Business Commons^™

Architectural Dimensions Of Socially Driven Venture Capital Firms: Social Innovation In The Capital Markets, Raymond Jones, Manjula S. Salimath

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

Purpose – Private equity and venture capital (VC) firms in the capital markets sector invest capital with the primary goal of delivering economic value. However, some firms in the capital markets sector have started to shift this focus to create (i.e. invest in) social value. More specifically, traditional VC firms are starting socially oriented funds, while other firms have emerged to focus solely on investments in social enterprises. These VC firms are contributing to an interesting paradox – performance metrics are not measured by profit alone but also by social innovation. From an architectural perspective, the authors examine the implications …

Senior Executives’ Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction And Psychological Well-Being: Is It Different At The Top?, Marcus B. Mueller, Geoff P. Lovell

WCBT Faculty Publications

Senior executives’ decisions can have a substantial impact on their own lives, their families, their organizations’ workers and employees, and society. This quantitative study (1) investigated the relationship between basic psychological need satisfaction (BPNS) at work and psychological well-being (PWB) in 142 senior executives as antecedent of their decision making and (2) compared the results to two other managerial level samples of 260 managers and 445 employees. The results have implications for theory and practice. Our findings contribute the new theoretical perspectives of differences in the relationship between BPNS at work and PWB by managerial level and senior executives’ gender …

Entrepreneurial Orientation In Public Schools: The View From New Jersey, Steven E. Phelan, Ane T. Johnson, Thorsten Semrau

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

We utilize a sample of New Jersey schools to explore the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and school performance. The results indicate a significant relationship between several dimensions of EO and performance after controlling for a number of relevant variables. Charter schools were found to have higher EO than traditional schools. The implications of these findings for education and entrepreneurship research are discussed.

The Effects Of Entrepreneurial Orientation And Commitment To Objectives On Performance, Mark Simon, Chanel Stachel, Jeffrey G. Covin

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

The relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and performance is often moderated by different factors. Specifically, scholars have called for research examining whether commitment to long-term objectives improves EO’s effectiveness, believing that commitment may help firms overcome obstacles associated with EO. In response, we collected survey data from executives in 126 small, high-technology firms, and found that EO and commitment to objectives enhanced sales growth. In addition, the study determined that commitment to objectives was associated with greater increased sales growth of companies high in EO, as compared to those low in EO.

International Clustering And Foreign Subsidiary Performance, Jing'an Tang

WCBT Faculty Publications

The article discusses the development and testing of a network-based model of international clustering and foreign subsidiary performance in an attempt to determine how multinational companies (MNC) enter a foreign country to build their own foreign cluster. It focuses on the foreign peer network (FPN) to incorporate both the social and economic interactions within a cluster. An FPN is described as a set of social and economic relations among a group of foreign subsidiaries that are from the same home country and run same or similar businesses within a common geographic area in the host country. The initial condition of …

Single And Multiple Interruptions Increase Task Performance Time, But Don't Affect Stress, Pressure Or Flow, Maureen A. Conard, Robert F. Marsh

WCBT Working Papers

We compared task performance time and psychological reactions for uninterrupted, single interrupted, and multiple interrupted conditions. For 110 undergraduates, those who were uninterrupted while completing a jigsaw puzzle were 26% faster than the single interruption, and 30% faster than the multiple interruption conditions. Single and multiple interruption conditions were not significantly different. Participants in the multiple interruption condition felt more stress than those in the uninterrupted condition, although stress levels were low in both conditions. Perceptions of time pressure and flow were not different across conditions. Performance on the interrupting task (a word search puzzle) was not significantly different across …

Assessing The Performance Impacts Of Information Systems From The Resource-Based Perspective: An Empirical Test Of The Indirect Effect Of The Is, Michael J. Zhang

WCBT Faculty Publications

Research into the strategic impacts of information systems (IS) from the resource-based view of competitive advantage has increasingly embraced the indirect effect of IS on firm performance; that is, IS interact with other complementary organizational resources in influencing firm performance. Using both survey and archival data, this study set out to test the indirect effect of IS and determine the complementary organizational resources contributing to IS impacts on firm performance. The results provide additional evidence in support of the indirect performance effect of IS. Specifically, the study found that the performance impacts of IS arose from their interactions with firm-specific …

Which Ties Matter When? The Strategic Impact Of Network Linkages On Foreign Subsidiary Survival, Jing'an Tang, Paul W. Beamish

WCBT Faculty Publications

In addition to enriching the network theory by specifying the conditions under which business networks affect firm performance, our study contributes to the international strategic alliances literature in answering the questions of when to ally and with whom to ally for managers dealing with international expansions.

Is Support For Strategic Flexibility, Environmental Dynamism, And Firm Performance, Michael J. Zhang

WCBT Faculty Publications

Increasingly, strategic flexibility has been viewed as a critical organizational competency that enables firms to achieve and maintain competitive advantage and superior performance. In this study, the relationship between IS support for strategic flexibility and the bottom-line performance of firms is investigated, as well as the moderating effects of environmental dynamism on that relationship. Using both survey and archival data, IS support for strategic flexibility was positively associated with profitability and labor productivity only when there was a high degree of environmental changes and uncertainty.

How Unilever Hpc-Na Sold Its Employees On The Balanced Scorecard, Bridget Lyons, Andra Gumbus

WCBT Faculty Publications

Unilever Home & Personal Care-North America (HPC-NA) not only takes marketing its products very seriously, but it heavily promotes its balanced scorecard to employees as well. No wonder Unilever HPC-NA successfully designed a unique strategy to communicate awareness of the BSC while encouraging its participation and use. Their experiences should prove valuable to other organizations implementing a balanced scorecard and to those just beginning to formulate a communications approach to internal stakeholders about its role, significance, and use. The Unilever HPC-NA marketing campaign provides an effective strategy that other firms may consider when marketing a balanced scorecard internally. The HPC-NA …

Omitted Variable Bias In The Link Between Planning And Performance, Kirk C. Heriot, Noel D. Campbell, R. Zachary Finney

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

This article argues that existing research poorly specifies the link between planning and performance because of omitted variable bias. Researchers agree planning is a critical part of creating any new venture. Many researchers assess planning by whether a small firm has a written business plan. Unfortunately, efforts empirically to validate this relationship have been inconclusive. This article proposes that researchers should assess business plans both on the quality of the plan (and the planning process that produced it), and on the quality of the underlying business opportunity. Failure to account for both aspects of a business plan amounts to omitted …

Julia's Dilemma, Andra Gumbus, Jill Woodilla

WCBT Faculty Publications

Julia, a professional woman in her mid-thirties, has had relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis as a part of her life for the last five years. Now she must decide whether to disclose her hidden illness at work. Julia disclosed her illness to her manager in a prior employment, when her MS was first diagnosed, and experienced a supportive response. But she was always mindful that her performance would likely be carefully scrutinized since she was in a job that required strict deadlines. Julia made a career change about a year ago, and did not tell anyone in her new organization that she …

Multinationality-Performance Relationship: A Review And Reconceptualization, Madan Annavarjula, Sam Beldona

WCBT Faculty Publications

Numerous empirical investigations have attempted to study the relationship between multinationality and firm performance. Results from these studies have produced conflicting findings about this relationship. It is argued that one of the causes of the conflicting findings may be an imprecise conceptualization of multinationality. A multidimensional conceptualization is proposed based on a methodological review of previous research.

Strategic Human Resource Management (Book Review), John Chalykoff

WCBT Faculty Publications

Book review by John B. Chalykoff.

Fombrun, Charles J., Noel M. Tichy, Mary Anne Devanna. Strategic Human Resource Management. New York: Wiley, 1984.

ISBN 9780471810797