Strategy and General Management

in Barcelona, Spain. These papers were selected from twelve general business tracks and three conference theme tracks. The seven papers in this special issue cover a wide variety of topics in different fields: marketing, strategy, international human resources management, performance measurement systems, performance of biotech spin-offs, and sustainability.

Purpose -The paper aims to answer the question of what the new role of government in advanced democracies for the twenty-first century should be and what institutional and organizational capabilities are required for that role to face the challenges of globalization and the crisis of the welfare state.

Since most studies have focused on the role of strategic performance measurement systems (SPMSs) in communicating the firm's strategy and facilitating its execution and control, little is known about the role they might potentially play in shaping strategy (re)formulation processes. In this paper, we examine whether organisations that use SPMSs engage in strategy formulation processes differently from those that use performance measurement systems (PMSs) which do not qualify as SPMSs, or those which do not use any type of PMS. In particular, we hypothesise that the use of SPMSs will relate to 1) a greater frequency of strategy (re)formulations, and 2) a more comprehensive strategic agenda, reflected through a greater number and a wider variety of strategic decisions in each strategy (re)formulation. Empirical data gathered from surveys completed by 349 CEOs of medium and large Spanish companies provide support for a positive association between the use of SPMSs and both the number and variety of strategic decisions taken in each strategic review. Our findings suggest that the use of SPMSs (as opposed to other forms of PMS) by an organisation's top management team translates into a more comprehensive strategic agenda. Prior studies have shown that strategic agendas shape the extent and direction of corporate strategic change.

This paper studies how the nature and shape of the relationship between international diversification (ID) and performance (P) may vary according to a firm's geographical focus of internationalization. Using a sample of Spanish multinational firms for the 2004-2012 period we find an M-shaped relationship. However, significant differences are found when the different geographical foci of internationalization are considered. Strong support is found when firms adopt a regional focus (an inverted S-curve when the ID measure refers to the number of foreign countries and an M-curve when it refers to the size of the network of foreign subsidiaries), a biregional focus (an S-curve) and a semiglobal focus (an inverted S-curve but also an M-curve with foreign subsidiaries). These findings and their pattern suggest the critical importance of the country of origin and the geographical focus of internationalization in explaining the relationship between ID-P.

Introduction: There is a growing consensus that the response to complex and difficult social problems-being the convergence of ageing and disability one of them-requires public agencies to be prepared to work in partnership with other public, civil society and business organisations. However, initiatives aimed at promoting health and social care providers working in partnership have had limited success so far. Aim: To provide an analytical framework to assess the different kinds of organisational strategies to promote cross-sector collaboration. Results: The paper draws on empirical research studies in the fields of organization theory and public governance. At a macro level, it refers to the changing role of governments in advanced democracies and the emergence of the relational state as a response to the crisis of the welfare state. At a micro level, it discusses the different modes of non-hierarchical coordination between organisations (or horizontal coordination) as well as the different types of partnerships, their governance forms (market, hierarchy or network) and their organisational and institutional implications (e.g. organisational values, resources and capabilities needed, legal framework and incentives for collaboration). Conclusions: There are significant obstacles and barriers to cross-sector collaboration which arise from the nature of the different organisations involved (policy domain, public or private status, geographical scope of activity, dominant professional group), their endowment in terms of resources and organisational capabilities, and the institutional framework that regulates their interplay. There is not such a thing as 'one best way' to achieve effective collaboration; instead decision-makers have a range of alternative collaboration arrangements, hence the importance of making the right choices and designing context-specific relational strategies.

This paper studies how the nature and shape of the relationship between international diversification (ID) and performance (P) may vary according to a firm's geographical focus of internationalization. Using a sample of Spanish multinational firms for the 2004-2012 period we find an M-shaped relationship. However, significant differences are found when the different geographical foci of internationalization are considered. Strong support is found when firms adopt a regional focus (an inverted S-curve when the ID measure refers to the number of foreign countries and an M-curve when it refers to the size of the network of foreign subsidiaries), a biregional focus (an S-curve) and a semiglobal focus (an inverted S-curve but also an M-curve with foreign subsidiaries). These findings and their pattern suggest the critical importance of the country of origin and the geographical focus of internationalization in explaining the relationship between ID-P.

PurposeThe paper aims to answer the question of what the new role of government in advanced democracies for the twenty‐first century should be and what institutional and organizational capabilities are required for that role to face the challenges of globalization and the crisis of the welfare state.Design/methodology/approachThe literature on public management reform and modernization initiatives in developed countries over the last two decades, along with the growing body of literature on public governance, provide the reference framework from which the contents of the relational state are formulated.FindingsThe relational state seeks to achieve the greatest possible synergy between the resources, knowledge and capacities of the public sector and those of civil society and business organizations. It does so by its ability to articulate social interrelationships and the intangible aspects involved (by using competitive or cooperative arrangements to incorporate civil society and bu...

These papers were selected from twelve general business tracks and three conference theme tracks. The seven papers in this special issue cover a wide variety of topics in different fields: marketing, strategy, international human resources management, performance measurement systems, performance of biotech spin-offs, and sustainability.

Since most studies have focused on the role of strategic performance measurement systems (SPMSs) in communicating the firm's strategy and facilitating its execution and control, little is known about the role they might potentially play in shaping strategy (re)formulation processes. In this paper, we examine whether organisations that use SPMSs engage in strategy formulation processes differently from those that use performance measurement systems (PMSs) which do not qualify as SPMSs, or those which do not use any type of PMS. In particular, we hypothesise that the use of SPMSs will relate to 1) a greater frequency of strategy (re)formulations, and 2) a more comprehensive strategic agenda, reflected through a greater number and a wider variety of strategic decisions in each strategy (re)formulation. Empirical data gathered from surveys completed by 349 CEOs of medium and large Spanish companies provide support for a positive association between the use of SPMSs and both the number and variety of strategic decisions taken in each strategic review. Our findings suggest that the use of SPMSs (as opposed to other forms of PMS) by an organisation's top management team translates into a more comprehensive strategic agenda. Prior studies have shown that strategic agendas shape the extent and direction of corporate strategic change.

The objec� ve of this research is responding to two important ques� ons that have been analyzed in the literature on interna� onal management, the "where" and the "how". With this purpose both descrip� ve and comparison of means analysis are applied. The resul� ng analysis indicates that Spanish mul� na� onals in the service sector have a semi global focus in their interna� onal opera� ons and are located principally in Europe and La� n America. Furthermore, we found that Spanish service mul� na� onals exert high levels of subsidiary control and that do not present signifi cant diff erences in the levels of control they have over subsidiaries in rela� on to the type of service.

This paper investigates strategic alliances and initial public offerings (IPOs) as factors that potentially mitigate the risk of adverse selection in mergers and acquisitions. It is hypothesized that prior alliances between acquirers and targets as well as IPOs undertaken by targets reduce information asymmetries or lessen their effects by offering targets signaling opportunities.

Prior research over several decades has catalogued many positive motives underlying firms' decisions to engage in joint ventures and other forms of alliances. In this empirical analysis, we investigate whether agency problems brought about by the separation of ownership and control also stimulate the development of firms' joint venture portfolios. By focusing on joint ventures, as opposed to diversification in general or acquisitions, we address the recent debate on agency theory's domain. Results from a sample of U.S. manufacturing firms' alliance portfolios offer supporting evidence, and comparable findings are obtained for international and domestic joint ventures. Agency hazards are also found to bring about extensions of firms' nonequity alliance portfolios in both the international and domestic settings.

Drawing upon information economics, we investigate firms' decisions to form joint ventures with or acquire newly-public firms. The core issue we examine is whether signals sent during IPOs have efficiency implications for organizational governance choices concerning issuing firms. Our focus is on issuers' associations with reputable investment banks and with venture capitalists, both of which engage in vetting and bonding activities for firms that go public. The results demonstrate that issuers with reputable investment banks are more likely to be acquired by, rather than collaborate with, other firms compared to issuers with less reputable underwriters. Venture capitalist backing appears to be a useful signal in 'colder' IPO markets and for potential acquirers with dissimilar knowledge bases vis-à-vis the issuing firm. We find strong evidence that issuers tend to partner with, rather than be acquired by, firms in inter-industry combinations compared to horizontal deals, which is also consistent with the theory that joint ventures mitigate the risk of adverse selection.