Understanding eINVs through the lens of prior research in entrepreneurship, international business and international entrepreneurship

In this chapter we examine the growing phenomenon of internet-based international new ventures, which we label “eINVS,” through the lens of previous research in the fields of entre- preneurship, international business and international entrepreneurship. Our purpose is to iden- tify where these existing bodies of research help us to understand eINVs, and where there are gaps that constitute important questions for future research. We define an eINV by adapting a widely used definition of international new ventures (INV) (Oviatt and McDougall 2005: 5): an eINV is a venture whose business model is enabled by a digital platform and that, from incep- tion, seeks to derive significant competitive advantage from international growth. With a focus explicitly on how extant research helps us understand eINVs, this review differs from that of Reuber and Fischer (2011b), who focus on firm-level internet-related resources that are related to the internationalization of ventures in general; that of Pezderka and Sinkovics (2011), who focus on risk and the online foreign market entry decisions of small and medium-sized enter- prises (SMEs); and that of Chandra and Coviello (2010), who focus on consumers using the internet to pursue international opportunities

The use of intellectual capital information by sell-side analysts in company valuation

This paper investigates the role of intellectual capital information (ICI) in sell-side analysts’ fundamental analysis and valuation of companies. Using in-depth semi-structured interviews, it penetrates the black box of analysts’ valuation decision-making by identifying and conceptualising the mechanisms and rationales by which ICI is integrated within their valuation decision processes. We find that capital market participants are not ambivalent to ICI, and ICI is used: (1) to form analysts’ perceptions of the overall quality, strengths and future prospects of companies; (2) in deriving valuation model inputs; (3) in setting price targets and making investment recommendations; and (4) as an important and integral element in analyst–client communications. We show that: there is a ‘pecking order’ of mechanisms for incorporating ICI in valuations, based on quantifiability; IC valuation is grounded in valuation theory; there are designated entry points in the valuation process for ICI; and a number of factors affect analysts’ ICI use in valuation. We also identify a need to redefine ‘value-relevant’ ICI to include non-price-sensitive information; acknowledge the boundedness and contextuality of analysts’ rationality and motives of their ICI use; and the important role of analyst–client meetings for ICI communication

Exploring ERP-enabled Technology Adoption: A Real Options Perspective

For decades, practitioners and scholars have focused on achieving optimal values in and benefits from enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Given that scholars have identified ERP systems as having option-like characteristics such as the capacity to create an information technology (IT) platform that enables the adoption of subsequent function-specific applications, we face a need to explore the linkage between post-ERP systems implementation and subsequent ERP-enabled technology adoption. We used real options theory to explore the underlying relationship between the initial ERP system implementation and subsequent technology adoptions. We surveyed 519 IT executives in the United States and found that the level of technology uncertainty, managerial flexibility, and formal real option analysis in ERP adoption decisions influenced the organizational relative advantage of subsequent non-ERP technologies. Our results also reveal that the level of uncertainty had a negative relationship with ERP-enabled technology adoption, while formal real option analysis in ERP adoption decisions positively influenced ERP-enabled adoption

Determinants and Consequences of IT Capability: Review and Synthesis of the Literature

As IT spending continuously increased over the past years, it nowadays accounts for a significant amount of total corporate spending. However, firms require the ability to transform these investments into daily operations. Research shows that the organizational IT capability is the key to leverage IT investments and achieve desired outcomes. Research on IT capability thereby evolved as a major stream in the IT business value debate and the number of research articles on IT capability increased constantly over the years. The purpose of this literature review is to provide an overview of current findings on antecedents and consequences of IT capability and to identify directions for further research. This review synthesizes a collection of 30 research articles and thereby contributes to the literature on IT capability by identifying current gaps in the literature and offering new perspectives for future research

Conceptualisation of intellectual capital in analysts’ narratives: a performative view

Purpose: This study tests the performativity of Intellectual Capital (IC) from the perspective of sell-side analysts, a type of actor who consumes and creates IC information and in whose practice IC information plays a significant role. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical component of the study comprises a narrative analysis of the text of a large corpus of sell-side analysts’ initiation coverage reports. We adopt Mouritsen’s (2006) performative and ostensive conceptualisations of IC as our theoretical framework. Findings: We find that the identities and properties of IC elements are variable, dynamic and transformative. The relevance of IC elements in the eyes of analysts is conditional on the context, temporally contingent and bestowed indirectly. IC elements are attributed to firm value both directly, in a linear manner, and indirectly, via various non-linear interrelationships established with other IC elements, tangible capital and financial capital. Research limitations/implications: This study challenges the conventional IC research paradigm and contributes towards a performativity-inspired conceptualisation of IC and a resultant situated model of IC in place of a predictive model. Originality/value: This is the first study to apply a performative lens to study IC identities, roles and relationships from the perspective of a field of practice that is external to the organisation where IC is hosted. Examining IC from analysts’ perspective is important because not only can it provide an alternative perspective of IC, it also enables an understanding of analysts’ field of practice

Reengineering business reporting creating a test bed for technology driven reporting

Building on the work originally done for the Enhanced Business Reporting consortium of the AICPA, this paper develops a test bed for innovation in business reporting. As with flying test beds in aviation, the object is to explore the impact of new technologies and techniques rather than to create a product intended for immediate implementation. The starting point of our analysis is that if the financial reporting system was being built from scratch today, it would look very different, taking into account fundamental changes in the two drivers of financial reporting: First, the dominance of market making by professional investors, which includes such intermediaries as pension and mutual funds, which is how most ordinary individuals interact with the market; Second, the reduction in the variable costs of disclosures to technology-enabled firms, while time taking a broader view of the cost of reporting to include the opportunity cost to the firm from faulty disclosures and the cost to professional investors of having to extract the data they need from statements that were not designed for their needs. Taken together, the consequence of these two changes is that a system being designed today has to rethink the entire process by which financial data held by the firm is translated into decision relevant information by users. This process takes place both within the firm and outside of it, with a handover of financial statements taking place at the boundary between the firm and its users. Given these changes it is time to ask whether the location of that handover boundary point is still appropriate: whether the firm should continue to aggregate and condense information extensively before releasing it, or whether sophisticated users would prefer to have access to more information in closer to its raw format so that they can manipulate and aggregate it as they see fit. Based on this conceptual model we discuss the building blocks of a 21st century reporting system and the technical architecture needed to implement it. It is our hope that this paper will help create an open source test bed that will develop new ways to measure, manage and communicate firm performance in the 21st century.Creándose en el trabajo hecho originalmente por Enhanced Business Reporting Consortium de la AICPA (una iniciativa colaborativa y dirigida al comercio en el que los usuarios y los proveedores del capital trabajan juntos), este artículo desarrolla un banco de prueba para esta innovación. Como con los bancos de prueba que vuelan en la aviación, el objetivo es explorar el impacto de nuevas tecnologías y técnicas, en vez de crear un producto para una implementación inmediata. El punto de inicio de nuestro análisis es aquel en el que si el sistema de elaboración de informes financieros estuviera siendo creado desde cero hoy en día, se vería muy diferente, teniendo en cuenta los cambios fundamentales en los dos impulsores de estos informes. Primeramente, el dominio de la creación de mercados por parte de inversores profesionales, que incluye intermediarios como fondos de pensión y mutuos, siendo la forma más ordinaria en la que estos interactúan con el mercado. En segundo lugar, la reducción de los costes variables de las divulgaciones a empresas con tecnología, mientras se adopta una visión más amplia del coste de la elaboración de informes, con el propósito de incluir el coste de oportunidad a la empresa desde divulgaciones defectuosas, y el coste a inversores profesionales en extraer la información necesaria de las declaraciones que n no están diseñadas para sus necesidades. Como consecuencia a estos dos sistemas, un sistema que está siendo diseñado hoy en día debe de reflexionar sobre el proceso completo, por el que la información financiera poseída por las empresas se traduce en la decisión de la información relevante por los usuarios. Este proceso sucede tanto dentro como fuera de la firma, con una entrega de declaraciones financieras que toma lugar en el límite entre la firma y sus usuarios. Dados estos cambios, es hora de preguntarse si el lugar de esta entrega del punto límite es aún apropiado: si la firma debería continuar juntando y condensando información de forma extensiva antes de publicarla, o si los usuarios sofisticados preferirían tener acceso a más información más base para así poder manipularla y juntarla como ellos lo crean. Basado en este modelo conceptual, debatimos los bloques compilados de un sistema de informes del siglo XXI, y la arquitectura técnica necesaria para implementarlo. Es nuestra esperanza que este estudio ayudará a crear un banco de prueba de código abierto que desarrollará nuevas formas para medir, gestionar, y comunicar el desempeño de la firma en este siglo