Track: Human Factors and Ergonomics

Abstract

The horizontal strategy is recommended for conglomerates by Porter [2] for competitive advantage. The conglomerate firms are categorized as ‘horizontal strategy’ and ‘non-horizontal strategy’ organizations. According to Porter [2], there is no established or standard way to execute a horizontal strategy. However, it requires advanced organizational capabilities to the execution of horizontal strategy in an organization. In this study, we explored the extent to which organizational capabilities were related to the implementation of the horizontal strategy. Five novel hypotheses addressing primary constructs, namely, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, openness, and neuroticism are explored in this study. Based on 107 responses from firms across various manufacturing and service sectors, the firms are classified as ‘horizontal strategy’ and ‘non-horizontal strategy’. We argue through a theoretical analysis which shows that employee attributes (conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, openness, and neuroticism) will be contributing to the success of the horizontal strategy and lent good support to our hypotheses.