Journal of Strategy and Management

Bapat, Dhananjay ; Mazumdar, Deepa

2015 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/JSMA-06-2014-0047

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the business strategy and its strategic orientation in the context of Indian banking sector. While past research has focussed on internal factors, organizational performance and organizational design, present research intends to fill the gap by assessing the strategic archetypes for Indian banking. Design/methodology/approach – A review of literature resulted in 14 items covering various aspects of strategy orientation. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain insights from bank managers. The study is based on responses received from 330 banking officials working in various functional areas of banks in India. Findings – Using factor analysis, the 14 items are reduced into four major factors: competition, cost, innovation and customer need. In terms of strategic preferences, the finding indicates that respondents have given higher rating for both market share (25 percent) and new products (25 percent), followed by cost (16 percent), competition (15 percent) and service (13 percent). Originality/value – With the dominant preference for market share and new products, authors proposed a market share-new product matrix and identified four quadrants: low return, resource constraint, complacency and optimal performance. The study offers guidance to managers to frame and assess the bank strategy.

Öberg, Christina ; Shih, Tommy Tsung-Ying

2015 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/JSMA-06-2014-0051

Purpose – An ambiguous environment indicates how rules and interests may not be outspoken or clear. In an emerging industry sector, such ambiguity may follow from different sets of rules to adapt to, changes to these rules, and how various parties surrounding a firm act based on these rules and individual interests, interaction goals, and priorities. The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss how a company balances its relationships with others to achieve strategic intentions in an ambiguous environment. Specifically, the paper focusses on innovation in the biopharmaceutical sector in Taiwan. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical part of the paper is based on a single case study portraying multiple parties surrounding an innovative Taiwanese biopharmaceutical firm. Findings – The paper points to how partner selection and interaction are highly affected by the ambiguous environment. Ambiguity leads to transactional exchanges on the domestic level, while the focal firm engages in collaborative, relational interaction with international parties to accomplish innovations. Originality/value – The paper contributes to literature on company strategies in emerging sectors with its specific focus on innovation strategies, and how a company balances ways of interacting based on an ambiguous environment. To Asian management research, contributions include an in-depth description of company-level strategizing in Taiwan.

Mustafa, Rozeia

2015 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/JSMA-06-2014-0054

Purpose – The paper provides a holistic overview of already available academic literature of mobile banking, business model innovation and ecosystem and activity system perspective of business model concepts. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to initiate a debate for future research in the agenda highlighted in this paper. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, mobile banking business ecosystem of Easypaisa is used as an illustrative case to understand mobile banking business model innovation in the context of business ecosystem and activity system perspective. Findings – Based on Porter’s view of mobile financial service (MFS) industry, it is suggested that patterns of business model innovation can be explained through business ecosystem and activity system. The notion of business model innovation can also be explained through integrated value chain of mobile network operator and its partners in the supply chain of MFS. Research limitations/implications – This paper provides preliminary overview of the exiting academic literature on business model innovations, business ecosystem and activity system in the in the context of value network. Since this is only a literature review paper, therefore, no primary data have been collected for this case study through interviewing from the relevant people. Originality/value – So far, no research has been conducted in Pakistan to address business model innovation in mobile banking sector in the context of business ecosystem and activity system perspective.

Srivastava, Naveen Kumar

2015 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/JSMA-02-2015-0014

Purpose – The financial crisis of 2008-2009 was truly global in nature that affected all sectors and countries of the world. Being considered that a board of directors is the main governance mechanism through which a company is governed and managed. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the governance structure of a company on its financial performance during the period of financial crisis. Design/methodology/approach – The study investigates the effect of board structure parameters – board leadership, directors and board size on the financial performance for 164 non-financial listed firms in India during the period of financial crisis of 2008-2009. Findings – The study finds a significant positive effect with Chief Executive Officer duality, executive chairperson and proportion of inside directors on the firm’s financial performance. Independent directors have no significant influence, while non-executive (grey) director’s being affiliated with the firm has a negative influence on firm’s financial performance. A larger board has a negative relationship with the firm’s financial performance. Research limitations/implications – The study is limited to large non-financial firms of the Bombay Stock Exchange-200 index. The study may be extended to include other firms to generalize the findings. Practical implications – Results imply that during the period of financial distress, a company having more inside (or management) directors with an executive chairperson are in a better position to manage company resources with positive impact on financial performance. Companies with larger boards may find it difficult to take quick decisions, which ultimately affect their performance. Originality/value – The study is original in its idea of assessing company strategy to adopt a suitable governance structure that can sustain its performance during the period of financial crisis.

Tripathi, Vanita ; Lamba, Ashu

2015 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/JSMA-05-2015-0040

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the motives of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M & A) by Indian companies for the period 1998 through 2009. The study has also attempted to ascertain the post-merger paybacks realized by the sample acquirer companies. It also identifies the motives which help in improving the post-merger performance. The preference of the motives and post-merger paybacks realized across the development status of the host economy, age and industry of the company has also been found. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses a survey approach to collect the responses over the motives and post-merger paybacks. Statistical tools, namely, Likert scale, factor analysis, independent samples t -test and binary logistic regression have been used. Findings – The study found that there are five motives of cross-border M & A – value creation, improvement in efficiency, market leadership, marketing and strategic motives and synergistic gains. The results also indicated that the acquirer firms expect cost and financial efficiency, stakeholders’ benefits and employee welfare post acquisition. The motive of value creation significantly improves the post-merger financial performance. Research limitations/implications – The study has only considered the cross-border M & A but not domestic M & A. Practical implications – The research is an attempt to understand the dynamics which are responsible for motivating Indian companies to go abroad for acquisitions. Thus, it would help the prospective Indian acquirer companies to focus on the motives which help in improving the post-merger financial performance. Originality/value – This research paper is original as it explores the motivation of Indian companies for entering into cross-border M & A. It adds to the extant literature of cross-border M & A by emerging economies multinational enterprises.

Bhattacharjee, Debabrata ; Prakash, Anand ; Mohanty, Rajendra Prasad

2015 Journal of Strategy and Management

doi: 10.1108/JSMA-09-2014-0084

Purpose – The downstream oil marketing companies (OMCs) have an opportunity to compensate their huge under-recovery by increasing non-fuel revenues through strategic planning for collaboration with organized companies (OCs) of auto-servicing sector, who are experiencing a surge in the demand for auto-servicing. The purpose of this paper is to explore the business need for strategic collaboration and empirically validate the building mechanism for collaborative capacities between the two sectors (OMCs and OCs). Design/methodology/approach – The paper is designed to explore the implementation of collaboration using needs analysis, exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling process for building collaborative capacities between the two sectors. Findings – Although alignment is a necessary condition before allowing for a valid collaboration between the two sectors, the external alignment process is highly significant for implementing collaboration unlike the internal alignment process. Research limitations/implications – Methodological limitations include the use of convenience sampling and anonymous survey-based research. Practical implications – Selecting the “right” identified factors for collaboration is unquestionably one of the most important topics in the collaboration literature, which holds vast practical implications. Originality/value – This study provides practical and theoretical insights for implementing collaboration based on empirical results.