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Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

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Follow The Smoke: The Pollution Haven Effect On Global Sourcing, Heather Berry, Aseem Kaul, Narae Lee Dec 2021

Follow The Smoke: The Pollution Haven Effect On Global Sourcing, Heather Berry, Aseem Kaul, Narae Lee

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Research abstract: We examine whether and how foreign environmental standards influence global sourcing decisions. Taking a question-driven approach, we find a negative association between the stringency of a country's environmental standards and its share in US imports for 82 manufacturing industries across 77 countries between 2006 and 2016. This pollution haven effect holds not only for sourcing from owned foreign operations (offshore integration), but also for sourcing from unrelated third parties abroad (offshore outsourcing), and is stronger in industries with high toxic emissions and low technological intensity. These results are robust across alternative measures of environmental stringency and to using …


Artificial Intelligence As Augmenting Automation: Implications For Employment, F. Ted Tschang, Esteve Almirall Nov 2021

Artificial Intelligence As Augmenting Automation: Implications For Employment, F. Ted Tschang, Esteve Almirall

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

There has been great concern in recent years that artificial intelligence (AI) may cause widespread unemployment, but proponents say that AI augments existing jobs. Both of these positions have substance, but there is a need is to articulate the mechanisms by which AI may actually do both, and in the process, transform work and business organizations alike. We use economic studies showing past transformations automation wrought on the structure of employment and skills (such as the favouring of nonroutine skills) to articulate a ground for discussion. We then use case evidence of AI and automation to show how AI is …


How Do The Ceo Political Leanings Affect Reit Business Decisions?, Xiaoying Deng, Paul M. Anglin, Yanmin Gao, Hua Sun Nov 2021

How Do The Ceo Political Leanings Affect Reit Business Decisions?, Xiaoying Deng, Paul M. Anglin, Yanmin Gao, Hua Sun

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Business decisions made by the real estate industry have a profound effect on the well-being of people who live, work, or shop in these buildings. While these decisions may be informed by evidence, the available evidence is often incomplete or imperfect. Therefore, the personal opinions or judgments of senior executives can have an effect. In this paper, we study these effects in two parts: risk-taking and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities. Since a person’s political learning is a relatively stable measure, and is associated with preferences for risk and ESG activities, we examine how the political leanings of the …


Platform-Dependent Entrepreneurs: Participants In An Expanding Universe Of Platforms?, F. Ted Tschang Nov 2021

Platform-Dependent Entrepreneurs: Participants In An Expanding Universe Of Platforms?, F. Ted Tschang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The article Platform-dependent entrepreneurs: Power asymmetries, risks, and strategies in the platform economy drew on the intermediary business model to review the damaging actions that platform firms may employ with entrepreneurs. This exchange argues that platform firms may treat entrepreneurs differently on other platform types-particularly ones where complex relationships may cause participants and platforms to become mutually dependent, or where the platform's position depends less on extracting revenue directly from participants. I suggest that particular business models might facilitate the use of alternative strategic actions that are more benign toward entrepreneurs. These situations can determine additional boundary conditions for this …


Corporate Sustainability Has Failed: Digitizing Regeneration May Still Save Us, Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx Nov 2021

Corporate Sustainability Has Failed: Digitizing Regeneration May Still Save Us, Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The author proposes a focus on regeneration as a way for small carbon footprint firms (e.g., consulting, financial services firms) to make a positive sustainability impact. He highlights that service industry firms can proactively contribute to the regeneration of common pool resources, such as forests and lakes, which often become neglected or overused. What makes regeneration different compared to more traditional donations to a conservation nonprofit is the use of digital technology that enables an organization to lay claim to the eco­system benefits it generates through its support. The digitization of benefits claims provides a transparent accounting system for environmental …


Bettr Barista: A Shot At Better Lives, Heli Wang, Sheetal Mittal, Adeline Natalia Sue Yi Lai Oct 2021

Bettr Barista: A Shot At Better Lives, Heli Wang, Sheetal Mittal, Adeline Natalia Sue Yi Lai

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This chapter presents a case study in which Pamela Chng, the founder of Singapore-based Bettr Barista (BB), believes that a workplace cannot exist aloof from society's challenges and that companies need to be accountable for their contribution to society. The enterprise offers a four-month-long holistic programme, equipping them with job skills as a barista. The chapter highlights the challenge in maintaining the balance between financial and social goals, as this drives most of the decisions taken by the company, be it its value chain or the key stakeholders. The social programme was a comprehensive training course for the marginalised section …


How Xiaomi Redefined What It Means To Be A Platform, Tony W. Wong, Yanting Guo, Liang Chen Sep 2021

How Xiaomi Redefined What It Means To Be A Platform, Tony W. Wong, Yanting Guo, Liang Chen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Traditional platform businesses generally fall into one of two categories: Ecosystems, such as Apple’s App Store, which offer limited resources to a wide array of independently-run firms; and Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) companies, such as Intel Capital, which invest heavily into a small number of ventures that promise either financial or strategic returns. However, new research into Xiaomi’s growth strategy suggests that the Beijing-based electronics giant has developed a blended approach, borrowing elements of both traditional ecosystem and CVC firms to create a broad ecosystem of strongly-supported partner ventures. Based on a series of in-depth interviews with executives from both …


Habitual Entrepreneurship In Digital Platform Ecosystems: A Time-Contingent Model Of Learning From Prior Software Project Experiences, Terence Fan, Andreas Schwab, Xuesong Geng Sep 2021

Habitual Entrepreneurship In Digital Platform Ecosystems: A Time-Contingent Model Of Learning From Prior Software Project Experiences, Terence Fan, Andreas Schwab, Xuesong Geng

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The emergence of large-scale digital platforms such as Facebook, Google Play and Apple App Store around 2008 has created opportunities for independent entrepreneurs to offer their self-developed software applications (“apps”) to large groups of platform users. The development and release of tens of thousands of apps by thousands of independent developers has created dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystems. This paper investigates whether and how learning by independent habitual entrepreneurs unfolds in substantively different ways in such dynamic platform-based environments. We argue that in these entrepreneurial ecosystems, the timing of learning efforts becomes essential. For Facebook app developers, we find that learning from …


Regeneration First, Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx, Ryan Knowles Merrill Aug 2021

Regeneration First, Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx, Ryan Knowles Merrill

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

30 years of "corporate sustainability" has left our earth in a dire state. Biodiversity loss, planetary fever, floods, wildfires, droughts, melting ice caps, dying corals… the list goes on. We need a new approach. I’m sure you heard about a carbon footprint. It is the sum of all the actions we take that have a negative impact on the planet. We consume electricity, we drive to work, we fly to our holiday destination, we waste food and plastic and so on. All these actions create a negative impact that can be expressed in CO2 equivalent. The more CO2 ends up …


Experience Base, Strategy-By-Doing And New Product Performance, Liang Chen, Mengmeng Wang, Lin Cui, Sali Li Jul 2021

Experience Base, Strategy-By-Doing And New Product Performance, Liang Chen, Mengmeng Wang, Lin Cui, Sali Li

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Research Summary Strategy research views firms' diverse experience base as critical to new product success. It also champions strategy-by-doing in entrepreneurial settings. This study juxtaposes and bridges these two perspectives to better understand product development. We propose that while a firm's product portfolio diversity contributes to new product success only to a certain degree, design iteration-a postlaunch strategy-by-doing approach-is positively associated with new product performance. Our core contribution points to a complementary relationship: strategy-by-doing helps mitigate the capacity constraints problem that prevents firms from successfully adapting product development capabilities to a dynamic market. Our analysis of a sample of 2,182 …


Good Deeds Done In Silence: Stakeholder Management And Quiet Giving By Chinese Firms, Heli Wang, Ming Jia, Zhe Zhang May 2021

Good Deeds Done In Silence: Stakeholder Management And Quiet Giving By Chinese Firms, Heli Wang, Ming Jia, Zhe Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We propose a new mechanism explaining why companies may remain silent about their positive corporate behaviors, such as socially responsible activities. We examine such strategic silence in the context of corporate philanthropy. Building on and extending the literature on legitimacy and stakeholder management, we argue that when a firm mistreats primary stakeholders, it is more likely to keep quiet about its philanthropic acts to avoid backlash from stakeholders. We also propose that long-term orientation among stakeholders mitigates the positive relationship between mistreating primary stakeholders and quiet giving, which allows stakeholders to appreciate the long-term value of corporate philanthropy. Data from …


Impact Assessment And Measurement With Sustainable Development Goals, Hao Liang, David Fernandez, Mikkel Larsen Apr 2021

Impact Assessment And Measurement With Sustainable Development Goals, Hao Liang, David Fernandez, Mikkel Larsen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

With the rapid growth of sustainable and responsible investment and widespread adoption of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting and integration by organizations, how to assess and measure ESG impact has become a critical issue. Although the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a useful framework for investors and organizations globally to align their standards, the SDGs are vague on how to implement them at an organizational or activity level. Current practice relies heavily on third-party ESG rating providers, whose scores mostly apply to public equities only. They also suffer from biases, inconsistencies, and a lack of sufficient disclosure. …


Tips For Sme Transformation Amid Covid-19 Pandemic, Siow-Heng Ong Apr 2021

Tips For Sme Transformation Amid Covid-19 Pandemic, Siow-Heng Ong

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The author shared that following the economic downturn in 2020, revival in 2021 can only be very gradual. SMEs in different sectors of the economy face different challenges and have different options for response. Overall, SMEs are hopeful rather than confident. SMEs are generally hoping to manage cash flow and stretch their current funds for immediate business sustainability. Inevitably, their focus is on meeting critical business needs. Turnover and profits are not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels so any increase in hiring or other planning for the future will be slight. He suggested that for pragmatic managers of SMEs …


Marriage Of Unequals? Investment Quality Heterogeneity, Market Heat, And The Formation Of Status-Asymmetric Ties In The Venture Capital Industry, Pavel I. Zhelyazkov, Adam Tatarynowicz Apr 2021

Marriage Of Unequals? Investment Quality Heterogeneity, Market Heat, And The Formation Of Status-Asymmetric Ties In The Venture Capital Industry, Pavel I. Zhelyazkov, Adam Tatarynowicz

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this study, we investigate the emergence of status-asymmetric ties among venture capital firms. In particular, we highlight the venture's performance trajectory as a powerful antecedent of upward-status asymmetries (in which a lower-status actor brings a higher-status alter into a venture) as well as downward-status asymmetries (in which a higher-status actor brings in a lower-status alter). We hypothesize that lower-status firms tend to bring higher-status alters into ventures on a better performance trajectory, whereas higher-status firms tend to bring lower-status alters into poorly performing ventures. Furthermore, we argue that these effects will be moderated by market heat, which affects whether …


The Generativity Mindsets Of Chief Executive Officers: A New Perspective On Succession Outcomes, Aparna Joshi, Donald C. Hambrick, Jiyeon Kang Apr 2021

The Generativity Mindsets Of Chief Executive Officers: A New Perspective On Succession Outcomes, Aparna Joshi, Donald C. Hambrick, Jiyeon Kang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We apply the psychosocial concept of generativity, or one’s outlook toward the next generation, to the context of chief executive officer (CEO) succession. Integrating prior research on generativity and CEO succession, we identify two key orthogonal dimensions of CEO generativity: (a) the CEO’s degree of commitment to developing the next generation of company leadership and (b) the CEO’s degree of need to control the succession process and outcome. A given CEO’s place on these two dimensions constitutes their overall “generativity mindset,” which we conceptualize as a relatively stable motivational orientation that stems from the CEO’s disposition and accumulated life experiences. …


Cohesion, Covid-19 And Contemporary Challenges To Globalization, Andrew Delios, Gordon Perchthold, Alex Capri Apr 2021

Cohesion, Covid-19 And Contemporary Challenges To Globalization, Andrew Delios, Gordon Perchthold, Alex Capri

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In the years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, the decades-long, pan-continental globalization consensus was being questioned. In our view, the pandemic has accelerated the rate at which the globalization consensus is being defied. To better understand the implications of this defiance, we turn to research on people, organizations and international competition to see whether this defiance weakens the cohesion needed to keep globalization moving apace. People and organizations create cohesive forces that can link and constrain the differences that are encountered when people and organizations move across international borders. Meanwhile, the nature of international competition, particularly as connected to the level …


Digital Sustainability And Its Implications For Finance And Climate Change, Gerard George, Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx Apr 2021

Digital Sustainability And Its Implications For Finance And Climate Change, Gerard George, Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

As the pandemic forced the entire world to a virtual standstill, nature revived a little. The US emitted 10.3% less CO2 in 2020 than in 2019 and other regions similarly experienced emission declines. Depending on the source, global carbon emissions were down between 4 and 8% in 2020.2 Consumers globally have expressed more concern about sustainability, an observation confirmed by large survey research by Accenture, Kantar, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and Ipsos.3 In its latest Emissions Gap Report4 , the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) explicitly connected the pandemic to climate change, nature loss, and pollution. Besides the acceleration of business …


Knowledge Recombination And Inventor Networks: The Asymmetric Effects Of Embeddedness On Knowledge Reuse And Impact, Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx, Yimin Lin, Gerard George, Tufool Alnuaimi Apr 2021

Knowledge Recombination And Inventor Networks: The Asymmetric Effects Of Embeddedness On Knowledge Reuse And Impact, Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx, Yimin Lin, Gerard George, Tufool Alnuaimi

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Inventors are triply embedded. They are embedded in a network of knowledge components that they can reuse in future inventions. They are embedded in an inventor network, where internal embeddedness (the strength of relationships between focal inventors and their colleagues upon whose knowledge the team builds) and network centrality influence access to information. Finally, they are embedded in the firm, with its specific routines that favor external or internal knowledge search, what we call search orientation. Using a sample of 39,785 semiconductor patents, we study the pattern of knowledge reuse, or the recombination of technologically similar components, on invention impact. …


Are Native Plants Green? Assessing Environmental Performances Of Locally-Owned Facilities, Narae Lee, Jiao Luo Apr 2021

Are Native Plants Green? Assessing Environmental Performances Of Locally-Owned Facilities, Narae Lee, Jiao Luo

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We study the impact of corporate ownership and community conditions on firm environmental pollution. While the existing literature often thinks of environmental pollution as a unitary construct, we emphasize the distinction between toxic emissions, which have immediate but locally bounded impact, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which have gradual but global impact, producing climate change. Using a facility-level panel of all manufacturing facilities in the US from 2010-2018, and leveraging within-facility changes in ownership status, we show that locally owned firms have lower levels of toxic emissions, but they are also less likely to report GHG emissions, and have higher …


Who Are The Most Inclined To Learn? Evidence From Chinese Multinationals' Internationalization In The European Union, Liang Chen, Yi Li, Di Fan Mar 2021

Who Are The Most Inclined To Learn? Evidence From Chinese Multinationals' Internationalization In The European Union, Liang Chen, Yi Li, Di Fan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

While it is widely recognised that an asset-augmenting rather than asset-exploiting strategy drives emerging multinationals' (EMNEs) internationalization, current research focuses on the motivations behind knowledge seeking FDI. What remains less clear is why latecomer firms can engage in learning in advanced countries. Conjoining the "Linkage-Leverage-Learning (LLL)" framework and knowledge seeking literature, this study shows how Chinese investment in the European Union reveals the preconditions for foreign knowledge sourcing. We follow a set-theoretic approach, utilizing fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), to identify equifinal configurations of linkage and leverage conditions leading to high learning propensity of EMNEs. Our analysis extends the LLL …


Introduction To The Special Issue On “Grassroots And Inclusive Innovations: Conceptualizing Synergies And Complementarities”, Wee Liang Tan, Partha Gangopadhyay, Oscar Hauptman Mar 2021

Introduction To The Special Issue On “Grassroots And Inclusive Innovations: Conceptualizing Synergies And Complementarities”, Wee Liang Tan, Partha Gangopadhyay, Oscar Hauptman

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The paper provided a review of the state of the field of grassroots and inclusive innovations, suggested and proposed ways forward for research. It also provided a summary of the articles in the special issue and discussed their contributions. With the extant literature, and the modest contribution of the special issue, the paper postulates that grassroots innovation and inclusive innovation activities are complementary. One the one hand, the inclusive innovations actors and processes facilitate and accelerate grassroots innovation. On the other hand, the knowledge of local context and culture enables effective diffusion of external ideas. The paper also highlights the …


Transaction Cost Theory: Past Progress, Current Challenges, And Suggestions For The Future, Ilya Cuypers, Jean-Francois Hennart, Brian S. Silverman, Gokhan Ertug Feb 2021

Transaction Cost Theory: Past Progress, Current Challenges, And Suggestions For The Future, Ilya Cuypers, Jean-Francois Hennart, Brian S. Silverman, Gokhan Ertug

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Transaction cost theory (TCT) has been fruitfully applied to a wide range of organizational phenomena, as reflected in a vast and evolving body of research. However, in part due to the theory’s broad success, important advances in some fields do not diffuse to other fields. In this essay, we lay out a path toward a pluralistic view of TCT that incorporates insights from multiple fields, primarily strategy and international business. In so doing, we critically assess the assumptions, key constructs, and evolving theoretical logic of TCT. We then propose an agenda for future research, highlighting opportunities for scholars to (1) …


Contingency Theory Of Strategic Conflict Management: Explicating A “Grand” Theory Of Public Relations, Pang, A., Yan Jin, Glen T. Cameron Feb 2021

Contingency Theory Of Strategic Conflict Management: Explicating A “Grand” Theory Of Public Relations, Pang, A., Yan Jin, Glen T. Cameron

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Since the 1990s, the contingency theory of strategic conflict management has evolved into its own, and emerged as an empirically tested perspective. Coombs (2010) has described the contingency theory as a “grand theory of public relations” (p.41). A “grand theory” is one which “seeks to explain how public relations as a whole operates”; grand theories seek to explain an entire discipline and “can be adapted to specific areas of the discipline” (Coombs 2010: 41). Today, it is one of the top six theories applied in crisis communication research (An and Cheng 2010). The purpose of this chapter is threefold: First, …


Global Shift Towards Stakeholder-Oriented Corporate Governance? Evidence From The Scholarly Literature And Future Research Opportunities, Toru Yoshikawa, Michael Nippa, Gavin Chua Feb 2021

Global Shift Towards Stakeholder-Oriented Corporate Governance? Evidence From The Scholarly Literature And Future Research Opportunities, Toru Yoshikawa, Michael Nippa, Gavin Chua

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Purpose: By reviewing prior scholarly corporate governance (CG) literature and a review of more recent stakeholder studies, this paper aims to examine the extent to which stakeholders and their interests have gained in importance in recent years compared to the shareholder approach, which is dominant in many national economies and suggest future research opportunities. Design/methodology/approach: This study conducts a literature review to examine major findings in prior studies. Findings: The reviews and analyses provide support for a formal and informal convergence of CG systems towards more stakeholder-oriented elements globally. In general, at the institutional and firm levels, there are remarkable …


A Capability-Based View Of Boards: A New Conceptual Framework For Board Governance, Patricia Klarner, Toru Yoshikawa, Michael Hiit Feb 2021

A Capability-Based View Of Boards: A New Conceptual Framework For Board Governance, Patricia Klarner, Toru Yoshikawa, Michael Hiit

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A key role of board directors is to govern corporate strategy. Whereas prior research has provided insights into board roles and activities regarding board governance, the underlying capabilities required to govern effectively remain understudied. This article explores and explicates a capability-based view of board actions in which the specific capabilities that enable boards to govern strategic activities are identified. We specifically examine the conceptual foundations and different types of board capabilities, drawing on illustrative cases as well as information from interviews with board directors in the United States, Asia, and Europe. We then discuss several future research directions that can …


Ecowelvaart: Een Oost-Aziatische Kijk [In Dutch], Arnoud Cyriel Leo De Meyer Jan 2021

Ecowelvaart: Een Oost-Aziatische Kijk [In Dutch], Arnoud Cyriel Leo De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In a recent opinion piece in De Morgen, 33 Flemish women a call for development of ecologically responsible prosperity. Their statement that prosperity and sustainability are not should form a contradiction, but that they on the other hand, being able to amplify, close close to a growing awareness in East Asia about what is sometimes called 'ecosperity' here. But to achieve eco-prosperity, there will be a huge and coordinated investment are required from all walks of life. How do we handle this? Starting from the relative successful containment of the pandemic and its consequences in East Asia the author formulates …


Kin Ties And The Performance Of New Firms: A Structural Approach, Gokhan Ertug, Reddi Kotha, Peter Hedstrom Dec 2020

Kin Ties And The Performance Of New Firms: A Structural Approach, Gokhan Ertug, Reddi Kotha, Peter Hedstrom

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Kin ties are all but ubiquitous in new firms. However, their effects on performance are not straightforward, because they may provide new firms with advantages (enhanced coordination and cooperation) as well as disadvantages (reduced diversity, nepotism concerns, and the possible spillover of personal conflict). As kin ties may have both positive and negative implications for performance, a contingency approach to the performance of new firms is valuable. We develop such an approach by relating different structural configurations of kin ties – whether they are between founders, between founders and employees, and between employees – to the performance of new firms. …


Reflections Of A Chief Strategy Officer In A Diversified Conglomerate, Nirmalya Kumar Dec 2020

Reflections Of A Chief Strategy Officer In A Diversified Conglomerate, Nirmalya Kumar

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

After a lifetime as an academic, I was hired as Chief Strategy Officer (“CSO”) at Tata, a colossal $100 billion group with more than a hundred companies and 650,000 employees worldwide. At first sight, the job of being strategy head for the Tata Group may seem rather different from my academic role, with implementation responsibility and ability being the key difference. But, it did not require much of an adjustment for two reasons. First, I was not the typical academic. For twenty years, as an external consultant, I had been working with top executives and helping them think through their …


What Has Changed? The Impact Of Covid Pandemic On The Technology And Innovation Management Research Agenda, Gerard George, Karim R. Lakhani, Phanish Puranam Dec 2020

What Has Changed? The Impact Of Covid Pandemic On The Technology And Innovation Management Research Agenda, Gerard George, Karim R. Lakhani, Phanish Puranam

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Whereas the pandemic has tested the agility and resilience of organizations, it forces a deeper look at the assumptions underlying theoretical frameworks that guide managerial decisions and organizational practices. In this commentary, we explore the impact of the Covid‐19 pandemic on technology and innovation management research. We identify key assumptions, and then discuss how new areas of investigation emerge based on the changed reality.


The Dark Side Of Sustainability Orientation For Sme Performance, Teemu Kautonen, Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx, Johannes Gartner, Henri Hakata, Katariina Salmela-Aro, Kirsi Snellmand Nov 2020

The Dark Side Of Sustainability Orientation For Sme Performance, Teemu Kautonen, Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx, Johannes Gartner, Henri Hakata, Katariina Salmela-Aro, Kirsi Snellmand

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This article examines how a firm’s willingness to make trade-offs that favour sustainability over commercial goals attenuates the relationship between firm-level sustainability orientation and subsequent performance. The hypothesis development draws on stakeholder theory and the literature on mission and revenue drifts, while the empirical analysis is based on two waves of original survey data on Finnish manufacturing SMEs. We find that sustainability orientation is positively associated with performance only when the willingness to make sustainability trade-offs is low, whereas the relationship becomes negative when the willingness to make such trade-offs is high. Our findings thus suggest that the popular adage …