Abstract:This study aims to expand our understanding of environmental performance by adopting exploration and exploitation concepts, which are key types of firm innovation. We reveal exploration and exploitation as two important antecedents of proactive and reactive environmental performance. We also identify the conditions under which the distinct effects of these two types of innovation are moderated. Using a sample of 2060 firm-year observations over a 12-year period in various industries, we find that firm exploration positively affects proactive environmental performance, whereas firm exploitation positively influences reactive environmental performance. Furthermore, we find that the positive effect of exploitation on reactive environmental performance intensifies when technological dynamism is high, and the positive effect of exploration on proactive environmental performance strengthens when a firm is large.

Little is known about the conditions strengthening or weakening the impact of a firm's collaboration with research organizations on innovation performance. Thus, this study uses a sample of 542 manufacturing firms in Korea to examine how innovation orientation and firm size and age as internal characteristics influence the relationship between collaboration with research organizations and innovation performance. The results show that collaboration with research organizations has a positive impact on innovation performance. More importantly, this effect is stronger (weaker) for firms with a strong orientation toward exploration (exploitation). In addition, older or larger firms obtain greater benefits from collaboration with research organizations. This study contributes toward clarifying a firm's collaboration with research organizations.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contrasting moderating effect of a firm’s exploration on the relationship between the two types of long-term incentives (stock options/stock ownership) for the chief executive officers and a firm’s long-term performance. Even though the two types of incentives are designed to improve long-term performance, the degrees of impact on long-term performance differ. Based on behavioral agency theory, this study theoretically and empirically examines the role of a firm’s exploration on the above relationship. Design/methodology/approach This study used three archival sources to obtain data on stock options, stock ownership, patents and exploration, financial measures, and others. Based on a sample of 1,963 firms in various industries from 1995 to 2006, this study tested the moderating effect of a firm’s exploration on the relationship between stock options/ownership and a firm’s performance. Findings This study reveals the contrasting moderating effect of a firm’s exploration on the relationship between stock options/ownership and a firm’s long-term performance: a positive moderating effect on the relationship between stock options and performance and a negative moderating effect on the relationship between stock ownership and performance. In addition, empirical evidence was added on the inverted U-shaped relationship between stock ownership and a firm’s long-term performance. Originality/value There is little research on a firm’s internal characteristics that strengthen or weaken the effects of stock options and stock ownership on firm performance. This study demonstrates the differential moderating effects of exploration on the relationship between stock options/stock ownership and long-term performance. Such effects of exploration come from the different risk features of stock options and stock ownership. The key implication is that stock options could be more effective than stock ownership to enhance a firm’s long-term performance when a firm has a strong exploration orientation.

We demonstrate the value of utility-based choice models to estimate demand and plan inventory for new and used textbooks in the presence of consumer choice and stockout-based substitution at a university textbook retailer. Demand information is censored, the exact time of stockout is not observed, and the short selling season often does not allow for replenishment. Using data for 26,749 book titles from 2007 to 2011 and a simulation experiment calibrated on real data, we show that an attribute-based choice model generates accurate demand estimates (mean absolute percentage error less than 1%) even when nearly 90% of the textbooks in the fit sample experience stockout. This performance is driven by the heterogeneity of product attributes and is robust to the occurrence of product returns. We implement this model at the bookstore in a controlled field experiment and obtain over 10% increase in profit. The results show that accounting for asymmetric and stockout-based substitution in demand estimation and inventory planning enables us to make systematic corrections in inventory mix and inventory level compared to the existing process.

This paper studies the assortment optimization problem in online retailing by using a multinomial logit model in order to take consumer choice behavior into account. We focus on two unique features of online purchase behavior: first, there exists increased amount of uncertainty (e.g., size and color of merchandize) in online shopping as customers cannot experience merchandize directly. This uncertainty is captured by the scale parameter of a Gumbel distribution; second, online shopping entails unique shopping-related disutility (e.g., waiting time for delivery and security concerns) compared to offline shopping. This disutility is controlled by the changes in the observed part of utility function in our model. The impact of changes in uncertainty and disutility on the expected profit does not exhibit obvious structure: the expected profit may increase or decrease depending on the assortment. However, by analyzing the structure of the optimal assortment based on convexity property of the profit function, we show that the cardinality of the optimal assortment decreases and the maximum expected profit increases as uncertainty or disutility decreases. Therefore, our study suggests that it is important for managers of online retailing to reduce uncertainty and disutility involved in online purchase process.