scholarly journals Perception of the Selected Business Environment Aspects by Service Firms

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (19) ◽  
pp. 111-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khurram Ajaz Khan ◽  
Gentjan Çera ◽  
Vaclav Netek

The business environment is a profound concern for the state and institutions to make it encouraging to boost entrepreneurship. Given such relevance of the business environment, this paper aims to link selected business environment aspects to business sector. The study identified the perceived differences between sectors in the Czech and Slovak Republics and then a comparison of a similar group of firms. To shape the study, survey-based research planned and conducted in two segments of firm’s (service and non-service), covered 641 enterprises. The current research adopted factor analysis and then t-test and Mann-Whitney test to determine the results. The major findings of the study reveal that the Slovak firms in the service sector scored higher in macroeconomic environment, consumers’ consumption and competition factors and lower in access to finance factor, as compared to their non-service counterparts. However, another key finding indicates that the Czech entrepreneurs’ perception did not statistically differ in any selected aspects of business environment between the firms operating in service and non-service sectors. In all the cases business support was found insignificant. This paper adds to the existing literature in entrepreneurship by offering a better understanding of the linkage between business sector and business environment aspects.

Author(s):  
Jieun Choi

Abstract Little is known about the performance of service firms and its relations with foreign direct investment (FDI), in part due to methodological and conceptual challenges in measuring service performance. This article suggests two possible measures of service firm performance: total factor productivity (TFP) and markups, with modification needed to improve those measures for the service sector. Using these measures, it examines service firm performance from 1997 to 2007 in Tunisia, where the service sector accounts for 60% of GDP but faces high protection and complex entry barriers. Then, it investigates whether variations in performance can be explained by FDI. It finds that FDI firms have higher TFP but lower markups than local firms, with significant variations across sub-service sectors.


2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (9) ◽  
pp. 974-994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel I. Prajogo ◽  
Adegoke Oke

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of human capital (HC) on service innovation advantage (SIA) and business performance (BP) in service sector firms, and how external environmental factors influence these relationships. Design/methodology/approach This study utilized a cross-sectional mail survey of a random sample of Australian service firms with the unit of analysis being at the firm level. In total, 228 usable responses were received. Findings The overall findings of this study show that HC is positively related to the creation of value or SIA which in turn results in rent generation for firms. The results further show that the effect of SIA on BP is influenced by environmental dynamism and competitiveness with dynamic environments enhancing the effect while competitive environments weakening it. Research limitations/implications The findings demonstrate the complementarity between the resource based theory and contingency theory as they clearly shows that the value of innovation as a firm’s capability is enhanced or weakened within a business environment that is more dynamic or competitive. Practical implications The findings demonstrate the importance of HC, and, thus, encourage managers to seek ways to harness and leverage HC for improving innovation and BP. In addition, the study also helps managers to understand the contingency effect of business environment on the effectiveness of innovation, hence, helping them in deliberating firms’ strategy in different business environments. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study which examines the effectiveness of HC as organizational resource for building SIA as a source of organizational competitive advantage.


Author(s):  
Le Thi Hai Ha ◽  

Service quality and customer switching behavior are among the most important factors that affect service firms’ market share and profitability, yet they remain understudied in Vietnam’s service sectors. This study surveys 343 customers who using service of bank in Hanoi to explore the perceived importance of customer switching behavior in banking service sector. By using seceral statistical analytical tools, i.e. descriptive statistics, Independent T-test and Anova; the study identifies the following: There is, statistically, significant difference in the level of customer’s switching behavior towards banking service providers in Hanoi from these different gender, age, Academic standard and income. Based on the findings, some recommendations are given for banks in Hanoi to improve the quality service and loyalty of customers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 732-746 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dragana Radicic

Abstract Most quantitative evaluations report positive but small effects of supply-side innovation measures. Although the literature suggests that demand-side measures, in particular, public procurement of innovation, might be more effective in stimulating innovation than supply-side measures, empirical evidence on this proposition is scarce. To empirically test this proposition, we utilize the Eurobarometer 2014 survey to estimate the effects from public procurement of innovation as well as from the supply-side innovation measures on product and process innovations in manufacturing and service firms in the USA and Europe. Our findings suggest that the treatment effects of public procurement of innovation are indeed larger than the effects of supply-side public support on product innovation in both manufacturing and service sectors. This finding also holds for process innovation, but only in the service sector. In contrast, in manufacturing firms, the estimated effects on process innovation are only positive and significant in firms receiving public support.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (52) ◽  
pp. 81-95
Author(s):  
Andrzej Cieślik ◽  
Jan Jakub Michałek ◽  
Iryna Gauger

Abstract The main goal of this paper is to empirically investigate the regional dimension of productivity determinants for 24 regions of Ukraine using micro-level dataset for individual firms in 2013. The novelty of our analysis is the comparison of the determinants of productivity in the manufacturing and service sectors. We estimate both pooled regressions for all regions and separate regressions for particular regions. The estimation results obtained for the entire country demonstrate that the majority of our explanatory variables are statistically significant for the manufacturing sector and all are statistically significant for the service sector although at different levels of significance. At the same time, the estimation results obtained separately for each region show a large degree of heterogeneity across the regions and sectors and the lack of scale economies at the firm-level.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-207
Author(s):  
Walentyna Kwiatkowska

The role of the service sector in the economy is increasing in the process of socio-economic development. This tendency has been confirmed and explained by the three-sector theory formulated by A.G.B. Fisher, C. Clark, and J. Fourastie. The main goal of the paper is to show development tendencies in service sectors in Poland and the EU countries and assess them in view of the three-sector theory. The share of the service sector in the total employment and in the total gross value added in the years 2005-2013/2014 will be analysed together with two sub-sectors including market and non-market services. The research shows that the share of the service sector in total employment and total gross value added has been recently increasing in Poland as well as in other EU countries, but there is a gap in this process between Poland and the most developed EU countries. Moreover, in Poland, the role of market services has been recently increasing much faster than the role of non-market services. 


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sajjad Ahmad Afridi ◽  
Asad Shahjehan ◽  
Maqsood Haider ◽  
Dr Uzma Munawar

This study examined the impact of employee empathy on customers’ advocacy directly and indirectly through customers’ loyalty. Moreover, the interacting effect of customers’ trust was verified between the association of customers’ loyalty and advocacy. The attributes of the proposed model were examined in the context of first line employee and patients’ interactions. A total of 220 responses were collected for analysis from the private hospitals of Peshawar. The model fitness was confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis and hypotheses were examined. Findings confirmed the positive and significant impact of employee empathy on customers’ advocacy. Further, the mediating effect was examined and found that loyalty partially mediates employee empathy and customers’ advocacy. Additionally, trust was found a significant moderator between the association of customer loyalty and advocacy. Furthermore, findings revealed that trust based loyalty significantly and positively mediates employee empathy and customers’ advocacy. Findings of the present study provide understanding for the service sector, particularly in healthcare, to enhance customers’ loyalty, advocacy, and trust through service employee’s empathic aptitude. Keywords: Employee empathy, Service Eco-system, Customers’ Loyalty, Customers’ Advocacy, Trust-Based Loyalty, Healthcare, S-D Logic


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 514-535
Author(s):  
Huei-Wen Pao ◽  
Cheng-Yu Lee ◽  
Pi-Hui Chung ◽  
Hsueh-Liang Wu

Purpose The industry-wide adoption of a novel practice is often considered to be an institutional change. Although research on institutionalization has been accumulating, how and why embedded actors in the field become motivated to embrace change that remains sidelined. Viewing the introduction of a new human resource management practice, the recruitment of non-compulsory certified manpower, which is still in its infancy in the service sector of Taiwan, as a new institution, the purpose of this paper is to identify the distinct motives behind firms’ hiring decisions, and examine the extent to which such hiring decisions are contingent on institutional conditions and firm attributes. Design/methodology/approach The data used to test the hypotheses were drawn from a survey on service firms in Taiwan in the second half of 2011. Hypotheses were examined through moderated hierarchical regression analyses in a sample of 254 Taiwanese service firms across major sectors. Findings Integrating the resource dependency and social contagion views, the study contends that resource scarcity drives, or legitimacy enables, service firms to deviate from traditional hiring patterns and instead adopt new preferences toward certified manpower. The study not only shows that social factors should be incorporated into the diffusion of a new HR recruitment practice in the service sector, which is traditionally based upon economic considerations, but also sheds light on the context-dependent nature of the process of institutional innovation. Originality/value This study is an attempt not only to test a dual-theoretical model on the extent to which a service firm’s new hiring pattern is influenced by two distinct types of motivation, but also to evidence how an institutional innovation, in terms of the regime of service manpower certification, takes root and spreads in the field. The managerially discretional account of the resource dependence theory needs to be reconciled with social contagion theory, which highlights the influence of collective actions and so provides a better understanding of the diffusion of new HR recruitment practices in the service industry.


2011 ◽  
Vol 467-469 ◽  
pp. 1006-1011
Author(s):  
Ming Yuan Hsieh ◽  
Chung Hsing Huang ◽  
Wen Ming Wu

Beginning in the 21st century, e-business enterprises need to take vigorous tactics in facing greater challenges in a booming cyber commerce era. In today’s e-business environment, innovative interface technologies change with each passing day, customers’ (users’) satisfaction are more and more discerning, and market demands can fluctuate unpredictably. While facing constant changes in the lower-profit and high customer-service cyber commerce environment, it is important to know how to break through the current Information Technology (IT) industrial situation, maintain the enterprises’ owned advantage and continuously make a profit under a booming transition. In this research, nineteen sub-criteria are categorized into five factors (criteria) by the measurement of factor analysis. Three basic types of innovative business websites (portals, cyber commerce and social community) in an e-business environment are then evaluated by nineteen assessable criteria of five characteristics of innovation interface technology through the use of the Analytical Network Process (ANP) approach. The specific feature of the ANP model is to establish a pairwise comparative matrix and furthermore, to calculate the priority vector weights (eigenvector) of each assessable characteristic, criteria and sub-criteria. The factor analysis can utilize more measure matrix to benefit the deviation of ANP approach due to less data from expert’s opinions. Additionally, in the content, the analytical hierarchical relations are definitely expressed in four levels among each characteristic of innovative interface technology (IIT), criterion and sub-criteria. Moreover, based on the empirical analysis, the enterprises are able to choose the best potential business website with highest economic value added (EVA) through this research in order to maximize financial profits and benefits from an innovative perspective. Finally, some suggestions for managers and researchers are inductively formed to further determine the best development of innovative interface technologies in a thriving cyber commerce environment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasaki Dauda ◽  
Omowumi Ajeigbe

This study assessed employment intensity of growth (EIG) in the agriculture, industry and service sectors in Nigeria from 1991 to 2019 within the context of Okun’s theory/law. Data from the 2020 World Development Indicators were employed for analysis, using elasticity procedure after decomposing the scope into different periods and regimes. The findings showed negative EIG in the agriculture and industrial sectors while the service sector returned positive EIG. Therefore, government should invest significantly in the service sector while the agricultural sector should be mechanized to boost output and supply of raw materials to industries to enhance employment generation.


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