The Impact of Competitive Strategy and Supply Chain Strategy on Business Performance: The Role of Environmental Uncertainty*

This article investigates the relationships among competitive strategy, supply chain strategy, and business performance while examining the moderating effect of environmental uncertainty. A total of 604 questionnaires were collected from three cities in China, and the statistical results show significant moderating effects of external environment on the relationships among competitive strategy, supply chain strategy, and business performance. Firms that primarily focus on a differentiation strategy emphasize an agile supply chain strategy. Cost leaders are inclined to implement both lean and agile supply chain strategies, but their emphasis on agile strategy is significantly greater in a volatile environment than in a stable environment. The choice of supply chain strategy does not appear to be an “either‐or” decision and firms could adopt either a lean or an agile strategy, or both, depending on the environment. This article provides significant managerial implications for supply chain practitioners to co‐align supply chain strategy and competitive strategy with the environment to improve performance.     

Innovation Strategy,Human Resource Policy,and Firms' Revenue Growth: The Roles of Environmental Uncertainty and Innovation Performance*

This study investigates the interactions of innovation strategy execution and innovation‐focused human resource (HR) policy adoption on innovation performance and revenue growth. In addition, we investigate the moderating role of environmental uncertainty on the effects of innovation strategy execution and innovation‐focused HR policy on innovation performance. Results show that the interaction of innovation strategy execution and innovation‐focused HR policy is positively related to innovation performance. Results also show that environmental uncertainty positively moderates the innovation strategy execution–innovation performance relationship. Finally, innovation performance mediates the interaction of innovation strategy execution and environmental uncertainty on firms’ revenue growth. Implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.     

When to Mass Customize: The Impact of Environmental Uncertainty*

Previous research on mass customization (MC) has focused on what it is and how it is implemented. In this study we examine when MC is an appropriate strategy for firms to follow by scrutinizing the effects of three environmental uncertainty variables (demand uncertainty, competitive intensity, and supply chain complexity) on the MC–performance relationship. Specifically, we distinguish the direct effect of environmental uncertainty on MC ability and the moderation effect of environmental uncertainty on MC ability's impact on customer satisfaction. We examine six competing hypotheses using data collected from 266 manufacturing plants. Our results show that competitive intensity has a direct positive impact on MC ability. However, demand uncertainty moderates the relationship between MC ability and customer satisfaction, and the direct and positive relationship between MC ability and customer satisfaction holds only when customer demand is highly uncertain. Supply chain complexity neither has a direct relationship with MC, nor moderates the MC–performance relationship. Implications of these research findings are discussed and future research directions are identified.     

Customer Learning Processes,Strategy Selection,and Performance in Business‐to‐Business Service Firms*

Learning about customers takes place through relevant dialogues with those customers, also known as customer relationship management (CRM). As relationships develop, information about the customer is gathered in the firm's customer information systems (CIS): the content, processes, and assets associated with gathering and moving customer information throughout the firm. This research develops a measure of CIS management capabilities based on learning organization theory and measured by the ability to get, store, move, and use information throughout the business unit. This measure is then used to analyze customer learning processes and associated performance in the context of marketing strategic decision making. This study of 209 business services firms finds that generic marketing strategy positioning (low‐cost and differentiation) and the marketing tactics of personalization and customization are related to CIS development. Customer information systems development in turn is associated with higher levels of customer‐based performance, which in turn is associated with increased business growth. Since the strongest association with customer‐based performance is strategy selection, the long‐term benefits of the knowledge gained from the CIS may be in the ability to assist in measuring customer‐based performance, rather than in the ability to immediately contribute to performance. Finally, for these firms, customization and personalization are not directly associated with performance and thus may not be necessary to support every firm's marketing strategy.     

Corporate Strategy Formulation and Taxation: Evidence from UK Firms*

This paper considers the relationship between corporate strategy formulation and taxation. Drawing on prior literature we briefly review the important influence that international taxation has on an array of corporate strategy decisions. We then consider issues in strategy formulation and taxation planning in order to develop an understanding of when and how taxation factors impinge on strategic decision‐making. We draw out the apparent paradox between the nature of strategic decision‐making and financial decision‐making and look for areas of reconciliation. In order to shed light on some of these issues we present findings from the qualitative analysis of a set of personal interviews undertaken with senior tax practitioners in seven UK‐based multinational enterprises and then consider quantitative responses from the tax practitioners working in 145 UK firms.     

构建高层管理团队社会网络的人力资源实践、战略柔性与企业绩效——环境不确定性的调节作用

本文首次将战略柔性作为一种典型的动态能力运用到战略人力资源管理的研究领域中,探索了其在构建高层管理团队(TMT)社会网络的人力资源实践与企业绩效关系中所扮演的中介作用,并且基于我国经济转型这一现实背景,采用环境不确定性作为该中介环节的调节变量予以进一步阐释.我们对上述问题进行了实证检验,通过对北京、天津、上海、江苏和浙江等地区390家企业的780名高管进行问卷调查,最终获得241个有效样本,研究发现:(1)构建TMT社会网络的人力资源实践对企业绩效具有正向影响,并且战略柔性在其中发挥了完全中介的作用;(2)环境不确定性在构建TMT社会网络的人力资源实践与战略柔性的关系中具有调节作用,但在战略柔性与企业绩效的关系中不具有调节作用.本文的研究结论表明,考虑战略柔性和环境不确定性这两个重要因素可以更好地解释构建TMT社会网络的人力资源实践对企业绩效的影响机制,这为战略人力资源管理在动态环境中的发展和应用提供了重要启示.     

转型经济背景下的组织复杂性动因研究:环境不确定性和战略导向的作用

基于468家中国企业的实证研究,考察了不同环境及战略导向对组织复杂性的驱动作用。在分析相关文献形成研究假设的基础上运用实证的方法进行检验。研究结论验证了当前转型经济背景下不确定环境特征和战略导向对企业组织复杂性的不同驱动作用,对企业根据所处环境及其战略导向认识并有的放矢的应对不同组织复杂性有重要意义。     

困难情境下组织冗余作用研究:兼谈市场搜索强度的调节作用

既有研究经常认为,组织冗余在企业面对困难情境时将发挥缓冲功能,但是组织冗余和困境均有着不同的类别.本文首先分析金融危机、绩效不佳这两种不同困境对组织冗余作用的影响.困境中的企业经常积极搜索外部机会以寻求扭转局面的途径,本文同时分析市场搜索所起的调节作用,并选择我国制造类上市公司2005-2010年的面板数据检验假设.研究发现,金融危机时期非沉淀冗余作用减少,而沉淀冗余的增加,绩效不佳时,非沉淀冗余作用增加;诸如投资之类的市场搜索行为对非沉淀冗余和沉淀冗余分别产生负向和正向的调节作用,而两种困境则同样会对这些调节作用产生影响.     

The Influence of Forward‐Looking Antecedents,Uncertainty, and Anticipatory Emotions on Project Escalation*

This study extends research on the escalation of commitment phenomenon by investigating decision makers' tendency to look forward to project completion and develop anticipatory perceptions and emotions concerning goal attainment. We examine the influence of two project‐specific predictors of escalation (level of progress and presence of an alternative project) on perceived uncertainty and the extent to which anticipatory emotions (i.e., current affective reactions to possible future events) mediate the influence of uncertainty on levels of commitment to a failing project. Results indicated that level of progress and the presence of an alternative project affected uncertainty, which influenced anticipatory emotions. Lower levels of uncertainty and higher levels of positive anticipatory emotions increased the tendency to escalate commitment.     

供应链管理实践对企业绩效的影响

文章构建了供应链管理实践-企业竞争战略-企业绩效的权变模型,通过问卷调查搜集一手数据,运用因子分析和回归分析等统计方法,找出在不同的竞争战略下,哪些供应链管理实践与其更匹配。文章得出的结果对于企业也具有借鉴意义,实行不同竞争战略的企业根据结果调整供应链实践的关注程度,使供应链实践更好地与竞争战略相匹配。     

服务转换成本对顾客忠诚的影响——满意度与替代者吸引力的调节效应

通过将顾客满意和替代者吸引力看作是调节转换成本与忠诚之间关系的变量,考察了当满意度和替代者吸引力都不同时,转换成本对忠诚的直接影响效果会发生哪些变化的问题。通过对来自于网络宽带服务业的数据进行分析,结果显示:转换成本只有在满意度和替代者吸引力同时较高或同时较低的情况下,才能直接明显地起到提升顾客忠诚、防止顾客流失的作用;在满意度较低而替代者吸引力较高的情况下,转换成本对于顾客忠诚的作用会失效;当满意度较高而替代者吸引力较低时,由于一定数量的唯利是图者的存在,其对于促销利益和转换损失同样敏感,只要替代者的促销利益还不足以弥补其转换损失,就仍会忠诚于现供应商。     

Internationalization and Performance of Firms in China: Moderating Effects of Governance Structure and the Degree of Centralized Control

This study proposes necessary modifications to the existing internationalization–performance relationship to meet the idiosyncrasies of China-specific contexts. We first hypothesize an S-shaped internationalization–performance relationship as the baseline and then investigate the moderating effects of a firm's governance structure and the degree of centralized government control on the relationship between its internationalization and performance. The results, based on a longitudinal sample of manufacturing firms in China for the 2001–2007 period, indicate that (1) the S-shaped internationalization–performance relationship holds for firms in China; (2) the governance structure moderates the internationalization–performance relationship such that increased profitability through internationalization is more likely for modernized firms than for their conventional local counterparts; and (3) the degree of centralized control moderates the internationalization–performance relationship such that increased profitability through internationalization is more likely for firms affiliated with higher level governments than for those affiliated with lower-level governments.     

Effects of Product Structure Complexity on Multi-level Lot Sizing*

As an input to the materials requirement planning (MRP) process, the product structure interacts with the lot-sizing rules to affect inventories, materials flow, and production costs. Despite engineering constraints, considerable latitude is still available to construct alternate product structures for the same product. An important concern of MRP managers and designers is the impact of product structure complexity on the cost performance of the lot-sizing rules. To date, there exists no detailed research that provides managers with guidelines that relate the lot-sizing rules to individual product structure parameters. We report on an extensive experiment to test the effects of individual product structure parameters on the relative cost performance of 11 lot-sizing rules. Three parameters—the number of items, number of levels, and commonality index—are proposed to characterise product structure complexity and used as factors in an experiment involving a large variety of product structures. The results indicate that all three parameters affect the relative cost differences but not the ranking of the rules. The overall best lot-sizing rule is Bookbinder and Koch's [11] rule.     

Internal and External Integration for Product Development: The Contingency Effects of Uncertainty,Equivocality, and Platform Strategy

Effective product development requires firms to unify internal and external participants. As companies attempt to create this integrated environment, two important questions emerge. Does a high level of internal integration lead to a higher level of external integration? In the context of product development, this study considers whether internal integration in the form of concurrent engineering practices affects the level of external integration as manifested by customer integration, supplier product integration, and supplier process integration. External integration, in turn, may influence competitive capabilities, namely product innovation performance and quality performance. Second, using contingency theory, do certain contextual variables moderate the linkages between integration strategy (external and internal) and performance? Specifically, this study considers whether uncertainty, equivocality, and platform development strategy change the relationships among internal integration, external integration, and competitive capabilities. Data collected from 244 manufacturing firms across several industries were used to test these research questions. The results indicate that both internal and external integration positively influence product innovation and quality and ultimately, profitability. With respect to contingency effects, the results indicate that equivocality moderates the relationships between integration and performance.     

Exploring Strategy Implementation Consistency Over Time: The Moderating Effects of Industry Velocity and Firm Performance

In this paper we empirically investigate the temporal development of a firm’s strategy implementation consistency (SIC), i.e. the alignment between firms’ resource allocation decisions (RAD) and their articulated corporate concept (Noda and Bower, 1996; Burgelman and Grove, 1996; Love et al., 2002; Mintzberg, 1978). Doing so, we test whether (1) SIC is more likely to increase or decline over time, (2) whether firms competing in (low) high-velocity environments in fact show different temporal patterns in SIC, and (3) whether overperforming firms succeed in conserving their level of SIC. For our analysis we draw on 6238 RAD of 20 publicly listed firms with European origin over a period of 4–6 years. Applying maximum likelihood ordered logit estimation, our results indicate that the likelihood of an alignment of RAD and a firm’s corporate concept decreases over time. In line with scholars’ perception of high-velocity environments, we find that the firms in our sample competing under such conditions show no clear trend in SIC. These firms tend to “zig-zag” over time – swaying off and pulling back to their strategic course independent of the timing of the announcement of a corporate concept. We also find that overperforming firms are unsuccessful in preserving their SIC at the same level over time. Based on the empirical findings the paper discusses implications for theory and derives suggestions for corporate level managers on how to balance SIC and strategic flexibility.     

Exploration and Firm Performance: The Moderating Impact of Competitive Strategy

In this study we examine the moderating effect of competitive strategy (including differentiation and cost‐leadership strategies) on the relationship between exploration and firm performance. We find that the moderating effect of differentiation strategy is positive while that of cost‐leadership strategy is negative. And, these moderating effects are stronger in a highly competitive context. This study offers an explanation for previous mixed findings on the linkage of exploration to firm performance and enriches the discipline's knowledge regarding the performance implications of exploration. Moreover, we respond directly to the appeal in research on competitive strategy to clarify the role played by competitive strategy in profiting from exploration.     

基于环境约束和要素集聚因素下的企业间博弈分析

基于环境约束、科技创新和要素集聚三维因素,研究多家同类产品制造企业在完全信息条件下进行的非合作博弈,通过设定相应的利润函数和约束条件,建立此类博弈模型,分析每个企业如何制定合适的产品生产量、排污权购买量、科研投入资金和提高要素配置效率费用,使这类博弈达到Nash均衡状态。借助变分不等式的算法给出此类博弈的Nash均衡点计算方法,并通过计算结果分析环境约束、科研投入资金、提高要素配置效率费用对企业利润的综合影响。研究结果表明,当企业战略方案的可取范围是有界闭凸集,同时每个企业的边际利润随产品生产量、排污量、科研投入资金和提高要素配置效率费用呈负相关关系,这类博弈存在Nash均衡状态。通过将这类博弈问题转化成变分不等式问题,利用变分不等式投影收缩算法计算Nash均衡点的数值。数值分析表明,在环境约束下,科研投入资金和提高要素配置效率费用存在最优的投资组合,企业在Nash均衡状态时采取的方案虽然对博弈对手的方案做出了最优反应,但将博弈置于合作状态下能使整个行业获得更大利润。     

不确定性规避、工作负担与领导授权行为:控制愿望与管理层级的调节作用

本研究通过问卷调查的方法,探讨了不确定性规避价值观及工作负担对领导授权行为的影响.在此基础上,本研究还进一步探讨了控制愿望与管理层级的调节作用.统计分析的结果表明:(1)不确定性规避与领导授权行为显著负相关,工作负担与领导授权行为显著正相关.(2)控制愿望显著调节不确定性规避对领导授权行为的影响.(3)职位层级分别调节不确定性规避、工作负担与领导授权行为的关系.     

环境会计控制与企业环境业绩关系研究

选用2004～2005年被评定为"环境友好企业"的38家企业之中的12家上市公司作为研究对象,并在这12家上市公司的同行业分别选取1家财务业绩最好的上市公司作为对照样本.通过研究发现,在目前的中国背景下,政府环境控制是提高企业环境业绩的主要因素,企业内部的环境会计控制同样也可以促进企业环境业绩的提高;但在与企业外部政府环境控制配合方面,由于缺乏完善的环境会计控制体系,难以与外部政府环境控制配合共同提升企业的环境业绩,因此,建立完善的环境会计控制体系是目前我国政府与企业的当务之急.同时发现,国内企业为获得较好的财务业绩常以牺牲环境业绩作为代价.     

关系品质对服务补救效果的调节作用

在关于服务补救的文献中,许多研究过于强调服务补救属性本身对补救后顾客态度和行为意向的影响。其实,它们不仅仅取决于类似于特定服务补救属性的感觉要素,还取决于类似于关系品质这样的知觉要素。为了揭示知觉要素对服务补救效果的重要性,本文以关系品质作为调节变量来考察它对服务补救过程中顾客的态度标识参数和行为意向的影响,发现关系品质对于服务补救效果确实存在着积极的调节作用,并根据这一发现提出了相应的营销建议。最后,文章给出了本研究的局限和未来的研究方向。