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Improving firm performance is undoubtedly the key objective of any organization because it determines its opportunities for future growth and long term survival (Bianchi, Marinkovic, & Cosenz, 2013; Konings & Xavier, 2002). Firms which maintain high business performance are likely to secure better positions in global markets and gain competitive advantages. For this reason, firm performance is regarded as one of the important research fields in business management. However, despite the increased attention being given to firm performance in the literature, there is no consensus agreement on what is meant by firm performance and how it should be measured (Gavrea, Ilies, & Stegerean, 2011). There is no universal definition for firm performance as different scholars have conceptualized it differently. Lebas and Euske (2006) described firm performance as a set of indicators (including financial and nonfinancial) which represent the level of accomplishments and capabilities of a firm in attaining its business objectives. Moreover, Karabulut (2015) reported that firm performance can be measured through financial returns, market share, customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Previous studies indicated that organizational performance can be influenced by several factors. Innovation is a key concept which has emerged recently as an important driver of firm performance (Klomp & Van Leeuwen, 2001). Thornhill (2006) also considered innovation as a significant predictor of employee performance. Innovation does not only influence organizational success and performance, but also represents an important factor for enhancing the economic growth of nations (Na & Kang, 2019). Furthermore, corporate social responsibility (CSR) was found in the literature as an important strategy for achieving business objectives (Zaitsev & Dror, 2020). Corporate social responsibility is a dominant business strategy which emphasizes on providing important contributions to sustainable development through bringing economic, social and environmental values for business stakeholders (Ajina et al., 2010). Qu (2009) reported that corporate social responsibility had positive influence on a brand’s performance. In a similar vein, Alarcón, Rialp, and Rialp (2015) regarded social media marketing as an important factor for improving organizational performance as consumers nowadays are exposed to the latest updates in technology and spend most of their times in browsing online networks. The trends and methods of communication with business customers have recently changed significantly in the presence of social media; and for this reason, organizations have focused on social media usage to achieve business objectives (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Such emphasis can be noticed among organizations which continuously strive to obtain sustainable competitive advantages.
In prior research, innovation, CSR, and social media marketing have been established as key success factors in the automotive sector which could exert positive effect on performance outcomes. Martinuzzi et al. (2011) considered innovation and CSR as key success factors for creating a competitive advantage in the automotive sector. Similar views were shared by Kim and You (2013) who demonstrated that the involvement in CSR activities among automotive manufacturers could enable them to obtain strong competitive advantages and greater brand value. Butnariu and Filipeanu (2016) also reported that innovation capabilities and the active involvement in CSR programs play important roles in improving firm performance in automotive sector. Furthermore, the significance of social media marketing in determining the performance of automotive brands have been documented in the literature. Social media enables individuals to easily communicate with each other and provides marketers with various means for engaging and reaching their consumers (Appel et al., 2019). According to Belskey et al. (2011), automotive brands should employ social media channels for communicating with their customers as it can enable them to obtain various benefits and ensure greater performance outcomes. Bagga and Gupta (2014) also regarded social media marketing as a vital tool for automotive companies to reach mass audience, communicate product promotions, and maximize their sales performance.