Jon Landeta

The moderating effect of cultural context in the relation between HPWS and performance: an exploratory study in Spanish multinational companies

The efficiency of high performance work systems (HPWS) has been a special object of study for the last two decades. Analysis of their behaviour has involved the consideration of diverse factors that might be supposed to moderate their efficiency, among which internal company factors stand out. However, contextual perspective has not been considered in great detail. From a contingent approach, the cultural context of the country in which a firm is located ought to influence the effectiveness of their HPWS, and these systems should, therefore, adapt to their setting. However, from a universalist perspective, the competitive potential of these systems would be independent of their context of application. For companies that set up business in other countries and have to decide between transferring their human resource management system (HRMS) intact or adapting it to the new context of application, it is a matter of great importance to know which of these two perspectives is to be implemented. This article, using a sample of subsidiaries of Spanish multinational enterprises (MNEs), analyses the influence of cultural context as a moderating variable between HPWS and performance. The results we obtained, on the one hand, once again reveal the positive influence of HPWS on firm performance and, on the other hand, bear out the universalist perspective, as they do not, in general, detect a significant influence of cultural context as a moderating variable. Nevertheless, specific cultural characteristics of the countries where firms are located do appear to increase the positive influence of HPWS, and this opens up an interesting line of study.

The pool effect of dyad‐based capabilities on seller firms' innovativeness

Purpose – The main purpose of this paper is to analyze which relational resources and capabilities are determinant in fostering innovations and to what extent these innovations are relevant in achieving superior business results.Design/methodology/approach – The proposed hypotheses are tested in an empirical study carried out on a sample group of 106 Spanish companies from the sub‐industries of machine tool manufacture and manufacturers of machinery for specific industries, operating in a business‐to‐business context. Information was gathered by means of telephone interviews with sales, production or management representatives of machinery suppliers. Analysis of data was performed by means of partial least squares regression. The exchange of knowledge leading to shared learning, investments in idiosyncratic or relation‐specific assets, non‐specific complementary resources and capabilities, and dyad governance mechanisms are the analyzed factors.Findings – The results confirm that the existence of customer...

The dilemma facing multinational enterprises: transfer or adaptation of their human resource management systems

This study, within the discipline of International Human Resource Management, analyses the readiness of multinational enterprises to export their human resource management (HRM) system to their subsidiaries abroad, depending on the perceived quality of the system and the differences in the cultural contexts of the headquarters and subsidiaries. Using a qualitative exploratory study of 8 Basque firms and another quantitative study of a sample of 58 Spanish industrial multinationals, we conclude that the quality of the headquarters-based HRM system has a significant influence when it comes to deciding whether to export it to the subsidiary, whereas the difference in cultural contexts is not decisive when transferring the basic principles of the human resource system, although it is possibly decisive in the transfer of practices and sub-processes.

Types of embedded ties in buyer-supplier relationships and their combined effects on innovation performance

Purpose – This paper aims to analyze the impact of three types of embedded ties, namely, specialized complementary resources, idiosyncratic investments and knowledge sharing, on the innovation capacity of firms. It also examines the particularities of the machine-tool industry. Design/methodology/approach – The evaluation of the embedded buyer-supplier ties is based on the potential sources of relational rents proposed by Dyer and Singh (1998). It also draws on Uzzi and Lancaster (2003) and Noordhoff et al. (2011), among others, to discuss the positive and negative aspects of embedded ties. Using data from a survey of 202 European machine-tool firms acting as buyers and sellers, the study proposes and evaluates a structural equation model. Findings – Only knowledge-sharing routines exert a significant positive effect on product innovation performance. Neither an increase in idiosyncratic investments nor in complementary resources and capabilities enhances innovation performance. Moreover, knowledge-sharin...

Collaborative relationships with customers: generation and protection of innovations

Purpose This paper aims to discover the key elements for generating and protecting innovations based on the customer-supplier relationship in industrial sectors. Design/methodology/approach This exploratory qualitative study was performed using semi-structured interviews with chief executive officers and innovation managers of 22 industrial firms and institutions from the machine-tool industry. Findings Key forms of knowledge must be shared by the two agents. Producers have to obtain in-depth knowledge about customers’ needs and customers need knowledge on producer’s absorptive capacity. Producers distinguish between three types of customers: reference customers, necessary for innovations with greatest scope, clientes amigos or test users, required to test innovations currently being developed, and traditional customers, associated with incremental innovations. The traditional means of protecting innovations is a detailed contract between customer and supplier; and patents are used for innovations of greater technological scope, as a form of defense against third-party patents and as a signaling element of absorptive capacity. Originality/value The paper draws on the direct experience of executives from companies whose innovation is based on a close relationship with customers to answer questions to which the literature has yet to provide definitive answers: What sort of information to be shared is relevant for the generation of innovations? Are all customers equal or are there profiles that contribute more effectively to the development of innovations? What attitude and mechanisms are most effective for protecting the knowledge and competitiveness generated through knowledge sharing?

Determining factors in the effectiveness of executive coaching as a management development tool

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a classified list of the factors that are most influential in the success of an executive coaching process, arranged in order of importance. Design/methodology/approach – Selection of factors from an exhaustive literature review, and development of a qualitative investigation, applying a Focus Group, a Nominal Group technique, and the Delphi method to a group of experts comprising coaches, coachees, and human resources managers, in order to complete and assess the factors selected. Findings – The most outstanding factors needed in executive coaching are confidentiality, trust, and empathy between coach and coachee; the coach’s ability to generate trust, and her/his competence in communication skills, vocation and commitment; the coachee’s need, motivation, responsibility for his/her own development and commitment to the process; and a guarantee from the organization of the confidentiality of that process. Practical implications – This research furnishes a ...

Is executive coaching more effective than other management training and development methods

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of the results of applying executive coaching (EC) as a management competency training and development strategy, setting up a comparison with other known training and development methods. Design/methodology/approach A dual sample is used. On the one hand, information is collected from a sample of 100 managers who participated as coachees in an EC process. On the other hand, the study provides the opinions of 236 HR managers as prescribers and promoters of company executive training and development actions. Findings The results suggest that EC is an effective management training and development method (MTDM). Furthermore, it is confirmed to be more effective than the rest of the techniques analysed in relation with sustained and observable management behaviour changes, whilst also providing advantages and drawbacks in its use. Practical implications Coaching seems to provide the most effective method for altering a selected number of concrete managerial behaviours, although its cost, length, and specificity limit its capacity to be used exclusively as a tool for continuous and generalised management training. Originality/value In addition to incorporating two different samples and points of view within the analysis, this work contributes evidence regarding behaviours addressed in EC processes – a feature that has received little analysis in the academic literature – and breaks new ground by comparing the results of this method with other MTDMs in terms of their degree of effectiveness in attaining observable and lasting behaviour changes.

Mediation effects of trust and contracts on knowledge-sharing and product innovation: Evidence from the European machine tool industry

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the mediating role of contracts and trust on the generation of product innovations stemming from buyer-supplier knowledge-sharing (KS) among the members of the supply chain. Together with the individual effects of trust and contracts, their joint effect is examined in order to determine whether these are complementary or alternative mechanisms of safeguarding and control. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on a survey of 202 European machine tool firms acting as buyers and sellers, the authors propose and evaluate a structural equation model. Findings Results confirm that there is a positive relation between contracts and trust with respect to buyer-supplier KS, and of the latter with respect to innovation performance. They also show that firms in which both the levels of trust and contract use are high reinforce their product-innovation capability based on buyer-supplier interaction (complementarity thesis). However, results also show that, contrary to trust, contracts by themselves do not act as a stimulus for product innovation. Research limitations/implications Establishing contracts seems to be a highly recommended action in a buyer-supplier relationship focused on increasing innovation capacity. This does not go against engendering trust in a relationship. Both trust with a degree of formalization, in different ways, help to increase the effect of sharing valuable knowledge on innovation capacity. Originality/value To the authors’ best knowledge, no prior study has delved into differentiating the use of contracts and trust as mechanisms in mediating the effect originated from knowledge-sharing on product innovation performance with two different samples formed by buying and selling firms.

Internal versus external executive coaching

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to show the advantages and disadvantages of internal and external executive coaching. To this end, it offers a thorough review of the literature and an exploratory study based on the Delphi method with 40 selected experts, who gave answers based on their own experience. The results indicate that the decision on whether to opt for internal coaching (IC), external coaching (EC) or both depends on the objectives to be achieved, the capacity of the organisation and an awareness of the characteristics of the two types. IC is viable when there is a high level of trust in the confidentiality of the process; there are a large number of processes to be carried out; the hierarchical status of the executives is not greater than that of the coaches and the culture of the organisation views coaching as an executive responsibility. EC is the best option for small organisations, for one-off interventions, for top executives and for organisations whose culture does not promote this practice among its own executives. The findings could assist companies in deciding which type of coaching is best suited to their needs, coaches and coachees in achieving greater improvement and better outcomes and offer a clearer view of this segment. The study also sets out the reasoning offered by the experts and provides recommendations for future research.

Alternative mentoring: an HRD key for a rapid changing work environment

Purpose The changing nature of work dynamics demands that managers keep up-to-date in skills, knowledge, and competencies. Besides, nowadays these professionals need to understand the business beyond the frontiers of their own organizations. This phenomenon has led to new forms of alternative mentoring for managers and entrepreneurs, as companies battle for talent in a globalized way. Professional associations, consultancy firms, and other agents are starting to offer mentoring programs in which the mentor and mentee often belong to different organizations or take place within a group. Design/methodology/approach The purpose of this study is to present a conceptual model for alternative mentoring for managers. This model is a new approach to mentoring, and it will try to clarify some of the bases of a phenomenon that is increasingly present in the managerial field. Findings The paper also suggests some advantages of alternative mentoring when compared to traditional mentoring. Originality/value This paper contributes to a better understanding of new forms of alternative mentoring while providing practitioners in the field with a better understanding of key issues for alternative mentoring.