For this particular assignment, the dependent variable of interest is the firm performance. In the discussion, three journal articles which discuss firm performance are analyzed for the purpose of explaining the core aspect of creativity and innovation. The articles used for the purpose of this particular discussion are as in the reference page below. Despite the model of the analysis in the three articles having independent variables that are different from the others, the dependent variable, which is the main focus for the assignment, is common for all. For instance, the article by Hulland et al. (2007) discusses how capabilities and prior investments impact the online commitment and performance of firms. On the other hand, the article by Thiaku et al. (2015) discusses how creativity and innovation as organizational factors influence the performance of firms. The article is specific on an empirical study on Malaysian telecommunication mobile network operators. The finally article for the discussion is by Zablah et al. (2012) which uses customer relationship management (CRM) to discuss its performance implications on firms. The article is specifically about a multilevel field study of business customers and their providers in the telecommunication industry.
Relevance of the articles used in the discussion
The article by Thiaku et al. (2015) was chosen because it discusses the main subject, creativity and innovation as the major determinants of firm performance. Comprising the creativity and innovation are for independent variables namely strategy, structure, support and behavior, with the dependent variable being the firm performance. Majoring their discussion on creativity and innovation to explaining firm performance, the authors article was significantly relevant to the topic of study. Also, the article applies 5 hypotheses into analyzing the relationship between the independent variable in creative and innovation and the dependent variable in firm performance. The hypotheses tested if there is a positive relationship between; organization strategy and firm performance, support mechanism and firm performance, organization structure and firm performance, and organization behavior and firm performance. The final hypothesis tested on the relationship between the independent variables of creativity and innovation and firm performance as the dependent variable.
Basing their analysis on the customer relationship management (CRM), Zablah et al. (2012) investigates the possibility of CRM tools having different performance consequences by building on relationship marketing and management theory. The theories are used to propose and test a model of customer and firm consequences of the organizations use of CRM interaction support and customer prioritization tools. More specifically, the authors investigate the effects of such customer relationship management on both larger and smaller customers. Customer relationship management being a direct determinant of creativity and innovation, the article is relevant to the topic of discussion. CRM effect on firm performance directly relates to creativity and innovation effect on firm performance.
On their point, Hulland et al. (2007) investigates how capabilities and prior investments impact the online channel commitment and performance. Since channel commitment impacts firms online performance, and hence the general performance, the article was significantly relevant for the topic of discussion. Firms online performance is vital in analyzing the general performance of the firm. As Hulland et al. (2007) believes, a positive performance of a firm would imply a positive financial performance of the same firm, hence the relevance. Categorizing them in two categories, the authors apply five variables in IT skills, cost efficiency, market sensing, brand management and customer service into investing the firms online commitment and hence the online performance. The IT skills and cost efficiency comprise the internal capabilities, and are applied in investing both online commitment and performance. Comprising of market sensing, brand management, and customer service, external management are only used to investigate firms online performance. Therefore, the independent variable being in the domain of creativity and innovation, the article is significantly applicable to the topic of discussion.
Model for each of the articles
For the article by Thiaku et al. (2015), the model of analysis would be:
Performance=-0.102+0.476Strategy+-0.476Support Mechanism+0.493Structure+0.607BehaviorFrom the model, it is evident that there exists a positive relationship between three of the independent variables in Strategy, structure and behavior and the dependent variable in performance. However, the relationship between organizations support mechanism and its performance is negative. In summary, there exists a significant relationship between the independent variable of creativity and innovation and firm performance.
For the article by Zablah et al. (2012), the model of the analysis is as below.
Firm Performance=4.58+0.26Customer Percieved Relationship IndexCPRIFrom the model, it is evident that mean levels of CPRI relate positively to the firm performance. According to the model, the organizational use of CRM interaction support tools is positively related to CPRI.
For the article by Hulland et al. (2007), the model of the analysis is as below:
Online Commitment=.01Market Sensing+.03Brand Management-.01Customer Service+.05IT Skills-.05Cost Efficiency.Online Performance=-.28+.72Market Sensing+.14Brand Management+.16Customer Service-.27IT Skills-.28Cost Efficiency.From the model, it is evident that neither market sensing nor customer service has a significant effect on online commitment. However, brand management capability shows a significant positive relationship with online commitment. The presence of superior IT skills capability shows a significant correlation with online commitment. Thus, the greater the firms established distribution structure the lower the level of online commitment. There exists a significant positive correlation between online commitment and online performance. All the three externally focused capabilities indicate a significant and positive correlation with online performance. Conversely, the other two internally focused capabilities indicate a significant negative relationship with online performance.
Methods used to collect data and test the hypotheses
For the sake of their analysis, Thiaku et al. took a representative sample of respondents of from various Malaysian firms ranging from executives, professional, senior managers and team leaders. Also included in the study were general employees, who were then grouped according to age group, gender, academic levels, level of experience among others. Based on the data, the authors would then apply regression analysis to measure the relationship between the individual independent variables and firm performance as dependent variable. The authors also used past studies to confirm the results from their analysis. They summarized the analysis by testing for the regression between creativity and innovation as a collection of the independent variables and firm performance as the dependent variable. Among the tests carried for the sake of answering the five hypotheses for the study include reliability test, correlation analysis and finalizing with the regression analysis.
In testing the performance implications of CRM technology use, Zablah et al. (2012) employed a nested research instead of a one-to-one dyadic design. The authors drew a list of business Internet access service providers from publicly available industry-wide customer surveys as their data collection process. The authors also contacted several secondary sources so as to ensure that the identified providers meet the critical requirement for inclusion in the study. The nested research involves limiting the number of providers in the sample of manageable size, inviting multiple customers of each of the providers to report on their relationship with the firm, and then obtaining measures of the use of CRM interaction support tools before using the CRM prioritization tools to test the organizational performance for each of the providers. The authors would then apply regression analysis to test for the relationship between the various independent variables and the two dependent variables.
On their part, Hulland et al. (2007) used strictly secondary sources of data to calculate the relationship between their two major variables in online commitment and online performance. They would then use the data to carry out individual multiple regression analyses to test if they correlate with one another. They then used the OLS estimates to test consistency and efficiency of the regression.
References
Hulland, J., Michael, R. W., and Kersi, D. A. (2007), "The Impact of Capabilities and
Prior Investments on Online Channel Commitment and Performance", Journal of management Information Systems, 23, 109-142.Thiaku, R., Jeannot, A. K., Shishi, P., & Baldev, S. (2015). Creativity and Innovation
(Organizational Factor) Influence on Firm Performance: An Empirical Study on Malaysian Telecommunication Mobile Network Operators. 5(2), 194-199.
Zablah, A. R., Danny, N. B, and Detmar, W. S. (2012), "Performance Implications
of CRM Technology Use: A Multilevel Field Study of Business Customers and Their Providers in the Telecommunications Industry", Information Systems Research, 23, 418-435.
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