Contributions of the Dissertation

When this research project was conceived, its primary and broad goal was to contribute in the enhancement of competitiveness of SMEs. Based on the resource-based theory and its core concept about sustained competitive advantage, the strategic orientation of a firm appeared as a key element to be studied in the search of a better enterprise performance and in consequence a better competitive position. Market orientation was first identified as a strategic orientation that significantly contributed to improve business results (Kohli and Jaworsky, 1990). Derived from this, a new and rich research line appeared and as long as researchers deepen in the field, findings started to show mixed results and new strategic orientations started to be considered. Step by step, literature review revealed that even in the extant literature about strategic orientations and firm performance, research gaps appeared to be filled.

As it was stated before, Hakala (2011) performed a systematic review on the literature regarding multiple strategic orientations, finding that this literature have had received fragmented attention and making a call to continuing research efforts in the field.

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The first main contribution of this dissertation is specifically the design and realization of a qualitative study regarding strategic orientations and firm performance (essay one), including family business concepts. Even though that the CEO of the family-owned company of the study was a professionally trained manager, he didn´t recognize the scholar taxonomy for strategic orientations, but as the study was on going, he realized that he had been working with these concepts. This revealed that theoretical concepts widely used by academics in their research studies remain unclear for practitioners, opening an opportunity for researchers to close this gap through this type of studies.

The CEO of the family-based company also acknowledge that the model derived from the research study will be very useful to better understand his competitive advantage and in consequence leverage the firm.

This contribution was recognized by the Allied Academies organization -a not for profit US based corporation- dedicated to research and teach. Essay one was presented in the San Antonio, Texas Conference in October 2013, and it was awarded with the “Distinguished Research Award” by the Academy of Strategic Management. This essay was published in 2014 by the Academy of Strategic Management Journal.

Derived from essay one, a second main contribution is the model proposal in essay two that relates technology orientation and relational capital with innovativeness and firm performance. Previous research models have used diverse strategic orientations as antecedent of innovativeness (e.g., Hult et al., 2004), but none had tested technology orientation and relational capital. Results show that technology orientation and relational capital can be seen as antecedents of innovativeness. A significant difference regarding Hult et al. (2004) study and essay two, is that it was performed over 181 large companies; firms with sales above US$100 million per year. This could be considered as a whole new research line for SMEs in emerging economies opening opportunities to test theory adaptations from developed economies to emerging ones.

Another contribution of essay two that can be considered as an original one is the investigation of the relationship between relational capital and technology orientation. Several antecedents have been taken into account for diverse strategic orientations but rarely relational capital. Results show that

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relational capital is positively related to technology orientation. Considering that relational capital can be defined as the set of all relationships – market relationships, power relationships and cooperation – established between firms, institutions and people that stem from a strong sense of belonging and a highly developed capacity of cooperation (Capello and Faggian, 2005), a natural link with networking theory can be stablished, opening again a new research field opportunity particularly to SMEs. These results can also be used to redefine and encourage government and private institutions actions that foster competitiveness through cooperation and managerial relationships.

One final contribution of essay two is the comparison of the proposed model when control variables are introduced. Results can boost new research design in order to provide a better understanding of the findings as it was explained in the discussion section of the essay.

Findings in essay two leads to the research design of essay three. Essay three contributes firstly in that empirical results concluded that relational capital can be considered as an antecedent of the four main strategic orientations reviewed in the literature. As it was commented before, few studies can be found relating strategic orientations and relational capital; in this sense, essay three can be considered as a pioneering study, particularly for SMEs in emerging economies. Natural future research can be devised because of the different intensities between each relationship, so new research can be design to better understand how relational capital relates with each strategic orientation. An obvious restriction of the study is that findings can’t be generalized, but this restriction encourage new research in other emerging economies.

Another contribution is the finding about the positive relationship between market orientation and innovativeness. This result contributes to the debate about if market orientation inhibit or foster innovativeness.

Finally, the negative relationship found between learning orientation and innovativeness open a new research stream particularly in emerging markets and SMEs context. As was explained before, knowledge and learning in SMEs are less formal and structured than in large companies, and strategic

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orientations can be seen more like a “survival” strategies than the principles that guide actions to a sustained competitive advantage.

3. Implications of the Dissertation