James J. Hoffman

Achieving Sustained Competitive Advantage: A Family Capital Theory

Although it has been long asserted that family businesses hold advantages over nonfamily businesses, to date, there have been very few theories developed as to exactly why family businesses hold competitive advantages over nonfamily businesses. This article introduces the concept of family capital and proposes that family capital has potential impact on business performance. Specifically, this article suggests that family businesses with high levels of family capital possibly do hold a sustained competitive advantage over family businesses with low levels of family capital and/or nonfamily businesses.

Social capital, knowledge management, and sustained superior performance

Purpose – This article attempts to begin the process of removing the cloak of causal ambiguity by examining the role that knowledge management has in the creation of the wide variety of competitive advantages found in some organizations. Specifically, this article aims to extend understanding in the field of knowledge management by examining how knowledge management can affect organizational performance, and by examining one possible determinant of an organization’s capacity to manage knowledge. Design/methodology/approach – Reviews literature on resources-advantage theory of the firm, social capital and knowledge management to propose ways within the organization to improve their ability to manage knowledge and achieve sustained superior performance. The paper is structured around the following constructs: resource-advantage theory of the firm, social capital, and knowledge management. Findings – Describes the relationship between social capital and knowledge management and how both help organizations achieve a sustained superior performance within the market. Suggests that organizations with high levels of social capital have more knowledge-management capabilities than organizations with low levels of social capital. Research limitations/implications – This article extends prior research of knowledge management by proposing how social capital can positively impact the ability of organizations to manage knowledge. Practical implications – Since resources within all businesses are relatively limited, and particularly so when the business is small relative to its competitors, the revelation that social capital can lead to more effective knowledge management makes the decision to support and nurture social-capital development much more credible. Originality/value – Because there is no existing literature that has examined the relationship between social capital, knowledge management, and organizational performance, this paper provides a foundation for future studies that examine the relationship between social capital and knowledge management.

Can technology build organizational social capital?: the case of a global IT consulting firm

Knowledge management (KM) and knowledge management systems (KMS) have been positioned as strategies and tools that enable organizations to create and transfer knowledge in order to sustain competitive advantage. While KM as a strategy gained legitimacy, KMS have struggled to show a causal relationship to knowledge creation and knowledge transfer. KMS contribution to the economic performance of organizations has been harder to prove, mainly because of a lack of collection of data and thus analysis of knowledge metrics. This has lead to an unjustifiable move to underplay the role of technology in creating and transferring knowledge. We strived to revive interest in KMS by exploring their ability to accumulate social capital and showing its effect on the creation and transfer of knowledge. We posited that social capital was the mediating factor between KMS and knowledge creation and transfer and hypothesized that: (1) KMS will positively affect an organizations ability to build social capital, and that (2) social capital will enhance a firms ability to create and transfer knowledge. Qualitative data collected from a multinational IT consulting firm was used to validate the framework.

The effect of the acquisition of technological innovations on organizational performance: A resource-based view

Abstract This study examined the relationship between the acquisition of technological innovations and organizational performance using the framework of firm resource-based theory, as proposed by Barney [Barney, J., 1991. Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. J. Manage. 17, 99–120]. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant and positive relationship between the acquisition of technological innovations and organizational performance. It was further hypothesized that this relationship would be moderated by the extent to which the technological innovations were simultaneously valuable, imperfectly imitable, and rare. A sample of 189 Florida hospitals was used in the study. A positive and significant relationship was found between the acquisition of medical technological innovations and hospital financial performance, and the relationship was found to be strongest when the hospitals medical technologies were simultaneously valuable, imperfectly imitable, and rare.

The effect of information technology investment on firm-level performance in the health care industry.

Background: The return on investment for information technology (IT) has been the subject of much debate throughout the history of management information systems research. Often referred to as the productivity paradox, increased IT investments have not been consistently associated with increased productivity. Understanding individual IT factors that directly contribute to business value should provide insight into the productivity paradox. Purpose: The effects of 3 different firm-level IT characteristics on financial performance in the health care industry are studied. Specifically, the effects of IT budget, IT outsourcing, and the relative number of IT personnel on firm-level financial performance are analyzed. Methods: Regression analysis of archival survey data for 914 Integrated Healthcare Delivery Systems is performed. Results: IT budgetary expenditures and the number of IT services outsourced are associated with increases in the profitability of Integrated Healthcare Delivery Systems, whereas increases in IT personnel are not significantly associated with increased profitability. Each one tenth of a percentage increase in IT expenditures is associated with approximately

Situational ethics across borders: A multicultural examination

100,000 in increased profit, and each additional IT service outsourced is associated with approximately

Organizational form and environment: an analysis of between-form and within-form responses to environmental change

950,000 in increased profit for an average-sized Integrated Healthcare Delivery System. Implications: To increase profitability, IT administrators should increase IT budgetary expenditures along with IT outsourcing levels. IT administrators in the health care industry can use such findings during budgeting cycles to justify increased investments in IT personnel as being budget neutral while increasing organizational capacity.

Alternative Methods for Measuring Organization Fit: Technology, Structure, and Performance

Managers throughout the world regularly face ethical dilemmas that have important, and perhaps complex, professional and personal implications. Further, societal consequences of decisions made can be far-reaching. In this study, 210 financial services managers from Australia, Chile, Ecuador and the United States were queried about their ethical beliefs when faced with four diverse dilemmas. In addition, the situational context was altered so the respondent viewed each dilemma from a top management position and from a position of economic hardship. Results suggest a complex interaction of situation, culture and issue when individuals make ethical judgments. Specifically, Chileans were found to have different beliefs about sex discrimination and child labor dilemmas when compared to their colleagues from the other three nations. Chileans and Australians also disagreed on the bribery dilemma. Anglo managers were more likely than Latin American managers to change their ethical responses when the situation was altered. For multinational firms interested in maintaining healthy ethical climates, the findings suggest that culturally contingent ethical guidelines, or policies adapted to the local customs, must be considered. Further, managers must remain aware of issues related to specific situations, both internal and external, that would cause subordinates to alter their moral judgment.

Choice Situation, Refocusing, and Post-Bankruptcy Performance:

This study extends previous research on organizational adaptation to major environmental shifts by empirically examining the potential constraining effects of organizational form, operationalized using the Miles and Snow typology, on the type of responses enacted as well as the performance effects of the responses. Results indicate that a fit between environmental contingencies and organizational form relates to superior performance. The results also provide support for the idea that organizations systematically move toward the higher‐performing forms for a given environment. Consistent with organizational configuration logic, while these responses lead to performance improvements when a between‐form change is made, they do not necessarily lead to performance improvements when a within‐form change is made. Copyright

Performance During “M-Form” Reorganization and Recovery Time: The Effects of Prior Strategy and Implementation Speed

Using data from 68 newspaper organizations, this article examines the substantive and methodological implications of using two popular perspectives of measuringfit: moderation and matching. The strengths and weaknesses of these and other related methods are discussed. Based on this discussion, we use the multiplicative model (multiple regression with product terms) to test the moderation perspective and the deviation score model to test the matching perspective. After consideration of both relevant literature and the empirical results, the moderation approach was considered most viable, provided that proper interpretation methods are used.