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Building on contingency theory, this paper aims to investigate the extent to which the “4Ps international adaptation strategy” and internationalization intensity shape the servitization–profitability relationship.

The authors use primary (survey) and secondary (archival) data to perform multiple regression analysis.

The results indicate a positive relationship between servitization and profitability, and international intensity strengthens this association. The effects, however, are not consistent across the 4Ps – the price international adaptation strategy strengthens the positive relationship between servitization and profitability, while product and place international adaptation strategies weaken that relationship.

The findings have implications for the role of international intensity and the 4Ps in the marketing servitization context.

The study provides guidance for small firms in realizing higher performance by leveraging the 4Ps in the servitization context. Counter to expectations, placement and product lead to lower performance with increasing servitization, whereas price strengthens this relationship. The study adds to the international industrial management and marketing literature, providing evidence that contingency factors such as international marketing mix adaptation/standardization strategies moderate the servitization–profitability relationship.

This paper aims to address the challenges knowledge actors face when using knowledge codifiability to develop common interests. The challenge is compounded when actors with diverse knowledge domains depend on each other to complete tasks, and, simultaneously, update their knowledge to address novelty in the organizational environment.

Given this context, this paper studies the impact of two moderating variables, systems dependence (Z) and novelty (W), on the relationship between knowledge codifiability (X) and common interests (M). This study also examines whether common interests (M) mediate the relationship between knowledge codifiability (X) and knowledge transfer (Y). To test the hypotheses, the authors collected data from 163 entrepreneurs in the southwest USA.

The results demonstrate that novelty in the knowledge domain of actors provides a supporting context for knowledge codifiability to develop common interests, but only when actors’ dependence on each other to complete tasks is at low to medium level. Moreover, the results also provide evidence that common interests mediate the relationship between codifiability and ease of knowledge transfer.

Using the results, this study provides a decision-making framework for managing tasks based on system dependence and novelty level.

This study aims to analyze the interplay between male and female board members’ beliefs about women’s competence to fill board positions (valence), the perceived benefits of a greater gender-balanced boardroom (value) and the significance attributed to the gender quota law as a relevant instrument in eliciting change in board composition.

Looking through the lens of expectancy-value theory, the authors investigate whether the perceived benefits of a gender quota law mediate the path between the beliefs about women’s competence to become board members and the perceived benefits of a greater gender-balanced representation in the boardroom. In addition, the authors investigate whether female and male board members share the same beliefs about a gender-balanced representation.

The results show that there are differences in beliefs about women’s competencies to become board members and the perceived benefits of a greater gender-balanced boardroom. Female board members hold stronger beliefs on the competence of women to fill board positions and, thus, assign greater importance to the gender quota law, which, in turn, impacts the greater significance attributed to equal representation of women in the boardroom.

The findings shed new light on the debate concerning gender quotas aimed at promoting gender-balanced boardrooms by pointing out that differences in value expectations between male and female board members may prevent intraboard gender-equal dynamics.

The study contributes to the literature by adding new insights on how male and female board members perceive the value of legally bound gender quotas, in association with their beliefs about women’s competence to fill board positions (valence) and their expectations in terms of the beneficial outcomes of a more gender-balanced board composition.

This paper aims to develop and test a model of buyer–supplier relational investment that links supply chain integration (SCI) to supplier flexibility performance (SFLEX) advantages in different manufacturing environments. Relational stability (RS) and information quality (IQL) are viewed as key indicators of intermediating commitment investments in supplier relationships to help support supplier accommodations for special requests for order flexibility. The model is applied to investigate the relative importance of manufacturer relational investments with suppliers in both make-to-stock (MTS) and make-to-order (MTO) production environments.

A survey of 206 US manufacturing firms was used to test the proposed research model using structural equation modeling and multiple-group analysis techniques.

Social exchange investments in relationship stability and information quality are found to fully mediate the positive performance relationship between supply chain integration and supplier flexibility performance for manufacturers. However, the relative importance of each form of investment in enhancing supplier flexibility performance varies based on the buyer’s (manufacturer’s) order fulfillment environment (make-to-stock versus make-to-order).

The proposed model may assist manufacturers make more informed relational exchange investments and supply chain configuration decisions that most conducive to enhancing supplier flexibility performance for different production environments.

The research first and uniquely explores the antecedent relationship among three highly studied environmental forces – competitive intensity (CI), market turbulence (MT) and technological turbulence (TT) – in a service context. Next, given the importance of services to the USA and global gross domestic product (GDP) and the unique characteristics of services versus product firms, the research examines the impact of environmental forces on innovation speed capability, a less studied but critical enabler of service innovation. Finally, this study aims to suggest the importance of the sequential relationship between two dynamic capabilities – innovation speed and operational flexibility – to realize advantage.

This study surveyed 264 US service firms in a business to business context and tested this research model using structural equation modeling.

The results yielded three major conclusions: in a service context when examining the relationship among the three environmental forces, CI appears to have the driving influence on MT and TT, MT, however, was the only environmental force that this study found to bare positive and significant direct influence on innovation speed. Looking at the zero-order effect of MT and TT on innovation speed this study found each to be positive and significant suggesting a negative suppression effect and innovation speed’s influence on performance relative to competitors is fully mediated by operational flexibility.

The paper contributes to context, as service firms represent the majority of the USA and global GDP. This study extends the literature on the highly studied environmental forces (MT, TT and CI) by examining how they influence each other in an antecedent role and in service context. This study extends service literature by going beyond the influence of environmental forces on innovation to examine the dynamic capability of innovation speed, suggested as uniquely important to service context and distinct from the more highly studied innovation construct. The study also extends prior research in the manufacturing (product) context that suggests the importance of sequential congruence between two critical dynamic capabilities – innovation speed and operational flexibility – necessary to deliver competitive advantage.

The globalization of knowledge has driven an increased emphasis on cross-border, high-technology acquisitions where a target firm in a technology industry is acquired by a firm in another nation. However, learning depends on similarity of knowledge, and we find that needed similarity can be provided by either technology or culture. As a result, firms can learn from acquiring targets at increasing cultural distance or at increasing technological distance, but not both. We find an interaction where acquisitions made at longer cultural distances and less technological distance, and acquisitions at shorter cultural distances and greater technological distance improve financial performance. This means technological distance and cultural distance are substitutes or represent a trade-off where improved acquisition performance depends on having commonality (low distance) for one of the variables.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Turbulent environments provide opportunities for service-focused organizations to innovate and gain a competitive advantage.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.