How does Outward Foreign Direct Investment Affect Enterprise Green Technology Innovation? — Based on the Moderating effect of Resources

with the increasing strict environmental regulations in the green transition process, outward foreign direct investment is considered to be an effective approach to promote enterprises’ green technology innovation. Thus, this paper establishes a comprehensive research framework that integrates OFDI and green technology innovation from the micro level of the enterprise to analyze it. The findings show that: First, OFDI will positively affect corporate green-tech innovation as expected; Government subsidies have a U-shaped regulation on the relation between OFDI and green-tech innovation; Absorbed slack plays an inverted U-shaped moderating effect on the relation between OFDI and green-tech innovation, and the unabsorbed slack positively affect this process. As for the heterogeneity of property rights, the test results of non-state-owned enterprises and state-owned enterprises are basically consistent with the baseline results, except for the following two points: the unabsorbed slack of state-owned enterprises has no regulatory effect between OFDI and enterprise green technology innovation, and the absorbed slack of non-state-owned enterprises has no regulatory effect between OFDI and enterprise green technology innovation.

Does Slack Buffer? Market Performance after Environmental Shock

Slack is a resource held by a firm but exceeds its needs. It is crucial for a firm to raise more attention on slack when facing environmental shocks, which are one of the causes of unsustainability. Based on agency theory and behavioral theory, this paper analyzes the buffer effect of slack on market performance under different periods and degrees of environmental shocks. Taking two major earthquakes that occurred in China as the natural experimental background and the listed firms in hit areas as the sample, we find that environmental shock is exposed to acts as a positive contingency for the impact of unabsorbed slack on market performance, and as a negative contingency for absorbed slack’s effect. The severity of environmental shock promotes the unabsorbed slack to act as a buffer in the immediate post-shock period and absorbed slack in the during-shock period. These findings contribute to answering the question of how to configure slack to protect firms and even achieve sustainable development when facing environmental shock.

Executives’ Environmental Awareness and Eco-Innovation: An Attention-Based View

Eco-innovation is conducive to reducing the costs and impacts on the environment. Meanwhile, executives play an important role in the whole process of enterprise innovation. However, it is unclear whether and to what extent executives’ environmental awareness (EA) affects eco-innovation (EI). Based on the attention-based view, this study discussed the mediating effect of resource flexibility (RF) on the impact of EA on EI and explored the moderating effect of unabsorbed slack resources (USRs). Using surveys collected from 162 Chinese manufacturing firms, we found that (1) EA has a positive impact on EI; (2) RF partially mediates the relationship between EA and eco-management innovation (EMI) and EA and eco-product innovation (EPI); and (3) the effect of EA on EPI weakens with the level of USRs, but the effect of EA on EMI is not affected by the level of USRs. From the perspective of managers’ attention, this study not only enriches the main drivers of eco-innovation but also provides a theoretical and practical framework for the promotion and development of eco-innovation in China.

External technology acquisition, exploitation and process innovation performance in emerging market small and medium sized enterprises: the moderating role of organizational slack

PurposeThis study is among the very few to examine the firm's simultaneous use of both dimensions of open innovation and its influences on the firm's process innovation performance (PIP). Specifically, the authors consider the relationship between firm's external technology acquisition (ETA) and external technology exploitation (ETE) and examine their direct, indirect and mediating effect on the firm's PIP. The authors also examine the moderating effect of the organizations' unabsorbed slack (UASL) on the relationship between ETA and ETE.Design/methodology/approachAnalyzing data collected from 311 small- and medium-sized software development firms in emerging market; Thailand, we show that both ETA and ETE have a positive effect on PIP and that ETE fully mediates the relationship between ETA and PIP.FindingsThe authors show that both ETA and ETE have a positive effect on PIP and that ETE fully mediates the relationship between ETA and PIP. Moreover, the relationship between ETA and ETE is positively moderated by the firms' unabsorbed slack (UASL) and that the influence of ETA on PIP through ETE is stronger under higher unabsorbed slack.Originality/valueThe authors extend the “traditional” performance outcome of outbound dimension of open innovation concept, which focuses exclusively on commercialization and market (Chesbrough, 2003b), by showing that ETE positively influences the firm's PIP. Moreover, the study explains the mechanism through which ETA influence the firm's PIP by proposing that ETE fully mediates the relationship between ETA and PIP.

Attainment Discrepancy Level, Firm Resources Slack, and Sticky Cost

The aim of this study is to further develop the behavioral theory of the firm into the context of sticky cost research. The company’s actions in managing resources can be explained through the concept of attainment discrepancy level and resource slack in the behavioral theory of the firm explaining the company’s sticky costs. This study also examines the effect of attainment discrepancy levels, both historical and social, on cost behavior between slack dimensions and overall slack. To examine it, this study used 2,416 observations data from 302 companies listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange during 2009-2017. Using Eviews 10, the estimation results of the regression model based on HAC find that the attainment of discrepancy level and resource slack affects sticky costs. Specifically, this study found that historical attainment discrepancy level causes sticky cost behavior to decrease, whereas social attainment discrepancy level increases cost behavior to become more sticky cost. The effect of resource slack on sticky cost behavior is reduced, both for each slack dimension and for the overall slack. Furthermore, the results show that the existence of certain types of slack, namely unabsorbed slack, increases the company’s sticky cost behavior when it is associated with historical attainment discrepancy levels. To sum up, these results indicate that the firm makes internal business processes as the focus of attention in managing the company’s resources. As a consequence, this situation can be used as an alternative explanation for the company’s asymmetric cost behavior.

The Relationship between Slack Resources, Resource Bricolage, and Entrepreneurial Opportunity Identification—Based on Resource Opportunity Perspective

There are a lot of slack resources in a company. It is vitally important for an enterprise to use slack resources to identify entrepreneurial opportunities to establish company sustainable development. On the basis of the resource orchestration theory and from resource-opportunity perspective, this paper constructs a framework of slack resources and entrepreneurial opportunity identification, exploring the mediating of resource bricolage, the moderating of network ties, and the moderated mediation of network ties. In our analyses, we used data from companies in eastern China, and statistical hypotheses were validated through a structural equation model with data using the statistical software Amos version 20, SPSS version 22. The research results show that: (1) Absorbed slack resources and unabsorbed slack resources have a positive impact on entrepreneurial opportunity identification. (2) Slack resources indirectly affect the opportunity identification through the mediating role of resource bricolage. Among them, resource bricolage has a fully mediating role between absorbed slack resources and entrepreneurial opportunity identification, and it has a partial mediating role between unabsorbed slack resources and entrepreneurial opportunity identification. (3) Business ties positively moderate the relationship between two types of slack resources and entrepreneurial opportunity identification, and business ties moderate the mediation effect of resource bricolage. The resource-opportunity perspective answers how decisions are made, and the entire model process answers how to create sustainable value (entrepreneurship opportunities). The study guides managers on how to integrate and use external and internal resources, coordinate resource elements, and identify profitable business opportunities.

Internationalization, Strategic Slack Resources, and Firm Performance: The Case Study of Vietnamese Enterprises

The study attempted to fill a gap in the research on international business by providing fresh evidence of the effect of the degree of internationalization on firm performance and the influence of organizational slack on this relationship. By applying a fixed-effects model to data from 569,767 Vietnamese enterprises from 2007 to 2015, a significant W-shaped linkage between internationalization and firm performance was revealed. Importantly, the results also emphasized the importance of three types of slack in the first stage of the internationalization process: absorbed slack human resources, other absorbed slack resources, and unabsorbed slack resources.

The Formation and Effects of Exploitative Dynamic Capabilities and Explorative Dynamic Capabilities: An Empirical Study

Although previous studies have explored the formation and effects of dynamic capabilities, much remains to be learned on this topic. There has been little research on the formation and effects of exploitative dynamic capabilities and explorative dynamic capabilities. This paper provides an explanation of how entrepreneurial leadership style and slack resources affect the formation of exploitive dynamic capabilities and explorative dynamic capabilities and evaluates the effects of exploitive dynamic capabilities and explorative dynamic capabilities on competitive advantage. Based on a sample of 382 Chinese firms, the empirical results show that a transactional leadership style and absorbed slack resources can encourage the formation of exploitative dynamic capabilities, and that a transformational leadership style and unabsorbed slack resources are conducive to the development of explorative dynamic capabilities. Furthermore, exploitative dynamic capabilities and explorative dynamic capabilities can reinforce and complement each other. Exploitative dynamic capabilities positively impact explorative dynamic capabilities, and explorative dynamic capabilities enhance exploitative dynamic capabilities. In particular, exploitative dynamic capabilities have an important effect on short-term financial performance, and explorative dynamic capabilities lead to a significant long-term competitive advantage. The results show that explorative dynamic capabilities surpass exploitative dynamic capabilities in terms of competitive advantage, even if both have a positive influence on competitive advantage. This study validates and develops the theory of dynamic capabilities.

The Effect of Slack Resources on Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Empirical Evidence on Indonesian Listed Companies

Objective - This study examines the effect of companies' slack resources on strategic Corporate Social Responsibility ('CSR') and also non-strategic CSR. By analysing the slack resources as a determinant of CSR, it might indicate the companies' priority regarding their strategic CSR as part of companies' strategy. Methodology/Technique - Instead of using profitability as a measure of slack resources, this study employs slack resources as a variable itself as it was developed by Burgeois (1981), based on financial data in the companies' financial statements. Findings - The empirical result of this study indicates that un-absorbed slack resources positively affect the strategic CSR and also non-strategic CSR of a company, while absorbed slack resources do not significantly affect either. Novelty - Unlike previous studies, this study does not use profitability as a proxy of slack resources, but uses slack resources as a variable itself. Type of Paper - Empirical Keywords: Slack Resources; Corporate Social Responsibility; Strategic CSR; Nonstrategic CSR; Slack Resources; Absorbed Slack Resources; Unabsorbed Slack Resources.