Scale-up modes: Profiling activity configurations in scaling strategies

Scale-ups, or scaling firms, provide an important contribution to the economy. However, there is little understanding of the characteristics of their scaling strategies, compared to the high-growth strategies of start-ups and mature firms. To address this, we build on the Penrosean view of firm growth and the literature on high-growth firms to identify the critical growth-enabling activities of scaling firms with digital business models: financing, innovation, digitization, and acquisitions. Using cluster analysis of a sample of 184 Unicorn and emerging Unicorn scale-ups with digital business models, we identify four distinct activity configurations, or scale-up modes: network growers, focused scalers, organic innovators, and constricted scalers. We discuss the theoretical implications for the literature on scaling firms, Penrose's theory of firm growth in the digitization era, and firm growth research more generally.     

Self-managed Teams: Assessing the Benefits for Small Service-sector Firms

In recent years the concept of the self-managed team has gained in popularity as Western nations have struggled to remain competitive in world markets. Claims that autonomous working can contribute significantly to enhancing employee productivity, product innovation and quality management appear mainly based on anecdotal evidence extracted from single-firm case studies. In an attempt to close identified theoretical and empirical gaps about autonomous working, a larger-scale quantitative assessment of self-managed teams in small UK service-sector firms was undertaken. Although the results confirm that self-managed teams can contribute to improving certain aspects of performance, the scale of impact seems much less than that suggested in many articles. Furthermore, in certain circumstances it appears that a move to self-managed teams in small service-sector firms may have a somewhat negative impact on certain aspects of organizational capability. The question is raised, therefore, whether autonomous working should be strongly advocated as an important contributor to enhancing the competitiveness of small service-sector firms.     

Patterns of Profit-sharing in Professional Firms

In recent years the traditional method of distributing profits on the basis of seniority in professional firms has come under attack because of its poor incentive properties. Using data on large law firms, this paper examines the extent to which new forms of profit-sharing based on individual performance have been introduced and whether these are associated with the more systematic control of the core of professional staff and more ‘business-like’ methods of managing, as has been argued in the American literature. The results suggest profit-sharing innovations are limited in scope and only loosely associated with wider changes in partnership management. Explanations for the persistence of traditional methods of sharing are developed from the data and it is argued that existing accounts present an over-rational model of change in which too much emphasis has been placed on the importance of individual incentives to achieve performance. Profit-sharing policies are driven by concerns to sustain cooperation and professional values about the appropriate way to distribute rewards.     

中国企业并购绩效的影响因素研究：基于资源基础观与制度基础观的实证分析

以366家中国沪深A股上市企业的424起并购事件为研究样本,对中国企业的并购绩效进行实证分析,结果显示：（1）2003—2014年间中国企业并购后的整体绩效显著低于并购之前的水平,即并购活动在整体上有损企业价值。（2）多元回归分析结果表明,资源因素和制度因素对中国企业的并购绩效都具有显著的影响,企业内部的资源禀赋和资源利用能力、外部的市场化程度和政府参与度都对并购绩效产生正向影响。（3）制度因素不仅对中国企业的并购绩效产生直接影响,还在企业资源能力与并购绩效的关系中发挥调节作用,除了在主效应中发挥“支持之手”的正面功能,在调节效应中也显现出“掠夺之手”的负面作用。根据主效应和调节效应分析中的多重关系可知：对于本身资源禀赋较好的企业,应当降低政府在其中的参与程度,才能使企业获得更好的绩效;对于自身资源禀赋较差、资源管理能力较弱的企业,政府参与其中则可发挥较好的积极作用。     

Managing coopetition in diversified firms: Insights from a qualitative case study

Cooperation among divisions is usually thought to explain the performance of diversification strategies. However, such divisions are also in competition. Through the in-depth analysis of an intraindustry diversified firm operating in the global semiconductor industry, this paper identifies the sources of coopetition and the treatment of coopetitive tensions among divisions in the production allocation process. We find a multipoint origin of cooperation within a competitive setting. Then, we extend a previous study that considers uniquely two substitute views: (a) corporate-centric; and (b) division-centric. Additionally, by employing formal organizational mechanisms, we show that corporate headquarters guides divisional interaction to form a circular coopetition process. Thus, it is feasible to consider that intrafirm competition and cooperation phases form in a dynamic loop.     

Taxonomy of ERP integrations and performance outcomes: an exploratory study of manufacturing firms

Building and deploying network capabilities of firms are crucial for sustaining competitive advantage. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are useful to enhance such network capabilities thorough effective information flows. Their intended goals are measured in terms of production costs, operational flexibility and supply chain performance outcomes. However, the impact of ERP system implementation on firm performance has been reported as somewhat inconclusive. This study contends that a missing link in the story is the scope and extent of ERP system implementation after investigating how the extent of ERP integration is associated with the performance outcomes of manufacturing firms. The study also posits that restructuring in the organisation and supply chains are positively associated with manufacturing performance. Since ERP often entails restructuring in an organisation and supply chains, it is anticipated that restructuring plays an important role in inducing positive impact of ERP implementation to the firm. Using a global sample of 641 manufacturers, this research identifies four distinct ERP systems integration patterns, epitomised by different extents and directions of integration, and finds a significant association among the broadest degree of ERP systems integration, restructuring and plant performance improvement. The empirical results also show that restructuring takes place most actively in a firm that implement ERP with widest scope and scale.     

A study of the use of business improvement initiatives: the association with company size and level of national development

This paper investigates the awareness, use and effectiveness of improvement initiatives in organisations of different sizes and in different countries. In particular, comparisons are made between large firms and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), between organisations in the developing and developed worlds and between organisations in China and India and the rest of the developing world. A questionnaire survey of 453 organisations across 44 countries was conducted with the findings indicating that there are significant differences in comparability of tools. For some tools there are no significant differences between developed and developing countries as well as between large organisations and small organisations. For other tools, there are significant differences with organisations in developing countries, in general, more aware and more likely to use business improvement initiatives when compared to organisations in developed countries. Similarly, organisations in China and India have a higher awareness of and are more likely to adopt improvement initiatives when compared to the rest of the developing world. Finally, larger firms are more aware and more likely to use improvement initiatives when compared to SMEs.     

国内家族企业代际传承发展思路探究

目前,国内一些大型家族企业已比较成功地实现了代际交替,但相当多的家族企业在权力交接中存有障碍：或者是由于代际间缺乏共同的梦想;或者是由于“两权矛盾”,所有者与经营者之间难以达成信任关系。因此,家族企业要保持基业长青,必须重视接班人的培养,把培养问题提上企业的议事日程;要建立继任规划,形成科学的接班人选择制度;通过制度管理企业,淡化家族制;注重在家族企业内部培养职业经理人。     

Leadership and emerging cultural patterns in a new television station

This longitudinal case study explores cultural patterns in a new British television company, tracking it from its inception into its third year. Qualitative research methods provide evidence to suggest that despite formal leaders’ intentions to achieve control and consensus, organisation members produce their own, diverse interpretations of leaders’ deliberate (and unintentional) messages. By drawing on inherited expectations and professional associations, members construct their own cultural worlds. Yet, the same professional norms and associations, which the literature suggests are salient in all media organisations, also provide legitimacy for individual leaders’ actions and therefore reinforce their cultural integrating role. Therefore, it is suggested that although organisation members are active in shaping culture, leaders of new media organisations of this nature are significant as sources of cultural cohesion, division and ambiguity, and thus they are influential in encouraging the formation of complex cultural patterns.     

Assessing the efficiency of HRD practices in knowledge-intensive firms

The article presents the results of a comparative study of human resource development (HRD) in two groups of knowledge-intensive firms: those working in the information technology (IT) field and in advertising/public relations (PR) field. One hundred Russian medium-sized enterprises participated in the study. The questionnaire was developed on the basis of the European quality standard ‘Investors in People’. The study findings suggested that the differences in HR practices aimed at personnel development between two groups of companies were statistically significant. Thus, in the advertising/PR companies, HRD practices were used more actively and effectively, with particular emphasis on providing timely feedback and involving employees in the decision-making process. In IT companies, formal assessment tools were used more often, while in advertising/PR companies, more informal and individualized approaches were more prevalent.