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1 – 10 of over 3000Kuldeep Singh and Shailesh Rastogi
Public listing of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) stimulates unremitting transformations into their corporate governance (CG) practices. These transformations in CG are likely…
Abstract
Purpose
Public listing of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) stimulates unremitting transformations into their corporate governance (CG) practices. These transformations in CG are likely to impact the financial performance (FP). The current study examines how individual corporate CG mechanisms and their mutual interactions (configurational approach) stimulate the FP of listed SMEs. The study selects promoters’ ownership (PO), the board (B-INX) and information disclosures (DISC) as individual CG mechanisms. In addition, market competition (COMP) is considered a form of external governance/regulation.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses five years of panel data (2018–2022) of 80 SMEs listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange’s (BSE) SME listing platform in India. Panel data fixed effects and cluster robust standard errors estimated. In addition to the impact of individual CG mechanisms, their mutual interactions (configurational approach) are tested using moderated hierarchical regression and confirmed by slope tests.
Findings
The results signify the ineffectiveness of individual CG mechanisms when acting in silos. However, their mutual interactions drive the FP. A hierarchy of results is obtained. PO is the dominant form of internal CG, negatively influencing the relevance of B-INX and DISC. B-INX tends to adhere to good governance by positively moderating the impact of DISC on FP. Lastly, COMP acts as external governance that dominates the ownership effects. Findings reveal that the interactions among individual CG mechanisms are essential to the FP of listed SMEs. Such interactions adjust the agency theory dynamics of CG in these firms.
Research limitations/implications
The study takes a holistic approach to investigate the agency theory dynamics via the mutual interactions among multiple CG forms. It highlights how the presence of a dominant form of CG can adjust the financial effect of others, thereby adjusting agency theory dynamics.
Practical implications
These results hold practical significance for SMEs in multiple ways. SMEs should embrace configurational approach to comprehend their agency dynamics. The configurational approach of CG mechanisms is the way forward for SMEs, which are known to be financially constrained. In other words, the fact that the resiliency of SMEs is very often questioned calls for the configurational approach, where different CG mechanisms coexist to drive FP.
Originality/value
The study is by far the first of its kind to investigate the CG of listed SMEs against the backdrop of the configurational approach. The findings will benefit industry practitioners, academics and regulatory bodies to visualize the governance practices through the lenses of configurational approach.
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YoungKi Park and Omar A. El Sawy
This chapter shows how configurational approaches can be a valuable inquiring system for examining and understanding complex messy phenomena in the area of digital business…
Abstract
This chapter shows how configurational approaches can be a valuable inquiring system for examining and understanding complex messy phenomena in the area of digital business strategy in turbulent environments such as digital ecodynamics. Digital ecodynamics is defined as the holistic confluence among environmental turbulence, dynamic capabilities, and IT systems – and their fused dynamic interactions unfolding as an ecosystem. With fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) we analyze firm-level field survey data and describe how IT systems, organizational dynamic capability and environmental turbulence simultaneously combine to result in multiple configurations, which have different causal structures to produce competitive firm performance. This equifinality shows how configurational approaches can create new practical insights in digital ecodynamics by suggesting multiple strategic options from which organizations can choose the best solution that fits their context.
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Alexandra E. MacDougall, John E. Baur, Milorad M. Novicevic and M. Ronald Buckley
On many occasions, organizational science research has been referred to as fragmented and disjointed, resulting in a literature that is, in the opinion of many, difficult to…
Abstract
On many occasions, organizational science research has been referred to as fragmented and disjointed, resulting in a literature that is, in the opinion of many, difficult to navigate and comprehend. One potential explanation is that scholars have failed to comprehend that organizations are complex and intricate systems. In order to move us past this morass, we recommend that researchers extend beyond traditional rational, mechanistic, and variable-centered approaches to research and integrate a more advantageous pattern-oriented approach within their research program. Pattern-oriented methods approximate real-life phenomena by adopting a holistic, integrative approach to research wherein individual- and organizational-systems are viewed as non-decomposable organized wholes. We argue that the pattern-oriented approach has the potential to overcome a number of breakdowns faced by alternate approaches, while offering a novel and more representative lens from which to view organizational- and HRM-related issues. The proposed incorporation of the pattern-oriented approach is framed within a review and evaluation of current approaches to organizational research and is supplemented with a discussion of methodological and theoretical implications as well as potential applications of the pattern-oriented approach.
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Anna Grandori and Santi Furnari
This chapter reconstructs the roots of configurational analysis in organization theory and organizational economics, focusing on the elements of configurational thinking that are…
Abstract
This chapter reconstructs the roots of configurational analysis in organization theory and organizational economics, focusing on the elements of configurational thinking that are particularly relevant to organizational design; and outlining some future prospects for a configurational theory of organization design. We detect the presence of configurational ideas in many organization theories and organizational economics approaches. We argue that this, seldom acknowledged, continuity extends and enriches the implications of configurational analysis for organization design. In addition, we define and identify ‘structural heterogeneity’ as an organizational property that can be distinctively studied by configurational analysis, distinguishing between internal heterogeneity – diversity of organizational attributes within one configuration – and external heterogeneity – diversity of organizational configurations under the same environmental conditions. Some of the insights that can be gained through a configurational analysis of structural heterogeneity are illustrated through a fs/QCA study of a multi-industry sample of firms.
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Vicente Roca‐Puig and Juan Carlos Bou‐Llusar
Miles and Snow’s (1978) model posits that organizational performance is dependent upon the degree of consistency (fit) that managers establish between organizational and…
Abstract
Miles and Snow’s (1978) model posits that organizational performance is dependent upon the degree of consistency (fit) that managers establish between organizational and environmental elements. However, different interpretations of the concept of fit coexist in the literature. We argue that in this model, consistency can be defined as a pattern of “equivalent covariance”, which is operatively created through the use of confirmatory factor analysis. The form of fit as covariance leads to the view of “configuration as quality”, in that the basic subject is the study of the interrelationships among organizational and environmental elements. The concept of fit as covariance is decidedly different from the traditional concept of fit as difference, which regards configuration as a typology or taxonomy. The covariance perspective of configurational theory is underused; for this reason, we apply this analytical perspective to a sample of 229 companies. The empirical results confirm that consistency positively influences organizational performance.
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Richard Badham and Paul Couchman
Considers the Smart Manufacturing Techniques project designed to implement team‐based manufacturing cells in participating Australian companies. Draws on case studies of the three…
Abstract
Considers the Smart Manufacturing Techniques project designed to implement team‐based manufacturing cells in participating Australian companies. Draws on case studies of the three participating groups to explore the nature of socio‐technical implementation processes. Argues that an improved understanding of socio‐technical systems is needed, and that action research is the best method to do that. Concludes by presenting a configuration process model and applies this to show how it can illuminate the implementation of team‐based cells in the three case study companies.
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The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the organizational literature and improve the understanding of the slack and performance link by: examining the slack and performance…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the organizational literature and improve the understanding of the slack and performance link by: examining the slack and performance relationship using a configurational approach and by considering equifinality and its possible effects on this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Using cluster analysis, ANCOVA, and means comparisons this study identifies different configurations of slack and their associated performance implications.
Findings
The results show that configurations with higher levels of slack outperform those with lower levels of slack suggesting a positive relationship between slack and firm performance. The findings also demonstrate that alternative configurations of slack can result in similar levels of performance suggesting the existence of equifinality in this relationship.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to prior research by moving beyond traditional linear and contingency views of slack and considering a configurational approach. An important contribution of this study is that while level of slack may be important it appears that how the various types of slack are bundled also serves as an important factor in firm outcomes and should be examined by future researchers.
Practical implications
The results indicate that managerial attention should be paid to not only identifying appropriate levels and types of slack for the organization but also to appropriate ways to bundle theses resources.
Originality/value
This study provides an important contribution to the literature by determining if certain slack bundles result in higher levels of performance and if there are multiple ways of bundling slack resources that result in similar performance outcomes.
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Dessislava Dikova, Arjen van Witteloostuijn and Simon Parker
Extant work in international business (IB) involves a partial contingency-theoretic perspective: a holistic view of the impact of bundles of contingencies on an outcome variable…
Abstract
Purpose
Extant work in international business (IB) involves a partial contingency-theoretic perspective: a holistic view of the impact of bundles of contingencies on an outcome variable is missing. The purpose of this paper is to adopt a contingency approach to study multinational enterprise (MNE) subsidiary performance in the appropriate context of European transition economies at the beginning of the current millennium.
Design/methodology/approach
Methodologically, the authors introduce abduction as a line of inquiry into IB and management to develop new theoretical insights, and apply the novel empirical general interaction method to estimate bundle effects. In so doing, the authors contribute to the further development of a theoretical and empirical toolkit to revitalize holistic, or configurational, quantitative research in IB and management.
Findings
The authors find that capability fit is a necessary condition for high MNE subsidiary marketing performance, whilst environment fit is particularly critical for high MNE subsidiary financial performance.
Research limitations/implications
A key limitation is that this is a cross-section study.
Practical implications
This study offers insights as to subsidiary fit into Eastern Europe, indicating fitting entry and establishment modes.
Originality/value
This paper offers a novel holistic approach to IB, both in terms of theoretical and empirical methodology.
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Galina Shirokova, Karina Bogatyreva, Tatiana Beliaeva and Sheila Puffer
The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance across different levels of environmental hostility and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance across different levels of environmental hostility and market growth. The contingency approach of two-way interactions of EO with each environmental variable is contrasted with the configurational approach of three-way interactions of EO simultaneously with different levels of both environmental variables.
Design/methodology/approach
Hierarchical regression analysis is applied for the pooled data set of 163 Finnish and Russian small- and medium-sized enterprises, and supplemented with post hoc analysis of the differences in regression slopes across environmental configurations.
Findings
Results show that EO is directly and positively associated with firm performance. However, the strength and direction of this relationship varies by configurations of the external environment variables. Firms achieve superior performance when adopting EO in environments with high levels of both hostility and market growth. In contrast, in favorable environments with low hostility and high market growth, EO adoption leads to lower firm performance.
Research limitations/implications
The study contributes to the EO literature by demonstrating different effects of EO on firm performance across various environmental configurations. It uses cross-sectional data from two countries. Replication studies using different samples may further corroborate the results.
Practical implications
In order to take advantage of opportunities and achieve better performance, managers of firms should analyze multiple elements of the environment concurrently and align EO to those conditions.
Originality/value
The configurations of environmental hostility and market growth, representing both favorable and unfavorable elements of business context, have not been previously investigated together in one model of the EO-performance relationship.
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Marcelo Pereira Duarte and Fernando Manuel P.O. Carvalho
This study analyses configurations of national culture as boundary conditions of countries’ national systems of innovation (NSI). Drawing from the NSI approach, we argue that…
Abstract
Purpose
This study analyses configurations of national culture as boundary conditions of countries’ national systems of innovation (NSI). Drawing from the NSI approach, we argue that culture’s role is that of a contingency factor shaping the relationship between investments in innovation and national innovation outputs.
Design/methodology/approach
We assessed the moderation effect of national culture through a systematic, two-stage approach using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), which allows the analysis of changes induced by the moderator variables. Analyses were conducted with a diverse sample of 61 countries over a period spanning 12 years, from 2011 to 2022.
Findings
Findings reveal that investments in innovation, but not individual cultural dimensions, is a necessary condition for high innovation outputs. Furthermore, several configurations of cultural dimensions were identified as moderators of the relationship between investments in innovation and innovation outputs.
Originality/value
This study provides insights into cross-national innovation research by exposing the role of cultural configurations, rather than just individual cultural dimensions, as boundary conditions involved in the achievement of high levels of innovation.
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