Search results

The purpose of this study is to advance the understanding of resource orchestration in inter-firm partnerships that appropriately configure and align strategic cross-firm supply chain resources and capabilities generating synergies to deliver superior performance.

Applying the resource orchestration logic, supported by the relational view of competitive advantage, the study draws from an empirical analysis of survey data from 152 top-level executives of US manufacturing firms to investigate the effect of leveraging and coherently combining cross-firm supply chain resources with capabilities on operational performance.

The study underscores the view that appropriately orchestrated combinations of key partnership resources and capabilities as mechanisms for marketing strategy implementation, enhance performance. Specifically, research results suggest that complementary inter-firm resources and lean align, and similarly idiosyncratic resources and agility align synergistically to deliver superior operational performance outcomes. The results also accent partnership responses to intense competition, enabling enhanced operational performance. The findings thus enrich the understanding of the resource orchestration logic and strategy, making important theoretical contributions.

As is typical in marketing and strategy research, the study research design has a cross-sectional framework, thus limiting insights on the resource orchestration dynamics that can otherwise be generated using a longitudinal design. Also, the resource orchestration stream is still nascent. Further research is needed to delineate the orchestration mechanisms that deliver on performance outcomes, especially in supply chains.

A key insight for supply chain and marketing managers is that close-knit inter-firm partnerships are critical for accessing idiosyncratic and complementary resources that can be configured and symbiotically aligned with market-facing agility and lean capabilities, respectively, to deliver market value. Proactive partnerships, especially in highly competitive and disruptive environments, enable mobilizing cross-firm resources and building appropriate matching combinations with capabilities to deliver on operational performance.

The study, guided by theory, advances the understanding of how key cross-firm resources and capabilities deliver performance gains. The key to competitive advantage and enhanced performance outcomes may lie in acquiring, leveraging and deploying appropriately matched resource-capability combinations. The present study investigates this proposition within the context of supply chain partnerships, focusing on cross-firm resources and capabilities.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the moderating effect of competitive advantage on the resource value and rareness combination and firm performance.

The authors adopted a quantitative research method to achieve the aims of this study. The data collected came from a sample of footwear firms and the hypotheses assessed by multivariate analysis.

The findings provide insights into previously inconsistent findings regarding the exploitation of resources and capabilities and contribute to resolving these issues by considering the conditions under which the resource value and rareness combination contributes to firm performance levels and the effects of competitive advantage on this relationship. Interestingly, the authors find that it cannot be inferred that the rarer the resources and capabilities combination, the greater the probability of attaining competitive advantage.

As limitations, the authors would highlight the fact that the results are specific to one particular industrial sector, and thus not susceptible to the drawing of generalisations as well as the fact that the study does not make recourse to triangulating its methodology (for example, through interviews), which would generate more precise, detailed and objective information. The findings have important managerial implications and the authors close by presenting future research directions.

This study offers an explanation for previous mixed findings on the relationship between the resource value and rareness combination and firm performance and makes a contribution regarding how such combinations are of great relevance to the organisation and business strategy to turn in better performance levels.

This paper aims to examine how modern small-medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in the tourism industry perceive and define corporate performance, and how they measure and monitor businesses’ achievements. Actual performance measurement activities are expected to show how (and if) companies manage the key factors that drive value creation and value erosion processes. Are effective performance measurement activities aligned with main theoretical prescriptions?

Theory and previous empirical research on SMEs’ performance is instrumentally used to identify those key factors that are supposed to drive small/medium hotels’ business performance; building on a resource-based view (RBV) framework, which provides the theoretical perspective to link resources, capabilities and actions to firm performance, a model based on the financial, the operational and the organisational dimension of firm’s success is developed through the selection of a set of consistent financial and non-financial indicators. The balanced performance measurement model is then tested via a field research study based on a semi-structured questionnaire sent to 540 selected SMEs active in the tourism sector.

The results suggest that small-medium Italian hotels, typically family firms managed by owners, tend to adopt a balanced system of performance measurement that keeps track of the financial and non-financial dimensions of hotel’s performance; customer orientation proves to be an extremely important leading indicator of non-financial corporate performance. Amongst traditional financial indicators, net profits, profitability ratios such as return on investment and return on sales, revenues for available room, occupancy rate and some cost efficiency ratios are found to be relevant, whereas extensive use is made of non-financial metrics such as customer satisfaction, number of complaints, number of new and repeat customers, employee competencies and staff abilities. Furthermore, some interesting results about frequency of measurement and purpose of measurement are also presented.

Data used in this study do not allow for a comprehensive analysis of the correlation between hotel performance and a specific measurement model implemented. Further future research that is meant to be developed will focus on the issue of addressing the nexus between firm performance and resource and capability used as strategic factors and monitored with an effective performance measurement system. The sample can also be expanded to carry out comparative analysis.

The results shed some further light on performance measurement activities actually implemented by Italian hotels. The evidence gives a contribution to understanding the relationship between critical resources and capabilities that need to be developed and effectively managed to reach superior business performance. Furthermore, the study highlights the need to design and implement a customised performance measurement model, which accounts for firm-specific resources and capabilities and sector-specific features for the hotel to properly manage those strategical success factors that can deliver sustained competitive advantage to the firm.

This research paper contributes to performance measurement literature, by suggesting that the development and the implementation of a simplified but structured and complete performance measurement system, designed on the specific needs and features of SMEs, seems to be a sensible way to improve resources and capabilities utilisation and to obtain a holistic understanding of the achievements of these organisations.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of supplier development (SD) on supplier’s performance by sharing implicit knowledge in mentorship under the influence of supplier’s organizational culture (OC).

A survey questionnaire was employed to collect data from 226 employees of participating suppliers after conducting mentorship training at the suppliers’ site. The data were analyzed by the partial least squares structural equation modeling with software SmartPLS Ver. 3.0.

The empirical analysis indicates that SD by mentorship partially mediates the total effects of OC – power distance and uncertainty avoidance – on performance. It completely mediates the collaborative culture on performance.

This study may confirm that the SD program by mentorship is a viable strategy to enhance the performance of supply chain partners and the selection of suppliers.

In this chapter, the authors examine the main effect of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) – a firm’s strategic entrepreneurial posture – on balancing exploration and exploitation in the form of organizational ambidexterity. Resource-constrained firms face an imperative to conduct innovative activities, survive hostile environments, and compete with larger and more resource-rich firms. The authors contend that firms can address these potential impediments through achieving ambidexterity via dynamic capabilities, firm-specific resources, and institutional factors. Specifically, The authors review the EO and ambidexterity literatures and summarize extant arguments related to the relationship between EO, exploration, and exploitation. The authors also discuss the most prominent scales and measures of EO, exploration, and exploitation. Moreover, the authors discuss operationalizational challenges that should be considered when conducting EO–ambidexterity research and suggest future research directions by specifying an agenda outlining useful theoretical perspectives and various contingencies that may influence the EO–ambidexterity relationship.

The negative cultural bias vis-à-vis international business and cross-cultural management has been duly acknowledged, necessitating recommendations towards investigating its positive effects. Methodologically, quantitative research clearly predominates, and there have been calls for alternative approaches. Thus, this conceptual paper addresses the research gap (methodological and thematic) by investigating if multicultural teams can be an essential part of the global workforce and whether positive effects exist regarding dynamic capabilities, learning and knowledge transfer.

The underlying ethnographic research design enabled exploring within the embedded single case study from an emic perspective, including qualitative observation and semi-structured expert interviews, and provided detailed insights into the company’s multicultural work environment.

The results reveal that applying a qualitative design allowed the needed exploration and show that multicultural, geographically dispersed teams are positively experienced and considered necessary in today’s globalised world. They are likely to increase in the future. Moreover, dynamic capabilities (multicultural competencies) are indispensable for multicultural teamwork. Regarding learning opportunities, different viewpoints for discussion and the ability to reflect on these offer valuable insights. In line with theory, multiculturality is considered a “two-edged sword”, providing simultaneous benefits and challenges. Contrary to the theory, even highly important information transfers can occur virtually, although occasional physical contact is essential for trust building.

The multinational family business offers a unique example of a positive relationship between multiculturalism and organisational excellence and demonstrates how the application of a qualitative methodology can support theory building by delivering a revised model of dynamic capabilities in multicultural environments with geographical dispersion.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the service infusion literature explains competitive advantage through services. The four strategic management theories – competitive forces, the resource-based view, dynamic capabilities, and relational view – are applied in the analysis.

A systematic literature review analyzes the links between the service infusion and strategy literature.

The review reveals that although discussion of service infusion applies strategic management concepts, the stream lacks rigor with respect to construct definition and justification. Additionally, contextual variables are often missing. The result is an over-emphasis of contextually bound measures, such as technology, and focal actors.

The growing trends toward social networks, co-specialization, actor dependency and shared resources encourage service infusion scholars to focus on network-related and relational capabilities, co-opetition, open business models, and relational rent extraction. Furthermore, service infusion research would benefit from considering strategy-based theoretical discussions, constructs, and constraints that would improve the scientific rigor, impact and contribution.

This paper represents a systematic attempt to link the service infusion literature with strategic management theories and thoroughly analyzes the knowledge gaps and possible misconceptions.

The study examines the impact of digital platforms and supply chain capability on operational performance and tests the mediation effect of supply chain capability. Further, the purpose is to examine the moderating effect of digital culture and sharpen our knowledge of how organizational culture as a contextual factor affects the firm's digitalization.

The data were harvested from 194 Finnish manufacturing companies, and structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses.

The findings show that digital platforms positively and significantly affect supply chain capability. Moreover, supply chain capability mediates the relation between digital platforms and operational performance. Further, this study confirms that digital culture is a contextual factor that explains the differences in the effects of digital platforms on firm performance.

This study is one of the first attempts to examine the effect of digital culture in the context of digital platforms, supply chain capabilities, and operational performance.

This paper aims to look at corporate vulnerability – a concept unexplored in literature. It analyzes how firms develop vulnerability as a result of past strategic decisions and business practices like global sourcing, outsourcing, business models, manufacturing practices, diversification, etc.

This paper relies on cross-disciplinary theories from natural hazard management and strategy literature to put forth a definition of strategic vulnerability and its dimensions.

Strategic vulnerability is seen as a multidimensional construct having at least three attributes: Tangible resources that capture the physical assets dimension; Capabilities are the skills, learning and knowledge part; and Fitness that represents the collective ability of an organization to cope with external and internal challenges. Further, vulnerabilities remain inherent in the firm, and may not be visible until organizations face some external stress or adverse scenario.

The framework needs further empirical testing through case studies or other methodologies to bring forth managerial reflections on the three dimensions identified in the paper.

Strategic vulnerability framework helps managers to analyze the dimensions that make strategic position of firms vulnerable to existing or emerging competition. Based on the vulnerability analysis, managers can initiate actions to improve competitive positioning of their firms.