Cross-border e-commerce as a foreign market entry mode among SMEs: the relationship between export capabilities and performance

Purpose Although cross-border e-commerce has become increasingly popular among small and medium-sized enterprises as a foreign market entry mode, research on the determinants of its success is scarce. Drawing on the resource-based view, this study aims to examine the relationship between a firm’s information technology, international marketing and export operations capabilities and its cross-border e-commerce strategic and financial performance. Design/methodology/approach Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze data from a sample of Italian exporters in the food and beverage industry. Findings The results highlight the mixed effects of information technology, international marketing and export operations capabilities on both e-commerce strategic and financial performance. Moreover, the use of third-party e-commerce platforms reduces the effect of exporters’ information technology capabilities on their e-commerce financial performance. Research limitations/implications The majority of exporters in this study had implemented cross-border e-commerce only recently; hence, longitudinal data on the success factors of e-commerce are not available. Practical implications While cross-border e-commerce may work as an accelerator of the overall export performance, export managers are urged to approach it strategically with a clear medium-term view to develop the required capabilities. Originality/value This study was one of the first to examine the drivers of small and medium-sized exporters’ cross-border e-commerce performance. Moreover, unlike most previous analyzes, it focused on e-commerce as a foreign market entry mode rather than a supplement to offline exporting activities.

Three Emerging Innovative Technologies Required for Cyber Operations to Execute Commander’s Intent at Machine Speed

Decision advantage for the DoD and Combined Cyber Operations results from the secure, seamless, and rapid maneuver of data and information. In the DoD’s 2018 Artificial Intelligence Strategy, the DoD recognized that it must, “put in place key building blocks and platforms to scale and democratize access to AI. This includes creating a common foundation of shared data, reusable tools, frameworks and standards, and cloud and edge services.” More than ever, integrated, adaptive cyber operations provide the means of maneuver for data to enable DoD’s decision advantage-based goals. To support this vision, the integrated implementation three innovative cyber technologies must be rapidly realized across DoD Networks in order to execute cyber operations according to Commander’s Intent—at machine speed. Getting Information to the “edge” is what makes DoD competitive and provides advantage. The word “edge” in this context reflects the distributed individual platforms, sensors, and people who comprise the scale and scope of today’s globally networked DoD operations. That edge is creating the demand to access data and consume information as never before, and a greater need for more innovation to support DoD cyber operations on the DoD Information Network (DODIN). At the heart of the need for innovation is an increased demand for data and information, as well as the size and scale of networks and networking exploding without a proportionate growth in the IT resources to support today’s cyber operational demand. If the network continues to grow exponentially and must function as the medium of maneuver for the data that provides DoD decision advantage to the edge, then the DoD must deploy revolutionary innovations to reinvent the network as an integrated platform for cyber operations—across the enterprise and to the edge and implemented natively as hybrid multicloud-ready. Three innovative, next-generation networking technologies, integrated tightly together, offer the opportunity for DoD to provide revolutionary cyber operations capabilities across the DODIN and produce improved, data-enabled mission results. The scalable and seamless integration of: (1) advanced identity management, (2) software-defined networking, and (3) hybrid multicloud capabilities provides a Commander’s Intent-driven Cyber Platform implemented in a zero trust architecture that operates at machine speed and ensures decision advantage for the DoD.

Evaluation of critical operations capabilities for competitive manufacturing in a high-cost environment

Purpose To survive in a competitive landscape, companies are required to identify, develop and continuously improve upon the operations capabilities that have the greatest impact on the overall competitiveness. This paper aims to evaluate critical operations capabilities for competitive manufacturing in a high-cost environment. Design/methodology/approach Critical operations capabilities for competitive manufacturing were extracted in a literature review and then evaluated from the perspective of a high-cost environment in a focus group study. The focus group included a quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (discussion) evaluation of the extracted critical operations capabilities. Findings The empirical findings revealed that all the capabilities identified in the literature review are considered critical in a high-cost environment, albeit with varying emphasis. Companies located in a high-cost environment tend to emphasize a broad set of capabilities related to quality, cost, time, flexibility and innovation rather than only cost-related capabilities. Research limitations/implications The research is based on a focus group that was limited to 14 representatives from five Swedish manufacturing companies. This can reveal some limitations with regard to the generalizability of the conclusions drawn. Hence, this research should be considered as an initial step in gaining a more in-depth and complete understanding of the research topic under investigation. Practical implications The research outcome enables managers to design their operations strategy more systematically and effectively, to be consistent with their targeted capabilities. The operations capabilities are important for both the company’s competitiveness and its future direction. Originality/value The paper presents an updated understanding of how companies achieved a competitive advantage in a specific manufacturing environment such as a high-cost context. It additionally provides an overview of what capabilities are developed for implementing successful operations strategies.

Operations strategy of cloud-based firms: achieving firm growth in the Big Data era

Purpose Cloud computing is a major enabling technology for Industry 4.0 and the Big Data era. However, cloud-based firms, who establish their businesses on cloud platforms, have received scant attention in the extant operations management (OM) literature. To narrow this gap, the purpose of this paper is to investigate cloud-based firms from an operations strategy perspective. Design/methodology/approach A two-phase multi-method approach was adopted. In the first phase, content analysis of 27 reports from cloud-based firms was conducted, aided by text mining keyword extraction. Two data-related operations capabilities were identified and hypotheses were posited regarding the relationships between data resources (DR), operations capabilities and firm growth (FG). In the second phase, a sample of 190 cloud-based firms was collected. Seemingly unrelated regression and bootstrapping method were employed to test the proposed hypotheses using the survey data. Findings The content analysis indicates data as a key resource and both data processing capability and data transformational capability as critical operations capabilities of cloud-based firms. FG is regarded as a top priority in the cloud context. The regression results indicate that DR and the two capabilities contribute to the growth of cloud-based firms. Moreover, a follow-up bootstrapping analysis reveals that the mediating effects of the two capabilities vary between different types of FG. Originality/value To the authors’ best knowledge, this is one of the first OM studies on cloud-based firms. This study extends the operations strategy literature by identifying and testing the key operations capabilities and priorities of cloud-based firms. It also provides insightful implications for industrial practitioners.

Information sharing, operations capabilities, market intelligence responsiveness and firm performance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer an alternative explanation for inconclusive results in the existing literature on the information sharing-firm performance link by examining a moderated mediation model in which operations capabilities mediate the interactive effects of information sharing and market intelligence responsiveness on firm performance within a supply chain context. Drawing on the indirect view of dynamic capability theory, the authors propose that information sharing redeploys and reconfigures operations capabilities, thus leading to superior firm performance, even with a high level of market intelligence responsiveness. Design/methodology/approach The hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression and bootstrapping methods with a sample of 154 Chinese manufacturing firms. A survey-based, two-informant design was used to collect data. Findings The results revealed that operations capabilities fully mediate the relationship between information sharing and firm performance. The information sharing-operations capabilities link is positively moderated by market intelligence responsiveness. Moreover, operations capabilities positively mediate the interactive effects of information sharing and responsiveness on performance. Originality/value The study shifts the research focus from the moderating effect of market intelligence responsiveness in the information sharing-performance link to the interactive effects between information sharing and responsiveness on performance via operations capabilities, thus offering a finer-grained picture of the essential information sharing-performance link. To the best of our knowledge, this study is among the first to advocate and substantiate the theoretical claim that even with a high level of responsiveness, a firm’s performance relies on its operations capabilities, which are renewed and enhanced by information sharing, rather than on information sharing itself.

Firm capabilities and performance: a necessary condition analysis

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to employ a necessary condition analysis (NCA) approach to investigate the level of necessity of two conditions, marketing capability, including responsiveness to customers, responsiveness to competitors, responsiveness to the macro environment, and business relationship quality, and innovativeness capability for firm performance. Design/methodology/approach Using a survey data set collected from a sample of 311 Vietnamese firms, this study explored the levels of necessity of the components of marketing capability and innovativeness capability by NCA. The study also tested the net effects of these components on firm performance by multiple regression analysis (MRA). Findings The MRA results reveal that except for responsiveness to the macro environment, other components of marketing capability and innovativeness capability have positive effects on firm performance. Further, firm size affects performance but industry types do not. The NCA results indicate that these conditions exhibit different levels of necessity for the occurrence of firm performance. Research limitations/implications A major limitation of this study is the exploration of necessary levels of only two key firm capabilities, i.e., marketing and innovativeness. Several other capabilities, such as, research and development, operations capabilities, and other market-based assets should be investigated in future research. Practical implications The findings suggest that firms should pay attention not only to the net effects (β weights) but also to the levels of necessity of firm capabilities for their target outcome. Originality/value This study is among first studies investigating the levels of necessity of marketing capability and innovativeness capability for firm performance.

Military Logistics in Natural Disasters: The Use of the NATO Response Force in Assistance to the Pakistan Earthquake Relief Efforts

The main argument of this paper is that the logistical structures of rapid reaction forces offer great dual-use potential. It means they may be used in military operations other than war (MOOTW), such as civil defence or humanitarian assistance. The theoretical model of Haas, Kates and Bowden (1977) is presented in order to defend this argument, as it indicates the utility of intense military actions in the very first moments following a natural disaster due to their ability to rapidly respond in hard-to-access areas. The NATO Response Force humanitarian operation launched to assist the Pakistani government after a major earthquake in 2005 is presented as a practical example. The text concludes by arguing that the dual-use potential of military logistics is an important way to justify the high financial costs of rapid response forces in times of defence budget constraints while also providing other than war operations capabilities, such as civil defence support.