Inter‐organizational Cooperation and Environmental Change: Moderating Effects between Flexibility and Innovation Performance

The paper investigates the moderator effect of inter‐organizational cooperation in the relationship between workplace flexibility and innovation performance. This research question is important because innovation is dependent on the strategic integration of technological knowledge, requiring organizations to acquire new capabilities rapidly or to ensure the presence of knowledge that may be beyond existing internal capabilities. Inter‐organizational cooperation constitutes a relevant mechanism for a firm to increase its knowledge base concerning new products and processes. High‐cooperation firms may have more opportunities to take advantage of flexibility for innovation performance because it facilitates the access and dispersion of knowledge within the firm. We test the research hypotheses in a sample of manufacturing and service firms. The results contribute to the literature on flexibility and innovation because they demonstrate that inter‐organizational cooperation moderates the relationship between flexibility and innovation performance. We discuss the implications of these results for future research and managerial practice.     

Internationalization and performance: The moderating effects of organizational learning

By proposing a conceptual outline for a general model that explains the internationalization–performance link, we test the moderating effects of organizational learning on the relationship between internationalization and performance empirically. Integrating two distinct literature streams from the organizational learning perspective and the resource-based view, we present an integrated, multidimensional framework for analyzing multinational enterprises’ (MNEs’) resources, internationalization, and organizational learning, as well as their associated impact on firm performance. Specifically, using a sample of 110 American MNEs, we find that while certain MNE resources motivate and precede internationalization, social and market learning (whereas technological learning does not) moderates the relationship between internationalization and performance. These findings extend prior research by establishing the importance of the relationships among MNE resources, internationalization, organizational learning, and firm performance.     

Cooperation and Knowledge Transfer within Buyer–Supplier Relationships: The Moderating Properties of Trust,Relationship Duration and Supplier Performance*

This paper examines the effect of relational factors on knowledge transfer within strategic buyer–supplier exchange. Prior research examining inter‐firm knowledge transfer has focused almost exclusively on horizontal forms of governance such as strategic alliances and joint ventures, whilst research on vertical forms, such as buyer–supplier relationships, is limited. We test the effect of four important relational properties: cooperation, trust, relationship duration and supplier performance. Quantitative data, gathered from 104 UK manufacturing firms in eight industry sectors, are used to analyse the hypothesized relationships through a moderated hierarchical regression model. Our study provides support for the importance of considering relational factors in the transfer of knowledge at the inter‐organizational level. In particular, the results indicate that knowledge transfer is positively influenced by the extent of cooperation, but that this relationship is moderated by the level of trust and the performance of the supplier firm. Managerial implications for these findings and future directions for research are then offered.     

Diversification and Performance in Developed and Emerging Market Contexts: A Review of the Literature*

The link between diversification and performance has become an important topic for research in diverse fields such as strategic management, industrial organization and financial management. However, a synthesis of the research done in developed and emerging markets is missing. This paper attempts such a synthesis by comparing and contrasting the past cumulative empirical research evidence on the relationship between diversification and firm performance in the context of developed economies to the more recent work in the emerging economies. The empirical literature has been divided into three broad perspectives, and the paper highlights the considerable diversity in its findings in developed and emerging markets across each of these perspectives. Based on this study, it is proposed that related diversification is preferable in developed economies and should be based on specific resources, whereas unrelated diversification is appropriate in emerging economies and should be based on generic resources. Although agency problems exist in both contexts, it is argued that the type of problem differs in developed and emerging markets. The paper concludes by identifying three directions for future research. First, the relationship between diversification and performance should be examined across each industry separately and not in aggregate. Secondly, future research needs to examine the organizational mechanisms required to make diversification successful. Finally, the relationship needs to be examined under unstable and dynamic situations such as the current global economic downturn.     

Technological Diversification and Organizational Divisionalization: The Moderating Role of Complementary Assets

This study uses data on 582 electronics and information technology firms in Taiwan for the period 1997–2005 to investigate the hypothesis that technological diversification increases the extent of organizational divisionalization under firm growth. This study applies competence‐based theory to argue that firms spread the technological competence base to achieve firm growth. However, in the face of firm growth, managers of multi‐technology firms often utilize a multi‐division structure to manage their various technologies based on their operating characteristics or needs. Furthermore, the findings of this study indicate that complementary assets moderate the negative relationship between technological diversification and organizational divisionalization. For firms with specialized complementary assets, multi‐technology firms may be observed to consolidate related‐technology activities into fewer divisions, facilitating the utilization of these complementary assets in conjunction with other divisions.     

To fit in or stand out? How optimal distinctiveness in technological diversification affects firm performance

Previous research has observed technological diversification from a strategic viewpoint and regarded it as a strategy used by firms to differentiate themselves from competitors. This perspective, however, overlooks the fact that firms' strategies can also be understood as conformity to institutional pressure to gain legitimacy. In order to study the technological diversification–firm performance relationship from a more comprehensive viewpoint, this paper starts from a strategic balance perspective and investigates how technological diversification conformity enhances firm performance. Using a unique dataset of Chinese listed firms' patenting activities from 2003 to 2014 and adopting ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, we produce empirical findings that reveal a curvilinear (inverted U-shaped) relationship between firms’ conformity in technological diversification and their performance. Our results further delineate the boundary conditions that influence this relationship. We find that firm age positively moderates the relationship, that is the conformity-performance relationship is steeper with the older firms. Moreover, the result suggests that state ownership negatively moderates the relationship, that is, the relationship is flatter when firms are controlled by the state.     

Converging and Diverging Governance Mechanisms: The Role of (Dys)Function in Long‐term Inter‐organizational Relationships

This paper explores the dynamic interplay of formal/informal governance mechanisms, in terms of functional and dysfunctional consequences for both sides of the dyad, in long‐term inter‐organizational relationships. Using two longitudinal cases of UK defence sector procurement (warship commissioning) we move beyond notions of complementarity and substitution in governance towards a more nuanced view where the governance mix of inter‐organizational relationships can be convergent or divergent. Our findings, showing that relationships can exhibit functional and dysfunctional behaviour simultaneously, lead us to conclude that mismatches in governance mechanisms can be positive as well as negative. In building a context‐dependent understanding of governance we both summarize the (dys)functions associated with formal and informal governance mechanisms and explore their impact on relationship exchange performance over time.     

From Customer‐Oriented Strategy to Organizational Financial Performance: The Role of Human Resource Management and Customer‐Linking Capability

Drawing on the organizational capabilities literature, the authors developed and tested a model of how supportive human resource management (HRM) improved firms’ financial performance perceived by marketing managers through fostering the implementation of a customer‐oriented strategy. Customer‐linking capability, which is the capability in managing close customer relationships, indicated the implementation of the customer‐oriented strategy. Data collected from two emerging economies – China and Hungary – established that supportive HRM partially mediated the relationship between customer‐oriented strategy and customer‐linking capability. Customer‐linking capability further explained how supportive HRM contributed to perceived financial performance. This study explicates the implication of customer‐oriented strategy for HRM and reveals the importance of HRM in strategy implementation. It also sheds some light on the ‘black box’ between HRM and performance. While making important contributions to the field of strategy, HRM and marketing, this study also offers useful practical implications.     

Does Knowledge Mediate the Effect of Context on Performance? Some Initial Evidence

This research examines the links among four firm context variables, knowledge, and financial performance. Adopting a knowledge‐based, contingency view of the firm and assuming that strategy's locus is knowledge creation and application, we hypothesize that knowledge completely mediates the effects of context on performance. The results from analyzing 208 manufacturers found a positive relationship between applied knowledge and financial performance, but none between knowledge creation and performance. As for context, production technology routineness and low demand unpredictability were positively related only to greater applied knowledge; high technological turbulence was positively related to both knowledge creation and knowledge application; and firm size had no effect on either knowledge construct. No direct context‐performance relationships were found (i.e., all effects were indirect): knowledge, in particular applied knowledge, completely mediated the impact of context on performance.     

Interpersonal relationships in transnational,virtual teams: Towards a configurational perspective

Previous research has observed that strong interpersonal relationships are especially important for the functioning of transnational, virtual teams (TNTs), but are at the same time particularly hard to achieve in these teams. This article reviews and integrates the transnational and virtual team literature to provide an overview of examined cognitive, behavioural and affective relationship aspects. By demonstrating the interrelations between these relationship aspects, the article deviates from the prevalent, linear input–process–output models of team functioning and makes a first step towards a configurational perspective on relationships in TNTs. It further reviews how several characteristics of the team structure, organizational context and socio‐political environment may facilitate or inhibit relationship aspects. Through a synthesis of previous research, the article develops two examples of likely relationship configurations and their driving factors. The review concludes by recommending methods for future empirical research on relationship configurations in TNTs.     

University–industry relationships and open innovation: Towards a research agenda

Organizations increasingly rely on external sources of innovation via inter‐organizational network relationships. This paper explores the diffusion and characteristics of collaborative relationships between universities and industry, and develops a research agenda informed by an ‘open innovation’ perspective. A framework is proposed, distinguishing university–industry relationships from other mechanisms such as technology transfer or human mobility. On the basis of the existing body of research, the role of practices such as collaborative research, university–industry research centres, contract research and academic consulting is analysed. The evidence suggests that such university–industry relationships are widely practised, whereby differences exist across industries and scientific disciplines. While most existing research focuses on the effects of university–industry links on innovation‐specific variables such as patents or firm innovativeness, the organizational dynamics of these relationships remain under‐researched. A detailed research agenda addresses research needs in two main areas: search and match processes between universities and firms, and the organization and management of collaborative relationships.     

From Entrepreneurial Orientation and Learning Orientation to Business Performance: Analysing the Mediating Role of Organizational Learning and the Moderating Effects of Organizational Size

Following the organizational learning theory and the knowledge‐based view approach, this contribution aims to study the influence of entrepreneurial orientation and learning orientation on organizational learning, considering the latter as a mediating variable in the relationships between both antecedent cultural values and business performance. We also analyse the moderating role of organizational size on these previous relationships. The hypotheses proposed in our research model are tested on a sample of 140 Spanish industrial companies, applying variance‐based structural equation modelling: partial least squares. In order to assess the moderating effects of organizational size, we adopt a multi‐group approach using two subsamples with large firms and small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Our findings indicate that organizational learning partially mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance and fully mediates the link between learning orientation and performance. Likewise, the results reveal that the relationship established between entrepreneurial orientation and organizational learning is more intense for the group of large firms than for the group of SMEs. Moreover, the influence of learning orientation on organizational learning is greater in SMEs than in large firms.     

Discovering and Managing Interdependence with Customer‐Entrepreneurs

Research on inter‐organizational relationships has largely focused on the interdependence between formal organizations. In recent years, firms have encountered a new logic in which interdependent parties are not formal organizations but platform‐based ‘customer‐entrepreneurs’ that create value through illegal means. Drawing on a 5‐year‐long qualitative study, we examine how firms recognize and instantiate this new logic and, consequently, respond to their interdependencies with customer‐entrepreneurs. Viewed through the lens of institutional logic, we find that, with the benefit of hindsight, firms recognize the existence of the logic of customer entrepreneurship, which triggers organizational sensemaking that is made up of three elements: interpretation of legitimacy compatibility; interpretation of efficiency compatibility; and integration of stakeholder perspectives. This sensemaking results in either a determined account concluding on the compatibility calculus in a top‐down manner, or an open‐ended account avoiding the construction of a resolute, synthesized view. A determined account leads to a defiance strategy, by which firms attempt to remove the source of interdependencies with customer‐entrepreneurs, whereas an open‐ended account guides firms to espouse a decoupling strategy, whereby firms covertly resort to efficiency maximization enabled by the interdependence. Our results offer implications for the research on inter‐organizational relationships and institutional logic.     

Organizational innovativeness: Exploring the relationship between organizational determinants of innovation, types of innovations, and measures of organizational performance

This research study examines the relationships between innovativeness of firms, their organizational characteristics, and organizational performance. Previous studies that have examined these relationships have yielded conflicting results. A fundamental assumption of this research is that these conflicting results may be due to a narrow definition of the construct of innovativeness. This research demonstrates that by using a multidimensional measure of innovativeness, the reasons for the conflicting findings of past research becomes evident. The results of this study show that substantive relationships do exist between organizational factors, organizational innovativeness, and organizational performance. These relationships, however, are complex, and can only be detected if innovativeness is measured as a multidimensional construct. Each of the organizational factors examined in this study showed significantly different effects on each dimension of two types of organizational innovativeness — technical and administrative innovativeness. Further, the results show that innovativeness does improve organizational performance. However, each dimension of the two types of innovativeness affects different aspects of organizational performance.     

企业员工文化匹配、组织承诺和工作绩效的关系研究

员工的工作绩效构成企业的组织绩效的微观基础,研究工作绩效与其他组织变量之间的关系,可为提高员工工作绩效提供新的思路和方法.在探讨个人-企业文化匹配与工作绩效关系的基础上,发现了组织承诺是文化匹配影响工作绩效的中介变量,构建了个人-企业文化匹配通过组织承诺影响工作绩效的关系模型,从文化匹配的角度提出了改进工作绩效的建议.     

Economic and social leader–member exchange relationships and follower performance

This exploratory study investigated the link between economic and social leader–member exchange relationships and follower work performance and organizational citizenship behavior. Instead of viewing exchange relationships between leaders and subordinates on a continuum from low to high quality, we conceptualize social and economic exchange relationships as relationships with different qualities, rather than different levels of quality. Data from 552 followers and 78 leaders supported our two-dimensional model of leader–member exchange relationships. Furthermore, an economic leader–member exchange relationship was negatively related to both work performance and organizational citizenship behavior. As expected, positive relationships were obtained for a social leader–member exchange relationship and work performance and organizational citizenship behavior. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

International diversification and the market value of new product introduction

Although previous studies on international diversification are plentiful, they mainly focus on the effect of international diversification on overall firm performance, and the results are mixed. This study extends this line of research and explores the impact of international diversification on new product performance. Specifically, we ask if international diversification explains the stock market reactions to new product introduction (NPI) announcements. We find an inverted-U-shaped relationship between international diversification and the announcement returns of NPIs, revealing that the market value of NPIs initially improves and then declines with increasing international diversification. The results also show that intangible assets, such as technological and marketing capabilities, positively moderate the relationship between international diversification and the market value of NPIs. Our study not only highlights the importance of considering both sides of international diversification in affecting investors' assessments of corporate new product strategies, but also shows the possibility of internal capabilities in changing the fixed relationship between international diversification and the market value of new products.     

Teamworking and organizational performance: A review of survey‐based research

This paper presents a review of recent survey‐based research looking at the contribution of teamwork to organizational performance. In particular, it focuses on empirical studies in which both teamwork and performance are directly measured in a quantitative way. The paper begins by identifying four interrelated dimensions of teamwork effectiveness: attitudinal, behavioural, operational and financial. The first two represent transmission mechanisms by which organizational performance can be improved. The latter two provide direct measures of organizational outcomes. The review shows that teamworking has a positive impact on all four dimensions of performance. It also reveals that, when teamwork is combined with structural change, performance can be further enhanced. The paper concludes by highlighting some important research gaps that future studies could address.     

History,Evolution and Future of Big Data and Analytics: A Bibliometric Analysis of Its Relationship to Performance in Organizations

Big data and analytics (BDA) are gaining momentum, particularly in the practitioner world. Research linking BDA to improved organizational performance seems scarce and widely dispersed though, with the majority focused on specific domains and/or macro‐level relationships. In order to synthesize past research and advance knowledge of the potential organizational value of BDA, the authors obtained a data set of 327 primary studies and 1252 secondary cited papers. This paper reviews this body of research, using three bibliometric methods. First, it elucidates its intellectual foundations via co‐citation analysis. Second, it visualizes the historical evolution of BDA and performance research and its substreams through algorithmic historiography. Third, it provides insights into the field's potential evolution via bibliographic coupling. The results reveal that the academic attention for the BDA–performance link has been increasing rapidly. The study uncovered ten research clusters that form the field's foundation. While research seems to have evolved following two main, isolated streams, the past decade has witnessed more cross‐disciplinary collaborations. Moreover, the study identified several research topics undergoing focused development, including financial and customer risk management, text mining and evolutionary algorithms. The review concludes with a discussion of the implications for different functional management domains and the gaps for both research and practice.     

民营上市公司控制类型、多元化经营与企业绩效

本文将2006年度民营上市公司分为直接上市和间接上市两种类型,考察了所有权与控制权分离程度、多元化经营与企业绩效之间的关系。发现间接上市民营公司所有权与控制权分离程度、多元化经营程度均显著高于直接上市民营公司。多元回归结果表明,直接上市民营公司最终控制人金字塔持股和多元化经营对企业绩效没有显著影响;而间接上市民营公司最终控制人所有权与控制权分离程度和多元化程度越高,企业绩效越低,说明代理问题在此类公司比较突出。所有权与控制权分离程度和多元化指标的交互关系也为此提供了进一步的证据。本文的贡献在于对民营上市公司进行了更为细致的分类,并从动机和行为两方面考察了其所导致的经济后果。研究增进了对我国民营上市公司的认识,对理解民营上市公司控制类型以及多元化经营也提供了新的视角。