期望落差与企业创新的动态关系——冗余资源与竞争威胁的调节效应分析

期望落差导致决策者倾向于冒险创新还是规避风险, 这仍旧是没有解决的重要问题.创新是决策者的冒险动机与冒险能力共同作用的结果, 并且这种作用还将受到企业内部冗余资源以及外部竞争威胁的制约.基于中国民营上市公司数据, 主要得到以下几方面的结论:期望落差所引致的冒险动机与可感知冒险能力的动态变化, 最终导致了企业决策者随着企业期望落差的递增而提升创新投入, 但拐点之后其冒险创新的动力则逐渐减弱;组织冗余在期望落差与企业创新之间起到显著的正向调节作用, 即充足的冗余资源提高了落差状态下的企业创新投入;竞争威胁则在期望落差与企业创新之间起到显著的负向调节作用, 即企业面临的竞争威胁程度越高则越有可能降低它在期望落差状态下的创新投入;最后, 冗余资源与竞争威胁还显著地影响到企业创新投入的曲率及斜率的动态变化.     

制度环境、公司治理对企业竞争优势的影响研究——基于中国上市公司的经验证据

如何通过外部制度和内部制度的安排延续企业的竞争优势,是制度变迁背景下中国企业面临的核心问题.本文以2002年-2005年的中国上市公司为样本,基于国内地区差距,实证分析了制度环境和公司治理时企业竞争优势的影响.回归结果发现,政府支持市场化程度、经济法律环境水平、股权集中度、股权竞争度、董事会独立性、专业委员会设置程度以及股东参与决策程度与企业竞争优势显著正相关.研究结果表明,好的制度环境与有效的公司治理能提高企业的竞争优势;企业持续竞争优势的源泉应包含以政府为主体的宏观层次的制度竞争和以企业为主体的微观层次的公司治理竞争.     

All risk-taking is not the same: examining the competing effects of firm risk-taking with meta-analysis

Although researchers have vigorously studied organizational risk-taking for over 35 years, relatively little emphasis has been placed on theoretically differentiating the unique relationships between the many risk-taking choices organizations make and firm risk or firm performance. In this research, we propose a new framework that builds from March’s exploration–exploitation model to argue that different risk-taking choices can have substantially different influences on firm outcomes. We use meta-analysis to examine the unique and at times competing effects of four of the most commonly studied risk-taking choices on firm risk and firm performance. Results from a meta-analysis of 257 unique studies (N = 499,808) demonstrate support for our proposed framework and cast significant doubt on the idea that commonly studied firm risk-taking choices theoretically aggregate into one overarching risk-taking construct.     

过程导向的可持续竞争优势因果关系链分析

对可持续竞争优势的外生性分析是基于企业同质性假设,把企业看成黑箱。以资源基础论为主流的内生性分析基于企业异质性假设,突破了企业黑箱,但由于提出了过分宽泛的资源概念,而且专注于对可持续竞争优势的条件特征的讨论和分析,客观上形成了"过程黑箱",影响到该理论的深入发展和管理学应用前景。本论文将能力概念从广义的资源概念中分离出来,在基于能力的新战略观基础上,将"资源-战略-绩效"架构具体化,构造了一个过程导向的可持续竞争优势因果关系链模型。     

资源异质性如何影响企业绩效:资源管理能力调节效应的检验和分析

战略理论认为,资源与能力是引致企业竞争优势和绩效差异的重要因素,但鲜有实证研究探讨异质性资源与何种企业能力组合可提升企业绩效的问题。本文通过定量研究分析了资源异质性与资源管理能力不同维度组合对企业绩效影响的效果。数据分析结果表明,资源获取、整合与释放能力维度对资源异质性正向影响企业绩效的作用关系有调节作用,但对不同的资源特质—绩效关系影响程度不同。本研究揭示了资源异质性—企业绩效关系成立的边界条件和影响因素,对企业管理实践有重要意义。     

Competition network as a source of competitive advantage: The dynamic capability perspective and evidence from China

The search for competitive advantage is the defining inquiry of strategic management research. In this study, we draw on the dynamic capability lens to develop a counterintuitive view that positions competitors of a firm as an important source of competitive advantage. We argue that a firm's competitors form a competition network from which it can collect information about innovative ideas, product market, and related industries. Such information helps it calibrate market opportunities, update the resource base, and, eventually, strengthen its competitive advantage. This positive effect of competition network on competitive advantage will reasonably be contingent upon the proactive information search by the firm. The empirical results based on the survey data of 631 Chinese firms strongly support our theoretical model. This study identifies another distinctive source of competitive advantage than industry context or organizational resources as well as advancing our understanding of competition network.     

需求不确定下生产能力与竞争优势之间的关系

在需求不确定的条件下,用生产能力刻画产量决策的柔性,用古诺模型描述企业间的(产量)竞争,建立一个两企业战略竞争博弈模型,并利用博弈均衡构建柔性水平与竞争优势之间的函数关系。比较静态分析结果表明,(1)其他条件不变,一家企业的相对竞争优势随着自己的生产能力增加而增加,但随着对手的生产能力增加而降低;(2)生产能力较高的企业将获得较高的绝对竞争优势。这些结果暗示,柔性水平与竞争优势之间呈现一种正向的变动关系。这一结论一方面在一定程度上澄清了战略管理文献中呈现出的"战略柔性与竞争优势之间的联系方向模凌两可"这一问题;另一方面,由于引入了竞争性战略互动,从而将基于个人理性决策的结果扩展到战略相互依赖的竞争性情形下。     

From Temporary Competitive Advantage to Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Both industrial organization theory (IO) and the resource‐based view of the firm (RBV) have advanced our understanding of the antecedents of competitive advantage but few have attempted to verify the outcome variables of competitive advantage and the persistence of such outcome variables. Here by integrating both IO and RBV perspectives in the analysis of competitive advantage at the firm level, our study clarifies a conceptual distinction between two types of competitive advantage ? temporary competitive advantage and sustainable competitive advantage ? and explores how firms transform temporary competitive advantage into sustainable competitive advantage. Testing of the developed hypotheses, based on a survey of 165 firms from Taiwan's information and communication technology industry, suggests that firms with a stronger market position can only attain a better outcome of temporary competitive advantage whereas firms possessing a superior position in technological resources or capabilities can attain a better outcome of sustainable competitive advantage. More importantly, firms can leverage a temporary competitive advantage as an outcome of market position to improving their technological resource and capability position, which in turn can enhance their sustainable competitive advantage.     

Temporary Competitive Advantage: A State‐of‐the‐Art Literature Review and Research Directions

In many industries, the traditional sources of competitive advantage tend to evaporate fairly rapidly. Therefore, managers need to continually rethink and reformulate their firm strategies. Likewise, scholars have felt compelled to shift the traditional centre of attention from competitive advantage that is sustainable over time to a focus on how firms compete by achieving a series of temporary advantages. However, the proliferation of research on temporary competitive advantage, far from building a solid body of literature, has produced a series of fragmented studies. This condition calls for detecting the state of knowledge in this realm of strategic inquiry. By leveraging the present status of the literature on temporary competitive advantage, we offer a conceptual map of the current inquiry of the antecedents, management, and consequences of temporary competitive advantage. Then, we identify the key implications for strategy theory and discuss the major challenges for cultivating fertile territories in this intriguing area of research.     

Competitive Dynamics between Multinational Enterprises and Local Internet Platform Companies in the Virtual Market in China

We adopt the dynamic capability perspective and the institutional view as the guiding theoretical lenses to explain the relative performance of foreign internet platform companies (IPCs) operating in China. Based on data obtained from 51 interviews a multiple‐case‐study approach is adopted, with representative matched cases between foreign IPCs, including Google, eBay, Amazon and Groupon, and local IPCs. The findings highlight the unique characteristics of the IPCs and the Chinese context that challenge assumptions prevailing in the literature of the applicability of firm‐specific advantages in determining a sustainable competitive advantage. We highlight the dynamic capabilities of the firm, such as flexibility and experimentation, in contributing to sustainable competitive advantage. Further, rather than focusing on firm‐specific resources, we find that the active agency of the firm can approach institutions as resources through external links with diversified institutional players, which is crucial for multinational enterprise IPCs to develop sustainable competitive advantage. Drawing on the findings we present a number of propositions and implications for theory and practice.     

Convergence and Divergence Dynamics in British and French Business Schools: How Will the Pressure for Accreditation Influence these Dynamics?

This paper focuses on convergence and divergence dynamics among leading British and French business schools and explores how the pressure for accreditation influences these dynamics. We illustrate that despite historical differences in approaches to management education in Britain and France, these approaches have converged partly based on the influence of the American model of management education but more recently through the pursuit of accreditation, in particular from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and the European Quality Improvement Standard. We explore these dynamics through the application of the resource‐based view of the firm and institutional theory and suggest that, whilst achieving accreditation is a necessary precursor for international competition, it is no longer a form of competitive advantage. The pursuit of accreditation has fostered a form of competitive mimicry reducing national distinctiveness. The resource‐based view of the firm suggests that the top schools need a more heterogeneous approach that is not easily replicable if they are to outperform the competitors. Consequently, the convergence of management education in Britain and France will become a new impetus for divergence. We assert that future growth and competitive advantage might be better achieved through the reassertion of national, regional and local cultural characteristics.     

双寡头市场中品牌广告竞争和大类广告合作策略研究

利用微分对策理论研究了一强一弱双寡头垄断市场中的品牌广告竞争和大类广告合作策略,提出了一个Stackelberg博弈模型,采用汉密尔顿-雅可比-贝尔曼方程求得了模型的均衡品牌广告、大类广告和价值函数,给出了市场份额计算公式。研究发现:与非合作策略相比,大类广告合作策略下,无论强者还是弱者,他们的销售量都增加了,同时两个企业的品牌广告投入也增加了;通过大类广告合作策略,无论强者(领导者)还是弱者(追随者),他们的利润都得到了提高;强者、弱者和行业的大类广告投入分别高于非合作下强者、弱者和行业的大类广告投入。     

STOCHASTIC COST-VOLUME-PROFIT ANALYSIS IN A COMPETITIVE OLIGOPOLY

Previous stochastic cost-volume-profit (CVP) models have assumed that the firm was operating under either perfect competition or monopolistic conditions. This paper presents a stochastic CVP model applicable to oligopolistic competition. Each firm is assumed to maximize a linear function of the expected value and the standard deviation of its random profits. The result is a game-theoretic model that is solved using the concept of a Nash equilibrium. The results of the model are used to examine a firm's competitive strength. The model can be easily modified to accommodate a measure of risk based on the capital asset pricing theory.     

A stakeholder perspective on process improvement behaviours: delivering the triple bottom line in SMEs

Abstract

The primary focus of operations management is to add value through operational processes. Considerable attention has been given to using process improvement (PI) techniques to reduce costs and time, in order to develop a competitive advantage for the wider organization. However, this narrow definition of value at times overlooks the triple bottom line (TBL) which can result in a number of unintended consequences, specifically issues related to environmental and social measures of performance. To address this, a stakeholder theory lens will be used to analyze PI activities within the context of small and medium-sized enterprises. The TBL will be used to complement the stakeholder perspective, to interpret the benefits that are realized from PI activities. This article highlights both the direct benefits from PI as well as more indirect benefits realized by involving a selection of salient stakeholders in PI. It will show how a developed view of PI can provide an important mechanism for delivering improvements to a firm’s TBL. The work concludes by highlighting the contributions made to both PI practice and stakeholder theory, while acknowledging the need for more research on PI, both from a stakeholder perspective and how it impacts a firm’s TBL.     

Strategic Decisions of New Technology Adoption under Asymmetric Information: A Game‐Theoretic Model*

In this paper we explore strategic decision making in new technology adoption by using economic analysis. We show how asymmetric information affects firms' decisions to adopt the technology. We do so in a two‐stage game‐theoretic model where the first‐stage investment results in the acquisition of a new technology that, in the second stage, may give the firm a competitive advantage in the product market. We compare two information structures under which two competing firms have asymmetric information about the future performance (i.e., postadoption costs) of the new technology. We find that equilibrium strategies under asymmetric information are quite different from those under symmetric information. Information asymmetry leads to different incentives and strategic behaviors in the technology adoption game. In contrast to conventional wisdom, our model shows that market uncertainty may actually induce firms to act more aggressively under certain conditions. We also show that having better information is not always a good thing. These results illustrate a key departure from established decision theory.     

Uncertainty,pluralism, and the knowledge-based theory of the firm: From J.-C. Spender’s contribution to a socio-cognitive approach

J.-C. Spender’s award-winning, knowledge-based theory of the firm is based on four premises: (1) The firm can be sufficiently understood as a system of knowledge, (2) explicit and implicit knowing can be clearly dissociated, (3) organizations are conceived as cognizing entities, and (4) intuition shaped by shared cultural practices is a superior source of managerial knowledge. This line of reasoning represents a social constructionist view of the enactment, transfer, and storage of knowledge according to which managerial knowledge is largely tacitly shaped by industry recipes and the firm’s socio-cultural conventions and other social processes. Although comprehensive in scope, we argue that a knowledge-based theory of the firm needs to integrate a cognitivist approach that includes the synergetic production of tacit and explicit knowledge, the role of reflective thinking in resolving strategic uncertainties, and the interaction between the individual and the social. This socio-cognitive theory of the firm posits that sustained competitive advantage of a firm is founded on the ability to align knowledge internally within the firm as well as externally with its stakeholders through the individual sense-making of feedback from other individuals.     

A MODEL FOR ALLOCATING LIMITED RESOURCES WHEN MAKING SAFETY-STOCK DECISIONS

This article describes the application of a goal programming model to set safety stocks in a fixed-interval, variable order-quantity inventory system. The firm is constrained by limited storage space and capital in the determination of inventory levels. The costs resulting from the use of the proposed model are contrasted with costs resulting from an alternative method based solely upon a forecasting model. The costs considered are holding costs, stock-out costs, and the costs of acquiring excess resources. Excess resources are required when safety-stock levels, determined by the forecasting model, would utilize more than the available capital and space. The proposed model eliminates the need for acquiring excess resources at the risk of increasing the frequency and size of stock outs. A trade-off occurs between the potential for greater stock-out costs versus the costs of acquiring excess resources-borrowing additional funds or renting additional space. The goal programming model was used to set safety stocks for 15 product groups over a 46 month evaluation period for a multiproduct firm. Significant reductions in costs can be realized if the proposed model is used.     

Customer complementarity in the digital space: Exploring Amazon’s business model diversification

In spite of the striking evidence that many firms run multiple business models, scholars and practitioners still lack a comprehensive understanding about business model portfolio dynamics, particularly when this happens in the digital space. Prior research on business model diversification tends to focus on supply-side complementarities, such as a firm's synergies among resources and capabilities. Yet, the demand-side with its customer complementarities remains theoretically and empirically underexplored, despite offering interesting opportunities for firms' competitive advantage. By developing a qualitative, longitudinal (1995–2018) analysis of the various business models developed by Amazon.com, we identify and map how customer complementarities—network effects and one-stop shop effects—can support firm growth and competitive advantage, particularly in the digital space. We identify what we term the ‘integrative business model,’ defined as the business model in a portfolio exhibiting the most (predominantly positive) customer complementarities with other business models. We propose mechanisms for the integrative business model to contribute to sustainable competitive advantage via a causal loop diagram and discuss implications for theory and practice.     

Does it pay to be eco? The mediating role of competitive benefits and the effect of ISO14001

Eco-innovation has become an important instrument to help companies reduce their environmental impact and gain a competitive advantage in increasingly competitive environments. Despite recent research conducted in this field, findings concerning the relationship between eco-innovation and firm performance remain conflicting, inconclusive and incomplete. This study aimed to clarify this relationship by incorporating competitive benefits as a mediator between eco-innovation and firm performance. Three core questions are examined: How does eco-innovation influence competitive benefits and firm performance? Do competitive benefits mediate the relationship between eco-innovation and firm performance? How does ISO14001 influence competitive benefits and firm performance? The study finds that competitive benefits mediate and strengthen the relationship between eco-innovation and firm performance. In addition, the results reveal that ISO14001 positively affects competitive benefits and thus leads to greater competitive benefits, while the association between ISO14001 and firm performance is not found to be statistically significant. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for policy makers and companies, limitations, and future research directions.     

European industrial districts: Influence of geographic concentration on performance of the firm

This paper reviews ideas and insights from recent firm strategy literature. We argue that these perspectives can be usefully extended to explain the competitive advantage of the industrial district. Most of the empirical studies seeking evidence of the competitive advantage of the industrial district consisted of case studies. This paper attempts to offer a measurement of the performance of industrial district firms on a comparative basis by using the case of the Spanish ceramic tile industry.