Management Research The Journal of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management

Gupta, Vipin; Rose, Lawrence; Jordão, Ricardo Vinícius Dias

2019 Management Research The Journal of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management

doi: 10.1108/MRJIAM-06-2019-914

Jain, Neetu; Shauran, Bharti

2019 Management Research The Journal of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management

doi: 10.1108/mrjiam-04-2018-0828

This paper aims to understand what it takes for an organization to transform itself into a great and healthy place to work. A comprehensive fivefold framework has been used to assess employees’ practices in the organization under study. This framework focuses on five aspects of a human being where he/she may like to satisfy his needs, i.e. physical, intellectual, social, emotional and spiritual. Organizations need to design various programs to address employees’ needs at these five dimensions to get their best and for making an organization a healthy and desired place to work at.Design/methodology/approachFor collecting data for this study, a triangular approach peculiar to a survey research was adopted, i.e. the use of questionnaires, interviews and documented evidence. SPSS was used to analyze the data. Results from survey were supplemented with gaps identified through desk study. Confirmatory factor analysis was carried out to check the validity of the instrument.FindingsA wider role of the human resources department is being envisaged by proposing to set up a separate “people management office”, which will be responsible for project people management and developing a “CONDUCIVE” culture. Further, innovative recommendations are proposed for making an organization a great place to work in.Practical implicationsThis study has several important implications for the practitioners. First, this study developed a comprehensive five-fold framework, which focuses on five aspects or levels or dimensions of a human being, i.e. physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual. A person would have needs corresponding to each of these levels. This framework can be used to study employees’ practices in the organizations on these five crucial dimensions. Organizations can design various programs to address employee needs around these five dimensions to get their best and for making an organization a healthy and desired place to work. Second, the “CONDUCIVE” model proposed in this study for developing conducive culture adds a novel insight to the growing body of literature in this area. This model can be used by human resources managers to have better employee engagement, which in turn will make their organization a healthy workplace.Originality/valueThis paper makes use of a comprehensive five-fold framework developed by the author to study employees’ practices in the organizations on five dimensions. It is proposed to develop a “CONDUCIVE” culture, a model developed by the author with a number of activities. This model will enhance the employee engagement in an organization, which eventually will make the organization a healthy place to work in. As suggested, organizations can set up a people management office as well to harness people power.

Yadav, Seemant Kumar; Tripathi, Vikas; Goel, Geetika

2019 Management Research The Journal of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management

doi: 10.1108/mrjiam-03-2018-0827

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of market orientation on performance and to figure out the mediator effect of incremental innovation on this relationship with an implementation on Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs).Design/methodology/approachFollowing a survey among 333 owners/managers of SMEs in Indian, six research propositions were framed. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and regression analysis was used for the purpose of data analysis.FindingsThe outcome of the study demonstrates a significant effect of market orientation on SMEs performance. In addition, the mediating effect of innovation between market orientation and business performance was not supported in the context.Research limitations/implicationsThis study uses cross-sectional research, which limits the ability to test the causality; hence, such studies should be replicated in other settings also to get more evidences about the relationship.Practical implicationsThe research will help managers especially in manufacturing SMEs of developing countries to understand benefits of being market-oriented to improve performance.Originality/valueThe study attempts to enrich the market orientation literature especially in developing economies. It identifies the significant effect of interfunctional coordination on performance of small and medium enterprises working in more volatile environment. Further, the study also examines mediating role of innovation between market orientation and performance linkage.

Ortegon-Cortazar, Leonardo

2019 Management Research The Journal of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management

doi: 10.1108/mrjiam-02-2018-0814

The mall industry in Latin America has grown rapidly in the past decade, offering diverse proposals oriented to improving the attractiveness of this commerce format; along this line, despite the fact that several studies have analyzed variables from an ecological perspective based on the relationship of the physical space with the consumers (from a marketing context), there is shortage in research regarding alternative attractiveness factors inspired by nature, although its connection with people’s behavior has been confirmed. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to answer the following question: Is the perception of environments with natural resources displayed in malls an alternative attractiveness factor for visitors? Thus, does it benefit its own competitive management against other attractiveness variables that focus on offering variety, accessibility, physical design and entertainment?Design/methodology/approachThe quantitative method is an exploratory factor analysis that is followed by a confirmatory analysis and resulting in a measurement model based on 470 effective questionnaires. The exploratory and confirmatory nature focused on multidimensional verification of the measurement model (including the validation of the eco-natural environment) justified this choice in consistence with prior research that has used goodness of fit criteria.FindingsThe paper not only suggests the existence of a perception factor in the eco-natural environment, but it also determines its comparative importance over other traditional attractiveness factors reported in scientific literature. Particularly because commercial attractiveness is a consequence of how marketing variables are managed by malls and of how consumers respond to said variables, benefiting the visit’s experience.Practical implicationsThe paper contributes to malls’ competitive management by suggesting and proving the importance of the eco-natural environment as a commercial attractiveness factor; thus, the results encourage this format’s developers to take into account new ways of persuasion considering its progressive and competitive rise in the past years in Latin America.Originality/valueThere is shortage of research on alternative attractiveness factors for malls; therefore, contrasting the eco-natural environment in a measurement model of commercial attractiveness allows contributing strategic information to the industry, which in turn constitutes an innovative resource to lure and motivate visitors. On the other hand, the paper contributes the state of knowledge of environmental variables over consumers’ assessments.

Castillo, Julio Cesar; Goicochea, Elsa; Chong, Mario; Rodriguez, Michelle

2019 Management Research The Journal of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management

doi: 10.1108/mrjiam-05-2018-0835

In recent decades, there has been an important growth of Latin American cities; therefore, the demand for resources and services has increased for cities to function and meet the needs of their inhabitants. Latin American cities are growing rapidly and this process affects the quality of life of citizens. The purpose of this paper is to characterize the logistics of an area of the city of Lima, Peru; through the analysis of the practices of the last mile distribution, and in this way, contribute with information that can be used for decision-making and for the proposal of public policies that improve the efficiency of logistics operations in the area.Design/methodology/approachRegarding the methodology applied, first, we identified the district to be analyzed using marketing information from the districts of Lima. Next, the authors collected information using forms following the methodology of the last Mile/Km2-MIT. Finally, the project planning finished in 15 days.FindingsIt was found that most of the stores in the area are nanostores that sell diverse products, the community does not have parking lots or loading and unloading areas and the majority of deliveries are made to wholesalers and supermarkets. In addition, a relationship between business density and the traffic congestion was identified and taxis are the most widely used means of distribution of goods. Most of the streets do not have signage, they are mainly one-way and do not have exclusive routes for public transportation.Research limitations/implicationsDue to not having georeference information about the specific stores location and statistics data about its suppliers, the research results may show a primarily scope. Based on the results, the authors are encouraged to do more research using data analytics as in the next steps.Practical implicationsThe paper reinforces the importance and challenge of working collaboration between suppliers, owners and local government.Social implicationsThe paper provides opportunities to create new policies, as well as an incentive plan for personal workers, suppliers and ecosolution proposals.Originality/valueCurrently, as per the authors’ knowledge, there is no varied literature that characterizes and analyzes the logistic profile of the districts of Lima city and serves as a basis for the implementation of solutions and public policies.

Castro-Ríos, Guido Angello; Noguera-Hidalgo, Ángela Lucía; Gómez-Soler, Silvia Consuelo

2019 Management Research: The Journal of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management

doi: 10.1108/mrjiam-03-2018-0821

The purpose of this paper is to focus on achieving an approximation to the understanding of the situation of management doctoral programs in Colombia. Despite the need to evaluate the suitability and relevance of management doctoral programs, at present, there are no studies that inquire about the conditions of students and graduates of doctoral programs in the management research field.Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory exercise was developed, information was collected with students and graduates of various doctoral programs to initiate a contextualization and characterization in terms of doctoral training from the students’ point of view.FindingsAt the end, conclusions are presented on the status and prospects to continue with future studies that allow find the conditions of doctoral level training in the management field and the impact of the research carried out by doctoral students and graduates of these programs.Originality/valueThis paper will contribute to the review of the existing studies regarding doctoral education in management in Colombia, which presents principal motivations about investigation in the field of study, and as such, open the space to question about the reality of the programs in terms of those who are receiving the formation.

Gupta, Vipin; Zhang, Yi

2019 Management Research: The Journal of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management

doi: 10.1108/mrjiam-01-2019-0903

Strategic fit is known to be an important antecedent to a firm’s performance, but there is little research explaining its influence on firm’s environmental performance. This paper aims to propose that strategic fit is likely to affect two firm-level outcomes: dynamic equilibrium and dynamic disequilibrium.Design/methodology/approachPrior debate has underlined the role of adaptation vs selection in achieving strategic fit, but we assert that firms vary in their strategic fit. This paper models inter-firm differentials in environmental performance, using survey data from a sample of Chinese small and medium enterprises.FindingsTransformative leadership, operational agility and knowledge-based identity facilitate compensatory fit, while productivity growth, strategic adaptability and low product-market maturity enable strategic fit.Theoretical implicationsThe authors show how low strategic fit may provide selection advantages via compensatory fit. Some firms do seek to achieve greater fit to the embedded contextual contingencies (dynamic equilibrium) at the cost of their energy. However, others respond to the expectations for green performance that are presently orthogonal to the embedded context to realize compensatory fit using the energy of the context (dynamic disequilibrium). This manifests as differential capabilities for adaptation vs selection.Practical implicationsThe findings highlight how the firms may use cultural fit pathway for transcending the phenomenological tradeoffs between economic performance-oriented strategic fit and ecological performance-oriented compensatory fit.Originality/valueThis paper shows how low strategic fit may provide selection advantages via compensatory fit. Some firms do seek to achieve greater fit to the embedded contextual contingencies (dynamic equilibrium) at the cost of their energy. However, others respond to the expectations for green performance that are presently orthogonal to the embedded context, to realize compensatory fit using the energy of the context (dynamic disequilibrium). This manifests as differential capabilities for adaptation vs selection.