RSS 1.0Business and management
Recent Submissions
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Human resource development, creativity and innovationHuman resource management (HRM) and development, learning, knowledge management and innovation represent complex and dynamic fields that draw upon multiple disciplines and emphasise the need for multilevel consideration. Such dynamic complexities present opportunities and challenges in an attempt to develop holistic theoretical approaches of how people management implications might contribute to sustainable innovation and performance. The various contributions to this book raise awareness and contribute to a shared understanding of innovation and HRM from multiple perspectives. They highlight the implications for people management through different lenses, including strategic and systems approaches at the level of the organisation, leadership, learning and the contribution of the broader national context to skill development.
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Employee voice in the SME contextIn this chapter, we show that employee voice in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is largely absent in academic studies, representing a missing link in the theorization of employee voice. We present a general overview on important contemporary debates in the employee voice literature and locate it in industrial relations and human resource management literatures. Finally, we explore how employee voice in SMEs can be studied. We offer a number of suggestions for the academic and practitioner use of employee voice in the SME sector.
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Imaginative communities: Admired cities, regions and countries, Govers, Robert Reputo Press, Antwerp, Belgium, 2018. 158 pp. $17.99 (paper) [book review]Review of "Imaginative communities: Admired cities, regions and countries", Govers, Robert Reputo Press, Antwerp, Belgium, 2018. 158 pp. $17.99 (paper)
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Isomorphic factors in the adoption of ERP by Indian medium-sized firmsPurpose: The purpose of this paper is to adopt an institutional theory perspective to investigate the adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems by medium-sized firms in India. The rationale for this study is to provide a more complete understanding of ERP adoption, moving beyond the traditional technical and economic perspectives to include social, cultural and structural influences. These later influences are more implicit, insidious and pervasive and hence require elucidatory studies such as this, but offer a greater understanding of the adoption of information systems (IS). Design/methodology/approach: The study is undertaken by means of nine case studies of medium-sized firms in India that have adopted ERP systems. Qualitative interviews were undertaken with a range of staff in each firm and are supplemented by data from other sources such as site visit notes. Findings: Institutionally based studies have tended to focus on three high-level isomorphic pressures: coercive, normative and mimetic. The study identifies number of more detailed factors that contribute to each of these three pressures. These more detailed factors are then used to consider how factors can interact and how they can explain aspects of the Indian context of the study. Originality/value: The conceptual contribution of this study is to move beyond the technical and economic rationales frequently identified for the adoption of IS by identifying influences that are social, cultural and structural in nature. The study shows that the three high-level isomorphic pressures, mimetic, coercive and normative are comprised of more detailed factors. The empirical contribution of the paper is to identify these detailed factors, and to explore their influence, in the case of ERP adoption by Indian medium-sized firms. The study is of value to practitioners, since it is at the detailed level of factors that managers can recognize the forces they are subject to and can take action. It is also valuable to researchers since the detailed factors help address two limitations of institutional theory; a lack of agency perspective and a degree of conceptual ambiguity.
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Gaining competitive advantage from analytics through the mediation of decision-making effectiveness: An empirical study of UK manufacturing companiesWhile it is widely believed that analytics capabilities enable a company to identify valuable insights from big data thereby to improve the effectiveness of decision-making and to gain competitive advantage, little empirical research has been undertaken to investigate the mechanisms through which analytics capabilities improve decision-making effectiveness and organisational competitiveness. This paper aims to reduce this research gap in the literature. Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), it develops a research model to specify the interrelationships among information processing capabilities, resource heterogeneity, decision-making effectiveness, and competitive advantage. It then empirically tests the proposed model using structural equation modelling based on 232 responses collected from UK manufacturing companies. This paper has made several contributions to the research and practice of business analytics and decision-making. First, it advances the literatures by conceptually developing and empirically testing a path model linking information processing capabilities to decision-making effectiveness and competitive advantage. Second, it advances our knowledge by clarifying and testing the mediating role of decision-making effectiveness in affecting the relationship between information processing capabilities and competitive advantage. Third, it extends the RBV and decision-making literatures by explicating and testing the mediating role of resource heterogeneity in affecting the relationship between information processing capabilities and competitive advantage, and between information processing capabilities and decision-making effectiveness. Finally, this paper contributes to managers' and business analytics practitioners' knowledge by demonstrating the importance of improving decision-making effectiveness in gaining competitive advantage.
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Do top-performing companies use business analytics differently and why?It is suggested that companies that use business analytics perform better than those that do not in making strategic decisions and creating business value. However, little academic research based on theories exists to examine the extent to which companies differ in using business analytics and why this difference may contribute to company performance difference. To reduce this knowledge gap, this paper investigates the extent to which top and bottom performing companies differ in using business analytics by means of analysis of variance based on 232 responses collected from UK manufacturers, and seeks to explain how this use difference may be linked to performance difference drawing on the information processing view and path dependence theory. The research findings indicate that top-performing companies are three times more likely than bottom-performing companies to use business analytics and develop a data-driven environment simultaneously; and that the company differences regarding the use of business analytics and the resultant performance may be due to path dependence and how relevant organisational factors are designed. The study contributes to business analytics literature by providing empirical evidences and offering a theoretical-based understanding of business analytics, providing a foundation for future research. This study also has important managerial implications by demonstrating how business analytics can be used to improve performance.
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An analysis of the impact of business analytics on innovationThe advances in Big Data and Business Analytics (BA) have provided unprecedented opportunities for organizations to innovate. With new and unique insights gained from BA, companies are able to develop new or improve existing products/services. However, few studies have investigated the mechanism through which BA contributes to a firm's innovation success. This research aims to address this gap. From an information processing and use perspective, a research model is proposed and empirically validated with data collected from a survey with UK businesses. The evidence from the survey of 296 respondents supports the research model that provides a focused and validated view on BA's contribution to innovation. The key findings suggest that BA directly improves environmental scanning which in turn helps to enhance a company's innovation in terms of new product novelty and meaningfulness. However, the effect of BA's contribution would be increased through the mediation role of data-driven culture in the organization. Data-driven culture directly impacts on new product novelty, but indirectly on product meaningfulness through environmental scanning. The findings also confirm that environmental scanning directly contributes to new product novelty and meaningfulness which in turn enhance competitive advantage. The model testing results also reveal that innovation success can be influenced by many other factors which should be addressed alongside the BA applications.
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The affordances of business analytics for strategic decision-making and their impact on organisational performanceIncreasingly, business analytics is seen to provide the possibilities for businesses to effectively support strategic decision-making, thereby to become a source of strategic business value. However, little research exists regarding the mechanism through which business analytics supports strategic decisionmaking and ultimately organisational performance. This paper draws upon literature on IT affordances and strategic decision-making to (1) understand the decision-making affordances provided by business analytics, and (2) develop a research model linking business analytics, data-driven culture, decision-making affordances, strategic decision-making, and organisational performance. The model is empirically tested using structural equation modelling based on 296 survey responses collected from UK businesses. The study produces four main findings: (1) business analytics has a positive effect on decision-making affordances both directly and indirectly through the mediation of a data-driven culture; (2) decision-making affordances significantly influence strategic decision comprehensiveness positively and intuitive decision-making negatively; (3) data-driven culture has a significant and positive effect on strategic decision comprehensiveness; and (4) strategic decision comprehensiveness has a positive effect on organisational performance but a negative effect on intuitive decision-making.
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Supporting student management with business analytics in the UK higher education sector: an exploratory case studyProviding students with the best learning experience and ensuring their academic success throughout their university lifecycle has been a serious challenge for Higher Education Institutions' (HEIs). Whilst advances in digital technologies have enabled HEIs to collect more data in various forms (Big Data) and as some HEIs begin to realise the strategic potential of using Business Analytics (BA) to support student management, many HEI managers are still sceptical about the use of BA even though they are struggling to make sense of the ever growing amount of data and information. A few BA studies suggest that large commercial companies that use BA perform better than those that do not in making better decisions and creating competitive advantages; however, little academic research exists either to understand the current challenges faced by HEI managers in student management in dealing with big data or explore how BA can be utilised to support student management. Experts in the analytics field have also stated that most literature on analytics focuses on the institutional benefit and not the staff-student benefit. These knowledge gaps constrain HEIs abilities to improve student experience and academic success. Therefore, this research seeks to understand the managerial challenges in student management and explore the use and impact of BA for improving student experience through a date driven student management in UK HEIs from an organisational information processing perspective. Employing a qualitative methodology, this research reports an exploratory case study in a UK university with semi-structured interviews. The initial findings of this research help to develop an understanding of the key challenges faced by the HEI managers in student management, and a preliminary framework for future research on the use and impact of BA student management. This research suggests that BA should play a critical role in effective student management, which therefore leads to better student experience and academic performance.
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Understanding the use and impact of learning analytics on student experience management in the UK higher education sectorInformation systems have always been seen as an essential enabler for the success of the modern organisations. This is also very evident for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) worldwide. Driving by the need to improve student experience, Learning Analytics (LA) has been a rapidly growing area of interest in UK HEIs. However, there is very limited literature on the use and impact of LA in the Higher Education sector. This research aims to close this gap by developing a better understanding of the use and impact of LA on student experience management. A qualitative methodology is employed by adopting an exploratory case study and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders across UK HEIs. This research-in-progress paper will provide background information, identify research gaps, explain the research methodology and process, discuss the preliminary findings and framework so far, and present the future work and expected contributions.
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Strategic orientation, triadic strategic alignment and firm performanceTo survive and success in the very competitive business environment, firms should have clear business strategy supported by appropriate IT and marketing strategies. While many prior studies argue that strategic alignment between for example business strategy and information technology (IT) strategy generally enhances organisational performance, strategic alignment including multiple factors has received little attention and strategic orientation of firms is rarely considered. This research, drawing on contingency theory and strategic management literature, aims to understand the performance impact of triadic strategic alignment between business, IT, and marketing strategies based on strategic orientation of firms. A number of hypotheses are proposed to identify generic types of triadic strategic alignment. The hypotheses are tested through MANOVA using data collected in a questionnaire survey of 242 Yemen managers. The findings indicate that (1) there is an ideal triadic strategic alignment for prospectors and defenders; (2) triadic strategic alignment has a positive impact on organisational performance; and (3) triadic strategic alignment provides a better indication of the nature and performance impact of strategic alignment. This research also contributes to managers' knowledge and understanding by suggesting how a firm should coherently align its strategies to improve organisational performance.
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Understanding current research on the use and impact of big data analytics: a systematic literature reviewWith the increasing applications of Big Data Analytics, it is imperative for researchers to keep abreast with the rapid development and emerging research challenges in this field. Therefore, the research reported in this work in progress paper aims to update our knowledge and understanding of the state of the art research on the applications of Big Data Analytics by conducting a comprehensive and systematic review of the recent publications. The literature review is mainly focusing on the emerging new concepts and definitions, theories, research models, research methodologies, critical success factors, and impact on business performance. It is expected that the insights gained through this comprehensive review will contribute to our knowledge on the current status of Big Data Analytics research and associated emerging research challenges and opportunities. Due to the increased interests in Big Data Analytics, the critical analysis of emerging literature will identify the research gaps that provides valuable direction for future studies.
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The effect of buyers’ socialization efforts on the culture of their key strategic supplier and its impact on supplier operational performanceThis paper investigates if inter-organizational socialization mechanisms initiated by a buyer organization towards a strategic supplier can influence the culture within that supplier organization to ultimately improve supplier performance to the buyer. Using a quantitative sample of 279 UK companies from across a variety of industry sectors, statistical techniques were utilized to examine the effect of informal and formal socialization mechanisms on the culture of a strategic supplier as measured by their organizational practices and the subsequent supplier performance outcomes. It was found that both informal and formal socialization efforts by a buyer organization have a significant influence on the culture of the supplier organization as measured by their organizational practices. Socialization efforts by the buyer organization influence the organizational practices of the supplier to be more result-oriented, employee-centred, open, pragmatic to customer needs and market focussed. These organizational practices were found to positively influence supplier operational performance in the eyes of the buyer organization as measured by on time delivery, conformance to product specifications, flexibility to respond to changing customer needs and cost reduction initiatives. Modelling the influence of informal and formal socialization efforts by a buyer on the organizational culture of a key supply chain partner provides new insights to academics. Firstly, this work makes a significant contribution to the extant research on socialization in the supply chain literature. Secondly, it raises the importance of understanding the influence of culture on supplier operational performance. Although the study used a dyadic method to validate the cultural insights, our study only took a snapshot of culture at one point in time. Organization culture as displayed through organizational practices is a complex construct that changes over time. Therefore, to further understand the intricacies of organization culture, a longitudinal study would be useful in the future. Secondly, future studies could develop into themes such as the green supply chain and sustainability issues. Finally, our study was undertaken in the UK. It would be useful to replicate this study in a different setting, including Eastern countries. Organizations should engage early with their key supply base from a socialization perspective. The importance of joint away days, cross function teams alongside effective communication and on site visits have been fund to have a significant influence on shaping a high performance culture along the supply chain. Therefore, a buyers’ early understanding of their key supplier’s culture via these mechanisms appear critical for long-term supply chain success. Measuring supplier culture at the visible level of organizational practices removes the ethereal qualities often attributed to culture as a concept; buyers can influence supplier culture. This paper presents an empirically tested model which includes informal socialization, formal socialization, deconstructed organizational culture and supplier operational performance in a supply chain setting.
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Enhancing customer-linking marketing capabilities using marketing analyticsPurpose: Evidence in the literature has indicated that customer-linking marketing capabilities such as customer relationship management (CRM) and brand management are important drivers of marketing performance and that marketing analytics use (MAU) enables firms to gain valuable knowledge and insights for improving firm performance. However, there has been little focus on how firms improve their CRM and brand management via MAU. This study aims to draw on the absorptive capacity theory, research on marketing capabilities and marketing analytics to examine the capability-developing mechanisms that enable a firm to use marketing analytics to enhance its CRM and brand management capabilities, thereby improving its marketing performance. Design/methodology/approach: A research model is developed and tested based on an analysis of 289 responses collected using an online survey from middle and senior managers of Chinese firms with sufficient knowledge and experience in using marketing analytics for survey participation. Findings: The findings demonstrate that MAU is positively related to both CRM and brand management capabilities, which in turn are positively associated with marketing performance; and that both CRM and brand management capabilities mediate the relationship between MAU and marketing performance. Research limitations/implications: The study’s outcomes were based on data collected from a survey, which was distributed using mass e-mails. Thus, the study is unable to provide a meaningful response rate. The research results are based on and limited to Chinese firms. Practical implications: MAU is essential for enhancing customer-linking marketing capabilities such as CRM and brand management, but it alone is not sufficient to improve marketing performance. Firms wishing to improve marketing performance should leverage the knowledge and insights gained from MAU to enhance their critical customer-linking marketing capabilities. Originality/value: This study explicates the capability-developing mechanisms through which a firm can use its market-sensing capability as manifested by MAU to enhance customer-linking marketing capabilities and to improve its marketing performance. In so doing, this study extends our understanding of the critical role of absorptive capacity in helping firms identify, assimilate, transform and apply valuable external knowledge.
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Financial constraints, bank concentration and SMEs: evidence from PakistanPurpose – This paper aims to empirically investigate the impact of bank market concentration of financial constraints on firm investment. Design/methodology/approach – This analysis is based on cross-industries panel of 368 listed Pakistani non-financial firms over the period of 2001-2009. Further, the Generalized Method of Moments estimation technique has been used to estimate the dynamic panel data model. Findings – By applying a dynamic panel analysis, it was found that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are financially constrained in the credit market. The main finding indicates that reduction in bank concentration eases financing constraints, and this effect is more pronounced for SMEs. In addition, while testing the firm opacity in this context, results reveal that opaque firms are more financially constrained, and bank market competition is less favourable to the firms with greater opacity. Originality/value – The results, first, assess the efficacy of ongoing financial reforms in Pakistan and, second, offer implications for other economies that exhibit financial development similar to that of Pakistan.
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Supply chain strategies in difficult timesThis chapter examines the strategic decisions taken by supply chain managers during the current (post-2008) economic recession. The objective was to identify and understand the changes that companies had made, or planned to make, in their company supply chain strategy in response to this changing economic environment. A longitudinal approach was adopted, and a series of questionnaire survey rounds were carried out. Over 300 responses from three countries were received. The findings from the first two survey rounds indicated that only a limited number of companies had made significant changes to their supply chain strategies, but this number increased as the recession continued. While a common company response was to downsize the organisation, there were also other strategic changes such as changes in the use of third party logistics, in warehousing choices and in a move to more local suppliers. In the broader context, the results can contribute to the understanding of how companies evolve their supply chain strategies when dealing with a significant change in the external environment.
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Corporate evolution following initial public offerings in China: a life-course approachWe study the determinants of firms' post-IPO trajectory in terms of three outcomes: delisting; acquisition with change of corporate control; and acquisition without such change. Our risk assessment models examine some historical and some current information. Variables cover the perspectives of the issue itself, the issuer, investors, the industry and corporate control, the last being of particular interest in a mixed economy such as China. We find that delisting is predominantly influenced by issue-specific information, by the issuer's financial status leading up to the eventual outcome, and by corporate ownership and governance structure. Acquisition with andwithout change of control differs most significantly according to industry features, ultimate state ownership, divergence of cash flowrights and control rights, and the extent of board independence. Centrally we find that the trajectory is shaped by corporate control considerations. We conclude that the after-market outcomes are mixed consequences of market selection and government control.
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Moderating roles of customer characteristics on the link between service factors and satisfaction in a buffet restaurantPurpose – In service sector, measuring quality of services is generally acknowledged to be difficult as it involves many psychological features. Hence, identifying the determinants of service quality and linkages with customer satisfaction is a challenging research topic. In this study, the authors take up a research study to address this challenge. The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of factors influencing customer satisfaction in the context of a Chinese buffet restaurant in the UK. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use a questionnaire based on the SERVQUAL instrument for the purpose. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the authors have found that service quality could be grouped into four main factors – service, food, ambience and price. Findings – Using multiple-regression analysis, the authors have found that food is the most significant factor influencing customer satisfaction, followed by price, ambience and service, respectively. Using a multi-group analysis, the authors have found interesting moderating roles of age, gender and annual income on the influence of the four factors on satisfaction: ambience is considered significant by male customers while it is not significant for female customers; the influence of price on satisfaction is much higher for female customers than for male customers; food and service factors are important for younger customers while price is important for older customers; price is important for customers with lower levels of income but not important for high-income customers. Practical implications – These results are useful to restaurant managers in allocating appropriate levels of resources to different factors based on their contributions to customer satisfaction in order to maximize customer satisfaction efficiently and effectively. Originality/value – Analysis and findings of this research are based on the customers’ survey data of a Chinese buffet restaurant in the UK. The authors have found an interesting ranking of the importance of service factors: food followed by price, ambience and service. The results on the moderating role of customer characteristics provide newer insights in the literature on service quality. The research findings can help the hotel management to improve their service levels to attain maximum customer satisfaction.
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Effectuation and home-based online business entrepreneursThis article explores effectual processes within home-based, online businesses. Our empirical evidence provides a number of refinements to the concept of effectuation in this specific domain. First, the ubiquity of non-proprietary online trading platforms encourages the adoption of effectual approaches and removes the importance of forming proprietary strategic alliances and pre-commitments. Second, the notion of affordable loss – a central tenet of effectuation – should be extended beyond the notion of economic to social affordable loss, including loss of status and reputation, and finally, home-based online businesses allow effectuation to be associated with low levels of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and experience.
