S. Tamer Cavusgil

Learning orientation, firm innovation capability, and firm performance

Contemporary organizations require a strong learning orientation to gain competitive advantage. Based on in-depth interviews with senior executives and a review of the literature, the present investigation delineates four components of learning orientation: commitment to learning, shared vision, open-mindedness, and intraorganizational knowledge sharing. A framework is tested using data from a broad spectrum of US industries. Learning orientation is conceptualized as a second-order construct. Its effect on firm innovativeness, which in turn affects firm performance, is examined. The results generally support theoretical predictions, and some interesting findings emerge. D 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Differences among exporting firms based on their degree of internationalization

Abstract An overwhelming majority of the investigations of company export behavior have utilized data obtained from all types of firms in a sample. An alternative approach would involve disaggregating the sample into some meaningful groups and contrasting company characteristics across the subsamples of firms. This study attempts to delineate differences among exporting firms when firms are classified by their degree of internationalization. Three types of exporters are identified in light of the internationalization hypothesis: experimental exporters, active exporters, and committed exporters. These firms are then contrasted with each other with respect to measurable company characteristics, domestic market environment, nature of international business involvement, marketing policy aspects, and export market research practices. The analysis in the paper is based upon data gathered through personal interviews with the executives of 70 midwestern manufacturers. The study reveals significant differences among the three types of exporters and provides further insights into the export marketing behavior of firms.

Tacit knowledge transfer and firm innovation capability

This study surveys a broad spectrum of US manufacturer and service firms to examine the effect of tacit knowledge transfer on firm innovation capability. The authors present a set of hypotheses concerning the relationships between inter‐firm relationship strength and tacitness of knowledge transfer, extent of tacit knowledge transfer and innovation capability, and innovation capability and innovation performance based on the theory of knowledge. Moderating roles of firm collaborative experience and firm size on the relationship between inter‐firm relationship strength and the extent of tacit knowledge transfer are considered. Empirical results generally support the predictions from the theory and managerial implications are included.

The Influence of Complementarity, Compatibility, and Relationship Capital on Alliance Performance:

Value creation through alliances requires the simultaneous pursuit of partners with similar characteristics on certain dimensions and different characteristics on other dimensions. Partnering firms need to have different resource and capability profiles yet share similarities in their social institutions. In this article, the authors empirically examine the impact of partner characteristics on the performance of alliances. In particular, they test hypotheses related to both direct impact of partner characteristics on alliance performance and indirect effects through relational capital aspects of the alliance. Empirical results based on a sample of alliances in the global construction contracting industry suggest that complementarity in partner resources and compatibility in cultural and operational norms have different direct and indirect effects on alliance performance. Accordingly, organizational routines aimed at partner selection need to be complemented by relationship management routines to maximize the potential benefits from an alliance.

Firm and management characteristics as discriminators of export marketing activity

Abstract Exporting continues to be the major type of foreign involvement for many American companies. This paper reports on an empirical study designed to relate a comprehensive set of firm and management characteristics to such activity. Potential correlates of export marketing activity are identified through a literature search and are then used to discriminate between exporting and nonexporting firms. The findings indicate that profiles can be developed for exporting and nonexporting firms. Organizational and management characteristics can provide meaningful profiles which are capable of distinguishing between exporting and nonexporting firms. The implications of these finding for management, public policy, and future research are discussed.

Consumer Attitudes towards Products of Foreign Origin: Do They Vary Across Product Classes?

Although a substantial body of literature exists on the country-of-origin bias, the issue of whether or not such perceptions are uniform across product classes has not been resolved. This study examines how quality perceptions of consumers vary across four product classes: electronic items, food products, fashion merchandise, and household goods. Responses obtained from a sample of Nova Scotian consumers suggest that quality perceptions tend to be product-specific. Quality perceptions vary also for the 25 countries studied. A number of policy implications are also offered in the paper.

Conceptualization and Operationalization of Destination Image

The destination image has received much attention for about three decades. Studies of various aspects of destination images increased in volume during the 1990s. Echtner and Ritchies (1991) review of destination image literature resulted in several suggestions in terms of both the conceptualization and operationalization of destination image. This study looks at the evolutionary nature of tourism destination image studies from both theoretical and operational perspectives. Necessary adjustments in the methodological rigor and the focus of inquiry for destination image research are offered using Echtner and Ritchies review as a guide. A review of literature about destination image and other pertinent concepts indicated that several of Echtner and Ritchies recommendations have been followed, whereas others have not. Also, several other important conceptualization- and methodology-related issues identified in the destination image literature are addressed.

Information System Innovations and Supply Chain Management: Channel Relationships and Firm Performance

This study explores how innovations surrounding supply chain communication systems (SCCS) affect channel relationships and market performance. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, the study hypothesizes that certain SCCS innovations can be viewed as firm resources that enhance channel capabilities, which in turn affect a firm’s market performance. The empirical research is based on 184 responses from a survey with U.S. supply chain and logistics managers using structural equation modeling as the analytic method. The results suggest that the effect of applied technological SCCS innovations on channel capabilities is mediated by interfirm systems integration. In contrast, administrative SCCS innovations enhance information exchange and coordination activities directly. Furthermore, the influence of applied technological innovations for SCCS is not strong enough to affect either responsiveness of the partnership or firm performance, whereas administrative innovations for SCCS affect both.

Toward a Typology of Commitment States Among Managers of Born-Global Firms: A Study of Accelerated Internationalization

Substantial scholarly work has shed much light on the development of a contemporary global environment—namely, the phenomenon of born-global firms. These young entrepreneurial firms, which take on internationalization early in their evolution, are now found in large numbers in most economies, especially in smaller, saturated, developed markets. In this article, the authors advance some theoretical explanations regarding the behavior of these firms. In the current Australian case-based study, rather than engaging in a firm-level analysis, the authors focus on the attitudinal orientations of senior management in this new breed of internationally active firms. In contrast to an incremental approach, the authors offer a theoretical explanation that integrates the network perspective and resource-based view with international entrepreneurship. Their exploration of the managerial mind-set of these smaller born-global firms leads to the identification of four states of commitment to accelerated internationalization by top management. Delineating these states should assist managers in achieving their accelerated internationalization objectives. Any of the four attitudinal mind-sets facilitates internationalization, but the strategist state adopts a more benevolent, collaborative behavioral stance designed to preserve key relationships. The strategist also avoids the short-term orientation, competitiveness, and self-interest of the responder, the opportunist, and the experimentalist.

Curbing Foreign Distributor Opportunism: An Examination of Trust, Contracts, and the Legal Environment in International Channel Relationships

Many tenets of cross-border governance arrangements are broad-brush projections of domestic findings. To explore such generalizations, this study uses data from a large set of U.S.-based manufacturers to formulate and test propositions about limiting the potential opportunistic behavior of foreign distributors. The findings challenge two generalizations about governance arrangements in the cross-border context. The first is that a manufacturer is often handicapped disproportionately by its level of brand and scale prominence. Formal contracts as prescribed by transaction cost analysis, though negatively related to opportunism, do not have a significant effect on the alleviation of foreign distributor opportunism. The second generalization is that the joint use of trust and formal contracts is not significantly associated with opportunism. Trust and formal contracts serve different purposes. Trust makes the relationship function, and contracts institute and legitimize it. Furthermore, previous studies investigate opportunism in isolation, whereas this study points to the influence of legal hostility on the management of opportunism in the export market.