How much does country matter in emerging economies?: Evidence from Latin America

The purpose of this paper is to examine the magnitude of country, industry and firm-specific effects for firms competing in emerging economies and also explore differences between high and low performers. The authors use ANOVA methodologies on samples from firms competing in Latin America between 1990-2006. It was found that the firm-specific effect is the most important one, and relatively equivalent in magnitude to the firm-specific effects found in developed countries. Country and industry effects are less important than the firm-specific effect. Contrary to previous studies that indicate that the country effect is relatively more important in emerging economies, the authors found that it is even less important than the industry effect, a result that has important implications for strategic management and international business theory. The source behind the strong firm-specific effects might stem from their resources and capabilities to manage and take advantage of the institutional and macroeconomic environments. Further analysis indicates that the firm-specific effect is relatively more important for firms showing high performance than for those firms showing low performance. Through these findings the authors feel that further research is needed so as to arm future managers with a more clear and comprehensive strategy when doing business in a Latin American country. The paper's findings are specific for large public corporations in Latin America. The paper allows managers to think about sources of competitive advantages in emerging economies. The paper shows that, despite weak institutional contexts and highly volatile macroeconomic environments, managers in the region should be able to obtain substantial differences in economic performances within the region. Activities needed for such differentiation might differ from those carried out in developed countries, with more emphasis on managing institutional voids and periods of economic and political cycles but the result should be the same.Fil: Diaz Hermelo, Francisco. Universidad Austral. Instituto de Altos Estudios; ArgentinaFil: Vassolo, Roberto Santiago. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Austral. Instituto de Altos Estudios; Argentin

Alliance activity as a dynamic capability in the face of a discontinuous technological change

Using a dynamic capabilities lens, this study examines how technological and complementary capabilities affect firms’ abilities to enter emerging technologies. The empirical evidence from a sample of pharmaceutical firms entering the new biotech fields indicates that both technological and complementary capabilities potentially affect firms’ entry into emerging technologies and entry mode. However, the results also show that capabilities in the traditional technology and the emerging technology have different effects. Firms with capabilities in the emerging technology are more likely to enter new technological fields and more likely to use internal development in doing so. Complementary capabilities also increase the rate of entry into emerging technological fields. However, capabilities in traditional technology are found to be unrelated to the propensity to enter new fields, and to the choice of entry mode. These results are consistent with insights from the literature on dynamic capabilities and evolutionary theory. We examine the implications of these results for literatures on strategic alliances and technological competition.Fil: Anand, Jaideep. Ohio University; Estados UnidosFil: Oriani, Raffaele. Luiss Guido Carli University; ItaliaFil: Vassolo, Roberto Santiago. Universidad Austral. Instituto de Altos Estudios; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

The forgotten competitive arena: Strategy in natural resource industries

Despite their importance in the global economy, the complex competitive dynamics of natural resource industries and their implications for business performance remain largely understudied in strategic management. This article identifies major traits that are highly relevant in natural resource industries, including the standardized nature of their products, their emphasis on process-based innovations, the presence of dual physical and financial derivative markets, and the importance of nonmarket forces that affect the creation and appropriation of rents from natural resources. We propose a general framework that guides our observations, and we discuss research opportunities for the study of firm strategy in natural resource industries.Fil: Casarin, Ariel. Universidad Adolfo Ibañez; ChileFil: Lazzarini, Sergio G.. Institute of Education and Research; BrasilFil: Vassolo, Roberto Santiago. Universidad Austral. Instituto de Altos Estudios; Argentina. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Chile. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Motivación emprendedora y teoría de los stakeholders

Este trabajo desarrolla una justificación para la teoría de los stakeholders basada en las motivaciones. La metodología utilizada es diferente y complementaria de la usada en trabajos anteriores, que imponen consideraciones normativas a esta teoría. Enfocado al proceso emprendedor, analiza los mecanismos que explican las acciones y el alineamiento de los distintos participantes. El argumento principal es que cada grupo de interés actúa motivado tanto por el resultado de sus acciones como por el aprendizaje que genera el proceso en sí mismo. A su vez, ese proceso, como motivación central, provee una identidad individual y colectiva y, en su último término, explica el alineamiento de los distintos grupos. Este argumento tiene implicaciones tanto a nivel directivo como normativo

Managing in Latin America: Common issues and a research agenda

Latin America is a paradoxical region. It has unique conditions that make it one of the most attractive contexts worldwide for doing business, but it also faces serious challenges that severely underscore these opportunities. We apply a simple framework of analysis to describe the Latin American business environment and detect research opportunities. For that, we focus on four aspects of the region: (1) the institutional context, (2) the macroeconomic environment, (3) the consumer profile, and (4) the natural resource endowments. We summarize firms' strategic choices that result from this context and analyze their consequences for new business creation, incumbents' survival and growth, and sources of competitive advantages. We conclude by outlining a management research agenda.Fil: Vassolo, Roberto Santiago. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Austral; ArgentinaFil: De Castro, Julio O.. IE University; EspañaFil: Gomez Mejia, Luis R.. Texas A&M University; Estados Unido

Does overconfidence pay off when things go well?: CEO overconfidence, firm performance, and the business cycle

We investigate the moderating effect of the business cycle on the positive relationship between CEO overconfidence and firm performance. We propose that the expansion years of the business cycle enhance the positive impact of overconfident CEOs on firms’ performance. However, this effect is reduced during recession periods. We analyze the effect of CEO overconfidence on the Return on Equity of publicly listed US firms from 1992 to 2015, a period that includes the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2001 and the Great Recession of 2008–2009. The empirical findings support the hypotheses that expansion periods increase the positive relationship between overconfident CEOs and firms’ performance, but this positive effect weakens during recessions.Fil: Reyes, Tomas. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; ChileFil: Vassolo, Roberto Santiago. Universidad Austral. Instituto de Altos Estudios; Argentina. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Chile. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Kausel, Edgar E.. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; ChileFil: Peña Torres, Diamela. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; ChileFil: Zhang, Stephen. University of Adelaide; Australi

Professional competence and its effect on the implementation of healthcare 4.0 technologies: scoping review and future research directions

Background: The implementation of Healthcare 4.0 technologies faces a number of barriers that have been increasingly discussed in the literature. One of the barriers presented is the lack of professionals trained in the required competencies. Such competencies can be technical, methodological, social, and personal, contributing to healthcare professionals managing and adapting to technological changes. This study aims to analyse the previous research related to the competence requirements when adopting Healthcare 4.0 technologies. Methods: To achieve our goal, we followed the standard procedure for scoping reviews. We performed a search in the most important databases and retrieved 4976 (2011–present) publications from all the databases. After removing duplicates and performing further screening processes, we ended up with 121 articles, from which 51 were selected following an in-depth analysis to compose the final publication portfolio. Results: Our results show that the competence requirements for adopting Healthcare 4.0 are widely discussed in non-clinical implementations of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) applications. Based on the citation frequency and overall relevance score, the competence requirement for adopting applications of the Internet of Things (IoT) along with technical competence is a prominent contributor to the literature. Conclusions: Healthcare organisations are in a technological transition stage and widely incorporate various technologies. Organisations seem to prioritise technologies for ‘sensing’ and ‘communication’ applications. The requirements for competence to handle the technologies used for ‘processing’ and ‘actuation’ are not prevalent in the literature portfolio

Hospital Investment Decisions in Healthcare 4.0 Technologies: Scoping Review and Framework for Exploring Challenges, Trends, and Research Directions

BACKGROUND: Alternative approaches to analyzing and evaluating health care investments in state-of-the-art technologies are being increasingly discussed in the literature, especially with the advent of Healthcare 4.0 (H4.0) technologies or eHealth. Such investments generally involve computer hardware and software that deal with the storage, retrieval, sharing, and use of health care information, data, and knowledge for communication and decision-making. Besides, the use of these technologies significantly increases when addressed in bundles. However, a structured and holistic approach to analyzing investments in H4.0 technologies is not available in the literature. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to analyze previous research related to the evaluation of H4.0 technologies in hospitals and characterize the most common investment approaches used. We propose a framework that organizes the research associated with hospitals’ H4.0 technology investment decisions and suggest five main research directions on the topic. METHODS: To achieve our goal, we followed the standard procedure for scoping reviews. We performed a search in the Crossref, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases with the keywords investment, health, industry 4.0, investment, health technology assessment, healthcare 4.0, and smart in the title, abstract, and keywords of research papers. We retrieved 5701 publications from all the databases. After removing papers published before 2011 as well as duplicates and performing further screening, we were left with 244 articles, from which 33 were selected after in-depth analysis to compose the final publication portfolio. RESULTS: Our findings show the multidisciplinary nature of the research related to evaluating hospital investments in H4.0 technologies. We found that the most common investment approaches focused on cost analysis, single technology, and single decision-maker involvement, which dominate bundle analysis, H4.0 technology value considerations, and multiple decision-maker involvement. CONCLUSIONS: Some of our findings were unexpected, given the interrelated nature of H4.0 technologies and their multidimensional impact. Owing to the absence of a more holistic approach to H4.0 technology investment decisions, we identified five promising research directions for the topic: development of economic valuation methodologies tailored for H4.0 technologies; accounting for technology interrelations in the form of bundles; accounting for uncertainties in the process of evaluating such technologies; integration of administrative, medical, and patient perspectives into the evaluation process; and balancing and handling complexity in the decision-making process

Effects of lean interventions supported by digital technologies on healthcare services: a systematic review

Despite the increasing utilization of lean practices and digital technologies (DTs) related to Industry 4.0, the impact of such dual interventions on healthcare services remains unclear. This study aims to assess the effects of those interventions and provide a comprehensive understanding of their dynamics in healthcare settings. The methodology comprised a systematic review following the PRISMA guidelines, searching for lean interventions supported by DTs. Previous studies reporting outcomes related to patient health, patient flow, quality of care, and efficiency were included. Results show that most of the improvement interventions relied on lean methodology followed by lean combined with Six Sigma. The main supporting technologies were simulation and automation, while emergency departments and laboratories were the main settings. Most interventions focus on patient flow outcomes, reporting positive effects on outcomes related to access to service and utilization of services, including reductions in turnaround time, length of stay, waiting time, and turnover time. Notably, we found scarce outcomes regarding patient health, staff wellbeing, resource use, and savings. This paper, the first to investigate the dual intervention of DTs with lean or lean−Six Sigma in healthcare, summarizes the technical and organizational challenges associated with similar interventions, encourages further research, and promotes practical applications