Mathew Hughes

Exploitative learning and entrepreneurial orientation alignment in emerging young firms: implications for market and response performance

We examine exploitative learning and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in emerging young high technology firms located within business incubators. In the last five years, the UK government has invested approximately £125m in incubation activities. The rationale for supporting business incubation is to maximize knowledge sharing across firms with an expectation that it will leverage performance. This represents exploitative learning – the acquisition of established knowledge that carries clear known value and outcomes. Paradoxically, research into EO has repeatedly emphasized the value of knowledge created through exploratory learning mechanisms (‘play, discovery and experimentation’) in securing advantage. Theoretical and empirical questions are raised herein with regard to the value of exploitative learning within a network context which might negatively influence the impact of EO on the firm. Using configuration theory, we demonstrate that firms cannot sustain dual-dominant orientations of exploitative learning and EO. A strongly configured EO generates high performance returns. However, multi-group analysis reveals that these effects are particularly strong for those firms whose exploitative learning is weak. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Implications of customer and entrepreneurial orientations for SME growth

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to empirically investigate how the business orientations of customer orientation (CO) (represented by responsiveness to customers) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) (represented by proactiveness, innovativeness and risk‐taking) impact the growth of SMEs.Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a quantitative empirical approach, using structural equation modeling with the software package AMOS to analyze the results of 660 surveyed SMEs from Austria.Findings – This analysis reveals that EO is positively related to SME growth but CO shows a negative association with growth. Moreover, this analysis suggests that SMEs grow the most if they exhibit high EO and low CO.Research limitations/implications – This analysis shows that CO, interpreted as a purely responsive and reactive construct, cannot be considered a strategy that leads to sustainable SME growth. If an SME desires growth, EO is needed to fuel these growth aspirations. In spite of these findings however, thi...

Exploring consumers' motivations to engage in innovation through co-creation activities

Purpose – This paper aims to explore what factors motivate consumers to engage in co-creation innovation activities. The authors propose that motivations differ across types of activities, whether working independently, as part of a community or directly with the firm. They offer theoretical explanations as to why this might be the case. Design/methodology/approach – Adopting an exploratory research design, the study consists of a series of online interviews with participants in the gaming and video games industry. Findings – Motivations appear to differ across types of co-creation efforts. Innovating independently of the firm appears to be driven by egocentric motives; innovating as part of a community appears to be driven by altruistic motives; and innovating directly in collaboration with the firm appears to be driven by opportunity- (or goal-)related motives. Practical implications – Understanding the factors that motivate consumers to engage in co-creation activities enables firms to strategically ma...

Strategic entrepreneurship: origins, core elements and research directions

Purpose – The question of how to integrate strategic and entrepreneurial management to achieve a better balance between advantage‐ and opportunity‐seeking behaviours has received increased academic and practitioner interest in recent years. However, little consensus exists over the meaning of this concept of “strategic entrepreneurship” (SE), its constituents and its operation. This paper aims to address these issues.Design/methodology/approach – In response, the paper reports a thorough review of SEs origins and current conceptualizations to map its core components and charts critical research directions for this exciting emerging field. Analysis of the terrain of SE reveals eight core components drawn from entrepreneurship and strategic management that captures conditions necessary for its application.Findings – From this analysis, the paper offers an alternative model of SE, and charts four key research areas with accompanying research questions to inspire future research. These outcomes offer avenues...

Short‐term versus Long‐term Impact of Managers: Evidence from the Football Industry

Studies into the impact of top manager change on organization performance have revealed inconsistent findings. Using longitudinal data over a 12-year period on football organizations, we test for the short-term and long-term effects of manager change in comparison to the tenures of incumbent top managers. We find that long incumbent tenures are associated with performance far above the average. But when looking at change events, contrary to theoretical expectations, we find that change in the short term leads to a brief reprieve in poor performance only for performance to deteriorate in the long term as underlying weaknesses once again take hold. Our findings reveal the illusion of a short-term reprieve and the long-term consequences of this illusion. We map several implications for research and practice from our work.

The relative impact of culture, strategic orientation and capability on new service development performance

Purpose – This research attempts to understand the operant resources required for new service development (NSD). It aims to construct a more intricate understanding of how operant resources interact to drive NSD. Specifically, it aims to look at the impact of culture, strategic orientation and NSD capability for number of new services, the success rate of new services and the resulting financial contribution by NSD to overall firm performance.Design/methodology/approach – To investigate these relationships, data were collected from 105 leading UK‐based service firms via a key informant survey. Regression analysis was employed to test the model presented.Findings – Analysis reveals that a different culture (entrepreneurial culture) is needed to drive the number of new services from that required for a higher success rate (learning culture). A NSD capability has an important role supporting both of these aspects of NSD performance. The quantity and quality of NSD go on to affect the financial contribution m...

Climbing the value chain: Strategies to create a new product development capability in mature SMEs

Purpose – Increasing productivity gaps and declining manufacturing bases create complex challenges for mature small to medium enterprises (SMEs). One solution advocated by academia is to reposition along the value chain – moving to a position of greater value. The purpose of this paper is to examine strategies used by firms to reposition through creating a new product development (NPD) capability. In doing so, the paper seeks to resolve gaps in extant literature on NPD in mature SMEs.Design/methodology/approach – An exploratory approach is taken, analysing in‐depth case studies of three mature UK manufacturing SMEs.Findings – Four strategic approaches to enable the creation of a NPD capability (strategic alliances, licensing key technologies and ideas, outsourcing and deploying an internal development process) are found. Each may facilitate an SME to reposition but the findings highlight that these strategies are not mutually exclusive as different combinations were employed to accelerate and leverage cha...

Similarly different: a comparison of HRM practices in MNE subsidiaries and local firms in Turkey

This study provides some important insights on identifying the underlying characteristics of HRM practices that are likely to be adapted to the local cultural and institutional milieu by subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs). Further insights are provided on the distinctive characteristics of HRM practices pursued by local firms that are more likely to converge to the practices pursued by subsidiaries of MNEs. Our findings support the idea that HRM practices that are easy to diffuse, control and manage, and reflect a core organizational value will not be adapted to the local context. Our results provide evidence of the emergence of an established set of global best practices in MNEs. We also identify some instances where MNEs are more likely to adapt their HRM practices to the local context. We posit that this is more likely with regard to HRM practices that are difficult to diffuse, control and manage, and require sensitivity to local institutional pressures.

Strategic Dalliances as an Enabler for Discontinuous Innovation in Slow Clockspeed Industries: Evidence from the Oil and Gas Industry

The concept of ‘strategic dalliances’– defined as non-committal relationships that companies can ‘dip in and out of,’ or dally with, while simultaneously maintaining longer-term strategic partnerships with other firms and suppliers – has emerged as a promising strategy by which organizations can create discontinuous innovations. But does this approach work equally well for every sector? Moreover, how can these links be effectively used to foster the process of discontinuous innovation? Toward assessing the role that industry clockspeed plays in the success or failure of strategic dalliances, we provide case study evidence from Twister BV, an upstream oil and gas technology provider, and show that strategic dalliances can be an enabler for the discontinuous innovation process in slow clockspeed industries. Implications for research and practice are discussed, and conclusions from our findings are drawn.

The Relationship between Resource Acquisition Methods and Firm Performance in Chinese New Ventures: The Intermediate Effect of Learning Capability

Despite the omnipresent popularity of the resource‐based view of the firm, our understanding of how firms convert resource acquisition into performance returns remains something of a black box. We seek to unpack this problem in this study. Building on the resource‐based view and combining insights from organizational learning theory, this paper develops a theoretical model consisting of seven hypotheses in which resource purchase, resource attraction, and resource internal development are positively related to new venture performance, and in which learning capability mediates these relationships. We also posit that resource acquisition methods augment the learning capability of the firm en route to securing superior new venture performance. We test these hypotheses using survey data from new ventures in China. The results indicate that all three methods of resource acquisition have positive effects on new venture performance, that resource attraction and internal development have positive effects on learning capability in new ventures, and that learning capability mediates the relationship between these two resource acquisition practices and new venture performance. We put forward implications for theory and practice to close the work.