Purpose Inter-organizational trust has a vital role in any external trade relationship. However, there are not many studies relating to growth strategies and inter-organizational trust in firms in emerging markets. The purpose of this paper is to identify and compare the effect of external growth strategies on the organizational performance of companies and to examine the mediating role of inter-organizational trust between growth strategies and organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 240 senior managers from public listed companies (PLCs) in Malaysia and were analyzed using analysis of a moment structures. Findings The findings indicate that growth strategies have a significant effect on organizational performance. Strategic alliances and acquisitions also have significant effects on organizational performance. Moreover, inter-organizational trust fully mediates the effect of growth strategies on organizational performance. Research limitations/implications As purposive sampling was used, selecting only managers with experience of the issues concerned, any common findings are likely to be generalizable to managers in similar situations. Practical implications Building inter-organizational trust among companies and relying on strategic alliance and acquisition, rather than merger, will sharpen their competitiveness and enable them to survive and thrive. Social implications The increase in organizational performance of PLCs will have a significant effect on employment and on gross domestic product (GDP), which will have a beneficial effect on citizens. Originality/value Studies that are related to these variables in emerging economies are still in their infancy. This study compared the effect of external growth strategies and contributed to the literature in the area of trust and external growth strategies.

Integration of various theories is essential to completely understand and explain strategic alliances in a supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework by integrating the features of transaction cost theory, resource-based theory, contingency theory, social exchange theory, and Kelley's personal relationship theory and test the framework through empirical research. The present study addresses the impact of strategic alliance motives, environment, asset specificity, perception of opportunistic behavior, interdependence between supply chain partners, and relational capital on strategic alliance outcomes. Besides, the study has also tested the role of relational capital as a central mediating construct. A sample of 2156 companies representing different industries in manufacturing in Malaysia was selected for the distribution of questionnaire. We tested the structural model using structural equation modeling (SEM). Based on the results, we conclude the following significant relationships: (1) strategic alliance motives and perception of opportunistic behavior on interdependence and relational capital, (2) interdependence on relational capital, (3) environment on strategic alliance motives, (4) relational capital on strategic alliance outcomes, and (4) the mediating role of relational capital. The current study adds significantly to the body of knowledge on strategic alliances and can help managers identify factors that influence the success of strategic alliances and provide a proper direction to develop robust and effective collaborative relationships between supply chain partners. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The business environment has become more competitive due to advancements in technology and globalisation. Emphasising intelligence as a means for dealing with such circumstances, this study examined the role of supply chain intelligence (SCI), which embraces the process of competitive intelligence (CI) in the operations of a supply chain management (SCM). The integration is needed to ensure that this actionable information from CI has a 360-degree view of business activities amongst supply chains. What exactly is supply chain intelligence? How does supply chain intelligence influence business competitiveness in Malaysia? How does supply chain intelligence help businesses to achieve competitive advantages? This paper examined the contribution of supply chain intelligence on business competitiveness by: a) identifying and validating the dimension of supply chain intelligence components, and b) examining the levels of supply chain intelligence usage by businesses. A focus group was employed as a preliminary study to validate the supply chain intelligence components, and subsequently, for the development of the questionnaire for the survey in the study. The results contribute to the literature by emphasising the use of systematic intelligence in supply chain integration to improve business competitiveness.

This study investigates the moderating effects of geographical scope level (measured by number of regional bases) on the relationship between managers' prior international knowledge and working experience and international performance among small and medium enterprises in the Malaysian Halal Food Industry. Previous studies have stressed that experiential knowledge is an essential resource for a firm's internationalization process from both the traditional Stage Theory based on incremental and international entrepreneurship on born global rapid internationalization perspectives. Unfortunately, most of the studies did not empirically investigate the influence of scope level as a moderator on the relationship between international performance and managers' prior international knowledge and working experience. The findings of this study reveal that firms that export regionally (lower scope) have lower experiential knowledge and international performance compared to firms that export globally (higher scope). As a result, there are differences in terms of the internal capability among these two types of small and medium enterprises as a source of their competitive advantage in foreign markets.