How chief executives’ perception of the environment impacts on company performance

An Empirical Study on Corporate ESG Behavior and Employee Satisfaction: A Moderating Mediation Model

As the role of human capital in enhancing corporate value becomes increasingly prominent in the new economic era, employee satisfaction has garnered widespread attention in organizational behavior theory and business practices. However, constrained by the traditional governance model of "shareholder primacy", which tends to view employees instrumentally, adverse effects on employee satisfaction and organizational identification persist. Currently, corporate ESG behaviors are flourishing in China, bringing profound and extensive transformations to economic and social sustainability. Yet, the research on whether and how corporate ESG behaviors improve employee satisfaction remains unclear. This study, based on data from the "China's 100 Best Employers Award" and employing regression analysis on panel data from listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, reveals that corporate ESG behaviors have the potential to enhance employee satisfaction. Transparency in corporate environmental information and internal control mechanisms emerge as the primary means through which corporate ESG behaviors elevate employee satisfaction. Furthermore, heightened environmental awareness among executives and higher educational qualifications among employees strengthen the relationship between corporate ESG behaviors and employee satisfaction.

Thai SMEs’ Response in the Digital Economy Age: A Case Study of Community-Based Tourism Policy Implementation

The goals of this study were to identify factors affecting the responses of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the digital economy age, to examine the impact of policy implementation and stakeholders’ roles in the promotion of SMEs in the service sector of community-based tourism (CBT), to analyze the competitiveness of CBT, and to reveal the gap in SMEs’ service quality. The research design consisted of both qualitative and quantitative methods. It was found that independent variables, i.e., the strategic management, the decision-making process, the structural contingency, perception, and the SMEs’ potential, together in the multiple regression model, could predict dependent variables. Policy actors can be divided into three levels. Politicians are at the national policy level, high-level bureaucrats are at the implementation level, and stakeholders in the community are at the local level. Policy instruments include projects to support SMEs. Local-level actors play a role in promoting SMEs through collaborative public management. The competitiveness analysis of CBT can be divided into five forces: the rivalry of CBT, the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitutes, the bargaining power of suppliers, and the bargaining power of customers. Meanwhile, there are some problems in assuring service quality.

Environmental scanning in business organisations

Purpose

– This study aims to analyse the environmental scanning and information sources used by Jordanian firms. Furthermore, the relationship between environmental scanning and organisational characteristics (firm size and industry type), as well as organisational performance, is explored.

Design/methodology/approach

– The empirical research was coordinated via a survey of 190 Jordanian publicly quoted firms. The results of the survey provided a rich source of data in relation to a variety of practices associated with environmental scanning in these firms.

Findings

– The findings of this study show that scanning focus was higher for the general environmental sectors than the task environmental sectors. The results also demonstrate that these firms rely more on internal sources of information. Larger firms have more scanning activities, while smaller firms tend to focus on different sources of information. Additionally, some differences in the industry sector in terms of scanning behaviour were identified. This study also supports the literature regarding the positive relationship between environment scanning and organisational performance by providing new empirical evidence from the context of Middle East countries.

Originality/value

– This paper provides empirical evidence on the nature and the practice of environmental scanning and its value for organisational performance in business firms in a Middle East context. From a theoretical perspective, this study engages in the “convergence versus divergence” debate regarding managers’ scanning behaviour around the world.

Strategy-making process and firm performance in small firms

This paper argues that individual small firms just like large firms, place differing emphasis on strategy-making and may employ different modes of strategy-making. It offers a typology of the different modes of strategy-making that seem most likely to exist in small firms, and hypothesises how this typology relates to performance. It then describes the results of an empirical study of the strategy-making processes of small firms. The structural equation analysis of the data from 477 small firms with less than 100 employees indicates among other results that the simplistic, adaptive, intrapreneurial and participative modes of strategy-making exist in these small firms. Of these modes, the simplistic mode exhibits the strongest relationship with firm performance.

Strategy-making process and firm performance in small firms

This paper argues that individual small firms just like large firms, place differing emphasis on strategy-making and may employ different modes of strategy-making. It offers a typology of the different modes of strategy-making that seem most likely to exist in small firms, and hypothesises how this typology relates to performance. It then describes the results of an empirical study of the strategy-making processes of small firms. The structural equation analysis of the data from 477 small firms with less than 100 employees indicates among other results that the simplistic, adaptive, intrapreneurial and participative modes of strategy-making exist in these small firms. Of these modes, the simplistic mode exhibits the strongest relationship with firm performance.

Strategic Uncertainty and Firm Performance: The Mediating Role of Competitive Intelligence Practices

This study aims to identify the strategic roles of competitive intelligence and to examine the mediating effect of competitive intelligence practices on the relationship between perceived strategic uncertainty and firm performance. Data are collected from 123 public listed companies in Malaysia using mail questionnaire survey. The study highlights the essential role of competitive intelligence in supporting strategic decision making and strategic planning as well as in identifying opportunities and threats. Results reveal that perceived strategic uncertainty relates positively to competitive intelligence practices, which in turn, relates positively to firm performance. This paper includes implications, limitations, and recommendations for future studies.

Impact of environmental scanning on the organisational performance of local authorities in Malaysia

Purpose

Previous studies on scanning behaviour focused mainly on the performance of the private sector, leaving the public sector, especially local authorities (LAs), largely understudied. Primarily, this paper aims to examine the element of strategic management tools associated with the impact of environmental scanning (ES) on organisational performance in the LAs. It explores the above relationship in the context of public sector organisations in Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative approach has been used for this study where the data were collected through a mail survey (n=75) of local authorities in Malaysia, which consists of four categories – City Council/City Hall, Municipal Council, District Council and organisations that exercise the functions of local authorities.

Findings

Overall, the results show that the scope of general environmental scanning is seen as a prerequisite to the successful alignment of competitive strategies as a result of changing the needs and demands of the larger society, and the diverse nature of businesses. In the context of Malaysian LAs, there is a significant relationship between the environmental scanning (operation) and the overall achievement of the organisation's performance.

Research limitations/implications

This paper is limited to the Malaysian context, and, hence, the findings cannot be applied generally.

Practical implications

This study could be used effectively as a road map to assist the council members, senior staff and stakeholders in evaluating their success and steering the organisation's performance and sustainability.

Originality/value

This paper provides important insights into the performance of local governments in Malaysia. To the authors' knowledge, this study is the first attempt to look at a more holistic perspective in exploring environmental scanning of LAs in the country. Increased understanding in this area is of critical importance in relation to implementing effectively the current and future modernisation and reform initiatives. It is of interest to both researchers and practitioners.

Environmental Scanning in Tunisian Manufacturing SMEs

This longitudinal study investigates the success and failure factors of the initiation of a strategic change effort in a panel of 17 manufacturing SMEs in Tunisia. A Baiting Environmental Attention Process (B.E.A.PRO) was developed and used to help managers make sense of weak signals in their relevant environment and how these signals could impact decision-making under conditions of uncertainty and ambiguity. The study shows that B.E.A.PRO might be an effective tactic for triggering a collective learning process, leading Tunisian SMEs to question their existing way of seeing the environment. The study also showed that a successful baiting process could not continue when the expert and the knowledge facilitator leaves. As usual, companies that believe they can rely on their own human resources, without creating the environment that will encourage them to stay, will likely fail.

INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL INNOVATION PROMOTERS IN SMALL, KNOWLEDGE-INTENSIVE FIRMS

This paper examines the relationship between external relations and innovation in small, knowledge-intensive Norwegian firms. Our findings indicate that external relations are beneficial for innovation. The analysis shows that it is necessary to treat innovation as more than a concept. Our independent variables related differently to product innovation, process innovation, and market innovation.

We found that market participation in product development has a positive impact on product, process and market innovation. We also found that top management interaction with other firms had a positive effect on market innovation and that top management interaction with external R&D had a positive effect on product innovation. This finding probably indicates that access to R&D resources is vital for product development in the context of knowledge-intensive products. The results also show that participation in conferences and courses positively influences process and market innovation and that systematic environmental scanning positively influences product innovation.

Diferenças na atividade de monitoramento de informações do ambiente externo em pequenas e médias empresas: a influência do porte e da idade

Este trabalho objetiva estudar o monitoramento de informações estratégicas do ambiente externo em pequenas empresas, e sua relevância situa-se no fato de que os estudos sobre monitoramento nas pequenas empresas, ainda são incipientes no Brasil. É um estudo do tipo levantamento ou survey, com aplicação de questionário aplicado aos dirigentes de 188 empresas. Na análise dos dados, utilizou-se a técnica de análise de variância das médias dos grupos. Os resultados indicaram que as empresas privilegiam o monitoramento de alguns aspectos do ambiente e foram encontradas maiores diferenças na frequência de monitoramento em relação à idade das empresas do que em relação ao porte.

Beyond Pygmalion effect: the role of managerial perception

Purpose

The influences of perception have been studied in educational, army, sports and business settings but never in the development field. The Pygmalion effect generally suggests that the perceiver's positive expectation enhances the target's performance. This first time research seeks to explore how managerial perceptions of the aid workers of the local staffs affect their behaviour and performance in cross‐cultural project settings.

Design/methodology/approach

With the cooperation of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), 244 valid responses were obtained from the aid workers through a web‐based survey. Using factor analysis, five perception‐related factors and two behaviour‐related factors were extracted. Subsequently, in order to clarify the causal relationship, the above factors and one observed organisational performance variable were tested using path analysis.

Findings

Positive causal relationships were confirmed between two perception‐related factors and one behaviour‐related factor, and also between the behaviour‐related factor and the organisational performance variable. These results strongly suggest that aid workers' positive perception causes positive behaviour in local colleagues and will result in higher organisational performance.

Practical limitations/implications

Whilst avoiding generalisation, nevertheless, the results suggest that there is a need for people‐related and cross‐cultural management skills to ensure successful future activities, and stress management competencies to maintain the positive managerial perception on the part of the aid workers.

Originality/value

Despite the considerable influence of donor staff's managerial perception on the quality of the human relationships and organisational performance, this field of enquiry has remained neglected. The study provides first‐time empirical evidence on its significance.