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Performance implications of ties to large-scale state-owned enterprises and banks in an emerging economy

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Abstract

This paper examines how ties to large-scale state-owned enterprises and ties to banks affect firm performance in emerging economies. The findings, obtained from survey data collected from 208 firms in the Chinese manufacturing industry, indicate that both categories of ties improve firm performance. The value of the two categories of ties changes in organizational contexts that vary in terms of the moderators of size, age, and firm strategy. Specifically, ties to banks improve the performance of younger firms significantly more than that of older firms, while ties to large-scale state-owned enterprises improve the performance of smaller firms significantly more than that of larger firms.

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Notes

  1. See http://www.financeasia.com/News/388692,chinas-soe-reform-gathers-pace.aspx.

  2. http://www.economist.com/news/china/21614240-reform-state-companies-back-agenda-fixing-china-inc.

  3. See http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/11/24/uk-china-soes-idUKKCN0J80A920141124.

  4. The National Bureau of Statistics of China put the criteria into effect in 2003.

  5. This study adopts the view that Chinese firms use either a flexibility or an efficiency strategy. According Gupta, Smith, and Shalley (2006), whether firms can simultaneously achieve flexibility and efficiency depends on their resource profile. Firms need to possess sufficient resources to achieve ambidexterity of efficiency and flexibility. Despite rapid development in recent decades, Chinese firms generally do not possess adequate resources to implement complicated strategies. Furthermore, because both flexibility and efficiency strategies are related to how firms offer products to markets, simultaneous adopting the two strategies is more difficult (Gupta et al., 2006). Empirical results from Ebben and Johnson (2005) also show a negative effect of mixing efficiency and flexibility on small firms’ performance. Thus, it might be less likely for Chinese firms to adopt flexibility and efficiency strategies simultaneously.

  6. Recent studies suggest the potential benefits of balancing efficiency and flexibility strategies (e.g., Eisenhardt et al., 2010). However, other research considers the strategies diametrically opposed, in that they create conflicting demands in terms of technologies, expertise, labor, control systems, and organizational structures (Fiegenbaum & Karnani, 1991; Filley & Aldag, 1980). Ebben and Johnson (2005) assert that firms that combine the two strategies underperform those that focus on one or the other.

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Acknowledgments

This paper is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71302144 and No. 71172185) and National Natural Science Fund for Outstanding Young Fund of China (No. 71222202)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University, 28 Xianning West Road, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China, 710049

    En Xie, Yuanyuan Huang & Yu Li

  2. School of Economics and Finance, Xi’an Jiaotong University, 74 Yanta West Road, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China, 710061

    Hao Shen

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  1. En Xie
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  2. Yuanyuan Huang
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  4. Yu Li
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Correspondence to Hao Shen.

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Xie, E., Huang, Y., Shen, H. et al. Performance implications of ties to large-scale state-owned enterprises and banks in an emerging economy. Asia Pac J Manag 34, 97–121 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-016-9473-0

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