Uncovering the factors behind new ventures’ international performance: Capabilities,alertness and technological turbulence

This research is based on the perception that the explanation of International New Ventures' (INVs) performance demands a process view, going deeper than the standard approach, in empirical papers, of testing a direct relationship between company-level antecedents and performance. A three-tier model was developed to investigate the process leading to INVs international performance, emphasizing the role of entrepreneurial alertness. Based on the dynamic capabilities framework, entrepreneurial alertness was envisaged as the mediating element between firms' capabilities and their international performance. Empirical research confirmed the hypothesized model. Firms' capabilities (entrepreneurial orientation, foreign market knowledge, and absorptive capacity) significantly influence the level of entrepreneurial alertness, which impacts on the levels of self-reported satisfaction with the company's international performance. The paper makes four contributions to International Entrepreneurship literature. First, it highlights the key role played by entrepreneurial alertness in explaining INVs' international performance. This is convergent with the dynamic capabilities view on firms' ability to sense and seize specific international business opportunities. Second, this study considers entrepreneurial alertness as a capability that is not limited to the entrepreneur, but it is an organizational capability. Third, it shows that entrepreneurial alertness does not exist in the vacuum, is based on a set of base capabilities, namely entrepreneurial orientation, foreign market knowledge, and absorptive capacity, that simultaneously leverage the INVs to sense possible opportunities and constrain the focus of opportunities to international markets, as a key element to foster INVs' higher performance. Fourth, it underlines the role of technological turbulence as a moderator of the relationship between entrepreneurial alertness and INVs' international performance.     

技术能力如何转化为竞争优势：组织动态能力观点

技术创业型公司拥有雄厚的技术能力,然而并不表明这些公司也具备相当的竞争优势.技术能力转化为竞争优势的过程中受到组织动态能力(知识整合能力)影响.技术创业型公司的组织动态能力包括两个方面的具体知识整合能力,即来自市场/客户的需求信息与组织技术能力之间的知识整合能力以及公司内部不同职能部门之间的知识整合能力.技术创业型公司组织动态能力过程是影响技术能力转化为竞争优势的关键过程.本文通过对三家典型的技术创业型公司案例研究来解释有关理论假设.     

The extended dynamic capabilities model: A meta-analysis

This paper investigates, from meta-analytic approach, some topics that were unexplored in others dynamic capabilities meta-analysis. Hence, our research advances to identify and test the main antecedents of dynamic capabilities, the possible moderation effects of economic and cultural contexts in the relationship between dynamic capabilities and firm performance and the mediation effects between the antecedents of dynamic capabilities and firm performance. (1) The elements that stimulate dynamic capabilities development are resources, knowledge and learning, alliances and environmental dynamism. However, entrepreneurial orientation has no direct relationship with dynamic capabilities. (2) Dynamic capabilities play a mediating role between resources, knowledge and learning, alliances and firm performance. Curiously, entrepreneurial orientation is not mediated by dynamic capabilities in relation to performance. (3) Economic and cultural moderation affect the relation between dynamic capabilities and performance. Surprisingly, we detected that an Eastern orientation, presenting a high level of power distance and a low level of individualism, promotes stronger effects in the relationship between dynamic capabilities and firm performance than a Western orientation. Thus, our main contribution is to broaden the previous research on dynamic capabilities and to propose a future research agenda. In addition, this study adds new empirical evidence to the study of dynamic capabilities, which reduces the heterogeneity of previous results.     

Transnational diaspora entrepreneurship in emerging markets: Bridging institutional divides

Transnational diasporan entrepreneurs are migrants and their descendants who establish entrepreneurial activities that span the national business environments of their countries of origin and countries of residence. We explore how business incubators contribute to the economic development of emerging markets by organizing their programs to bridge the institutional divides that transnational diaspora entrepreneurs face when establishing their multi-territorial ventures in these markets. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork conducted in the Netherlands during 2007, we present the case study of IntEnt, an incubator providing services exclusively to transnational diasporan entrepreneurs. We apply Bergek and Norrman's (2008) assessment framework to this case, examining IntEnt's goals, model (selection, business support, and mediation activities), and outcomes. Employing Eisenhardt's case-based theory development approach (1989), we then leverage case findings to generate theory about the institutional challenges faced by transnational diaspora entrepreneurs and the role that incubators can play in helping these entrepreneurs overcome these challenges.     

社会资本与女性创业——基于GEM数据的跨国(地区)比较研究

从女性的社会地位和社会角色分工切入,探讨在不同经济发展水平和制度背景下社会资本对其创业选择的影响,并采用全球创业观察(global entrepreneurship monitor)和全球政府治理指标(worldwide governance index)两个大型国际数据库进行跨国(地区)比较研究,发现女性创业者社会资本与其创业选择呈倒U型关系,在一定阈值下社会资本能增加女性的创业选择,而超过该阈值社会资本的增加反而会降低女性的创业选择.同时,女性个人的人力资本和国家(地区)的经济发展水平会削弱社会资本的上述作用,制度环境则会增强社会资本的上述作用.这一研究揭示了社会地位、社会角色期望对女性参与创业活动的束缚,是将女性的社会角色纳入创业分析的一次有益探索.     

Crossing borders with social media: Online social networks and FDI

Social media is embedded in today's internationalization strategy. Companies extend their reach into foreign countries by posting and tweeting. Firms also enhance their mobile capabilities in foreign markets (e.g., knowledge and reputation) through user-generated content in online social networks. Levering on the capabilities-based theory of the multinational enterprise, this paper builds upon a resource-based, industry/network-based, and institution-based view framework. The study provides a comprehensive conceptual and empirical model to explain the effect of social networks on foreign direct investment. Empirical analysis in a global panel dataset of >4500 multinational enterprises suggests that online social networks' activity stimulates foreign capital expenditure and new affiliates. In addition, the article explores the relevance of customer capabilities along with sectoral and institutional moderating effects.     

The capacity for absorbing and assimilating foreign technology by developing countries

The technological choices made by developing countries have a direct effect on their economic growth and on the degree of their technological dependence.A good choice of technology, made from the entire range of present or future technology (advanced, adapted and new) should take into account the following two basic variables (Jequier, 1974): — the economic and socio-cultural context into which the chosen technology will be integrated, and — the country's technological and scientific capabilities.A country's economic and socio-cultural context may be easily appraised, but its technological and scientific capacity is more difficult to measure.This article proposes a method of evaluation of the capacity for absorbing and assimilating foreign technology by developing countries.The classical method of calculating the “location factor” is looked at from a new angle. Generally used as a basis for the economic evaluation of a project, it is treated here as an indicator of the technological and scientific capacity of a country.This analysis is accompanied by a study on the development of the participation of developing countries in their own industrial projects.     

The micro-foundations of the returnee liability: The interpersonal challenges of returnee entrepreneurs in Kenya

Although it is known that returnee entrepreneurs can contribute to technological and economic upgrading in their home countries, there is also evidence of a returnee liability where returnee entrepreneurs perform worse than locals. Apart from mismatches between home and host country institutional environments, this liability is argued to stem from interpersonal factors like cultural difficulties and the diminished social capital of returnees at home. Using interviews exploring the experiences of twenty Nairobi-based technology-enabled returnee entrepreneurs, we theorize the micro-foundations of the returnee liability: mismatched expectations, cultural tension and mutual suspicion. Returnees who sent remittances while abroad expect locals to support their return and entrepreneurial vision, but locals expect continued financial support. Returnees who had become more individualistic while fending for themselves in Western economies experience tension with the collectivism of locals, even while they seek to readjust to their home culture. The suspicion of returnees about unethical local business practices and frustration about locals’' apparent inability to value proposed innovations further complicate the ability of returnees to access local knowledge and networks. We discuss how the community support addresses these micro-foundations of the returnee liability and thus help developing countries better benefit from the knowledge and innovations of their returnees.     

Entrepreneurship among the Displaced and Dispossessed: Exploring the Limits of Emancipatory Entrepreneuring

This paper explores the links between entrepreneurship, emancipation and gender within the international development arena. Through a longitudinal analysis of a micro‐enterprise development project in which intermediary organizations contract traditional handicrafts from female home‐based producers, we focus on the impact of contracting policies on the ability of the desperately poor to improve their disadvantaged position. Our critical analysis reveals how intermediaries who impose exclusive contracting conditions, supposedly to protect the women's interests, actually constrain the emancipatory potential of the women's entrepreneurial activities. However, such contractual limitations generate collaborative networks enabling the women to challenge these constraints in an effort to assert control over their activities. Accordingly, this paper contributes to contemporary debates concerning the emancipatory potential of entrepreneurship within the context of development. We advance this analysis through a gendered evaluation of the role of intermediary organizations on entrepreneurial emancipation and related empowerment.     

From social capital to entrepreneurial orientation: The mediating role of dynamic capabilities

This paper analyzes how social capital and its three dimensions—structural, relational, and cognitive—affect entrepreneurial orientation through dynamic capabilities. We specifically analyzed the effect of each dimension of social capital on firms' entrepreneurial orientation and the mediating effect of dynamic capabilities to explain these relationships. This study was conducted on a sample of firms in the Spanish agri-food industry. The results of the empirical analysis show that dynamic capabilities are generated by firms' social capital. Dynamic capabilities lead relational and cognitive social capital to develop a higher entrepreneurial orientation. The negative effect of structural social capital can only be countered if firms build and develop dynamic capabilities.     

Role of overseas ethnic and non-ethnic ties and firm activity in the home country in the internationalization of returnee entrepreneurial firms

Using a sample of 210 Chinese returnees' entrepreneurial firms, we examined how the overseas ethnic and non-ethnic ties of the returnee entrepreneurs affected their firms' internationalization in the returnees' former host countries. We found that both types of overseas ties were correlated with increased levels of internationalization and they interact positively. We then investigated whether the impacts of overseas ethnic and non-ethnic ties on firm internationalization were moderated by the length of the firms' domestic operations. We found that longer domestic operations were correlated with increased positive impacts of overseas ethnic ties, but decreased positive impacts of overseas non-ethnic ties on firm internationalization. These findings indicate that the returnees' host country ties and firm activity in home country had joint effects on returnee entrepreneurial firms seeking to internationalize their businesses.     

Knowledge Management for the Entrepreneurial Venture

We synthesize research from operations management, entrepreneurship, organizational science, and strategy to investigate the performance‐enhancing benefits of knowledge management activities throughout the entrepreneurial process of a high‐tech venture from idea conception to commercialization. We adopt a dynamic learning perspective of entrepreneurship to understand how knowledge management activities change throughout four phases of the venture's life cycle. We introduce a framework that identifies a set of knowledge‐based capabilities that enhance the entrepreneurial venture's success. In the context of the first phase, we discuss knowledge as a key driver of entrepreneurial alertness and creativity, both of which impact the quality and quantity of opportunities and innovations discovered. Second, we describe how knowledge enables the entrepreneur to make decisions under uncertainty such as determining which opportunity to pursue. For Phase 3 of the life cycle, we explore the challenges of managing knowledge during the development of the product or technology including the trade‐off between exploration and exploitation. In the final phase, we explore how knowledge impacts the market entry decision, survival, and the value captured at commercialization. We conclude the article with suggestions for future research.     

对外直接投资对母国收入差距的影响效应——基于跨国面板数据的研究

本文将企业异质性理论引入内生增长模型，讨论对外直接投资（OFDI）对母国收入差距的影响机理，并基于1981~2015年85个国家（地区）的面板数据，同时运用静态模型与动态模型验证了二者间存在"倒U型"关系，即随着对外直接投资强度的提升，母国收入差距呈现先扩大再缩小的态势；OFDI一方面通过促进母国的技术进步与产业结构升级、挤出部分国内投资等渠道加剧了收入不平等程度，另一方面以推动母国的金融发展与教育拓展等方式对收入差距产生削减效果；OFDI对收入差距的影响在不同经济发展水平、不同地理区位的国家中具有异质性：当人均GDP小于5767.53美元时，对外直接投资强度显著地扩大了母国收入差距，当人均GDP超过5767.53美元时，二者之间不存在显著的线性关系；欧洲国家的OFDI与收入差距之间呈现出"倒U型"关系，美洲、亚洲国家的OFDI促进了母国收入差距的扩大，非洲国家的OFDI对收入差距无显著影响；此外，OFDI对母国收入差距的影响具有跨期效应，随着时间推移与OFDI存量增加，其间接效应的边际效果有所减弱。     

Between a rock and a hard place: Internal- and external institutional fit of MNE subsidiary political strategy in contexts of institutional upheaval

We investigate how subsidiaries' political capabilities in emerging markets are not just shaped by their home- or host country institutions, but by both simultaneously - presenting a dilemma for subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in host countries. Subsidiaries need to develop CPA that simultaneously “fit” parent company requirements and “external fit” requirements in relation to the host environment. Achieving this dual fit is particularly difficult in volatile host contexts, where the value of political capabilities changes rapidly. Subsidiaries face a dilemma because the easily transferable capabilities – that draw on parent resources – lose value due to their decreasing “external fit” with the host country's volatile institutional environment. Conversely, the most valuable relational political capabilities lack “internal fit,” as they may not be legitimate in the home environment. To understand how firms deal with this dilemma, we develop a typology of political capabilities that takes into account their transferability/stickiness and their dynamic institutional contingency in the host country. Our study shows that MNEs - even from institutionally very different economies - can successfully transfer political capabilities to develop effective CPA in a volatile political environment. Yet, as political risk becomes discontinuous, this strategy may reach its limits.     

Internationalization of Developing Country Firms into Developed Countries: The Role of Host Country Knowledge-Based Assets and IPR Protection in FDI Location Choice

Foreign direct investment (FDI) from developing to developed countries is a widespread phenomenon in the global economy. The literature suggests that such investments frequently follow a motive to seek knowledge-based assets, with the goal of augmenting the firm's resource base through internationalization. We argue that the prevalence of this motive may direct developing country firms' FDI toward developed countries with relatively stronger knowledge-based assets and weaker intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and that this effect is amplified when both conditions coincide. Furthermore, we suggest that the respective importance of knowledge-based assets and IPR protection diminishes as developing countries augment their own knowledge-based assets and that the importance of asset seeking as an internationalization motive for the country's firms declines compared with other motives such as institutional escapism. We investigate our model with FDI data including investment flows from 85 developing countries to 35 developed countries during 2009–2014. We find that developing country firms prefer investing in developed countries with stronger knowledge-based assets and weaker IPR protection. These criteria attract even more FDI when both co-occur. Furthermore, the influence of weaker host country IPR protection on the location decision diminishes for firms originating from home countries with higher stocks of knowledge-based assets.     

Competitive Capabilities among Manufacturing Plants in Developing,Emerging, and Industrialized Countries: A Comparative Analysis

Competitive capabilities have been defined as a plant's actual performance relative to its competitors, with the most commonly investigated capabilities being quality, delivery, flexibility, and cost. However, most research in this realm has investigated capabilities within developed countries, and neglected the context of developing and emerging nations, which are increasingly becoming viable economic entities in global supply chains in their own right. The present study fills this gap and carries out a comparative analysis of competitive capabilities among plants in developing, emerging, and industrialized countries. Basing our arguments on the resource‐based view of the firm, we suggest that the influence of competitive capabilities on each other varies among plants in differentially industrialized regions. Specifically, we suggest that, on average, competitive capabilities tend to influence each other to a greater degree in plants in emerging and developing countries compared to industrialized countries. Along similar lines, we suggest that the influence of the four competitive capabilities on performance improvement is manifested more strongly among plants in emerging and developing countries than among plants in industrialized nations. We investigate these contentions with data from 1,211 plants in 21 countries. The results are particularly important for decision makers as they decide on the increasingly global location of their manufacturing operations or the configuration of their global supply chains.     

Subsidiary Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Opportunity: An Institutional Perspective

A subsidiary's ability to identify opportunities in the host country and to subsequently exploit these opportunities could create competitive advantages for the Multinational Corporation. While research on subsidiary entrepreneurship has focused primarily on subsidiary-specific resources and capabilities, as well as environmental factors, the type of opportunities that the subsidiaries may find in the host environment has been underexplored. Drawing on the subsidiary entrepreneurship literature, institutional perspectives, and entrepreneurship research, this paper suggests that subsidiaries embedded in institutional contexts that are different from those of their home country have unique advantages that enable the identification of entrepreneurial opportunities. Accordingly, a theoretical framework is proposed, based on contingency perspectives on the different views of entrepreneurial opportunities in relation to business processes in the host country's institutional environment, vis-a-vis uncertainty levels and legitimacy requirements. In addition, appropriate strategic approaches are suggested, through which subsidiaries can exploit these entrepreneurial opportunities.     

Emerging Market Multinational Companies and Internationalization: The Role of Home Country Urbanization

We develop a multilevel theoretical framework for investigating the role of home country urbanization for emerging market multinational companies' (EMNCs) international expansion. We propose that more urbanized home environments directly increase EMNC's proclivity to internationalize and moderate the effects of firm intangible and tangible resources. The empirical counterpart studies 592 EMNCs from 18 different countries in 2010 and an unbalanced panel of a subsample of these firms over the period 2006–2010. Our hypotheses are confirmed in both datasets. We find that while urbanization complements firm financial resources when expanding abroad, it appears to substitute to some extent for internal R&D capabilities. Our findings further our understanding of the drivers of internationalization of EMNCs.     

The Distinctive Patterns of Dynamic Learning and Inter‐firm Differences in the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry

Technological or institutional change has proven to be a major cause of the failure of established firms, and history is full of examples. In a globalized world the capability of a firm to reconfigure existing competencies and create new knowledge for innovation has emerged as a dynamic capability to succeed. I examine the learning processes involved in the development of innovative R&D capabilities in Indian pharmaceutical firms as a response to the strengthening of patent law. The strong patent law represented a major institutional change for Indian firms which had grown in a weak patent era. The analysis shows that the development of new capabilities involved the removal of rigidities and the acquisition of new knowledge, and reveals that Indian firms are adopting strategies such as hiring of Indian scientists educated or working overseas in pharmaceutical R&D and collaborative R&D to acquire innovative R&D capabilities. It further points out the inter–intra firm heterogeneity in learning processes and suggests that the move from basic to advance level capabilities is neither linear nor automatic. It requires a deliberate effort and investment by firms in different mechanisms of learning. The Indian pharmaceutical firms' responses provide important insights for firms from other developing countries.     

Dynamic capabilities and high-tech entrepreneurial ventures’ performance in the aftermath of an environmental jolt

This paper contributes to studies on dynamic capabilities (DCs) by showing that a neglected environmental contingency – i.e. the occurrence of a jolt – shapes the DCs–performance relationship. We focus on high-tech entrepreneurial ventures because these are the firms that jolts affect most; in so doing, we also advance the understanding of DCs in the entrepreneurship field. We argue that, in the aftermath of an environmental jolt, the high-tech entrepreneurial ventures that use internationalization and new product development capabilities to modify their resource configuration and regain environmental fit enjoy better performance. Econometric estimates on a sample of 340 Italian high-tech entrepreneurial ventures confronting the consequences of the global economic crisis that began in 2008 confirm that separately using these two DCs has a positive performance effect. This effect is stronger for relatively smaller ventures. Interestingly, despite synergies should arise from the combined use of the two DCs, we do not detect any superadditive effects.