0000000001105049
AUTHOR
Alejandro Escribá-esteve
Strategic Leadership and Leaders in Entrepreneurial Contexts: A Nexus for Innovation and Impact Missed?
Research at the nexus of strategic leadership and entrepreneurial contexts has been encouraging, but some of the more innovative and impactful questions remain underexplored. The purpose of the Special Issue was to provide a forum for works that build on the constraints, challenges, characteristics, and other salient elements of entrepreneurial settings to advance theory and testing on strategic leadership effects, as well as enrich our understanding of firm behaviour and outcomes in entrepreneurial contexts. We first provide an overview and background of the Special Issue. We then provide a summary of the process and outcomes, including a synopsis of the accepted manuscripts. The discussio…
The Role of External Environment in Upper Echelons Theory
Upper echelons research has largely focused on the antecedents and consequences of top management teams (TMTs) from the team and firm levels of analysis. This paper reviews empirical research on TMTs with a specific emphasis on the role of the external environment. Applying institutional and industrial organization theories, a cross-level conceptual model outlining the direct, mediating, and moderating effects of the external environment on upper echelons is developed. This review distinguishes between industry and institutional levels of analysis and three types of environmental characteristics: stable, dynamic, and transformational. The paper further explains the relationships between ea…
The Influence of Top Management Teams in the Strategic Orientation and Performance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
Department of Management, University of Valencia (Spain), Av. de los Naranjos s/n., 46022 Valencia, SpainCorresponding author email: alejandro.escriba@uv.esIdentifying which factors affect firms’ performance is a critical issue in strategic man-agement research. This paper addresses the influence of managerial team over thebehaviour and performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). By treatingtop management team (TMT) characteristics as predictors of a firm’s strategicorientation, we seek to provide a more complete understanding of how thecharacteristics of managerial teams shape decision-making processes and SMEs’behaviours in order to successfully compete in low munificent environm…
Moderating Influences on the Firm's Strategic Orientation-Performance Relationship
This article is focused on the factors that moderate the relationship between firm's strategic orientation and performance in small and medium-sized firms. Much prior research has focused simply on identifying environmental conditions conducive to the effectiveness of the strategic orientation approach. However, recent research has called for studies focused on investigating internal moderators of the strategic orientation-performance relationship. As a result, we propose a contingency framework, considering how corporate and competitive strategies, top management characteristics, and environmental conditions may moderate this relationship. Based on a survey of 295 small and medium-sized en…
CEO satisfaction and intended strategic changes
How do CEOs react to attainment discrepancies in their organizations' performance? Scholars have generally argued that (only) when performance falls below a certain aspiration level do CEOs intend to change the organization's strategy. However, empirical evidence on this issue is ambiguous and inconclusive. We address this puzzle directly by studying how CEOs' cognitive interpretations of performance (their satisfaction with the firm's performance) affect the magnitude of intended strategic changes, and we explore the moderating effect of the context (performance compared to the industry) on this relationship. Using a sample of medium-sized organizations, we find that CEOs' satisfaction wit…
An upper echelons perspective on information technology business value
This paper argues that information technology (IT) outcomes are more valuable to companies when their top management team (TMT) moves from flirting with IT to marriage. Previous research has demonstrated an association between top management support (TMS) and IT value. We extend the concept of TMS with the imbrication metaphor to define the construct of TMT-IT imbrication, which allows us to account for a tighter and continuous entwining of the TMT and IT to create IT value. Our definition of the TMT-IT imbrication construct embraces four dimensions: involvement, participation, attention, and use. In addition, with the support of upper echelons (UE) theory, we explore certain managerial tra…
Ex-Ante Business Model Evaluation Methods: A Proposal of Improvement and Applicability
[EN] Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to choose the best method for ex ante business model evaluation, improve it and provide a framework to put it into practice. Design/Methodology/Approach: After an in-depth review, we chose the best method for ex ante business model evaluation, improved this method, and applied it to a real case study in which business models had been proposed for a Sustainable Smart District project. Findings: We analysed existing ex ante business model evaluation methods, justifying our choice of the best one. We improved this key question-based method by combining classic management tools and a new, promising procedure. We finally found a strong tool to improve b…
Accelerated internationalisation: evidence from a late investor country
PurposeRecent studies are trying to adapt the explanation of the internationalisation process to new environmental conditions. This paper aims to offer evidence of the existence of a group of firms that use a speeded‐up internationalisation process.Design/methodology/approachCluster analysis and logit regressions are used on a sample of 271 Spanish export firms.FindingsThe results obtained support the claim that substantial differences do exist between fast and gradual internationalising firms. The firms included in the more international active group are characterised by: a proactive attitude on the part of managers with regard to internationalisation activities, a strategy based on market…
Guest editorial: creativity and innovation in the firm
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the Focus Section “Creativity and innovation in the firm: managerial antecedents and effects on employees”, which forms the first of two separate parts of the journal special issue.Design/methodology/approach – The guest editors summarize the three papers which comprise this Focus Section.Findings – The selected papers are found to relate to the Focus Section theme of impact of managers’ characteristics on creativity and innovation, and innovation effects on employees.Originality/value – The paper shows that the Focus Section offers new insights for students of innovation and creativity by providing fresh ideas about whether and how top ma…
You are crazy! A classroom experiment to enhance creativity among management students
PurposeThe paper aims to focus on fostering a strategic attitude and creativity‐related competences among management students, through alternative teaching‐learning methods, whereby students propose “crazy” ideas that can be applicable to (business) organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe approach taken was an active learning classroom experiment. In total, 22 participants volunteered among the authors' own students, enrolled at different management‐related degrees at the University of Valencia (Spain).FindingsFive student teams proposed very interesting and original ideas (some “crazier” than others, many highly relevant and feasible), aimed at tackling relevant challenges at the work…
Ambidexterity in micro and small firms: Can competitive intelligence compensate for size constraints?
Ambidexterity has been linked to firm structures that are typical of organizations with a larger size. However, further research is needed to analyze whether the effect of firm size on ambidexterity is contingent on other aspects. We argue that micro and small firms that have developed some competitive intelligence routines (CIRs) may foster ambidextrous behavior and compensate for the limitations arising from a smaller size and lack of resources. We test our proposal on a sample of 200 firms in the furniture sector. Our results show that CIRs compensate for size constraints in that size is no longer a relevant variable to increase ambidextrous behavior in firms that achieve higher levels i…
Factores determinantes de la intención de cambio estratégico: el papel de los equipos directivos
ResumenLa capacidad de una empresa para adaptarse y responder a las oportunidades y presiones del entorno es uno de los aspectos más importantes en la búsqueda de la competitividad y de la supervivencia. Este trabajo pretende mejorar la comprensión de los factores que influyen en la intención de impulsar cambios en el contenido de la estrategia, analizando los factores motivadores y de resistencia tradicionalmente considerados, así como el papel facilitador de las características de los equipos directivos. Nuestros resultados resaltan que la heterogeneidad de los equipos directivos facilita la predisposición a impulsar cambios en las estrategias competitivas y corporativas, y que los cambio…
Higher Education in Management: The Case of Spain
The history of the management education system in Spain can be described by breaking it down into four periods: (1) the emergence of the management education system, (2) the creation of formal university studies and foundation of management/economics faculties (under pre-democratic laws), (3) the structuration and universalization of the management education system (under democratic laws) and (4) the current management education system (after the implementation of the European higher education reform, or Bologna declaration). (1) Emergence of the management education system (up to 1943): The university education system in Spain is one of the oldest in Europe. The University of Salamanca was…
Heterogeneity in Family Firms
This research explores in greater depth the importance of considering the heterogeneity between family businesses so as to better understand the differences in their strategic behavior, performance and business results. With this, we attempt to contribute to the theories on the relationship between corporate governance and strategic management in the field of family business research.
 Our study identifies the different configurations that may be adopted in the ownership structures and the management and governance bodies of family firms, analyzing how these configurations are related to the firm’s strategic outcomes. Using a sample of 111 family firms, we perform a cluster analysis th…
La influencia de las características y percepciones directivas en los nuevos modelos de internacionalización
En las economías desarrolladas y con el actual escenario competitivo, las pymes de los sectores industriales maduros están sometidas a una serie de fuerzas económicas que limitan su capacidad para subsistir. Factores como el endurecimiento de la competencia proveniente de los grandes productores asiáticos (China, India, Pakistán) y de los países de Europa del Este, el incremento espectacular del poder de negociación de los distribuidores o la desaparición del canal minorista y de los mercados referenciados en dólares (Camisón, 2001, Pla-Barber, et. al, 2007) han generado una alarmante disminución de empresas y empleos en estos sectores. Frente a este panorama poco alentador, existen solucio…
A gender study of principal investigator lead public R&D centres and funding
To survive and grow public Research and Development (R&D) centres need to raise competitive funds (Bazeley 1998; Lee and Om 1996; Muñoz 2007; Santamaría, Brage-Gil and Modrego 2010). The factors that can influence the capacity of national R&D teams within R&D centres to apply for and obtain competitive funding does not seem to have been studied in depth. The purpose of study is to firstly, to examine whether a consistent set of priorities defined by R&D centre lead principal investigators secures more competitive funding. Secondly, to examine whether the PI gender moderates the effect of the PI’s priorities on the amount of competitive public funds that the R&D team of the PI obtains. Our s…
An analysis of co‐operative agreements from a knowledge‐based perspective: an integrative conceptual framework
The last decade has been witness to an unprecedented growth in the number of alliances between companies. This growing importance of interfirm co‐operation, together with its inherent complexity, have generated a progressive interest in the study of this phenomenon, which has materialised in a vast but fragmented literature concerning it. As a response to the demands which these conditions pose, we have endeavoured to develop a conceptual framework which, from a knowledge‐based and learning perspective, integrates an extensive series of contributions and concepts for the study of the processes of co‐operation between companies. As distinctive features, our conceptual framework proposal sets…
Measuring personal networks and their relationship with scientific production
24 p., 2 figures, 5 tables, 1 appendix and references
Accelerated Internationalisation: New Evidence from a late investor country
Recent studies are trying to adapt the explanation of the internationalisation process to new environmental conditions. By using cluster analysis and logit regressions in a sample of 271 Spanish export firms, this paper offers evidence of the existence of a group of firms that use a speed-up internationalisation process. The results obtained support the claim that substantial differences do exist between Fast and Gradual Internationalising firms. The firms included in the more international active group are characterised by: (1) a proactive attitude on the part of managers with regard to internationalisation activities, (b) a strategy based on marketing differentiation advantages and (c) st…
Guest Editors' Introduction
(2012). Guest Editors' Introduction. International Studies of Management & Organization: Vol. 42, No. 4, pp. 3-7.
Heterogeneity in family firms: contextualising the adoption of family governance mechanisms
PurposeThis research is aimed to better understand what characteristics of family firms create a context in which family governance systems are more frequently adopted.Design/methodology/approachWe analyse a sample of 490 Spanish family businesses using cluster analysis, and we identify four different types of family businesses whose characteristics are associated to the adoption of different family governance systems, i.e. family councils and family protocols. The comparison between clusters of the baseline parameters was performed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for parametric variables, the χ2 test for parametric variables and Kruskal-Wallis for nonparametric variables. By con…
Ex-Ante Business Model Evaluation Methods:
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to choose the best method for ex ante business model evaluation, improve it and provide a framework to put it into practice. Design/Methodology/Approach: After an in-depth review, we chose the best method for ex ante business model evaluation, improved this method, and applied it to a real case study in which business models had been proposed for a Sustainable Smart District project. Findings: We analysed existing ex ante business model evaluation methods, justifying our choice of the best one. We improved this key question-based method by combining classic management tools and a new, promising procedure. We finally found a strong tool to improve busine…