Abdul A. Rasheed

Making more by doing less: An analysis of outsourcing and its effects on firm performance

This study empirically examined the extent to which outsourcing of both peripheral and near-core tasks influences firms’ financial and nonfinancial performance. In addition, the potential moderating effects of firm strategy and the environment on the outsourcing-performance relationship were examined. Results indicate that, whereas there was no significant direct effect of outsourcing on firm performance, both firm strategy and environmental dynamism moderated the relationship between outsourcing and performance.

Strategic Decision Processes: Critical Review and Future Directions

This article develops an integrative framework of strategic decision processes based on a review of the past literature. The framework incorporates environmental, organizational, and decision-specific antecedents of process characteristics, and their process and economic outcomes. Key empirical studies are reviewed in the context of the framework and major patterns and contradictions are identified. Based on this review, useful implications for theory building, research methods and managerial practice are identified and several directions for future research are presented.

RATIONAL DECISION-MAKING AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: THE MODERATING ROLE OF ENVIRONMENT

This study investigates the moderating roles of environmental munificence and dynamism in the relationship between process rationality and organizational performance. Based on a sample of 62 manufacturing firms, the study found that environmental munificence and dynamism moderate the relationship between rationality and performance. Further, the study found that rationality is strongly associated with performance in environments high in munificence and dynamism.

Rationality in Strategic Decision Processes, Environmental Dynamism and Firm Performance

This study tests competing theories of how the relationship between rationality in strategic decision processes and firm performance may be moderated by environmental dynamism. Results, based on a survey of 101 manufacturing firms, indicate a positive rationality-performance relationship for firms facing dynamic environments, but no relationship between rationality and performance for firms facing stable environments. Implications for future research are discussed.

The Antecedents and Consequences of Top Management Fraud

Fraud by top management is a topic that has stirred public interest, concern, and controversy. In this article, the authors analyze fraud by senior executives in terms of its nature, scope, antecedents, and consequences. They draw on the fields of psychology, sociology, economics, and criminology to identify societal-, industry, and firm-level antecedents of management fraud and the individual differences that enhance or neutralize the likelihood and degree of such fraud. The authors also review the consequences of management fraud on various stakeholder groups such as shareholders, debtholders, managers, local communities, and society.

Effectiveness and Efficiency of Cross-Border Knowledge Transfer: An Empirical Examination

Based on a sample of 102 US organizations, this study examines the impact of knowledge characteristics, recipient learning intent, source attractiveness, and relationship quality on the effectiveness and efficiency of knowledge transfer from the international business affiliates of these organizations. Findings indicate that recipient learning intent and source attractiveness positively impact the effectiveness of knowledge transfer. In addition, recipient learning intent was found to have a positive effect on knowledge transfer efficiency. In particular, results highlight the strong positive impact that the quality of the relationship between the source and the recipient has on both the efficiency and effectiveness of cross-border knowledge transfer. The study also indicates that knowledge value is positively associated with recipient learning intent and that knowledge value, rarity and non-substitutability influence source attractiveness. Finally, findings suggest that the relationship between knowledge characteristics and knowledge transfer is partially mediated by recipient learning intent and source attractiveness.

Configuration Research in Strategic Management: Key Issues and Suggestions

This paper discusses major theoretical and methodological issues that strategic management researchers must consider when developing and testing configuration theories. The theoretical issues include: (1) number of domains, (2) causality, and (3) temporal stability. The methodological issues are: (I) specification of key constructs, (2) effects of data aggregation, (3) the choice of unit of analysis, and (4) the appropriateness of research methodologies. Greater attention to these issues should result in more accurate findings and more meaningful interpretations.

Human resource outsourcing and organizational performance in manufacturing firms

Abstract Considerable anecdotal evidence suggests that an organizations use of outsourcing will have an influence on its performance. However, few empirical examinations of the outsourcing–performance relationship have been conducted. In this study, we analyze the relationship between the outsourcing of human resource (HR) activities, namely training and payroll, and firm performance. In addition, we hypothesize that the outsourcing–performance relationship is not the same for all firms. As a result, we test for the potential moderating effects of firm size. Our sample consists of 94 manufacturing firms representing 16 two-digit SIC code industries. Results indicate that both training and payroll outsourcing have implications for firm performance. However, findings regarding a moderating effect of firm size were inconclusive.

Greening the manufacturing function

nvironmentalism is no longer an issue of reluctant compliance with regulatory requirements. In the last decade, it has increasingly emerged as a potential mechanism for gaining competitive advantage and has become an important aspect of strategic management. Being environmentally conscious involves detailed attention to a variety of issues, such as energy conservation, pollution prevention, and avoidance of ecological degradation. Our current levels of resource consumption and waste generation are unsustainable in the long run. A 1987 report by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) warns that current environmental trends threaten to radically alter the planet and many species upon it, including the human species. The transition from an agricultural to an industrial civilization is accompanied by increasing exploitation of scarce resources and destruction of the natural environment at an alarming rate. Industrial production technology has traditionally focused on improving the quality and quantity of production with little attention paid to environmental or social costs. The growth in environmental consciousness has led to a significant change in this attitude, and – willingly or otherwise – businesses are now forced to confront the consequences of their actions. Modern technology offers the promise of dramatically changing the products we use, how we use them, and how they are made.

Perceived Environmental Dynamism and Managerial Risk Aversion as Antecedents of Manufacturing Outsourcing: The Moderating Effects of Firm Maturity

This study investigates how perceived environmental dynamism and managerial risk aversion influence a firms manufacturing outsourcing activities. Based on a survey of 86 small manufacturing firms, the study found that higher levels of perceived environmental dynamism and managerial risk aversion are associated with increased outsourcing activity. These relationships are moderated by firm maturity such that newer firms engage in more manufacturing outsourcing than their mature counterparts when the environment is perceived to be more dynamic. Mature firms were found to outsource more than newer firms when their top‐management teams were relatively more risk averse.