效的影响机制研究:基于项目经理和用户代表的双重视角

虽然当前项目管理水平不断提高,但是企业信息系统项目实施的成功率仍然不容乐观。项目干系人缺乏准确的相互认知和角色定位,以及风险与控制的关系无法有效处理是导致项目绩效偏低的重要原因。为了从不同视角探索风险和控制对企业信息系统项目绩效的共同作用,通过对65位项目经理和63位用户代表所经历的128个项目的调查,利用结构方程模型进行实证分析,并采用层次回归分析技术进行检验。实证结果表明,正式控制和非正式控制对信息系统项目绩效都具有积极的影响,但是项目经理认为正式控制具有更加重要的作用,而用户代表认为非正式控制的作用更为显著。此外,项目经理和用户代表均认为组织风险和技术风险会减弱正式和非正式控制对绩效的有效作用。因此在控制方式的选择和组合上不仅要基于项目自身的特点,而且要基于干系人的角色。同时,信息系统项目绩效并非单纯由成功或失败因素所决定,而是取决于两类因素的均衡程度。研究结论为信息系统项目的风险控制提供了全新的理论依据和决策支持。     

Relationship between Intellectual Capital and Knowledge Management: An Empirical Investigation

Two important streams of the literature have examined intellectual capital (IC) and knowledge management (KM). Surprisingly, they have developed in parallel, without any empirical research on the relationship between them. This article empirically examines how IC and KM affect each other, and also investigates their consequences, viewing three intermediate consequences (dynamic capabilities, efficiency, and innovativeness) to mediate their effects on firm performance. In addition, this article examines the effects of the organization's culture on IC and KM. To address these issues, a comprehensive model is developed and tested using a combination of survey and secondary data of 533 companies in Taiwan. The results support the theoretical model. Major findings include the following: IC affects KM and dynamic capabilities; KM facilitates innovation but not dynamic capabilities or IC; a learning culture facilitates IC and innovation but not KM; firm performance depends on efficiency and innovation, but not directly on dynamic capabilities; and efficiency does not depend on any of the other constructs in the study. The article's implications for research and practice are examined.     

A multi-criteria approach for managing inter-enterprise collaborative relationships

Collaboration amongst enterprises is a common strategy used to increase competitiveness. Thus, enterprises that are collaborating need to define and use performance measurement/management frameworks composed of performance elements (objectives, performance indicators, etc.) that facilitate the management of their activity, as well as monitor their strategy and processes. There are many factors, e.g. trust, interoperability of Information Systems, etc. that need to be managed properly in order to support collaborative success. However, such factors and performance are not usually managed together. Furthermore, these factors and performance elements are interrelated but these influences are commonly overlooked. This paper aims to present an approach based on the Analytic Network Process (ANP) to manage collaborative relationships under an integrated approach by considering not only the inter-enterprise performance elements, but also the factors that influence collaboration. The approach is then applied to a collaborative enterprise network belonging to the renewable energy sector. With this innovative approach, enterprises will obtain significant information for the decision-making process, regarding which are the factors and performance elements that have the greatest impact on their competitiveness, and therefore should be prioritized.     

A Simulation Study of Work-in-Process Inventory Drive Systems and their Effect on Operational Measurements

This simulation study compares three operational measures of performance through the exploration of three work-in-process (WIP) inventory drive systems and their associated inventory buffer characteristics. The three drive systems under study are a push, a pull and a hybrid push-pull system. While these systems have many aspects in common, their buffer management systems do not. The data analysis was based on information gathered from three computer-simulated flow shop assembly lines all operating in the same environment. Hypotheses concerning the operational performance measurements were established, independent variables were controlled and manipulated and a conclusion was drawn as to which system would afford the operation optimum results. While inventory has traditionally been considered and is currently being shown as an asset from an accounting point of view, it is obvious from the findings of this study, that excess WIP inventory, above the minimal requirements for production, may have a negative effect on the operational measurements evaluated.     

The moderating role of social support in Karasek's job strain model

This paper examines whether social support is a boundary-determining criterion in the job strain model of Karasek (1979). The particular focus is the extent to which different sources of social support, work overload and task control influence job satisfaction, depersonalization and supervisor assessments of work performance. Hypotheses are tested using prospective survey data from 80 clerical staff in a university setting. Results revealed 3-way interactions among levels of support (supervisor, co-worker, non-work), perceived task control and work overload on levels of work performance and employee adjustment (self-report). After controlling for levels of negative affect in all analyses, there was evidence that high levels of supervisor support mitigated against the negative effects of high strain jobs on levels of job satisfaction and reduced reported levels of depersonalization. Moreover, high levels of non-work support and co-worker support also mitigated against the negative effects of high strain jobs on levels of work performance. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of social support networks both at, and beyond, the work context.     

美国风险投资业中的制度创新

在美国高科技企业与风险投资互动发展的背后,存在着一系列的制度创新,包括金融制度、公司治理和管理创新,正是这些创新活动提高了风险投资的效率,形成了富有激励性和生产性的投资机制。     

Technology‐Based New Product Development Partnerships*

Hypotheses were developed to capture the dynamic capabilities that result from interfirm partnerships during the joint new product development (NPD) process—the ability to build, integrate, and reconfigure existing resources to adapt to rapidly changing environments. These capabilities, in turn, were proposed to have a positive impact on NPD performance outcomes: (a) proportion of new product success and (b) superior new product commercialization. In contexts where the locus of innovation is rapidly changing, the impact of interfirm NPD dynamic capabilities was hypothesized to be diminished in high‐technology contexts, especially for buyers (original equipment manufacturers) and to a lesser extent for suppliers. Still, technology‐based interfirm NPD partnerships were predicted to ultimately outperform low‐technology ones in both NPD performance outcomes. Finally, information technology (IT) support for NPD was hypothesized to influence the interfirm NPD partnership's dynamic capabilities. Using survey data from 72 auto company managers and their suppliers, the proposed model in which IT support for NPD influences the success of interfirm NPD partnerships through the mediating role of interfirm NPD partnership dynamic capabilities in high‐ and low‐technology contexts was generally supported. The results shed light on the nature of technology‐based interfirm NPD partnerships and have implications for their success. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.