Search results

In recent years, many companies have decided to decertify from their previously adopted corporate social responsibility (CSR) standards. The aim of this paper is to explore the phenomenon by focusing on the most important auditable CSR standard: Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000).

First, an event study is performed on a dataset composed of 136 SA8000 decertified public listed companies to analyse the possible relationship between certification, decertification and firms’ operating performance. Second, the authors shed light on the differences between 94 SA8000 (still) certified and the abovementioned 136 decertified firms. Finally, 10 interviews are conducted with decertified firms in the dataset to deepen the outcomes of the previous analyses.

The results show that, despite an initial positive effect in terms of sales and profitability, decertified companies experienced a reduction in productivity and profitability in the years following the certification, while positive outcomes emerged after the decertification. The study also highlights that certified and decertified firms differ in terms of home country, industry and labour intensity.

The paper contributes to the literature by opening the debate on an important but unexplored research area: the decertification from the most popular CSR standard, i.e. SA8000, and its relationship with firms' performance. In doing this, it also highlights the main differences between decertified and certified companies.

Innovation is regarded as a crucial determinant of growth and development in South Africa, and small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) have been earmarked as instruments for the achievement of the socio-economic goals and innovation as set out in the National Development Plan. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of innovation on SMME performance in South Africa.

The empirical analysis was conducted using the quantile regression technique to examine the effect of innovation on the performance of firms at different sales levels. Data from the World Bank's enterprise survey was used for the analysis.

The results of the empirical analysis showed that R & D expenditures have a positive and significant effect on performance for firms with higher sales (high growth or larger firms). There is evidence that the introduction of new products/services promotes performance for low growth/ smaller firms.

The empirical results imply that innovation is crucial for SMMEs’ development and growth. However, smaller/low growth firms are not able to spend on R & D due to a lack of funds which could be the reason for their low survival rate. More support needs to be provided to smaller firms with lower sales growth, given the large financial outlay required for R & D expenditures. Despite the lack of funding for R & D expenditure, smaller firms are encouraged to introduce new products and methods of production that do not require major financial outlays.

There is scant empirical evidence on the impact of innovation on firm performance in South Africa. Most studies investigate the challenges faced by SMMEs and the different types of innovation approaches used by firms. Furthermore, the study employs the quantile regression approach which highlights the effect of innovation on firms of different sizes.

The unprecedented economic crisis in Greece deeply affected entrepreneurship, which was traditionally characterised by low levels of innovation and competitiveness, the dominant presence of micro-sized enterprises and the weak signs of prosperity in large firms. This paper, in acknowledgement of the necessary transformations that production incurred due to the crisis, attempts to detect the characteristics of large manufacturing firms that contributed to their greater resilience during the unstable period of 2011–2016 by analysing the determinants of the higher profitability of firms. The analysis shows that firms that improved their productivity and sales levels and in parallel are flexible, in the sense that they have limited amounts of both assets and liabilities and thus a small risk, are those that presented higher profits during the period under study. Initial conditions, sectoral characteristics and the broader national environment do not seem to have a strong contributive role in firms' profitability.

The analysis follows a dynamic system generalised method of moments (GMM) estimation based on a panel data set of 125 Greek large firms over the time span 2011–2016.

The analysis shows that firms that improve their productivity and sales levels and in parallel are flexible, in the sense that they have a limited amount of both assets and liabilities and thus a small risk, are those that present higher profits during the period under study. Initial conditions, sectoral characteristics and the broader national environment do not seem to have a strong contributive role in firms' profitability.

The present paper attempts to explain the performance of the most dynamic large manufacturing firms in Greece by investigating the role of some of the most important determinants of firm profitability (according to data availability), acknowledging, however, some analysis' limitations as the absence of some other parameters like the export activity or the incorporation of any innovative features in the firms

The novelty of this paper lies in two points. First, the subject of the analysis is the large firms in Greece, which have not received much attention as Greek entrepreneurship was traditionally based on the light, labour- or resource-intensive production and the main bulk of the literature was not on that topic. Second, during the deep and protracted crisis that Greece has experienced, several production transformations have taken place that remain partly undiscovered. The present paper attempts to analyse the characteristics of large firms that drove their profitability and improved their resilience during the crucial time period 2011–16.

在希臘出現的史無前例的經濟危機深深地影響了該國的創業能力，而希臘的創業能力有其傳統特徵：低水平的創新與競爭力、微型企業佔主導地位和大企業呈現微弱的繁榮跡象。本文在承認這經濟危機導致生產必須轉型的前提下，研究那些於2011年至2016年這不穩定期間營運的大型製造公司，透過分析它們能取得更高利潤的決定因素，以探求是哪些公司特徵使其有更強的抵禦和復原能力。分析顯示，那些改善了生產率和銷售水平的公司，亦同時是靈活變通的公司 （所謂靈活變通，是指公司無論在資產抑或負債方面的數量上都是有限的，因此，它們只需冒小風險），就是那些在本研究涵蓋期間展示獲取更高利潤的公司。初始條件、行業的特徵和更廣泛的國家環境，就公司的盈利能力而言，似乎沒有扮演重要的促進角色。

分析用了廣義動差估計(GMM)這動態系統，基於涵蓋125間希臘大公司、橫跨2011年至2016年期間的面板數據。

分析顯示，那些改善生產率和銷售水平的公司，亦同時是靈活變通的公司 （所謂靈活變通，是指公司無論在資產抑或負債方面的數量上都是有限的，因此，它們只需冒小風險），就是那些在本研究涵蓋期間展示獲取更高利潤的公司。初始條件、行業的特徵和更廣泛的國家環境，就公司的盈利能力而言，似乎沒有扮演重要的促進角色。

本文擬透過探討一些決定公司盈利能力最重要的因素 （根據數據的可獲性），來闡釋在希臘那些最有動力的大型製造公司的績效，但亦同時承認分析有局限之處，那就是，分析沒有涵蓋一些其它決定因素：出口活動和那些公司有否納入任何創新功能。

本文有兩個創新之處：首先，本研究分析的對象是在希臘的大企業，而這個研究對象和課題未曾得到頗多的關注，這是因為希臘的創業能力一向基於勞動密集型或資源密集型的輕工業生產，而過去大部分文獻都不涉及這個課題。另外，當希臘經歷這個巨大且持久的危機時，國內有些仍未普遍察覺的生產轉型出現了。本文擬分析推動大企業於2011年至2016年間這關鍵時刻取得利潤，及改善其抵禦和復原能力的公司特徵。

Despite many efforts within organizations toward business process orientation (BPO), research on real-world experiences remains in its infancy. The purpose of this paper is to redress the existing knowledge gap by analyzing a Swedish public housing company that has made notable effects regarding BPO and to explore lessons learned from the BPO journey (from 1998 to 2013).

The point of departure is principles in the BPO foundation, principles of successful BPM and effects in empirically based literature. The reconstruction of the narrative case study describes milestones and critical junctions, as well as effects based on quantitative and qualitative data.

Effects in BPO are demonstrated in terms of higher customer satisfaction, increased innovative ability, improved operational performance, higher employee satisfaction and, as a result of these, increased profitability. Theoretical constructs with implications for the theory building on BPO are suggested in a three-layer management framework – with capabilities and abilities emerging from the case study used as an illustrative example.

Lessons are learned regarding critical practices related to advancement in BPO. A strategy-building process based on eight design propositions is suggested to define the pre-conditions for BPO in an organization.

This is the first longitudinal case study to provide a comprehensive view and detailed insights of a BPO journey and top management performance toward a business process-oriented organization. Practitioners and BPM community get valuable insights into how the temporality and the context shape the BPO maturity process in terms of new organizational structure and roles during the journey.

This study investigates the effect of managerial ability on labor productivity by analyzing various methods in the firm-year panel data of listed firms in South Korea from 2002 to 2019. Managerial ability was analyzed using the measurement method of Demerjian et al. (2012), while labor productivity was analyzed using value-added and sales. The authors find that managerial ability has a positive effect on labor productivity. In other words, the productivity of employees improves with the appointment of a manager with higher abilities. The study’s findings suggest that firms should consider managerial ability as a means of improving labor productivity.

The majority of business-to-business companies are working on their digital transformation in sales. Despite enormous transformation efforts, the expected productivity gains are often missing in most companies. Based on empirical research, this paper aims to develop a new market-oriented transformation model. Management implications as well as future research directions are derived for a more focused digital transformation process in sales.

Within the exploratory research study, 90 key informants were interviewed to provide better insights in the context of digital transformation in sales. The accuracy of the research results was safeguarded by triangulation.

As this research paper will show, the reasons for the missing productivity gains caused by a limited knowledge about the main success factors of digital transformation as well as a lack of understanding of digital transformation as an evolving process.

Based on the empirical research, a new market-oriented transformation model is developed and management implications as well as future research directions are derived for a more focused digital transformation process in sales.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the relationship between the adoption of Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000) – which is considered the most important ethical certification standard – and firm performance, building on agency and contingency theories.

The authors analyse secondary longitudinal balance sheet data of listed firms employing a rigorous event-study approach and compare SA8000-certified companies to different control groups based on three matching criteria, i.e., industry, size, and pre-certification performance. The authors then study the moderating effects of the cultural features, the country’s development level, and the labour intensity on the causal relationship through multiple regression methods.

The authors find that SA8000 certification positively affects labour productivity and sales performance but has no effect on profitability. Furthermore, the study supports that the relationship between SA8000 and profitability is moderated by two cultural features of the home country of the firms (i.e. power distance and uncertainty avoidance).

This is the first study, which empirically tests the effects of the ethical certification SA8000 on firm performance using a cross-country sample. In addition, the authors contribute to the wider debate on the effects of corporate social responsibility practices on firm performance.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of the firms' external environment on their export intensity. More specifically, it assesses whether domestic market characteristics such as domestic demand and general export environment related to tradability across borders affect firms' export intensity.

The authors use a sample of 29,266 firms from nine European countries, for the period of 2010–2016, and test several estimation methods (random effects models, Tobit models, and Heckman's selection models).

Results show that external factors such as domestic demand and ease of trade across borders are important determinants of firms' export intensity. Moreover, results reveal that firm's internal characteristics such as age, size and productivity also play an import role.

Studies about the influence of the firms' external environment on firms' export intensity are scarce because most of them are confined to a single country context. In this way, the present study contributes to the body of knowledge on the influence that external factors can have on firms' export performance by analyzing firms from nine European countries, which has important policy implications.

Effective business and investment climate can lead to a higher rate of investment, profits and improved productivity, through the creation of an institutional environment, where the state provides high-quality public goods. This study aims to explore the impact of the business–investment climate on firm performance in a sample of six countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Turkey. Furthermore, we extend our analysis to explore the impact of business–investment climate on the resource misallocation in Egypt and Turkey.

The study used fixed effects models to investigate the relationship between the business and investment climate, expressed by the obstacles in state–business relations- and the firm performance, which is measured by the firm's value-added, the labour productivity and the total factor productivity To reduce the endogeneity coming from possible reverse causality and the perceptions about the business climate, an instrumental variables (IV) approach applying the two-stage least squares (2SLS) method was followed. The empirical analysis relies on data derived from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys.

Based on estimates, the obstacles in business climate may reduce the firm performance measures by 15–40%. These findings indicate the importance of quality in the business climate and how the improvement in its efficiency can have a very considerable positive impact on firms' performance and thus on the overall economic growth of a country.

This is the first study exploring the impact of business–investment climate on various measures of the firm performance and the resource misallocation in a large sample of countries in the MENA region.

This study investigates the ability of crime management expenses, recognised external quality certification and ownership structure to describe the cross-sectional changes in the capital and labour efficiencies of manufacturing firms in middle income economies. It controls for the potential effects of graft incidence and firm age on firm-level efficiency.

The study adopts a state space model approach within the context of cross-sectional regressions. Data for the study are obtained from the World Bank Enterprise Survey for 2006, 2009, 2013, 2016 and 2019.

The study provides evidence that crime management expenses impact labour efficiency negatively. Also, its effect on capital efficiency is positive in 2019 and negative in 2013 and 2016 eras. Additionally, external auditor services and internationally recognised quality certification increase labour and capital efficiencies. Graft incidence exerts negative and positive effect on capital efficiency in the recent and earlier periods respectively. In addition, older firms tend to have higher labour efficiency, whilst younger firms have higher capital efficiency. There is evidence of firm size and export orientation effects in the drivers of efficiency.

Policies aimed at creating graft and crime-free business environment will enhance the efficiency and growth of firms' particularly for small firms. Also, the market rewards recognised quality assurance and good reputation.