IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/asiapa/v37y2020i4d10.1007_s10490-018-9637-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The cultural roots of compositional capability in China: balanced moderation

Author

Listed:
  • Steven Shijin Zhou

    (University of Nottingham Ningbo China)

  • Peter Ping Li

    (University of Nottingham Ningbo China
    Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL)Yongda International Tower
    Copenhagen Business School)

  • Abby Jingzi Zhou

    (University of Nottingham Ningbo China)

  • Shameen Prashantham

    (China Europe International Business School (CEIBS))

Abstract

A large number of Chinese firms lack the resources for having competitive advantages. Under this severe constraint, such firms are forced to find new paths toward developing certain competitive advantages, including the ability to combine ordinary resources into novel competitive advantages, which is referred to as compositional capability. Such a special capability underlying novel competitive advantages is related to certain cultural factors, such as the Chinese cultural tradition in the case of China. However, the potential links between compositional capability and the Chinese cultural tradition remain poorly understood and largely unspecified. This paper responds to the call for more research on identifying relevant cultural factors by explicating the inherent connections between compositional capability and the Chinese cultural value of balanced moderation.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven Shijin Zhou & Peter Ping Li & Abby Jingzi Zhou & Shameen Prashantham, 2020. "The cultural roots of compositional capability in China: balanced moderation," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(4), pages 1217-1237, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:asiapa:v:37:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s10490-018-9637-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s10490-018-9637-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10490-018-9637-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10490-018-9637-1?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. Bruce Kogut & Udo Zander, 1992. "Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(3), pages 383-397, August.
    2. Jaideep Prabhu & Sanjay Jain, 2015. "Innovation and entrepreneurship in India: Understanding jugaad," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 843-868, December.
    3. Zeng, Jing & Simpson, Colin & Dang, Binh-Le, 2017. "A Process Model of Dynamic Capability Development: Evidence from the Chinese Manufacturing Sector," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(3), pages 643-673, September.
    4. Peter Ping Li & Tomoki Sekiguchi & Kevin Zhou, 2016. "The emerging research on indigenous management in Asia," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 583-594, September.
    5. Dahlin, Kristina & Chuang, You-Ta & Roulet, Thomas J, 2018. "Opportunity, Motivation, and Ability to Learn from Failures and Errors: Review, Synthesis, and Ways to Move Forward," SocArXiv 4qwzh, Center for Open Science.
    6. Morris, Michael W. & Leung, Kwok, 2010. "Creativity East and West: Perspectives and Parallels," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(3), pages 313-327, November.
    7. March, James G., 2005. "Parochialism in the Evolution of a Research Community: The Case of Organization Studies," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 5-22, March.
    8. Chiu, Chi-yue & Kwan, Letty Y-Y., 2010. "Culture and Creativity: A Process Model," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(3), pages 447-461, November.
    9. Lin, Daomi & Lu, Jiangyong & Li, Peter Ping & Liu, Xiaohui, 2015. "Balancing Formality and Informality in Business Exchanges as a Duality: A Comparative Case Study of Returnee and Local Entrepreneurs in China," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 315-342, June.
    10. Yiannis E. Spanos & George Zaralis & Spyros Lioukas, 2004. "Strategy and industry effects on profitability: evidence from Greece," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 139-165, February.
    11. De Dreu, Carsten K. W., 2010. "Human Creativity: Reflections on the Role of Culture," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(3), pages 437-446, November.
    12. Stewart Thornhill & Roderick E. White, 2007. "Strategic purity: A multi‐industry evaluation of pure vs. hybrid business strategies," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 553-561, May.
    13. Anil Nair & Orhun Guldiken & Stav Fainshmidt & Amir Pezeshkan, 2015. "Innovation in India: A review of past research and future directions," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 925-958, December.
    14. Peter Ping Li, 2012. "Exploring the unique roles of trust and play in private creativity: From the complexity-ambiguity-metaphor link to the trust-play-creativity link," Journal of Trust Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 71-97, April.
    15. Zhou, Jing & Su, Yanjie, 2010. "A Missing Piece of the Puzzle: The Organizational Context in Cultural Patterns of Creativity," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(3), pages 391-413, November.
    16. Marshall W. Meyer, 2008. "Editor's Introduction – No Free Lunch: Dilemmas of Product Quality in China," Management and Organization Review, The International Association for Chinese Management Research, vol. 4(2), pages 157-165, July.
    17. David J. Teece, 2012. "Dynamic Capabilities: Routines versus Entrepreneurial Action," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(8), pages 1395-1401, December.
    18. A. Miller & G. G. Dess, 1993. "Assessing Porter'S (1980) Model In Terms Of Its Generalizability, Accuracy And Simplicity," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 553-585, July.
    19. Sidney G. Winter, 2003. "Understanding dynamic capabilities," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(10), pages 991-995, October.
    20. Li, Peter Ping & Leung, Kwok & Chen, Chao C. & Luo, Jar-Der, 2012. "Indigenous Research on Chinese Management: What and How," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(1), pages 7-24, March.
    21. Arie Y. Lewin & Silvia Massini & Carine Peeters, 2011. "Microfoundations of Internal and External Absorptive Capacity Routines," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 81-98, February.
    22. Ikujiro Nonaka, 1994. "A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(1), pages 14-37, February.
    23. Erez, Miriam & Nouri, Rikki, 2010. "Creativity: The Influence of Cultural, Social, and Work Contexts," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(3), pages 351-370, November.
    24. Peter Li, 2012. "Toward an integrative framework of indigenous research: The geocentric implications of Yin-Yang Balance," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 849-872, December.
    25. Danny Miller, 1992. "Environmental Fit Versus Internal Fit," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(2), pages 159-178, May.
    26. Luo, Yadong & Child, John, 2015. "A Composition-Based View of Firm Growth," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(3), pages 379-411, September.
    27. Meyer, Marshall W., 2008. "Editor's Introduction – No Free Lunch: Dilemmas of Product Quality in China," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(02), pages 157-165, July.
    28. Danny Miller, 2003. "An asymmetry‐based view of advantage: towards an attainable sustainability," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(10), pages 961-976, October.
    29. David J. Teece, 2007. "Explicating dynamic capabilities: the nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(13), pages 1319-1350, December.
    30. Mike W. Peng & Yuan Li & Longwei Tian, 2016. "Tian-ren-he-yi strategy: An Eastern perspective," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 695-722, September.
    31. William Ocasio, 1997. "Towards An Attention‐Based View Of The Firm," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(S1), pages 187-206, July.
    32. Shameen Prashantham & Mariya Eranova & Carole Couper, 2018. "Globalization, entrepreneurship and paradox thinking," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 1-9, March.
    33. Jianjun Yang & Huafang Liu & Shanxing Gao & Yuan Li, 2012. "Technological innovation of firms in China: Past, present, and future," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 819-840, September.
    34. Peter Ping Li & Kwok Leung & Chao C. Chen & Jar-Der Luo, 2012. "Indigenous Research on Chinese Management: What and How," Management and Organization Review, The International Association for Chinese Management Research, vol. 8(1), pages 7-24, March.
    35. Yadong Luo & Rosalie L Tung, 2018. "A general theory of springboard MNEs," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(2), pages 129-152, February.
    36. Frans A. J. Van den Bosch & Henk W. Volberda & Michiel de Boer, 1999. "Coevolution of Firm Absorptive Capacity and Knowledge Environment: Organizational Forms and Combinative Capabilities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(5), pages 551-568, October.
    37. Lant, Theresa K. & Montgomery, David B., 1987. "Learning from strategic success and failure," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 503-517, December.
    38. Constance E. Helfat & Margaret A. Peteraf, 2003. "The dynamic resource‐based view: capability lifecycles," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(10), pages 997-1010, October.
    39. Yanmei Zhu & Xinhua Wittmann & Mike Peng, 2012. "Institution-based barriers to innovation in SMEs in China," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 1131-1142, December.
    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. Peter Ping Li & Shameen Prashantham & Abby Jingzi Zhou & Steven Shijin Zhou, 2022. "Compositional springboarding and EMNE evolution," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(4), pages 754-766, June.
    2. Ying, Ying & Wang, Shixiang & Liu, Yang, 2022. "Make bricks without straw: Eco-innovation for resource-constrained firms in emerging markets," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    3. Redding, Gordon, 2023. "Societal knowledge quality as catalyst for the competitive productivity of technology: One in a set of several universal processes in trajectories of societal progress," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(6).

    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. Xin Li, 2019. "Is “Yin-Yang balancing” superior to ambidexterity as an approach to paradox management?," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 17-32, March.
    2. Peter Ping Li & Tomoki Sekiguchi & Kevin Zhou, 2016. "The emerging research on indigenous management in Asia," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 583-594, September.
    3. Peter Ping Li & Shameen Prashantham & Abby Jingzi Zhou & Steven Shijin Zhou, 2022. "Compositional springboarding and EMNE evolution," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(4), pages 754-766, June.
    4. Forliano, Canio & Ferraris, Alberto & Bivona, Enzo & Couturier, Jerome, 2022. "Pouring new wine into old bottles: A dynamic perspective of the interplay among environmental dynamism, capabilities development, and performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 448-463.
    5. Ilgaz Arikan & Ipek Koparan & Asli M Arikan & Oded Shenkar, 2022. "Dynamic capabilities and internationalization of authentic firms: Role of heritage assets, administrative heritage, and signature processes," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(4), pages 601-635, June.
    6. Xin Li & Li Ma, 2020. "Chinese management research needs self-confidence but not over-confidence," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 481-498, June.
    7. Ulrich Lichtenthaler & Eckhard Lichtenthaler, 2009. "A Capability‐Based Framework for Open Innovation: Complementing Absorptive Capacity," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(8), pages 1315-1338, December.
    8. Pedota, Mattia, 2023. "Big data and dynamic capabilities in the digital revolution: The hidden role of source variety," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(7).
    9. Vu Dang Le Nguyen & Nancy K. Napier & Quan-Hoang Vuong, 2012. "It Takes Two to Tango: Entrepreneurship and Creativity in Troubled Times – Vietnam 2012," Working Papers CEB 12-022, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    10. Shaker A. Zahra & Olga Petricevic & Yadong Luo, 2022. "Toward an action-based view of dynamic capabilities for international business," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(4), pages 583-600, June.
    11. Henk W. Volberda & Nicolai J. Foss & Marjorie A. Lyles, 2010. "PERSPECTIVE---Absorbing the Concept of Absorptive Capacity: How to Realize Its Potential in the Organization Field," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(4), pages 931-951, August.
    12. Liu, Ting & Li, Xizhuo, 2022. "How Do MNCs Conduct Local Technological Innovation in a Host Country? An Examination From Subsidiaries' Perspective," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(3).
    13. Parast, Mahour Mellat, 2020. "The impact of R&D investment on mitigating supply chain disruptions: Empirical evidence from U.S. firms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    14. Carlo Salvato & Roberto Vassolo, 2018. "The sources of dynamism in dynamic capabilities," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1728-1752, June.
    15. Sheshadri Chatterjee & Ranjan Chaudhuri & Demetris Vrontis, 2024. "Influence of jugaad culture on business sustainability in India," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(2), pages 287-311, April.
    16. Thakur-Wernz, Pooja & Bosse, Douglas, 2023. "Configurational framework of learning conduits used by emerging economy firms to improve their innovation performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    17. Yong, Kevyn & Mannucci, Pier Vittorio & Lander, Michel W., 2020. "Fostering creativity across countries: The moderating effect of cultural bundles on creativity," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 1-45.
    18. Abby Jingzi Zhou & Émilie Lapointe & Steven Shijin Zhou, 2019. "Understanding mentoring relationships in China: Towards a Confucian model," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 415-444, June.
    19. Rahul Kumar Sett, 2018. "Market orientation − firm performance link in a dynamic environment: looking inside the black box," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 8(3), pages 163-179, December.
    20. Hiroko Nagano, 2020. "The impact of knowledge diversity: Integrating two economic perspectives through the dynamic capability approach," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(6), pages 1057-1070, September.

    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:kap:asiapa:v:37:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s10490-018-9637-1. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.