Miguel González-Loureiro

Evolving research on expatriates: what is 'known' after four decades (1970–2012)

The purpose of this paper was to provide a comprehensive review of the evolving research on a still key challenge for human resource management (HRM) in the globalized business of today: the expatriates and their impact on business performance. Research of four decades was reviewed to show what was known and what was not yet known. A bibliometric analysis was conducted to build a conceptual map of the evolving research. Up to 438 papers published in 104 different journals by 233 authors were analyzed. Most of the literature studies and research does not show a systematic approach, so this review may be useful for scholars and practitioners in the field of HRM and International Business Management in order to advance into the next stage of development on how to deal with and take advantage of hiring expatriates. Even after more than four decades of intensive research, the literature on expatriation is still nascent and requires higher order content. New contexts and organizations should be included in the research agenda, while an effort must be made in systematic approaches and in building higher order content in the international HRM field.

Research on the strategy of multinational enterprises: Key approaches and new avenues

Over decades, research on multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) strategies has been anchored in internalization theory. Strongly grounded in transaction cost economics to explain foreign market entry, it hardly explains how MNEs can build and sustain a competitive advantage. Thus, this paper aims at understanding how the nature of strategic thinking has influenced the research in the field of MNEs’ strategy. A content analysis of 1116 papers was conducted. The intellectual structure and dynamics of research to date are provided, without losing sight of the key foundations of strategy and strategic management. The links between human capital and knowledge are the factors on which to underpin the explanation of the MNEs’ strategies and support the coevolving theory. This theory is a promising avenue of research under the umbrella of RBV and KBV approaches. The context-dependency of strategy implies that different contexts require different approaches. Accordingly, we provide insights for future research by combining main schools of strategy thought.

Supply chain management as the key to a firm’s strategy in the global marketplace: Trends and research agenda

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the intersection of two literature streams: that of strategy and supply chain management (SCM). This review should create a better understanding of “strategic SCM” by focussing on relevant theories in the strategic management field and their intersection with SCM to develop a joint research agenda. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a correspondence analysis on the content of 3,402 articles from the top SCM journals. This analysis provides a map of the intellectual structure of content in this field to date. The key trends and changes were identified in strategic SCM research from 1990-2014 as well as the intersection with the key schools of strategic management. Findings – The results suggest that SCM is key to a successful deployment of strategy for competing in the global marketplace. The main theoretical foundations for research in this field were identified and discussed. Gaps were detected and combinations of theoretical foundations ...

Global organizations and supply chain: New research avenues in the international human resource management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to aim at proposing a research agenda in the intersection of strategic supply chain management and logistics (SCML) of global organizations from the perspective of international human resource management (IHRM). Design/methodology/approach – To disclose the intellectual structure of research to date across both fields, the content of up to 280 articles dealing with IHRM and 174 papers addressing challenges in SCML in global organizations from a human resource management (HRM) viewpoint were analyzed. A stepwise hierarchical cluster and discriminant analysis were conducted to map a joint research agenda. Approaches from Upper Echelons theory and Co-Evolutionary theory of global organizations were adopted. Findings – Top management teams (TMT) are crucial to manage SCML successfully in today’s global organizations. Research on this intersection should draw attention to find antecedents, consequences and the process showing how those talented people grouped in dispersed...

Intellectual capital on regional innovation systems: toward the momentum of growth rates of business performance

The aim of this paper is to introduce a model that makes explicit the links among intellectual capital (IC) items (human-HC, structural-SC and relational capital-RC) and the indicators activity growth in innovative SMEs. Several authors have pointed out the importance of knowledge and innovation as basic factors of competitiveness. Other authors have studied the relationships between some elements of intellectual capital and business performance. Through the relevant literature review done, a set of relationships has been developed and contrasted in 163 SMEs. Must be stressed the importance of the structural capital (SC) in the internal management of innovation in innovative SMEs. Furthermore, the growth of their activity can be explained mainly by the link HC-SC. There are relevant implications from the perspective of the triple helix, especially regarding to the innovation regional policies and the strategic orientation of the science-technology system.

Keynesian, post-Keynesian versus Schumpeterian, neo-Schumpeterian: an integrated approach to the innovation theory

Purpose – In order to explain change and growth at the aggregate levels, three levels: macro, meso and micro must be taken into account. Applying the theories from Keynesian and post‐Keynesian economics (PKE) best explains the macro level and applying those from Schumpeterian and neo‐Schumpeterian economics (NSE) best explains the micro level. Besides this, the meso level can be further explained by merging both post‐Keynesian and neo‐Schumpeterian theories. Such a unifying approach has been missing from the literature so far. Bringing these schools of thought together is important for mutual learning and further development of innovation theory. This paper aims to effect this.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a survey of the relevant secondary literature of the aforementioned schools of thought, identifying their methodological practice and key contributions to innovation theory.Findings – A combination of these schools of thought offers a richer approach to studying innovation. It is foun...

Culture and innovation in SMEs: the intellectual structure of research for further inquiry

ABSTRACT Regional and organizational cultures are commonly considered key enablers to innovation dynamics in organizations, in particular to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Although this intersection is a crucial topic of research, studies addressing this issue remain limited in number and scope in the case of SMEs. In this article, a systematic literature review of that intersection is presented by gathering articles from ISI-WoS and Scopus databases. It combines a qualitative approach (content analysis) and a statistical procedure (HOMALS) to analyse the information from 1947 articles found. As a result, the contribution is twofold: a map of the intellectual structure of research and a codebook of descriptors. The study helps identify relevant gaps for future research, specifically the need for mixed approaches from a variety of social sciences with a particular focus on regional science. Future research should shift from a static to a dynamic perspective of culture in groups, organizations and territories. In the case of SMEs, this can be labelled as transformational culture: the study of how organizational and regional cultures may co-evolve along with the changes in the environment by seizing on the SMEs’ flexibility and flattened organizational structure.

Employee knowledge profiles --- a mixed-research methods approach

The purpose of this paper is to identify different knowledge profiles in organizations and to analyze their contribution to innovation. This is done by analyzing how knowledge is integrated within the work processes by groups of workers with different characteristics (i.e. knowledge profiles). The paper uses a combination of qualitative analysis with quantitative analysis. Using Action Research methodology, several semi-structured group interviews were performed and a questionnaire was applied to employees of two organizations. In order to identify the employee’s profiles, different groups were found by means of a factorial analysis, which resulted in specific knowledge profiles. The major finding of this research was the identification of several knowledge profiles - Innovators, Integrators, Organizers and Facilitators,. An important conclusion is that integration of knowledge in day-by-day practices can boost innovation. The collection of evidences carried out helped to identify ways of integrating knowledge through the implementation of knowledge sharing routines and promotion of collaborative activities in systematic transfer processes, including problem-solving routines and participation in improvement, quality and maintenance projects.

A content and comparative analysis of strategic management research in the Baltic area: A research agenda for qualitative studies

This paper aims to provide a research agenda for qualitative studies in the field of strategic management (SM) in the Baltic area. A total of 167 strategic management-related articles in this area between 2000 and 2013 were found. The content within title, abstract and authors’ keywords were analysed by means of a multiple correspondence analysis based on the HOMALS procedure. The intellectual structure of SM in the Baltic area is to some extent similar to the global structure of the field. Hence research on this topic in the Baltic area is well integrated in the field. Three topics of interest have been identified while the fourth seems to offer more limited opportunities for qualitative studies. These are: Entry and Competition; Strategic Behaviour and the Micro-foundations of Strategy; the Growth-Performance Relationship; and Global Strategies. Despite the modest number of articles in our sample, the findings are consistent with past research on the structure of the SM field. The classification of articles into qualitative- and quantitative-based methods helped provide a research agenda. SM scholars in the Baltic area may find this article as an interesting input to their quest for finding and justifying their own research path. This is an original literature review. The use of a quantitative method in the literature review and the suggested matrix is a second original contribution to evolving methodologies for content analysis. The method allows the inclusion of large samples while limiting the use of scholars’ intuition.

A content and comparative analysis of strategic management research in the Baltic area

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a research agenda for qualitative studies in the field of strategic management (SM) in the Baltic area. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 167 SM-related articles in this area between 2000 and 2013 were found. The content within title, abstract and authors’ keywords was analysed by means of a multiple correspondence analysis based on the HOMALS technique. Findings – The intellectual structure of SM in the Baltic area is to some extent similar to the global structure of the field. Hence research on this topic in the Baltic area is well integrated in the field. Three topics of interest have been identified while the fourth seems to offer more limited opportunities for qualitative studies. These are: entry and competition; strategic behaviour and the micro-foundations of strategy; the growth-performance relationship; and global strategies. Research limitations/implications – Despite the modest number of articles in our sample, the findings are consisten...