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Copyright of Indonesian Journal of Business & Entrepreunership is the property of IPB University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: ISO 9001 is applied by hundreds of thousands of companies throughout the world. For this reason, its effect on company results has been extensively studied. However, the results of those studies are inconclusive and sometimes contradictory. More in-depth research, with a new approach, is therefore necessary. The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether ISO 9001-certified companies suffered the effects of the financial and economic crisis of 2007–2008 to a lesser degree than non-certified ones. Design/methodology/approach: A set of 179 companies certified by ISO 9001:2008 and 154 non-certified ones were analysed, as well as the accounting figures for net sales and operating income (EBIT: earnings before interest and taxes) from 2004 to 2012. Findings: Companies from the industry and services sectors showed different results. Certified industrial companies achieved better outcomes than their non-certified counterparts. However, the deviations in outcomes were not significant for services companies. Research limitations/implications: One limitation of this study is that companies' official results are not always their true results. Another limitation is that having to do with the criteria followed to suppress extreme cases, which is always subjective. Furthermore, the implications of the results could be of use for those managers who are responsible for implementing ISO 9001 and for deciding whether obtaining the ISO 9001 certification would be beneficial to their companies. Originality/value: This study constitutes a new approach for the assessment of the benefits of the ISO 9001 certification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Banks are the backbone of the financial sector and catalysts in the economic development of any country. Current changes in their global business ecosystem make knowledge of about the fund-supplying and fund-demanding parties of the society a key resource for the fulfillment of banks’ investment and saving functions. This paper addresses the relationship between the performance and a learning culture that is supported by knowledge processes within the organization. Given the relevance of this subject for organizations from most knowledge-intensive domains, this research has focused on the Spanish banking sector. Using a structural equation model, feedback received from 215 employees from 142 individual branches from a major banking institution in Spain is studied. The results of the data analysis show that in addition to maximizing on what is already known about the customer base, employees’ learning about the potential new stakeholders and also about the internal strategies, tools, and techniques is directly related to the bank's performance, which, in turn, influences the economic recovery and socio-economic development. Results support that an active pursuit of learning within the context of the organization is required for banks to remain competitive in the dynamic, global business ecosystem, where international, national, and local banking sectors operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of coastal water quality and its interaction with business results is still an unexplored field. This study uses a probit model and estimates marginal effects to investigate the impact of chlorophyll a concentration in the Mar Menor (Spain) coastal waters on the probability of business failure of firms located in this area. This coastal area has been in a critical ecological condition since 1980 when intensive irrigation agriculture expanded to the surroundings of this salted lagoon. Therefore, identifying the most damaging productive activities is crucial to convince companies and policymakers to overcome this situation. The most remarkable findings of our study are the following. First, we find opposing geographical impacts on the probability of business failure for companies located on the Mar Menor coast: A location effect showing a decreasing probability of business failure for companies located near the Mar Menor and a pollution effect indicating an increased probability of failure due to proximity to water pollution. Second, we further identify the economic sectors in which the pollution effect outweighs the location effect. We find that most of the examined productive activities seem to be negatively affected by the pollution effect, overcoming the positive effect of being located near the Mar Menor. Third, marine eutrophication increases the probability of business failure for some economic activities but not for others. Concretely, agricultural and transport activities benefit from being near the coast despite the quality of the water. These firms' probability of failure decreases when they are located near the sea), whereas a 1 mg/m 3 increase of chlorophyll a raises the probability of business failure for accommodation services (8.4%), minor trade (9.5%), financial and real estate services (11%), and industrial and building activities (14.4%). This paper highlights the need to design effective environmental regulations to preserve the area of Mar Menor, considering the specific productive characteristics of the different agents. We highlight the sectors requiring additional incentives to implement pro-environmental strategies and reduce their contribution to environmental pollution. The main insights from this analysis are applicable to other coastal areas around the world that suffer from marine eutrophication due to human activities., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

There has been a surge of interest in servitization by manufactuting companies in recent decades. Incorporating additional services into a firm's offerings allow them to protect traditional product markets and enter new business areas. This research focuses on a database of Spanish manufacturing companies over the period 1994-2010. Data analysis highlights the difficulty in profiting from this strategy. Even companies operating with a level of servitization in excess of 30% for over a decade struggle to achieve success through servitization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies uphold market orientation as a key factor in creating and sustaining a firm's competitive advantage. The present research model explores this topic further by including within the model the links between organizations' innovation outcomes and business performance. In particular, the model empirically tests the mediating role of innovation outcomes in the relationship between market orientation and business performance. The present study uses a sample of 145 firms belonging to the Spanish automotive components manufacturing sector, which is essentially composed of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). In order to test and validate our research model and hypotheses, this study and employs partial least squares (PLS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The present paper aims to analyze how the performance of hotels located on the Spanish Mediterranean coast (peninsular and Balearic) and Canary coast is affected by the degree of business agglomeration in tourist districts. If agglomeration affects hotels positively, then the externalities generated in tourist districts will be relevant when locating an establishment. Otherwise, the reason why hotels group together geographically would be more related to the suitability of beaches as a tourist destination. The study also analyzes the impact that regions or autonomous communities have on hotel performance. Design/methodology/approach -- The hypotheses are tested by multiple linear regression in which hotel profitability acts as the dependent variable which can be explained by independent variables such as the greater or lesser agglomeration of tourist companies at the destination and the autonomous region where the hotel is located. Findings -- The results show that hotels situated at destinations with a higher degree of agglomeration are less profitable, probably due to the greater rivalry that exists among nearby competitors. However, in accordance with the theory of tourist districts, one could expect hotels located at destinations with a higher degree of agglomeration to be more profitable because of the greater externalities generated within the district. In this sense, it is possible that hotel location decisions were based more on the natural advantage model, where firms look for specialized inputs like beach or climate, than on production externalities models. Research limitations/implications -- It was necessary to work with secondary information sources which contain no data about RevPar (revenue per available room) or GopPar (gross operating profit per available room), the hotel profitability measures most often used in research studies. Practical implications -- The paper could be useful for hotel companies, when they are deciding on a location, and for public administrations. Originality/value -- The present paper is original for several reasons. First, it is one of the first studies which applies the theory of industrial districts to the tourism sector, a line of research which is still in its early stages of development. Furthermore, the ISTAT methodology is applied for the first time to the identification of Spanish tourist districts. Also, various studies relate the degree of agglomeration to hotel profitability, but none so far have used the degree of company agglomeration within a tourist district, linking it to profitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The first objective of this paper is to map the adoption of technologies for the reduction of energy and resource consumption in production and the second is to test the relationship between the implementation of those technologies and the performance of manufacturing firms. The aim is to contribute to the identification of the characteristics of the manufacturing firms that use this kind of innovative technology in order to help policy makers promote energy and resource efficiency in a suitable manner. Our research is based on the Spanish and Slovenian subsamples of a wider European Manufacturing Survey. Our suggested models explain how significant energy efficiency is, and how much of the variability in economic performance and environmental performance it can explain. The results show that the use of energy and material saving technologies does not have a clear and significant relationship with economic performance. On the other hand a significant positive relationship is found between energy and material saving technologies and environmental performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The impact online social networks are having nowadays as a marketing tool in the performance of companies is yet to be made clear. Such an impact is being looked into in this paper on the basis of Spanish companies' data. Structural equations being applied to a multi-group are the channel through which an attempt is being made to ind out whether an intensive use of these networks in the marketing ield shall somehow restrain the relationship between dynamic capabilities, market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation, and what is the impact these networks are having on the latter. Survey outcomes show that this intensity somehow makes the relationship between market orientation and performance and entrepreneurial orientation smoother. A strong and determined marketing strategy in social networks could strengthen up these relationships thus enhancing their performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The aim of the paper is to identify which variables of training policy have a significant and positive impact on organisational performance. Design/methodology/approach – A targeted literature review was conducted to identify and collate a comprehensive range of human resource management and training conceptualisations/investigations. This was the basis for the approach to contrast hypotheses. The paper used a sample of Spanish companies and the method of analysis was regression. Findings – The results obtained in this paper do suggest that the training policy positively correlates with organisational performance, both using objective result measures (productivity and financial performance) and in the subjective measure of perceived financial performance and in intermediate result measures. Research limitations/implications – The study was confined to the analysis of a single Spanish region, and specifically referred to its hotel industry, which means that the results obtained must be situated within that specific context examined. To this must be added that the data were collected from a single source (CEOs) and, of course, it would have been more appropriate to use data from multiple sources. Originality/value – From an academic point-of-view, the research initiative presented here is placed within the new line of development for research into training and performance that tries to overcome the restrictions faced in other publications, trying to go one step further in the search for more specific connections between human resources and performance. From a practical viewpoint, this research work could help hotel entrepreneurs in two ways: first, by providing evidence that the resources allocated by hotel firms to the training of their staff have a positive impact on their profit levels; and second, by showing which variables should be considered to achieve this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This study aims to examine how temporary employment and organizational size moderate the effect of human capital on firm performance. The authors also analyze the overall effect of human capital, temporary contracts and organizational size on firm performance. This enables them to identify which combination of these three variables leads to the highest levels of profitability. Design/methodology/approach – From a sample of 1,403 Spanish firms, the authors carry out a comparative analysis of the impact of human capital on labor productivity and return on sales among small and large companies with high and low use of temporary employment. Findings – The positive effect of human capital on return of sales is greater in large firms with low temporary employment than in small firms with high temporary employment. In addition, this positive effect is not universal because in some scenarios it is not significant. The most beneficial context is that of large companies with a high level of human capital and a low use of temporary employment. Research limitations/implications – The results should be interpreted within the Spanish manufacturing sector. Practical implications – Decisions about investment in human capital and the use of temporary workers should be taken jointly by personnel managers, in accordance with the size of the firm. If this holistic view is ignored, a full understanding of the impact of human capital on firm performance will be obscured. On the other hand, a common feature that large and small firms share is an incompatibility between human capital and temporary employment. Originality/value – Growing interest has been shown in the degree to which investment in human capital contributes to firm performance; yet limited research attention has been paid to the contextual conditions that moderate this relationship. Investment in human capital can be more beneficial in some scenarios than in others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study considers two main research issues: the relationship between objective quality and business performance and the moderating role of an entrepreneur's knowledge (education and experience) and involvement (exclusiveness in professional dedication) in that relationship. A sample of 103 rural tourism entrepreneurs in Spain serves as the study setting. Results indicate the positive influence of an establishment's quality on performance. Moreover, both knowledge and involvement have direct effects on performance, but involvement influences performance to a greater extent and even reaches profits. Positive moderating effects of experience and exclusiveness also emerge, as does an unexpected negative moderating effect of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organisations are finding it increasingly more difficult to keep abreast with the pace of change. The continuous rise in the number of business opportunities and the increase in global competition require firms to combine internal and external learning processes to renew and reconfigure existing capabilities and knowledge to enable them to meet environmental demands and to innovate. This study aims to unravel the complex linkage between internal learning capacity and absorptive capacity and at exploring the joint effect of both knowledge generation processes on innovation capacity. This study also proposes innovation capacity as an antecedent of business performance. Using data from 952 industrial Spanish firms and the technique of structural equation modelling, we provide evidence on the joint effect of internal learning capacity and absorptive capacity on innovation capacity. We also show that innovation capacity acts as a catalyst for the effect of learning capacities on business performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Business rankings in general, and those referring to savings banks in particular, are usually based on a single criterion, so that rankings vary according to the criterion used. This paper proposes a multicriteria methodology based on goal programming that considers simultaneously the different dimensions involved in savings bank performance. An analysis of the Spanish savings banks reveals that credit risk is the most important performance dimension of these financial institutions, followed by profitability and productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Listening to customers and translating what is heard into an action plan is a mark of a successful organization. This article suggests eListening as the core for the possibility of business performance and illustrates this suggestion with an empirical study. In order to achieve this, we examine the relative importance and significance of e-business and the level of eListening-related performance through an empirical investigation of 285 enterprises in the Spanish information technology industry. The results are then calculated using structural equation modelling validated by factor analysis. This leads to the main conclusion that a major organization's 'business performance' is unlikely to be successful without embracing eListening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This article aims to offer empirical evidence pertaining to the relationship among entrepreneurship, market orientation and business performance within the context of disadvantaged socio-economic regions of the European Union. Designlmethodology/approach - Two groups of hypotheses investigate the relationship between entrepreneurship and market orientation and the joint effect of these dimensions on performance. All questions are approached using survey data from 183 firms located in the Castilla y Leon region, Spain. Findings - A strong relationship exists between entrepreneurship and market orientation. Although these orientations may be implemented separately, firms emphasise entrepreneurship when they are market-oriented. Therefore, the strong relationship and complementarities between entrepreneurship and market orientation reduce the effort involved in the joint adoption of both orientations. Both orientations also demonstrate a strong relationship with performance, such that each contributes specifically. Originality/value - The article shows that, despite little evidence of synergic effects of the joint adoption of both orientations, the specific aspects that differentiate entrepreneurship and market orientation both contribute to improving performance, and therefore, firms should foster a market-oriented, entrepreneurial organisational culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — This study has a twofold purpose: to identify the competitive strategies and advantages of hotels located in the province of Alicante (Spain); and to inform hotel managers about how some key strategic variables (size, type of hotel management, category and competitive advantage) impact on hotel performance. Design/methodology/approach — A study of the population was carried out using a questionnaire addressed to hotel managers. A principal components factor analysis was performed to identify business strategies. In addition, hotels were grouped together according to the key strategic variables and the degree of development of the different business strategies implemented. Findings — A comparative study of the performance levels achieved by each strategic group was carried out for the purpose of checking whether any of them produced significantly higher performance levels. In the light of the results, if hotels are to achieve higher performance levels, they should preferably be medium or large sized, belong to a chain, increase their category and base their competitive strategy on improvement and dimension. Practical implications — Strategic groups simplify the complex strategic reality in which hotel managers develop their professional activity. Thanks to the creation of these groups, managers acquire an aggregate knowledge of the business strategies and advantages of the hotels operating around their establishments and can equally be aware of the performance levels reached in each group analysed. This information also allows hotel managers to identify the strategic variables which must be developed to avoid being left behind inside their group in competitive terms or to join a different group which they may eventually consider more interesting in terms of strategy or performance. Originality/value — This study provides a method to identify strategies and competitive advantages within the hotel industry and additionally suggests strategic actions for hotel managers to improve firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely recognized that the development of learning capability is key to achieve a durable competitive advantage. However, the analysis of the relevance of learning capability to improve business performance and, thus, the organizational competence has been insufficiently developed in literature. Based on data from 111 Spanish companies, this article explores the link between learning capability and the improvement of business performance by comparing how the main dimensions of learning capability—stocks of knowledge and flows of learning—impact on performance, in terms of both non-financial and financial performance. The results show that those organizations with the highest levels in their knowledge stocks and learning flows obtain a superior performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The aim of the paper is to study the reasons for the adoption and certification of quality systems and the subsequent impacts on performance. Design/methodology/approach - The methodology selected is a study based on the perceptions of two hotel managers in Spain. Findings - On the one hand, the results show that the most important reasons to adopt and certify quality systems are internal and, on the other hand, that although positive effects on performance can be identified, the impact on financial performance is low. Originality/value - The value of this paper lies in that it provides the perceptions of hotel managers for others who wish to know the reasons leading to the implementation and certification of a quality system and the subsequent impacts on performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Purpose--To describe the degree of use of some of the most representative lean production (LP) practices in Spanish ceramic tile industry, their relationship with plant size and their effect on the operational performance of the companies in the sector. Design/methodology/approach--A questionnaire was developed for data collection. Findings are presented from 76 companies (79.17 per cent of the total sample) that specialise in single firing ceramics. Findings--In the sector under study, there is one set of practices that have as yet scarcely been implemented (group technology, kanban, reduction of set-up time, development of multi-function employees and visual factory) and another set whose use is fairly widespread (standardisation of operations, total productive maintenance and quality controls). The degree of their respective use depends on a firm's size. Very few correlations appear between the degree of use of any specific LP practice in isolation and the operational indicators. Research limitations/implications--For certain variables we found very little variation between the firms in our sample. Moreover, many firms did not have available the data needed for calculating capacity utilisation, and hence we have not been able to check its effects in our analysis. Practical implications--The paper presents data for reflecting on the application of different LP practices in isolation and on the impediments limiting the use of some of them in the sector. Originality/value--The paper extends the work of other researchers by focusing on a sector and a country that have been very little studied until now. The sample consists of a set of firms that are fairly homogeneous; this facilitates analysing the relationships between the selected variables while keeping other variables controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Purpose--To provide insights into current IT and total quality management (TQM) theory and practice on operational and quality performance, in particular the use of IT in supporting TQM policies and practices. Design/methodology/approach--Hypotheses derived from the key features of TQM and IT presented by previous authors are tested using structural equation modelling through field research on a sample of 234 manufacturing companies in Spain. Findings--The results indicate that the sampled firms make considerable use of IT to support their TQM initiatives and that overall such efforts generate significant positive gains on operational and quality performance. The few exceptions to this are noted and discussed. Research limitations/implications--The implications and limitations of the survey together with suggestions for further research are fully discussed. Practical implications--A survey of IT in support of TQM initiatives on operational and quality performance in manufacturing suggests how firms and other organisations should focus their IT investments to improve performance. Originality/value--Both information technology and QTM have had, and continue to have, a significant impact on most organisations. Although each paradigm has been widely researched there is little empirical research on the relationship between the two and how they both relate to business performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]