The purpose of the study is to examine the interaction between the structure of the top management team, takeover defense mechanisms and firms rate of collective actions.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to examine the interaction between the structure of the top management team, takeover defense mechanisms and firms rate of collective actions.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses elements of agency theory, prospect theory and competitive dynamics research to develop a model for examining heterogeneity in the rate of collective actions among firms in the technology sector. A sample of 299 firm-year observations arrayed into panel regression analyses is used.
Findings
The findings from this study show a positive relationship between the size of the top management team and the count of collective actions when takeover defense mechanisms are present. Further this study finds a negative relationship between top management team ownership and collective actions when these same takeover defense mechanisms are present. Additionally, the female ratio of the top management team is negatively related to collective actions.
Research limitations/implications
This study was conducted using a sample of technological firms. These relationships may not be generalizable to firms in other contexts. Further, other elements of the firm’s governance structure (i.e. board of directors or shareholders) may play an important role in the strategic decision-making process.
Originality/value
This study expands on existing research by linking several blocks of literature, top management team literature, competitive dynamics literature and corporate governance literature, into a model to examine firm structural characteristics on the heterogeneity in the propensity to formulate collective actions among firms.
Details
Keywords
Richard Walton and Mark A. Tribbitt
This study moves beyond existing research on gender diversity to define a new construct – gender power. The study examines gender power within the top management team (TMT) and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study moves beyond existing research on gender diversity to define a new construct – gender power. The study examines gender power within the top management team (TMT) and its relationship to firm performance and firm risk.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilizes a cross-disciplinary combination of upper echelons theory and finance theory as a framework to further examine the impact of gender power within the TMT and its impact on firm risk and firm performance. Employing data collected for 2,570 American publicly traded small-, medium- and large-cap firms over a 20-year period, panel regression analyses were conducted for measures of firm risk and firm performance, beta and return on assets (ROA), respectively.
Findings
This study shows that gender diversity and gender power are two distinct constructs with different effects. The findings from this study suggest that gender power may be a stronger predictor of the relationship between firm performance and firm risk than simply gender diversity alone.
Research limitations/implications
This study was conducted based on a sample of publicly traded firms. These relationships may not be generalizable to firms in other contexts. Further, other variables representing firm performance and firm risk may add to this research.
Practical implications
Understanding the differences between gender diversity and gender power may allow firms to make more informed decisions when adding female executives to their TMTs.
Originality/value
This study proposes an objective representational indicator of structural power to measure the relative power of female executives of public companies that allows the expansion of existing research examining the distinction between gender diversity and gender power and their relationship to firm risk and firm performance.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between board dependence, antitakeover provisions and their influence on corporate entrepreneurship (CE).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between board dependence, antitakeover provisions and their influence on corporate entrepreneurship (CE).
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses agency theory as a framework to expand on the board dependence–CE relationship by injecting the moderating role of antitakeover provisions to the model. Using data collected from 350 publicly traded firms, a panel regression analyses was conducted on both innovation and venturing components of CE.
Findings
The findings of this study show a negative relationship between board dependence and CE. Further this study shows that such a negative relationship becomes weaker when higher levels of antitakeover provisions are injected into the model.
Research limitations/implications
This study was conducted using a sample of large publicly traded firms within the information and manufacturing sectors, and so our findings may not be generalizable to firms in other contexts. Further, other variables representing CE (e.g. new product introductions) may add to this line of research in the future.
Practical implications
Understanding the role of board of directors within a firm may help foster CE throughout the organization.
Originality/value
This study expands on existing research by incorporating the influence of environmental factors (e.g. antitakeover provisions) and examining the relationship between corporate governance and CE using both measures of innovation and venturing.
Details
Keywords
Lee J. Zane and Mark A. Tribbitt
Intellectual capital (IC) is essential to the success of new technology-based firms. However, young firms only possess some of the resources and capabilities needed to develop…
Abstract
Purpose
Intellectual capital (IC) is essential to the success of new technology-based firms. However, young firms only possess some of the resources and capabilities needed to develop, produce and market their innovative products and services. Hence, many form alliances to access complementary resources. This paper investigates the signaling effect of technology-based start-ups’ stock of IC on alliance formation.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyzes primary data concerning specific classes of IC and the alliances formed. Data were collected from founders of 233 technology-based new ventures in the USA. Hypotheses were tested via hierarchical linear regression.
Findings
This study demonstrates that firms' IC, in the form of founders with doctorates and patents, is positively related to the classes of alliances formed. These stocks of IC send signals about credibility to the market for alliance partners, enabling the firms to form alliances and gain access to complementary resources. The number of founders with doctorates was positively related to R&D alliances and alliance partners in a similar place in the value chain as the focal firm. In contrast, the number of patents was positively related to total alliances, production-oriented alliances and alliances considered upstream from the focal firm.
Originality/value
This paper collects retrospective data from founders of technology-based new ventures. The research contributes to the literature with its results that founder human capital and patent portfolios are essential for technology-based firms' innovation and growth. However, little research has investigated how firms' possession of IC facilitates alliance formation. This paper investigates this connection explicitly.
Details
Keywords
Ruihan Zhang and Bing Sun
The purpose of this paper is to determine how high-tech firms should choose between independent research and development and technology introduction as well as to ascertain the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine how high-tech firms should choose between independent research and development and technology introduction as well as to ascertain the effects of the three elements of competitive dynamics on the evolution of innovative behavior-based decisions and competitive results.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper describes the construction of an evolutionary game model and a multi-agent-based model of innovative behavior-based decisions by heterogeneous high-tech firms. The models are used to analyze the evolution path and evolutionarily stable strategy of innovative behavior-based decisions. In addition, multi-agent-based simulation is used to gain insight into the effects of competitive dynamics on the dynamic evolution of innovative behavior-based decisions.
Findings
This paper reveals four evolutionary equilibrium states of the innovation behavior-based decisions of high-tech firms. Based on the findings, these overall evolutionary trends are not affected by the timing of competitive market entry or the intensity of competition. In addition, simulated evidence is added that the timing of competitive market entry is an important factor affecting market-leading innovative strategies and dynamic competition results, and competition intensity is closely related to the evolutionary speed of innovation behavior-based decisions.
Originality/value
The key contribution of this paper is its new view of innovative behavior-based decisions from a competitive dynamics perspective. The new competitive dynamics-based framework for innovative behavior-based decisions of high-tech firms proposed in the paper can resolve the problem of obtaining a sustainable competitive advantage for high-tech firms in a competitive dynamics context.
Details
Keywords
Hui Qi, Xiaotao Yao and Weiguo Fan
The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of a competitive action and its impact on the response of rivals in the digital market. Specifically, this paper introduces the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of a competitive action and its impact on the response of rivals in the digital market. Specifically, this paper introduces the concept of action complexity and action variation to delineate the configuration characteristics of each digital competitive action and empirically investigates how these action characteristics further affect rivals’ response speed.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses structural content analysis methods to code competitive actions based on the news of Chinese online travel agencies (OTAs) from 2010 to 2015. The cox proportional hazards regression models are employed to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results indicate that action complexity of the focal firm is negatively associated with rivals’ response speed as it constrains their interpretation (awareness), motivation and capability to respond, while action variation of the focal firm is positively associated with rivals’ response speed as it enhances their attention (awareness) and motivation to respond. Furthermore, the negative relationship between action complexity and response speed is weaker when action variation is high.
Originality/value
Further to advancing competitive dynamics theory, this paper proposes an action-configuration perspective to explore the particular content and quality of each digital competitive action. The discussion of competitive rivalry between OTAs also enriches the application of competitive dynamics in the digital market. Meanwhile, this paper further clarifies the decision-making process of rivalry drawing on the awareness–motivation–capability (AMC) framework.