Previous research has shown that vertical learning alliances help suppliers acquire knowledge to ... more Previous research has shown that vertical learning alliances help suppliers acquire knowledge to forge new capabilities and attain performance improvements. We ask whether such supplier improvements are exclusive to the learning partnership, or available in other average partnerships. We integrate theoretical elements from the resource-based and relational views to theorize that partnership exclusive performance, termed here ‘relational performance’, is a function of suppliers acquiring know how within the dyad, developing dyad-specific assets and capabilities and structuring buyer-supplier relational governance mechanisms. Based on empirical evidence from a survey with 253 suppliers to the equipment industry, we find that only parts of the supplier’s newly acquired capabilities are exclusive to the learning partnership, while the rest seems to permeate to the supplier’s average customer base. We discuss implications for research and practice. 1
Managerial risk taking is a critical aspect of strategic management. To improve competitive advan... more Managerial risk taking is a critical aspect of strategic management. To improve competitive advantage and performance, managers need to take risks, often in an uncertain environment. Formal economic assumptions of risk taking suggest that if the expected values for two strategies are similar but one is a greater gamble (uncertain), managers will choose the strategy with a more certain outcome. Based on these assumptions, agency theory assumes that top managers should be compensated or monitored to achieve better outcomes. We review the theory and research on agency theory and managerial risk taking along with theories that challenge this basic assumption about risk taking: the behavioral theory of the firm, prospect theory, the behavioral agency model and the related socioemotional wealth perspective, and upper echelons theory. We contribute to the literature by reviewing and suggesting research opportunities within and across these theories to develop a comprehensive research agend...
Motivated by the growth and internationalization of business groups, this paper reviews the busin... more Motivated by the growth and internationalization of business groups, this paper reviews the business group literature and presents a future research agenda, highlighting their implications for international strategy. The paper identifies theoretical tensions and empirical ambiguities around three key business group features—corporate governance, internal markets, and corporate strategy—and three key outcome variables—performance, economic impact, and innovation—that have generated significant debate. We conclude with three methodological concerns relevant to these debates: generalizing business group research across countries, endogeneity in business group research, and performance measurement in business groups.
This research examines the impact of structural change on financial performance in six organizati... more This research examines the impact of structural change on financial performance in six organizations. It includes a safeguard to ruling out regression toward the mean and also a general environmental specification not included in past research efforts. Historical case analysis is used to specify the year of the structural change and then time series methodology is employed to test the impact of the new structural form on a time series of return on assets over a 62 year period. The results indicate that reorganization to the multidivisional form has a positive impact on financial performance even given general environmental fluctuations.
More training programs than we should like to admit have begun with little more than a trainer, a... more More training programs than we should like to admit have begun with little more than a trainer, a group of trainees, a packaged program, and an opening session. In an apparent disregard for the fundamentals of training principles, organizations have followed approaches described by Newport as: (1) the smorgasbord approach, in which a menu of diversified training programs is offered but participants seldom acquire a depth of understanding in anyone area; (2) the bandwagon approach, characterized by a willingness to follow the crowd, with little attention given to assessing training needs; ( 3) the crisis approach, exemplifying the philosophy that training is not needed until a crisis develops; and (4) the excursion approach, resting on the assumption that a correlation exists between benefits received and distance traveled to participate in training activities. 1 Yet training deals with the largest and most valuable resource of most organizations-their personnel-and it can have a substantial impact, positive or negative, on organizational performance and the achievement of individual and collective objectives. If this dictum is true for organizations generally, it is equally valid and appropriate when applied to an organization such as the state Employment Security and Job Service system, the subject of this article; after all, its business is people, and its internal training and development practices should reflect organizational values and individual needs. In order to assess the needs for training in a systematic fashion, the right tools must be chosen and used to the best possible effect. This article takes the view that training is best seen as a process, similar to other management and organizational processes, rather than as a product. The implication is that the assessment of training needs is not simply a matter of deciding which programs or products to buy or not to buy, to put on or not to put on. Rather, it is a process of information gathering to diagnose changing requirements of the or-
You are invited to participate in the Second IACMR biennial Conference to be held in Nanjing, Peo... more You are invited to participate in the Second IACMR biennial Conference to be held in Nanjing, People's Republic of China, on June 15-18, 2006. IACMR, the International Association for Chinese Management Research, is a professional, academic organization dedicated to serving scholars, students, managers, and consultants who are interested in advancing knowledge about the management of organizations operating in the Chinese context. The primary goal of the IACMR is to promote scholarly studies of the organization and management of firms in the Chinese context.
Three theoretical perspectives summarize diversification antecedents and performance outcomes. Th... more Three theoretical perspectives summarize diversification antecedents and performance outcomes. The first perspective examines diversification under the assumption of relative market perfection where, within industries, firms and products are homogeneous. The second perspective discusses diversification where both market and firm imperfections are assumed to exist. The thirdperspective also assumes market andfirm imperfections, butfurther assumes imperfect governance structures such that managerial motivesfor diversification are influential. These perspectives provide different explanations of antecedent resources and incentives that encourage (or discourage) diversification. This article reviews evidence associated with each perspective concerning the relationship between diversification and firm performance and offers suggestions forfuture research based on comparisons among these alternative perspectives.
Organizations are combining resources through acquisitions and alliances in record numbers. Since... more Organizations are combining resources through acquisitions and alliances in record numbers. Since publication of our original study in 1991, research has confirmed that resource complementarity creates the potential for greater synergy from acquisitions and alliances, leading to higher long-term firm performance as an end result. The valuable, unique, and inimitable synergy that can be realized by integrating complementary resources provides an opportunity for the firm to create competitive advantages that can be sustained for a period of time. In addition, complementary resources present opportunities for enhanced learning as well as the development of new capabilities. However, we also suggest that the existence of complementary resources is a necessary but insufficient condition to achieve synergy. The resources must be effectively integrated and managed to realize the synergy.
Theory suggests that synergy is an essential ingredientfor value creation to occur as a result of... more Theory suggests that synergy is an essential ingredientfor value creation to occur as a result of acquisitions. This dominant theory often argues for similarities among resources in the acquiring and targetfirms. However; it is argued here that uniquely valuable synergy might be created where differences (versus similarities) exist between resources in the acquiring and target firms. Tests of these competing hypotheses confirmed that differences contributed significantly to performance in the mergedfirm. Thisfinding may suggest that traditional distinctions between related and unrelated mergers may not be as useful as once thought. A focus on specific resources rather than strategy types in the merger and acquisition research may better explain firm performance.
It has been argued that a firm's propensity to violate federal laws and regulations is relate... more It has been argued that a firm's propensity to violate federal laws and regulations is related to firm size, diversity, financial pressures, and organizational structure and processes (Clinard & Yeager, 1980). The current paper tests these propositions using United States data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. The findings offer at best weak support for some of these propositions while strongly suggesting that most are invalid. The results have important implications for future research and practice.
This study incorporates an institutional perspective with the corporate entrepreneurship literatu... more This study incorporates an institutional perspective with the corporate entrepreneurship literature by examining how firms' corporate entrepreneurial intensity is related to business groups' social capital and control mechanisms, as well as government ...
Previous research has shown that vertical learning alliances help suppliers acquire knowledge to ... more Previous research has shown that vertical learning alliances help suppliers acquire knowledge to forge new capabilities and attain performance improvements. We ask whether such supplier improvements are exclusive to the learning partnership, or available in other average partnerships. We integrate theoretical elements from the resource-based and relational views to theorize that partnership exclusive performance, termed here ‘relational performance’, is a function of suppliers acquiring know how within the dyad, developing dyad-specific assets and capabilities and structuring buyer-supplier relational governance mechanisms. Based on empirical evidence from a survey with 253 suppliers to the equipment industry, we find that only parts of the supplier’s newly acquired capabilities are exclusive to the learning partnership, while the rest seems to permeate to the supplier’s average customer base. We discuss implications for research and practice. 1
Managerial risk taking is a critical aspect of strategic management. To improve competitive advan... more Managerial risk taking is a critical aspect of strategic management. To improve competitive advantage and performance, managers need to take risks, often in an uncertain environment. Formal economic assumptions of risk taking suggest that if the expected values for two strategies are similar but one is a greater gamble (uncertain), managers will choose the strategy with a more certain outcome. Based on these assumptions, agency theory assumes that top managers should be compensated or monitored to achieve better outcomes. We review the theory and research on agency theory and managerial risk taking along with theories that challenge this basic assumption about risk taking: the behavioral theory of the firm, prospect theory, the behavioral agency model and the related socioemotional wealth perspective, and upper echelons theory. We contribute to the literature by reviewing and suggesting research opportunities within and across these theories to develop a comprehensive research agend...
Motivated by the growth and internationalization of business groups, this paper reviews the busin... more Motivated by the growth and internationalization of business groups, this paper reviews the business group literature and presents a future research agenda, highlighting their implications for international strategy. The paper identifies theoretical tensions and empirical ambiguities around three key business group features—corporate governance, internal markets, and corporate strategy—and three key outcome variables—performance, economic impact, and innovation—that have generated significant debate. We conclude with three methodological concerns relevant to these debates: generalizing business group research across countries, endogeneity in business group research, and performance measurement in business groups.
This research examines the impact of structural change on financial performance in six organizati... more This research examines the impact of structural change on financial performance in six organizations. It includes a safeguard to ruling out regression toward the mean and also a general environmental specification not included in past research efforts. Historical case analysis is used to specify the year of the structural change and then time series methodology is employed to test the impact of the new structural form on a time series of return on assets over a 62 year period. The results indicate that reorganization to the multidivisional form has a positive impact on financial performance even given general environmental fluctuations.
More training programs than we should like to admit have begun with little more than a trainer, a... more More training programs than we should like to admit have begun with little more than a trainer, a group of trainees, a packaged program, and an opening session. In an apparent disregard for the fundamentals of training principles, organizations have followed approaches described by Newport as: (1) the smorgasbord approach, in which a menu of diversified training programs is offered but participants seldom acquire a depth of understanding in anyone area; (2) the bandwagon approach, characterized by a willingness to follow the crowd, with little attention given to assessing training needs; ( 3) the crisis approach, exemplifying the philosophy that training is not needed until a crisis develops; and (4) the excursion approach, resting on the assumption that a correlation exists between benefits received and distance traveled to participate in training activities. 1 Yet training deals with the largest and most valuable resource of most organizations-their personnel-and it can have a substantial impact, positive or negative, on organizational performance and the achievement of individual and collective objectives. If this dictum is true for organizations generally, it is equally valid and appropriate when applied to an organization such as the state Employment Security and Job Service system, the subject of this article; after all, its business is people, and its internal training and development practices should reflect organizational values and individual needs. In order to assess the needs for training in a systematic fashion, the right tools must be chosen and used to the best possible effect. This article takes the view that training is best seen as a process, similar to other management and organizational processes, rather than as a product. The implication is that the assessment of training needs is not simply a matter of deciding which programs or products to buy or not to buy, to put on or not to put on. Rather, it is a process of information gathering to diagnose changing requirements of the or-
You are invited to participate in the Second IACMR biennial Conference to be held in Nanjing, Peo... more You are invited to participate in the Second IACMR biennial Conference to be held in Nanjing, People's Republic of China, on June 15-18, 2006. IACMR, the International Association for Chinese Management Research, is a professional, academic organization dedicated to serving scholars, students, managers, and consultants who are interested in advancing knowledge about the management of organizations operating in the Chinese context. The primary goal of the IACMR is to promote scholarly studies of the organization and management of firms in the Chinese context.
Three theoretical perspectives summarize diversification antecedents and performance outcomes. Th... more Three theoretical perspectives summarize diversification antecedents and performance outcomes. The first perspective examines diversification under the assumption of relative market perfection where, within industries, firms and products are homogeneous. The second perspective discusses diversification where both market and firm imperfections are assumed to exist. The thirdperspective also assumes market andfirm imperfections, butfurther assumes imperfect governance structures such that managerial motivesfor diversification are influential. These perspectives provide different explanations of antecedent resources and incentives that encourage (or discourage) diversification. This article reviews evidence associated with each perspective concerning the relationship between diversification and firm performance and offers suggestions forfuture research based on comparisons among these alternative perspectives.
Organizations are combining resources through acquisitions and alliances in record numbers. Since... more Organizations are combining resources through acquisitions and alliances in record numbers. Since publication of our original study in 1991, research has confirmed that resource complementarity creates the potential for greater synergy from acquisitions and alliances, leading to higher long-term firm performance as an end result. The valuable, unique, and inimitable synergy that can be realized by integrating complementary resources provides an opportunity for the firm to create competitive advantages that can be sustained for a period of time. In addition, complementary resources present opportunities for enhanced learning as well as the development of new capabilities. However, we also suggest that the existence of complementary resources is a necessary but insufficient condition to achieve synergy. The resources must be effectively integrated and managed to realize the synergy.
Theory suggests that synergy is an essential ingredientfor value creation to occur as a result of... more Theory suggests that synergy is an essential ingredientfor value creation to occur as a result of acquisitions. This dominant theory often argues for similarities among resources in the acquiring and targetfirms. However; it is argued here that uniquely valuable synergy might be created where differences (versus similarities) exist between resources in the acquiring and target firms. Tests of these competing hypotheses confirmed that differences contributed significantly to performance in the mergedfirm. Thisfinding may suggest that traditional distinctions between related and unrelated mergers may not be as useful as once thought. A focus on specific resources rather than strategy types in the merger and acquisition research may better explain firm performance.
It has been argued that a firm's propensity to violate federal laws and regulations is relate... more It has been argued that a firm's propensity to violate federal laws and regulations is related to firm size, diversity, financial pressures, and organizational structure and processes (Clinard & Yeager, 1980). The current paper tests these propositions using United States data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. The findings offer at best weak support for some of these propositions while strongly suggesting that most are invalid. The results have important implications for future research and practice.
This study incorporates an institutional perspective with the corporate entrepreneurship literatu... more This study incorporates an institutional perspective with the corporate entrepreneurship literature by examining how firms' corporate entrepreneurial intensity is related to business groups' social capital and control mechanisms, as well as government ...
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Papers by Robert Hoskisson