The resource-based view (RBV) of competitive strategy emphasises the importance of unique firm resources and associated capabilities to the formulation of competitive strategy. This cross-sectional study seeks to determine whether or not the pattern of usage of competitive methods related to marketing, information technology and flexibility in the Portuguese service sector aligns with the resource-based view. Fifteen service-related competitive methods are identified. Surveyed firms were asked to indicate the degree of relevance of these competitive methods to their competitive strategy. Exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling indicates that these methods represent four underlying strategy dimensions that reflect some of the dynamic capabilities suggested by the resource-based view. In addition, cluster analysis revealed that each of the responding firms could be classified into one of three capability orientations. Some implications of these findings for strategy development in the Portuguese service sector are discussed. Limitations of the study and areas for future research are also presented.

This study sought to examine strategic entrepreneurship and issues surrounding this type of activity in a public sector context. The concept of strategic entrepreneurship has received increasing attention in recent years; however, limited studies have focused on strategic entrepreneurship as a distinct construct in public sector context. Consequently, the objective of this study was to address the question of “What is the nature and scope of strategic entrepreneurship in the context of South Africa’s SOEs” through examination of theory and practice. The research question is addressed by first developing a revised framework of strategic entrepreneurship from literature on entrepreneurship, strategy, and public sector context. This revised framework is then examined on activity which is entrepreneurial and strategic within four SOEs operating South Africa as at 2011. Transcripts from a series of interviews, and publicly available documents are analysed thematically. The study identified additional supporting and external factors of strategic entrepreneurship which form a revised conceptual framework of strategic entrepreneurship. The study showed core, supporting, and the external environment elements of strategic entrepreneurship contribute to the increased level of entrepreneurial activity in the public sector context, in particular state-owned enterprises. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Inefficient processes for innovation implementation can prevent owners of small and medium-sized enterprises from realizing goals and growth potential. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that managers of small and medium-sized enterprises use to implement innovation in their organizations to improve performance. The population for this study consisted of 5 managers from 4 small and medium-sized enterprises operating in Dubai. The resource-based view theory was the conceptual framework of this study. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and review of companies' documents. Data were analyzed using Yin's 5-step process. After transcribing the interviews and coding the resulting transcripts, the key themes that emerged included: the role of the top management in cultivating an innovative culture, the identification of ideas as the starting points for innovation, and the recognition of customers as resources for the company. Managers of small and medium-sized enterprises might benefit from the results of this study by implementing the recommendations and strategies to improve performance. Implications for social change include the potential to create employment opportunities and improve the living conditions of the employees in Dubai through economic growth.

Firms lose strategic business opportunities to create sustainable growth because leaders do not establish talent pipelines. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies used by the leaders of Saudi firms to develop talent pipelines. The conceptual framework for this study was the resource-based view. The overarching question that guided this study explored strategies business leaders in small and medium-sized enterprises in Saudi Arabia used to establish talent pipelines to create sustainable growth. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 8 business leaders of 4 firms operating in western Saudi Arabia and a review of company documents. The business leaders had successful experience and knowledge in talent and performance management. Data were analyzed using inductive and deductive content analysis. The results revealed 4 strategies business leaders in small and medium-sized enterprises in Saudi Arabia used: hiring the right people, establishing a performance management system, differentiating employees based on performance, and implementing employee retention strategies. The implications of this study for positive social change include reducing unemployment rates among Saudi nationals, growing Saudi workers' capabilities, and increasing Saudi families' standard of living.

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This dissertation uses the logic embodied in Strategic Fit Theory, the Natural Resource-Based View of the Firm (NRBV), strategic human resource management, and other relevant literature streams to empirically demonstrate how the environmental orientation of a firm's strategy impacts their environmental performance and resultant financial performance through the firm's Information Technology hiring practices. Specifically, it was hypothesized that firms with a strong relationship between the environmental orientation of their strategy and their green computing hiring practices will achieve higher environmental performance, and, as a result, higher levels of financial performance than firms lacking such fit. The organization's environmental orientation was measured via content analysis of the annual report texts (ARTs). Environmental performance was measured using KLD's award-winning environmental performance metrics. I triangulated across efficiency, effectiveness, and market-based metrics to capture a more holistic measure of the firm's financial performance using data from Compustat/Research Insight. The firm's green computing hiring practices were measured utilizing a web content data mining application that pulled job ads for computing graduates and then extracted the environmentally-oriented skills identified in such ads using content analytic techniques. Various control variables were employed to eliminate possible alternative explanations of my research findings. A number of statistical and analytical techniques were used to assess the nature and strength of the relationships in my theoretical model as are articulated in the proposed hypotheses. The sample size of firms is fairly large, thus increasing the statistical power of the empirical tests. Previous empirical testing of the relationship between environmental strategy and financial performance is still in the developmental stages and has produced mixed results, partly because important intervening mechanisms, such as green computing hiring practices, has not received adequate attention in the empirical literature. The combination of using a large sample of real world firms, a powerful combination of qualitative and quantitative methodological techniques to tap into key trace evidence not available through other methodological techniques, and leveraging an award-winning environmental data set has enhanced the robustness of the empirical findings in addressing this important gap in the literature. The results of the analyses show that there is a strong relationship between an organization's environmental posturing and its environmental performance. Additionally, this effect is mediated by the organization's environmental hiring practices, indicating that implementing the organization's environmental strategy through its hiring practices is important in achieving improved environmental performance. The current research also shows that there is a strong and positive relationship between an organization's environmental performance and financial performance. Surprisingly, these relationships are not significantly impacted by the organization's industry affiliation, which broadens the generalizability of the results of this study.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between AI patents owned by companies, company earnings, industry type, and company size. The research question guiding the study was: How do AI patents owned by companies affect their earnings, and do these effects differ across industries and company sizes? Three hypotheses were developed to explore this question: 1. AI patents owned by companies have a positive effect on company earnings. 2. Patenting contributes more to a company’s earnings in high-tech industries than in low- tech industries. 3. The effect of owned patents on earnings is less pronounced the larger a company is. Using a quantitative approach, the researchers employed multiple linear regression analysis on a sample of companies across various industries and sizes. Data was collected from public databases, including patent records and financial statements. The analysis led to the following conclusions regarding the three initial hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: The findings indicate a positive but statistically insignificant relationship between AI patents and company earnings, suggesting that there may be a positive effect, but the analysis could not establish this relationship with statistical certainty. Hypothesis 2: The study did not find enough evidence to support or reject the hypothesis that patenting contributes more to earnings in high-tech industries than in low-tech industries. This may be due to limitations in the dataset or the analysis approach employed. Hypothesis 3: The influence of company size on the relationship between patents and earnings remains inconclusive. Although the results showed a positive relationship between the number of employees and earnings, the analysis did not provide sufficient evidence to determine the interaction effect between company size and patent ownership. These inconclusive findings suggest that further research is necessary to better understand the relationship between AI patents, company earnings, industry type, and company size. Future studies could address the limitations of this study by incorporating more granular data on different industries, conducting industry-specific analyses, and employing alternative statistical methods or longitudinal data. This would help to enhance our understanding of the complex relationships between these factors and provide more actionable insights for businesses, investors, academics, and policymakers.

Among ongoing concerns for firms is the need to remain relevant and competitive. To address these concerns, firms often turn to technology to meet rapidly changing consumer demands, to provide differentiated offerings and to increase firm efficiency and productivity. Thus, the decision-making process that leads to the adoption of new technology is of great importance to marketers. Grounded in the resource-based view of the firm, this dissertation examines absorptive capacity and technological opportunism as firm dynamic capabilities and their role in delivering successful, firm-level technology adoption decisions. This research also examines the moderating role of internal micro-politics on the technology adoption process. With a qualitative and quantitative approach, this dissertation develops and tests an empirical model of the firm-level adoption decision process and its outcomes. Theoretical and empirical evidence provided by this research offers insights into the firm-level technology adoption process that should be of value to both researchers and practitioners. Analyses show that firm absorptive capacity and technological opportunism are instrumental in shaping the firm’s perceptions of a transformational technology, which in turn positively influences overall satisfaction with the adopted technology. In contrast to theoretical support, results also show that the positive relationship between a firm’s dynamic capabilities and its perceptions of a technology’s characteristics is negatively influenced by the presence of micro-political strategies used to garner internal buy-in and support for the technology adoption decision. These findings indicate marketers of technology should utilize this knowledge to guide client firms through the technology adoption process based on evaluations of the client firm’s level of dynamic capabilities and micro-political environment. Further, managers seeking to enhance product or service offerings through technology adoption should seek to develop their dynamic capabilities that inform adoption decisions. Additionally, managers should carefully manage stakeholder relationships to minimize any negative influence micro-political strategies may have on the decision-making process. Study limitations and areas of future research are also discussed.

Background and problem: Due to disruptions in the business environment, the importance of organizational resilience has become increasingly important. The availability of resources and the strategic management of these resources are important for maintaining organizational resilience. This study contributes to the literature by addressing the strategic management of organizational resilience in SMEs and how they maintain resilience, since the SMEs’perspective has not been adequately researched in prior literature. The study is also of practical importance given SMEs’ prominent contribution to the economy. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how SMEs employ strategies to maintain organizational resilience, including how they deploy their resources and capabilities to maintain organizational resilience. To do this, disruptive events faced by SMEs are also explored. Method: The study adopts a qualitative multiple case study method. Primary data has been collected through interviews, with the chief executive officer of seven SMEs operating in Sweden. Conclusion: The empirical findings reveal strategies that SMEs adopt for maintaining organizational resilience. Categorizing these strategies into resource-based strategies and capability-based strategies reveals how SMEs, which are often limited in resources, focus on developing dynamic capabilities to maintain organizational resilience. The finding also shows that the strategies employed can be proactive and emergent, where these either work separately or combined in a process where proactive strategies can support the emergent strategies.

While good facilities and resources are assumed to affect the quality of teaching and school performance, findings of the growing body of research about resources and school performance remain obscure and highly contested. A central question in effective schooling research is to what extent do resources translate into school performance particularly in impoverished communities of the developing countries. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between school-level financial, physical, and human resources on school performance as measured by aggregated UCE exam scores in 63 secondary schools. This study is grounded in the strategic theoretical perspective of Resource-Based View (RBV), which suggests that specific resources and capabilities can lead to superior performance. The findings of this study are mixed. While some results of this study indicated that the three kinds of resources (i.e. financial, physical, and human) contributed to school performance of secondary schools in Mukono Uganda, particular kinds of resources contributed more on school performance than others and the size of their effect differed widely. The researcher argues that if educators and policy makers can identify the critical resources that best contribute to student learning, then schools could be encouraged to invest in, nurture, and maintain these particular resources. This strategic focus would allow schools, especially in developing countries, to more efficiently and effectively use their current meager resources to maximize benefits to students.