Nonmarket strategy may have positive influences on a firm’s performance. How does nonmarket strategy influence a firm’s performance? This article addresses this important question by introducing two mediators: corporate social performance and adaptive capability. The empirical results based on a survey of 438 usable questionnaires from China indicate that “buffering” and “bridging,” being two kinds of nonmarket strategies, have a positive impact on a firm’s economic performance through enhancing its social performance and adaptive capability. The article not only documents the positive effect of nonmarket strategy on firm performance in emerging economies such as China, but also explains the indirect relationship between nonmarket strategy and economic performance, which generates both theoretical and practical implications. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007Nonmarket strategy, Buffering, Bridging, Economic performance, Corporate social performance, Adaptive capability,
This study proposes an initial and a revised model of government-oriented public relation (PR) strategies based on the results of two content analyses of website news regarding the PR activities of 76 firms in general and six well-known firms in China in more depth. With the perspective of resource dependence theory, this model reveals that firms in China employ six types of formal PR strategies, including visitation, philanthropy, participation, publicity, party involvement and political propaganda, to manage their dependence on government for resources. Further, the implementation of such strategies involves a four-step process: organizing PR activities with economic, social and political significance; obtaining the involvement and recognition of the government; building firms' resource, moral and cultural legitimacy in the government's eyes; and interacting with the government on the issues of firms' dependence to influence government policies relative to firms. We also explore the differences that exist among firms with different ownership structures in the use of these PR strategies, the level of government involved and the issues pursued.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.