اجزای تشکیل دهنده شایستگی های اصلی و عملکرد شرکت : شواهدی از شرکت های فن آوری پیشرفته در چین

This paper, unlike previous studies, focuses on the decomposition of impacts of core competencies on firm performance and the moderating effects of environmental turbulence on the basis of developing structural equation models using the partial least square (PLS) method. By taking a disaggregated approach, the decomposed effects of core competencies on firm performance are examined and the relative influences of all three major constituents of core competencies, marketing competencies, technological competencies and integrative competencies, are studied. Furthermore, this approach helps to avoid the so-called “pitfall” of being vague, tautological, endlessly recursive, and non-operational, for which some studies based on a resource-based view have been criticized. All three constituents are found to have significant influences on firm performance. And these relationships are moderated significantly by environmental turbulence such as market turbulence and technological turbulence, except that market turbulence is found to have no significant moderating effect on the relationship between integrative competencies and firm performance.

With the increasingly dynamic and turbulent nature of competition, there is a strong tendency to understand firms in terms of the efficient use of unique capabilities that create sustained performance differentials within industries. This makes the development of more effective methods for managing knowledge and other intangible resources a central concern of contemporary strategic management. Consequently, the resource-based view and related contributions have won increasing attention from both academic and practical circles (Wernerfelt and Montgomery, 1988, Prahalad and Hamel, 1990, Snow and Hrebiniak, 1980, Durand, 1999, Barney, 1986, Barney, 1991, Teece et al., 1997, King and Zeithaml, 2001, Duysters and Hagedoorn, 2000 and Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000). However, few empirical studies have tried to differentiate the various sources of superior firm performance in terms of different elements of core competencies, and the relationships between major constituents of core competencies and firm performance need more extensive in-depth studies. In fact, few empirical studies can be found that examine the major constituents of core competencies and their differentiated influences on overall firm performance that integrates the perspectives of finance, marketing and internal processes. Furthermore, relationships among core competencies, environmental turbulence and firm performance remain an unresolved conundrum, with little empirical research done to see how environmental turbulence moderates the influences of core competencies on firm performance. Such research is urgently needed to achieve an in-depth understanding of how and why core competencies contribute to firm performance in contingent contexts; even more in order to adapt quickly and effectively to the increasingly changing nature of both internal and external business environments. Unlike most previous studies, which are conducted at either overall or functional level, this study aims at bridging the research gaps by taking a disaggregated approach via an empirical investigation of major constituents of core competencies and firm performance in high-technology firms in China. It draws on a growing body of literature on the resource-based theory and other highly related findings (Snow and Hrebiniak, 1980, Hitt and Ireland, 1985, Barney, 1991, Henderson and Cockburn, 1994 and Markides and Williamson, 1996). At the same time, we seek to identify the key drivers behind differences in firm performance by understanding the differences among firms in terms of major constituents of core competencies, rather than by considering industry effects. And we also make a great effort to interpret such differences in firm performance as stemming from a variety of sources of rents accruing to firms, which are themselves affected by differences in the control and management of strategic resources (Winter, 1987 and Winter, 1995), especially core competencies. We hope to make at least four contributions to the research by means of this paper. First, we explore innovatively the major constituents of core competencies based on a comprehensive literature review and in-depth manager interviews. We then decompose the core competencies of a firm into three major constituents in order to avoid the so-called “pitfall” of being vague, tautological, endlessly recursive, and non-operational, for which some studies have been criticized (e.g. Mosakowski and McKelvey, 1997, Priem and Butler, 2001a, Priem and Butler, 2001b and Williamson, 1999). These constituents are marketing competencies, technological competencies and integrative competencies. Each of them reflects a specific aspect of the unique capabilities of a firm, and is the accumulative results of business activities guided by some strategic intents or orientations1 of the firm. Such competencies are of strategic significance to the sustainability of competitive advantage and, ultimately, of organizational rents and superior firm performance. Second, although arguments can de made for considering the complex construct of core competencies on a holistic basis, we go further and examine empirically the relative influences of different constituents of core competencies on firm performance by taking a disaggregated approach. Such empirical analysis helps to overcome the limitations of the resource-based view of a firm, which has often been criticized for lack of empirical grounding (Priem and Butler, 2001a, Priem and Butler, 2001b and Williamson, 1999). Third, we examine the contingencies that moderate the differentiated impacts of major constituents of core competencies on firm performance empirically in terms of environment turbulence, e.g. market turbulence and technological turbulence. Fourth, most of the past empirical studies on the resource-based view of a firm have been undertaken in the context of western countries like the US and virtually few serious studies have attempted to validate relevant research findings in a developing economy, especially in a Chinese context that has becoming one of the biggest emerging markets in the world. With this in mind, this study is designed to examine the applicability of the resource-based view and related findings within a typical context of a developing economy and the key role of core competencies in superior firm performance is tested in a relatively new context of high-technology firms in Chinese business environment. Furthermore, the moderating effects of environmental turbulence are taken into consideration simultaneously. This necessarily complements related studies in both the academic and practical spheres, and helps test relevant findings as reported in the literature, which adds valuable insights to the development of theory and is absolutely essential (Brown and Gaulden, 1984 and Easley et al., 1994). The paper is organized as follows. The next section provides the theoretical background and develops our conceptual framework and related hypotheses. The survey method and measures used in the study, are then presented, followed by the results of empirical analysis using the partial least square (PLS) method. The paper concludes with discussion, implications, limitations and directions for future research.