Title:                                   Swedish companies and Russia just changed their                                            relationship status to “It is complicated” ­- A multi-case study about how Swedish B2B companies change commitments towards the turbulent Russian market to remain resilient                     Authors:                             Hannes von Dahn & Viktor Jakobsson   Supervisor:                        Niklas Åkerman   Examiner:                           Susanne Sandberg   Course:                              Business Administration III - Degree Project with specialization in International Business (Bachelor)   Problem:                            The sanctions against Russia and the decline of the oil price have created a complex situation. As a result of this the Swedish export dropped with 50% in just one year. This calls for research concerning how Swedish companies, changes their commitments in order to remain resilient on the turbulent Russian market.   Purpose:                             This study intends to study how Swedish B2B companies change their commitments concerning tangible resources, intangible resources and operation mode, to remain resilient in the Russian market.   Research Question:            How do Swedish B2B companies change commitments to remain resilient in the turbulent Russian market?   Methodology:                    This is a qualitative study, which is following a deductive approach. The research is a multi-case study consisting of four case companies.   Conclusion:                        Swedish B2B companies change their commitments to remain resilient in the turbulent Russian market. The result of this study shows that intangible commitments are both increased and decreased. Tangible commitments meanwhile, are decreased or put on hold, while changes concerning operation modes required less uncertain futures before being conducted.

The resource-based view of the firm (RBV) is one the most important areas of research content to emerge in the field of strategic management in the last 15 years. The RBV is prescriptive. That is, the RBV prescribes that competitive advantage stems from those resources that are valuable, rare, inimitable, and nonsubstitutable (VRIN). With rare exception, resources that meet the VRIN criteria are widely purported to be intangible in nature. From a research perspective, the RBV stream tends to be dominated by conceptual discussions and advancements. However, empirical tests of the core premises, or the main prescription, of the theory are argued to be very limited in quantity. To add to the body of empirical research that seeks to verify the main prescription of the RBV, this research undertakes a new and different level of analysis, one that has not been previously tested. Given that firms compete with both tangible and intangible resources, the present study is interested in determining if, as the RBV implicitly prescribes, resources that are intangible in nature are more important determinants of firm success than tangible resources. Although the research question is basic and fundamental, it has rarely been appropriately or adequately tested within the RBV stream, as is demonstrated by this thesis. To carry out the research, this study offers a conceptual model of the firm’s resource pool that includes tangible assets (financial and physical assets), intangible assets (intellectual property assets, organizational assets, reputational assets), and capabilities. A series of hypotheses are posited to explore the proposition that intangible resources contribute more greatly to firm success, on the dimensions of sales turnover, market share, and profitability, than tangible resources. / A field survey, administered to 2000 manufacturing and services businesses operating in Australia, is used to gather the data. Of the 2000 surveys sent, the hypotheses are empirically tested using multiple hierarchical regression analysis on a final sample of 291 firms. Control variables include firm age and Porter’s five forces of industry structure. Based on the results, verification of the RBV’s main prescription can not be supported unequivocally. Intellectual property assets, for example, do not have a statistically significant association with firm success, after accounting for the effects of tangible resources and the control variables. Organizational assets, however, not only explain additionally significant variation in firm success, after accounting for the effects of tangible resources and the control variables, but make among the greatest, unique contribution to firm success based on the size of the beta coefficients. Reputational assets offer additional explanatory power to predicting firm success after accounting for the effects of tangible assets and the control variables, but only with respect to one measure of firm success does its beta coefficient make a larger, unique contribution than financial assets. Lastly, contrary to theory, capabilities are not the single most important determinant of firm success, after accounting for the effects of intangible assets, and tangible and intangible assets, in two separate hierarchical regression equations. This finding is surprising and explanations are provided. Overall, the study raises some questions with respect to just which resources are the most important determinants of a firm’s market and financial success and offers a fruitful avenue for further research.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:31:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Francisval de Melo Carvalho.pdf: 542975 bytes, checksum: 26d2e1378b10c0d57496ee218d44626e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-03-11 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / RBV advocates that resources and competencies be distributed heterogeneously among firms of a determined industry, therefore, being the main cause of the variation observed in the performance of companies. When these resources are rare, valuable or difficult to be imitated and the firm disposes of an adequate organizational structure to explore them, they have the potential to promote the superior and persistent performance of the company. By using the model adapted from Villalonga(2004), the present paper had as its initial objective to evaluate if the superior and persistent performance of the firms have any relationship to the intangibility of its resources. Also verified in the following stage, was if the superior and persistent performance of the companies was influenced by the variation of the tangibility of its resources. The companies performance was measured by the specific profit of the firm (LEF), calculated by the difference between the return on assets (ROA) of the firm and the average value of ROA of the sector of the economy of which the company is part of. Superior performance indicated that the firm presented LEF above the average of the sector and persistent performance signaled that the superior performance was maintained in the long run. The intangibility of resources was measured by the Q of Tobin and the tangibility by the PL variation. The sample was composed of open capital brazilian companies, whose stocks were listed in the BOVESPA and by information accessed through Economática® Consultoria s database. The statistic techniques that were used were multivariable regressions using the Minimal Ordinary Squares (MQO) method, analysis of statistic panels with estimates nonvariable effects (EF) and random effects (EA) and dynamic panel with estimates by the Generalized Moments method (GMM). The main results found suggests that for the brazilian reality, the intangibility of resources is a factor that contributes to the above average performance of the firms, however, this influence is perceptible in a positive and significant way in few sectors of the economy. Even though contributing to superior performance, the intangibility of the assets, didn t reveal itself as a sustainable competitive advantage, due to the observation that these resources didn t contribute to the persistence of superior performance of the firms, differing therefore, from the results obtained in other studies. Static evidence exists that the variation of tangible resources has importance to explain the above average performance of brazilian firms, however, a very variable influence is perceived among the sectors of the economy. Besides contributing to a superior performance, the tangibility of resources can be considered as a competitive sustainable advantage, having contributed in a significant manner to superior performance sustainability of the firms of diverse sectors of the economy. / Preconiza a RBV que os recursos e competências são distribuídos de forma heterogênea entre as firmas de determinada indústria, sendo, portanto, a principal causa da variação observada no desempenho das empresas. Quando esses recursos são raros, valorosos e difíceis de serem imitados e a firma dispõe de uma estrutura organizacional adequada para explorá-los, eles têm o potencial de promover o desempenho superior e persistente da empresa. Utilizando o modelo adaptado de Villalonga (2004), a presente pesquisa foi realizada com o objetivo inicial de avaliar se o desempenho superior e persistente das firmas tem alguma relação com a intangibilidade dos recursos das mesmas. No momento seguinte, verificou-se se o desempenho superior e persistente das empresas foi influenciado pela variação da tangibilidade de seus recursos. O desempenho da firma foi medido pelo lucro específico da firma (LEF), calculado pela diferença entre o retorno sobre o ativo (ROA) da firma e o valor médio do ROA do setor da economia do qual a empresa faz parte. Desempenho superior indicou que a firma apresentou LEF acima da média do setor e desempenho persistente indicou que o desempenho superior permaneceu no longo prazo. A intangibilidade dos recursos foi medida pelo Q de Tobin e a tangibilidade pela variação do PL. A amostra foi constituída por empresas brasileiras de capital aberto com ações listadas na Bovespa e com informações disponíveis na base de dados da Consultoria Economática®. As técnicas estatísticas utilizadas foram regressões multivariadas usando o método de Mínimos Quadrados Ordinários (MQO), análises de painel estático com estimativas por efeitos fixos (EF) e efeitos aleatórios (EA) e painel dinâmico com estimativas pelo Método dos Momentos Generalizados (GMM). Os principais resultados encontrados sugerem que, para a realidade brasileira, a intangibilidade dos recursos é um fator que contribui para o desempenho acima da média das firmas. No entanto, essa influência é perceptível de forma positiva e significativa em poucos setores da economia. Mesmo contribuindo para o desempenho superior, a intangibilidade dos ativos não se revelou como vantagem competitiva sustentável, pois foi constatado que esses recursos não contribuem para a persistência do desempenho superior das firmas, divergindo assim de resultados obtidos em outros estudos. Existem evidências estatísticas de que a variação dos recursos tangíveis tem importância para explicar o desempenho acima da média das firmas brasileiras. No entanto, percebe-se uma influência bastante variável entre os setores da economia. Além de contribuir para o desempenho superior, a tangibilidade dos recursos pode ser considerada como uma fonte de vantagem competitiva sustentável, pois contribuiu de forma significativa para a sustentabilidade do desempenho superior das firmas de diversos setores da economia.