scholarly journals How Does Strategic Choice affect the Performance of Community Forest Enterprises? A Study in the Cascadia Region

Author(s):  
Meike Siegner ◽  
Robert Kozak ◽  
Rajat Panwar ◽  
Harry W Nelson

Proponents of decentralized forest governance make a compelling case that community forest enterprises (CFEs) can aid in sustainable and equitable utilization of forest resources. The effectiveness of CFEs is thus dependent on their ability to balance social, environmental, and financial performance. In this paper, we examine the relationship between a commonly recommended differentiation strategy and CFE effectiveness. Using data obtained through a survey administered on 51 CFEs located in the Cascadia region (British Columbia province of Canada; and Oregon and Washington states of the United States), we find that CFEs pursuing a differentiation strategy are able to balance social, environmental, and financial objectives. Further, recognizing that all CFEs cannot pursue a differentiation strategy, and some may not even have a defined strategic orientation, the paper compares social, environmental, and financial performance of CFEs pursuing a differentiation strategy, a hybrid strategy (a combination of differentiation and cost leadership strategy), and no defined strategy. This analysis reveals that CFEs pursuing a hybrid strategy deliver better financial performance than those with no defined strategy, but are similar to those pursuing a differentiation strategy.

Pravaha ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhundi Bhattarai

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between firm strategy and sustainability of financial performance of Nepalese Enterprises. The research design adopted in this study consists of descriptive and causal-comparative research designs to deal with the various issues raised in this study. Secondary data has been used for this study which was collected from annual audit report of concerned organization of manufacturing and hotel industrities from fiscal year 2000/01 to 2014/15. Factor analysis, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression analysis are different statistical tool that has been used for this study. Cost leadership and differentiation strategies has been constructed from selling, general, and administrative expenses divided by sales; sales divided by cost of goods sold; capital expenditure on property, plant, and equipment divided by sales, and net book value of plant and equipment; divided by sales variables through factor analysis. By regressing return on assets of future period against on return on assets, interaction of cost leadership strategy with return on assets, interaction of differentiation strategy with return on assets variables. The analysis shows that the enterprises adopting higher selling, general and administrative expenses in association with higher gross profit margin are pursuing differentiation strategy whereas, higher investment on property, plant and equipment along with their existing higher book value of plant and equipment indicates that they are following cost leadership strategy. When organization is following cost leadership and differentiation strategy both positive effect on sustainability of financial performance of Nepalese enterprises. Out of cost leadership and differentiation strategy, cost leadership is better than differentiation strategy to increase financial performance of Nepalese enterprises. Pravaha Vol. 24, No. 1, 2018, page: 39-49


2014 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 872-896 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajiv D. Banker ◽  
Raj Mashruwala ◽  
Arindam Tripathy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the strategic positioning of firms and the sustainability of firm performance. The paper argues that pursuing a differentiation strategy leads to more sustainable financial performance compared to following a cost leadership strategy. However, a differentiation strategy may also be associated with greater risk. Design/methodology/approach – To investigate the research questions, the authors utilize publicly available archival data consisting of 12,849 firm-year observations for the period 1989-2003. In the first stage of the analysis, factor analysis is used to determine firms’ strategic positioning. The resulting factor scores are subsequently used in regression analysis to investigate the sustainability of performance based on the strategic positioning of firms. Findings – The results indicate that both cost leadership and differentiation strategies have a positive impact on contemporaneous performance. However, the differentiation strategy allows a firm to sustain its current performance in the future to a greater extent than a cost leadership strategy. The differentiation strategy, though, is also associated with greater systematic risk and more unstable performance. Originality/value – Sustainability of performance refers to how much a firm's current profitability can be sustained in future periods. The main contribution of this study is the comparison of generic strategies based on the sustainability of firm performance. This aspect of the strategy-performance link has not been considered in prior work. Another contribution of the study is that it considers multiple dimensions of firm performance in order to evaluate the trade-offs involved with pursuing different strategies. In particular, the authors contribute to the literature by documenting that while differentiation leads to more sustainable earnings, it also leads to riskier and more unstable earnings.


2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisuke Sasatani ◽  
Ivan L. Eastin

An augmented internationalization process (AIP) model is developed to explain important factors influencing decisions of small- and medium-sized softwood sawmill firms in the United States (US) and Canada. The decision to participate in exporting (i.e., export orientation) and the decision to intensify exporting activities (i.e., export involvement) are analyzed using ordinal probit hurdle regression model. Production capacity, geographical location, and the degree of differentiation strategies are factors playing important roles in determining the level of internationalization of the firm (i.e., export orientation + export involvement). Larger US firms are more likely to participate in exporting activities, whereas Canadian firms of all sizes are exporters. Also, firms in the US South are unlikely to participate in international business activities unless they adopt a product differentiation strategy, and even then they are more likely to use intermediary firms rather than undertake export activities directly. Firms adopting a differentiation strategy rather than a cost-leadership strategy are more likely to have a higher degree of internationalization. A major conclusion of the analysis is that developing a product differentiation strategy is a key to participation in international markets.


2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Antonius Singgih Setiawan

Penelitian ini bertujuan menguji apakah strategi deferensiasi akan memberikan kinerja keuangan yang lebih baik dari pada strategi cost leadership. Menggunakan 85 sampel pengamatan dari 17 perusahaan manufaktur Food & Beverages terdaftar di BEI 2009–2013, hipotesis penelitian diuji menggunakan analisis regreasi. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa perusahaan yang memilih strategi defensiasi akan menghasilkan kinerja keuangan yang lebih baik dari pada perusahaan yang menerapkan strategi cost leadership.This study aims to test whether differentiation strategy will deliver a better financial performance than cost leadership strategy. Using a sample of 85 observations of 17 Food & Beverages manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange from 2009 to 2013, research hypotheses are tested using regresion analysis. The result shows that companies that choose differentiation strategy will produce better financial performance than companies that implement the cost leadership strategy.


Author(s):  
Murat Akpinar

Purpose This paper aims to clarify the fit of competitive strategies and firm-specific advantages (FSAs) with country-specific advantages (CSAs) in explaining manufacturing location choices at product category level in the European automotive industry. Design/methodology/approach Seven hypotheses are formulated and tested using binomial logistic regression with data from 148 passenger car models (i.e. product category level) that are sold in Europe and manufactured in countries that offer CSAs of either cost advantages or differentiation advantages. The first four hypotheses test manufacturing location choices of product categories pursuing cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy, focus strategy and hybrid strategy. The other three hypotheses test whether FSAs of R&D capability, marketing capability and operations capability will impact on the manufacturing location choice. The tests control for the type of passenger cars as well as the manufacturer’s region of origin. Findings While pursuing cost leadership strategy leads to manufacturing in countries that offer cost advantages, pursuing differentiation strategy as well as strong R&D capability and marketing capability result in manufacturing in countries that offer differentiation advantages. Focus strategy, hybrid strategy and operations capability do not have an impact on the manufacturing location choice at product category level. Research limitations/implications Conducting empirical research at product category level is subject to limitations in the choices of FSAs due to lack of availability of data. Practical implications Managers should assess the competitive strategies and FSAs of their product categories and then decide about manufacturing locations based on their fit with host country CSAs. Policymakers should understand the CSAs of their countries and target to attract manufacturing FDI from product categories with matching competitive strategies and FSAs. Originality/value The research contributes to discussions in explaining manufacturing location choices. Its originality lies in being the first study to test the fit of competitive strategies and FSAs of product categories with CSAs.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Wu ◽  
Lei Gao ◽  
Tingting Gu

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships among business strategy, market competition and earnings management. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses 2,037 Chinese A-share listed firms from 2010 to 2012 to test the research questions using regression analyses. Findings – The firms that follow cost leadership strategy (cost leaders) are more likely to have a higher level of real earnings management. The firms that follow differentiation strategy (differentiators) are less likely to use real earnings management. For cost leaders, the market competition further increases the level of real earnings management, whereas the level of earnings management of differentiators is not significantly impacted by the market competition. Practical implications – Results of this study indicate the feasibility of differentiation strategy in China and suggest that management should be encouraged to use such a strategy or to use a hybrid strategy to achieve its operational and financial goals. Originality/value – The study contributes to the research of earning management by providing evidence on that business strategy has significant impacts on earnings management. It also shows an incremental influence of market competition on earnings management through its impacts on business strategy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas John Cooke ◽  
Ian Shuttleworth

It is widely presumed that information and communication technologies, or ICTs, enable migration in several ways; primarily by reducing the costs of migration. However, a reconsideration of the relationship between ICTs and migration suggests that ICTs may just as well hinder migration; primarily by reducing the costs of not moving.  Using data from the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics, models that control for sources of observed and unobserved heterogeneity indicate a strong negative effect of ICT use on inter-state migration within the United States. These results help to explain the long-term decline in internal migration within the United States.


2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mandy M. Cheng ◽  
Wendy J. Green ◽  
John Chi Wa Ko

SUMMARY In this study, we report two 2 × 2 between-subjects experiments that investigate the effect of strategic relevance of reported sustainability information and its assurance on nonprofessional investors' investment decisions. The first experiment manipulates strategic relevance of reported environmental, social, and governance (ESG) indicators between “high” and “low” by varying the company strategy (sustainability-based differentiation strategy versus cost leadership strategy unrelated to sustainability). The second experiment manipulates the strategic alignment of the ESG indicators (holding strategy constant). We also manipulate the presence (absence) of assurance in both experiments. Results from both experiments document that investors perceive ESG indicators to be more important, and are more willing to invest in the company if ESG indicators have higher strategic relevance. Experiment one also provides evidence that assurance increases investors' willingness to invest to a greater extent when ESG indicators have high relevance to the company strategy. Our findings suggest that the assurance of ESG indicators has a beneficial signaling role in communicating the importance of this reported information to investors.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (13) ◽  
pp. 4336
Author(s):  
Piervincenzo Rizzo ◽  
Alireza Enshaeian

Bridge health monitoring is increasingly relevant for the maintenance of existing structures or new structures with innovative concepts that require validation of design predictions. In the United States there are more than 600,000 highway bridges. Nearly half of them (46.4%) are rated as fair while about 1 out of 13 (7.6%) is rated in poor condition. As such, the United States is one of those countries in which bridge health monitoring systems are installed in order to complement conventional periodic nondestructive inspections. This paper reviews the challenges associated with bridge health monitoring related to the detection of specific bridge characteristics that may be indicators of anomalous behavior. The methods used to detect loss of stiffness, time-dependent and temperature-dependent deformations, fatigue, corrosion, and scour are discussed. Owing to the extent of the existing scientific literature, this review focuses on systems installed in U.S. bridges over the last 20 years. These are all major factors that contribute to long-term degradation of bridges. Issues related to wireless sensor drifts are discussed as well. The scope of the paper is to help newcomers, practitioners, and researchers at navigating the many methodologies that have been proposed and developed in order to identify damage using data collected from sensors installed in real structures.


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