企业集团依赖关系、战略一致性与绩效:一个网络视角的研究

Enterprise Group Interdependence,Strategic Consensus and Performance——A Network Perspective

企业集团的战略意图需要通过子公司的经营管理行为来贯彻,这要求子公司经理在理念、行为上与母公司保持"战略一致性",包括战略认同、战略承诺和主动精神三种行为表现。在前人研究基础上,本文发现企业集团依赖关系是战略一致性的前因变量,故构建了"依赖关系→战略一致性→绩效产出"的假设模型,试图揭示不同依赖关系背景下子公司经理战略一致性行为表现的演变以及不同行为表现对绩效的影响机理。实证表明,不同依赖关系对战略一致性的作用机制不同,而战略一致性的三种行为表现并非均有利于绩效,且三者内部存在交互作用。该结论提示企业集团在战略管理中应当积极构建并利用不同的依赖关系,以实现战略一致性的协调与平衡。

The strategic objectives of an enterprise group need to be carried out by its subsidiaries, the headquarter is impossible to involve the subsidiaries＇ operation directly under the principal-agent relationship, in order to realize effective integration and synergy, the basic requirement on the subsidiary managers is their business concepts and behaviors to be in line with the group＇ s demands, which called “strategic consensus” below. Furthermore, as a basic organizational structural characteristic of modern enterprise group, the interdependence among group＇s units （including headquarter and subsidiaries） could determine the “position” of a certain subsidiary, with which as a key reference for the subsidiary managers to take actions, that is to say, the interdependencies will influence the subsidiary managers＇ strategic consensus. On the basis of a detailed review of relevant literatures, the interdependence was divided into two types： “headquarter-subsidiary＇ s interdependence” （ H-S interdependence） and “subsidiary- subsidiary＇ s interdependence” （S-S interdependence）, and the strategic consensus was divided into three behaviors： “strategic identity”, “strategic commitment”and “initiative”. Then we constructed a hypothesis model--“ interdependence → strategic consensus → performance ” to reveal the influence mechanism of interdependence and strategic consensus. A mail or a printed questionnaire including 19 measured variables was sent to the subsidiary managers, who can more properly recognize the subsidiary＇ s industry and competitive environment. These managers came from the alumni resources of University of Science ＆ Technology of China, including the graduate and on learning EMBA students or their groups＇ subsidiary managers, and some other alumni who are suitable for the questionnaire. A total of 430 questionnaires were sent out, and 147 questionnaires were returned in which 140 were valid, the effective rate is 32.56%. After the reliability and validity test, we analyzed the hypothesis model by structural equation model. There are three conclusions that can be raised. First, the H-S interdependence has a positive effect both on subsidiary managers＇ strategic identity and strategic commitment （strategic identity can improve strategic commitment, and plays an intermediary role for strategic commitment）, while shows a passive effects on initiative. However, the S-S interdependence reveals a positive effect on subsidiary managers＇ initiative （strategic identity plays a partial intermediary role）. Second, initiative could weaken strategic commitment, it means the behaviors of “obey” and “active”exist a remarkably conflict. Third, strategic identity and initiative both have a positive effect on subsidiary performance, but a pure strategic commitment may have a negative effect. In management practice, the strategy and strategic control of an enterprise group may often behave irrational, for instance, in order to gain the monopoly profits to start blind mergers and acquisitions, which lead to a malignant competition. With the research conclusions, we suggest that an enterprise group should pay attention to the following points： First, the group should construct positive interdependence in strategic formulation to achieve “value creation” through the synergy of knowledge, resources and etc. Second, the group should systematically improve strategic identity of subsidiary managers. Actually, the subsidiaries＇ interests should be taken into account in the group＇ s strategic planning ; Third, the headquarter managers should have an objective look at the subsidiary managers＇ initiative. Not only to encourage the managers to offer initiative, but also to avoid the risk of losing control that be brought by too “active” behaviors. Fourth, in order to improve the effectiveness of strategic commitment, the group should improve their management capacity to develop a scientific and effective strategic plans, in the meanwhile, avoid a subsidiary over-dependence on headquarter or other subsidiaries. Future research can increase the sample sizes or research methods, and even add new variables to explore the influence and be influence mechanism of strategic consensus.