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The paper aims to investigate organizational variables and develop their relationship with horizontal strategy. The cultural dimensions and organization structure have been considered as organizational variables. The study also aims to shed light on the implementation horizontal strategy in conglomerates.

A survey was carried out with 122 conglomerate firms for examination. These companies were chosen to be of different sizes and sectors. The multiple regression analysis was utilized to analyze the data.

The results reveal that conglomerate firms also have a horizontal strategy. Additionally, organizational cultural dimensions namely, collectivism, clan culture, market culture and long-term orientation; formal and informal relationship; and horizontal organization structure (HOS) have positive and significant relationship with horizontal strategy. No significant relationship was found between uncertainty avoidance and adhocracy culture, and horizontal strategy.

The major contributions of this study are explicitly identified as horizontal strategy exists in the conglomerate firms where the few organizational variables play a significant role in horizontal strategy implementation.

This study has been done in an effort to make supporting guidelines to fill the gaps in conglomerate firms. This study offers an effective role of cultural dimensions and structure as drivers of horizontal strategy implementation, and this study spells out and extends the literature and proposes a conceptual framework.

Discusses how interrelationships can be developed for synergy. Also focuses on horizontal strategy as a way to achieve competitive advantage. Organizational context can determine a firm’s motivation and ability to develop interrelationships that result in overall competitive advantage. Corporate strategy must move beyond the idea that the primary way of creating synergy is the combination of related businesses (by buying and selling businesses). Corporate strategy must focus on creating value that is independent of business unit value. This means developing horizontal strategies that have the objective of coordinating activities and developing programs that encourage the sharing of resources and skills. An understanding of the horizontal organization helps to emphasize that organizational structure and processes are significant in developing interrelationships with the potential to reach the goals of synergy and competitive advantage.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the knowledge of the use of performance measurement systems (PMS) in situations where the benefits of both vertical and horizontal integration strategies are sought simultaneously.

This is a single case study, the purpose of which is to build a contextual theory.

The main results highlight three competing and partly contradictory tendencies in the development and use of PMS in organizational integration. In addition, the authors have identified features of PMS that may benefit or hinder integration. Grounded on empirical findings the paper presents a more complete theoretical framework of PMS for integration.

The propositions of the framework need to be tested in different contexts with case and field studies or a large sample of data using statistical techniques to improve external validity. The causal relationships explored in this study may be further developed using longitudinal studies.

In acquisition situations there exists the need for vertical integration to control the growing complexity but at the same time for horizontal control to advance customer-centred production. Performance measurement is the key issue to examine the execution and results of such integrations.

Case study findings are used to develop a more comprehensive theory of PMS design and use in situations where both vertical and horizontal integration are sought. Contrary to current understandings, the central statement of this study is that horizontal organization is not an alternative to vertical organizational structure but they can be effectively coupled.

The purpose of this paper is to machine the pressure surface of the turbine blade made of A286 iron-based superalloy by using four directions of raster strategy, including horizontal upward, horizontal downward, vertical upward and vertical downward, to achieve appropriate surface roughness and to investigate the tool wear in each strategy.

In this study, all cutting tests were performed by DAHLIH-MCV 1020 BA vertical 3-axis machining center with ball nose end mill. After milling by each strategy, according to the surface slope, the surface was divided into 27 meshes, and roughness of surface was studied and compared. Roughness measuring after machining was implemented by using portable Mahr ps1 roughness tester, and surface texture was photographed by CCD 100× optical zoom camera. Also, to measure tool flank wear in each strategy as an indication of tool life, the surface of workpiece was divided into four equal areas. The wear of the inserts was measured by ARCS vertical non-contact measuring system at the end of each area.

The results indicate that cutting directions and toolpath strategies have significant influence on tool wear and surface roughness in machining processes and that they can be taken into consideration individually as determinative parameters. In this case, the most uniform surface texture and the lowest surface roughness are obtained by using horizontal downward direction; in addition, abrasion is a dominant tool wear mechanism in all experiments, and tool wear in the horizontal downward is lower than other strategies.

Machining of turbine blades or other airfoil-shaped workpieces is quite common in manufacturing aerospace and aircraft products. The results of this research contribute to increasing quality of machined surface and tool life in machining of turbine blade.

This work proves the significance of milling strategies in machining of the turbine blade made of A286 superalloy and, consequently, exhibits the proper strategy in terms of surface roughness and tool life. Also, this work explains and elaborates the behavior of A286 superalloy in machining processes, which has not been studied much in recent research works.

Declining productivity and disappointing lack of profitability after three decades of biotechnology commercialization, despite enormous investment and the great promise of breakthrough solutions, have led researchers to question whether traditional horizontal acquisition strategies result in superior firm performance. Our chapter explores the answer to this question as well as to the role that disclosure plays in this important emerging industry. Using standard event study methodology, we examine differences in market performance of vertical versus horizontal acquisition strategies, along with the role played by the amount of information disclosed in the announcement. Our results suggest that vertical acquisitions underperform horizontal acquisitions, with the amount of disclosure playing a role in the market's ability to react to a firm's acquisition strategy accurately and quickly. Our results suggest that accountants who have called for additional disclosure, especially in complex industries such as biopharma, are correct in assuming that nonfinancial information plays a significant role in investors’ valuation of an acquisition event. Managers of biopharma firms, however, are cautioned that more disclosure, through the reduction of uncertainty, may result in lower market valuations for acquirers.

This paper takes the manufacturing cluster supply chain as the research object and explores the evaluation and enhancement strategy of manufacturing cluster supply chain synergy. The purpose of this study was to (1) analyze the mechanism of manufacturing cluster supply chain synergy; (2) construct manufacturing cluster supply chain synergy evaluation model; (3) algorithm realization of manufacturing cluster supply chain synergy evaluation and (4) propose manufacturing cluster-based supply chain synergy enhancement strategy.

Breaking through the limitations of traditional manufacturing cluster supply chain synergy evaluation, we take horizontal synergy and vertical synergy as coupled synergy subsystems, use the complex system synergy model to explore the horizontal synergy between core enterprises and cluster enterprises and the vertical synergy of supply chain enterprises and use the coupling coordination model to construct the coupled synergy evaluation model of manufacturing cluster supply chain, which is an innovation of the evaluation perspective of previous cluster supply chain synergy and also an enrichment and supplementation of the evaluation methodology. This is not only the innovation of the evaluation perspective but also the enrichment and supplementation of the evaluation method.

Using Python software to conduct empirical analysis on the evaluation model, the research shows that the horizontal and vertical synergies of the manufacturing cluster supply chain interact with each other and jointly affect the coupling synergy. On this basis, targeted strategies are proposed to enhance the synergy of the manufacturing cluster supply chain.

This study takes manufacturers, suppliers and sellers in the three-level supply chain as the research object and does not consider the synergistic evaluation between distributors and consumers in the supply chain, which can be further explored in this direction in the future.

Advanced manufacturing clusters, as the main force of manufacturing development, and the synergistic development of supply chain are one of the important driving forces for the high-quality development of China’s manufacturing industry. As a new type of network organization coupling industrial clusters and supply chains, cluster supply chain is conducive not only to improving the competitiveness of cluster supply chains but also to upgrading cluster supply chains through horizontal synergy within the cluster and vertical synergy in the supply chain.

Research can help accelerate the transformation and upgrading of clustered supply chains in the manufacturing industry, promote high-quality development of the manufacturing industry and accelerate the rise of the global value chain position of the manufacturing industry.

(1) Innovation of research perspective. Starting from two perspectives of horizontal synergy and vertical synergy, we take a core enterprise in the cluster supply chain as the starting point, horizontally explore the main enterprises of the cluster as the research object of horizontal synergy, vertically explore the upstream and downstream enterprises of the supply chain as the research object of vertical synergy and explore the coupling synergy of cluster supply chain as two subsystems, which provides new perspectives of evaluation of the degree of synergy and synergy evaluation. (2) Innovation of research content. Nine manufacturing clusters are selected as research samples, and through data collection and model analysis, it is verified that the evaluation model and implementation algorithm designed in this paper have strong practicability, which not only provides methodological reference for the evaluation of manufacturing cluster-type supply chain synergy but also reduces the loss caused by the instability of clusters and supply chains and then provides a theoretical basis for improving the overall performance of cluster-type supply chains.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically assess the impact of branding strategies on horizontal and downward line extensions of French luxury brands in a cross-national context (France vs USA).

This study is based on a two line extensions (horizontal/downward) × three branding strategies (direct brand/sub-brand/standalone brand) x two country (France/USA) between-subjects ANOVA design.

The study shows that the subtyping effect created by a sub-branded luxury downward line extension tends to be rated similarly to a direct branded extension which oppose previous beliefs put forward in non-luxury settings. In contrast, a new independent/standalone extension fully uses the subtyping effect which helps attenuate this risk related to luxury downward stretches. The study also found that the effect of gender in cross-national settings must always be taken into consideration as significant variations occur in the process.

The study covers two countries but should be replicated in other cross-national contexts.

This study helps marketing managers of luxury brands make a better decision when it comes to launching vertical line extensions (upscale/downward) by carefully using types of branding strategies and relevant communications whether women and/or men are targeted in cross-national contexts.

This study breaks new ground in the international luxury literature by providing key theoretical and managerial insights in terms of launching new downward line extensions with the proper use of branding strategies when targeting specific genders.

Retailers face a multitude of strategic choices, with varying levels of risk, profitability and societal impact. Sifting through these options is a daunting task. In the literature, strategies have been successfully categorized using grids and matrices. Reviews first the strategy matrix approach, especially as applied to retailing; then introduces a topology of strategic choice in retailing which provides a way to assist retailers to think and manage strategically. The topology configures strategies into four directions: internal, horizontal, vertical and migrational. Internal strategies reside at the intraorganizational level and encompass various differentiation and time strategies. Horizontal strategies are expansionary and include choices on outlet numbers, internationalization, mergers and joint ventures. Vertical strategies turn the firm towards its suppliers and include supplier acquisition and improved buyer‐supplier relations. Migrational strategies are extraterritorial and involve radical changes of direction such as changes in outlet size category, location type and outlet type. Recognizing the synergistic interactions within and between the strategic directions is an important aspect of the analysis.

Horizontal web portals fill an important place in the operation of the internet and this paper seeks to look at how these portals may become profitable. A portal is simply a gateway, and a web portal can thus be seen as a gateway to content and services on the internet, or on a corporate intranet. This paper aims to compare several different views of what constitutes a portal, and to offer a specific definition. The main focus of the paper is on general horizontal (or public) portals and the relationship between their business‐revenue models and the content they provide. This paper aims to briefly review the relevant literature before describing a revenue model consisting of players, strategies and content. This is then examined and synthesised to match various revenue models and content.

After proposing the model, the paper tests how the matches proposed between revenue and content in the model compare with two currently operating popular horizontal portals.

An examination of two popular portals (one world‐wide and one based in Australia) has provided typical examples of how the advertising/revenue can be employed by horizontal portals and shown that they appear to match fairly closely with the proposed revenue/content model. After having examined the content of these two well‐known portals, it appears at this early stage that the revenue‐content model may show some promise.

While the paper cannot claim complete generalisability of a model based on a comparison of only two horizontal portals, the results are promising and should be useful for horizontal portal managers looking for how to balance the revenue of their portal with the content that they generate and the services they offer.

When fully tested, the model will provide horizontal portal operators assistance with the process of determining suitable content for their portals to match their chosen revenue strategies.

It is believed that this model is one of the few revenue/content matching models developed for horizontal portals.

This study aims to expand the knowledge on strategy and alignment by exploring how executives and strategists can manage alignment between corporate and business strategy to leverage synergies, from a corporate strategy perspective, without limiting local responsiveness, from a business strategy perspective.

The study is characterized by privileged access and richness of data. A case study design was used to explore the results. Data include interviews, observations in workshops, material produced in workshops and personal field notes.

The study provides insights about how alignment between corporate and business strategy can be managed to balance requirements on both corporate and business strategy. To do so alignment needs be understood and managed based on its contribution to the competitiveness of the firm. In addition, alignment encompasses two dimensions: direction of alignment (which can be vertical and horizontal) and relation of alignment (which can be numerical and non-numerical). This leads to four different types of alignment.

Explorative case studies yield results less generalizable. Future research is thus encouraged to confirm or contradict the results of this study.

When formulating strategy, executives and strategists need to consider what type of alignment is appropriate for what parts and elements of the strategies (e.g. goals and activities) to gain competitive advantage. By using different types of alignment, it is possible to balance the need for both corporate synergies and business responsiveness.

This study fulfils an identified need to study what alignment between strategies on different organizational levels encompasses and the potential risks of alignment.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how Chinese immigrant businesses in Australia were able to shift from low return start-up businesses and move to more competitive business models targeting mainstream clientele. The research aims to identify the factors enabling a break-out strategy for these entrepreneurs and whether a horizontal or vertical break-out was achieved.

A qualitative research method with in-depth interviews is employed. Interviews were conducted with 55 Chinese immigrant business owners in Sydney and Canberra.

The analysis found that a break-out strategy depended on a range of business activities, including innovation, marketing, networking and personnel strategies. Importantly, the current research found that these resources have varying degrees of importance in the different stages of the transition to the new business model. Accumulating sufficient financial capital was a fundamental enabler for a break-out strategy, followed by the capacity to learn and benefit from the experience of social networks.

The current research highlights the importance of financial capital and capacity to benefit from social networks as fundamental factors in enabling a break-out strategy. The benefit of the qualitative approach in obtaining rich data needs to be offset by potential limitations on generalisability. Future research could incorporate comparison between different size businesses as well as analysing factors underpinning a failure to successfully implement a break-out.

The findings indicate that business support groups and policymakers could review access to financial capital for entrepreneurs seeking break-outs, consider improving opportunities for developing capacity to utilise heterogeneous social networks, and consider pathways for improving skills acquisition amongst immigrant entrepreneurs.

This paper contributes to the research literature on break-out strategies used by immigrant entrepreneurs by analysing, in detail, the transition steps undertaken by ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs in the shift to more competitive business models.

Examines five strategic human resource management (HRM) issues using a qualitative methodology. Two of these are related to the central organisational‐level constructs of structure and culture. The other three pertain to HR strategy, HR competencies, and HR outsourcing. The study employed the multiple‐case design method proposed by Yin, with a view to extending theory in strategic HRM research. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 35 managers (CEOs, line managers, and HR managers) of nine companies from two major industries in the manufacturing sector – electronic products and machinery/equipment. The research found that top management enlightenment and level of HR competencies together determine the role and status of the HR function in organisations, and that the companies studied pursue four types of HR strategies: informal and not communicated; informal and communicated; formal but not communicated; and formal and communicated. HR strategy was found to affect both vertical and horizontal fits of the HR function. Culture, HR strategy and HR competencies influenced organisational propensity to outsource HR activities.

Short breaks are one important segment of the overall tourism market. They provide a distinct market sector with, it appears, special competitive strategies. While the growth and value of this market sector is undisputed, little attention has been paid to the strategic nature of short break provision, or the potential of movement in strategic space. Using data gathered from personal interviews and applying the concept of strategic group clusters and strategic space, explores strategy and performance differences of companies operating in the UK short break market. Examines correlation between structural variables of market scope, company size; and sources of competitive advantage in relation to prime strategies adopted. Draws conclusions with regard to shifts in strategic space for performance enhancement, and potential future market developments.

This chapter describes the main issues in scientific literature related to industrial branding. First, we set the background focusing on industrial branding, followed by brand equity and measurement, and brand orientation in business markets. The second section relies on controversies and problems inherent in the gaps in theory and implementation of branding. The third section proposes several solutions and recommendations for academics and practitioners, followed by proposals for future research directions and conclusions. We also present a case study and several case questions arising.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between two types of open innovation (OI) strategies (OI breadth and depth) and innovation performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China. The study examines how firms’ absorptive capacity and government institutional support affect these relationships.

Survey data from 236 manufacturing SMEs in China were used to test the proposed model using hierarchical regression analysis.

The results show that both OI breadth and depth are positively related to innovation performance of SMEs. Moreover, this study finds that realized absorptive capacity serves as a mediator in the relationships between OI breadth and depth and innovation performance. The potential absorptive capacity and government institutional support moderate the relationship between OI breadth and innovation performance.

The effectiveness of OI strategies is significantly different among SMEs. One possible explanation is that SMEs adopt different types of OI strategies. Another is that a firm’s absorptive capacity and government institutional support may influence the effectiveness of OI. This study integrates these two possible reasons by investigating the effect of the interplay between different OI strategies, absorptive capacity and government institutional support on SMEs’ innovation performance. This study enriches the research on the relationships between OI strategies and innovation performance of SMEs in the Chinese context.

Examines factors such as the trend to globalisation, triggers for change such as advances in information technology (IT), changing organisation structures and adoption of business process re‐engineering using the findings of a questionnaire. Questions addressed the topics of: industrial sector, organisational strategy, structure, people, performance, and the role of IT. The key findings included: that globalisation was a real and significant force for change affecting organisation strategy, operations, and characteristics; that alternative organisation strategies lead to varying organisational success, and scope for improvement; and that evolution (rapid or slow) to a virtual enterprise is feasible for most firms.

This study seeks to further the current debate about how to systematically improve hospital performance by enhancing and balancing knowledge exploration and knowledge exploitation capabilities through the development of an electronic medical record (EMR).

The study has an interpretative, inductive perspective, based on multiple and embedded case studies. Three large size Italian hospitals that have introduced an EMR were considered. Evidence was gathered by triangulating multiple sources of evidence.

Three emergent strategies of EMR development are identified. Pros and cons of each strategy are stated and a set of propositions to be tested in further research are formulated. These results provide hospital managers and professionals with clearer guidelines about how to improve performance by implementing a tailored strategy to balance knowledge exploration and knowledge exploitation through the development of an EMR.

Most of the literature on EMRs is focused on the benefits, the barriers and the enablers of their adoption. Little is understood about how hospital managers and professionals might leverage on the EMR to ambidextrously combine knowledge exploration and knowledge exploitation, and thus increase hospital performance. The study addresses this gap and offers original insights to advance both theory and practice.

The purpose of this paper is to present the state-of-the-art in empirical research on constructive controversy in the context of business organizations and to outline strategic implications both for research and practical application.

Literature search on constructive controversy in relevant databases identified 33 empirical publications from 1980 to 2009. The paper analyzes and summarizes characteristics of the studies, methodological approaches, and empirical findings.

The literature review reveals that most studies are conducted in the industrial and service sector. Authors mostly apply a quantitative approach using interviews, experiments, and surveys. Empirical findings show that constructive controversy supports decision making, learning, interpersonal relationships, and productivity. In most cases goal interdependence is taken as independent variable.

There is a need for further consolidating the findings either by experimental verification or by field studies. A processual and longitudinal approach should be emphasized and the methodical repertory should be expanded by applying qualitative methods like observation. There is a need for expanding the scope of constructs and analyzing post-modern collaboration forms. Linking controversy to organizational processes like organizational learning would lead to a deeper understanding of innovation processes in organizations.

The implementation of the controversy procedure can support organizational processes like decision making, problem solving, learning, and innovation. This offers opportunities to expand the research field.

This article provides a systematic review on constructive controversy in the business context for the first time.

Extensions as forms of new product development strategy have been discussed to a great extent during the last decade, however, there have been limited reviews of the literature. This article reassesses the work on brand and line extensions and integrates it into a conceptual framework. The latter shows that extension and core brand evaluations are affected by consumer perceptions of fit. Moderating factors that influence the relationship between fit and consumer evaluations of the extension and the core brand are also identified. The framework is subsequently used to develop concrete research propositions to guide further research in the area.

This study suggests two new diversification strategies, i.e., tourism-related and tourism-unrelated diversifications which are specifically applicable to the hotel firms. This study aims to investigate which diversification strategy has better benefits toward firm performance. This study includes a complete set of public listed firms of the hotel industry from four Asian countries, namely, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, and Malaysia, covering from years 2001 to 2012. Revealing the advantage and disadvantage of both diversification strategies, the empirical evidence regarding its influences on hotel firm performance are investigated in this study. This study finds a nonlinear relationship between degree of diversification and firm performance. Confronting with the volatile earnings when crises strike tourism sector, this study further shows how the crises affect the relationship between tourism-related/unrelated diversification strategy and hotel firm performance.

Over the last decades, the accounting and control literature has featured much studying of and debate about the role and designing of incentives. Over the last year or so, the debate over incentives and bonuses has become a much more public one, as illustrated by the current public furor over bankers' bonuses and frequent calls to limit them and/or tax them more heavily. The public nature of the debate is new, but the emotional intensity is not; an intense emotionality has often characterized discussions of these subjects in print, as recently illustrated by a controversy between supporters and opponents of goal setting published in Academy of Management Perspectives.

This chapter tries to structure the debate by defining – and clarifying the interactions between – key components of the debate. I then review some – by no means all – of the evidence available in three streams of research: goal setting, self-determination theory, and economics. A surprisingly large number of commonalities emerge from this review. I then revisit in light of this review two accountability models I had introduced at a previous conference as well a forthcoming field study of the sophisticated approach developed by a successful multinational corporation.

This research aims to establish the role of the purchasing function’s strategic alignment in the relationship between well-established practices and performance in that function. It is argued that the strategic alignment of purchasing may have effects (direct, mediating and moderating effects) on the purchasing function’s operating performance.

The hypotheses derived from key studies about strategic and advanced purchasing practices are tested with data from 156 industrial companies using structural equation modelling methodology.

The results suggest that the effect of strategic alignment on the role of purchasing consists of mediated effects on purchasing performance through implementation of certain advanced practices. It was also concluded that strategic alignment – as well as the implementation of these advanced purchasing practices – fosters the implementation of differentiation strategies based on quality, dependability and flexibility rather than on the implementation of cost leadership strategies.

Although it is a common practice in operations management research, the use of perceptual measures obtained from a single informant constitutes a noteworthy limitation. Future research should make an effort to combine different sources of information and to identify and use more objective indicators.

Top managers should take into account the need to involve the purchasing function in the firm’s strategic planning process.

The results not only confirm findings from previous literature as to the purchasing function’s strategic relevance but also help clarify the mechanisms that make this integration important.

It is maintained that Scandinavian management is becoming a concept with substance. It may seem somewhat peculiar for a Scandinavian business consultant to continue the search for ideas and inspiration in some of the most successful companies in the USA.

The years 2011, 2012, and 2013 witnessed both significant developments and setbacks in global polio eradication efforts. On the positive side, January 13, 2012, marked a full year since India had detected a case of wild poliovirus. On the negative side, polio continued to be endemic in three countries-Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria-and in those countries the goal of eliminating polio seemed more challenging than ever. Between December 2012 and January 2013, sixteen polio workers were killed in Pakistan, and in February 2013, nine women vaccinating children against polio in Kano, Nigeria, were shot dead by gunmen suspected of belonging to a radical Islamist sect. In addition, after a 95 percent decline in polio cases in 2010, the number of cases in Nigeria rebounded in 2011. Recognizing that polio was unlikely to be eliminated in these countries in the near term, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative moved its target date for eradication from 2013 to 2018.

These setbacks sparked a debate about the appropriate strategy for global eradication of polio. Indeed, some experts believed that recent setbacks were not caused by poor management but were instead the result of epidemiological characteristics and preconditions that might render polio eradication unachievable. These experts argued that global health efforts should focus on the control or elimination of polio rather than on the eradication of the disease.

This case presents an overview of polio and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and recounts the successful effort to eradicate smallpox. The case enables a rich discussion of the current global strategy to eradicate polio, as well as the issue of whether eradication is the appropriate global public health objective. More generally, the case provides a concrete example of a particular type of global public good, namely infectious disease eradication.

After analyzing and discussing the case, students will be able to:

• Understand the nature of a global public good

• Perform a back-of-the-envelope benefit-cost analysis of polio eradication

• Discuss the appropriate strategy for eradicating an infectious disease

• Apply game theory to analyzing which countries would be likely to contribute funds toward global polio eradication

• Discuss the role of private organizations in the provision of global public goods

Understand the nature of a global public good

Perform a back-of-the-envelope benefit-cost analysis of polio eradication

Discuss the appropriate strategy for eradicating an infectious disease

Apply game theory to analyzing which countries would be likely to contribute funds toward global polio eradication

Discuss the role of private organizations in the provision of global public goods

The purpose of this study is to help governments make carbon-tax policy and help enterprises make decisions under that policy.

Based on the carbon-tax policy, with the consideration of consumers’ low-carbon preferences, this paper compares the pricing, emission reduction and advertising decisions in three different games (one centralized game and two decentralized Stackelberg games).

This paper concludes that, through centralized game, namely, cooperation game, manufacturers, retailers and consumers can reach their optimal situation. In the numerical simulation, this paper analyzes the impact of carbon-tax rate to the decisions of manufacturer and retailer, as well as their profit.

Using the Nash Bargaining Model, the introduction of the bargaining power and the degree of risk aversion of the parties, this study provides some solution for the distribution of the additional profit when they cooperate, in which way they can reach their Pareto optimality.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the problem of optimal product line design in marketing channels where consumers are heterogeneous in both horizontal and vertical dimensions.

This paper develops a model to evaluate when it is preferable for a firm to extend the product line in a vertical or horizontal direction. Consumers are modeled as being vertically heterogeneous with respect to their valuation of quality and horizontally heterogeneous with respect to their preference on the esthetic component of the product. These model characteristics allow us to consider a broader set of product line extension strategies. By considering both a vertically integrated channel and a decentralized channel, this study investigates how channel structure influences optimal product line design. The problem with supplemental numerical analyses is mathematically analyzed.

The analysis shows that a horizontal product line extension strategy that offers the customized product can be used as an alternative to a vertical product line extension strategy. If the fixed cost is not too high, offering the customized product with low quality may be preferred to the quality-based segmentation strategy. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the channel structure is influential as the preference for the horizontal product line extension strategy is more pronounced in the decentralized channel than in the centralized channel.

The analysis presented in this paper is limited by the consideration of full market coverage. Further research is needed to see how the results can be generalized to the case with partial market coverage.

The analysis suggests that a firm may consider product customization as part of its product line strategy. Information regarding market characteristics and channel structure is important when deciding on the optimal product line design.

The model reflects a more realistic marketing strategy and channel structure than previous studies that typically consider product line extension in only one direction and focus on the centralized distribution channel. Combining the standard product line extension and customization strategies also represents an important contribution to the literature. These extensions produce interesting new results and insights into a firm’s optimal product line design strategy.

Corporate strategy and family business management.

The case is designed for usage in senior-level undergraduate courses of strategic management and managing family businesses.

This case study relates the story of the launch and development of Zayed Al Hussaini Group, a family business in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The business had been established a year after the unionization of the different Emirates by the founder, Zayed Al Hussaini, in partnership with his brother. Following a series of strategic moves, such as acquisitions and divestures, and adverse family-related events, the Group was led solely by the founder himself. Over the years, Zayed Al Hussaini Group has grown to become a successful family business in various industries of its operation, but following the death of the founder's son, the company activities have been struck with chaos. Zayed's nephew, Ahmed, who had left the family business to continue his studies and work at McKinsey & Company in London, has been called back home after eight years to take the lead of the entire Group. However, he is faced with several challenges, such as dealing with the family gap he has developed over time and balancing family and business priorities. Will Ahmed be able to make the right decisions in the role and responsibilities that have been bestowed upon him?

To analyse the process of launching a family business and making strategic decisions for managing its development over time.

To assess the potential difficulties and challenges which are associated with managing a family-run organization.

To evaluate the effectiveness of decisions with regards to the company's growth and succession management planning.

To apply relevant theoretical concepts to the analysis of complex situations in the specific context of family businesses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

This paper aims to discuss the association between human resource management and performance from a process perspective, differentiating intended and implemented vertical and horizontal fit. Although researchers have examined deeply the relationship between these constructs, extant literature demonstrates inconclusive results. Previous studies have stressed the strategic importance of vertical and horizontal fit from a prescriptive view. Nevertheless, a deeper understanding, focused on management processes, is needed.

This paper reviews and integrates two streams of strategic human resources management (SHRM) literature: the fit perspective, drawing on Martín-Alcázar et al.’s (2005) model, and the system strength approach, proposed by Bowen and Ostroff (2004).

The conceptual analysis developed in this paper concludes that HRM system strength mediates the effects of an aligned strategy on performance. In this sense, the paper argues that success in implementation of the HRM strategy depends on employees’ perceptions about the system of policies and practices through which it is carried out. Additionally, organizational communication is considered as the mechanism to create a shared HRM meaning to translate to employees.

Drawing on the theoretical discussions in the paper, the following implications for HRM practice are identified: the usefulness of the system strength construct as a tool to measure employees’ perceptions and anticipate potential problems at the implementation stage, the importance of organizational communication mechanisms, the relevance of formal and informal connections between HR managers and top executives and the need for specific training to promote HR managers’ communicational skills.

This study examines the relationship between HRM and organizational performance by presenting a new model that integrates HRM strategy formulation and implementation, proposes employee perceptions concerning HRM are mediators of HRM strategy and firm performance, highlights the role of organizational communication in creating and managing shared HR messages and introduces system strength as an instrument to assess vertical and horizontal fit during implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and define the types of organizational alignment – vertical and horizontal; to examine the evidence for the alignment‐performance relationship, and propose research questions and practical implications to advance the theory and practice of managing alignment.

The study is a conceptual examination based on a thorough review of both theoretical and empirical research.

The paper finds that vertical alignment has received considerably more attention in the literature. Studies of horizontal alignment within organizations are less common. When horizontal alignment is studied, the focus tends to be dyadic – between two functional areas. The limitations posed by the dyadic approach suggest gaps in the research and opportunities for future research. As firms grow and diversify, becoming multi‐business organizations, the importance of horizontal alignment will be elevated.

Research on vertical alignment should focus on developing larger sets of moderating variables, such as the morale of the workforce, or the life cycle of the firm or industry. Research on horizontal alignment should explore multi‐point horizontal alignment.

Managers in organizations with multiple strategic business units could use the application questions in the study to assess the state of alignment in their respective units and the organization as a whole.

The paper documents existing literature on the concept of organizational alignment and identifies new opportunities to continue to build and expand the research stream. It also provides a list of application questions that may be used to assess organizational alignment in organizations.

Traditional perspectives of manufacturing strategy tend to focus internal transforming activities, including how transformed resources are handled and the relations with other value‐creating operations inside and outside the firm. Manufacturing management evolved as a discipline with little clear alignments with business strategy and firm positioning. Even manufacturing strategy is often delimited to the boundaries of the firm and its dyad relations to collaborating actors such as suppliers and distributors. This paper aims at exploring and demonstrating what a network perspective can add to the understanding of manufacturing management and strategy.

The research design is built on principal reasoning of future manufacturing strategy. Articles and conference papers together with over 25 years of field studies constitute the empirical base. An industry was chosen to demonstrate the application of the research framework of horizontal and vertical technologies.

The analysis indicates that manufacturing occurs within open‐production systems here called extraprises as an extension to enterprises with their inside the firm focus. Taking a network perspective, it is suggested that a conceptual framework of horizontal and vertical technologies offers a fruitful conceptualization to identify the content and meaning of future manufacturing strategy.

The network theory conceptualization takes the view of manufacturing systems a further step beyond systems theory and contributes a richer framework for manufacturing strategy research.

It is argued that future directions of manufacturing strategy will gain from taking a network perspective using network theory with its foundations in actors, resources, and activities.

Downward line extension is a valuable growth strategy that enables multiple products and services to meet diverse customer needs. However, downward extended products launched by high-status brands may be challenged by horizontal extended products launched by relatively low-status brands when these two types of products target similar consumers. This study aims to examine the impact of product type (horizontal extended versus downward extended) on consumers’ purchase intentions, the underlying mechanism and the moderating role of power distance belief.

Four scenario-based experiments were conducted to probe the research questions.

Consumers develop lower purchase intentions for downward (versus horizontal) extended products due to the reduction of perceived fit and self-congruity (Study 1). Beyond that, power distance belief moderates the impact of product type on consumers’ purchase intentions, as a low power distance belief reduces the negative effect of downward line extension (Studies 2a, 2b and 2c). Perceived fit and self-congruity mediate the interaction effect between product type and power distance belief on consumers’ purchase intentions (Study 2c).

This study provides marketing practitioners with guidance on implementing the strategy of downward line extension.

This study serves as a preliminary effort to compare consumers’ responses between downward and horizontal extended products, which deepens the understanding of downward line extension. It also contributes to the body of knowledge about line extension and power distance belief by demonstrating the moderating role of power distance belief in a line extension context.

The COVID-19 outbreak highlights that many supply chains are exposed to unforeseen disruptions, that risks are unavoidable, and that the international nature of supply chains can seriously disrupt normal operations. Therefore, the need for Supply Chain Resilience (SCRES) is more imperative than ever. Furthermore, collaboration in supply chains may have benefitted the response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The aim of this research is to gain a deeper understanding of how collaboration with both types of horizontal and vertical collaboration in the supply chain affects its resilience.

A thematic analysis of the literature is used to investigate the concepts of both vertical and horizontal collaboration and supply chain resilience separately, then integrating identified themes to understand the relationship between them through a thematic map.

The thematic analysis indicates that the more firms collaborate in the supply chain, the more resilient they will be. Furthermore, both horizontal and vertical collaboration between supply chain partners will enhance resilience. This relationship is positively moderated by governance in the partnership and negatively moderated by competition in the partnership.

This is one of the first papers to provide in-depth insights into how collaboration, with both types of horizontal and vertical collaboration, affects supply chain resilience. Neither of previous articles provide an understanding of how both types of collaboration enables supply chain resilience.

The paper aims to develop a supply chain-driven model horizontal logistics collaboration (HLC). HLC initiatives can fail. To improve the chance of success, a thorough consideration of the potential issues involved, such as seeking supply chain partners’ support, ensuring access to information/data security and assessing whether an HLC model could bring improvements to a wide range of supply chain metrics rather than reductions in distribution costs only, needs to be understood before deciding to proceed with such an initiative.

A two-stage methodology is deployed. As part of Stage 1, a series of 20 semi-structured interviews with senior managers from retailers, retailers’ suppliers and logistics service providers were undertaken. Subsequently, in Stage 2, a focus group with practitioners from retailers and logistics service providers was run to verify the findings gathered during Stage 1. Four elements of a new HLC project being considered are investigated by supply chain champions across the UK Fast-Moving Costumer Goods industry, namely, consideration factors, required synergies, enablers and anticipated output metrics.

When considering whether to embark on an HLC project, the supply chain requirements need to be taken into account and potential supply chain performance benefits projected. The paper identified several consideration factors; synergies and enablers that support the development of HLC projects are identified, such as legislation, trust among partners, common suppliers and delivery bases, capable third party logistics (3PL) and an effective commercial model, including a fair sharing of benefits.

The research provides new understanding in accounting for the needs of the supply chain when considering an HLC initiative involving leading players from the retail sector.

The importance of taking a supply chain approach when evaluating the feasibility of HLC is demonstrated. HLC arrangements among competing supply chains need to be designed and run by taking account of all supply chain partners, namely, suppliers, 3PLs and customers (in this case, retailers).

The contribution is threefold: identification of outset consideration factors, ideal required synergies, actioning enablers and wider supply chain metrics of HLC; development of a supply chain-driven model for HLC, which includes in the decision-making whether or not to adopt a horizontal logistics collaboration model, wide supply chain metrics such as stock levels of finished products and shelf availability, inventory, working and fixed capital, and product waste in addition to distribution costs; and, the proposal of a new definition for HLC which challenges published definitions.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect that a horizontal fit between two functions (human resources (HR) and manufacturing) has on firm performance, distinguishing between fit in objectives and fit in achievements.

This study uses 144 double surveys, addressed to two different respondents per company. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate the mediating role of fit in achievements in the relationship between fit in objectives and performance.

The study provides evidence of the particular way in which the two components of horizontal fit that the authors distinguish (fit in objectives and fit in achievements) the impact on performance: fit in objectives has an indirect effect on performance, which is fully mediated by the fit in achievements. The results also show that environmental dynamism has a significant impact on both the advantages and drawbacks of fit.

By highlighting the importance of both levels of horizontal fit and distinguishing between them, this paper calls upon HR and manufacturing managers to show a greater understanding of the key dimensions common to both areas.

This study analyses horizontal fit by developing a framework of priorities in HR management (HRM) similar to that traditionally used in production management. In particular, it adapts the framework of production competence to the area of HRM to study the fit between the two functional strategies. This study also supports the value chain model proposed by Porter (1985).

This study aims to examine the role of horizontal and vertical individualism‐collectivism in explaining conflict management styles. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 640 respondents completed the Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory‐II (ROCI‐II, Form C) designed to assess five conflict management styles and the individualism‐collectivism (I‐C) scale designed to assess the vertical and horizontal aspects of individualism‐collectivism. Findings – Correlation and regression analyses provide support for a conceptual fit between cultural dimensions and conflict management styles. Horizontal and vertical aspects of individualism‐collectivism explained 5‐20 percent of the variance in the various conflict management styles. Specifically, individuals displaying an individualist orientation (horizontal and vertical) tended to give greater importance to satisfying personal needs and preferred a dominating style, rather than an obliging or avoiding style. In contrast, collectivists (horizontal and vertical) seemed more likely to sacrifice personal needs for the sake of the group and preferred an integrating style. Further, horizontal collectivists were more likely to prefer an obliging style and vertical collectivists an avoiding style of conflict management. Research limitations/implications – Generalization is limited to college student samples from the USA. Practical implications – Organizations could provide training programs to sensitize employees to their specific cultural orientations and their preferred conflict management styles. In addition, employees could learn to switch between styles depending on the situation, issue, or relationship within which the conflict is taking place. Originality/value – Highlights the importance of sensitizing employees to their cultural orientation and preferred conflict management style; raises the possibility of training them to develop alternate styles.

Hotels are immersed in a very competitive environment and hoteliers have to plan and redesign their strategies to stay in the hospitality industry while faced with a steady rise in competition. Hoteliers can employ horizontal differentiation strategies and pricing decisions to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors. The goal of our work is to analyse the effect of pricing and horizontal differentiation strategy of a hotel on its online reputation and to analyse if the hotel location and agglomeration of competitors moderates their relationship with online reputation.

With a sample of 264 hotels from Paris, an empirical study is developed that aims to analyse, using regression techniques, the impact of price, differentiation, location and competitive environment on online ratings given by consumers in the hospitality context.

The paper provides empirical evidence of how a good location improves the online reputation of a company and how pricing strategies should take into account the location and number of competitors since a good location allows premium prices to be valued positively by consumers while an inappropriate location can produce the opposite effect. Depending on location, the number of competitors can intensify or reduce the effect of price on online reputation. Finally, online reputation only benefits from horizontal differentiation strategies when the degree of agglomeration is low.

This work provides insights about how hotels can strengthen their online reputation through pricing and differentiation strategies, incorporating elements of their environment such as location and competition in this decision-making process.

酒店處於一個競爭非常激烈的經營環境中，營運者要面對競爭日益加劇的挑戰，在這情況下，他們必須計劃並重新設計其策略，以在酒店服務業中仍能繼續其業務。營運者可採用水平分化策略和定價決策，以取得比同業更大的競爭優勢。本研究旨在分析，若酒店採用價格及水平差異之策略，這對它們的網上聲譽會起什麽效應；研究亦探討酒店所處的位置及競爭者的凝聚會否減弱其與網上聲譽的關係。

研究樣本為來自巴黎264間酒店。研究人員採用實驗研究法，透過迴歸分析法，去分析在酒店服務的背景下，價格、差異化、地點和競爭環境如何影響消費者所給予的網上評分。

本文提供了經驗性證據，證明良好的地點會改善公司的網絡聲譽； 同時，亦證明釐定價格策略時，經營者應考慮競爭者的位置和數目，這是因為良好的地點會讓消費者正面評價溢價，而不合適的地點則會導致相反的效應。根據所在的地點，消費者的數目能增強或減弱價格對網絡聲譽的影響。最後，本文也證明了網絡聲譽只會在凝聚程度低的情況下才會受惠於水平分化策略。

本研究提供啟示，使我們更明瞭酒店如何能透過價格及差異化策略，同時亦透過把它們的環境元素如地點和競爭等納入決策程序中，來強化網絡聲譽。

The purpose of this article is twofold: first, to review the literature in order to assess the opportunities and the possible welfare effects of differentiation strategies in the food market; and second, to analyse the current structure and organisation of the fresh produce market (fruit, vegetable, and salad) in the light of new product procurement, innovation, and differentiation policies carried out by retailers at the global level.

The paper used a single dyadic case study across two countries (Italy and the UK): the primary producer is engaged in “partner” supply to a principal category management intermediary for channel leading multiple retailers.

First, equilibrium in differentiated markets is not stable, and a welfare assessment is difficult. Second, a differentiation strategy in the market for fresh produce might benefit retailers more than in other sectors, which seem to be consistent with the theoretical findings. Third, when retailers engage in product differentiation it is more likely that channel relationships shift from collaborative to competitive types, with the power imbalance becoming the disciplinary means by which vertical coordination is achieved and maintained.

This article was based on a single case study.

For suppliers it could be wise to agree to some inequity as the cost of doing business, especially when smart large retailers carry out successfully competitive strategies with positive spill‐over effects on the upstream firms.

Using the industrial economic literature on the effects of differentiation strategies (horizontal and vertical differentiation) on market structure, firms' performance, and welfare effects, this paper analyses case findings from a study in the fresh produce industry and will be of interest to those within the field.

Open innovation is important for technology firms as they can use freely available resources to source creative and innovative ideas. Despite the usefulness of open innovation for technological advancements, few studies have focused on the role of cybercrime in affecting an organizations strategic direction. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of open innovation on cybercrime in technology firms.

Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted on technology firms to understand the role of open innovation in terms of technology scouting, horizontal collaboration and vertical collaboration on cybercrime activity.

The study found that there is a dilemma most technology firm’s face in having an open innovation strategy and how to manage cybercrime. This means that a coopetition strategy is utilized that helps to not only balance the need to have open innovation but also protect intellectual property.

The study has implications for emerging technology innovations that not only need to have cyber security but also harness the use of Big Data.

Managers of technology firms need to encourage open innovation as a strategy but manage the cybercrime that comes from sharing too much information in an online context.

This paper is one of the first to link open innovation strategy to cybercrime activity in technology firms. Thus, it contributes to the literature on open innovation and cyber theft and security.

This paper aims to address the following problems: What are the firms’ optimal pricing and quality policies under three scenarios (no bundling, pure bundling and mixed bundling)? In what condition will one bundling strategy dominate the others? How does the degree of complementarity affect the firms’ decision?

Using the game theory, this study first establishes three models of bundling strategies: no bundling, pure bundling and mixed bundling and then obtains the optimal prices and quality decisions. This study uses numerical analysis to explore the relationships between the prices (demands and profits) and some key parameters and to obtain some valuable management complications.

Some interesting and valuable management implications are established: regardless of the degree of complementarity, adopting a pure bundling or mixed bundling strategy is better than separately selling an individual product; a high degree of complementarity leads to reduced profit in the no bundling and mixed bundling scenarios, whereas the condition in the pure bundling strategy is the opposite; and when the degree of complementarity is adequately large, choosing pure bundling strategy is more profitable.

On the one hand, this study does not calculate the profit sharing ratio, and hence, the equilibrium profit sharing ratio can be explored in future work. On the other hand, marketing efforts (e.g. advertising and promotion) can be included in the study.

This study derives the necessary conditions for the most effective bundling strategy that maximizes firm’s profits, and these conclusions can provide a decision reference to the bundling decisions of firms.

First, the optimal bundling strategies in a horizontal supply chain consisting of two firms is considered. Under the pure and mixed bundling strategies, the two firms sell the bundled product by building a cooperative program. Second, both the pricing policies and quality decisions of supply chain members under the different bundling strategies are studied.

Despite the knowledge transfer between projects has received increasing attention from scholars, few scholars still conduct comprehensive research on inter-project knowledge transfer from both horizontal and vertical perspectives. Besides, knowledge transfer is affected by multiple antecedent conditions, and these factors should be combined for analysis. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the key factors influencing knowledge transfer between projects using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method from both horizontal and vertical perspectives and how these factors combine to improve the effectiveness of knowledge transfer (EKT) between projects.

First, nine factors affecting knowledge transfer between projects were identified, which were from the four dimensions of subject, relationship, channel, and context, namely temporary nature (TN), time urgency (TU), transmit willingness (TW), receive willingness (RW), trust (TR), project-project transfer channels (PPC), project-enterprise transfer channels (PEC), organizational atmosphere (OA), and motivation system (MS). Then, the source of the samples was determined and the data from the respondents was collected for analysis. Following the operation steps of the fsQCA method, variable calibration, single condition necessity analysis, and configuration analysis were carried out. After that, the configurations of influencing factors were obtained and the robustness test was conducted.

The results of the fsQCA method show that there are five configurations that can obtain better EKT between projects. Configuration 3 (∼TN * ∼TU * TW * RW * TR * ∼PPC * PEC * MS) has the highest consistency, indicating that it has the highest degree of the explanatory variable subset. Configuration 1 (∼TN * ∼TU * TW * RW * PEC * OA * MS) has the highest coverage, meaning that this configuration can explain most cases. Also, the five configurations were divided into three types: vertical transfer, horizontal-vertical transfer, and channel-free transfer category.

Firstly, this study explores the key factors influencing knowledge transfer between projects from four dimensions, which presents the logical chain of influencing factors more clearly. Then, this study divided the five configurations obtained into three categories according to the transfer direction: vertical, horizontal-vertical, and channel-free transfer, which gives implications to focus on both horizontal knowledge transfer (HKT) and (VKT) when studying knowledge transfer between projects. Lastly, this study helps to realize the exploration of combined improvement strategies for EKT, thereby providing meaningful recommendations for enterprises and project teams to facilitate knowledge transfer between projects.

Collaboration methods are unique strategies that can help organizations hedge against external and internal supply chain risks without stressing their relationships with supply chain partners. However, selecting the most appropriate collaboration method from a given set of strategies is a multifaceted challenge. This paper aims to address this issue.

The decision maker's dilemma of fighting data uncertainty in input parameters to check the efficacy of a given collaboration or mitigation approach is tackled by the integration of Grey theory with the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method. The proposed technique is applied and tested for an Indian diesel generator-set manufacturer to identify the most apposite set of sustainable collaboration strategies.

The results showed that when a firm is bidding for different horizontal collaboration strategies across its supply chain system technology and resource-sharing-centered collaboration strategies are the prominent option. In the case of the company's vertical collaboration deployment, the focus should be kept on information sharing to achieve impactful collaboration. The outcome of the analysis helped the Indian manufacturer to adopt transparent order and production information sharing with its regional distributors and core suppliers within its supply chain.

This study demonstrates from a methodological perspective the successful application of the Grey-TOPSIS approach that effectively captures data uncertainty. It also integrates sustainability parameters in collaboration strategy criteria selections.

To examine the evolution of health care integration strategies and associated conceptualization and practice through a review and synthesis of over 25 years of international academic research and literature.

A search of the health sciences literature was conducted using PubMed and EMBASE. A total of 114 articles were identified for inclusion and thematically analyzed using a strategy content model for systems-level integration.

Six major, inter-related shifts in integration strategies were identified: (1) from a focus on horizontal integration to an emphasis on vertical integration; (2) from acute care and institution-centered models of integration to a broader focus on community-based health and social services; (3) from economic arguments for integration to an emphasis on improving quality of care and creating value; (4) from evaluations of integration using an organizational perspective to an emerging interest in patient-centered measures; (5) from a focus on modifying organizational and environmental structures to an emphasis on changing ways of working and influencing underlying cultural attitudes and norms; and (6) from integration for all patients within defined regions to a strategic focus on integrating care for specific populations. We propose that underlying many of these shifts is a growing recognition of the value of understanding health care delivery and integration as processes situated in Complex-Adaptive Systems (CAS).

This review builds a descriptive framework against which to assess, compare, and track integration strategies over time.

In this research, the authors try to answer the question of when broad-based employee share ownership (ESO) is more likely to be used and how it can be managed more effectively from the vertical fit perspective in strategic human resource management (HRM).

The study analyzes an unbalanced panel sample of 614 organizations (1,601 organization-year data points) in South Korea, utilizing hierarchical linear modeling (HLM).

The analysis demonstrates that organizations are more likely to adopt broad-based ESO when they utilize the prospector and analyzer strategies as opposed to the defender strategy. The analysis also reveals that the relationship between broad-based ESO and labor productivity is positive only when organizations utilize the prospector strategy as opposed to other types of strategies (i.e. analyzer and defender strategies).

The findings first indicate that the decision to adopt a broad-based ESO in organizations should be informed by their business strategy if they want to enhance labor productivity. Specifically, the results demonstrate that only the prospector firms, rather than defenders or analyzers, can reap the productivity benefit of broad-based ESO. Second, since innovation is a major source of productivity for prospector firms, the findings demonstrate that a broad-based ESO can be a vehicle that drives innovation. As a result, firms may want to consider utilizing broad-based ESOs to foster innovation.

The findings emphasize the relevance of the “vertical fit” perspective in examining the broad-based ESO and firm productivity relationship. Most past research utilized the “horizontal fit” framework in refining the relationship between broad-based ESO and productivity. Thus, the study emphasizes the need to utilize the “vertical fit” perspective, and not only the “horizontal fit” perspective, in the broad-based ESO research. Through this, the study meaningfully extends the research on the productivity effect of broad-based ESO by adding an important moderator (i.e. strategy) to the model.

This work aims to examine the quality disclosure strategy of sharing economy platforms with network externality, considering consumer risk aversion.

The game theory, sensitive analysis and numerical study are used herein. The equilibria are derived from the game theory. The quality disclosure strategy is analyzed by profit comparison. To further understand the characteristics of the optimal disclosure strategy, sensitive analysis and numerical studies are conducted to detail the analytical results.

Regardless of market structure, the quality disclosure decision problem is a trade-off between information effect and cost effect. Consumer risk aversion is a factor that can incentivize low-quality platforms to disclose quality. Both consumer risk aversion and network externality influence the quality disclosure strategy through information effect. Interestingly, for different competition intensities, consumer risk aversion and network externality could lead to positive or negative information effects of removing uncertainty. The authors show that under certain conditions, consumer risk aversion and network externality could induce more quality concealment.

The quality is set exogenous herein, and the integrated process of quality investment and information disclosure is an interesting direction for future research.

This work provides managerial insights for sharing economy platforms regarding how to wisely consider consumer risk aversion and network externality when sharing quality information.

This work identifies two effects that determine quality disclosure strategy and specifies the role of each factor on quality disclosure.

The purpose of this paper is to determine how post-disaster legislation can be used to support building back better (BBB) in the horizontal infrastructure sector (roading, water, wastewater and stormwater networks).

A case study approach was taken looking at the rebuild following the Canterbury earthquakes in New Zealand. Data were collected through document analysis and semi-structured open-ended interviews with members of the organization responsible for implementing the horizontal infrastructure rebuild.

The results showed that the post-disaster legislative actions taken in Christchurch were comparable to existing findings on post-disaster legislative best practices in developed countries. This study confirmed that post-disaster legislation is an effective mechanism to support BBB through enforcing BBB concepts such as risk reduction and better implementation, and facilitating the recovery process to improve efficiency.

It is recommended that this study is extended to conduct similar case studies in other countries to further explore legislative implications in different sectors as well as different legislative environments.

This paper makes a valuable contribution to existing research on how post-disaster legislation can be used to support BBB in the horizontal infrastructure sector. The findings also add to wider knowledge on the Canterbury earthquakes recovery process.

Studies on the performance of agribusiness cooperatives in Brazil focus on economic and financial aspects. The purpose of this paper is to further delve into such studies by investigating which commonly measurable structural production factors (horizontal, vertical and lateral diversification; operating area; number of associates; and time in operation) have greater impacts on the financial performance of such cooperatives.

To achieve such a goal, a survey was conducted with a sampling pool divided by size (annual net revenues of US$ 50 million or higher), and the questionnaire was employed as a method of data collection. The sample was concentrated in the southern, south-eastern and mid-western regions of Brazil; classified by size; and deemed adequate after several adequacy tests.

The results were analysed using Spearman’s correlation, which showed that there were no significant correlations between the structural production factors considered in this study and the economic-financial performance of agricultural cooperatives, which leads to questions about the effectiveness of employing diversification strategies with a conjoint approach. Nonetheless, it was possible to identify several relationships not mentioned in the original hypotheses that might be addressed further in future studies.

The data obtained should be interpreted with caution because heteroscedasticity was detected. Although the cause could not be clearly identified, the presence of heteroscedasticity could mean that smaller and similar cooperatives present similar variation in their diversification and production base strategies.

This work sought to generate knowledge regarding operations management, which was achieved by demonstrating that production diversification in a dynamic and relevant economic sector, that is, agricultural cooperatives, is limited in terms of financial return when performed in an isolated mode. Hence, cooperatives’ production managers should take into account the totality of structural production factors during their planning activities.

The reality of today’s business world is based both on cooperation and competition, or coopetition. There is, however, a lot of diversity within the field of coopetition research, and the research within this field is moreover only at an emerging stage. The purpose of this study is to explore the nature of coopetition by recognizing actor and operational levels of coopetition. The nature of the paper is conceptual. The findings of the paper show that most of the previous research about coopetition has been on an interfirm level – that is, related to cooperation between companies. Further, it is possible to argue that the studies have mostly focused on cooperation between competitors. In the majority of the existing studies, coopetition is treated as a strategy, and not as something natural. The theoretical contribution of this paper is that it gives scholars within the area of coopetition a broad theoretical background, which is useful for future research. From a managerial perspective, the findings demonstrate the multifaceted nature of coopetition.

Many research studies in operations management (OM) and strategic management (SM) investigate how different kinds of firm decisions regarding business relationships can positively affect a firm's operations performance, resource endowment, and competitive position. Very few studies exist, however, that have attempted to illuminate the actual behaviors of managers when making strategic decisions about their intercompany relationships; rather, most existing studies focus on normative theory. The purpose of this paper is to explore linkages between the “set” of strategic objectives that managers are willing to pursue, the “set” of networking decisions they make, and the “set” of business agreements they sign.

In order to investigate and explore actual managerial behaviors with respect to networking strategy, the study adopts a field research approach based on multiple case studies. Data were collected on 13 business agreements from three manufacturing firms in the mechatronics industry in Italy. Within‐case and cross‐case analyses are used for theory‐building purposes.

The empirical data allow identification four different archetypes of networking strategy. The archetypes capture different connections between the “set” of strategic objectives that managers are willing to pursue, the “set” of networking decisions that they consider, and the “set” of strategic agreements that they actually adopt. Specifically, the identified archetypes are named multi‐alignment, multi‐agreement (diversification), multi‐objective, and mono‐alignment (focus), and these are related to different association multiplicities among objectives, decisions, and agreements. The implications related to these archetypes are three‐fold. First, the multi‐alignment archetype suggests a focus not just on one kind of agreement, but also on the firm's overall portfolio of agreements, in order to facilitate understanding of how different kinds of agreements and networking decisions can play a complementary role in achieving a firm's predetermined business objective/s. Second, the multi‐agreement (diversification) archetype suggests that managers can minimize the risk of losing the potentiality of network collaboration by undertaking different kinds of agreements for the same strategic objective. Third, the mono‐alignment (focus) and multi‐objective archetypes suggest that just one agreement can potentially pursue one or multiple strategic objectives, and thus can allow managers to minimize the cost of managing several networking relationships.

The originality of this study lies in its exploration of linkages between objectives, decisions and networking agreements. Unlike most of the existing papers in OM and SM, however, it does not specifically focus on: vertical or horizontal relationships; operations performance (positioning school) or resource endowment (resource‐based view) strategic objectives; or any specific kind of agreement contract (outsourcing, alliance, joint venture, etc.). This paper presents four different networking strategy archetypes that represent different ways of matching a “set” of networking decisions, strategic objectives and business agreements. These are not related to either vertical or horizontal relationships, operations performance or resource endowment objectives, or any specific contract agreement form.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of acquisition and organic growth on the operating efficiency and total factor productivity change of retailing networks.

The assessment uses low-frequency data of newly opened stores and acquired stores of a large supermarket (S/M) network in Athens, for a period (financial year 2014) where the network began to refocus on its organic growth after a two-year period of deep recession (financial years 2012–2013). To evaluate the performance effects of both strategies, the authors employ the innovative benchmarking tool of bootstrap data envelopment analysis (DEA) for measuring operational efficiency and the Malmquist productivity index DEA approach for measuring productivity change over time.

The short-run evidence indicates that compared to organic growth, acquisitions lead to lower operating efficiency. However, this difference gradually converges over time as acquired stores show a higher rate of productivity compared to newly opened stores. The authors interpret this as a result of the smooth integration of the acquired chain store into the organizational structure of the existing store network given their significant similarities in terms of products and customers.

The authors inform managers of store chains that during the process of organic growth, a general improvement in efficiency takes place while in the case of acquisitions, the required post-acquisition streamlining actions cause a short delay on the realization of efficiency gains. Therefore, managers should not take it for granted that acquisitions cause a long-term decrease in efficiency.

The study contributes to the literature on growth strategies and retailing performance in general, by offering new evidence regarding the comparative effect of the horizontal growth modes on the efficiency of store chains.