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A Study on Strategic Entrepreneurship Orientations: Indicators, Differential Pathways, and Multiple Business Sustainability Outcomes
... Such initiatives necessitate the allocation of resources to jointly seek new prospects and utilise today's global marketplaces. Sustainability initiatives require the effective implementation of organisational capabilities, which can be achieved by having SE orientation in place [17]. Ferreira et al. [18] explore the barriers in business faced by non-management-degreeholding students. ...
Entrepreneurship research has developed in the last twenty years and now the focus is on Strategic Entrepreneurship (SE). SE can provide the sustainable growth of an organisation and increase its competitiveness globally. Despite these advantages, developing countries cannot reap the benefits of SE due to various barriers. Therefore, this study aims to identify and model the barriers of SE to the development of organisational management. Initially, the barriers of SE are identified through a literature review and further validated with a domain expert. The causal relationship among the barriers is modelled using the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method. The result suggests that low awareness of SE, risk aversion, and low financial support are the major barriers in the development of SE that need to be mitigated. Further, this analysis also categorises these barriers into a cause-and-effect group. Six barriers belong to the cause group and the remaining four are part of the effect group. Knowledge of the barriers is helpful for policymakers to design development strategies and helps business development managers in the successive planning of the organisation. The understanding of the interrelationship among the barriers will help the organisation to remove these barriers in an optimal manner. The findings of the study will be helpful for top management and strategic planners to advance design thinking and strategic planning. The contribution of this research lies in the identification of barriers to SE and their causal relationships, which have been scarcely examined in the existing literature.
Objective: This study aims to examine the direct and indirect effects of Market Orientation and Entrepreneurial Orientation on the Performance of International SMEs, mediated by Networking and Learning Orientation Theoretical Framework: This study examines the influence of market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation on international MSME performance, with networking and learning orientation as mediators. Market orientation helps MSMEs understand customers and competitors, while entrepreneurial orientation drives innovation, proactiveness, and risk-taking. Networking strengthens business relationships to support exports, while learning orientation enhances adaptability. These factors collectively contribute to the success of exporting MSMEs in East Java. Methods: The research method used is quantitative exploratory research. The population of this study consists of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the East Java Province of Indonesia, totaling 875 SME actors. Based on the sample calculation, the sample size for this study is determined to be 268 respondents. The sampling technique used is non-probability sampling with purposive sampling. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistical analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) assisted by AMOS 24. Results and Discussion: The results of the study show that the Performance of International SMEs is not significantly influenced by Market Orientation, that the Performance of International SMEs is not significantly influenced by Entrepreneurial Orientation, and that the Performance of International SMEs is significantly influenced by Networking and Learning Orientation. Networking and Learning Orientation are significantly influenced by Market Orientation and Entrepreneurial Orientation. Research Implications: The implication of this study It is expected that export SMEs in East Java can further optimize their market orientation and entrepreneurship to drive innovation and expand international networks; (2) The Cooperative and SME Department of East Java. It is expected that the Cooperative and SME Department of East Java will provide more intensive training and mentoring regarding strengthening market orientation, entrepreneurship, and learning for export SMEs; (3) The Industry and Trade Department of East Java. It is expected that the Industry and Trade Department of East Java will strengthen infrastructure and support programs for export SMEs, including introducing new technologies and facilitating international business relationships through exhibitions or international forums; (4) Future researchers. It is expected that the findings of this study can serve as a reference for future researchers with other variables outside of this study. Originality/Value: This study offers originality/value by examining the role of networking and learning orientation as mediators in the relationship between market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation on international MSME performance. Focusing on exporting MSMEs in East Java, this research fills a gap in understanding global competitiveness in this sector. The findings are expected to provide new insights into how market strategies, entrepreneurship, and business networking contribute to enhancing MSME export performance.
Background: Industry 4.0 is a burgeoning research area that has been addressed by many research entities. However, the literature shows that the industrial sector lacks the awareness and knowledge needed to comply with Industry 4.0 implications, particularly in developing countries. Methods: This study evaluates the status of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Jordan concerning Industry 4.0. Four criteria are assessed, including Industry 4.0 readiness, maturity, drivers, and barriers. Samples of SME respondents and Industry 4.0 experts are surveyed using an online questionnaire. Results: The results show that SMEs in Jordan are not mature enough nor ready to apply Industry 4.0. For the readiness dimension, SME respondents and experts agreed that the Jordanian SMEs’ status is between having initiatives in the pilot phase or implementing concepts to low degrees, except for autonomous workpiece and smart product aspects, in which Jordanian SMEs are behind due to financial and technological reasons. It was found that none of the Industry 4.0 investigated technologies have reached maturity levels. Customer requirements, cost reduction, competitors’ practice, productivity improvement, and quality improvement are found to be the major influencing drivers for Industry 4.0, while a lack of awareness and knowledge is found to be the crucial barrier hampering Industry 4.0 implementation. Conclusions: Jordan needs country-scale initiatives for the implementation of groundbreaking Industry 4.0 development, incorporating government agencies, industrial parties, and experts, relying on Industry 4.0’s readiness and practice status as a starting point, and considering the influential drivers and barriers to steer the development process.
Revisiting stakeholder theory as a potential theory of the firm giving rise to expectations about organizing, we analyze when and under what circumstances entrepreneurially oriented firms increase their environmental collaboration with suppliers. Specifically, we investigate the association between entrepreneurial orientation and environmental collaboration with suppliers by accounting for the degree of employees’ work engagement and market environment complexity as stakeholder‐oriented moderators of this relationship. We test our hypotheses using multi‐level analyses on 249 managers nested in 66 multinational companies (MNCs) in Turkey. We find that entrepreneurial orientation positively impacts environmental collaboration with suppliers. A high level of work engagement (as an organizing principle favouring a stakeholder focus) and a low level of market environment complexity (as an organizing principle favouring the customer as an instrumental stakeholder) moderate this linkage. We enrich the debate on entrepreneurial orientation, strategy, and environmental sustainability by providing logic rooted in stakeholder theory of the conditions under which MNCs’ entrepreneurial orientation in emerging markets prioritizes and privileges environmental collaboration with suppliers.
This paper is written to examine the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Jordan during the first wave and the current second wave that SMEs are facing. The results show that most sectors have been significantly affected and few have thrived during the pandemic. It is essential to overcome this pandemic through adopting coping strategies and through a robust risk management system while counter measures for COVID-19 are still effective and are affecting the economic climate of Jordan. Based on this, the SMEs are seeking governmental support in order to mitigate the harm caused by the pandemic. Also, SMEs should be agile and open for any opportunity available along with supporting containment of the spread of COVID-19.
Purpose
Exploring ways to acquire, sustain and improve competitive positions in supply chains through information sharing, supply chain visibility, collaboration and agility have been essential for scholars and practitioners. Basing on the relational view, resource based view and the extended resource based view, this study assesses the critical role of information sharing in supply chains through emphasizing its effect on supply chain visibility, collaboration, agility and supply chain performance. Particularly, the study proposes that information sharing, supply chain visibility, collaboration and agility collectively have crucial direct and indirect influences on supply chain performance which lead to superior gains, competitiveness and flexibility.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a survey research design, a quantitative approach and partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in making data analysis and interpretations due to its suitability for predictive research models.
Findings
The results indicate information sharing positively and significantly influenced supply chain visibility, collaboration, agility and performance. Supply chain visibility presented significant effects on collaboration, agility and performance, while supply chain collaboration and agility had significant impact on supply chain performance. The study findings connote that information sharing is key to enhancing competitive gains and superior supply chain performance.
Originality/value
The study is among the few to probe on how information sharing as a variable interacts with supply chain visibility, collaboration, agility and performance. Although, information sharing has received a lot of attention in supply chains, this study is among the first to capture the study variables in a single model and thus, exposes the vital need for information sharing in improving supply chain performance seeing that it ensured significant and robust impacts on the study variables.
This study aims to investigate the effects of organizational ambidexterity and green entrepreneurial orientation (GEO) on the environmental performance of small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Drawing upon social capital theory (SCT), this study suggests corporate social responsibility (CSR) as an important context that moderates the organizational ambidexterity–GEO nexus. Data were collected from 307 Pakistani manufacturing SMEs and analyzed through partial least squares (PLS)‐based structural equation modeling (SEM). The results provided empirical evidence in support of the study's hypotheses. The findings imply that the complexity and difficulty firms face in achieving environmental performance can be reduced through simultaneous exploration and exploitation of innovation as well as and through GEO. Furthermore, the effectiveness of ambidexterity in prompting GEO and subsequent environmental performance can be optimized as long as firms are capable of creating a suitable context, that is, CSR.
Abstract SMEs’ performance can be measured using various indicators. Guided by the resource-based view, this study aimed at determining the influence of entrepreneurial orientation on SMEs’ performance under the mediation of competitive advantage using firm growth and personal wealth measures. Entrepreneurial orientation was adopted as an intangible resource in form of processes. A survey method with cross-sectional design was used to collect data from 300 owners-managers of welding industry SMEs located in Dar es Salaam, Mbeya, and Morogoro urban centers in Tanzania. By the aid of AMOS software, data analysis comprised of developing measurement and structural models using structural equation modeling technique. Sample data were then bootstrapped using 200 samples to determine the indirect effect of entrepreneurial orientation on SMEs’ performance through competitive advantage. Findings from this study inform that competitive advantage mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and SMEs’ performance for both firm growth and personal wealth performance measures. This study has contributed to existing literature by providing evidence on use of personal wealth as measures of SMEs’ performance. The findings of the study imply that the resource-based view is suitable in describing not only physical resources but also intangible resources such as entrepreneurial orientation. Future studies may investigate the influence of more constructs such as learning orientation on SMEs’ performance under the mediation of competitive advantage using the same firm growth and personal wealth performance measures. Such studies will establish whether the findings of this study are specific to entrepreneurial orientation construct or applicable to other constructs as well.
This study attempts to examine the impact of green entrepreneurial orientation (GEO) and market orientation (MO) on the implementation of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices and subsequent sustainable firm performance. Further, the study identifies the mediating factor between green entrepreneurial orientation and sustainable firm performance and also explores whether market orientation plays a mediating role in the relationship between GEO and GSCM practices. The data collected from 246 Bangladeshi textile manufacturing firms were analyzed using the structural equation modeling with partial least square techniques, typifying that exploratory and quantitative research. The results revealed that GEO has a significant positive influence on MO and GSCM practices, which ultimately positively effects on all the three dimensions (economic, environmental, and social) of sustainable firm performance. Further, the study found that GSCM practices partially mediate the relationship between GEO and firm performance while MO also partially mediate the relationship between GEO and GSCM practices. These findings indicate that organizations should emphasize on GSCM practices in their operations to reap sustainability performance. The theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.
This study aims to examine the mediating role of internal lean practices (ILPs) on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and triple bottom line performance (i.e. environmental, social, and operational performance). We examine Chile, which represents a vibrant economy and one of the world's most productive entrepreneurship ecosystems but with a history of socio‐economic inequalities and strong profit‐driven pressures to overextract natural resources. The study is based on a questionnaire related to manufacturing sent to 112 companies in Chile. The proposed relationships are analysed through structural equation modelling. The results indicate that ILPs fully mediate the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on environmental performance and social performance and partially mediates the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on operational performance. Our study extends the literature by explaining that entrepreneurial orientation builds and strengthens ILPs for creating triple bottom line competitive advantage.
The present research paper was conducted to achieve fourfold objectives. First, to explore the effect of organizational memory (OM) on marketing innovation (MI). Second, to recognize the effect of OM on cost of quality (COQ). Third, to verify the effect of knowledge management (KM) on MI. Finally, to find out the effect of KM on COQ. Therefore, the paper hypothesized that OM is significantly and positively related to MI as well as to COQ, and that KM is also significantly and positively related to MI and COQ. The sample of the research consisted of 87 companies working at construction industry in Jordan, from which data were collected using a questionnaire developed based on related works. The questionnaire comprised four parts covered the intended constructs, i.e., OM, KM, MI, and COQ. Each of the variables was measured using eight items. Reliability and validity were assured based on the findings of the measurement model. Then, a total of 435 questionnaires were handed to the participants. Out of the questionnaires distributed, 356 questionnaires were returned complete and valid, with a response rate equals 81.8%. The paper revealed, on the ground of the results of the structural model, that OM is significantly and positively related to both MI and COQ, and that KM is significantly and positively associated with MI and COQ. The paper contributed significant results from which both managers and researchers would benefit. Particularly, organizations are called to consider their past experiences and knowledge along with their ability to construct, disseminate and apply it in marketing innovation and reduction of quality-related costs due to the fact that both OM and KM form cornerstones in the success path of organizations. Despite the importance of the upshots concluded in the current research, it is noteworthy to state that this research is limited to the understudy companies, the sample used, the measurements utilized, and the way in which constructs were conceptualized. Further studied are in demand to extend the conceptualization of organizational memory using more measurements, relationships, populations, and industries to give the opportunity to OM-related findings to be generalize on a greater level among organizations. On the other hand, possible relationships in the research model still unrevealed, i.e., the effect of OM on KM, the effect of MI on COQ.
This study aims to assess the mediating role of organizational capability in the relationship among proactiveness, innovativeness and SME performance. Cluster sampling technique was adopted in this study. Based on a self-administered survey questionnaire, data were collected from 305 manufacturing small and medium enterprises in north-central geo-political zone in Nigeria. Consequently, the study adopts partial least square-structural equation modelling version 3.2.7 to test the relationships. The findings demonstrate that organizational capability is a crucial mechanism through which proactiveness and innovativeness indirectly influence SME performance. The study demonstrates the relevance for SME owners/managers, policy makers, and SME supporting bodies to lay much emphasis on development of organizational capability as it may easily allow firms to swiftly respond to rapid changes in market needs and enhance their performance in dynamic and competitive business settings.
In the postmodern era of industrialization, sustainable business performance is vital for success in a competitive environment. In order to attain sustainable business performance, Malaysian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are facing various social and technological challenges. The objective of this study was to examine the roles of social and technological challenges in achieving a sustainable competitive advantage and sustainable business performance. To accomplish this objective, first-hand data were collected from Malaysian SMEs. Opinions of managerial staff of these SMEs were preferred regarding the roles of social and technological challenges in achieving a sustainable competitive advantage and sustainable business performance. An email survey was carried out to collect data. A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed among managerial staff of SMEs. Questionnaires were distributed by using simple random sampling. By using structural equation modeling, findings of the study revealed that social and technological challenges played major roles in boosting sustainable competitive advantage and sustainable business performance. Moreover, strategic alignment was a key in reflecting the positive roles of social and technological factors on sustainable competitive advantage. Findings of the study are beneficial for practitioners and will allow their strategies to reflect sustainable competitive advantages and sustainable business performance.
Environmental issues have been critical concern among the current businesses as various business activities might pose significant threats to the environment. Incorporating environmental aspects in business operations is perceived to be able to create value and to achieve sustainable business performance. The manufacturing sector is the key contributor to the country’s high pollution index. Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) practices have become more prevalent in this sector in managing the environmental issues for the effectiveness of their production requirement. Nevertheless, the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) mainly are less likely to embark on environmental practices as compared to large organisations. The establishment of certified environmental management systems (EMS) is considered as a strategic management approach that defines how organisations will address their impact on the natural environment guided by ISO 14001 as a framework. This study provides empirical evidence examining the extent of GSCM practices among the SMEs through the possession of ISO 14001 and examines the impact on sustainability performance. Data were analysed using regression analyses. Results indicate that GSCM practices have a significant positive relation with sustainability performance. Eco-design practices and environmental cooperation have a positive relationship with sustainability performance. There is no relationship between green purchasing and reverse logistics practices with sustainability performance. These results imply that Malaysian SMEs adopt GSCM practices mostly through eco-design and robust cooperation among departments in dealing with environmental issues. Green practices and reverse logistics practices are still new for SMEs and do not contribute to achieving better performance.
Sustainability issues have been on the rise due to negative impacts of organizational practices on the environment. The logistics sector has been known as a major contributor in polluting and consuming enormous amount of resources. This study therefore aims to provide insight into how sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) influences performance of organizations operating in the logistics sector. This study went further to focus on the intermediary function of competitive advantage in the SSCM and organizational performance relationship. Questionnaires were distributed to solicit information from 190 logistics managers. Data were analysed using partial least square method of structural equation modelling. Analysis of the data indicates that SSCM significantly and positively influence competitive advantage and organizational performance. In addition, competitive advantage also proved to significantly influence organizational performance. Competitive advantage indirectly has a significant impact on the SSCM and organizational performance relationship. The findings of the study provide key information to managers and academics in understanding the essence of integrating sustainability in supply chain management (SCM) and how the integration influences organizational performance in the current business and industrial setting.
Purpose – While the literature has described social entrepreneurs as overwhelmingly occupying a pivotal role in social entrepreneurship (S-ENT) process, there is a high inconsistency prevailing with respect to entrepreneurial traits, attitudes and skills of social entrepreneurs. One explanation for this may be the lack of a suitable scale measuring entrepreneurship orientation of social entrepreneurial individuals. The purpose of this study is to address this gap by proposing an initial assessment tool for individual S-ENT orientation (ISEO).
Design/methodology/approach – A mixed methods research design, along with a two-stage Delphi process, helped in generating appropriate constructs for ISEO. While the items for the first dimension of scale were directly derived from the Delphi study, the items of the remaining dimensions were mainly found based on the three individual entrepreneurial orientation dimensions presented by Bolton and Lane. By means of
exploratory factor analysis, the final examination of the ISEOitems was undertaken through a survey of 71social entrepreneurs across India. The process eventually resulted in reliable and valid measures for four dimensions of ISEO.
Findings – The scale-development process eventually resulted in a 13-item scale, measuring four dimensions of ISEO (social passion, innovativeness, risk-taking and pro-activeness). By developing a set of relevant ISEO indicators, the study answers the call for a scale development of ISEO in S-ENT literature.
Research limitations/implications – There is a need to further validate this instrument among other stakeholders (students) as well as in samples with different demographic characteristics across different regions of the country and the world. To further evaluate the reliability and validity properties and to confirm the newly established subscales and their relationship with the ISEO construct, there is need for conducting a confirmatory factor analysis using larger sample sizes.
Practical implications – The measurement of SEO at an individual level will assist in S-ENT education, training and development of present and prospective social entrepreneurs, as well as assist individuals who want to assess the strength of their orientation towards S-ENT. The understanding of ISEO at the individual
level will be equally useful for S-ENT incubators, the government and other S-ENT stakeholders who are considering supporting S-ENT proposals.
Originality/value – The paper is the first to develop an ISEO scale which is based on empirical data in S-ENT field.
Keywords Social entrepreneurship, Scale development, Social entrepreneurs, Individual,
Entrepreneurship orientation, Social passion
Entrepreneurial orientation in different perspective contributes to the success of ventures differently. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the contribution of entrepreneurial orientation towards the performance of small ventures in the context of different business sectors and the location of the businesses. To achieve this objective, the primary data was obtained from a sample of 210 small firms which were selected from the central part of Ethiopia using two level multi-stage sampling. The finding of the study indicates that entrepreneurial orientation positively influences ventures performance, but it will determine more when enterprises are established in city areas and involved in the industry sector. Therefore, the owner/managers of enterprises should improve their practices of entrepreneurial orientation by introducing new lines, technologies, and market; improve workers’ participation in developing new ideas and design; and compete aggressively by taking a calculated risk. Finally, our implication for further study is that future research has to compare the transited and failed enterprises in longitudinal studies to capture the progress of entrepreneurial orientation among transited and failed firms.
In the context of the Chinese government’s strategy for sustainable development, the study of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) for enterprises has important practical significance. Drawing data from 172 Chinese firms, the model studied the moderating role of firm size on the SSCM practices and the sustainable performance of the firms (economic, environmental, and social), using hierarchical regression analysis on SPSS 22.0. The results suggest that SSCM practices and firm size are positively related to the firm’s environmental and social performance. Firm size moderates the effect of SSCM practices on economic performance. Additionally, SSCM internal practices have a significant positive impact on the economic performance of large enterprises, but not so much on the economic performance of the Small and medium enterprises(SMEs). This paper proposes a comprehensive SSCM practice performance model that identifies firm size as a moderating role. Through research on the moderating effect of firm size, the implementation and recommendation of SSCM for different firm size are given.
Supply chain managers across the globe are finding it difficult to manage the increasingly complex supply chains despite adopting a variety of risk mitigation strategies. Firms on the other hand have also been adopting various kinds of environmental and social sustainability practices in recent times to reduce carbon footprint and improve their image on the social front. However, very few studies in the extant literature have examined the impact of sustainability practices on supply chain risk. We address this important gap in literature by empirically testing this relationship, using primary data from six manufacturing sectors and 21 different countries including developed as well as emerging markets across the globe. Our findings indicate that risk mitigation strategies do not always reduce the actual supply chain risk experienced by firms, whereas sustainability efforts help reduce supply chain risk, especially in emerging market contexts. In addition, we find that, while reactive risk mitigation strategies on their own fail to reduce supply chain risk, they are effective when used in conjunction with sustainability efforts. We also find that preventive risk mitigation efforts are only effective in mature supply chains such as the OECD countries.
This study investigates the existence of long-run relationship between CO2 emissions, economic growth, energy use, and urbanization in Saudi Arabia over the period 1971–2014. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach with structural breaks, where structural breaks are identified with the recently impulse saturation break tests, is applied to conduct the analysis. The bounds test result supports the existence of long-run relationship among the variables. The existence of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis has also been tested. The results reveal the non-validity of the EKC hypothesis for Saudi Arabia as the relationship between GDP and pollution is positive in both the short and the long run. Moreover, energy use increases pollution both in short and long run in the country. On the contrary, the results show a negative and significant impact of urbanization on carbon emissions in Saudi Arabia, which means that urban development is not an obstacle to the improvement of environmental quality. Consequently, policy-makers in Saudi Arabia should consider the efficiency enhancement, frugality in energy consumption, and especially increase the share of renewable energies in the total energy mix.
Studies of entrepreneurial orientation tend to merge its three components‐proactiveness, risk-taking, and innovativeness‐into a monolithic construct and analyze its relationship with firm outcomes at one point in time. This has resulted in knowledge voids related to the relative importance of the different components, their specific effect on value created by the firm, and their evolution over time. The present study links each component of entrepreneurial orientation to economic value creation using a longitudinal dataset. Results provide support for hypothesized relationships. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and total quality management (TQM) on the performance of small- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
Frameworks for describing EO and TQM derived from the literature were reviewed and used to develop a questionnaire. The hypothesized relationships of this model are tested with the data collected from 121 manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by using AMOS. The approach has been directed toward justification of EO and TQM strategy for its support to competitive manufacturing in the context of Indian manufacturing industries.
Findings
The results indicate that EO plays an influential role on the adoption of TQM strategy, and also has a direct effect on firm performance (FP). The results also indicate that the significance of the direct effect of EO on FP is reduced when the indirect effect of EO through TQM is included in the total effect model. Firms with higher level of EO will be more successful in adopting TQM strategy, which helps them in developing new capabilities that allow them to achieve better performance.
Research limitations/implications
The research is cross-sectional in nature and, therefore, it does not permit us to account for the lag between implementation and performance. Second, the performance measures are subjective and may be subject to response bias.
Practical implications
The study presented in this paper offers entrepreneurs, academics and practitioners a better understanding of the relationship and impact of the EO and TQM on the manufacturing performance. Thus, entrepreneurs and practitioners will be able to make better and more effective decisions about the implementation of TQM practices.
Originality/value
By linking EO strategy and TQM practices to world-class manufacturing practices and performance in Indian manufacturing SMEs, this research adds a new dimension to study of world-class manufacturing and more generally to the best practices and practice-performance debates. This knowledge is important and unique, because it emphasizes that in addition to quality management practices, which are focused on efficient process management aspects of the organization, EO should also be given equal emphasis, in order to improve manufacturing performance of SMEs.
This study aims to examine and observe the connections between the global entrepreneurial orientation (EO), the influence of Jordanian Government's EO intervention towards the performance of the local small business industry as well as the impact of the intervention. A survey was conducted using questionnaires. The questionnaires were distributed to 384 entrepreneurs from a Jordanian entrepreneurial body known as ERADA. Questionnaire survey results indicate that Jordanian small business owners are in need to adopt EO to realize better business performance. Questionnaire survey result also suggested a check on the influence of Jordanian Government's intervention on the relationship between EO and business performance
We shed new light on the structure of the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance and how this relationship varies across contexts. Using commonality analysis, we decompose the variance in performance—in terms of the effects of innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk taking—into parts that are attributable to unique variations in these dimensions (unique effects) and those attributable to covariation between these dimensions (shared effects). By demonstrating the empirical relevance of unique, bilaterally shared, and commonly shared effects in a heterogeneous sample of low-tech, high-tech, and multi-sector firms, we consolidate existing conceptualizations of EO and propose an extension of the extant theoretical views of the construct.
The notion of social capital or embeddedness has received increased attention in the field of supply chain management. However, although embeddedness has both a structural and a relational aspect, the structural has received more focus. In addition, circumstances that may affect the development of social capital, and the role and import of a focal firm's supply management function on aspects of social capital, remain unclear. This study draws on the social network perspective to explore factors associated with the relational embeddedness of social capital, and investigate the role of supply management on the process. Using empirical data collected from 204 U.S. manufacturing firms, an empirical framework is proposed and tested using structural equation modeling. The results of this study suggest a mechanism through which social capital affects firm performance, and indicate that the supply management function may contribute to sustainable competitive advantage. The study confirms that the relational embeddedness aspect of social capital should be treated as a critical antecedent to performance. It also highlights the potential role of the supply management function in developing social capital in dyadic network interactions.
This study, covering 240 small and medium-sized restaurants in Manila, examines the influence of organizational capabilities on the implementation of environmental strategies. Results show that environmental strategies can be attributed to organizational capabilities. Among the three organizational capabilities of team learning, stakeholder management and shared vision, the ability to establish relationships based on trust with entities that have interests in the organization or stakeholder management is found to be the most important in implementing environmental strategies.
Assessment of industrial sustainability is an important step towards converting the theoretical goal of sustainable development into practice. One category of sustainability assessment tools is indicators. Indicators are useful tool to summarise and condense complex data into meaningful information and track performance progress over time. This article identifies 40 most commonly used sustainability indicators for Singapore small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) from four internationally-recognised indicator frameworks through a systematic indicator selection method. These indicators could potentially facilitate local SMEs to manage their manufacturing systems. To ensure appropriate categorisation of the indicators into the sub-categories, content of each sub-category is analysed and a concise definition of nine sustainability terms are put forward. This study has proposed a comprehensive indicator framework in the context of Singapore.
Purpose
– This paper aims to examine what drives the adoption of different social sustainability supply chain practices. Research has shown that certain factors drive the adoption of environmental sustainability practices but few focus on social supply chain practices, delineate which practices are adopted or what drives their adoption.
Design/methodology/approach
– The authors examine the facilitative role of sustainability culture to explain the adoption of social sustainability supply chain practices: basic practices, consisting of monitoring and management systems and advanced practices, which are new product and process development and strategic redefinition. The authors then explore the role played by a firm’s entrepreneurial orientation in shaping and reinforcing the adoption of social sustainability supply chain practices. A survey of 156 supply chain managers in multiple industries in Ireland was conducted to test the relationship between the variables.
Findings
– The findings show that sustainability culture is positively related to all the practices, and entrepreneurial orientation impacts and moderates social sustainability culture in advanced social sustainability supply chain adoption.
Research limitations/implications
– As with any survey, this is a single point in time with a single respondent. Implications for managers include finding the right culture in the organisation to implement social sustainability supply chain management practices that go beyond monitoring to behavioural changes in the supply chain with implications beyond the dyad of buyer and supplier to lower tier suppliers and the community surrounding the supply chain.
Practical implications
– The implications for managers include developing and fostering cultural attributes in the organisation to implement social sustainability supply chain management practices that go beyond monitoring suppliers to behavioural changes in the supply chain with implications beyond the dyad of buyer and supplier to lower tier suppliers and the community surrounding the supply chain.
Originality/value
– This is the first time, to the authors’ knowledge, that cultural and entrepreneurial variables have been tested for social sustainability supply chain practices, giving them new insights into how and why social sustainability supply chain practices are adopted.
The study aims to explore and measure the effect of supply chain management's dimensions (relationship with suppliers, compatibility, specifications and standards, delivery and after-sales service) on the quality of health services' dimensions (responsiveness, trust, and security) in private hospitals in Jordan from the perspective of procurement officers. The study also aims to clarify the differences between supply chain management and quality of health services due to some demographic variables such as (gender, age, education level, and years of experience in the field of supply). The study employs a quantitative design using a hypothesis testing approach to identify the effect of supply chain management dimensions on quality of health services. 315 questionnaires were distributed to male and female employees working in the departments of supply and procurement divided on (36) private hospital in Jordan, The study results show that there is a significant effect of supply chain management dimensions (the relationship with suppliers, specifications and standards, and delivery, after-sales service) on the quality of health services. On the other hand, the results also indicate that there are no differences between supply chain management and the quality of health services due to gender, qualification, age, or experience.
The study investigates the impact of networking on access to debt finance and on performance of SMEs in South Africa. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaires in a survey. Data analysis included univariate and bivariate analysis. Results indicate there is a significant positive relationship between networking and access to debt finance and performance of SMEs. Recommendations to improve networking by SMEs are suggested.
Enviropreneurship is an entrepreneurial orientation that addresses environmental problems and accommodates societal needs while simultaneously meeting the economic objective of organizations. As such, enviropreneurship can serve as a critical moderating factor that influences the relationship between green supply chain management practices (GSCMP) and sustainability performance in the Malaysian manufacturing sector. A research framework of the identified GSCMP, enviropreneurship and sustainability performance is developed with a view towards suggesting how such research might systematically be carried out. Accordingly, such thought depends upon more detailed empirical research by using advanced structural equation modeling approaches. The research findings will be particularly important for manufacturers in nurturing an entrepreneurial orientation within their organization in order to achieve sustainability performance.
Sustainability has a well-established influence on innovation, but less scrutiny about the efficacy of sustainable supply chain integration as a determinant of green innovations has been done. Based on information processing theory and dynamic capability view, this study proposes a framework relating sustainable supply chain integration, green innovation, and firm performance. Primary survey data and secondary data of annual reports published by 296 manufacturing firms from 19 different sectors in Pakistan were collected, and structural equation modeling (AMOS 26 and SPSS 25) was employed. Results indicate that sustainable internal, supplier, and customer integration foster both green managerial and process innovations. Findings also suggest that green managerial innovation has a significant positive influence on the firm's financial performance. In contrast, the influence of green process innovations on firm performance is negatively significant, suggesting that rapid changes in manufacturing processes and operational procedures cost firms in multiple ways and decrease firms’ profits. The new findings have implications for both managers and researchers in managing sustainable supply chains and green innovation.
The concept of social capital advocates that the goodwill available from relations is a valuable resource that can facilitate collective actions. Although social capital has recently gained momentum in the buyer-supplier relationship (BSR) literature, there is a surprising lack of consensus about its antecedents, benefits, risks, and boundary conditions in such relationships. To address this void, a systematic literature review of seventy articles published in peer-reviewed journals between 2002 and 2018 was undertaken. The review identified and discusses two types of antecedents that can give rise to social capital in BSRs, namely intrafirm-level and relationship-level antecedents (i.e., structural and relational). It reveals that social capital can lead to a variety of benefits, in the form of direct performance improvements (e.g., operational) and relationship benefits (e.g., knowledge sharing), however that these benefits may vary depending on a number of boundary conditions in BSRs (e.g., contract specificity). The review also highlights that although social capital can generate benefits, it can also lead to risks that can undermine the performance and evolution of BSRs (e.g., reduced exploratory learning), suggesting a 'double-edged sword' effect. The paper concludes by summarizing current research gaps and outlining promising directions for future research.
We examine the impact of social entrepreneurship orientation (SEO), a behavioral measure of the social entrepreneurship of the organization, on the social and financial performance of a sample of Austrian firms. Despite growing research interests in social entrepreneurship, the field remains fragmented and this has led to calls for a careful examination of the implications of social entrepreneurship for firms. We draw on stakeholder theory and hybrid organizing to hypothesize that social performance mediates the SEO-financial performance relationship. By analyzing a sample of 1,156 companies, we find that the SEO-financial performance relationship is partially positively mediated by social performance even though the direct effect is negative. Our results find that social performance compensates for the otherwise negative effect SEO has directly with financial performance. We contribute to an understanding of the mechanisms by which an SEO affects firm performance and provide richer insights into the various aspects of performance. We discuss the future implications of our study and suggest promising avenues for further research on the SEO construct.
Since consumers, governments, and society in general are increasingly concerned about the loss of natural resources, along with pollution of the environment, there is currently a significant tendency to recognize the value of green innovation toward the achievement of sustainable development. Hotels are considered responsible for a considerable proportion of the environmental pollution caused by the tourism industry. Yet, few studies have considered the effects that green innovation may have on sustainable performance in the hotel industry. Consequently, the present study aimed to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of green innovation, and its potential effects on the performance of the hotel industry. Data collection was performed through inspection of 183 hotels in Malaysia. Data analysis was carried out employing the partial least squares method. The two factors of environmental and economic performance were determined to have the strongest influence, affecting the green innovation procedures positively and significantly. The results of the present study have major implications for hospitality research, since they demonstrate the importance and potential of green innovation in promoting sustainable performance in the hotel industry. The proposed model and the identified influencing factors of green innovation can assist policy makers and hotel managers in understanding the drivers leading to the adoption of these practices in the hotel industry.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to draw upon the resource-based view of the firm to explore how a firm’s resources (assets and capabilities) such as culture of competitiveness (CC) and knowledge development (KD) relate to sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) and organizational performance (OP).
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 242 supply chain and logistics managers in Pakistan and a structured equation modeling approach was used.
Findings
The results of the study provide support for the proposed hypotheses and indicate that CC and KD are positively related to SSCM and OP. This points out that the organizations in Pakistan are likely to emphasize CC and KD to achieve OP. However, the positive but weak association of CC and KD with SSCM highlights that the organizations in Pakistan show less concern for SSCM.
Originality/value
The literature did not reveal any study which examined the relationships of the CC and KD to SSCM and OP in developing countries. The present study aims to address this gap in the literature.
Aims: This study aims is to explore the relationship between three variables of strategic orientation (Market Orientation, Technology Orientation, Entrepreneurial Orientation) and organizational performance in the Jordanian pharmaceutical sector.
Design: This study employed a quantitative research design where 252 questionnaires were collected form respondents operating in various pharmaceutical companies in Jordan to obtain necessary data to test the hypotheses developed for the study. Multiple Regression was used to analyse the research data.
Results: The results of the analysis revealed that strategic orientations were positively and significantly related to organizational performance. The findings also showed that market orientation contributed the most to the enhancement of organizational development followed by technology orientation, and finally entrepreneurship orientation.
Implications: These findings contribute to the understanding of the importance of employing multiple strategic orientations in order to enhance organizational performance, particularly in pharmaceutical companies.
Originality: This is the first study which adequately covers the relationship between three variables of strategic orientation (Market Orientation, Technology Orientation, Entrepreneurial Orientation) and organizational performance in the Jordanian pharmaceutical sector.
Purpose
The current paper draws upon the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm in an attempt to explore how a firm’s resources (i.e. assets and capabilities) such as social capital (SC) and strategic entrepreneurship (SE) relate to sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) and organizational performance (OP).
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected by questionnaire survey from the supply chain and logistics managers of 242 manufacturing firms in Pakistan. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results provide support for the proposed hypotheses. The results indicate that SC and SE are positively related to OP. However, the findings show positive but weak association of SC and SE with SSCM. In a developing country context of Pakistan, organizations are more likely to employ SC and SE for achieving OP. However, relatively less emphasis is placed on linking SC and SE to SSCM. Pakistani organizations need to integrate SSCM into their business strategies. It is concluded that organizations in Pakistan though have some degree of involvement in SSCM but still face some challenges.
Originality/value
The current study attempts to narrow the gap in the available literature in three important aspects. First, it makes the contribution to the literature on SSCM by employing RBV and exploring the relationships of a firm’s resources (i.e. SC) and capabilities (i.e. SE) to SSCM and OP. Second, it employs a relatively more comprehensive measure of SE compared to the limited measures in existing empirical research. Third, the examination of the links of SE and SC to SSCM and OP is of particular importance in the context of a developing country such as Pakistan.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of entrepreneurial competencies on competitive advantage and to investigate the effect of competitive advantage on the performance of informal microenterprises owned and managed by women micro-entrepreneurs in Kelantan, Malaysia.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a cross-sectional design and collected quantitative data from 384 informal women micro-entrepreneurs operating in “night markets” in Kelantan, Malaysia.
Findings
The finding of the analysis using variance-based structural equation modeling indicated that commitment competency, conceptual competency, organizing competency and opportunity recognition competency have a significant positive effect on competitive advantages, and competitive advantages have a significant positive effect on the performance of microenterprises owned and managed by women micro-entrepreneurs in Kelantan, Malaysia.
Research limitations/implications
The development programs and policies should focus on improving the competencies, i.e. commitment competency, conceptual competency, organizing competency and opportunity recognition competency to improve the socioeconomic condition of low-income households in Malaysia. Informal women micro-entrepreneurs should, therefore, focus on value creating strategies to avoid potential competitors from duplicating the benefits of their strategy. This will result in a sustainable competitive advantage of microenterprises in Malaysia.
Originality/value
This study puts forward and tests the effect of entrepreneurial competencies on competitive advantages and performance of informal women micro-entrepreneurs in Kelantan, Malaysia, which provides a foundation for the design and implementation of development programs and policies that promote entrepreneurial activities in Malaysia.
This study applies a network approach to develop a model that highlights the role of resource acquisition through networks as an important mediating mechanism through which entrepreneurial orientation (EO) influences firm performance. This approach provides an alternative explanation for the divergent findings of the EO-performance relationship. We also investigate how business and political ties differently and configurationally shape the relationship between EO and network resource acquisition. Empirical findings from a study of 251 firms provide general support for the hypotheses, highlighting the unique value of leveraging a network approach to reconsider the performance-enhancing mechanism of EO.
Purpose
Green supply chain management (GSCM) research is so far dominated by studies focusing on manufacturing companies, while research on retailers is missing. The purpose of this study is to assess the interaction between green in-store activities (environment-related infrastructure and retail in-store processes), GSCM and environmental and economic performance outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper builds on empirical evidence gathered from 190 responses by Croatian food retailers to a self-administered survey. The identified relationships in the conceptual model are tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results reveal a positive relation between green in-store activities and GSCM in food retailing regarding environmental and economic performance. The relevance of these relationships accrues from the positive association between GSCM and food retailers’ environmental performance, which in turn drives economic performance. It is noteworthy that green supply chain practices drive environmental and then also economic performance.
Research limitations/implications
The study extends the application of GSCM to retailing and, therefore, broadens its scope. However, the data collected are based on one country and, thus, should be extended to assess the impact of green retailing practices in the supply chain on environmental and economic performance in other countries.
Originality/value
This study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is the first empirical analysis on the relationship between green in-store activities and GSCM in the context of food retail. This important link to customers has rarely been explored. Further, the representative sample of food retailers in Croatia is unique as generally data from Central and Eastern European countries are still rare. Finally, the operationalization of GSCM practices into three constructs as green logistics, green purchasing and cooperation with suppliers’ offers conceptual contributions to the GSCM field.
Despite calls for improved responses to emerging infectious diseases in wildlife, management is seldom considered until a disease has been detected in affected populations. Reactive approaches may limit the potential for control and increase total response costs. An alternative, proactive management framework can identify immediate actions that reduce future impacts even before a disease is detected, and plan subsequent actions that are conditional on disease emergence. We identify four main obstacles to developing proactive management strategies for the newly discovered salamander pathogen Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal). Given that uncertainty is a hallmark of wildlife disease management and that associated decisions are often complicated by multiple competing objectives, we advocate using decision analysis to create and evaluate trade-offs between proactive (pre-emergence) and reactive (post-emergence) management options. Policy makers and natural resource agency personnel can apply principles from decision analysis to improve strategies for countering emerging infectious diseases.
Although entrepreneurship has been deemed crucial to economic growth, empirical evidence on theentrepreneurship-growth nexus is inconclusive. A key reason for these mixed findings could be thatentrepreneurship has been erroneously specified as entry density; whereas a more accurate characteri-sation of entrepreneurship at the macro-level is aggregated EO. Using data of 93 countries over the period1980-2008, we compute EO as an aggregate level, unidimensional, second-order construct with threeindicators that covary: risk-taking, innovativeness and proactiveness. Importantly, unlike other proxiesof entrepreneurship, the level of EO and particularly its increment, positively and robustly correlate witheconomic growth, across all levels of development. The policy derivative of our findings seem clear andencouraging: governments, who wish to promote entrepreneurship and its attendant economic growth,should revisit their emphasis on promoting policies that erroneously encourage the entry of replicativemom and pop shops and, instead, consider fostering (1) entry of high EO firms, and (2) those with loftyEO behaviour amongst existing firms.
Private investments to address environmental issues are perceived as a powerful engine of sustainability. For the agri-food sector, multiple instruments have been developed to green supply chains. Yet little is known about the underlying process and conditions under which green sourcing concerns lead to the adoption of specific sustainability instruments among agri-food companies. This study: i) offers a synthesis of the most commonly used instruments agri-food companies adopt to promote sustainability in their supply chains; ii) proposes an analytical framework to elucidate how those decisions are made, based on the competitive environment in which firms operate—with respect to location of their raw materials, technologies available to their suppliers, leverage over upstream suppliers, and end-markets’ characteristics; and iii) presents seven case-studies illustrating the decision-making process leading to the adoption of a specific instrument by a particular company. Companies that do not have sustainable technologies available to improve their environmental practices but operate in highly sensitive places are better off taking their operation somewhere else. But companies with available cleaner technologies, effective law enforcement and control over the supply chains, as well as a brand to protect, can capitalize on their environmental efforts by introducing strict standards, such as third-party certifications. Enforcement of social and environmental regulations at countries of origin is a key factor that deters companies form adopting very strict standards, even if they have a brand value to enhance. The multiplication of private labels and initiatives are, in most cases, not driven by a desire to disorient the consumer, but rather by a careful consideration of the complex conditions under which agri-food supply chains operate. With minor adaptations, the framework could be applied to other economic sectors that have environmental impacts, from mining and energy-generating industries, to apparel, and electronics.
The primary purpose of this article is to clarify the nature of the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) construct and to propose a contingency framework for investigating the relationship between EO and firm performance. We first explore and refine the dimensions of EO and discuss the usefulness of viewing a firm's EO as a multidimensional construct. Then, drawing on examples from the EO-related contingencies literature, we suggest alternative models (moderating effects, mediating effects, independent effects, interaction effects) for testing the EO-performance relationship.
This article explores entrepreneurial orientation (EO); this notion has received considerable theoretical and empirical attention in organizational research, emerging as one of the most widely accepted firm-level constructs in the literature. As knowledge in this area has expanded, researchers have delved into the contextual factors that influence the relationship between EO and organizational performance. With the goal of better understanding the circumstances under which pursuing entrepreneurial strategies result in favourable performance outcomes, this article investigates the EO-performance relationship among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India. Data collected from 198 Indian SMEs revealed a strong positive linkage between EO and firm performance. Environmental contingencies - demand growth and competitive intensity - were theorized and found to have a moderating influence on the EO-performance relationship. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Purpose
– While there is a large volume of entrepreneurial social capital research, the philosophical assumptions have received limited attention. The purpose of this paper is to review and classify entrepreneurial social capital studies according to the following approaches – objectivist (positivist-realist, structuralist) and subjectivist (social constructionist). There is a neglect of structure and agency, and the authors encourage a critical realist approach that permits an understanding of observable network structure, constraint-order and human agency as a dynamic system.
Design/methodology/approach
– The ontological and epistemological assumptions, and associated strengths and weaknesses of objectivist (positivist-realist, structuralist) and subjectivist (social constructionist) entrepreneurial social capital studies are discussed. The case for a more progressive critical realist approach is developed.
Findings
– The authors demonstrate that objectivist (positivist-realist, structuralist) research with findings bereft of situated meaning and agency dominates. The emergence of subjectivist research – narratively examining different network situations from the perspective of those embedded in networks – is an emerging and competing approach. This dualism is unlikely to comprehensively understand the complex system-level properties of social capital. Future research should adopt critical realism and fuse: objective data to demonstrate the material aspects of network structures and what structural social capital exists in particular settings; and subjective data that enhances an understanding of situated meaning, agency and intention in a network.
Originality/value
– This paper contributes a review of entrepreneurial social capital research and philosophical foundations. The development of a critical realist approach to understanding social capital gestation permits a system-level analysis of network structure influencing conduct, and agency.
Studies linking environmental sustainability to firm performance have been increasing as more companies are contemplating the implementation of sustainable practices internally and in coordination with other firms along their supply chains. However, findings from these studies have found positive and negative associations, leaving practitioners perplexed as to what actions would be beneficial to pursue. With hypotheses grounded in the natural resource–based view of the firm, the current study examines over 20 years of research on environmental supply chain practices using a meta-analysis to determine whether the overall effect of these specific practices on firm performance is, in fact, positive. The results show that the link between environmental supply chain practices and market-based, operational-based and accounting-based forms of firm performance is positive and significant, providing support for the business case that sustainable supply chain management results in increased firm performance. Different operationalizations of supply chain practices — upstream, design, production and downstream — along with industry, sample region, firm size and time are examined as moderators of this relationship with nuanced results that help to extend the discipline's understanding of the relationship between environmentally sustainable supply chain management and firm performance.