Table 6 Scales measuring Study model variables and their sources

Managerial ties:

Political ties:

Source: Sami, P., Rahnavard, F., & Tabar, A. A. (2019). The effect of political and business ties on firm performance: The mediating role of product innovation. Management Research Review. Vol. 42 No. 7, 2019 pp. 778–796

1. My company has good relations with officials at various levels of government

2. My company has good relations with government officials in regulatory organizations

3. My company relationships with government officials at the provincial level have been good

4. My company spends considerable time and energy to establish effective communication with government officials

Business Ties

1. My company has good relations with their counterparts in supplier firms

2. My company has good relations with their counterparts in buyer companies

3. My company has good relations with their counterparts in competing firms

4. My company has good relations with their counterparts in marketing-based collaborators

5. My company has good relations with their counterparts in technological collaborators

6. My company has good relations with universities to conduct R&D activities

Market orientations

Reactive:

Source: Yang, D., Wei, Z., Shi, H., & Zhao, J. (2020). Market orientation, strategic flexibility and business model innovation. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. 35/4 (2020) 771–784)

1. We measure customer satisfaction systematically and frequently

2. We are more customer-focused than our competitors

3. We freely communicate information about our successful and unsuccessful customer experiences across all business functions

4. Data on customer satisfaction are disseminated at all levels in this company on a regular basis

5. Our strategy for competitive advantage is based on our understanding of needs

Proactive:

1. We continuously try to discover additional needs of our customers of which they are unaware

2. We continuously try to discover additional needs of our customers of which they are unaware

3. We extrapolate key trends to gain insight into what customers will need in the future

4. We incorporate solutions to unarticulated customer needs in our products and services

5. We brainstorm on how customers use our products and services

6. We innovate even at the risk of making our own offering obsolete

7. We work with lead users of our offerings to recognize customer’ needs months in advance of the majority of users

8. We search for opportunities in areas where customers have a difficult time expressing their needs

Perceived environmental uncertainty

1. The needs and wants of our customers are changing very fast

Source: Zhang, D., Linderman, K., & Schroeder, R. G. (2012). The moderating role of contextual factors on quality management practices. Journal of Operations Management, 30(1–2), 12–23

2. The demand for our plant’s products is unstable and unpredictable

3. Our competitive pressures are extremely high

Mediator: Business model innovation

1. When necessary, we are able to carry out massive internal reconfigurations to enhance our overall value proposition to our customers

Source: Ciampi, F., Demi, S., Magrini, A., Marzi, G., & Papa, A. (2021). Exploring the impact of big data analytics capabilities on business model innovation: The mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation. Journal of Business Research, 123, 1–13

2. When we sense an opportunity, we are quick at re-organizing our operating processes

3. When necessary, we are able to reorganize our partner network to improve our value proposition to our customers

4. New opportunities to serve our customers are quickly understood

5. We regularly consider innovative opportunities for changing our existing pricing models

Dependent: Performance

Source: Kafetzopoulos, D., Psomas, E., & Skalkos, D. (2019). Innovation dimensions and business performance under environmental uncertainty. European Journal of Innovation Management. Vol. 23 No. 5, 2020 pp. 856–876

Financial aspects of performance:

1. Gross margin has improved

2. Profit levels have improved

3. Productivity has improved

4. Return on investment has improved

Non -Financial aspects of performance:

5. Customer satisfaction has improved

6. Product quality has improved

7. The knowledge on how to efficiently manage operations has increased

8. Business relationships with partners, distributors and suppliers have improved

9. Employee retention has improved