Learning processes in growth-oriented SMEs: the Portuguese case

The learning processes that take place within small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) have attracted increasing attention among academics and managers. Growth-oriented SMEs in particular have been a focus of academic attention given their importance to processes of economic growth, although understanding of the learning processes within these enterprises remains limited, especially with regard to their interplay with intermediate and peripheral economic contexts. This qualitative study, based on nine case studies of growth-oriented SMEs, provides important insights into the learning process which underlies their entrepreneurial capability and ‘openness’ to innovation across different sectors operating within the intermediate economic context of Portugal. The study analyses two different groups of SMEs, five from high tech industries and four from traditional manufacturing industries, to enable comparative analysis of how sectoral context can trigger different responses, learning processes and organisational outcomes. Primary data collection within the selected case study firms was undertaken through combining documentary sources with semi-structured interviews with owner-managers and other key actors. Qualitative analysis centred on gaining insights into processes of entrepreneurial learning and comprised both within-case and cross-case analysis. The findings of this research contribute to knowledge on the learning processes within growth-orientated SMEs in intermediate economic contexts in three main ways. First, due to the constraints of the domestic economy, all companies internationalized whilst relying heavily on their in-house capabilities. In this internationalisation process, high-tech companies were characterised by more formal, decentralised and cooperative learning arrangements than traditional companies, which tended to be more ‘closed’ and showed simpler and more informal learning. Second, high-tech companies demonstrated a larger and more varying combination of learning processes compared to their traditional counterparts. In the high tech companies, learning was not only more systematic and more frequent, but also operated at a wider inter-organisational scope, with more radical change and a greater openness in terms of innovation. Third, the owner-managers were the principal knowledge gatekeepers of the learning processes through absorbing and disseminating external complementary knowledge and via varied learning modes. Owner-managers were therefore critical for integrating their entrepreneurial capabilities within the organisation and in moderating the firm’s propensity to engage in ‘open innovation’. This moderating role was accomplished by external interactive learning, internal planning and experiential learning. This augmented the firms’ absorptive capacity – their ability to access and apply external sources of knowledge within their innovation processes – and entrepreneurial capability – their ability to identify, select, shape, and coordinate internal and external conditions and resources to explore opportunities. These findings are of significance to owner-managers with regard to better addressing SME needs in terms of expanding their international business knowledge and stimulating greater regional cooperation

Exploring Innovation as a Determinant to Internationalization in Small Knowledge-Intensive Business Services

This study tests the underlying assumption that innovation is a necessary condition for internationalization in small firms. Specifically, I ask whether a knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) firm’s service innovation influences its propensity and intensity of internationalization. Two sub- questions are posed in relation to this broader question. First, are certain innovation results or combinations thereof associated with internationalization? And second, are certain configurations of innovation inputs and results associated with internationalization? I use both traditional statistical techniques as well as set-theoretic methods to assess how the results garnered from contrasting methodological approaches differ from one another. The results from the logistic regressions and fractional logistic regressions echo the findings from previous studies: they suggest that there is a positive relationship between service innovation and internationalization. Given the assumptions of linearity and symmetry, results from the traditional statistical analyses support the notion that service innovation is positively related to internationalization; that internationalization is unlikely without service innovation. The results from the QCA lend an alternate view to the one proposed by the traditional statistical analyses, suggesting that there can be internationalization without service innovation. The crisp and fuzzy set QCAs suggest there are multiple pathways of innovation attributes a firm may adopt, but very few paths lead to the consistent result of internationalization. While there are few consistent configurations that explain internationalization propensity or intensity, there are many more that explain remaining in the firm’s domestic market. Overall, the findings from the study point to the strength of using alternative methodological perspectives to test theoretical models and nuance the current understanding of the role played by innovation as a driver of internationalization. They also point to the importance of allowing for asymmetry in explaining the presence and the absence of internationalization. Improper generalizations may be made when inferring that the absence of innovation implies the absence of internationalization. Moreover, they suggest that the import of a broader definition of innovation, including activities that precede an innovation result as well as external knowledge sourcing, offers insightful additions in understanding the behaviours adopted by firms that have internationalized

The drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility in the supply chain. A case study.

Purpose: The paper studies the way in which a SME integrates CSR into its corporate strategy, the practices it puts in place and how its CSR strategies reflect on its suppliers and customers relations. Methodology/Research limitations: A qualitative case study methodology is used. The use of a single case study limits the generalizing capacity of these findings. Findings: The entrepreneur’s ethical beliefs and value system play a fundamental role in shaping sustainable corporate strategy. Furthermore, the type of competitive strategy selected based on innovation, quality and responsibility clearly emerges both in terms of well defined management procedures and supply chain relations as a whole aimed at involving partners in the process of sustainable innovation. Originality/value: The paper presents a SME that has devised an original innovative business model. The study pivots on the issues of innovation and eco-sustainability in a context of drivers for CRS and business ethics. These values are considered fundamental at International level; the United Nations has declared 2011 the “International Year of Forestry”

Knowledge and Management Models for Sustainable Growth

In the last years sustainability has become a topic of global concern and a key issue in the strategic agenda of both business organizations and public authorities and organisations. Significant changes in business landscape, the emergence of new technology, including social media, the pressure of new social concerns, have called into question established conceptualizations of competitiveness, wealth creation and growth. New and unaddressed set of issues regarding how private and public organisations manage and invest their resources to create sustainable value have brought to light. In particular the increasing focus on environmental and social themes has suggested new dimensions to be taken into account in the value creation dynamics, both at organisations and communities level. For companies the need of integrating corporate social and environmental responsibility issues into strategy and daily business operations, pose profound challenges, which, in turn, involve numerous processes and complex decisions influenced by many stakeholders. Facing these challenges calls for the creation, use and exploitation of new knowledge as well as the development of proper management models, approaches and tools aimed to contribute to the development and realization of environmentally and socially sustainable business strategies and practices

How do new ventures develop abroad: Six fast-growing cases of the Veneto region

"The thesis focuses on International Entrepreneurship (IE), a recent field of study integrating entrepreneurship and international business theories, concentrating on the analysis of International New Ventures (INVs). An important contribution to the development of the topic derived from Oyson, Whittaker and Zur, who developed three frameworks focusing on international opportunities as the main unit of analysis, changing perspective if compared to the traditional internationalization theories and the former IE models, which concentrated more on variables such as the entrepreneur, the firm and the environment. The thesis, according to the findings of these three frameworks, tried to analyze the internationalization processes of six small and medium manufacturing companies established between 2006 and 2009 in the provinces of Padua, Treviso and Vicenza which managed to develop their international activities within 6 years from their establishment."openTesi non accessibile fino a 21 Gennaio 2017 per motivi correlati alla proprietà intellettuale dell'autor

4th Regional Helix | Porto, 2019- Book of Abstracts

Regional Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Sustainability – Rethinking the Helix In an increasingly global and feverish economy, regional cartography is not always sufficiently documented and discussed. At the same time, the narrative “trial-mistake” is often discouraged, considering that when success emerges one should hide hypothetical errors. In a scenario, in which the new industry paradigms and value-adding processes require a critical reflection on the sustainability of entrepreneurial ecosystems and on the relations between firms, governments, society and the processes of knowledge creation emerges the 4th International congress of Regional Helix, under the topic "Regional Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Sustainability - Rethinking the Helix". Since its creation, the Regional Helix conference emphasizes the importance of cooperation and this edition is no exception and it results from a joint organization between the School of Technology and Management of the Polytechnic of Porto, through its research center (CIICESI), of the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, NECE (research center of the Department of Economics and Management of the University of Beira Interior) and University of Trás os Montes and Alto Douro. The participation of several researchers from national and international institutions is an important step in the achievement of these aims. We are pleased to welcome colleagues from countries across the globe. We believe that this multiplicity reflects the interest that regional entrepreneurial ecosystems and sustainability issues have transversely across the world. Finally, we would like to call your attention to the several publication opportunities that Regional Helix 2019 bring to you, and we invite all colleagues to submit their papers for the publications that better fit their research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Marketing-Entrepreneurship Interface: A Contextual and Practical Critique of the Role of Entrepreneurship

In the late nineteen eighties, Hills proposed that marketing scholars should pay far more attention to entrepreneurship and the smaller enterprise. He founded an annual research symposium and associated proceedings published under the title of Research at the Marketing/Entrepreneurship Interface. The symposia and proceedings still flourish and both the Academy of Marketing in the UK and the American Marketing Association have special interest groups for this area. This thesis is concerned with the contribution that entrepreneurship can make to understanding this interface. Without a robust definition of entrepreneurship, the interface simply becomes a study of a very common and disparate organisational form - Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). There is no shame in this for they deserve our interest, support and help. Without an understanding of the entrepreneurship component of the interface that help and support might be less effective than we, and they, would desire. Small business is not a little large business, they operate in very different circumstances with very much fewer resources to hand, and, because of who they are may have very different motivations and skill sets. Not necessarily worse but different. So entrepreneurial marketing might offer different insights, and help, compared to a standard academic approach to small business. This is a PhD by published work and twenty-three submissions are organised into four themes and form a core for discussion. The first theme considers appropriate definitions of entrepreneurship and the role they play in conceptualising the interface. The second theme considers how adopting an entrepreneurial marketing approach could guide and inform the SME in two particular respects: addressing critical situations and developing and maintaining appropriate relationships. This theme is considering entrepreneurial marketing within the SME. The third theme considers firstly entrepreneurial marketing extended away from the SME to larger organisations in both public and private ownership and to a particular form of public art where participants can be small or large and in either public or private ownership. Secondly the experience of organisations within a cluster and SMEs within a conflict zone are considered. The distinguishing focus of this third theme is that it extends the interface away from the traditional focus on SMEs. Whilst it was natural for the interface to arise out of a desire to understand a neglected organisational form in marketing – it can be applied in other contexts. The final theme considers how the author’s conceptualisation of the interface has informed their teaching and the implications for practical business support. A fundamental argument that is made in respect of understanding the role of entrepreneurship within entrepreneurial marketing is that we should not treat entrepreneurship as an absolute attribute which would direct us into classifying people simply into entrepreneurs as opposed to non-entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs range from the exceptional ‘stellar’ entrepreneur to those who are imitative of current market offerings and we should work across this range appropriately. Having discussed both an appropriate definition and role for entrepreneurship within the marketingentrepreneurship interface the implications of such a view are illustrated through considering the different contexts discussed in themes two and three above and reflecting upon the delivery of teaching programmes based partly or wholly on the notion of the marketing-entrepreneurship interface. The work is a critique of the role of entrepreneurship within the interface. The contexts selected and discussed draw out practical lessons for a wide range of individuals from undergraduates through SMEs to larger organisations in either private or public ownership