АНАЛІЗ КОНКУРЕНТОСПРОМОЖНОСТІ МАЛИХ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ НА ПРИКЛАДІ ТОВ «МЕДІГРАН»

The article is an attempt to provide argument towards the need to rethink changes in the management framework of a business entity associated primarily with modern manifestations of competition and the lack of an effective competitive environment, as well as weak competitive edge and poor innovation capacity. Based on the Medigran company, the study explores key stages of competitiveness development in small businesses along with suggesting the following successive development phases: basic financial planning, forecast-based planning, planning focused on the external environment, strategic management, company internal monitoring. The hypothesis of the study is to offer insights and evaluate competitiveness development stages as well as efforts to its enhancing subject to the external and internal environment specifics. The purpose of the study is to explore the nature and assess the Medigran competitiveness, and to identify its core advantages to gain the company competitiveness in modern business settings. An in-depth analysis of management practices has enabled to identify an effective tool to manage the Medigran’s competitiveness based on the use of a situational approach. It is argued that successful implementation of administrative technologies in the context of strategic management of the company competitiveness, sales boosting policies, developing technical support, and creating competitive advantages will ultimately provide a synergistic effect. The findings demonstrate that to gain sustainable competitive advantages, it is critical to identify their priority sources, create promising opportunities, add value and build new fundamental competencies, as well as employ benchmarking, overcome organizational inertia, timely detect and update outdated knowledge, skills and processes.

Creating firm value, overcoming organizational inertia through the marketing value chain

PurposeTechnology may produce disruptive changes and market turbulence in any industry. Organizational inertia becomes relevant as a factor that adversely affects organizational transformation; this study aims to examine how to overcome it and its consequences to firms.Design/methodology/approachThe model estimation with seemingly unrelated regression and two-stage least square. The authors build a data set of years 2015–2019 from the Lima Stock Exchange firms to test the hypotheses.FindingsIn this research, using the evolutionary-ecological theory of Hannan and Freeman, the study shows the consequences of organizational inertia on marketing intensity and subsequently on firms' financial results.Originality/valueThis study presents an inter-functional model that links organizational behavior, marketing and finance functions, through the marketing value chain to overcome organizational inertia and create firm value.

How and when economic policy uncertainty influences firms' strategic change: the role of CEO turnover and organizational inertia

PurposeMany studies have examined the antecedents of firms' strategic change on a micro and meso level, but few studies have explored it from the macrolevel (e.g. economic policy uncertainty) perspective. This research draws attention to the impact of economic policy uncertainty on firms' strategic change.Design/methodology/approachThis research empirically tests hypotheses based on a sample of listed firms in China during the period between 2010 and 2017.FindingsBased on real options theory, the authors theorize and find that economic policy uncertainty will negatively affect firms' strategic change through the mediating effect of CEO turnover. Moreover, organizational inertia will strengthen the negative impact of economic policy uncertainty on CEO turnover and will weaken the positive impact of CEO turnover on firms' strategic change.Originality/valueFirst, this research contributes to the strategic change literature by demonstrating the important impact of economic policy uncertainty on firms' strategic change. Second, this research expands the literature on the economic consequences of economic policy uncertainty. Third, this research clarifies the path and boundary conditions of economic policy uncertainty affecting strategic change by introducing the mediating effects of CEO turnover and the moderating effects of organizational inertia.

Does Entrepreneurial Orientation Lead to Successful Sustainable Innovation? The Evidence from Chinese Environmentally Friendly Companies

This research examines the linkage between entrepreneurial orientation and sustainable innovation. Research shows that the effects of entrepreneurial orientation on the exploitation and exploration of sustainable innovation are significantly positive, whereby absorptive capacity acts in a significant mediating role. The interaction between entrepreneurial orientation and absorptive capacity helps organizations overcome organizational inertia and strengthen the sustainability of innovation. By introducing the absorptive capacity theory and the view of organizational inertia, we have conducted empirical research on 392 Chinese environmentally friendly companies that have passed China’s national high-tech enterprise certification. We verified the relevant hypotheses in our framework in a structural model analysis using Mplus. To further look at the interaction terms of potential and realized absorptive capacity, we used PROCESS in SPSS to evaluate the conditional effects of absorptive capacity on coefficient paths between entrepreneurial orientation and the two types of innovation. The results show that entrepreneurial orientation improves the absorptive capacity of organizations, thereby promoting their sustainable innovation. Furthermore, based on the theory of sustainable innovation, we proved the positive impact of realized and potential absorptive capacity on the exploitation and exploration of sustainable innovation. Organizations could balance exploitation and exploration to implement sustainable innovation by adjusting their potential and realized absorptive capacities. Our results can help environmentally friendly organizations adjust the combination of entrepreneurial orientation and absorptive capacity to overcome organizational inertia, manage exploitation and exploration, and implement sustainable innovation.

Organizational Structure and Artificial Intelligence. Modeling the Intraorganizational Response to the AI Contingency

Different and profound are the consequences of the further development of artificial intelligence (AI) on society. One of the manifestations of the upcoming changes is the plethora of novel ways in which companies may organize labor and capital. So far, the influence of AI on organizational structure has been mainly studied from either a technological or a broader decision-making perspective. Our paper provides a unique take on the topic, emphasizing the distinctive role of human agency and its function in the upcoming AI-driven organizational changes. Relying on the existing academic literature, we theorized a set of hypotheses concerning best fits to the AI contingency on both macro and meso-organizational levels. To test whether the hypothesized changes might encounter organizational inertia or resistance from jobholders, multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was applied to the online survey results. Four types of current and potential jobholders were distinguished according to their explicit attitudes towards hypothesized organizational changes: skeptics, doubtful skeptics, optimists, and doubtful optimists, the latter consisting primarily of emerging adults. Finally, we developed a model of intraorganizational response to the AI contingency based on four theoretical groups of individuals, as determined by the analysis. Our findings showed doubtful optimists to be the most important group, able to set organizational trends and positively influence skeptics and doubtful skeptics. Accordingly, promoters of AI-driven organizational changes are advised to design their communication efforts around emerging adults. As the survey was conducted amid the COVID-19 pandemic, its sociological and managerial implications are relevant to the looming reality of the postpandemic world.

Turning disruption into growth opportunity: the red team strategy

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a broadened and integrated red team strategy with concrete steps to help companies better deal with the disruptive forces prevalent in the world today and turn disruptions into growth. Design/methodology/approach This paper synthesizes and builds on previous research and relevant business cases accumulated through our research and executive teaching experience. The authors offer a broadened and integrated red team strategy with practical guidance for business executives Findings The authors provide four key steps to help companies implement the red team strategy: create a red team culture and encourage diverse perspectives; establish an independent red team to overcome organizational inertia; use the red team to embrace disruption and growth opportunities; and take a milestone approach to red team execution and resource allocation. Research limitations/implications More research on red team strategy is needed to delve into the underlying factors and delineate the boundary conditions for specific details in this strategy and implementation. Practical implications The red team strategy provides concrete steps to help companies in their efforts to adapt to and capitalize on disruptive forces. Originality/value The red team strategy extends the concept and application of red teams and integrates previously fragmented ideas and practices into a systematic model with simple steps, which make it easier for companies to cope with disruption.

Learning from rivals: the memory-inconsistent strategy

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the role of competitive memory that assists the new ventures to overcome challenges due to the liability of newness in the strategic adaptation stage.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper. Through a critical literature review on new venture survival and organizational memory, the authors identified the possibility for new ventures to learn from other firms from organizational learning and resource-based perspectives.FindingsThe authors found that new ventures can acquire and analyze the existing rivals' strategic moves documented in multiple sources, such as published yearbook, financial report, media, etc., and develop their own strategies. New ventures can also benefit from the relatively high degree of organizational inertia of existing rivals.Practical implicationsNew venture survival and performance are substantially affected by the initial organizational learning and strategic decision-making. Applying the memory-inconsistent strategy (MIS), new ventures that lack competitive experiences can learn from their rivals by internalizing the rivals' competitive memory as strategic resources and utilizing such resources to develop a competitive strategy.Originality/valueNew venture research in competitive markets focuses on the challenges and difficulties due to the lack of experiences, neglecting the fact that new ventures can learn from competitive memories of existing rivals. However, the lack of competitive experiences also means a lower degree of organizational inertia and other strategic commitments. The authors introduce the MIS and suggest that new ventures can benefit from strategic flexibility and create a temporary competitive advantage by surprising existing firms.

Procurement 4.0 to the rescue: catalysing its adoption by modelling the challenges

PurposeThe pandemic crisis has resulted in global chaos that had caused massive disruption to the supply chain. The pharmaceutical industry, in particular, has been working tirelessly to ensure that they can cater to the people who need them. With restrictions being imposed to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the movement of raw materials required has been affected, thus creating the need for the procurement function to be innovative. This study proposes the application of Industry 4.0 concepts into the procurement activities of an organization to make it more resilient and efficient.Design/methodology/approachTo study the intensity of the challenges, Total Interpretive Structural Modelling is used alongside the “Matrice des Impacts Croises Multiplication Appliquee a un Classement” (MICMAC) technique.FindingsResilience can be achieved through the collaboration between the organization and its network of suppliers. This is however easier said than done. High and unclear investments have been identified as the challenge that is taking a toll on all technological investments in the pandemic era. The study also shows that organizational inertia which is present in established and structured firms are a deterrent as well.Originality/valueThis study is based on the application of procurement 4.0 to ensure that pharmaceutical supply chains stay least affected since they are essentials. This study using a multi-criteria decision-making approach to prioritize the challenges. This will help practitioners make decisions faster.