Strategic orientations, firm performance and the moderating effect of absorptive capacity

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to study the moderating effect of absorptive capacity, defined as the set of organizational routines and processes through which companies acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit knowledge to produce a dynamic organizational capacity (Zahra and George, 2002), in three strategic orientations: market orientation; technology orientation and entrepreneurial orientation and their positive relationship in the performance of the medium and large Mexican manufacturing firms. Likewise, it is determined whether these three combined SOs influence firm performance.Design/methodology/approachThe data was collected from 171 medium and large-sized Mexican manufacturing firms. The proposed hypotheses are tested using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsDespite the importance of knowledge for the development of firms, the results indicate that the moderating effect of absorptive capacity is only present in the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. That is, firms cannot take advantage of knowledge simultaneously between the three strategic orientations. For their part, market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation exert a positive influence on firm performance.Practical implicationsThe main practical implication for the manufacturing industry is that they must develop mechanisms to detect what kind of knowledge affects each strategic orientation, in this way it can make the absorptive capacity influence the relationships between SO and FP.Originality/valueThe main contribution consists of studying the moderating effect of the absorptive capacity on the relationship between three strategic orientations and firm performance, and not concentrating solely on the simultaneous use of these strategies as is commonly done.

Strategic orientations and firm performance: the role of information technology adoption capability

“…Utilizing RBV, Mu and Di Benedetto (2011) discover that SOs consist of entrepreneurial, market, technology and networking help facilitate a match between strategy and both resource endowment and market condition. There is similar extant literature adopting this view, such as Ibarra-Cisneros et al. (2021), Schweiger et al.…”

“…, 2005). Hence, applying the behavioralist perspective, all orientations could be perceived as resources (Day, 1994; Ibarra-Cisneros et al. , 2021).…”

Big data analytics capability as a mediator in the impact of open innovation on firm performance

“…Conversely, firm performance has been defined as the achievement of financial and non-financial organizational objectives (Chadwick and Dawson, 2018;Meisinger and Moldaschl, 2020). The former relates to return on investment and sales growth, among others; the latter is concerned with customer satisfaction and employee capacity improvement, to mention a few (Ibarra-Cisneros et al, 2021;Lee et al, 2011).…”

Orientación emprendedora, gestión de la calidad total y desempeño del sector hotelero de Baja California: un estudio cuantitativo

“…Uno de ellos es la implementación de orientaciones estratégicas, las cuales, según Hakala (2010), son una serie de procesos, actividades y prácticas de liderazgo que permiten a las empresas tener un desempeño positivo satisfaciendo las necesidades del cliente. Entre las diferentes orientaciones estratégicas que se implementan se encuentra la orientación emprendedora (OE), la cual se puede definir como la capacidad de las organizaciones para realizar cualquier actividad que promueva la innovación, asumiendo riesgos y ejecutando acciones por primera vez para ingresar a nuevos mercados (Ibarra-Cisneros et al, 2021). El estudio de la OE ha sido enriquecido en las últimas tres décadas con relevantes contribuciones sobre su efecto en toda clase de organizaciones (Basco et al, 2020;Hernández-Perlines et al, 2020;Sellappan & Shanmugam, 2020).…”