A. Zafer Acar

Strategic Orientations and Their Effects on Firm Performance in Turkish Family Owned Firms

In this day and age, family based companies need more flexible and faster organization structures to respond effectively to the customers’ growing various type of needs in the dynamic markets. Family owned firms use more strategic tools to increase their firm performance. These tools include some strategic orientations as customer, innovation, entrepreneurship, and learning orientations. This new concept requires new strategic alternatives for the companies. This study tries to explore the relationship between effects of strategic orientations levels on firm performance and the family firms in Turkey. As total of 280 questionnaires are collected from the managers whom have key roles in the organizational structure in different scaled family owned firms. After the findings are examined by data reliability and exploring factor analyses, regression analyses are used for evaluating the relations between the dimensions. Consequently, it is presented the positive effects of strategic orientations on the qualitative and quantitative performance of family firms. In the conclusion section, various suggestions are offered for academicians and managers.

Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Business Capabilities Measurement Instrument

According to the theory of resource-based view, a firms special capabilities are the main sources of its superior performance and competitive advantage. The effects of business capabilities on performance and competitive advantage have been tested by myriad research studies, but the various studies have lacked a commonly accepted measurement instrument that comprises all components of business capabilities. This study aims to fill this gap through conceptualizing and developing a multidimensional business capabilities measurement instrument. We established a scale incorporating seven dimensions of business capabilities that are compatible with operational functions. Data were then collected from 445 owners/executives of the manufacturing firms and analyzed through confirmatory factor analysis to assess validity and reliability. As a result, we have attempted to contribute to business executives and academics by providing a multidimensional business capabilities scale.

Process development in customer order information systems to gain competitive advantage: a SME case study

In todays intensely competitive business environment improvement in sales order cycle time is vital for the companys success. Controlling credits and measuring payment, especially crucial for a SME to manage its cash flow more efficiently, and to gain customer satisfaction, as well. So, the order management process should be robustly designed and optimally controlled. Thus, to gain superior performance firms must initiate new process development activities using information systems in order to find new methods of improving sales order cycle time. The purpose of this study is to develop a more efficient order management process for a SME also that can be generalised for the others. This process development aims to strike an appropriate balance between measuring lost times and managing customer credit limits. In this study, after analysing the pre-sales process of a focal SME, a framework is developed that is compatible with the current ERP system and can measure required metrics.

Development and validation of a multidimensional job satisfaction scale in different cultures

Abstract Pioneer studies towards the definition of the concept of job satisfaction are based on the beginning of the 20th century. Since its presentation, this concept has been attracting the attention of researchers and executives because of its influence on individuals’ behaviour in organizations. The effects of job satisfaction on the various concepts has been tested and proven in myriad researches. However using diverse measurement instruments including many different dimensions show us that there is no certain consensus of measuring at least basic components of this concept. Today, much of the used questionnaires coming from the developing countries and reflecting the employee behaviour of Anglo-Saxon cultures. By translating those questionnaires without considering their cultural differences, of course, may not give us accurate results and damaging the validity of the scales. This study aims to fill this gap by measuring the concept on the basic and necessary factors, and developing a multidimensional job satisfaction scale reckoning with cultural effect. As a consequence of our extensive literature scanning, we established a scale incorporating six dimensions of job satisfaction concept. 699 data were collected from Turkish and Russian well-known businessmen associations in textile field and analysed through confirmatory factor analysis to assess validity and reliability. The data that obtained generally from the SMEs and basically/mentally from two different developing countries forefront the cross-cultural dimension of the research. As a result of the analysis, we have attempted to contribute to business executives and academics by providing a multidimensional job satisfaction scale.