Diversification and Focus: A Bayesian Operationalization of the Resource-Based View
Lee T. Perry/Mark H. Hansen/C. Shane Reese/Greggory Pesci
We propose a new application of the resource-based view (RBV) that is more consistent with Penrose's (1959) original framework. We use that framework to study the relationship between diversification and refocusing strategies and economic performance. We propose that the RBV may be enhanced by the explicit recognition of Penrose's two classes of resources, administrative and productive resources. This distinction suggests a focus on the administrative decisions of managers, including the multiple decisions associated with diversification and refocusing strategies, which lead to economic performance. Second, we argue that RBV theory is a theory about extraordinary performers or outliers, not averages. Therefore, the statistical methods used in applying the theory should account for the difference between individual firms, rather than relying on means across firms, which statistically neutralize firm differences. We introduce a novel Bayesian Hierarchical method to examine actions taken by new CEOs and the resulting effects on economic performance over time. The unique feature of this Bayesian method is it allows us to make meaningful probability statements about the diversification and refocusing strategies of individual firms.
pp. 304 – 319
Control Differentiation, Resource Sharing and Performance of Business Units
Eric Dooms/Aswin van Oijen
Scholars in strategy and in international management emphasize that a fit between the context of a business unit and corporate control mechanisms enhances the performance of both the individual business unit and corporations as a whole. However, the negative implications of control differentiation across business units within a corporation have not been thoroughly studied. We use insights from procedural justice literature to assert that perceived control differentiation may be problematic when the success of a business unit depends on resource sharing with other units in a corporation. Data of 136 business units in 45 Dutch multidivisional firms support our assertion.
pp. 320 – 331
How Does Strategy Process Influence Strategy Content? Antecedents of Consistency Between Resource Allocation Decisions and Corporate Strategy
Ansgar Richter/Sascha L. Schmidt
We investigate the relative importance of organizational and decision-specific factors that shape decision-making processes as antecedents of consistency between corporate strategy concept and individual resource allocation decisions. Our empirical study examines the Swiss pharmaceutical companies Ciba and Sandoz from 1989 to 1996. We use a model from which we derive hypotheses on the influence of organizational and decision-specific factors on consistency. We test these hypotheses using data on 493 resource allocation decisions, and applying maximum likelihood ordered logit estimation. Our results indicate that factors specific to individual resource allocation decisions are far more important for their consistency with the prevailing corporate strategy concept than are organizational factors. In particular, we find that the longer the time lag between the announcement of a corporate strategy concept and individual resource allocation decisions, the lower the likelihood of high consistency levels. As to the role of organizational factors, lower decision-making levels tend to be associated with higher consistency levels.
pp. 332 – 350
Exploratory Innovation, Exploitative Innovation, and Ambidexterity: The Impact of Environmental and Organizational Antecedents
Justin J.P. Jansen/Frans A.J. Van den Bosch/Henk W. Volberda
Organizational ambidexterity (i.e., the ability to pursue exploratory and exploitative innovation simultaneously) is crucial to firm survival. In this study we explore how multiunit firms might develop ambidextrous organizational units in response to environmental demands. We examine how environmental and organizational antecedents affect a unit's level of organizational ambidexterity. Our study reveals that multiunit firms develop ambidextrous organizational units to compete in dynamically competitive environments. Moreover, we show that organizational units with decentralized and densely connected social relations are able to act ambidextrously and pursue exploratory and exploitative innovations simultaneously. Our study provides new insights how multiunit firms can cope with contradictorily pressures for exploratory and exploitative innovations.
pp. 351 – 363
