Strategic transformation in the value-added wood products companies

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minli Wan ◽  
Katja Lähtinen ◽  
Anne Toppinen

Purpose – China is a leading country in the production, consumption and exports of value-added wood products. Despite this fact, the sources of competitiveness and the existing strategies in the Chinese wood products companies have not been profoundly studied in an international context. The purpose of this paper is to fill these gaps by exploring managerial perceptions of these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The theoretical ingredients originating from the value chain theory, functional upgrading, the dynamic capability perspective and the natural resource-based view were combined to explore the shift of business functions and sources of the firm-level competitiveness in the Chinese wood products companies. In the empirical part, data from qualitative semi-structured interviews made with 28 managers of seven companies in China based on the case study method were used. Findings – Our results indicate a transition from non-branded manufacturing to original equipment manufacturing to original brand manufacturing business model. With this strategic transformation, the amount of resources and the relative importance of intangible resources increased and the nature of tangible resources also changed. Practical implications – Chinese companies tend to shift from low-value-added to high-value-added products production. Our results are not only informative about the current situation of the Chinese wood products companies, but also can be used as a background for assessing the impact of China’s increasing competitiveness on the future international wood products market. Originality/value – The dynamic capability perspective was incorporated in a new empirical approach to study the strategic management of woodworking industries, and our results provide new information on the importance of intangible resources for firm competitiveness.

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 466-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allan O'Connor ◽  
Kai Du ◽  
Göran Roos

Purpose – Developed economies with high-cost environments face industrial transitions from scale-based manufacturing (MAN) to knowledge, technology and intangible asset-based sectors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the changes in employment and value-adding profiles of transitioning industry sectors in Australia and discuss the implications for policy that influences the intellectual capital (IC) profile of industrial sectors in transition. Design/methodology/approach – The approach borrowed concepts from the firm-level strategic management literature and applied them to a macro level of industry analysis. In this paper the authors examine the transitions in the Australian economy which, due to a rising cost base, is experiencing a decline in its value chain-oriented MAN sector. The authors contrast four industry sectors with the MAN sector and examine the different value creation models. Findings – The findings clearly show how the contribution to employment and value added (termed Economic Value Contribution ) of the different sectors vary. The authors extend these findings to a discussion on policy and the dimensions of IC that may have a role to play in facilitating transitions within an economy. The main conclusion is that a more rapid transition and higher value may be created if innovation and entrepreneurship are facilitated by targeted policies in transitioning sector. Research limitations/implications – This work is based on a single country analysis of selected industry sectors. Further work needs to be done across many more countries to contrast the findings across nations/regions that differ in industrial complexity and to refine the analytical framework to improve construct validity and increase analytical power. Practical implications – This work has implications for policy-makers facing the challenges of a transitioning economy, whether national or regional. Governments that are hands-on with respect to interventions to salvage and/or extend the life of sectors are at risk of missing opportunities to build the capacities and capabilities of emerging sectors while those governments that are hands-off, deferring to market mechanisms, risk transitions that are too little and/or too late to maintain a national or regional competitiveness. Originality/value – To the authors knowledge, this is the first attempt to integrate the specific firm-level strategic management perspectives, used in this paper, with the macro-policy level to examine industry sectors with the twin metrics of economic productivity and employment in transitioning economies.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhushan Praveen Jangam ◽  
Badri Narayan Rath

Purpose This paper aims to examine the relationship between global value chains (GVCs) and domestic value-added content (DVA) in a panel of 58 countries for the period 2005–2015. Design/methodology/approach First, the authors quantify the refined measures of GVC linkages by using the Borin and Mancini (2019) decomposition technique. Second, the authors apply the feasible generalised least squares method to test the relationship between GVCs and DVA empirically. Findings First, the authors find that GVC links are crucial to the enhancement of DVA. Second, a study at the sectoral level reveals that GVC links in the primary sector raise DVA whilst reducing DVA in the services sector. Third, the authors find that only upstream activities enhance value-added content. Fourth, the authors note the augmenting role played by national policies in mediating the gains associated with GVCs. Finally, the authors note that the outcomes associated with GVCs are consistent when the sample of countries is divided into groups based on income. Practical implications The results lead us to urge policymakers to promote greater integration of business activities into GVCs to reap their benefits. Originality/value This paper contributes to the research on the impact of GVCs on DVA by emphasising the significance of the types of GVC activities and policies that improve DVA.


2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 610-637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Díaz-Mora ◽  
Rosario Gandoy ◽  
Belen Gonzalez-Diaz

Purpose Drawing on the literature that has shown the prevalence of short-lived trade relationships, the purpose of this paper is to provide further understanding about this issue by exploring the impact of engaging in Global Value Chains (GVCs) on the chance of export survival at product-country level, paying special attention to the differences between advanced and developing countries. The authors also investigate whether the type of GVC participation (backward or forward) matters for export survival. Design/methodology/approach To capture to what extent a country’s exports are integrated in GVCs, the authors use the OECD Inter-Country Input-Output database to estimate value added incorporated in exports. Through the estimation of a discrete-time duration model, the authors explore the impact of engaging in GVCs on export survival using highly disaggregated trade data from the CEPII’s BACI database. Findings The findings endorse the hypothesis that deeper participation in GVCs is a key factor in explaining stability in trade relationships, mainly for developing countries where the trade flows are especially fragile. The authors also find different effects depending on the type of GVC involvement and on whether the value chain partners are advanced or developing. Originality/value The paper contributes to the literature by extending the understanding on the factors that promote the stability of exports, including among them, involvement on GVCs (and its forms) which is one of the most relevant factors to explain recent behavior of trade.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Zheng ◽  
Daying Yan ◽  
Bing Ren

Purpose This paper aims to propose an integrated framework combining the cost-reduction rationale and the institution-leveraging rationale to explain how institutional distance, both formal and informal, influences emerging multinational enterprises (EMNEs)’ foreign direct investment (FDI) location choice. This paper also explores the moderating role of EMNEs’ FDI experience and strategic intent on value chain positioning as a reflection of firm heterogeneities, on the link between institutional distance and location choice. Design/methodology/approach This paper tests the hypotheses based on a firm-level longitudinal data set of FDI by Chinese EMNEs. The unique data are manually collected from Chinese companies listed on Shenzhen and Shanghai Stock Exchanges, composed of 250 FDI entries of 122 manufacturing firms from 2006 to 2010. The conditional logit model is used to estimate the proposed main effect and moderating effect. Findings Cultural distance does not deter Chinese EMNEs’ entrance in general, but firms investing in low value-added manufacturing subsidiaries are more likely to choose culturally similar countries than those investing in high value-added subsidiaries such as in upstream R&D and downstream marketing. Formal institutional distance with positive direction promotes Chinese EMNEs’ entrance, and this effect is enhanced when firms have less FDI experience and have the strategic intent to invest in high value-added subsidiaries. Originality/value This paper contributes to the current literature by identifying a holistic view of the institutional influences on FDI location choice of EMNEs and revealing how firm-level heterogeneities, particularly FDI experience and strategic intent of subsidiary value chain positioning, shape the boundary conditions of the institutional effects in different ways.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bishwanath Goldar ◽  
Isha Chawla ◽  
Smruti Ranjan Behera

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of India’s trade liberalization during the late 1990s and 2000s on productivity of manufacturing firms and verify whether the productivity-enhancing impact of reductions in input tariffs was greater than that of output tariff cuts, as found in some earlier studies. Design/methodology/approach Firm-level (company-level) data drawn from Prowess database are used for the estimation of total factor productivity (TFP) at the firm level, done by using the Levinsohn–Petrin methodology. Econometric models are estimated to explain firm-level TFP. The explanatory variables used are output and input tariff rates and quantitative restrictions on imports at the industry level and firm characteristics such as firm size, export intensity and import intensity. Firm-level panel data for 2002-2010 or for a longer period 1998-2010 are used for the estimation of econometric models. Model estimation is done by applying the fixed-effects model and IV-2SLS, 3SLS estimators and EC2SLS estimators. Findings Trade liberalization had a significant positive effect on the productivity of Indian manufacturing firms. The lowering of output tariff had a greater beneficial impact on TFP of Indian manufacturing firms than the lowering of tariff on intermediate inputs. Originality/value Good deal of care has been taken in the measurement of output and inputs for the purpose of TFP measurement. Two alternative frameworks, gross output and value added, are used. This helps in making a better estimate of the impact of trade liberalization on TFP.


2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (7) ◽  
pp. 1800-1820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo Santana de Figueiredo Junior ◽  
Miranda P. M. Meuwissen ◽  
Ivo A. Van der Lans ◽  
Alfons G. J. M. Oude Lansink

Purpose – Development studies rarely measure the impact of value chain strategies on performance. The purpose of this paper is to quantify the perceived contribution of strategies to the performance of three honey value chains in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach – The value chain structure-conduct-performance (SCP) framework was used to select strategies and two performance indicators, honey production growth and local value-added. In a conjoint study, experts were asked to judge the contribution to the two performance indicators of several hypothetical combinations of value chain strategies. Findings – According to the experts, adoption of specialised technical assistance, sharing resources at the production step, increase in exports, and organic certification were the strategies which contributed the most to performance. Simulations suggested that some honey value chains could have greatly increased their performance with these higher pay-off strategies. Research limitations/implications – Quantifying the perceived impact of individual strategies contributes to improved evaluation of development interventions. Practical implications – Outcomes also show that conjoint analysis is a useful method for policy evaluations in data scarce situations. Originality/value – The paper combines an extended SCP framework for strategy selection and conjoint analysis for strategy evaluation of value chains.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simplice A. Asongu ◽  
Vanessa S. Tchamyou

Purpose – This paper aims to assess how entrepreneurship affects knowledge economy (KE) in Africa. Design/methodology/approach – Entrepreneurship is measured by indicators of starting, doing and ending business. The four dimensions of the World Bank’s index of KE are used. Instrumental variable panel-fixed effects are applied on a sample of 53 African countries for the period of 1996-2010. Findings – The following are some of the findings. First, creating an enabling environment for starting business can substantially boost most dimensions of KE. Second, doing business through mechanisms of trade globalization has positive effects from sectors that are not information and communication technology (ICT) and high-tech oriented. Third, the time required to end business has negative effects on KE. Practical implications – The findings confirm the narrative that the technology in African countries at the moment may be more imitative and adaptive for reverse engineering in ICTs and high-tech products. Given the massive consumption of ICT and high-tech commodities in Africa, the continent has to start thinking of how to participate in the global value chain of producing what it consumes. Originality/value – This paper has a twofold motivation. First, given the ambitions of African countries of moving towards knowledge-based economies, the line of inquiry is timely. Second, investigating the nexus may have substantial poverty mitigation and sustainable development implications. These entail, inter alia, the development of technology with value-added services; enhancement of existing agricultural practices; promotion of conditions that are essential for competitiveness; and adjustment to globalization challenges.


Author(s):  
Donato Romano ◽  
Benedetto Rocchi ◽  
Ahmad Sadiddin ◽  
Gianluca Stefani ◽  
Raffaella Zucaro ◽  
...  

AbstractThe objective of this paper is twofold: firstly, it analyzes the evolution of frauds in the Italian wine value chain over the period 2007–2015, and then, using a properly disaggregated social accounting matrix (SAM) of the Italian economy, it simulates the impact of wine frauds on the national economy in terms of growth, employment, value added and income. The wine industry is the sector most exposed to frauds within the Italian agro-food system accounting for 88% of total value of seized agro-food outputs. Most irregularities (95%) are made by only three agents, specifically individual wineries, bottlers-wholesalers and retailers. We estimated industry-specific SAM multipliers to assess the share of the Italian economy depending on irregular wine production. These activities account for 11.5% of specialized permanent crop farms output and over 25% of wine industry output. This is a sign of vulnerability of the wine industry: should a food scandal/scare determine a drop in consumers’ demand, the negative effect on production activities of these sectors may be large. The SAM was also used to perform an impact analysis adopting a counterfactual approach. Results show a slightly positive increase of value added (6 million euro) along with an overall decrease in the activity level (an output loss of 406 million euro and more than six thousand full time jobs lost). This contractionary effect can be explained with fraud rents. Indeed, the extra-profits from frauds do not activate the economy circular flow as most of them leak out to exogenous accounts such as the public administration and the rest of the world.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 935-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neha Smriti ◽  
Niladri Das

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of intellectual capital (IC) on financial performance (FP) for Indian companies listed on the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Overall Share Price Index (COSPI). Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses were developed according to theories and literature review. Secondary data were collected from Indian companies listed on the COSPI between 2001 and 2016, and the value-added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) of Pulic (2000) was used to measure IC and its components. A dynamic system generalized method of moments (SGMM) estimator was employed to identify the variables that significantly contribute to firm performance. Findings Indian listed firms appear to be performing well and efficiently utilizing their IC. Overall, human capital had a major impact on firm productivity during the study period. Furthermore, the empirical analysis showed that structural capital efficiency and capital employed efficiency were equally important contributors to firm’s sales growth and market value. The growing importance of the contribution of IC to value creation was consistently reflected in the FP of these Indian companies. Practical implications This study has robust theoretical grounds and employs a validated methodology. The present study extends knowledge of IC among academicians and managers and highlights its contribution to value creation. The findings may help stakeholders and policymakers in developing countries properly reallocate intellectual resources. Originality/value This study is the first study to evaluate IC and its relationship with traditional measures of firm performance among Indian listed firms using dynamic SGMM and VAIC models.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Hamdoun ◽  
Mohamed Akli Achabou ◽  
Sihem Dekhili

Purpose This paper aims to examine the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance in the context of developing countries. More specifically, the mediating role of a firm’s competitive advantage and intangible resources, namely, human capital and reputation are studied. Design/methodology/approach The study considered a sample of 100 Tunisian firms. The analysis makes use of the structural equation modelling method to explore the relationship between CSR and financial performance, by including mediator variables. Findings The results confirm that CSR has no significant direct effect on financial performance. In particular, they indicate that the social dimension of CSR has a negative impact on performance. However, CSR does have a positive impact on competitive advantage via the two intangible resources considered, human capital and company reputation. Research limitations/implications The research fills a gap that occurred in the previous literature. In effect, previous studies focussed only on the direct link between CSR and financial performance. In addition, it enriches the limited literature on CSR strategies in the context of developing countries. However, further studies should explore the opposite relationship, i.e. the impact of financial performance on CSR strategy. In addition, the authors believe that amongst other potential research avenues, it would be interesting to study the moderating role of the activity sector. Practical implications From a practical point of view, this study suggests new applications with respect to the link between CSR and financial performance. To enhance their company’s financial performance, managers need to ensure that intangible resources are managed efficiently. Originality/value The paper contributes to the literature by examining how a firm’s intangible resources mediate between CSR and competitive advantage and how competitive advantage mediates between intangible resources and financial performance. Second originality is related to the study of the link between CSR and the financial performance of business organisations in the context of a developing country.


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