Service innovation, embeddedness and business performance:evidence from Northern Ireland

This paper explores the factors that determine innovation by service firms, and in particular the contribution of intra- and extra-regional connectivity. Subsequently, it is examined how service firms' innovation activity relates to productivity and export behaviour. The empirical analysis is based on matched data from the 2005 UK Innovation Survey - the UK component of the 4th Community Innovation Survey (CIS) - and the Annual Business Inquiry for Northern Ireland. Evidence is found of negative intra-regional embeddedness effects, but there is a positive contribution to innovation from extra-regional connectivity, particularly links to customers. Relationships between innovation, exporting, and productivity prove complex, but suggest that innovation itself is not sufficient to generate productivity improvements. Only when innovation is combined with increased export activity are productivity gains evident.

Service innovation, embeddedness and business performance:UK regional evidence

This paper asks to question. First, what types of linkages make firms in the service sector innovate? And second, what is the link between innovation and the firms’ productivity and export performance? Using survey data from Northern Ireland we find that links intra-regional links (i.e. within Northern Ireland) to customers, suppliers and universities have little effect on innovation, but external links (i.e. outside Northern Ireland) help to boost innovation. Relationships between innovation, exporting and productivity prove complex but suggest that innovation itself is not sufficient to generate productivity improvements. Only when innovation is combined with increased export activity are productivity gains produced. This suggests that regional innovation policy should be oriented towards helping firms to innovate only where it helps firms to enter export markets or to expand their existing export market presence.

Human resource management, employee attitudes and business performance in Post Office Ltd

Whilst a consistent link between the adoption of human resource management (HRM) practices by organisations and their performance has been confirmed by numerous studies, there is a need for greater understanding of why such effects occur. Recently, the attention of researchers has shifted towards understanding the so-called ‘black box’ linking HRM and business performance. This study focuses on this area of research by testing processes through which HRM may affect performance, in particular the process of HR implementation, mediation mechanisms, and fit with internal and external boundary conditions. This research was based on a sample of 136 Post Office branches in the UK and investigated the role of HR implementation, employee attitudes and competitive environment. The study revealed that HR implementation, a climate for service, job satisfaction and effective organisational commitment predicted independent measures of economic and service performance in branches. Employee attitudes moderated the relationship between implemented HRM and service performance, and both job satisfaction and commitment were found to mediate relationships between a climate for service and service performance. Finally, relative levels of competition faced by branches moderated the relationship between employee attitudes and sales. The findings demonstrate how the process of HR implementation, interactions with employee attitudes and moderation by external competition all influence the impact of HR systems on service and economic performance outcomes. These results illustrate the need for greater attention to processes of internal and external fit within HRM research in order to develop theory relating to why HR systems affect performance.

Evaluating small business performance : a matched pair analysis of African Caribbean owned businesses in the UK

African Caribbean Owned Businesses (ACOBs) have been postulated as having performance-related problems especially when compared with other ethnic minority groups in Britain. This research investigates if ACOBs may be performing less than similar firms in the population and why this maybe so. Therefore the aspiration behind this study is one of ratifying the existence of performance differentials between ACOBs and White Asian Owned Businesses (WAOBs), by using a triangulation of methods and matched pair analysis. Every ACOB was matched along firm specific characteristics of age, size, legal form and industry (sector), with similar WAOBs. Findings show support for the hypothesis that ACOBs are more likely to perform less than the WAOBs; WAOBs out-performed ACOBs in the objective and subjective assessments. Though we found some differentials between both groups in the entrepreneur’s characteristics and various emphases in strategic orientation in overall business strategy. The most likely drivers of performance differentials were found in firm activities and operations. ACOBs tended to have brands that were not as popular in the mainstream with most of their manufactured goods being seen as ‘exotic’ while those by WAOBs were perceived as ‘traditional’. Moreover, ACOBs had a higher proportion of clients constituting of individuals than business organisations while the WAOBs had a higher proportion consisting of business organisations.

Strategic marketing and business performance:a study in three European 'engineering countries'

In spite of its relevance, the effects of strategic marketing on business performance are sparingly studied, especially in particular business contexts. We address this gap in two ways. First, we examine the influence of four key strategic marketing concepts—market orientation, innovation orientation, and two marketing capability categories (outside-in and inside-out capabilities)—on company performance. Second, these relationships are studied in three European “engineering countries:” Austria, Finland and Germany. Their relative homogeneity enables testing the generality versus context-specificity of strategic marketing's performance impact. Using SEM analysis, surprisingly weak relationships between market orientation and outside-in capabilities, and business performance are identified, as opposed to the strong role of inside-out capabilities and innovation orientation. These results can be understood through the “engineering country” characteristics. Moreover, clear differences in results are identified among these relatively homogenous countries. This is a major finding as it challenges the widely assumed generality of the strategic marketing–performance relationship. Country-specific results have also considerable managerial relevance.

Burden or benefit? Regulation as a dynamic influence on small business performance

This article contributes to contemporary debates concerning the impact of regulation on small business performance. Reassessing previous studies, we build our insights on their useful, but partial, approaches. Prior studies treat regulation principally as a static and negative influence, thereby neglecting the full range of regulatory effects on business performance. This study adopts a more nuanced approach, one informed by critical realism, that conceptualises social reality as stratified, and social causality in terms of the actions of human agents situated within particular social-structural contexts. We theorise regulation as a dynamic force, enabling as well as constraining performance, generating contradictory performance effects. Such regulatory effects flow directly from adaptations to regulation, and indirectly via relationships with the wide range of close and distant stakeholders with whom small businesses interact. Future research should examine these contradictory regulatory influences on small business performance.

Small business performance:business, strategy and owner-manager characteristics

Purpose: This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the factors that influence small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) performance and particularly, growth. Design/methodology/approach: This paper utilises an original data set of 360 SMEs employing 5-249 people to run logit regression models of employment growth, turnover growth and profitability. The models include characteristics of the businesses, the owner-managers and their strategies. Findings: The results suggest that size and age of enterprise dominate performance and are more important than strategy and the entrepreneurial characteristics of the owner. Having a business plan was also found to be important. Research limitations/implications: The results contribute to the development of theoretical and knowledge bases, as well as offering results that will be of interest to research and policy communities. The results are limited to a single survey, using cross-sectional data. Practical implications: The findings have a bearing on business growth strategy for policy makers. The results suggest that policy measures that promote the take-up of business plans and are targeted at younger, larger-sized businesses may have the greatest impact in terms of helping to facilitate business growth. Originality/value: A novel feature of the models is the incorporation of entrepreneurial traits and whether there were any collaborative joint venture arrangements. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Market orientation, innovation capability and business performance:insights from the global financial crisis

Purpose - The paper aims to examine the role of market orientation (MO) and innovation capability in determining business performance during an economic upturn and downturn. Design/methodology/approach - The data comprise two national-level surveys conducted in Finland in 2008, representing an economic boom, and in 2010 when the global economic crisis had hit the Finnish market. Partial least square path analysis is used to test the potential mediating effect of innovation capability on the relationship between MO and business performance during economic boom and bust. Findings - The results show that innovation capability fully mediates the performance effects of a MO during an economic upturn, whereas the mediation is only partial during a downturn. Innovation capability also mediates the relationship between a customer orientation and business performance during an upturn, whereas the mediating effect culminates in a competitor orientation during a downturn. Thus, the role of innovation capability as a mediator between the individual market-orientation components varies along the business cycle. Originality/value - This paper is one of the first studies that empirically examine the impact of the economic cycle on the relationship between strategic marketing concepts, such as MO or innovation capability, and the firm's business performance.

Goal orientation and its relationship to the business family, and family business performance, within the UK’s family owned and managed mid-sized businesses

Mid-Sized Businesses (MSBs) are defined by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) as having a sales turnover of between £25 million and £500 million. A key gap in family firm/business research and literature to date is, understanding the role and importance of non-financial objectives (such as family harmony, tradition and business longevity), and the role the family plays in creating a wide set of business performance objectives (both financial and non-financial) in these businesses. This dissertation contributes to filling this knowledge gap by drawing on Family Systems Theory applied in a business context, and within an overarching Resource Based View (RBV) of the firm.