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Purpose: This paper seeks to identify the factors affecting social performance improvements in the Pakistan export manufacturing firms and investigate inter-relationships existing among them. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a cross-sectional survey; data were collected using self-administered survey questionnaire. Using data collected from 239 small- and medium-sized direct exporters manufacturing firms in Pakistan. We used structural equation modelling (SEM) approach to test structural model, and mediation analysis was conducted with regression analysis. Findings: The results support that meta-cognitive dimensions of cultural intelligence effect on social performance improvements, while the social performance improvement significant associated with innovation performance improvements. We suggest that cultural intelligence is a key to maintaining a relationship through development better cultural understanding and creating harmony among suppliers and buyers through minimizing the differences and disputes, requires developing social cohesion. Our results reveal that exporting firms need to adapt, reconfigure cultural knowledge and integrate resources into the operations to build learning capability, in turn, they can improve social performance and achieve superior innovation performance. Practical implications: Through the application of cultural intelligence capability, a firm could increase its ability to sense cultural differences, seize and adapt globally scattered cultural practices on social issues and allows for the development of unique knowledge resources and capabilities, impact on firm social performance and innovation performance improvements. Originality/value: The study conducted in Pakistan cultural context, which can be extended to other Asian countries. We argue that in a globalising world it is pertinent for exporting firms to have a better understanding of the various facets of cultural when dealing with inter-organisational relationships.

This study examined the direct and moderating relationships between operational management capabilities, specifically process efficiency capability, process integration capability, operational flexibility and procurement performance among manufacturing firms in Ghana. The study adopted a quantitative cross-sectional survey design. A total of three hundred and fifty (350) procurement officials from fifty (50) manufacturing firms were selected for the study. Stratified and purposive sampling techniques were used in the selection of manufacturing firms and procurement officials, respectively. Questionnaires were used in the data collection, and data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). For direct effects, the study showed that a non-significant positive relationship exists between process integration capability and procurement performance. However, a significant positive relationship was found to exist between process efficiency capability and procurement performance. The study also found that operational flexibility does not moderate the relationship between process integration capability and procurement performance. Meanwhile, operational flexibility negatively moderates the relationship between process efficiency capability and procurement performance among manufacturing firms in Ghana. The results of the study highlight the importance of developing robust process efficiency capabilities for improved procurement outcomes, while also suggesting a careful balance in operational flexibility initiatives to avoid inefficiencies among manufacturing firms. The study contributes to the dynamic capabilities theory and provides practical implications for manufacturing firms seeking to optimize their procurement strategies.

Purpose: Innovation, including product, process, marketing, and organizational innovation within a firm, is considered as one of essential component for surviving and growing. These innovation activities create value and competitive advantages for successful organizations; therefore, understanding the organization’s overall innovation is the first and foremost to understand the role of innovation on firm performance. The objective of this research is to explore two parts: the impacts of innovation on the different aspect of innovation performance, then their effects to firm performance (production, market, and financial performance). Design/methodology/approach: This study uses primary data from questionnaire survey. The questionnaire involves 4 parts including general information, innovation activities; innovative performance, and firm performance. This research focuses on firms in supporting industries of mechanics, electronics, motorbike and automobile. These firms are in a list of companies (known as The Excellent Vietnamese Companies in Northern and Central Vietnam) established by JETRO and VCCI. There are 150 firms in this list. The questionnaire survey was administered to directors, CEO of those firms during April and May, 2014. Out of the 150 questionnaires sent out, 118 were valid, accounting for 78.7% of the true response rate. Analysis methodologies of reliability, factor analysis and regression are utilized in this paper. Findings: The result demonstrated there are positive effects of process, marketing, and organizational innovations on firm performance in supporting firms. More specifically, the higher the level of innovation activities is, the greater the innovative performance is, which means the larger level of Process, organization and marketing innovation activities are, the higher level of innovative performance are likely to be. Secondly, the higher level of Process, organization and marketing innovative performance, the better level of firm performances is likely to be. To sum up, in order to improve the innovative and firm performance, those firms in supporting industry should highly concentrate on process, marketing, and organizational innovation activities, rather than product innovation activities. Originality/value: Initially, this study applies successfully the model which supposing innovation is a process, then clarifying innovation definition through the impact of innovation activities on innovative performances. Secondly, this research confirmed the positive impact of innovative performances on firm performances. It provided one more empirical evidence of the relationship between innovation and firm performance. For practitioners, organizational innovation and process innovation are more important factors affecting innovative performance and firm performance than product and marketing innovation. Therefore, enterprises should focus and mobilize resources to create improvement in organizational structure and manufacturing processes.

OrientationThe manufacturing sector in Kenya has been experiencing employee safety and productivity issues despite adopting safety programmes and laws regulating employee safety. Employee safety attitudes significantly worsen workplace safety and productivity problems.Research purposeThe study determined the intervening effect of workplace safety attitudes on the relationship between workplace safety and employee productivity in manufacturing firms in Kenya.Motivation for the studyManufacturing firms adopt new technologies that expose employees to new safety risks, while globalisation has led to a diverse workforce with diverse safety attitudes.Research approach/design and methodThis study is grounded on the risk homeostasis theory; it adopted a cross-sectional survey research design guided by a positivist research philosophy. The target population comprised 853 manufacturing firms registered with the Kenya Association of Manufacturers. A sample of 124 firms distributed across the 14 sub-sectors in the manufacturing sector was obtained using a statistical formula to ensure all sectors were represented. Regression analysis was carried out in four steps to assess the intervening effect of workplace safety attitude on the relationship between workplace safety attitude and employee productivity.Main findingsThe coefficients were significant in each step, therefore leading to the conclusion that employee safety attitude significantly intervened in the relationship between workplace safety and employee productivity.Practical/managerial implicationsThe study offers managerial insights into the situational position of workplace safety, employee safety attitudes and employee productivity.Contribution/value-addThe study provides epistemological insights on the impact of employee safety attitudes on workplace safety and employee productivity.

Purpose This paper aims to present a comprehensive framework that integrates the emerging trends of servitization and digitalization in manufacturing. The influence between digitalization and servitization is defined and quantified. Their contribution to firm performance is analyzed. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a theoretical model that captures the relationships between the analyzed variables. Drawing on the Spanish Business Strategy Survey, hypothesis testing is conducted using data on 828 Spanish industrial firms. Linear regression models are built to capture the effect of each variable on firm performance and the type of interaction between the variables. Findings Servitization and digitalization are positively related to firm performance. Digitalization positively mediates the relationship between servitization and firm performance. The mediating effect of digitalization contributes to differentiating between the direct and indirect effects of servitization on firm performance. Practical implications The paper provides a useful analysis framework for firms to evaluate servitization and digitalization as success strategies. It is proposed that firms must simultaneously commit to digital transformation and the incorporation of services to create value, especially in business-to-business settings. Servitization and digitalization interact to exert a greater influence on performance. Originality/value The paper contributes to the theory on service strategy by providing an analysis model that includes digitalization as a mediator of the relationship between servitization and firm performance. Digitalization may provide a mechanism to unlock the benefits of servitization and thereby enhance firm performance.

This book sheds light on the characteristics of formal and informal manufacturing firms in Africa by comparing these firms with firms in other regions. Drawing on two data sources, the authors find that there is a very low share of manufacturing in GDP in Africa and in African exports. Most African manufacturing firms are informal. These firms are also smaller than firms in other regions and few export. Labor productivity is low in Africa relative to other regions, but this may be because of the more challenging environment - with the lack of physical infrastructure, the heavy burden of business regulation, and other issues. However, after accounting for these differences, the authors find that firms in Sub-Saharan Africa appear more, not less, productive than firms elsewhere. This analysis suggests that improving the business environment might allow firms to enhance their performance. However, given the pervasive distortions in the business environment and the limited resources at the disposal of most African countries, Africa cannot and should not wait until the business environment becomes healthier before growing a more viable manufacturing sector. The book shows that binding constraints vary by country, by sector, and by firm size. Therefore, countries should identify the constraints in the most promising sectors and adopt policies designed specifically to remove these constraints. The evidence in this book overwhelmingly dispels the false notion of Africa's inability to compete globally in manufacturing goods.

The increasing significance of green supply chain management in developing countries’ manufacturing sector is primarily driven by the deteriorating environment, signified by decreasing raw material resources, a surplus of waste sites, and rising pollution levels. Green supply chain management can provide competitiveness while boosting a company’s environmental sustainability if implemented effectively. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the effect of green supply chain management practices on the firm performance of the manufacturing sector. This research aims to determine the moderating effect of collaborative capability and the mediating influence of eco-technological innovation and environmental strategy on the relationship between green supply chain management and firm performance. Five hundred fifty survey questionnaires are gathered from manufacturing firms of China. Utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM), the proposed hypotheses have been analyzed and investigated. The results show that green supply chain management indirectly affects the firm performance. Moreover, green supply chain management is positively related to environmental strategy and eco-technological innovation, which effectively enhance firm performance. The findings further indicate that environmental strategy and eco-technological innovation significantly mediate the association between green supply chain management and firm performance. Furthermore, collaborative capability significantly and positively moderates the relationship between green supply chain management and firm performance. As a result, the adoption of these factors influences firm performance positively and will assist the manufacturing sector in meeting diverse yet radically changing requirements and overcoming obstacles originating from a dynamic global business environment. Consequently, it is of the utmost importance that businesses must utilize green practices with relatively low environmental impacts. Companies can considerably maintain and improve their firm performance by reducing the environmental impact if they have effective collaborative capabilities, eco-technological innovation, and environmental strategies.

This paper analyzes firms’ episodes (spells) of high growth (HG) using a sample of Spanish manufacturing firms observed over two decades. The use of duration models allows us to investigate the following: (i) the probability of experiencing HG episodes, (ii) persistence in HG, and (iii) the determinants of the transitions in and out of the HG state and whether their impact varies over the business cycle. We find that about half of the firms experience at least one HG episode, but they seldom experience more than one. Moreover, high-growth status is rarely repeated due to high first-year selection. Yet, in subsequent years beyond the first one, the hazard rate from HG status falls substantially. These results suggest an “episodic” nature of HG and further allow us to identify two groups of firms characterized by the following: (i) (relatively) long HG spells and short no high-growth (NHG) spells and (ii) short HG spells and long NHG spells. In addition, some firm and market (demand) characteristics increase the probability of becoming an HG firm and enhancing HG persistence. Finally, during the downturn, the role of younger age and smaller size in explaining HG decreases.

The primary objective of this research is to ascertain the relationship between corporate social responsibility, environmental investments and financial performance in Nigerian manufacturing firms. The hypotheses are tested on internal environmental investments and external environmental investments on firm’s financial performance. It further determines if there is a significant difference between the profitability of environmentally conscious and environmentally non-conscious firms in Nigeria. Descriptive analysis is used to explain the variables applied and panel regression analysis is used to find out if there exists a relationship between internal environmental investments (employee benefits, staff training cost), external environmental investments (donations) and firm’s financial performance. The results indicate a positive and significant relationship exists between internal environmental investments and firm’s financial performance. It is also found a positive but insignificant relationship between external environmental investments and firm’s financial performance. Furthermore, paired sample t tests are used to reveal that there was a significant difference between the profitability of environmentally conscious and environmentally non-conscious firms. The finding of this study explains that firms with higher environmental investments have a higher profitability level than environmentally non-conscious firms.