The Case of Small Manufacturing Firms in Japan--论文代写范文

这篇论文代写范文的研究结果表明,开发与探索对公司业绩有不同的影响,这既不是独立也不是相互排斥的,在不可预测的环境中建立一个可持续的竞争优势。下面的论文代写范文进行论述。

ABSTRACT 
  The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between technological capabilities and firm performance. We divide technological capabilities into two types – exploitation, which refers to refinement, production and execution, and exploration, which refers to searching, flexibility, and innovation. Based on a sample of 302 small and medium-sized manufacturing firms in Japan, our analysis reveals that exploitation relates more positively to operational efficiency than exploration, and conversely, exploration relates more positively to strategic performance, such as technological innovation and new product development, than exploitation. Moreover, firms with superior exploitation capabilities tend to possess superior exploration skills. Our findings show that exploitation and exploration have different effects on firm performance, and that neither activity is independent or mutually exclusive, although exploration tends to be enhanced by exploitation. 
Key words: dynamic capabilities; technological capabilities; exploitation; exploration; competitive advantage

 INTRODUCTION 
  There is a growing body of literature on the way in which firms reconfigure their competence base to develop a sustainable competitive advantage in rapidly changing and unpredictable environments (Karim & Mitchell, 2000; Teece, Pisano, & Shuen, 1997; Eisenhardt & Martin, 2000). Scholars of organizational learning argue that firms that wish to reconfigure their competence base have two options – exploitation, which is the improvement of the existing competence base by upgrading the existing resource mix, and exploration, which is the development of a new competence base by the acquisition of new resources from external sources (March, 1991). Scholars of strategic management (Teece et al., 1997; Eisenhardt & Martin, 2000) highlight that a firm’s capability to reconfigure the dynamic processes of exploitation and exploration, also known as “dynamic capability,” is the key source of its sustainable competitive advantage (Teece, et al., 1997). 

  They also suggest that firms that successfully reconfigure their competence base to match emerging market opportunities faster than their rivals are more likely to achieve superior performance. Although a growing number of studies reveal the importance of exploitation and exploration as key sources of sustainable competitive advantage, there are three areas of research that need further development. First, most studies do not distinguish clearly between the effects of exploitation and the effects of exploration on performance (Zott, 2003). March (1991) argues that exploitation involves the use of the information that is currently available, and thus leads to the improvement of current (short-term) performance, whereas exploration involves the acquisition of new information about alternatives and thus leads to the improvement of future (long-term) performance. 

  A failure to account for the distinct effects of exploitation and exploration on performance may mask the fact that a firm’s choice of strategic action (exploitation or exploration) is endogenous to its expected outcome in both the short term and the long term, and therefore creates serious endogeneity problems in empirical studies (Hamilton and Nickerson, 2003). Second, previous studies have provided limited evidence to demonstrate how the balance between exploitation and exploration can be struck and under what conditions this would occur. Both exploitation and exploration involve a trade-off, because firms with limited available resources may not be able to afford to exploit and explore simultaneously. Such a trade-off presents a “key dilemma” for organizations that aim to enhance both their “adaptation to exploit present opportunities” and their “adaptability to exploit future opportunities” at the same time. (Weick, 1982:386). 

  Levinthal and March (1993) argue that overexploitation results in obsolete competences and the under-utilization of new opportunities, and that over-exploration results in small returns from new ideas. Organizations therefore need to strike an appropriate balance between exploitation and exploration, but to date we have a poor understanding of the mechanisms within an organization that are the key to effecting such a balance. Finally, most previous studies have not explicitly examined the interaction between exploitation and exploration. Recent studies in strategic management have suggested that exploitation and exploration are linked by dynamic capability in a sequential and path-dependent process. Given that dynamic capability is defined as a process rather than a rent-generating asset (Eisenhardt & Martin, 2000), the management of the interaction between exploitation and exploration is critical for the development of sustainable competitive advantage. Although firms usually grow through the period of exploitation and exploration (Holmqvist, 2004), we have a poor understanding of how exploitation and exploration co-evolve and interact in the development of a sustainable competitive advantage.

  This paper advances the literature by filling the gap in these three research areas. Two distinct performance variables are examined – operational efficiency and strategic performance. Operational efficiency represents short-term performance, which is reflected in productive efficiency and financial profitability. Strategic performance represents long-term performance, which is reflected in new technology and product development. A variety of contextual factors is included that systematically influence the choice between exploitation and exploration within a firm, including the internal, external, and inter-organizational characteristics of the firm. Finally, the relationship between exploitation and exploration is directly examined, and both the direct and indirect effects of exploitation and exploration on two performance measures are investigated. This paper is organized as follows. First, we review the literature and provide discussions on the development of the hypotheses. Second, we discuss the sample, the methodology, and the measures that are employed. Finally, we report the empirical results and conclude the paper.(论文代写)

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