高成长企业的辩证均衡观——基于中国房地产企业的模糊集定性比较分析

The Dialectical Equilibrium of High-Growth Firms——An FsQCA Study of Chinese Real Estate Companies

高成长企业是企业成长研究中兼具实践价值与理论意义的新兴领域,然而以何种思路配置组织的异质性资源以实现高成长,当前理论界存在均衡与非均衡的两种彼此对立的争论思想。本文以中国房地产行业为研究情境,通过模糊集定性比较分析(fs QCA)方法探讨了动态变化市场环境下企业为实现高成长而采取的四种组合策略,结合具体案例分析,提出了辩证均衡的整合理论视角。该观点强调既要从内部匹配角度理解均衡与非均衡两种资源配置模式的内涵与成长机制,也要从外部匹配角度把握两种模式的情境适用性。均衡思想突出资源间的互补、适配与契合,以组织势实现高成长;而非均衡思想强调针对战略重点快速突破,进而带动组织整体的持续进步。两种模式的选择又在一定程度上依赖于企业对外部市场环境的认知与适应。本文从组态角度解释与整合了两种资源配置思想关系,回应了组态发展理论的学术呼吁,对管理者培育高成长企业有一定借鉴意义。

Research on high-growth firms is an emerging field in growth study with both practical value and theoretical significance,but present researches usually adopt predominant linear paradigm methods which implies vital factors can be considered isolated.This traditional assumption doesn’t correspond to the strategy management reality and has been more and more challenged.However,systemic and holistic high-growth researches are usually confined in the contradiction between two contradictory resource management perspectives:Disequilibrium and equilibrium.In this context,we think a configurational approach,suggesting organizations should be understood as clusters of interconnected structures and practices,presents a very attractive perspective to integrate them.Our research followed the configuration theorizing process where QCA could play an important role in searching for the link between different attributes and offering configurational theory ideas.We chose Chinese real estate industry as the research situation because Chinese real estate industry has been rapidly growing for almost twenty years and land transaction records and project data are clear and easily acquired from annual reports and digital database,especially for listed companies.Based on annual reports,CREIS(China Real Estate Index System)database and some other digital databases,land transaction platforms and government websites,we collected 2739 projects data from 10 Chinese real estate case companies and adopted fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis(fsqca),combined with case analysis,to discuss firms’strategy combinations which serve to achieve high-growth in complex market environments.It is commonly acknowledged that qualitative comparative analysis helps scholars in exploring multiple routes resulting in the equifinality and dealing with complex interactions between antecedents and deepening.The benefits coincide with our research requirements.In the end,based on the QCA results and case analysis,we offered a new theory perspective called the dialectical equilibrium of high-growth firms.The result shows different configurations in different periods,which emphasizes that firm growth is a complex process where various resources are jointly utilized by both disequilibrium and equilibrium.Disequilibrium and equilibrium are two resource management perspectives,which can promote high growth equally,and their contextual adaption ought to be a more important issue.High-growth firm managers usually focus more on equilibrium perspective when the environment is prosperous,and they can have a stable momentum to keep on growing.For small and medium-sized firms,they are likely to choose disequilibrium perspective to achieve leap-forward development at this moment.But when the environment is less munificent,managers will choose the disequilibrium perspective to protect their core resources and turn to the internal development of resources.Also,managers ought to timely modify configurations to adapt to particular environments and sometimes can’t equally equilibrate various resources.Through interpreting the dialectical equilibrium principles,we pointed it out that organization growth is a complex process where disequilibrium and equilibrium show equifinality and should be adopted contextually.We also offered practical suggestions to develop high-growth firms under different environment and strategies.Researchers are supposed to explore the development of high-growth firms by configuration perspective,recognize the complexity and holism of high-growth firms and form a more complete and systematic understanding of firm growth.