Being entrepreneurial and market driven: implications for company performanceShaker A. Zahra
2008 Journal of Strategy and Management
doi: 10.1108/17554250810926339
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically the interaction between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and market orientation and its effect on performance in both high and low technology industries. Design/methodology/approach – The paper proposes that being entrepreneurial and market‐driven stem from two distinct organizational capabilities that interact to influence subsequent firm performance. Findings – Data from 457 manufacturing firms show that the interaction effect is significant only in high technology industries. Research limitations/implications – The results encourage future research on the nexus of opportunity recognition and entrepreneurial behavior in established firms embedded in organizational routines. Originality/value – The paper shows that managers in high technology industries would benefit from developing capabilities and implementing systems that augment their firms' market orientation. Market orientation provides an important means to harness the firm's EO, an important means of achieving growth and profitability.
Strategically crafting a customer‐focused culture: an inductive case studyRobert C. Ford; Celeste P.M. Wilderom; John Caparella
2008 Journal of Strategy and Management
doi: 10.1108/17554250810926348
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how the content of a firm's culture, carefully developed by top managers, can create effective employee experiences and how this exemplary case of strategic culture shaping relate to various academic insights on intangible social or collaborative capital. Design/methodology/approach – Inductive case study (of a large American convention hotel), highlighting the strategic crafting of a service‐firm culture, both descriptively (in terms of what took place) and analytically (in terms of various OB‐literatures). Findings – Describes how organizational culture can be part of strategizing in terms of aligning cultural expressions regarding various employees' practices, including continuous organizational improvement. Analyzes and integrates various extant culture insights on service cultures and culture strength. Research limitations/implications – Insights are applicable to a wide variety of work settings beyond the hospitality and service sectors; it expands the view of organizational culture to the broader and more complex, strategic issue of how organizations can craft or amend cultures that fit their missions. Practical implications – One may learn from this case (including the authors' reflections), how to put a well‐articulated service mission into operational practice: through taking a particular, desired culture quite seriously when creating employee experiences, so that they are effectively focused on that mission. Originality/value – The paper illustrates specific tactics for implementing culture plus the value of developing a strategic approach to creating a particular culture. It offers a template of crafting a culture, based on the strategic pairing of managerial mission with action (or employee and client experiences). Strategizing with culture, also referred to as firm‐cultural content shaping, is meant for researchers and practitioners seeking to help develop a mission‐focused organizational culture.
Sustainable competitive advantage or temporary competitive advantage Improving understanding of an important strategy constructTim O'Shannassy
2008 Journal of Strategy and Management
doi: 10.1108/17554250810926357
Purpose – Competitive advantage is an important construct in the strategy discipline. The purpose of this paper is to explore an appropriate definition of competitive advantage, seek to identify sources of competitive advantage for firms and improve understanding of why in many industries for many firms competitive advantage is only a temporary outcome due to the influence of environmental uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach – The paper undertakes a synthesis of classic and contemporary insights into competitive advantage in the literature to assist the development of several research propositions. Findings – By introducing the perceived environmental uncertainty construct to discussion on the relationship between firm resources, competitive advantage and organization performance, understanding of sustained competitive advantage and temporary competitive advantage is enhanced. Research limitations/implications – Through the development of the research propositions the paper helps to clarify terminology and provide several suggestions for future research. Practical implications – The findings contribute to the evolution of strategic management practice by giving some insight to practitioners as to when and where firm resources may be useful by explaining these links between environmental uncertainty, firm resources, competitive advantage, and organization performance. A brief illustration of these connections in the context of BHP Billiton Limited is provided to link theory to practice. Originality/value – Competitive advantage remains a poorly understood construct in the strategy literature and the subject of much discussion. This paper sets out to clarify understanding and stimulate debate in an area that is not well understood.
The value of managerial beliefs in turbulent environments Managerial orientation and e‐business advantageTim R. Coltman; Timothy M. Devinney; David F. Midgley
2008 Journal of Strategy and Management
doi: 10.1108/17554250810926366
Purpose – There is a great divide between the degree to which academic research accounts for the role of managerial discretion in firm performance and the weight given by the popular press and financial community to the importance of the management of an organization. The purpose of this paper is to bridge this gap by quantifying the way managerial beliefs influence the quality of firm performance in a turbulent environment based on e‐business. Design/methodology/approach – An e‐business research setting is used that is associated with a situation of environmental turbulence to allow for sufficient variance in managerial beliefs to measure their effect on firm performance. The sample contains 293 firms. Findings – Aggregate level results indicate that managerial beliefs have a positive and significant effect on firm performance. Four distinctive segments were also found to exist. These segments vary in terms of the strength of the position that a manager holds regarding the value of e‐business and firm performance. Originality/value – The paper shows that the affect of e‐business on firm performance is not structural in the sense that firm performance does not depend on the firm or industry but is reflective of the strength of the beliefs held by managers. This implies that the “black box” approach that is characteristic of much management research may be problematic because it fails to measure the variables that may matter most to performance.
Risk and procedural rationality: a behavioral theory perspectiveTodd M. Alessandri
2008 Journal of Strategy and Management
doi: 10.1108/17554250810926375
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of perceived risk on the procedural rationality of the decision process rather than decision choices or outcomes. The moderating roles of attainment discrepancy and organizational slack are also explored. Design/methodology/approach – These relationships, motivated by behavioral theory, are tested using survey data of capital investment decisions in a sample of 128 public firms in the USA. Findings – The findings suggest an inverted‐U shaped relationship between perceived risk and procedural rationality. In addition, absorbed slack and attainment discrepancy played moderating roles on the perceived risk‐procedural rationality relationship. Research limitations/implications – This study has several implications for research. First, the influence of risk is extended beyond decision outcomes to include decision processes. Second, the core arguments of behavioral theory, including uncertainty avoidance and decision context, appear to hold for the decision process. However, the effects of risk appear to be in the form of an inverted U‐shaped relationship, differing from prior behavioral theory research related to decision outcomes. Practical implications – Perceived risk and the organizational context can lead to differing approaches to making decisions. As perceived risk increases, managers appear to alter the extent of information gathering and analysis. Organizations may consider designing different decision processes for different situations that take these managerial tendencies into account. Originality/value – The contribution of this study is the extension of behavioral theory explanations of risk from decision choices or outcomes to the procedural rationality of the decision process. The findings show that risk has a non‐linear influence on the procedural rationality of the decision process.