Firms’ Innovative Performance: The Mediating Role of Innovative Collaborations

While existing studies have provided many insightful discussions on the antecedents to innovative collaborations and the benefits of collaborative behavior, few studies have focused on the mediating role of innovative collaborations in enhancing the firm’s technological innovative performance. In this paper, we investigate the mediating role of the firm’s innovative collaborations in the relation between government innovation support and the firm’s product and process innovation intensities. As a mediating factor in the innovation process, innovative collaborations form part of the innovative inputs that contribute to the firm’s product and process innovation intensities. Using arguments derived from the resource-based theory, we found that while receipts of government innovation support help increase the firm’s level of innovative inputs as observed in its collaboration intensity, it is equally important for firms to internalize management practices that encourage maximum leverage of government innovation support for pursuits of innovative collaborations. In a similar vein, while innovative collaborations are necessary for realizing innovative outputs including product and process innovations, it is not a sufficient condition for achieving strong innovative performance. The firm’s internal capabilities as observed in its learning, R&D, resource allocation, manufacturing, marketing, organizing, and strategic planning abilities have a positive influence on the relationship between innovative collaborations and innovative outputs.Innovative Performance; Innovative Collaboration; Firm’s Contextual Factors

THE MEASURING FRAMEWORK OF OUTSOURCING SUCCESS: A SOCIAL EXCHANGE PERSPECTIVE

Outsourcing has become a buzz word in strategic management as the competition of modern business is the competition among business networks. The reviews on the measure of outsourcing success are conceptually fragmented due to different theories that have been applied in different studies. The overall aim of this paper is to develop an integrated framework in measuring the performance of services outsourcing. The framework is derived from Social Exchange Theory. Each party responsibility in dyadic relationship over outsourcing success is examined. This is followed by the identification of the mediating effect of compatibility between partners, and moderating effect of partnership quality to the aforementioned relationship. Outsourcing performance is proposed to be evaluated from the perspectives of tactical, strategic and behavioral dimensionsBuyer related factors, Compatibility, Outsourcing, and Partnership quality, Services ,Supplier related factors

THE MEDIATING EFFECT OF ENTREPRENEURIAL MARKETING STRATEGY BETWEEN DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN THE WOMEN-OWNED ENTERPRISES IN MALAYSIA

This research scrutinizes the influence of dynamic capabilities in achieving and sustaining competitive advantage by women who own enterprises in Malaysia. The contribution of the businesswomen is highly significant to the economy of the nation. Malaysian businesswomen strive hard to stay competitive in the business environment. Therefore, they understand the significance of dynamic capabilities to attain competitive advantage. However, dynamic capabilities in solo will not lead to competitive advantage because the businesswomen operate their business in a volatile business environment. Another significant factor that impacts competitive advantage is entrepreneurial marketing strategies. Therefore, the intervening effect of entrepreneurial marketing strategy between dynamic capabilities and competitive advantage was investigated in this research. A total of 1023 businesswomen imparted their views through questionnaires in this research. Additionally, in-depth literature was presented to reveal the association between dynamic capabilities, entrepreneurial marketing strategies, and competitive advantage of the businesswomen. The findings of this research implied a statistically significant relationship between dynamic capabilities and entrepreneurial marketing strategy as well as competitive advantage. Finally, all the hypotheses formulated for this study were supported by data, which illuminated that entrepreneurial marketing strategy statistically mediates the relationship between dynamic capabilities and competitive advantage of the women-owned enterprises in Malaysia. Moreover, this study verifies that the businesswomen in Malaysia who engage in dynamic capabilities will be able to apply entrepreneurial marketing strategies in their enterprises to achieve competitive advantage, ensuring the enterprise’s survival and success in an ever-changing business environment. JEL: M10; M30; M31; L62  Article visualizations

Sustainable competitive advantage in entrepreneurial software firms in Pakistan: Establishing a conceptual research framework

Software firms are expanding within increasingly-competitive domestic and global marketplaces. Registered software firms in Pakistan seek new ways to better compete and remain as sustainable competitive entities. Such firms operate entrepreneurially, and remain subject to dynamic digital and globally-emerging changes. A literature review establishes constructs, conceptual relational hypothesis pathways, and an overall (testable) research framework for software firms in Pakistan. The framework is likely useful when modelling for improvements contributing towards sustainable competitive advantage shifts

Building International Business Competencies, Human Capital, and Service Capabilities: A Study of Emerging Market Professional Service Small-and-Medium-Sized Enterprises

Prior research has shown that a firm’s intangible resources are an important source of sustainable competitive advantage. This dissertation focuses on the intangible resources of Professional Service Firms that are Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (PSF SMEs) from an emerging market (namely India). PSF SMEs from emerging markets (such as India) are expanding globally and are attempting to compete with developed country market firms. This research study examines the factors that allow these PSF SMEs to compete successfully in the global marketplace. Examining these factors will enable developed country market firms as well as other emerging market firms to better understand the ways in which they can successfully compete globally. Professional service involves an organization or profession that offers customized, knowledge-based services to clients; examples are legal, engineering, accounting, architectural, financial, and software services. SMEs are generally defined as firms that have fewer than 500 employees or less than $25 million in revenues. The global professional services market is worth trillions of dollars and growing. PSFs (especially those that are also SMEs) from emerging markets are becoming quite successful in developed economies (such as the U.S. or U.K.) and in other emerging economies. This dissertation examines the intangible factors that contribute to the competitive advantages and superior performance of emerging market PSF SMEs. Specifically, this research documents the relationships among a PSF’s international business competencies (IBCs), human capital, service capabilities, competitive advantages, and financial performance. The study involves a 2018 survey of 251 senior managers or owners of PSF SMEs from India that have operations in various foreign markets. Structural equation modeling is used in the analysis of the study’s data. The results of the study show the positive impacts of the PSF SME’s IBCs, human capital, and service capabilities on the firm’s competitive advantages and performance. A detailed discussion of the theoretical, methodological, and managerial contributions and implications of the study are provided

Building International Business Competencies, Human Capital, and Service Capabilities: A Study of Emerging Market Professional Service Small-and-Medium-Sized Enterprises

Prior research has shown that a firm’s intangible resources are an important source of sustainable competitive advantage. This dissertation focuses on the intangible resources of Professional Service Firms that are Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (PSF SMEs) from an emerging market (namely India). PSF SMEs from emerging markets (such as India) are expanding globally and are attempting to compete with developed country market firms. This research study examines the factors that allow these PSF SMEs to compete successfully in the global marketplace. Examining these factors will enable developed country market firms as well as other emerging market firms to better understand the ways in which they can successfully compete globally. Professional service involves an organization or profession that offers customized, knowledge-based services to clients; examples are legal, engineering, accounting, architectural, financial, and software services. SMEs are generally defined as firms that have fewer than 500 employees or less than $25 million in revenues. The global professional services market is worth trillions of dollars and growing. PSFs (especially those that are also SMEs) from emerging markets are becoming quite successful in developed economies (such as the U.S. or U.K.) and in other emerging economies. This dissertation examines the intangible factors that contribute to the competitive advantages and superior performance of emerging market PSF SMEs. Specifically, this research documents the relationships among a PSF’s international business competencies (IBCs), human capital, service capabilities, competitive advantages, and financial performance. The study involves a 2018 survey of 251 senior managers or owners of PSF SMEs from India that have operations in various foreign markets. Structural equation modeling is used in the analysis of the study’s data. The results of the study show the positive impacts of the PSF SME’s IBCs, human capital, and service capabilities on the firm’s competitive advantages and performance. A detailed discussion of the theoretical, methodological, and managerial contributions and implications of the study are provided

The role of strategic flexibility on the development of organizational capabilities

Dynamic Capabilities enable companies to change and reconfigure their strategies in order to adapt to the ever-changing business environment. As business markets become more turbulent with rapid technological development, it is crucial that firms develop Dynamic Capabilities in order to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage, especially Small Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) which are more vulnerable to competition and market changes. Given the importance of Dynamic Capabilities in today’s economy, the purpose of this dissertation is to understand the role of Strategic Flexibility as a Dynamic Capability in the development of organizational capabilities. This study aims to explore the indirect effect between Strategic Flexibility and Firm Performance through three organizational capabilities: Organizational learning, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Orientation in SMEs. In order to test our conceptual model, we collected data from 180 SMEs and conducted a quantitative study through surveys. Our contributions to the field are twofold. First, we developed a unique and distinctive model to assess the indirect relationship between Strategic Flexibility and Firm Performance. And second, we realized the value of Organizational Learning as a mediating variable as it strengthens the relationship between Strategic Flexibility and Firm Performance.As Capacidades Dinâmicas permitem que as empresas mudem e reconfigurem as suas estratégias para se adaptarem ao ambiente de negócios em constante mudança. À medida que os mercados de negócios se tornam mais turbulentos com o rápido desenvolvimento tecnológico, é crucial que as empresas desenvolvam Capacidades Dinâmicas para manter uma vantagem competitiva sustentável, especialmente pequenas e médias empresas (PMEs), que são mais vulneráveis à concorrência e às mudanças do mercado. Dada a importância das Capacidades Dinâmicas na economia atual, o objetivo desta dissertação é compreender o papel da Flexibilidade Estratégica - Capacidade Dinâmica - no desenvolvimento de capacidades organizacionais. Deste modo, este estudo visa explorar os efeitos indiretos da Flexibilidade Estratégica na Performance de PMEs por meio da Aprendizagem Organizacional, do Empreendedorismo, e da Orientação à Inovação. Para testar o nosso modelo conceptual, reunimos dados de 180 PMEs e realizamos um estudo quantitativo, através de aplicação de questionários. As contribuições deste trabalho para a área de estudo são duplas. Em primeiro lugar, desenvolvemos um modelo único e distinto para avaliar a relação indireta entre Flexibilidade Estratégica e a Performance da empresa. Em segundo lugar, percebemos a importância da Aprendizagem Organizacional como variável mediadora uma vez que fortalece a relação entre Flexibilidade Estratégica e a Performance