José Ángel Zúñiga-Vicente

• Doctor of Business Administration
• Professor (Full) at Rey Juan Carlos University

This study explores the potential effects of different combinations of growth-seeking strategies on performance in SMEs during long times of economic boom and crisis. Our hypotheses are tested on a representative sample of Spanish SMEs between 1994 and 2014. During these years Spain suffered one of the periods of greatest economic stability/growth...

The building sector is currently involved in a process of change as a result of concerns about the sustainability of the construction industry. For this reason, the application of circular economy criteria that are committed to the development of new, more sustainable construction materials has become one of the major challenges included in the Eur...

The reuse and recycling of construction and demolition waste is becoming an advisable choice to reduce the consumption of key raw materials and the environmental impact generated by the construction of new buildings. This study proposes the introduction of two new stages of recycled aggregate processing that allow redesigning the production process...

The construction industry is one of the main economic drivers of nations, but it is also an industry that generate a large amount of waste that cause a strong negative environmental impact. This research studies the effect of partial or total substitution of natural aggregate by mixed recycled aggregate in the manufacture of cement mortars. To this...

This study examines how green bonds and environmental, social and governance (ESG) stock market returns have reacted to the COVID-19 crisis in the US. Unlike the Standard and Poor's (S&P) 500 index, the response of green bonds and ESG markets to pandemic progress is nonlinear: A low (large) level of confirmed new cases of COVID-19 has a positive (n...

Purpose The use of linear models has major limitations for accurately representing the true link between gender diversity and organizational performance. This study aims to explore two curvilinear models and tests which one – the U-shape or the inverted U-shape – best represents the gender diversity–performance link at two hierarchical levels: the...

Based on different theoretical underpinnings, this study seeks to identify the key factors behind the multi‐stakeholder partnerships that can contribute to the achievement of certain sustainable development goals. It also examines whether such factors are similar from the point of view of the different stakeholders involved or, by contrast, there a...

Based primarily on the Resource-Based View and prior evidence, this study gauges the potential differences in innovative behaviour between international family firms and non-family firms when conditions change drastically in the business environment (i.e. from a situation of economic growth to one of downturn, and then to recovery). The research se...

Recent years have witnessed the emergence of a new economic model called the gig economy (GE), which is based on the use of digital platforms and a new type of employee called a gig worker (GW). With this in mind, the main aim of the present study is to present a preliminary characterization of the GE to improve the understanding of this emerging p...

Este trabajo ha obtenido el Premio Estudios Financieros 2021 en la modalidad de Recursos Humanos. Desde la crisis financiera global de 2008 se está asistiendo a la consolidación de un nuevo modo de organización de la actividad económica a nivel mundial: la gig economy. A grandes rasgos, tres son los ejes principales sobre los que se articula: flexi...

This study sheds light on the contingent effect that employee human capital may have on the relationship between family involvement and internationalisation via exporting —both in terms of entry mode (how to export) and degree (how much to export). We formulate several hypotheses by drawing mainly on arguments from the resource-based view and stewa...

Este trabajo se hace eco de un animado debate, que está presente en los últimos años en el ámbito de la educación superior, sobre si hay que permitir o se debe prohibir el uso de dispositivos móviles por los estudiantes en el aula. A fin de facilitar una toma de decisiones más informada, se revisa en profundidad la evidencia empírica existente hast...

Se analiza el efecto conjunto de las estrategias de diversificación e internacionalización sobre los resultados empresariales teniendo en cuenta el ciclo económico, en las empresas manufactureras españolas entre 1994-2014. En dicho período, la economía española experimentó un elevado crecimiento económico (1994-2008), seguido de una profunda crisis...

We conducted a comparative analysis of academic performance obtained in the extraordinary evaluation in three academic courses (PRE-COVID AND COVID)

Purpose: Building on arguments drawn from Upper Echelons Theory, this study provides insights into how certain demographic characteristics related to principals―gender, age, tenure, and formal education―may facilitate or hinder the adoption of three generic modes of strategic decision-making: autocratic, participative, and collaborative. Design: Da...

This paper is an initial attempt to use a bibliometric approach for an exhaustive literature review of corporate diversification in order to propose a new comprehensive framework for its study. We conduct an in-depth analysis of the historical evolution of research over the period 1970–2017 in six eight-year stages, shedding light on the main issue...

This study explores both the individual impact of geographical diversification and its effect combined with product diversification on small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) performance. Unlike most prior studies, this study distinguishes between related and unrelated product diversification. The research setting is a sample of manufacturing SM...

This study explores the relationship between exporting strategies, firm efficiency, and downsizing. Drawing on the resource-based view, we first test whether there is a link between export intensity and the propensity of a firm to downsize. Next, we examine the impact of direct/indirect exporting strategies as well as the interactive effects of eff...

This study examines the relationship between female representation in different organisational positions and performance using a sample of Spanish secondary schools. These organizations have been usually depicted as ‘feminised environments’ although women in managerial positions are still underrepresented. Based on different theoretical approaches,...

This study examines the individual effects of product diversification on performance and the moderating effects of international diversification on the product diversification–performance link in the context of a boom and bust cycle. Most prior research on firm strategies largely neglect the business cycle. We use data on a large sample of Spanish...

This study analyses the relationship between identification and loyalty and also compares the perceptions of two groups of key stakeholders (professors and graduates) of a public institution of higher education, as mechanisms to gain competitiveness against private institutions. To carry out this research, an on-line survey was conducted and the re...

Purpose We examine gender diversity in Spanish multinational companies to test whether their policies in the different countries (i.e. institutional contexts) in which they operate (mainly Latin American countries) are consistent with institutional norms. Design/Methodology/Approach After reviewing the relevant literature, we compare longitudinal...

Accésit Premio Estudios Financieros 2018 A lo largo de las dos últimas décadas, dos prácticas empresariales relacionadas con la gestión de recursos humanos han ganado una extraordinaria popularidad tanto en el terreno académico como en el profesional: la reducción de personal y la marca del empleador. Este trabajo representa un intento preliminar d...

Purpose Building on Upper Echelons Theory and prior research on strategic leadership, the purpose of this paper is to examine the possible effect on employee motivation of two sets of characteristics related to leaders: demographic (gender and age); and professional development (tenure, prior career experience in the organization and training). D...

A fundamental, but overlooked stream of resource-based theory (RBT) is the analysis of combinations of initial heterogeneous resource endowments with homogeneous resources that are acquired in the market. These combinations can generate heterogeneous, specific non-tradable resources, which are a potential source of superior competitive advantage an...

El objetivo principal de este trabajo consiste en analizar el efecto que ciertos aspectos observables asociados a los equipos directivos y sus líderes pueden tener en la motivación del personal que está bajo su dirección. La contrastación empírica del modelo teórico y las distintas hipótesis planteadas se efectúa en el seno de una muestra de 105 or...

This study explores an empirically untested issue: the relationship between the level of a firm’s R&D intensity and employee downsizing. Basing our conceptual development on the Resource-Based View of the firm, we argue that a linear relationship is a poor approximation of the proposed relationship. Instead, we find theoretical insights supporting...

This article discusses the implementation and advantages of classroom experiments for teaching and learning about economic and entrepreneurial decisions. We argue that this methodology is not only appealing from the students’ perspective but also is consistent with the European Higher Education Area philosophy. Particularly, classroom experiments c...

This study provides new insights into the link between international diversification and firm performance in a sample of large manufacturing firms and SMEs based in Spain for the 1994-2008 period. Specifically, the focus is on how the nature and shape of this relationship may vary over time with firm size. The results show the existence of a horizo...

The Spanish university system has undergone substantial transformations since the end of the 2000s as a direct consequence of the implementation of the Bologna Process. This Process has meant having to pass from a teaching-centered model to a model focused on learning. While in the first model students are passive and professors are the principal a...

This study sheds additional light on the product diversification-performance relationship for firms in a country having recently attained an advanced economy status in our period of analysis. We assume there will be an inverted U-shaped relationship and use a sample of small, medium, and large Spanish manufacturing firms between 1994 and 2008. Our...

The implementation of the Bologna Process has involved substantial changes in the Spanish university system. This Process advocates a ‘model focused on learning’, where students become the primary agent of their own learning process, and professors become advisors, mentors and motivators or facilitators. Its purpose is to improve academic outcomes...

This survey examines the empirical literature on the relationship between public R&D subsidies and private R&D investment over the past five decades. The survey reveals a considerable heterogeneity of empirical results that cannot be explained fully by methodological issues. We aim to provide further explanations of the possible causes of that hete...

Este trabajo ha obtenido el 1.er Premio Estudios Financieros 2012 en la modalidad de Contabilidad y Administración de Empresas. El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar un panorama general sobre la situación de la investigación y desarrollo en España en relación con otros países y, a partir de la literatura empírica existente, realizar varias propues...

Este estudio explora el cambio organizativo en diferentes entornos industriales en términos de cómo evolucionan los mecanismos de coordinación con atención al papel que los sistemas de incentivos pueden desempeñar como determinantes de dicho proceso de cambio. El contexto empírico está constituido por dos grandes empresas españolas pertenecientes a...

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to gain new insight into the true nature of the relationship between product diversification and performance, as well as to explore the roles the home country environment and time can play on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach – The study reviews a large part of the research that has addressed the...

This study examines the role played by firm innovation on downsizing, an unexplored matter in the management literature. Drawing on economic and management views, we identify potential differences in firm downsizing behaviour depending on the specific innovation activities performed ?process versus product-oriented innovations. The empirical settin...

OVERVIEW: How to achieve a sustained competitive advantage that ensures long-term survival has become a major concern for managers of any company, but especially for managers of small and medium-sized firms. It is well-known that these firms have more trouble than larger ones in enduring under hostile environmental conditions. This study illustrate...

This research analyses a major issue on family business: the main reasons to hire managers from outside in the position of CEO, and whether this fact can lead to organizational success. This analysis is conducted in a medium-sized Spanish firm established in logistics industry that was involved in a succession process between 1998-2004. Our study r...

Este trabajo analiza un tema crítico en la empresa familiar: las razones que pueden motivar la contratación de un directivo externo en la posición de CEO, y en qué medida esta circunstancia puede conducir al éxito empresarial. El análisis se realiza con una empresa familiar española de tamaño medio del sector logístico, que sufrió un proceso de suc...

This is an exploratoy study which provides preliminary empirical evidence on the relationship between coordination mechanisms and the evolution of organizational forms and, mainly, the role that incentive systems can play as a potential determinant of the organizational change process. The empirical setting consists of two large Spanish firms belon...

This paper investigates a fundamental issue in the current research on strategic groups: the existence or non-existence of the so-called 'stable strategic time periods' (SSTPs). Our study provides new evidence by adding new methodological and theoretical insights. The research setting is the Spanish banking industry over a 15-year period, 1983-1997...

On the basis of theoretical assumptions approached via the investment development path (IDP), this study examines the most important factors for and against the location decisions in foreign direct investment taken by multinational enterprises, considering host countries at very different stages of economic development (Latin American and European...

abstract The main purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of ‘strategic moves’ (or strategic change) on the likelihood of organizational survival in a population of firms which has undergone radical transformations in its environment. To this end, we propose and test two competitive hypotheses which are the result of two other theoretical pe...

The article proposes an empirical framework able to: (1) assess the relative validity of both adaptive and inertial views of strategic change and (2) verify the potential time- or context-dependency by testing the structural stability of the empirical model, in Spanish banks, 1983–1997. Results offer inconclusive findings regarding (1) but strong e...

The main objective of this study is to analyse the strategic and organizational evolution of large firms in a current time period and within a specific geographical context (Spain). In order to achieve this purpose, the paper combines the Chandlerian programme with processual analysis. We draw on documentary sources (annual reports, company histori...

This research explores the main facilitating and inhibiting factors behind strategic change in a single-industry context characterized by substantial environmental turbulence. Based on a dynamic and additive framework which includes theoretical arguments from the traditional strategic management and ecological approaches and an extensive review of...

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of 'strategic moves' (or strategic change) on the likelihood of organizational survival in a population of firms which has undergone radical transformations in its environment. To this end, we propose and test two competitive hypotheses which are the result of two other theoretical perspective...

This paper examines the story of the evolution of a specific industry through the application of dynamic strategic group analysis. In particular, we analyse the relationship between major environmental disturbances and changes that have occurred over time in the competitive structure of the industry regarding two closely related central questions....

This is an exploratory study that represents a first empirical attempt to examine the structural stability of a limited number of explanatory factors of strategic change. On the basis of theoretical arguments and prior empirical evidence from two traditional perspectives (the adaptation and inertial perspectives), we propose an original empirical f...

This study focuses on answering the following question: Do performance differences exist among strategic groups and are these differences stable over time in a population of firms which has undergone continuous and radical environmental transformations? Two alternative theoretical approaches are provided to answer this question, namely, the Industr...

Este artículo describe cómo las empresas establecidas en industrias tradicionales pueden tener éxito en presencia de discontinuidades. Este estudio sugiere que para sobrevivir y seguir creciendo continuamente es necesario que los directivos equilibren en sus empresas los modelos de exploración y de explotación. Los directivos deben conseguir eficie...

The primary purpose of this exploratory empirical study is to examine the structural stability of a limited number of alternative explanatory factors of strategic change. On the basis of theoretical arguments and prior empirical evidence from two traditional perspectives, we propose an original empirical framework to analyse whether these potential...

Este trabajo examina los principales factores que han incidido sobre el proceso de cambio estratégico en el sector de los bancos privados españoles entre 1983 y 1997. Tomando argumentos de la dirección estratégica tradicional, el enfoque ecológico y la aproximación evolutiva adaptativa, se captura el efecto de un amplio conjunto de características...

The main focus of this study is to answer the following question: Do performance differences exist among strategic groups and are these differences stable over time in a population of firms which has undergone fundamental environmental changes? Two alternative theoretical approaches are provided to answer this question, namely, the Industrial Organ...

El principal propósito de este trabajo es examinar el impacto del cambio estratégico sobre la probabilidad de desaparición organizativa de los bancos establecidos en España. A estos efectos, se plantean y contrastan dos hipótesis competitivas, resultado de sendas perspectivas sobre las consecuencias del cambio estratégico: la corriente adaptativa y...