战略柔性、双元性创新和企业绩效

通过对274家企业的问卷调查,探讨了战略柔性对企业绩效的影响,以及双元性创新在此过程中的中介作用。研究表明,战略柔性不仅直接影响企业绩效,而且能够通过双元性创新间接影响企业绩效。最后,指出了研究的意义、研究局限和未来的研究方向。     

Marketing in moderation— The marketing concept and the organization's structure

This paper discusses the marketing concept and its impact on the strategy and structure of the business organization. The popular dictum that every firm should implement the marketing concept in its extreme form is challenged. Considerations of the overall structure of the firm, the time period in question, the amount of resources available are included in the determination of the degree of implementation which should be made. Finally, the conclusion indicates that the popular view that a change in environment necessitates a change in the organizational structure should be modified. The cost may be too great for the benefits derived.     

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.     

Technological Discontinuities: Is Co-operation an Option?

At times of discontinuous technological change co-operation represents a viable strategy for both incumbents and new-entrants, provided that the choice of co-operation is consistent with the firm’s business strategy (market-pull and generalist vs. technology-push and specialist) and with its degree of organizational and technological flexibility. A clear understanding of these two elements constitutes a necessary managerial pre-requisite for an effective co-operative strategy. Evidence from the UK fibre-optics industry suggests that managers can choose between two ideal types of co-operation. On the one hand, structured co-operation involves highly engineered partnerships at the inter-organizational level designed to gain control over, or access to, the commercialisation of the new technology for standard applications in the wider market; on the other hand, unstructured co-operation relies on informal relationships between individuals in separate organizations, with the intention of sustaining the development of innovative applications of the new technology for specialist market niches. Being a new-entrant or an incumbent does not necessarily explain the type of co-operation adopted - but there is evidence that market-pull, generalist strategies and lower levels of technological and organizational flexibility are associated with structured co-operation, whereas technology-push, specialist strategies and higher levels of flexibility combine with co-operative strategies of the unstructured type.     

Marketing: The key to organizational effectiveness

The aim of this paper is to make clear the difference between the marketing concept and marketing strategy. It advocates that not only should the former be used by all structures of business organizations, but that it is necessary to do so. It is the marketing strategy chosen by the firm that is dependent upon the organizational structure and not the concept.     

Who will lead?

A recent survey conducted by the UCLA Center for Health Services Management and the Physician Executive Practice of Heidrick & Struggles, an executive search firm, sheds light on the emerging physician executive's role. The goal of the research was to identify success factors as a means of evaluating and developing effective industry leaders. Respondents were asked to look at specific skills in relation to nine categories: Communication, leadership, interpersonal skills, self-motivation/management, organizational knowledge, organizational strategy, administrative skills, and thinking. Communication, leadership, and self-motivation/management emerged, in that order, as the three most important success factors for physician executives. An individual's general competencies, work styles, and ability to lead others through organizational restructuring defines his or her appropriateness for managerial positions in the health care industry.     

Production policy and the acquisition of new technology

This paper investigates the effects and implications of new technology on the organization and its environment and suggests the use of impact analysis to maximize the benefits and minimize the shortcomings of introducing new technology into the firm. Present models of organizational structure suggest a need for a broad system view of the firm so that a framework can be generated that is practically applicable. This paper proposes such a model to better guide the future acquisition, implementation, and evaluation of new technology. A comprehensive list of variables and decision alternatives also accompanies the proposed framework.     

学习能力与企业绩效:知识资源是中介变量吗

基于知识观和组织学习理论,本文就以下问题展开研究:其一,探讨学习能力与企业绩效之间的关系;其二,将知识资源视为影响学习能力与企业绩效的中介变量,探讨三者之间的关系;其三,考察组织内、外部学习能力对企业绩效的不同作用路径.研究结果发现,知识资源在内部学习能力与企业绩效之间扮演着部分中介的角色;而在外部学习能力与绩效之间扮演着完全中介的角色.本项研究较为深入地揭示了学习能力、知识资源与绩效之间的关系.     

On How Firms Located in an Industrial District Profit from Knowledge Spillovers: Adoption of an Organic Structure and Innovation Capabilities

The canonical approach argues that firms located in industrial districts enjoy advantages for both innovation and performance as a consequence of the exceptionally strong knowledge spillovers that flow freely and spontaneously within them. However, diffusion of shared competences is not as easy and free as postulated in the literature. Using the resource‐based view, we study whether clustered firms perform better than non‐clustered firms, by providing empirical evidence that location of firms in an industrial district does not directly create innovation capabilities or economic rents. This research question is important because it enables us to better understand how firms benefit from this external knowledge flow, both to create advantages in technological innovation and to obtain superior organizational performance. To stand out in capabilities that are often localized at the centre of the same industrial district, a firm needs to develop a learning internal micro‐environment capable of better absorbing localized knowledge spillovers. In particular, the organic form is revealed as a configuration well suited to combining structural flexibility with the productive flexibility offered by the district and to strengthening technological innovation capabilities, thus improving organizational performance.     

The Influence of Stakeholders on the Environmental Strategy of Service Firms: The Moderating Effects of Complexity,Uncertainty and Munificence*

Drawing on the resource‐based view of the firm, we examine how complexity, uncertainty and munificence in the general business environment moderate the association between a firm's stakeholder integration capability and its environmental strategy. Our data were drawn from 134 ski resorts in 12 countries in western Europe and North America. Our study finds that (1) an organizational capability of stakeholder integration is associated with a service firm's adoption of a proactive environmental strategy; (2) an uncertain business environment has a direct positive influence and a complex business environment has a direct negative influence on a firm's environmental strategy; and (3) complexity has a negative moderating influence on the relationship between a firm's stakeholder integration capability and its environmental strategy.     

项目驱动型企业的组织管理环境构建研究

针对当前国内企业项目化转型过程中组织适应性的不足,从组织系统的战略、结构和控制流程体系3个关键要素比较项目驱动型企业与作业驱动型企业的组织管理环境差异;同时,在对项目驱动型企业复杂系统特性研究的基础上,提出企业项目化发展的组织管理环境构建原则,提出建立开放动态化战略体系、能动的组织结构与分权体系、职能任务相融合的计划控制体系以及二维分离的绩效管理体系的方法,以期对作业驱动型企业在项目化转型中组织管理环境各要素的调整与重构提供借鉴。     

BUSINESS STRATEGY,MANUFACTURING FLEXIBILITY,AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE RELATIONSHIPS: A PATH ANALYSIS APPROACH

It has been argued in the literature that business strategy and manufacturing flexibility independently affect the performance of an organization. However, no empirical examination of the interrelationship among these three constructs has been performed. In this paper, based on a field study of 269 firms in the manufacturing industry, the identified constructs have been used to test a theoretical model using path analysis techniques. Our results indicate that business strategy contributes both directly and indirectly to organizational performance. The findings provide evidence of direct effects of (i) business strategy on manufacturing flexibility and (ii) manufacturing flexibility on organizational performance.     

Ethics and human resource management and development in a global context: case study of an Indian multinational

A firm's orientation to ethics is influenced largely by its national and organizational culture. Research shows that a growing number of Indian firms place a distinct emphasis on long-term orientation to business strategy with a social mission, underpinned by firm commitment to core organizational values, employee development and welfare. Through a case study of a large Indian multinational conglomerate, this article provides preliminary evidence of how some emerging economy firms are successfully mixing and matching indigenous business and people management strategies with the Western emphasis on meritocracy and professionalism to compete in the contemporary global economy. It further shows how the human resource development (HRD) discipline can play a pro-active role in embedding ethics and values throughout the organizational and HR architecture. The HRD professionals in the case study firm also face several structural and cultural challenges in discharging their ethics-driven HR mandate, such as management's ethnocentric attitude to global staffing and clash of work cultures.     

A Behavioral Analysis of Goal Setting

Goal setting is a promising strategy for improving performance in organizational settings. This paper reviews goal setting from a behavior analytic perspective, discussing the function of goals and a number of key variables related to goal setting: goal difficulty, feedback on goal attainment and participation in goal setting. The advantages of utilizing behavior analytic methodology, such as objective measurement, clear specification of independent variables, intensive experimental designs and a behavioral theoretical framework are presented, along with suggestions for future research in the area.     

Promoting business model innovation through social media strategic capability: A moderated mediation model

The rapid development of social media has significantly affected organizational innovation activities. However, scant research has investigated how social media, as an important innovative tool within the corporate landscape, influences firm business model innovation (BMI). This paper provides an initial investigation into whether, and how, social media can be used to promote firm BMI. Drawing on the strategic capability literature, the study examines the relationship between social media strategic capability (SMSC) and BMI by focusing on the mediating role of strategic flexibility and the moderating effects of top management team (TMT) heterogeneity and environmental dynamism. Empirical results from a sample of 283 Chinese firms with two key informants each show a significant and positive association between SMSC and BMI, which is mediated by strategic flexibility. In addition, moderated path analyses indicate that TMT heterogeneity positively moderates the SMSC–strategic flexibility path, while environmental dynamism positively moderates the strategic flexibility–BMI path in the mediated relationship. Theoretical and practical implications of this study for both social media and BMI research are discussed.     

Marketing/Finance Executives Personal and Business Value Perspectives: Implications for Market-Focused Management

The concept of Market-Focused Management posits that the ultimate goal of the organization is the satisfaction of custumers' needs. In doing so other objectives of the firm, including financial objectives such as increasing shareholder wealth and long term profitability, will be achieved. The chief marketing and financial officers of the Fortune 1000 firms were surveyed regarding their personal values and a variety of organizational values relating to company stakeholders, organizational goals, appropriate strategies and tactics, competitive strengths and advantages. While both groups exhibited some differences, there was a startling amount of consensus in all areas surveyed. Both groups ranked shareholders and customers as the two most important stakeholders. While the overall goal of customer satisfaction was ranked by both groups as the most important organizational goal, the means to achieving that end differ somewhat. While a large number of organizational values were related to personal value strength, there was little overlap in the relationships between the two groups, although both groups are overwhelmingly driven by other-focused values such as warm relationships with others, sense of belonging and being well respected. Thus, it was concluded that similar personal values lead marketing and financial managers to substantially different attitudinal schema in their approach to managing their responsibilites. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Genesis of a research field: district,network, strategic network

This article summarizes the changes since the beginning of the 1980s in the scholarly approach to organizational and economic research on Italian firms. Beginning with the study of industrial districts, which sparked a major reconsideration of the conventional wisdom, most scholars focused primarily on the significance of firm geographical proximity while marginalizing issues related to firm structure and strategy. Nevertheless, industrial district research eventually led to the question of firm networks, in particular how to manage relational capabilities and cooperation, both of which affect a firm’s competitive position. This new analytical framework no longer dependent on either the single firm or an industrial sector has opened up new research perspectives that promise rich insights into socio-economic studies.     

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.     

Exploring the Important Role of Organizational Factors in IT Business Value: Taking a Contingency Perspective on the Resource‐Based View

Despite the importance to researchers and practitioners of how information technology (IT) contributes to organizational performance, there is an ongoing debate about the extent of IT business value (ITBV) and how to measure ITBV. Recently, a number of researchers have applied resource‐based view (RBV) and contingency theory to investigating ITBV, with mixed results. Researchers have started to recognize that ITBV is closely associated with the synergies created from IT and a variety of complementary organizational factors, which might be an alternative way to explain these mixed results. Through a review of the literature, this paper assesses the current level of knowledge in ITBV research. It identifies that significant progress has been made in the research domain, but that in‐depth inquiry into ITBV is still needed. Based on RBV and contingency theory, a research framework has been developed. The framework suggests that firms might be able to gain significant performance improvements if IT resources are in alignment with additional organizational factors (i.e. organizational strategy, organizational process, organizational culture, organizational structure). The authors believe that this framework will be valuable in assisting researchers and practitioners in understanding the complex ITBV process.     

A Multi‐theory Perspective of Board Leadership Structure: What Does the Egyptian Corporate Governance Context Tell Us?

Much of the existing research in corporate governance has been directed at examining the consequences of board leadership structure on various organizational issues, with little to say about the determinants of this structure. By exploring either agency theory or stewardship theory, researchers provide contested conclusions regarding board leadership structure. The underlying premise of both theories is that ‘one universal structure fits all’. However, the main argument of this paper is that the appropriate board leadership structure varies with some contextual variables and certain actors in a given environment. Econometric analysis demonstrates that board leadership structure varies with firm size, age and ownership structure. The implication of this result is that the assertion of both agency theory (CEO non‐duality structure) and stewardship theory (CEO duality structure) may be valid under certain conditions. Thus, existing theories might need to be treated as complementary viewpoints, each of which draws upon a part of the whole picture, because depending on just one single perspective is more likely to result in misleading conclusions about the structure as a whole.