Entrepreneurial orientation and international performance: the moderating effect of decision-making rationality

This research examines how entrepreneurial orientation (EO) influences international performance (IP) of the firm taking into account the moderating effect of decision-making rationality (DR) on the EO–IP association. Such an investigation is significant because it considers the interplay of strategic decision-making processes supported by the bounded rationality concept in the entrepreneurship field. Drawing from a study on activities of 216 firms in the United States and United Kingdom, the evidence suggests that DR positively moderates the EO–IP association. The findings suggest that managers can improve IP by combining EO with rational (analytical) processes in their strategic decisions

Entrepreneurship, institutions and economic development : a configurational approach.

Includes bibliographical references.This thesis responds to calls for more advanced portrayals of institutional effects on cross-country opportunity entrepreneurial activity (EA). In particular, it examines the effect of formal institutional development on EA depending on differences in informal constraints and economic development (ED). Though acknowledged in part within extant theory, little empirical research has documented the simultaneous interaction of all of the three variables in formal and informal institutions and ED. This research offers one perspective on the interdependencies and directionality between these variables. I suggest that a country's entrepreneurs respond differently to formal institutional incentives depending on societal culture and the nature of opportunities that arise from the predominant economic structure whether agriculturally, manufacturing or services based. I also develop an operational framework to translate institutions to conditions for EA. This framework suggests that formal institutions are associated with entrepreneurial opportunities and incentives, financial capital and an explicit form of human capital such as formal education. In addition, informal institutions are associated with social capital and a tacit form of human capital such as practical experience

Dynamics of Corporate Venture Capital: Performance, Temporality, and Institution

Along with effective knowledge search and technology portfolio management, financing is an important facet of innovation management for established corporations and new enterprises alike. I study the organization and process of innovation financing in the corporate venture capital (CVC) context, which is a crucial form of interfirm equity relationship that facilitates corporate innovation by funding technological startups. This multi-method dissertation comprises three essays that jointly contribute to unpacking the dynamics and influence of resource interdependence between the corporate investor and invested venture during the CVC investment life cycle. First, I conduct a meta-analysis to unveil the link between CVC investments and various performance objectives of corporate investors and new ventures. I integrate performance measures into different conceptual categories, after which I theorize and confirm that the magnitude of CVC impact systematically differs across these categories due to heterogeneity in dependence absorption. I also find that corporate financial performance is supplemented by corporate strategic performance but attenuated by venture performance. Second, I take a closer look at the longitudinal evolution of the corporate strategic objective of technological learning, theorizing that it drives termination decisions in established CVC investments. I hypothesize that corporate strategic considerations co-evolve with the dynamics of interfirm technological dependency. In addition, this effect is conditional on the aggregate resource dependence level that can be altered by corporate exploration breadth, venture new technology, and dyadic similarity. Third, I explore the emergence of the CVC ecosystem in China and introduce a new motivation, corporate political objective, to the CVC literature that has so far neglected non-market incentives. Based on 11 interviews with elite informants and archival data, I follow a mixed-method approach that identifies the primary stakeholders and their corresponding roles in China’s CVC investment process, depicts the evolution of similarities and differences between the US and China’s CVC ecosystem, and articulates the existence and manifestation of the corporate political objective in CVC investments. Together, my findings across the three studies suggest that market and non-market objectives coexist with, and influence, each other in the process of the CVC investment life cycle, such that investment motivations and performance outcomes are based upon tradeoffs across interrelated objectives, time frames, and institutional contexts. This dissertation provides a conceptual framework and empirical foundation for the complex interaction between entrepreneurs and corporations in the CVC context to understand the interdependencies during innovation financing in a way that should prove meaningful to new venture funding, corporate entrepreneurship, investment for innovation, and resource dependency theory

To grow or not to grow: Socio-cognitive determinants of small and medium firm growth and threshold mentality

Small business owners (entrepreneurs) are heterogeneous in their motivations and goals, with some seeking to expand firm scope, size, and purpose, and others seeking stability. The small and medium firm growth literature indicates that growth intention varies, but why does it vary so much, and so often? Why do some firms have a threshold mentality, represented by a stability intention, while others have a growth intention? To explore these questions, this dissertation empirically examines the socio-cognitive determinants of small and medium firm growth intentions. Participants included owner/managers of independent Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) decision-making authority for their firms. 159 usable responses were obtained from the United States. Those responses were analyzed using hierarchical moderated regression and mediation analysis. The results of this study indicate that Managerial Optimism predicts small and medium firm Growth Intention, but Fear of Failure does not. Furthermore, Managerial Optimism’s influence over growth intention is fully mediated by market information interpretation as opportunity. Market information interpretation as threat, however, does not predict small and medium firm Growth Intention. Social Capital in the form of business and community organizations directly predicts small and medium firm growth intention, regardless of market information interpretation outcome. Finally, Entrepeneurial Orientation does not play any moderating role between market information interpretation and Growth Intention. The findings presented here imply that the development of Growth Intention, even in small and medium firms with relatively simple command structures, is a complex process that depends on both personal and social factors, and that changes in nature depending on how the manager perceives their market environment. This research significantly extends the literature in illustrating how these processes function, and in providing a guide for further research

The Mediating Role of Consent in Business Marketing

The study deepens our understanding of business marketing by looking beyond the individual choices of business actors to the role of consent between interacting actors. Based on an empirical investigation of manufacturers and retailers in Germany and drawing from previous research on business relationships, the paper develops a theoretical structure for the analysis of consent in business marketing. The paper argues for a shift from a view of individual choice as the basis of business marketing towards the idea of choice being part of an evolutionary discursive practice of consent. The study detects the mediating role of consent at four levels: 1) as a stratifying process, 2) as recursive practice, 3) as energizing interaction, and 4) as economizing activities, resources and actors; it elaborates significant theoretical implications and highlights managerial lessons

How to build upon sustainable entrepreneurial opportunities in developing economies

Circular economy has been promoted as an alternative to the linear production and consumption patterns prevalent since the industrial era. The implementation of circular economy has proceeded in multiple ways, with different leading actors, e.g. strong industry champions (bottom-up) or with strong government involvement (top-down) and different environmental and economic drivers. This dissertation focuses on the realization of circular economy in a developing economy where there is no strong champion to promote it. It is argued that sustainable entrepreneurship can be a key mechanism for the development of circular economy activity. A circular economy focused incubator can provide a mechanism to identify and develop circular opportunities and find nascent entrepreneurs interested in sustainable enterprise. First, a conceptual and theoretical framework is developed that modifies the traditional incubator to promote circular economy. The new incubator model engages additional actors to provide information needed to identify circular economy opportunities and provide support to develop solutions. Two main challenges are identified to implement this modified incubator in a developing economy. First, environmental data and information to support opportunity identification is often lacking, mainly due to weak institutional capacity. Second, it is not clear how to develop and organize a supportive network to nurture opportunities found within the economy. Strategies to address these challenges are explored via a case study of plastic flows in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) - a small island with a developing economy. First, the problem of lack of data is addressed by leveraging data sources made for other purpose (trade and waste characterization) to develop a materials flow analysis (MFA) that supports circular economy planning. This methodology succeeds in in realizing a fine-grained, disaggregated material flows for plastics in T&T. Lessons from this MFA include a significant share of waste plastics arising from the packaging of imported products. This material flow is then used to recommend CE management strategies for plastics in the country. The resulting method is applicable to other nations with poor data on materials flows in manufacturing but rich trade and waste data To address the challenges with developing a network supporting the CE incubator, interviews are conducted with potential actors in T&T and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. A major result of the analysis is concerns on government participation raised by some actors. With refined understanding of the obstacles and motivations, recommendations are made on how a CE incubator can be built using local business associations and other actors

Opportunity identification in MNC subsidiaries: context and performance implications

This thesis brings together notions from the distinctive fields of international business and entrepreneurship in order to examine the under-investigated theme of Opportunity Identification (OI) within an entirely new context, that of the multinational subsidiary. Despite its centrality in entrepreneurship research, the notion of OI still lies at an embryonic stage of investigation, particularly as an organisation-wide phenomenon. Especially with respect to the multinational subsidiary, the concept of OI has not been examined per se, regardless of studies proving that entrepreneurial subsidiaries of MNCs can also be actively involved in the identification and pursuit of innovative ideas. In addressing the above key gaps, the present thesis develops a resource-based framework that examines both antecedents and outcomes of OI at the individual subsidiary level. This framework essentially integrates theoretical perspectives on subsidiary entrepreneurship and OI under a Resource-Based View (RBV) of the multinational subsidiary. This constitutes an innovative approach both in the subsidiary-related and entrepreneurship literature. This study adopts a mixed methods approach in combining qualitative theory building and quantitative theory testing within a two-staged research methodology. The first stage involved conducting exploratory case studies in 6 Scottish “entrepreneurial” subsidiaries, given the scarcity of relevant empirical work. The second stage involved carrying out a large-scale mail survey on U.S., European, and Japanese subsidiaries operating in the UK. An overall response rate of 16% was achieved. Quantitative data analysis entailed hypotheses testing through both Multiple Regression and Structural Equation (SEM) models. This study conceptualises subsidiary entrepreneurship as a notion broader than subsidiary initiative, comprising not only radical change and innovation, but also less fundamental but still significant improvements that continuously take place at the subsidiary level. The findings prove that subsidiary entrepreneurship is essentially driven by opportunities identified at the subsidiary level. For the identification of these opportunities, particular subsidiary-specific “entrepreneurial capabilities”, such as the subsidiary’s innovation propensity, risk attitude and external networking with non-direct value-chain members, are critical. Also, factors determining the parent-subsidiary relationship, such as the subsidiary’s autonomy levels and the flows of “strategic” knowledge and skills between the subsidiary and the parent, provide access to unique and valuable resources that can expand the subsidiary’s opportunity set. However, the external environment, both local and international, was not found to pose a significant direct effect on subsidiary OI. This study concludes with establishing a positive link between subsidiary entrepreneurship and performance. Implications for theory, practice and policy making are discussed. Major contributions of this study to theory include the development of a more holistic conceptualisation and measurement of subsidiary entrepreneurship, along with the adoption of a Resource-Based View (RBV) of the multinational subsidiary, which establishes the existence of specific “entrepreneurial” capabilities at the subsidiary level