Search results

This study aims to explore the roles and relations of dynamic capabilities (DCs) and marketing capabilities (MCs) to generate firm performance through new empirical data from the automotive industry in an emerging market, Turkey, where volatile market conditions may compel firms to use both their DCs and MCs. The automotive industry dynamic character, which is shaped by fierce competition among car manufacturers, fluctuating customer demands and strong effect of environmental forces, provides an ideal context for examining the performance outcomes of MC and DC in non-static environments. This study aims to show whether better financial performance can be achieved through an integrated MC and DC framework; if the level of environmental dynamism (ED) influences the utilization of MCs; and the impact of MC and DC convergence on firm performance by using emerging market data, which is rare in the extant literature.

This paper empirically investigates the role of MCs on the relationship between DCs and firm performance and the effect of ED in marketing capability development through a study of 162 top level managers from the automotive industry in Turkey using multiple regression methods. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. A maximum concern was given to obtain at least three questionnaires from each firm to minimize the risk of getting biased answers from only one manager.

The data were analyzed by the regression method, and the mediation and moderation tests were conducted to test the established hypotheses. The direct relationship between MCs and firm performance was examined through linear regression, and a significant relationship was found (ß = 0.408; t = 5.656; p < 0.001). Pricing (ß = 0.404; p < 0.001), marketing research (ß = 0.367; p < 0.001) and marketing strategy and implementation (ß = 0.336; p < 0.001) had the strongest association with firm performance. The mediating role of MC on the relationship between DC and firm performance was assessed, and the analysis result yielded a significant result (ß = 0.439; t = 6.174; p < 0.001). Finally, the moderating effect of ED on the direct relationship between MC and firm performance was assessed. Yet, the interaction term was insignificant (ß = 0.013; t = 0.103; p = 0.918) in predicting firm performance.

Although the data set covers a broad range of firms operating in the Turkish automotive industry, the generalization of findings should only be possible through obtaining fresh evidence from other emerging markets that possess the similar market characteristics of Turkey. The cross-sectional nature of the study may offer insights only for a certain period of time; thus, additional longitudinal studies are recommended to see the dynamic changes on the constructs and relationships between them. Future studies may also include qualitative methods, i.e. interviews with top managers to have a deeper understanding on how DC–MC interaction creates better performance.

This study empirically shows the importance of MCs for firm performance; thus, managers should allocate significant efforts and resources for improving MCs. The demand for the electric and even autonomous vehicles is likely to increase in the following years, and this new era in the automotive industry requires more R&D and innovation-based products, i.e. green vehicles with low carbon footprint, the use of robotics and long-life batteries for electric vehicles. The cost-related pricing may no longer be a competitive advantage for the firms in emerging markets such as Turkish automotive industry; thus, more investment for disruptive technologies should be considered.

The results show that MCs of firms mediated the relationship between DCs and economic performance. Yet, ED did not play a moderating role on the relationships between MCs and performance. It is concluded that DCs were associated with improved firm performance via MCs. Furthermore, the insignificant impact of ED on the development of MCs leading to better performance was explained by firms’ given over-performing efforts in the context of emerging markets.

The interplay between gender and dynamic managerial capabilities is not well studied in the extant literature. This paper aims to explore how dynamic managerial capabilities, as prized qualities in the job market, are framed in gendered ways and how the gendering process disadvantages female and male workers for different reasons and harms the organisations, which use the managerial capabilities approach without proofing it for gender biases.

An extensive literature review was conducted and a framework that offers a new gender perspective was offered.

A number of ways dynamic managerial capabilities may be proofed for gender biases and how a gender-balanced framing of dynamic managerial capabilities may be achieved are identified.

This paper contributes to the development of a new gender perspective, which is called regendering of dynamic managerial capabilities, which frees the concept from its binary frames of gender, assumptions of gender neutrality, with a view to capture gender diversity in a way which is closer to its nature in theory and practice of dynamic managerial capabilities.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had an adverse impact on workforce diversity internationally. While in the Global North, many countries have sophisticated laws and organizational mechanisms and discourses to deal with such adverse impacts on workforce diversity, such structures of diversity management are either ceremonial or poorly developed in the Global South. The global pandemic disproportionately impacted Global North and Global South increases the existing gap due to vaccine rollout inequality and divergence in recoveries. The authors explore social innovation as a possible option for responding to the challenges induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study draws on interviews in 26 distinctive organizations operating in various industries in Turkey. The authors have adopted a qualitative design to explore how social innovation helps to respond to diversity concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors demonstrate that social innovation presents a viable option for a country with a poorly regulated context of diversity management. Social innovation could help overcome the challenge of the absence of supportive legislation, discourses and practices of diversity in poorly regulated contexts.

The field study revealed several distinct forms of social innovation for diversity management, which emerged as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors demonstrate that in the absence of supportive diversity management structures and frameworks, social innovation in diversity management at the organizational level could provide a viable response to the emergent needs in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Treatment of intersectionality in empirical studies has predominantly engaged with individual categories of difference. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that there is utility in exploring intersectionality at the intersection of individual and institutional levels. As such the authors move beyond the polarised take on intersections as either individual or institutional phenomenon and tackle intersectionality as a relational phenomenon that gains meaning at the encounter of individuals and institutions in context. Therefore, the authors explicate how intersectionality features as forms of solidarity and hostility in work environments. As such the authors posit that not only individuals but also the institutions should change if inclusion is aimed at societal and organisational levels.

A thematic analysis on qualitative interview data of a purposive- and snowball-selected sample of 11 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer working adults in Turkey was used.

This paper finds evidence to support the existence of a multidimensional model of intersectionality, where conflicting and complementary individual and institutional intersections create four intersectional typologies in the form of intersectional hostility, intersectional struggle, intersectional adjustment and intersectional solidarity.

The extant literature offers rich insights into individual intersectionality but sheds very little light on institutional intersectionality and its interaction with individual intersectionality. This paper attempts to fill in this gap by investigating intersectional encounters as interactions between the individual and institutional intersections.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relative contribution of tangible resource (TR) and intangible resource (IR), and capabilities on firm performance based on the measures of market share, sales turnover and profitability.

A cross-sectional survey research design was used in the study. The modified version of Galbreath and Galvin’s (2008) resource-performance questionnaire which included a total number of 45 questions was applied on 243 Turkish firms operating in different industries. The data collected were analysed by hierarchical regression analysis.

The findings revealed that IRs and capabilities contributed more greatly to firm performance compared to TRs. However, in contrast to the proposition of resource-based theory that views capabilities as the most important skills that underpin the development and deployment of both TR and IR, capabilities offered rather limited additional explanatory power to the prediction of firm performance only with respect to profitability against the combined effects of TR and IR.

The vast majority of the empirical resource-based view (RBV) research concentrates on developed countries and very little is known about results outside of this domain. This study employs Turkish business databases to assess the relative importance of TR and IR and capabilities on performance differences among firms in Turkey which was the 17th largest economy in the world trade in 2016. Second, in the RBV literature, limited research tests the contribution of capabilities to firm success after simultaneously accounting for the effects of other resources (namely, TR and IR) available to the firm. Finally, this research offers practical contributions to executives and managers who have to make adequate decisions for firm survival and growth in the competitive business arena.

There is a growing interest in the use of HR-based Industry 4.0 technologies for equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) issues yet the emerging trends of Industry 4.0 in EDI implementations and interventions are not fully covered. This chapter investigates the emerging themes regarding EDI and Industry 4.0 interaction through Google-based big data that show the actual interest in Industry 4.0 and EDI. Drawing on a web analytics method that tracks the real click behaviours of web users through querying combined sets of keywords, the study explores the trends and interactions between Industry 4.0 technologies and EDI-related HR practices. Our search engine results page (SERP) analyses find a high volume of queries and a significant interest between EDI elements and artificial intelligence (AI) only. In contrast to the suggestions of the extant literature, no significant user interest in other Industry 4.0 applications for EDI implementations was observed. The authors suggest that other Industry 4.0 technologies such as machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) for EDI implementations are in their early stages.

Owing to its colonial past, Britain has a long history of regulating race relations at international and national levels. In this chapter, we focus on race discrimination in the United Kingdom, exploring its historical roots, the politics of discrimination as reflected in public debates on ethnic diversity in the United Kingdom and regulatory frameworks that operate in the country. First, we explicate the historical context of immigration which shapes the meaning and practices of race discrimination at work and in life in the United Kingdom. We then describe the contemporary debates and the key actors in the field of race discrimination at work. The legal context is presented with key turning points which have led to the enactment of laws and the emergence of the particular way race equality and ethnic diversity are managed in the United Kingdom. We also demonstrate the intricate contradictions with regard to legal progress and setbacks with introduction of countervailing measures that undermine equality laws. We present a country case study which illustrates the complexities of race discrimination in a specific sector of work, that is, the technology-enabled private hire car services and change of ethnic composition in the hire care services in the United Kingdom. The chapter summary is presented at the end and it provides also a discussion of possible ways to combat race discrimination at work in the United Kingdom.

This study aims to investigate the complex interaction of different resource sets and capabilities in the process of performance creation within the context of resource-based theory.

An inductive case study approach that included multiple data collection methods such as in-depth interviews, observation and documentation was utilized.

Organizational culture, reputational assets, human capital, business processes and networking capabilities were found as the most important determinants of firm performance within the context of Ülker case study.

Although large-scale empirical studies can be used to explore the direct resource–performance relationship, these quantitative methods bypass the complex and embedded nature of intangibles and provide only a limited understanding of why some resources are identified as strategic but others are not, what their roles are, and how these resources are converted into positions of competitive advantage. However, understanding of complex nature of resources that are embedded in organizations designates the need for more fieldwork-based qualitative studies. This study aims to address this gap by providing a thorough understanding about the managerial and organizational processes through which the resources become valuable.

Considerable research efforts have been made to investigate the relative importance of firm‐specific vs industry structure factors in relation to performance variation among firms in the past. However, the vast majority of the research comes from the USA and very little is known about results outside of this domain. The aim of this study was to investigate industry and firm factors producing performance differences among Turkish firms. In order to explore the contributions of firm‐level factors and structural characteristics of industries, the study decomposes the relative impact of industry and firm effects on overall performance which includes the performance items such as sales turnover, market share and profitability.

A quantitative, positivistic approach was adopted with respect to the methodological choice for this study. In order to measure the relative impact of industry and firm effects on performance, the questionnaire developed by Galbreath and Galvin was sent to the e‐mail addresses of the general managers or the other executives at the top level as a web‐link with a covering letter. Because unit of analysis is at the firm level, a single informant is used in the study and the questionnaire was mailed to only one executive from each firm. Having collected the data, the effects of firm‐level factors (resources and capabilities) and industry structure on performance variation were analyzed by hierarchical regression method.

A total of 259 firms from different industries were analyzed and the findings revealed that firm‐level resources had a greater effect in explaining performance variation than industry structure in the Turkish business context. The results of this study confirm that in the resource‐based view of the firm, the firms in Turkey “demonstrated a quite developed form of organizational learning” just like the other emerging economies (i.e. Taiwan, Brazil, Poland and South Korea). Within this framework, Turkish firms especially in automotive, textile, food, tourism and construction industries became important players in the global arena.

This study contributes to the strategic management literature, particularly, in terms of providing comparable data from an emerging country, which is significant in verifying resource‐based theory and generalizing results in a global context. The findings also suggest that the firms need to focus on their unique resources rather than try to control and manipulate structural forces in their industries since “the economies today might best be viewed as resource‐based economies”. It should be noted that, in this business era, the key challenge for the managers is the optimal deployment of existing strategic resources in order to make their organizations achieve sustainable competitive advantage and superior firm performance.