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In this paper, we discuss how “cultural capital” and “symbolic capital,” understood as specialized subsets of intangible resources and capabilities, enable firms to achieve valuable strategic positions in ways that are currently underexplored by mainstream strategy literature. We articulate the similarities and differences between cultural and symbolic capital and the intangible assets that have been the focus of mainstream strategy researchers, such as intellectual, social, and reputational capital. Our theoretical arguments build on insights from a number of studies conducted primarily in non-North American settings that have shown how symbolic properties of products create value. We conclude by delineating future avenues of research that strategy scholarship should consider in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the relationships between intangible resources and capabilities, and value creation.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between leaders’ work context and their prototypical implicit follower theories (pIFT). The authors assume a dual structure of pIFT and argue that leader preferences for certain employee traits and behaviours are influenced by their perception of the prevailing market conditions and organizational coordination mechanisms.

This study was conducted via an online-questionnaire with 182 US leaders from different industries. It surveyed leader's preferences for abstract and specific employee traits and behaviours, as well as their perceptions of the explorative and exploitative elements in their work context. To test for associations of corresponding variables representing leaders’ context and their employee prototype, data analysis was performed via multiple linear regression analysis.

The paper provides evidence for associations between leaders’ pIFT and their work context. The data suggest that leaders who perceive their organizational work environment as formalized consider Enthusiasm (p=0.003) and the pursuit of exploitative activities (p=0.023) as important employee characteristics, and those who experience the market conditions as dynamic show a preference for Good Citizenship behaviours (p=0.027) and the search for explorative activities (p=0.034). In terms of control variables the authors found that more mature leaders favour both exploration and exploitation in employees, while managers of larger teams emphasize exploitation in their pIFT.

The study was conducted with leaders in the USA; results are cross-sectional and representative for for-profit organizations. Potential limitations arise from a lack of generalizability of the results to others forms of organizations, cultures and work settings.

The paper provides the outline of an “ideal employee profile” for the leaders in the sample and describes potential implications of pIFT for organizational strategy relating to personnel-related decisions.

This study provides the first empirical link between leaders’ ideal employee image and work context, and enables a deeper understanding of the structure and content of pIFT.

This paper investigates the moderating role of values congruence, an element of person–organisation (P–O) fit, on the relationship between intrinsic work satisfaction and anticipated employee turnover. The model uses data from employees of the Australian Public Service (APS).

The study draws upon data from the APS’s annual Employee Census for 2018. We first use principal component analysis (PCA) to derive measures of collegial values congruence, managerial values congruence, intrinsic satisfaction and extrinsic satisfaction. The study then uses ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis to examine the main effects of intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction, collegial and managerial values congruence as well as their interaction effects on anticipated future employee tenure.

Our results show the significant linear effects of intrinsic satisfaction, extrinsic satisfaction and managerial values congruence on anticipated tenure. Collegial values congruence, however, did not show a significant linear effect. Interaction effects were then tested, and both collegial and managerial values congruence were shown to moderate the relationship between intrinsic satisfaction and anticipated tenure. Higher levels of both forms of values congruence buffered the negative impact of lower intrinsic satisfaction on turnover intention.

The study is limited by its reliance on cross-sectional self-reported data within a specific and atypical organisational context (the Australian Public Service, or APS). Additionally, the cross-sectional nature of the data limits the establishment of causal inferences. Future research could explore longitudinal data and examine other potential moderators of the turnover intention.

Understanding the moderating role of values congruence, and in particular P–O fit, can develop organisational strategies that aim to reduce turnover by emphasizing the alignment between employee values and organisational, collegial and supervisor culture and values.

This study contributes to the relevant literature by showing the importance of values congruence in partially offsetting the negative effects of low intrinsic satisfaction on anticipated turnover. This is particularly relevant in the public sector context. The examination of both collegial and managerial values congruence provides a more nuanced understanding of the mechanisms that drive turnover intention.

This study aims to introduce a multilevel micro-foundational perspective on supply chain (SC) ambidexterity, grounded in organizational learning and adaptation research. It investigates the interplay of contextual factors, strategic orientation and a bundle of supply chain management practices to foster ambidextrous performance.

Leveraging a blend of perceptual and objective data and measures, this study explores the intricacies of macro and micro factors at multiple levels, offering empirical support for the research framework. The interrelationships among these factors are scrutinized through three analytical approaches: selection, interaction and system forms of interdependence analysis.

First, the authors offer empirical support for their conceptual model, illustrating that ambidexterity behavior and outcomes in the SC emanate from intricate interactions between macro and micro factors across various levels. Second, the authors present robust empirical evidence endorsing a system/gestalt form of interdependence analysis in capturing SC ambidexterity and performance. This analytical approach effectively captures the complementarity and contradictory interdependence among the opposing poles of efficiency and responsiveness.

The organizational and SC activity configuration faces numerous paradoxical tensions, such as profitability versus sustainability. This study offers valuable insights into establishing an ambidextrous system capable of navigating and addressing these paradoxical situations.

Contingency studies within logistics and supply chain management have shown a need for longitudinal studies on fit. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the logistics strategy from a process of establishing fit perspective.

A large Swedish building contractor's logistics strategy process was analysed using a longitudinal single-case study for a period of 11 years (2008–2019).

The case study reveals three main constraints to logistics strategy implementation: a dominant purchasing organisation, a lack of incentives and diverging top-management priorities. This suggests that logistics strategy fit is not a conscious choice determined by contextual factors.

Establishing fit is a continuous cycle of regaining fit between the logistics context and logistics strategy components. Fit can be achieved by a change to the logistics context or to logistics strategy components.

Logistics managers may need to opt for satisfactory fit in view of the costs incurred by changing strategy versus the benefits to be gained from a higher degree of fit.

This paper adopts a longitudinal case design to study the fit between the logistics context and strategy, adding to the body of knowledge on organisational design and strategy in logistics and supply chain management.

The objective of this study is to model and analyze the exploration‐exploitation dynamics of March's model of mutual learning in a complex environment. By enhancing the above mentioned model, the paper seeks to propose a new agent‐based model of mutual learning within an organization.

The paper replicates March's model of simulating learning within an organization using an agent‐based simulation approach, and extends it by modelling the problem space as a fitness landscape using Kauffman's NK model technique.

It was found that it is impossible to find a right balance between exploration and exploitation using the communication structure of March's model.

The proposed model could help create a virtual laboratory for experimenting organizations' behavior in a complex co‐evolving environment. This virtual laboratory may be used in the future to support the decision‐making process of managers and policy makers.

Designing the external environment as a fitness landscape helps in discovering what effect the environmental complexity has on the emerging balance between exploration and exploitation. It is the first study to design the environment of a model which analyzes the mutual learning between an organization and its members as a complex non‐linear space.

The purpose of this paper is to explore intra-firm coordination in temporary organizations (TOs). Specifically, it identifies and explains how operational coordination evolves over time in a particular TO: the 2016 Olympic Games Organizing Committee.

This is an immersive case study based on qualitative analysis and longitudinal fieldwork, which allowed the observation of operational coordination in real time. The main sources of data are participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and internal documents of the TO.

The findings suggest that operational coordination in TOs dealing with multiple and decentralized operations takes place through the combination of both formal and informal coordination mechanisms. Further analysis indicates a contingency logic in using these mechanisms, shaped by the presence of specific coordination challenges in different phases of work. Three main aspects influencing coordination are explored. First, it is suggested that TOs are inherently “hybrid.” That is, they comprise enduring as well as temporary and centralized as well as decentralized elements. These elements change over time. Second, a formal transition phase is explored: “venueization” – a phase between planning and operation in which centralized structural elements and processes are translated to operational units. Third, since TOs present emergence and dynamism, and related challenges across various phases of work, coordination is arguably contingent on the phase of the project.

Although the findings are limited to a particular empirical context, this paper offers theoretically new insights concerning the hybrid nature of processes in TOs, the contingent use of complementary coordination mechanisms, and the importance of the venueization phase, and provides a basis for future research into operational coordination in TOs.

The findings can help practitioners understand and identify the challenges embedded in temporary contexts and develop coordination strategies accordingly.

This study explains how operational coordination takes place in TOs enabled by formal and informal mechanisms, which are contingently combined over time through particular coordination strategies.

Organizational design has been suggested as a facilitator of an organization’s dynamic capabilities. This study aims to investigate the role of organizational design in the concept of dynamic capabilities and explores how it facilitates long-term dynamic capabilities in practice.

Empirical data were collected via a longitudinal case study conducted at a global company engaged in the development and manufacture of railway equipment. Specifically, this study focused on one of the organization’s sites in Sweden for a period of approximately five years.

Organizational design has a twofold impact on dynamic capabilities, functioning as both a facilitator and an impediment. It is essential for structures and processes to align with the available resources and capabilities of an organization. Moreover, managers’ beliefs and decision making significantly influence the extent to which organizational design choices effectively foster dynamic organizational performance.

This longitudinal case study contributes to the theory of dynamic capabilities by identifying key changes in an organization that is transforming to become more dynamic and the impact of organizational design on the organization’s dynamic capabilities.

The literature on entrepreneurship implicitly suggests that developed nations' entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE) are positively related to small and medium enterprise performance. However, few theoretical and empirical studies explicitly investigate this relationship in emerging economies. Also, earlier studies have concentrated on the EE–SME performance association in a stable environment without any uncertainties. Hence, the current study analyses the relationship between EE and SME performance in an emerging economy. Entrepreneurial resilience (ER) has been introduced (mediator) to understand the EE–SME performance relationship in the post-pandemic period.

The research sample comprises 359 Indian SMEs. The owners/managers of each SME were contacted to obtain responses. The research employs a multifaceted method Partial Least Squares-structural equation modelling that permits the investigation of several concurrent associations for data analysis.

The findings reveal that EE significantly impacts ER and SME performance. Additionally, ER partially mediates the relationship between EE and SME performance. The findings indicate that post-pandemic India's EE positively influences SME performance directly, as well as indirectly through ER.

The results provide implications for policymakers from economies similar to India's. It suggests that policymakers can enhance ER and, consequently, SME performance during periods of uncertainty by focusing on developing an EE with strong institutional foundations, supportive frameworks and a culture of adaptability.

SMEs and entrepreneurial activities in India are relatively new, but they are rising rapidly. This investigation adds to our knowledge of EE and allows us to comprehend its components in developing countries. This article contributes to the knowledge of India’s SME performance from an EE and ER perspective in the post-pandemic scenario.

Many small-to-medium sized service shops (e.g. jewelry shops, fine-dining restaurants etc.) operate in a unique service environment. They often face customers in transit (i.e. transient delivery) and with minimal information of their preferences (i.e. high uncertainty). This study investigates how such shops create service experience to customers by focusing on three constructs, namely, customer orientation, management commitment to service quality and quality of leader-member exchange in service systems with the uncertain and transient nature. Building on a systems approach of service experience design, the authors examine all possible effects (main effects and two-way and three-way interaction effects) on customer experience. Specifically, to frame the two-way and the three-way interaction effects, the authors adopt the contingency and configuration approaches, respectively.

This study employs a multiple respondent approach involving managers, employees and customers to collect data from 225 service shops in Hong Kong. Hierarchically moderated regression analysis is employed to analyze the collected data.

Contrary to our initial conceptualization, most of the direct effects and two-way interaction effects among the three constructs are insignificant. The authors do, however, uncover a significant effect of the three-way interaction term. The authors analyze the results from the configuration perspective.

The finding suggests that the configuration approach is necessary to determine the configuration concerning how design elements align with one another to generate an integrative effect on customer experience. The authors conclude that for high-contact services of the transient and high-uncertainty type, all three constructs must operate simultaneously to evoke favorable customer experience. Customer experience is holistically developed in a service system with high-uncertainty and transient nature, requiring simultaneous alignment across a range of design choices among those involved in service delivery (manager, employee and customer).