Brand management practices in emerging country firms – exploring the patterns of variation and its impact on firm performance

Firms in emerging countries often face different sets of challenges in developing their brand management strategies. Drawing on the dynamic capabilities view, the present study examines brand management practices among firms in an emerging country. Drawing on a survey of 224 firms in Turkey, the study first aims to segment firms in terms of their adoption level of brand management practices and then relate them to their overall firm and brand performances. A three-cluster solution emerging from a K-means cluster analysis reveals that firms show significant differences with respect to both performance dimensions. The findings of the study also provide evidence to the view that brand management practices add to the dynamic capabilities of emerging country firms. Finally, the study concludes with practical implications and avenues for future research

A relational view of environmental performance: What role do environmental collaboration and cross-functional alignment play?

Despite extensive research into the role played by social capital and relational capability in attaining interorganizational advantage, the way in which these resources matter for environmental performance has received scant attention. We investigate how firms' social capital and relational capability influence their environmental performance, by analyzing the mediating role of environmental collaboration and the moderating role of crossfunctional alignment. Based on an analysis of dual responses from 270 Turkish firms, we find that environmental collaboration mediates the impact of social capital and relational capability on environmental performance. We also find that alignment between marketing and supply chain management functions strengthens the effects of relational capability and environmental collaboration on environmental performance. Our study suggests that both environmental collaboration and cross-functional alignment are necessary if the true value of social capital and relational capability for environmental performance is to be realized.Q2WOS:0004575123000042-s2.0-8505614829

Innovation as a driver of eco-innovation in the firm: an approach from the dynamic capabilities theory

The aim of this study is to investigate how innovative capabilities of the firm affect eco-innovation from a dynamic capability lens. We build on OECD’s (2005) research to conceptualise eco-innovation as the capacity with which firms modify, re-design, and create products, processes, procedures and organisations in order to reduce environmental impact. We propose and test the temporal and relational properties of eco-innovation as a capability. We demonstrate that eco-innovation possesses two properties of innovative capabilities, namely, persistence over time and interrelation with other innovations. We thus shed new light on the mechanism through which firms engage in eco-innovation. We also provide empirical evidence to the debate on the relationship between the ‘normal’ innovation (technological or non-technological) and eco-innovation. We show that eco-innovation and innovation are interrelated both simultaneously and sequentially. Moreover, we show that innovation capabilities and eco-innovation are not only related, but they also have a complementary nature, which facilitates the development of future eco-innovation

Management model for the logistics and competitiveness of SMEs in the city of Barranquilla

In Colombia, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the most powerful engines of economic development, since they generate a high volume of jobs in the national territory, while diversifying productive, commercial, and service activities. In order to propose a model for logistics management as a component for the competitiveness of SMEs, a qualitative study is proposed that will allow us to collect from a structured review of recent literature, identifying the elements to be taken into account for logistics management in order to provide timely support and open space for continuous improvement. The proposed model is structured in six main blocks: characterization of processes according to the activity of the SME, external factors of influence, internal factors of influence, feeding of information, monitoring and control of operations, and feedback between support areas. The above elements have been analyzed and suggested taking into account the specific aspects of SMEs in the country, and taking into account the peculiarities of these small productive cells

Triggering the internationalization of Malaysian quantity surveying firms

Although there is an increasing trend of services being traded across borders, quantity surveying (QS) firms in the construction sector remain under-researched. The triggers for the increasing globalization of QS firms are not clear, nor how these triggers are perceived by managers at different levels. A questionnaire was administered in over 84 QS consultancy firms, and the results were analyzed using the repertory grid technique, allowing a comparison between the general respondents and a focus group of senior managers. The findings show that senior managers with significant experience realize the importance of a strong internal capability of the QS firm and the capability to develop innovative offerings, coupled with an awareness of the target market and the ability to secure revenue through key contracts. Firm- and location-specific factors were more important than other competitive advantages or foreign markets’ characteristics when deciding to globalize

An exploratory study of the determinants of the quality of strategic decision implementation in Turkish industrial firms

This paper investigates the determinants of quality of decision implementation. By drawing on a sample of 116 firms located in Turkey, the authors test whether the features of important team processes (i.e. trust and participation), of the organisation (i.e. past performance) and of implementation (i.e. its speed and uncertainty) exert an influence on the quality with which decisions are implemented. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to test the validity of the measures, while path analysis was used in hypotheses testing. The results suggest that quality of decision implementation is positively related to trust, participation and past performance, and negatively to implementation speed and uncertainty. The implications of these findings for theory, practice and general management are discussed

High-Performance Work Systems and Organizational Performance in Emerging Economies: Evidence from MNEs in Turkey

This study examines the association between the usage of high-performance work systems (HPWS) by subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in Turkey and employee and subsidiary level outcomes. The study is based on a survey of 148 MNE subsidiaries operating in Turkey. The results show that the usage of HPWS has a significant positive impact on employee effectiveness. However, their impact on employee skills and development, and organizational financial performance are far less clear. Our findings highlight the extent to which HWPS need to be adapted to take account of context-specific institutional realities. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg