IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/stratm/v39y2018i8p2152-2177.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The contingent effects of political strategies on firm performance: A political network perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Jackie Zheng Yan
  • Sea‐Jin Chang

Abstract

Research Summary: We examine the performance impact of corporate political strategies by analyzing the relationships among firms and various government institutions. While a firm's political connections to a focal government with decision‐making authority enhance performance, connections to a rival government competing with the focal government harm performance, particularly when the rivalry is intense. Firms can neutralize the negative effect from this political rivalry by using direct or indirect connections to a constraining government with power over the focal government. We find support for our conjectures based on an analysis of interactions among Chinese steel firms and the central and provincial governments in acquisition decisions during the industry's consolidation period of 1999–2010. Managerial Summary: Firms invest in political capital in order to influence public policies in their favor. However, the government is a not a monolithic entity and the relationships among various government institutions can alter and even reverse the effects of a firm's political strategy. This research shows that a firm's political connections can be both an asset and a liability. That is, although firms benefit from their connections to governments with decision‐making authority, they can be caught in the crossfire when there is a rivalry between governments. Furthermore, our research suggests that firms can cope with the negative impact from political rivalry by taking advantage of the structural relationships within the political system and influencing governments that have constraining power.

Suggested Citation

  • Jackie Zheng Yan & Sea‐Jin Chang, 2018. "The contingent effects of political strategies on firm performance: A political network perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(8), pages 2152-2177, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:stratm:v:39:y:2018:i:8:p:2152-2177
    DOI: 10.1002/smj.2908
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2908
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/smj.2908?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chang, Sea-Jin, 2013. "Multinational Firms in China: Entry Strategies, Competition, and Firm Performance," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199687077, Decembrie.
    2. Aggarwal, Rajesh K. & Meschke, Felix & Wang, Tracy Yue, 2012. "Corporate Political Donations: Investment or Agency?," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 1-38, April.
    3. Haiyang Li & Yan Zhang, 2007. "The role of managers' political networking and functional experience in new venture performance: Evidence from China's transition economy," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(8), pages 791-804, August.
    4. Leuz, Christian & Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, 2006. "Political relationships, global financing, and corporate transparency: Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 411-439, August.
    5. Chenggang Xu, 2011. "The Fundamental Institutions of China's Reforms and Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1076-1151, December.
    6. Eitan Goldman & Jörg Rocholl & Jongil So, 2013. "Politically Connected Boards of Directors and The Allocation of Procurement Contracts," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 17(5), pages 1617-1648.
    7. Hongbin Li & Lingsheng Meng & Junsen Zhang, 2006. "Why Do Entrepreneurs Enter Politics? Evidence from China," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 44(3), pages 559-578, July.
    8. Li, Hongbin & Zhou, Li-An, 2005. "Political turnover and economic performance: the incentive role of personnel control in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(9-10), pages 1743-1762, September.
    9. Bennet A. Zelner, 2009. "Using simulation to interpret results from logit, probit, and other nonlinear models," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(12), pages 1335-1348, December.
    10. King, Gary & Zeng, Langche, 2001. "Logistic Regression in Rare Events Data," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 137-163, January.
    11. Aggarwal Rajesh K. & Meschke Felix & Wang Tracy Yue, 2012. "Corporate Political Donations: Investment or Agency?," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 1-40, April.
    12. Shih, Victor & Adolph, Christopher & Liu, Mingxing, 2012. "Getting Ahead in the Communist Party: Explaining the Advancement of Central Committee Members in China," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 106(1), pages 166-187, February.
    13. Mara Faccio, 2006. "Politically Connected Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 369-386, March.
    14. Asim Ijaz Khwaja & Atif Mian, 2005. "Do Lenders Favor Politically Connected Firms? Rent Provision in an Emerging Financial Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(4), pages 1371-1411.
    15. Glenn Hoetker, 2007. "The use of logit and probit models in strategic management research: Critical issues," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 331-343, April.
    16. Seong-Jin Choi & Nan Jia & Jiangyong Lu, 2015. "The Structure of Political Institutions and Effectiveness of Corporate Political Lobbying," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(1), pages 158-179, February.
    17. Fubing Su & Ran Tao & Lu Xi & Ming Li, 2012. "Local Officials' Incentives and China's Economic Growth: Tournament Thesis Reexamined and Alternative Explanatory Framework," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 20(4), pages 1-18, July.
    18. Faccio, Mara & Parsley, David C., 2009. "Sudden Deaths: Taking Stock of Geographic Ties," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(3), pages 683-718, June.
    19. Gang Guo, 2009. "China's Local Political Budget Cycles," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(3), pages 621-632, July.
    20. W. J. Henisz, 2000. "The Institutional Environment for Economic Growth," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 1-31, March.
    21. Weiting Zheng & Kulwant Singh & Will Mitchell, 2015. "Buffering and enabling: The impact of interlocking political ties on firm survival and sales growth," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(11), pages 1615-1636, November.
    22. Raymond Fisman, 2001. "Estimating the Value of Political Connections," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1095-1102, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yong Li & Jing Li & Peng Zhang & Sunhwan Gwon, 2023. "Stronger together: Country‐of‐origin agglomeration and multinational enterprise location choice in an adverse institutional environment," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(4), pages 1053-1083, April.
    2. Li, Can, 2020. "Enhancing or inhibiting: The impact of investment in political ties on the link between firm innovation and productivity," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2).
    3. Xiyan Bai & Chan Lyu, 2023. "Environmental Information Disclosure and Corporate Green Innovation: The Moderating Effect of Formal and Informal Institutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-23, April.
    4. Ju, Xiaowei & Wang, Guanhua, 2023. "How do network ties affect firm performance growth and its variability? The mediating roles of exploratory and exploitative knowledge utilization," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    5. Tao Wang & Ting Zhang & Zhigang Shou, 2021. "The double-edged sword effect of political ties on performance in emerging markets: The mediation of innovation capability and legitimacy," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 1003-1030, September.
    6. Jin Hyung Kim, 2019. "Is your playing field unleveled? U.S. defense contracts and foreign firm lobbying," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(12), pages 1911-1937, December.
    7. Wang, Chengqi & Kafouros, Mario & Yi, Jingtao & Hong, Junjie & Ganotakis, Panagiotis, 2020. "The role of government affiliation in explaining firm innovativeness and profitability in emerging countries: Evidence from China," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(3).
    8. Mario Daniele Amore & Margherita Corina, 2021. "Political elections and corporate investment: International evidence," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(9), pages 1775-1796, December.
    9. Hongjuan Zhang & Rong Han & Liang Wang & Runhui Lin, 2021. "Social capital in China: a systematic literature review," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(1), pages 32-77, February.
    10. Yujing Huang, 2022. "The Impact of Government Official Assessment on Ecological Poverty Alleviation: Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-19, March.
    11. Jeoung Yul Lee & Vasyl Taras & Alfredo Jiménez & Byungchul Choi & Chinmay Pattnaik, 2020. "Ambidextrous Knowledge Sharing within R&D Teams and Multinational Enterprise Performance: The Moderating Effects of Cultural Distance in Uncertainty Avoidance," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 387-425, June.
    12. Abhay K. Grover & Martin Dresner, 2022. "A theoretical model on how firms can leverage political resources to align with supply chain strategy for competitive advantage," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 58(2), pages 48-65, April.
    13. Ruijie Jin & Xu Jiang & Helen Wei Hu, 2023. "Internal and external CSR in China: How do women independent directors matter?," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 169-204, March.
    14. Yuxuan Li & Xin Miao & Dequan Zheng & Yanhong Tang, 2019. "Corporate Public Transparency on Financial Performance: The Moderating Role of Political Embeddedness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-17, October.
    15. Hongjuan Zhang & Rong Han & Liang Wang & Runhui Lin, 0. "Social capital in China: a systematic literature review," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 0, pages 1-46.
    16. Tahiru Azaaviele Liedong, 2022. "The Liability of Tribe in Corporate Political Activity: Ethical Implications for Political Contestability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(3), pages 623-644, December.
    17. Wang, Huanming & Ma, Liang, 2019. "Ownership, corruption, and revenue regimes for infrastructure partnerships: Evidence from China," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1-1.
    18. Zheng, Weiting & Ang, Siah Hwee & Singh, Kulwant, 2022. "The interface of market and nonmarket strategies: Political ties and strategic competitive actions," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(4).
    19. Jonas Puck & Thomas Lawton & Alexander Mohr, 2018. "The Corporate Political Activity of MNCs: Taking Stock and Moving Forward," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 58(5), pages 663-673, October.
    20. Wang, Yanyu & You, Qinghua & Qiao, Yuanbo, 2022. "Political genes drive innovation: Political endorsements and low-quality innovation," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 407-417.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elvira Sojli & Wing Wah Tham, 2017. "Foreign political connections," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(2), pages 244-266, February.
    2. Nan Jia & Kyle J. Mayer, 2017. "Political hazards and firms' geographic concentration," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 203-231, February.
    3. Miroslav Palanský, 2021. "The value of political connections in the post-transition period: evidence from Czechia," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 188(1), pages 121-154, July.
    4. Tahoun, Ahmed, 2014. "The role of stock ownership by US members of Congress on the market for political favors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(1), pages 86-110.
    5. James Kai‐sing Kung & Chicheng Ma, 2018. "Friends with Benefits: How Political Connections Help to Sustain Private Enterprise Growth in China," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 85(337), pages 41-74, January.
    6. Dongmin Kong & Junyi Xiang & Jian Zhang & Yiyang Lu, 2019. "Politically connected independent directors and corporate fraud in China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(5), pages 1347-1383, March.
    7. Zhao, Hongxin & Lu, Jiangyong, 2016. "Contingent value of political capital in bank loan acquisition: Evidence from founder-controlled private enterprises in China," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 153-174.
    8. Gao, Haoyu & Ru, Hong & Tang, Dragon Yongjun, 2021. "Subnational debt of China: The politics-finance nexus," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(3), pages 881-895.
    9. David Schoenherr, 2019. "Political Connections and Allocative Distortions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 74(2), pages 543-586, April.
    10. Jackowicz, Krzysztof & Kozłowski, Łukasz & Podgórski, Błażej & Winkler-Drews, Tadeusz, 2020. "Do political connections shield from negative shocks? Evidence from rating changes in advanced emerging economies," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    11. Zhong-qin Su & Hung-Gay Fung, 2013. "Political Connections and Firm Performance in Chinese Companies," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 283-317, August.
    12. Luechinger, Simon & Moser, Christoph, 2014. "The value of the revolving door: Political appointees and the stock market," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 93-107.
    13. Weiting Zheng & Na Ni & Donal Crilly, 2019. "Non‐profit organizations as a nexus between government and business: Evidence from Chinese charities," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 658-684, April.
    14. Wang, Lihong, 2015. "Protection or expropriation: Politically connected independent directors in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 92-106.
    15. Elmar A. Janssen, 2014. "Do Election Results Affect the Value of Politically Connected Firms? - The Effect of the Schroeder-Merkel Change of Government on German Prime Standard Firms," Working Papers Dissertations 05, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    16. Jackowicz, Krzysztof & Kozłowski, Łukasz & Mielcarz, Paweł, 2014. "Political connections and operational performance of non-financial firms: New evidence from Poland," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 109-135.
    17. Du, Jialin & Bai, Tao & Chen, Stephen, 2019. "Integrating corporate social and corporate political strategies: Performance implications and institutional contingencies in China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 299-316.
    18. Zhang, Bobo & Zhang, Zhou, 2022. "Shining light on corporate political spending: Evidence from shareholder engagements," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    19. Cheng, Lei & Sun, Zhen, 2019. "Do politically connected independent directors matter? Evidence from mandatory resignation events in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    20. Braam, Geert & Nandy, Monomita & Weitzel, Utz & Lodh, Suman, 2015. "Accrual-based and real earnings management and political connections," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 111-141.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:stratm:v:39:y:2018:i:8:p:2152-2177. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/0143-2095 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.