IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/worbus/v51y2016i3p413-424.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Performance of professional service firms from emerging markets: Role of innovative services and firm capabilities

Author

Listed:
  • Bello, Daniel C.
  • Radulovich, Lori P.
  • Javalgi, Rajshekhar (Raj) G.
  • Scherer, Robert F.
  • Taylor, Jennifer

Abstract

Professional service firms (PSF) from emerging markets face a financial dilemma: PSFs tend to utilize high-wage labor, yet their emerging market status makes foreign clients cautious regarding quality and less willing to pay high prices. To allay these concerns, PSFs may be able to develop attractive, highly innovative services, but as the resource-based view (RBV) notes, this requires emerging market firms to possess critical capabilities to support such a competitive advantage. Relying on services theory, we propose that entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of management and expert human capital (HC) are critical capabilities, enabling a PSF to develop and market innovative services profitably. In testing our model on 201 Indian PSFs, we find a mediating role for innovativeness whereby EO and HC drive service innovation which, in turn, accounts for financial performance. Further, we find EO positively moderates the innovative service–performance relationship as proactive, risk-tolerant managers improve foreign marketing. Insights for theory and practice are provided that enable PSFs to overcome the constraints and challenges of their emerging market origin.

Suggested Citation

  • Bello, Daniel C. & Radulovich, Lori P. & Javalgi, Rajshekhar (Raj) G. & Scherer, Robert F. & Taylor, Jennifer, 2016. "Performance of professional service firms from emerging markets: Role of innovative services and firm capabilities," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 413-424.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:51:y:2016:i:3:p:413-424
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jwb.2015.11.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090951615001029
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jwb.2015.11.004?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Agrawal, Narendra M. & Khatri, Naresh & Srinivasan, R., 2012. "Managing growth: Human resource management challenges facing the Indian software industry," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 159-166.
    2. Benjamin M. Oviatt & Patricia P. McDougall, 2005. "Defining International Entrepreneurship and Modeling the Speed of Internationalization," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(5), pages 537-553, September.
    3. Javalgi, Rajshekhar (Raj) G. & Todd, Patricia R., 2011. "Entrepreneurial orientation, management commitment, and human capital: The internationalization of SMEs in India," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(9), pages 1004-1010, September.
    4. Rodolphe Durand & Régis Coeurderoy, 2001. "Age, order of entry, strategic orientation, and organizational performance," Post-Print hal-00481163, HAL.
    5. Giulio Cainelli & Rinaldo Evangelista & Maria Savona, 2006. "Innovation and economic performance in services: a firm-level analysis," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 30(3), pages 435-458, May.
    6. Durand, Rodolphe & Coeurderoy, Regis, 2001. "Age, order of entry, strategic orientation, and organizational performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 471-494, September.
    7. John A. Pearce & D. Keith Robbins & Richard B. Robinson, 1987. "The impact of grand strategy and planning formality on financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(2), pages 125-134, March.
    8. John L Naman & Dennis P. Slevin, 1993. "Entrepreneurship and the concept of fit: A model and empirical tests," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 137-153, February.
    9. Armstrong, J. Scott & Overton, Terry S., 1977. "Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys," MPRA Paper 81694, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Ari Jantunen & Kaisu Puumalainen & Sami Saarenketo & Kalevi Kyläheiko, 2005. "Entrepreneurial Orientation, Dynamic Capabilities and International Performance," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 223-243, September.
    11. Farok J. Contractor & Susan M. Mudambi, 2008. "The influence of human capital investment on the exports of services and goods: An analysis of the top 25 services outsourcing countries," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 433-445, April.
    12. Kundu, Sumit K & Katz, Jerome A, 2003. "Born-International SMEs: BI-Level Impacts of Resources and Intentions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 25-47, February.
    13. Kwaku Atuahene-Gima & Anthony Ko, 2001. "An Empirical Investigation of the Effect of Market Orientation and Entrepreneurship Orientation Alignment on Product Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(1), pages 54-74, February.
    14. Jane W. Lu & Paul W. Beamish, 2001. "The internationalization and performance of SMEs," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6‐7), pages 565-586, June.
    15. Pérez-Luño, Ana & Wiklund, Johan & Cabrera, Ramón Valle, 2011. "The dual nature of innovative activity: How entrepreneurial orientation influences innovation generation and adoption," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 555-571, September.
    16. Luc Sels & Sophie Winne & Jeroen Delmotte & Johan Maes & Dries Faems & Anneleen Forrier, 2006. "Linking HRM and Small Business Performance: An Examination of the Impact of HRM Intensity on the Productivity and Financial Performance of Small Businesses," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 83-101, February.
    17. Chung-Leung Luk & Oliver H M Yau & Leo Y M Sin & Alan C B Tse & Raymond P M Chow & Jenny S Y Lee, 2008. "The effects of social capital and organizational innovativeness in different institutional contexts," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 39(4), pages 589-612, June.
    18. Mie Augier & David J. Teece, 2007. "Dynamic capabilities and multinational enterprise: Penrosean insights and omissions," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 175-192, March.
    19. Griffith, David A. & Yalcinkaya, Goksel & Calantone, Roger J., 2010. "Do marketing capabilities consistently mediate effects of firm intangible capital on performance across institutional environments?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 217-227, July.
    20. Zahra, Shaker A. & Garvis, Dennis M., 2000. "International corporate entrepreneurship and firm performance: The moderating effect of international environmental hostility," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 15(5-6), pages 469-492.
    21. Yigang Pan & Shaomin Li & David K Tse, 1999. "The Impact of Order and Mode of Market Entry on Profitability and Market Share," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 30(1), pages 81-103, March.
    22. McDougall, Patricia Phillips & Oviatt, Benjamin M., 1996. "New venture internationalization, strategic change, and performance: A follow-up study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 23-40, January.
    23. Hung-Gay Fung & Xiaoqing Eleanor Xu & Qi-Zi Zhang, 2007. "On The Financial Performance Of Private Enterprises In China," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 12(04), pages 399-414.
    24. Gautam Ahuja & Riitta Katila, 2004. "Where do resources come from? The role of idiosyncratic situations," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(8‐9), pages 887-907, August.
    25. Contractor, Farok J. & Kumar, Vikas & Kundu, Sumit K., 2007. "Nature of the relationship between international expansion and performance: The case of emerging market firms," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 401-417, December.
    26. Benjamin M Oviatt & Patricia P McDougall, 2005. "The internationalization of entrepreneurship," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 36(1), pages 2-8, January.
    27. Rosenbusch, Nina & Brinckmann, Jan & Bausch, Andreas, 2011. "Is innovation always beneficial? A meta-analysis of the relationship between innovation and performance in SMEs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 441-457, July.
    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. Michael Yao-Ping Peng & Yong-Sheng Chang, 2023. "Do Social Network Relationships and Overseas Market Orientation Affect SMEs’ International Performance? A Dynamic Internationalization Capability Perspective," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, March.
    2. Ming-Chao Wang & Ja-Shen Chen, 2022. "Driving coopetition strategy to service innovation: the moderating role of coopetition recognition," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(5), pages 1471-1501, July.
    3. Zhao, Shasha & Liu, Xiaohui & Andersson, Ulf & Shenkar, Oded, 2022. "Knowledge management of emerging economy multinationals," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(1).
    4. Ahammad, Mohammad Faisal & Basu, Shubhabrata & Munjal, Surender & Clegg, Jeremy & Shoham, Ofra Bazel, 2021. "Strategic agility, environmental uncertainties and international performance: The perspective of Indian firms," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(4).
    5. Nikolay Chichkanov & Ian Miles & Veronika Belousova, 2019. "Conditions For Innovation In Kibs: Evidence From Russia," HSE Working papers WP BRP 92/STI/2019, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    6. Subhanjan Sengupta & Arunaditya Sahay & Francesca Croce, 2018. "Conceptualizing social entrepreneurship in the context of emerging economies: an integrative review of past research from BRIICS," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 771-803, December.
    7. Gilbert Kofi Adarkwah & Tine Petersen Malonæs, 2022. "Firm-specific advantages: a comprehensive review with a focus on emerging markets," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 539-585, June.
    8. Bach Nguyen & Nguyen Phuc Canh & Su Dinh Thanh, 2021. "Institutions, Human Capital and Entrepreneurship Density," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(3), pages 1270-1293, September.
    9. Gegužytė Gintarė & Bagdonienė Liudmila, 2021. "Value Co-Creation in Engineering Service Innovation: Resources and Capabilities Perspectives," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 29(4), pages 91-123, December.
    10. Intekhab Alam & Pouya Seifzadeh, 2020. "Marketing Islamic Financial Services: A Review, Critique, and Agenda for Future Research," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19, January.
    11. Anning-Dorson, Thomas, 2018. "Customer involvement capability and service firm performance: The mediating role of innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 269-280.
    12. Jean, Ruey Jer “Bryan” & Kim, Daekwan & Bello, Daniel C., 2017. "Relationship-based product innovations: Evidence from the global supply chain," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 127-140.
    13. Ryazanova, Olga & McNamara, Peter & Aguinis, Herman, 2017. "Research performance as a quality signal in international labor markets: Visibility of business schools worldwide through a global research performance system," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(6), pages 831-841.
    14. Buccieri, Dominic & Javalgi, Raj G. & Cavusgil, Erin, 2023. "Role of opportunity creation between reconfiguration and innovation: Insights from emerging market international new ventures," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(4).
    15. Shufeng Simon Xiao & Yong Kyu Lew & Byung Il Park, 2019. "‘2R-Based View’ on the Internationalization of Service MNEs from Emerging Economies: Evidence from China," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 643-673, August.
    16. Anna Vuorio & Lasse Torkkeli & Liisa-Maija Sainio, 2020. "Service innovation and internationalization in SMEs: antecedents and profitability outcomes," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 92-123, March.
    17. Norwan Ahmad & Ng Siew Imm & Yuhanis Abdul Aziz & Norazlyn Kamal Basha, 2020. "Why Not Knowledge-Based HRM? Its Direct and Indirect Effect on Innovative Service Offerings," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, December.
    18. Buccieri, Dominic & Javalgi, Raj G. & Cavusgil, Erin, 2020. "International new venture performance: Role of international entrepreneurial culture, ambidextrous innovation, and dynamic marketing capabilities," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2).
    19. Ferreira, Jorge & Coelho, Arnaldo & Moutinho, Luiz, 2020. "Dynamic capabilities, creativity and innovation capability and their impact on competitive advantage and firm performance: The moderating role of entrepreneurial orientation," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 92.
    20. Tian Hongyun & William Adomako Kankam & Florence Appiah-Twum & Isaac Gumah Akolgo, 2019. "Effect of Social Capital on Firm Performance: The Role of Entrepreneurial Orientation and Dynamic Capability," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 9(4), pages 63-73.
    21. Zhang, Yufeng & Yang, Zhibo & Zhang, Tao, 2018. "Strategic resource decisions to enhance the performance of global engineering services," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 678-700.
    22. Yuliani Suseno & Chris Rowley, 2018. "Social capital in service-oriented firms: future directions," Asia Pacific Business Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 261-271, March.
    23. Niittymies, Aleksi & Pajunen, Kalle, 2020. "Cognitive foundations of firm internationalization: A systematic review and agenda for future research," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4).

    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. Anna Vuorio & Lasse Torkkeli & Liisa-Maija Sainio, 2020. "Service innovation and internationalization in SMEs: antecedents and profitability outcomes," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 92-123, March.
    2. Christian Schwens & Florian B. Zapkau & Michael Bierwerth & Rodrigo Isidor & Gary Knight & Rüdiger Kabst, 2018. "International Entrepreneurship: A Meta–Analysis on the Internationalization and Performance Relationship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 42(5), pages 734-768, September.
    3. Zhou, Lianxi & Wu, Aiqi, 2014. "Earliness of internationalization and performance outcomes: Exploring the moderating effects of venture age and international commitment," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 132-142.
    4. Wu, Aiqi & Voss, Hinrich, 2015. "When does absorptive capacity matter for international performance of firms? Evidence from China," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 344-351.
    5. Dai, Li & Maksimov, Vladislav & Gilbert, Brett Anitra & Fernhaber, Stephanie A., 2014. "Entrepreneurial orientation and international scope: The differential roles of innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 511-524.
    6. Ripollés, Maria & Blesa, Andreu, 2012. "International new ventures as “small multinationals”: The importance of marketing capabilities," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 277-287.
    7. Jones, Marian V. & Coviello, Nicole & Tang, Yee Kwan, 2011. "International Entrepreneurship research (1989–2009): A domain ontology and thematic analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 632-659.
    8. Marina Dabić & Jane Maley & Leo-Paul Dana & Ivan Novak & Massimiliano M. Pellegrini & Andrea Caputo, 2020. "Pathways of SME internationalization: a bibliometric and systematic review," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 705-725, October.
    9. Riviere, Monica & Romero-Martínez, Ana M., 2021. "Network embeddedness, headquarters entrepreneurial orientation, and MNE international performance," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(3).
    10. Jeffery S. McMullen & Katrina M. Brownell & Joel Adams, 2021. "What Makes an Entrepreneurship Study Entrepreneurial? Toward A Unified Theory of Entrepreneurial Agency," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(5), pages 1197-1238, September.
    11. Yen-Chun Chen & Ya-Hui Lin & Hsien-Tung Tsai, 2020. "Toward Greater Understanding of the Relationship Between Entrepreneurial Orientation and International Performance," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 211-245, April.
    12. Darshana Mudalige & Noor Azizi Ismail & Marlin Abdul Malek, 2019. "Exploring the Role of Individual Level and Firm Level Dynamic Capabilities in SMEs’ Internationalization," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 41-74, March.
    13. Buccieri, Dominic & Javalgi, Raj G. & Cavusgil, Erin, 2020. "International new venture performance: Role of international entrepreneurial culture, ambidextrous innovation, and dynamic marketing capabilities," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2).
    14. Zahoor, Nadia & Al-Tabbaa, Omar, 2021. "Post-entry internationalization speed of SMEs: The role of relational mechanisms and foreign market knowledge," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(1).
    15. Jeffrey G. Covin & Danny Miller, 2014. "International Entrepreneurial Orientation: Conceptual Considerations, Research Themes, Measurement Issues, and Future Research Directions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 38(1), pages 11-44, January.
    16. Aurora Teixeira & Cátia Coimbra, 2014. "The determinants of the internationalization speed of Portuguese university spin-offs: An empirical investigation," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 270-308, September.
    17. Demir, Robert & Campopiano, Giovanna & Kruckenhauser, Christian & Bauer, Florian, 2021. "Strategic agility, internationalisation speed and international success — The role of coordination mechanisms and growth modes," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1).
    18. Głodowska Agnieszka & Pera Bożena & Wach Krzysztof, 2019. "International Strategy as the Facilitator of the Speed, Scope, and Scale of Firms’ Internationalization," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 27(3), pages 55-84, September.
    19. Li, Haiyan, 2020. "Role of overseas ethnic and non-ethnic ties and firm activity in the home country in the internationalization of returnee entrepreneurial firms," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(1).
    20. Salvatore Sciascia & Pietro Mazzola & Joseph Astrachan & Torsten Pieper, 2012. "The role of family ownership in international entrepreneurship: exploring nonlinear effects," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 15-31, January.

    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:eee:worbus:v:51:y:2016:i:3:p:413-424. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620401/description#description .

    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.