Business strategy

Browse research publications by Professor Siah Hwee Ang in the area of business strategy.

The impact of firm competitive intensity and collaboration on firm growth in different technological environments

Ang SH. 2008. Strategic Management Journal, 29: 1057-1075, 2008.

This article investigates the impact of competitive intensity and collaboration on firm growth across technological environments. I propose that competitive intensity determines the likelihood of firm collaboration, and that the interaction of competitive intensity and collaboration influences firm growth. These relationships are, in turn, moderated by industry-level technological intensity.

Analyzing 1,004 firms and 378 collaborations from the manufacturing sector in Singapore, I find that firms facing high or low levels of competitive intensity collaborate less often than those facing moderate levels of competitive intensity. Industry technology intensity moderates this relationship, with a stronger inverted-U-shaped association between competitive intensity and collaboration in more technology intensive industries.

Collaboration leads to higher growth for firms facing lower levels of competitive intensity than for firms facing higher levels of competitive intensity only in more technology intensive industries. In technologically less intensive industries, collaboration leads to higher growth for firms facing higher levels of competitive intensity as compared to those facing lower levels of competitive intensity.

These findings have important implications for competitive and collaborative dynamics for firm growth in different technological environments.

Biotechnology collaborations: Does business model matter?

Greiner R, Ang SH. 2012, Journal of Management and Governance, 16(3): 377-392.

This study investigates how a biotechnology firm’s collaboration incidence is affected by the business model it adopts. Specifically, we compare interfirm collaboration conducted by biopharmaceutical firms adopting the hybrid business model with those using the product-focused business model.

The analysis based on 1820 collaborations conducted by 87 dedicated biopharmaceutical firms suggests that firms adopting the hybrid business model generally engage in more collaboration. They also establish a greater proportion of exploration collaboration. These findings have implications for firms' positioning using business models.

Tapping tides and waves: The case for marine energy

Abstract: Marine energy is one of the largest unexploited sources of renewable energy. Strong growth is forecast for the industry, but as yet only a small number of international and local projects exist. Most of these are at research-and-development stage and have yet to be commercialised. n opportunity therefore exists for New Zealand to develop its own R&D structure, and become a major player in the marine energy industry.

The creation of an R&D centre would bring a number of strategic benefits, including the potential to develop a high-value marine export industry and a network of marine energy sites that could become an additional source of “clean” electricity for the national grid.

Corporate parent effect on subsidiary technology and diversification strategies

Ang SH. 2008, International Commerce and Information Review, 1(1): 3-24.

This paper examines the corporate parent effect on the diversification strategies of triad and Asian subsidiaries in the ASEAN region. I find that triad subsidiaries tend to participate in high technology intensive industries, and are more likely to diversify. In addition, I also find that the subsidiary diversification strategy is significantly affected by the number of affiliations under the same corporate parent that perform the same or different activities in the region.

These results shed light on the influence of corporate parent on subsidiary-level strategy and the role of the subsidiary within an economically integrated region. Various implications are discussed.

Partner alignment and governance in IT software alliances

Ang SH. 2007, Journal of Computer Information Systems, 47(3): 11-16.

This study investigates the effect of partner alignment on the choice of using equity versus non-equity alliance governance mode in information technology (IT) software alliances. Using 485 IT software alliances established in six developed Asia Pacific countries in the period 1998 to 2004, this study proposed and found that non-equity governance mode is adopted when the partners are of the same nationality and when the number of partners in the alliance is smaller.

The choice of governance mode is however not affected by whether the partners come from similar or related industries and whether the alliance is established in the same industry as the partners. These results partially support the behavioral uncertainty arguments in transaction cost economics (TCE), as opposed to the need to maintain control and protect knowledge and technologies.

This observation can be partially attributed to the nature of activities in the IT software sector where ex ante specification of activities is difficult and thus the need to maintain flexibility to allow for uncertainty and emergent opportunities. Various implications are discussed.

Increasing replication for knowledge accumulation in strategy research

Singh K, Ang SH, Leong SM. 2003, Journal of Management, 29(4): 533-549.

Extensive replication is essential to ensure the reliability and validity of research and for rigorous theory development, particularly for pre-paradigmatic social sciences such as strategy. Yet, relatively few strategy replication studies have been published.

We build on recent calls for greater replication by proposing three sets of measures to facilitate knowledge accumulation in strategy via increased replication. We first propose a re-conceptualisation of replication studies, to that of the good-enough replication.

We then provide a framework to focus replications to improve understanding of the state of different sub-fields and to facilitate their theoretical advancement. Finally, we propose means for promoting and publishing replication research.

Dealing with uncertainties in the biotechnology industry: The use of real options reasoning

Remer S, Ang SH, Baden-fuller C. 2001, Journal of Commercial Biotechnology, 8(2): 95-105.

Managers of biotechnology companies face great technological and market risks in making investment decisions. Traditional investment decision tools such as the discounted cash flow (DCF) approaches are often deemed insufficient in the face of the highly uncertain environment surrounding biotechnology projects.

More recently, there is an increasing interest in real options approaches, which, in contrast to DCF, explicitly takes into account the managerial flexibility to respond to changing internal and external conditions during the course of the project. It is this flexibility that makes real options reasoning not only perceived to be superior for evaluating projects, but also for developing value-enhancing strategies.

However, there is considerable confusion about when the real options approach might be applicable in practice, be it in a formal or an informal way. Based on insights derived from interviews with European biotechnology investors and managers, this study provides an overview of the potential benefits and limitations real options thinking has on evaluating and managing risky projects, particularly with respect to biotechnology companies.