The Effects of Intellectual Capital on Performance in Australian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

There are limited studies in the literature that investigate the relationship between intellectual capitaland SME Performance, and test the mediating effects of organizational innovation. This studyexamined 2,154 SMEs of various industries from 2009-2011 by using Business Longitudinal Database (BLD) from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).Our research findings show that human, structural, and relational capital has a positive and significant effect on SME performance when mediated by organizational innovation. The implication of our findings is that managers should simultaneously develop their human capital through training, improve their networking andcollaboration, and increase their investment in information technology in order to improve SMEperformance through innovation

Sustainable development orientation (SDO) practice and its impact on innovation performance

Changes in regulation and government policy have stimulated growth of ‘green innovation’ with sustainability emerging as a key concept. A review of the literature revealed gaps in research in this area of innovation management. The aim of this paper is to test the relationship between SDO practice and innovation performance of a large number of Australian companies in the manufacturing, services, construction and software sectors. Our study showed that proactive management of environmental protection issues and marketing of ‘green’ products were found to have a positive and significant association with ecological efficiency of products. On the other hand, the design of new products for energy efficiency was found to have a positive and significant relationship with the number of innovation adoptions. Our findings are consistent with the literature, which reveals a significant and positive relationship between SDO and innovation performance. The implications of the research are that SDO should not be considered an additional cost of doing business rather, managers should view SDO as an opportunity to improve innovation performance

Intellectual Property Appropriation Strategy and its Impact on Innovation Performance

How should intellectual property (IP) be protected and appropriated to gain value for the firm? This study aims to answer this question by examining the impact of the key determinants of IP appropriability, namely organizational resources, IP management practices and organizational learning culture, on innovation performance. The study uses quantitative survey data obtained from the Australian biotechnology, pharmaceutical and ICT industries in order to test several hypotheses. Our results show that exploitation and protection of IP within an organisational learning culture have a significant effect on the firm's innovation performance. The implication for managers is that IP appropriation is likely to be most successful when trade secrets and profits from innovation are applied simultaneously within an organizational learning culture

The impact of operations and maintenance practices on power plant performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of operations and maintenance (O&M) practices, individually and collectively, on power plant performance. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from more than 100 power plants in Australia and Malaysia. The reliability and validity (content, construct, and criterion) of the practice and performance measures were evaluated. Findings – Committed leadership and maintenance-oriented practices as part of a total productive maintenance (TPM) philosophy were found to be the main differentiators between high and low performing plants. Research limitations/implications – The research is cross-sectional in nature, therefore, it does not permit us to account for the lag between implementation and performance. Second, the performance measures are subjective and may be subject to response bias. Practical implications – The implication of the research findings for plant managers is that they need to allocate more “softer” resources to the O&M function if they expect high plant availability. Social implications – Apart from capacity and fuel cost, operating costs are an important source of differentiation for power plants. The implication is that reduction in operating costs is directly related to the reduction of consumer power bills. Originality/value – The reader will learn from this paper that committed leadership and maintenance-oriented practices have greater explanatory power in the regression models than employee involvement, customer focus, strategic planning, and knowledge management. This knowledge is important because it emphasises that in addition to quality management practices, which are focussed on the development of the people aspects of the organization, the plant equipment and physical assets should also be given equal emphasis, in order to improve operational performance of power plants

Sustainable development orientation (SDO) practice and its impact on innovation performance

Changes in regulation and government policy have stimulated growth of ‘green innovation’ with sustainability emerging as a key concept. A review of the literature revealed gaps in research in this area of innovation management. The aim of this paper is to test the relationship between SDO practice and innovation performance of a large number of Australian companies in the manufacturing, services, construction and software sectors. Our study showed that proactive management of environmental protection issues and marketing of ‘green’ products were found to have a positive and significant association with ecological efficiency of products. On the other hand, the design of new products for energy efficiency was found to have a positive and significant relationship with the number of innovation adoptions. Our findings are consistent with the literature, which reveals a significant and positive relationship between SDO and innovation performance. The implications of the research are that SDO should not be considered an additional cost of doing business rather, managers should view SDO as an opportunity to improve innovation performance

The impact of strategic alignment and responsiveness to market on manufacturing firm's performance

Drawing on dynamic capabilities theory and a sample based on the Indian manufacturing industry, we examine the influence of manufacturing operations' functioning, strategic alignment and responsiveness to market need for customization and firm performance. A multi-variate regression method is applied on the factors identified using confirmatory factor analysis. Our findings indicate that operations' strategic alignment to the firm's objectives is the single most key contributor to firm performance. The operations' capability to respond to market need for customization also significantly contributes to firm performance. Plant technology capability is also essential to respond effectively to market need for customization, and is positively and significantly related to firm performance. On the other hand, while delivery capability and cost control of the manufacturing operation are positively related to firm performance, they are not significant. Operations and marketing managers and firms' policy makers should emphasize operations' strategic alignment to firms' performance objectives, and build dynamic operational capability to be responsive to changing market needs

Longitudinal Analysis of Quality Management Practices in Australian Organisations

Higher requirements for improved quality of products and services have led to three important changes in international business over the last decade: (i) the growing recognition of the strategic importance of Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy and methods; (ii) a major push by organisations worldwide to seek certification to the ISO 9000 quality standards; (iii) the growing recognition and application of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA); the Australian Quality Award (AQA), and the European Quality Award (EQA). Despite the above developments, there is still considerable confusion and frustration surrounding the applied role and business value of quality management practices in Australian industry. A review of the literature revealed a major gap in research in this area of operations/quality management. The purpose of the paper is to evaluate the results of three empirical studies conducted in 1991, 1993 and 1996 on the adoption of quality management practices in Australian manufacturing organisations. Quantitative studies were conducted primarily on large random populations of approximately 1,000 manufacturing companies in Australia. The average response rate for the three studies was 30 per cent. The data was analysed using techniques available on SPSS for Windows. Our findings show that there has been a shift in popularity in quality management practices in the Australian manufacturing industry over the last five years. The popularity of TQM and its related practices such as statistical process control (SPC), quality circles (QC), benchmarking, business process reengineering (BPR), had decreased, while the popularity of ISO 9000 certification has increased significantly. A paradox has emerged from this finding. On one hand, business performance was found to be enhanced by the implementation of all TQM related practices. On the other hand, ISO 9000 certified firms did not perform significantly better than fums that were not certified, and yet there has been a shift away from TQM practice to ISO 9000 certification. This raises the question: why are managers so keen on ISO 9000 certification? The study concludes that managers are impatient with the rate of improvement of organisational performance from the implementation of quality management practices. This has led to the belief that gaining a certificate to ISO 9000 is synonymous to becoming a quality organisation. This is a clear indication that managers lack understanding of the concepts and principles of quality management and are frustrated with the slow bottom-line payback from the implementation of quality management practices. Based on these findings, the paper recommends that managers should improve their understanding of quality management practices and the sources of their organisation's quality performance. This will lead to quality management being perceived as a philosophy rather than tools and techniques for problem solving at the shop-floor level

Employee Training, Quality Management and the Performance of Australian and New Zealand Manufacturers

The paper examines the relationship between employee training and quality management practice by analysing data from a large cross-sectional study of Australian and New Zealand manufacturers. The paper examines two hypotheses that are used to explain the impact of training upon organizational performance the task effectiveness hypothesis and the strategic effectiveness hypothesis. Multiple regression analysis is used to test these hypotheses and to examine the impact of training and quality upon productivity, customer satisfaction and employee morale. Some support is found for both hypotheses of training effectiveness but employee training is found to have a more significant impact upon organizational performance when combined with Total Quality Management. The implications of this finding for the implementation of quality management programs are discussed and some further questions are posed for future research in this area