Quality and environmental management practices: their linkages with safety performance

There is a widespread acknowledgement that quality and environmental practices are effective means for improving the business performance of firms. However, empirical evidence regarding the relationship between quality and environmental practices and employee safety performance is relatively scarce. In order to fill this gap, we investigate the relationship between quality and environmental practices and safety performance measured by employee accidents at work. Employing a multivariate probit model, we show that the adoption of quality management practices is associated with an increased chance that an employee encounters workplace accidents, whilst environmental practices are associated with a reduction in workplace accidents. However, when distinguishing between workplace accidents that do and do not lead to sick leave, our results reveal that the utilisation of quality practices is not associated to employees’ probability of encountering accidents that lead to sick leave. This suggests that quality practices are only related to benign accidents. Moreover, examining the interrelationships among quality practices, safety performance and quality-related contextual factors, our findings indicate that the implementation of quality practices by the firm that considers quality as very important for its strategy and provides employee’s quality-related training is not associated with safety performance. Therefore, the results suggest that the way a firm implements and uses quality practices is essential for their effect on safety performance.     

An integrated framework of mimetic pressures,quality and environmental management,and firm performances

Abstract

Manufacturers have extensively recognised the strategic importance of quality and environmental management. However, there is little guidance on how they adopt and exercise both management practices in a way that enhances firms’ performance outcomes. To fill the research gap, this paper empirically investigates the relationships among mimetic pressures, a firm’s quality management practices (QMPs), environmental management system (EMS), and environmental and financial performances. By using a data set collected from 212?U.S. manufacturing firms, this study examines the proposed hypotheses. Our major findings are: first, mimetic pressures are a driving factor for EMS but do not motivate the adoption of QMPs; second, QMPs are an important enabler not only for enhancing firms’ financial performance but also for promoting EMS and environmental performance; and finally, EMS does not influence firms’ financial performance directly, but indirectly does so through enhancing environmental performance. This study contributes to the literature of quality and environmental management and provides practical implications by addressing motivating factors of both QMPs and EMS, and identifying factors for successful environmental management practices.     

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.     

The role of cognitive load in effective strategic issue management

Firms have different ways of addressing issues emerging from outside their regular calendar-driven strategy processes. These practices tend to be unstructured, organization specific, and highly dependent on the characteristics of the strategic issues themselves. Building on three dimensions of cognitive load—intrinsic, germane, and extraneous cognitive load—we extend existing research on strategic issue management by showing how different team-level choices in strategic issue processing and organizational congestion interact in their effects on a firm's strategic issue management performance. Based on an in-depth analysis of all 92 strategic issue decisions in a large multinational firm during a three-year period, we find that organizational disturbances influence strategic issue initiation by top management, which in turn influences the quality of strategic issue management practices and subsequent performance outcomes. We conclude by providing recommendations for managers on how they can decrease the sensitivity of their companies' strategic issue systems to external disturbances.     

A Contingent View of Quality Management‐The Impact of International Competition on Quality

Much of the research on quality practices and performance reflects a resource‐based perspective of the firm, dealing primarily with internal issues of managerial and technological competence in developing and executing an effective TQM strategy. The neoclassical perspective on the influence of the competitive environment on quality practices and performance remains conspicuously absent in the empirical quality literature. Our study aims to address this gap by examining the contingent role of international competition on quality management and performance. We develop and test an integrative framework of quality management, consisting of high involvement work practices, quality practices, quality performance, and firm performance. We then examine the contingent effects of international competition on the constructs and relationships of the framework. International competition was found to moderate the relationship between quality practices and customer satisfaction performance, as well as the relationship between high involvement work practices and firm performance. The moderator effects suggest interesting implications for quality theory and practice.     

Why do Emerging Market Firms Engage in Voluntary Environmental Management Practices? A Strategic Choice Perspective

In this paper, we investigate firms’ decisions to engage in voluntary environmental management (VEM) practices within an emerging market context. Drawing on the strategic choice and the resource‐based view perspectives, we report results from a survey of VEM practices – a specific form of self‐governance – drawing on a sample of 519 Turkish firms from various industries to identify important strategic antecedents of firms’ decisions to engage in such practices. We find that as firms become more customer focused, more inclined to pursue a differentiation strategy and subject to a higher level of strategy‐oriented stakeholder focus, they tend to implement higher levels of VEM practices, with important implications for research, policy and practice for both emerging and developed markets.     

Modelling the effects of institutional support and international knowledge on competitive capabilities and international performance: Evidence from an emerging economy

This paper explores the process through which institutional support initiatives contribute to the international performance of firms from the small open economy of Malaysia. We examine both direct and indirect causal effects of institutional support (informational, training, trade mobility and financial aid-related support) on internationalization. We develop a model to address how institutional support initiatives affect the performance of export-oriented or so-called born global firms. From a survey of 250 firms from Malaysia, an emerging Southeast Asian market, we find that government support initiatives do not have significant impacts on firm performance unless examined based on processes of government support initiatives, international knowledge, commitment, competitive capabilities, and international performance. Government support initiatives play a critical role in export-oriented firms from small open economies (SMOPECs) in emerging markets by contributing to a number of contextual deficits that determine the international performance of a firm. This study provides guidelines for policy makers and business owners on how institutional support can facilitate the accumulation of knowledge about international markets, enhance commitment to exports and help firms gain competitive capabilities in the export market for greater success in international markets.     

R&D alliance portfolio and innovation in an emerging market: The role of business group affiliation and institutional reforms

The role of institutional factors in shaping the outcomes of research and development (R&D) alliance portfolios (APs) is underexplored in the extant literature. This study examines how institutional contingencies in an emerging market context affect the relationship between R&D AP composition (i.e., size and diversity) and firm innovation performance. This study draws on institutional perspective to suggest that business group affiliation (BGA) and institutional reforms positively moderate the relationship between R&D AP composition and innovation performance. A longitudinal empirical investigation conducted on a sample of 185 firms from Indian high-tech sectors, for the period 2003–2015, broadly supports our arguments. This study contributes to the AP and emerging markets literature by highlighting the effects of institutional contingencies of emerging markets on the outcomes of R&D APs.     

The mediating role of leadership and people management practices on HRD and organizational performance

Drawing upon prior research, we identify strategic value and transaction effectiveness as two significant HRD contributions and examine their dyadic effect on leadership and people management practices, and influence on firm performance. Results of path analysis on 138 participants supported the dyadic effect hypothesis. More significantly, we found leadership and people management practices as a significant predictor on the relationship between strategic value and organizational performance, which suggests that organizational performance is affected by the combined effect of leadership and people management practices. A key implication of this research is that where organizations had effective leadership and people management practices, both types of HRD contributions – strategic value and transaction effectiveness – significantly enhanced firm performance.     

How Does Product Recovery Affect Quality Choice?

We study the impact of product recovery on a firm's product quality choice, where quality is defined as an observable performance measure that increases a consumer's valuation for the product. We consider three general forms of product recovery: (i) when product recovery reuses (after reprocessing) quality inducing components or material (e.g., remanufacturing), (ii) when product recovery does not reuse quality inducing components or material but it is overall profitable (e.g., cell phone recycling), and (iii) when product recovery is costly (but mandated by legislation, e.g., recycling of small appliances in the European Union). Using a stylized economic model, we show that the form of product recovery, recovery cost structure, and the presence of product take‐back legislation play an important role in quality choice. Generally speaking, product recovery increases the firm's quality choice, except for some instances of recovery form (ii). In addition, we find that product take‐back legislation can lead to higher quality choice as opposed to voluntary take‐back. We further demonstrate that both the firm and the consumers benefit from recovery form (ii), while both are worse off with recovery form (iii). However, environmental implications of the three recovery modes differ from their impact on consumer surplus and firm profit. While recovery forms (i) and (iii) reduce consumption and increase environmental benefits, the same is not true with recovery form (ii), which can increase consumption, potentially resulting in higher environmental impact.     

Innovation in Emerging Markets: The Role of Management Consulting Firms

Firms in emerging markets are often reluctant to invest in innovation because of the institutional voids endemic to such markets. Addressing the gap in the literature concerning the role of consultancy firms in emerging markets, we argue that management consultancy firms can fill institutional voids and thus help firms implement innovation initiatives. We buttress our main argument by combining strands of institutional theory with the resource-based view. Acknowledging the tensions inherent in the use of consultancy firms, we also examine two contextual variables that may mitigate their positive effects. We explore the critical aspects of the firms' internal and external environments and posit that well-functioning national institutions and a high level of firm competency attenuate the positive roles of management consulting firms because there are few voids that management consultancy can effectively address under such conditions. To test our hypotheses, we examine the effects of management consultancy on both the input and output aspects of innovation. We use a sample of 1330 establishments operating in nine emerging markets. Our findings support all main and moderating effects on innovation inputs but not on innovation outputs. We discuss the theoretical implications of our findings and provide suggestions for future research.     

Cross-border acquisition performance of emerging market multinational enterprises: The moderating role of state-ownership and acquisition experience

This paper draws on the resource-based view and organizational learning theory to analyse the moderating role played by state ownership and acquisition experience in the performance of emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs). We contribute to the evolving literature on state-owned EMNEs by identifying various post cross-border acquisition (CBA) strategies, which have an impact on the performance of such firms that differs for the one they have on privately owned EMNEs. We test our hypotheses by performing a panel regression analysis on a large firm-level dataset spanning 43 emerging markets over the 2006–2015 period. Overall, our findings point at an inverted U-shape relationship between diversification through CBAs and firm performance. More specifically, this concave relationship is greater when the diversification occurs in developed countries, as opposed to emerging ones. Furthermore, there is evidence that state-ownership and EMNE acquisition experience moderate these relationships both in domestic and foreign markets, albeit with different intensities.     

EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ON ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND OPERATIONS

To date, it is unclear as to how Environmental Management Systems (EMS) are implemented and what effects these systems have on other environmental and operational practices. This study reports empirical insights to EMS practices based on the largest EMS survey of manufacturing firms in the United States. The objective of the study is to test for a relationship between environmental management systems and perceived operations performance while considering direct and indirect effects of various environmental practices. The results of this study are supported by several field studies and provide a new source of information regarding EMS theory development. The results also indicate a positive relationship between an EMS, the environmental practices a firm engages, and operations performance measures.     

Corporate Political Activity and Firm Performance: The Moderating Effects of International and Product Diversification

Prior research has found that corporate political activity (CPA) can both positively and negatively impact firm performance. Combining agency theory with the resource-based view, we examine the relationship between domestic lobbying (a key form of CPA) and firm performance by explicating the moderating effects of international and product diversification. We argue that expansion into international and product markets increases a firm's resources and reduces agency costs in domestic lobbying. Our results, based on a sample of 737 firms, show that lobbying is positively associated with performance for firms that are diversified in both international markets and along product-lines; whereas lobbying is counter-productive for purely domestic and undiversified firms. Our results contribute to the literature on the firm performance implications of corporate political activity by highlighting the roles of international and product diversification.     

Modelling the impact of performance management practices on firm performance: interaction with human resource management practices

The paper draws on resource orchestration theory to investigate whether and how performance management (PM) practices interact with human resource management (HRM) practices in organisations as well as how this interaction affects firm performance. The proposed theoretical model was tested through a survey of 192 UK firms using Partial Least Squares approach for structural equations modelling. The findings show that the effect of PM practices on firm performance is better explained when the interaction between these practices and other organisational practices is considered. In particular, we examine the extent to which the interaction between PM practices and commitment-based HRM practices affects performance. We find that when HRM practices and PM practices are misaligned, their effect on performance can be negative. This is the first paper in the PM literature that establishes the relationship between PM and HRM practices in organisations and demonstrates the effect of this relationship on firm performance.     

Linking Entrepreneurial Orientation to Environmental Collaboration: A Stakeholder Theory and Evidence from Multinational Companies in an Emerging Market

Revisiting stakeholder theory as a potential theory of the firm giving rise to expectations about organizing, we analyze when and under what circumstances entrepreneurially oriented firms increase their environmental collaboration with suppliers. Specifically, we investigate the association between entrepreneurial orientation and environmental collaboration with suppliers by accounting for the degree of employees’ work engagement and market environment complexity as stakeholder-oriented moderators of this relationship. We test our hypotheses using multi-level analyses on 249 managers nested in 66 multinational companies (MNCs) in Turkey. We find that entrepreneurial orientation positively impacts environmental collaboration with suppliers. A high level of work engagement (as an organizing principle favouring a stakeholder focus) and a low level of market environment complexity (as an organizing principle favouring the customer as an instrumental stakeholder) moderate this linkage. We enrich the debate on entrepreneurial orientation, strategy, and environmental sustainability by providing logic rooted in stakeholder theory of the conditions under which MNCs’ entrepreneurial orientation in emerging markets prioritizes and privileges environmental collaboration with suppliers.     

Quality management, environmental management and firm performance: A review of empirical studies and issues of integration

Quality management (QM) and environmental management (EM) are two business practices that may affect firm performance. These practices are being increasingly introduced into firms, which often use them jointly owing to their similarities. As a result of these similarities, their integration has become a popular topic of research and practice. In the field of integration, the highest level of integration may be achieved by means of a single, full QM–EM system (QEM) in which QM and EM lose their independence. It is therefore desirable to identify dimensions from which to assess these management practices and their effects on performance. The aim of this paper is to carry out a literature review in order to propose and analyse dimensions for QM, EM, QEM and firm performance, as well as models of cause–effect relationships between these variables. The topics reviewed are the following: (1) the QM and EM dimensions; (2) the empirical studies about QM–performance and EM–performance links; and (3) issues of integration. The review suggests that the large body of QM research may inform EM and QEM. This is so because research on the QM side is more advanced and developed than that on the EM side.     

中国证券市场审计任期与盈余质量关系的实证检验

安然事件以来,审计任期与盈余(经审计的)质量的关系成为了研究热点.本文运用中国证券市场1998-2004年上市公司的公开数据,同时从事务所任期与合伙人任期两大层面实证检验了审计任期与盈余质量之间的关系.实证结果显示:随着会计师事务所审计任期的增加,盈余质量显著地表现出先逐渐上升后逐渐下降的倒U型趋势,且拐点稳定在6-8年之间;而随着签字注册会计师审计任期的增加,盈余质量虽然总体逐渐上升,但此趋势尚不足够显著.     

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.     

All Things Great and Small: Organizational Size,Boundaries of the Firm,and a Changing Environment

Abstract

Research findings have established a relationship between organizational size and a substantial set of organizational outcomes, resulting in size's distinction as “perhaps the most powerful explanatory organizational covariate in strategic analysis”. We draw on the theory of the firm to provide a theory-driven definition of firm size and as a framework to organize the diverse research on firm size. We examine studies over the last 20 plus years since the last review of research on organizational size that have expanded our understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of larger firms, the environmental factors that have changed the merits of firms relative to markets, the managerial bias to pursue growth, and the most recent findings on the performance implications of organizational size. In doing so, the review provides extensions to our understanding of the theory of the firm, by integrating contingency theory, the resource-based theory of the firm, leadership theories, and the knowledge-based view of the firm. In addition, based on an extensive review of the measurement methodologies for the most common control variable employed by strategy scholars, this review outlines a rich and robust set of opportunities for future research to explore the nature of organizational size and its effects.