Innovation contributes to a firm's long-term competitive advantages but also involves significant risk and uncertainty. As agency theory predicts, CEOs are self-interested and risk-averse, and thus are reluctant to engage in innovation investments. However, the extent to which CEOs are self-interested and the mechanisms through which self-interested CEOs affect firm innovation have not been empirically tested. To fill this gap, we propose that CEOs possess a mix of both self-preserving and other-regarding motives, and build a mediation model in which CEO values affect firm innovation via firms’ long-term orientation. Based on a three-phase (from 2014 to 2016) survey of 436 Chinese manufacturing firms, we find that CEOs with high self-regarding values reduce innovation efforts and performance by damaging a firm's long-term orientation. Moreover, CEO tenure, CEO duality, and environmental uncertainty weaken the relationship between CEO values and firm innovation via long-term orientation. Our study enriches the innovation literature by extending the basic assumptions of agency theory and by providing empirical evidence to determine whether and how self-regarded CEOs affect firm innovation.

Background:Systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) is a novel biomarker that reflects the state of a patient's inflammatory and immune status. This study aimed to determine the clinical significance of SII as a predictor of delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).Methods:Retrospective data were collected from aneurysmal SAH patients who had been admitted to our hospital between January 2015 and October 2019. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to investigate whether SII was an independent predictor of DCI. In addition, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under the curve (AUC) were also evaluated.Results:There were 333 patients with aneurysmal SAH included in this study. Multivariate logistic analysis revealed that a modified Fisher grade 3 and 4 score [odds ratio (OR) = 7.851, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.312–26.661,P= 0.001] and elevated SII (OR = 1.001, 95% CI: 1.001–1.002,P< 0.001) were independent risk factors for DCI. ROC curves showed that SII could predict DCI with an AUC of 0.860 (95% CI: 0.818–0.896,P< 0.001). The optimal cut-off value for SII to predict DCI was 1,424, and an SII ≥ 1,424 could predict DCI with a sensitivity of 93.1% and a specificity of 68.1%. Patients with higher SII value on admission tended to have higher incidence of acute hydrocephalus and DCI, greater modified Fisher and Hunt-Hess scales, and poorer outcomes.Conclusions:SII is an independent predictor of DCI in patients with aneurysmal SAH. The SII system can be implemented in a routine clinical setting to help clinicians diagnose patients with high risk of DCI.

What is the impact of organizational legitimacy (OL) on the firm innovation? The extant literature shows ambiguous answers. This study argues that such an ambiguity stems from two neglected facts. First, OL is audience dependent. Second, OL varies across firm life cycle stages. This study clarifies political legitimacy (PL) and market legitimacy (ML) as two key types of OL, and distinguishes them in resources they provide access to and firm behaviors they result in. Then, it examines the impact of PL and ML on the product innovation in new ventures and established firms, respectively. Drawing on the data of 211 firms, this study finds that the relationship of PL to product innovation is inverted U-shaped in new ventures, while negative in established firms, and the linkage between ML and product innovation is positive in new ventures but inverted U-shaped in established firms. This study not only draws a more comprehensive picture about the impact of OL on the product innovation, but also lays down a threshold over which to elaborate the implications of OL. In addition, it guides new ventures and established firms in taking advantage of OL to foster the product innovation.

Information systems strategy is an increasingly important component of overall business strategy in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The need for readily available and consistent management information, drawn from integrated systems based on sound and upgradeable technologies, has led many senior company managers to review the business case for root-and-branch systems replacement. However, implementing new information systems (IS) is not easy and many projects fail or fall well short of expected outcomes. Key to successful implementation is getting the strategy right in the first place and then implementing it in a controlled manner to ensure the delivery of benefits. This article discusses three IS projects in different SMEs, where the UK's Knowledge Transfer Partnership scheme has been used to transfer relevant expertise from the university sector to help with strategy development and systems implementation. The experience has led to an outline method for IS strategy development for SMEs and guidelines for the adoption and adaptation of mainstream project management and software package evaluation tools. It is hoped that this will help other SMEs to achieve IS strategy development and implementation more effectively in terms of timescale, cost control and benefits delivery.