Chao-Hung Wang and Kuan-Liang Chen
Guanxi, an invisible aspect of many levels of interaction in economic life, has increased in importance in recent years; however, this subject has been underappreciated in…
Abstract
Purpose
Guanxi, an invisible aspect of many levels of interaction in economic life, has increased in importance in recent years; however, this subject has been underappreciated in high-tech industries. High-tech firms can choose to use guanxi with their partners as a key component of their competitive advantage or to view guanxi as necessary evil that is required to complete business exchanges. This paper aims to evaluate how guanxi contributes to or impedes a high-tech firm’s innovation performance.
Design/methodology/approach
This study proposes and tests a nonlinear model that explores the positive and negative impact of guanxi on the innovation performance using a sample of 184 high-tech firms located in Taiwan Science Park.
Findings
In contrast to the mainstream of findings in the previous literature, the authors find that guanxi is a competitive advantage in constructing new business networks; however, additional increase of guanxi may even decrease innovation performance. This view opens up new research avenues in the context of high-tech industries and suggests directions for future research and practice.
Research limitations/implications
Academics and practitioners know little about the unfavorable aspects of this variable. Future studies might develop specific measurement scales that capture the negative side of strong guanxi. Beyond the positive side of variables that have been amply studied, such as affection and kindness, other interesting negative side of variables that may be considered in future studies are blood (Tsang, 1998), extortion (Dunfee and Warren, 2001) and favoritism (Hwang et al., 2009).
Originality/value
The authors contribute to the research on guanxi and innovation performance, in that this study extends guanxi literature beyond the intuitive conclusion that innovation performance can be significantly enhanced in Asian countries’ business networks by leveraging guanxi as competitive advantage, and further demonstrating when and how guanxi can be harmful for high-tech firms’ innovation performance.
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David Norris and Malgorzata Ciesielska
The innovation orientation theory has emerged within the literature in the last 40 years particular within the development of other strategic orientations, but the bulk of seminal…
Abstract
Purpose
The innovation orientation theory has emerged within the literature in the last 40 years particular within the development of other strategic orientations, but the bulk of seminal literature in the area has been developed in the past 11 years. The purpose of this paper is to revisit the concept innovation orientation in the light of recent research.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a systematic review of this literature, covering 74 scholarly articles published between 1982 and 2017.
Findings
Innovation orientation is a sub-construct positioned within the wider field of innovation and relates to an innovation-based strategic orientation, where orientation is used to describe the overall dominant approach that represents an organisation’s competitive posture and strategic focus. It is a multifaceted construct that includes a range of core common variables innovation culture, competition-based understanding, organisational flexibility and specific capital and knowledge capabilities and is particular relevant for that managers and executives to understand how to manage innovation at the firm level. Literature also reports links between innovation orientation and organisational performance.
Originality/value
On the basis of these analyses, a comprehensive innovation orientation framework is developed including key antecedents and key outcomes in terms of performance enhancement and capabilities development. Suggestions for future research are also presented.
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Benjamin Asare, Dorcas Nuertey and Emmanuel Poku
Innovation has become extremely important, especially concerning manufacturing firms, as it is known to foster robust and healthy competition. The study aims to examine the effect…
Abstract
Purpose
Innovation has become extremely important, especially concerning manufacturing firms, as it is known to foster robust and healthy competition. The study aims to examine the effect of innovation orientation and supply chain integration on structural flexibility and strategic business performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the quantitative approach, 315 questionnaires were distributed to manufacturing firms in three cities (Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi) in Ghana out of which 305 usable responses were retrieved. The partial least square structural equation modeling technique and the statistical package for social sciences software version 27 were used for the data analysis.
Findings
The findings showed that supply chain integration and innovation orientation have a strong beneficial association. A substantial favorable association between structural flexibility and supply chain integration was found in the study once more. What is more, the research revealed a strong positive relationship between supply chain integration and strategic business performance. Furthermore, the study found a strong relation between innovation orientation and strategic business performance.
Originality/value
The research paper adds to the body of knowledge by examining how supply chain integration affects the relationship between innovation orientation, structural flexibility and strategic business performance.