ویژگی‌های ساختارِ سازمانی مربوط‌به استراتژی رقابتیِ ترکیبی: مفاهیمی برای عملکرد

This study examines the characteristics of organizational structure that relate to hybrid competitive strategies. Such strategies seek to obtain higher performance levels by simultaneously emphasizing high differentiation and low-cost levels. In addition, this paper analyzes the mediating role of competitive strategy in the relationship between organizational structure and firm performance. The study examines a sample of large Spanish firms belonging to different sectors. The findings reveal that hybrid competitive strategy influences firm performance positively. Similarly, organizational complexity and the existence of formalization positively influence hybrid competitive strategy, whereas centralization has a negative influence. Organizational structure does not exert a direct influence on performance, but an indirect one, through hybrid competitive strategy.

In the field of competitive strategy, some studies highlight the use of hybrid competitive strategies (which emphasize both low costs and differentiation) and defend their use to achieve a better performance (Acquaah and Yasai-Ardekani, 2008, Pertusa-Ortega et al., 2009 and Spanos et al., 2004). No study appears to be available that analyzes empirically the characteristics of organizational design that associate with the development of those hybrid strategies. Some studies point out that external pressure and competition force organizations to abandon mechanistic organizational forms and to design more flexible structures (GullØv, 2006, Morris et al., 2006 and Schilling and Steensma, 2001), but a central and important question is whether these organic, flexible forms are appropriate for the development of hybrid competitive strategies. Thus, a need is apparent for research on the attributes of organizational structures that relate to hybrid competitive strategies. The study here examines the characteristics of organizational structure that relate to hybrid competitive strategies, which seek to obtain higher performance levels. In addition, the study analyzes the mediating role of competitive strategy in the relationship between organizational structure and firm performance. This study aims to make several contributions. First, this study develops theoretical ideas with regard to the relationship between hybrid competitive strategies and organizational design and their impact on performance. Second, from a methodological point of view, the model proposed in this paper uses a molar second-order factor to measure hybrid competitive strategy. In other words, the study conceptualizes hybrid competitive strategy as an emergent construct formed from formative strategic dimensions rather than a reflective construct (Diamantopoulos, 2008 and Podsakoff et al., 2006). The findings show that the existence of formalization, complexity and decentralization have a positive influence on hybrid competitive strategy, and the latter positively influences firm performance, which supports a mediating effect of the competitive strategy on the relationship between structure and firm performance. The structure of the paper is as follows. The next section contains the theoretical framework and the hypotheses. The following section describes the study methods, after which is the presentation and discussion of the results. The final section offers the main implications and suggestions for further research.

The objective of this study is to examine the characteristics of organizational structure that relate to the development of hybrid competitive strategies. This study makes several contributions to the literature on strategy and organizational structure. First, this research focuses on the organizational design associating with the development of hybrid strategies. This organizational design also seems to be hybrid, insofar as it combines organic and mechanistic organizational features. Second, this paper extends the analysis of generic competitive strategies, providing empirical evidence that hybrid strategies relate to higher performance levels. Thus, consistent with the findings of previous studies that focused on particular industries (Kroll et al., 1999 and Wright et al., 1995), this study supports the premise that adopting multiple strategies leads to higher performance. From a methodological point of view, this research considers that competitive strategy dimensions are additive in nature (i.e., they are formative dimensions). For this reason, the proposed model uses a second-order factor to reflect better such a multidimensional construct as hybrid competitive strategy. This study offers interesting results for managers. The study provides insights into strategic dimensions that may help improve firm performance. For instance, differentiation and costs strategies do not seem to be incompatible with one another; in fact, a firm can develop both of them in a complementary way to increase firm performance. Organizational structure influences the development of hybrid competitive strategy. Therefore, managers must recognize the strategic value of their organizational structure, as it directly impacts hybrid competitive strategy and indirectly impacts firm performance. In this regard, organic and flexible structures should incorporate mechanistic elements in the design of the organization. Since no previous studies exist that analyze the relationship between hybrid competitive strategies and organizational design, the results of this research must be treated with caution. Some limitations of this paper and suggestions for future research are set out below. First, the data comes from companies with 250 or more employees. Future research must analyze the relationship between organizational structure, hybrid competitive strategy and firm performance in small- and medium-sized enterprises. Second, the data for this research are cross-sectional, so associations between variables are not sufficient to establish causal relationships. Future longitudinal analyses would be useful to study causality. Third, environmental or industry characteristics might influence the relationship between organizational structure and hybrid strategy. Future research analyzing special features of different industries would enrich our understanding of these relationships. Low-cost strategies usually associate with mechanistic structures, and differentiation strategies with organic structures (Govindarajan, 1988 and Miller, 1988). The findings of this paper show that the organizational design relating to hybrid competitive strategy seems to be hybrid insofar as it combines organic and mechanistic features. Future research should compare these three configurations of organizations: organizations with mechanistic structures and low-cost strategies, organizations with organic structures and differentiation strategies, and organizations with hybrid competitive strategies and hybrid organizational structure. Likewise, future research could analyze different kinds of hybrid strategies to study what mix of low-cost and differentiation is preferable or optimal. Perhaps an analysis of the interactions among these variables could address this issue. In addition, it would also be interesting to analyze the appropriate level of the combination of mechanistic and organic characteristics relating to different kinds of hybrid strategies.