Location Choice and the Firm Performance in Developing Countries: The Exploration-Exploitation Perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyungkun Park ◽  
Jooyoung Kwak ◽  
Yoonjeong Kang
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Location Choice ◽  
Exploration Exploitation

Role of ambidexterity and learning capability in firm performance

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 517-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanjay Dhir ◽  
Swati Dhir
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Learning Capability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Multiple Resources ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Managerial Positions ◽  
Exploration Exploitation

Purpose This study aims to comprehend the ambidexterity and organizational learning capability construct in the Indian E-commerce industry context. Design/methodology/approach The survey method was adopted for this study. A survey was circulated among the personnel working in E-commerce companies in India. The focus was on people working in managerial positions and had at least three years of experience in the same industry. Findings This paper investigates the link between two dimensions of ambidexterity, i.e., exploration, exploitation and learning capability in firm performance. The paper also establishes the moderating effect of the learning capability on the two dimensions of ambidexterity and firm’s performance. Research/limitations/implications Our focus was to cover most of the E-commerce companies, yet to generalize the research the analysis needs to be conducted with even more E-commerce companies. Although we took extraordinary care to gather data from multiple resources and discarded the data that was incomplete or was from lower level employees yet, we need a larger sample to establish the causal claim of our model. Practical/implications We reason that learning capability of a firm impacts the two dimensions and firms should focus both on external and internal knowledge to benefit from the ambidexterity efforts. Social/implications Learning capability influences a firm’s performance and has managerial implications. The analysis’ results on the India based ecommerce companies differs from prior research done in more developed countries and other industries. Originality/value No prior research has been done from this perspective in the Indian context, and thus our work opens up new avenues for researchers to look at.Keywords Ambidexterity, Firm performance, Learning capability

Access to skilled labor, institutions and firm performance in developing countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 328-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charilaos Mertzanis ◽  
Mona Said
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Skilled Labor ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Development Institutions

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of access to skilled labor in explaining firms’ sales growth subject to the controlling influence of a wide range of firm-specific characteristics and country-level economic and non-economic factors. Design/methodology/approach The analysis uses a consistent and large firm-level data set from the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys that includes 138 developing countries. An instrumental variables model with a GMM estimator is used for estimating the impact of access to skilled labor on firm performance. In order to obtain more robust estimators, the analysis introduces country-level controls reflecting the influence of economic and institutional factors, such as economic and financial development, institutional governance, education and technological progress. Findings The results document a significant and positive association between access to skilled labor and firm performance in the developing world. The explanatory power of access to skilled labor remains broadly robust after controlling for a wide range of firm-specific characteristics: sectoral and geographical influences matter. The results also show that the association between labor skill constraints and firm performance is mitigated by country-level factors but in diverse ways. Development, institutions, education and technological progress exert various mitigating effects on firm-level behavior regarding access to skilled labor. Originality/value The paper’s novel contribution is threefold: first, it uses joint firm, sector and country-level information to analyze the role of access to skilled labor on firm performance; second, it uses consistently produced information at the firm level from 138 developing countries; and, third, it considers the controlling impact of a wide range of country-level factors that reflect a country’s overall development, institutions and evolution.

SERVICE COMPETITION, FIRM PERFORMANCE AND RESOURCE ALLOCATION IN MANUFACTURING: EVIDENCE FROM FIRM-LEVEL DATA IN CHINA

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (04) ◽  
pp. 1350010 ◽  
Author(s):  
LEI LIN ◽  
GUISHENG WU
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Financial Performance ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Service Competition ◽  
Resource Endowment ◽  
The Impact

Service-based differentiation competitive strategy has been hugely adopted by manufacturing firms in both developing and developed countries, which would influence firm performance and resource allocation mode. Against the background of developing countries such as China, this empirical study has two purposes. The first is to investigate the impact of service competition on firm performance. The second is to summarize the resource allocation mode which executives would adopt to implement service competition. Based on service-dominant (SD) logic, resource-based view (RBV) and service marketing theory, this paper constructs a theoretical framework to link the organizational resources (product-related resources and service-related resources), competitive advantage (product quality and service quality) and firm performance (financial performance and non-financial performance), and proposes several hypotheses about the relationships among these constructs. Based on the survey data obtained from manufacturing firms in China in 2006, this paper employs a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach with interaction effect involved to test the hypotheses. Several findings are found through data analysis. First, service competition has positive and significant impact on firm performance, and the contribution of product-related inputs on performance is much larger than that of service-related inputs. This implies that though the impact on performance of service competition is comparatively lower, service can still be the source of product differentiation and act as a positive complement to product-based competition. Second, consistent with our theoretical expectation, the finding indicates that there is a substitutive relationship between service-related resource and product-related resource to a certain degree, though weakly supported by data. This can be explained by the factors such as China's initial resource endowment, low-level stage of the market and the industry, etc. Finally, the paper discusses the theoretical and managerial implications of the research findings, which would provide empirical supports for the implementation of service-based differentiation strategy in manufacturing in developing countries.

scholarly journals Editorial: A diversified outlook at the theory and practices of corporate governance

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-6
Author(s):  
Marco Tutino ◽  
Áron Perényi ◽  
Alexander Kostyuk
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Financial Management ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
Corporate Ownership ◽  
Recent Issue ◽  
And Control

The recent issue of the Corporate Ownership and Control journal (volume 19, issue 1) covers the following key themes: accounting standards, corporate governance and social responsibility, public sector governance, financial management and firm performance. The authors represent a range of developed and developing countries, making this issue of the journal truly international.

scholarly journals Generic Strategies and Firm Performance: An Investigation of Informal Sector Micro-Enterprises in Kenya

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Mungai ◽  
Madara Ogot
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Informal Sector ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Business Performance ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Business Strategies ◽  
Strategic Groups ◽  
Generic Strategies ◽  
Micro Enterprises

Micro-enterprises (MEs) have been shown to collectively be the largest employer in most developing countries thus playing a significant role in the countries economies. Using informal sector micro-enterprise furniture makers (wood and metal) in Nairobi, Kenya and based on Porter's competitive business strategies typology, this study sought to determine if the strategies employed by the informal sector MEs fit within the typology framework, and if membership within the strategic groups in the typology are a predictor of better business business performance. From the study, although membership within the two focus strategic groups of differentiation and low cost was confirmed, unlike studies done with medium and large enterprises, membership was not found to be a predictor of better business performance. Porter's typology may therefore not adequately capture the competitive business activities relevant to and directly by MEs, presenting an opportunity for research into the development of competitive business strategy typologies directly derived from their activities and therefore applicable to them.

Servitization impact on performance moderated by country development

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 302-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata Moreno ◽  
Leonardo Marques ◽  
Rebecca Arkader
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Advanced Economies ◽  
Medium Level ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact

Purpose In recent years, “servitization” has been studied extensively; however, as studies of the impact of servitization on firm performance offer mixed results, the conditions under which the relationship between servitization and performance becomes more significant are contested in the literature. These mixed results have led to the term “service paradox.” The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This study investigates servitization in the assembly industry based on a multi-country survey covering 539 industry plants in 22 countries. Findings The study contributes to the research on servitization by adding a contextual perspective to this relationship, taking into account level of development of the country in which a firm is located. Besides confirming the correlation between the servitization and performance, our study unveils a counter-intuitive result: a medium level of development of the country in which a firm is based corresponds to a stronger relationship between servitization and firm performance, whereas higher levels of development seem to diminish the increase in performance. Social implications This study balances out the focus in servitization on advanced economies and help to unveil its benefits in developing countries. Fostering servitization in developing economies can lead to social impact resulting from job shifts from manufacturing to service and the correlated implications for workers’ training and higher motivation experienced in service-based jobs. Originality/value Our study unpacks the “service paradox” and indicates that industry plants in developing countries can still harness the benefits of being first-movers, whereas, in developed countries, servitization may have become an order qualifier rather than a factor of differentiation.

Do stakeholder relationships matter? An empirical study of exploration, exploitation and firm performance

2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoping Zhao ◽  
Feibo Shao ◽  
Chuang Wu
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Customer Relationships ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
Maximum Point ◽  
Exploration And Exploitation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Stakeholder Relationships ◽  
Employee Relationships ◽  
Curvilinear Relationships ◽  
Exploration Exploitation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance implications of two major mechanisms for organizational learning (i.e. exploration and exploitation). Exploration refers to firm activities that explore new and novel knowledge, whereas exploitation reflects the extent to which a firm reuses its existing knowledge. The authors predict curvilinear (i.e. an inverted U-shape) relationships between exploration/exploitation and firm performance, respectively. That is, firm performance first increases with exploration/exploitation at a decreasing rate; then, firm performance decreases at an increasing rate after firm performance reaches a maximum point. Furthermore, the authors examine whether the curvilinear relationships are moderated by two types of firm–stakeholder relationships (i.e. firm–employee and firm–customer relationships). Design/methodology/approach Using the data from National Bureau of Economic Research, US Patent Citations Data File, KLD Research and Analytics Inc. and Compustat series, the authors construct an unbalanced panel data set of 3,070 observations in 554 firms from 1991 to 2006. To test the hypotheses, feasible generalized least squares regression is used. Findings In consistent with the prediction, the authors find inverted U-shape relationships between exploration/exploitation and firm performance. The authors also find that the curvilinear relationships are moderated by firm–employee relationships. The relationships between exploration/exploitation and firm performance become stronger when firms have better relationships with employees. Research limitations/implications The study provides empirical evidence that better firm–employee relationships can strengthen the curvilinear relationships between exploration/exploitation and firm performance. The authors argue that future studies should extend to other stakeholder relationships, using more refined measures, and incorporating the concept of ambidexterity. Practical implications The findings suggest that managers should design innovation strategy based on performance implications of exploration/exploitation and that managers should also realize that stakeholder relationships can influence the relationships between exploration/exploitation and firm performance. First, the study shows that although exploration and exploitation can improve firm performance, too much exploration or exploitation is not good for firm performance. Therefore, managers should consider seriously the maximum point of performance that exploration and exploitation can reach and avoid too much exploration or exploitation. Second, firms can invest in firm–employee relationships to gain better performance implications from exploration/exploitation. The study shows that, as firms develop better firm–employee relationship, the relationships between exploration/exploitation and firm performance are stronger and firm performance is likely to reach a higher apex. Originality/value The authors find the inverted U-shape relationships between exploration/exploitation and firm performance, moreover, the authors add two contingent factors associated with stakeholders that can help exploration and exploitation contribute more to firm performance.

scholarly journals Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Performance in China’s Manufacturing: A Global Perspective of Business Models

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2388
Author(s):  
Qianqian Hu ◽  
Tianlun Zhu ◽  
Chien-Liang Lin ◽  
Tiejun Chen ◽  
Tachia Chin
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Internet Technology ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Corporate Social

In a globalized and digital world, manufacturing firms have used internet technology to conduct value appropriation (VA). However, during the COVID-19 crisis, export-led manufacturing firms around the world, particularly those in developing countries, have been forced to lay off workers and cope with VA-related problems, and serious survival problems have resulted in critical corporate social responsibility (CSR)-related challenges. Whereas limited research has discussed relevant issues in nonwestern contexts, we adopt a global perspective of business model and transactional cost theory, aiming to fill this gap by investigating the mechanisms among different dimensions of CSR implementation, firm performance, and VA herein. Based on a sample of listed Chinese manufacturing firms, the results show that the CSR technique dimension is negatively related to firm performance, that the CSR content dimension is positively related to firm performance, and that VA positively moderates the relationships of all three CSR dimensions to firm performance. The main contribution here is providing a more comprehensive understanding of how different CSR dimensions reflect firms’ multiple ethical behaviors, which influence their sustainable performance, respectively, thus enriching the existing knowledge of CSR studies in a new digital era riddled with uncertainties and complexities. We also offer practical implications for other export-led manufacturing firms in developing countries facing turbulent times.

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