Reflections on Racial Identity and the Black Movement in the United States and Brazil

These reflections are based on a long history of study and involvement in the Black movement in the United States, on friendships with militants in the Brazilian Black movement, and on study of that movement. They arise directly from musings occasioned by comments made by an undergraduate white student in my course, Politics of the African Diaspora, and by my observation of a couple on the Avenida Sete de Setembro in Salvador, Bahia

Political Consciousness as a Component of Black Consciousness in Brazil: Its Presence in the Popular Media

The purpose of this paper is to describe the extent to which political consciousness may be found as a component of Black consciousness within a sampling of the Brazilian popular press, and to suggest some significance of that description for the political lives af[of] Afro-Brazilians. In the first section the paper identifies the popular press reviewed and examines the relationship between the popular press and the Afro-Brazilian population. Next, the relationship between Black consciousness and Black political consciousness is discussed, including the significance of that relationship for this paper. It examines the role of the cultural question in some detail. Thirdly, the paper sets forth its working definitions, including those of Black consciousness and Black political consciousness, among others. The paper illustrates how each of those definitions plays out in the general findings and reaches some conclusions on their significance

R&D Investment Level and Environment as Predictors of Firm Acquisition

R&D investments contribute to the development of firm technology resources, and the possession of such resources often increases a firm’s attractiveness as a potential acquisition target. However, the value ascribed to a firm’s technology resources by would-be acquirers may be moderated by its industry’s environmental characteristics. Using data from 2886 firms, we find that investments in R&D predict acquisition likelihood and that R&D investments are most strongly associated with acquisition of firms under conditions of high environmental munificence and dynamism. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed

Meta-analyses of Post-acquisition Performance: Indications of Unidentified Moderators

Empirical research has not consistently identified antecedents for predicting post-acquisition performance. We employ meta-analytic techniques to empirically assess the impact of the most commonly researched antecedent variables on post-acquisition performance. We find robust results indicating that, on average and across the most commonly studied variables, acquiring firms’ performance does not positively change as a function of their acquisition activity, and is negatively affected to a modest extent. More importantly, our results indicate that unidentified variables may explain significant variance in post-acquisition performance, suggesting the need for additional theory development and changes to M&A research methods

Complementary Resources and the Exploitation of Technological Innovations

Technological innovation often results when the resources of a small firm are combined with those of a large one. This is because small and large firms characteristically possess complementary resources whose combination can facilitate innovation success. The possession of complementary innovation-producing resources by small and large firms helps explain patterns of interaction among firms in dynamic, technology-based industries. Propositions are developed that outline how typical resources of small and large firms can be used to explain industry-level phenomena surrounding technological change

Is More Always Better? Risk Trade-offs among Internationalizing New Ventures

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how ventures manage the negative returns associated with higher levels of internationalization. Many new ventures are internationalizing to fully exploit new innovations and/or gain access to larger markets. Yet at some point the rising costs associated with internationalization outweigh any benefits, resulting in an inverted U-shaped relationship between internationalization and performance. Design/methodology/approach – New ventures are theorized to better manage high levels of internationalization by limiting exposure to other sources of risk. This can be achieved by leveraging greater size and/or limiting simultaneous diversification efforts on product innovation. To test the hypotheses, a regression using Heckman selection was run using a sample of 210 US-based, publicly held ventures in high-technology industries. Findings – The results confirm that when higher levels of internationalization are coupled with either a low emphasis on product innovation or larger size, the negative returns are mitigated and actually become positive. Research limitations/implications – A key implication lies in recognizing the role of risk management for internationalizing ventures. Future research could benefit by testing for generalizability in other countries as well as among privately held ventures. Practical implications – To manage the trade-offs associated at higher levels of internationalization, ventures need to maintain a low emphasis on product innovation or meet a threshold in terms of size. Originality/value – The value of this research lies in better understanding how ventures are able to overcome rising costs at higher levels of internationalization

Venture Capitalists as Catalysts to New Venture Internationalization: The Impact of Their Knowledge and Reputation Resources

Venture Capitalists (VC) play an important role in influencing the strategic direction of the firms in which they invest. The findings of this study reveal that VCs can serve as a catalyst to new venture internationalization through the provision of knowledge and reputation resources. Furthermore, the international knowledge of a VC is more positively related to new venture internationalization when the VC is also reputable

Is International Entrepreneurship a Viable Spin-Off from its Parent Disciplines?

This book is vital reading for entrepreneurship researchers and educators, advanced students and policy-makers in Entrepreneurship, Economics, Sociology and Psychology

Beating Competitors to International Markets: The Value of Geographically Balanced Networks for Innovation

Being able to launch new products internationally is critical for technology-based ventures to recoup the high costs of R&D and to exploit their innovations fully. Despite the widely recognized importance of networks within the innovation development process, there appear to be contrasting viewpoints as to whether local or foreign network partners contribute more in the race to internationalize. Drawing on the theoretical underpinnings of comparative advantage, we propose and empirically confirm that ventures pursuing a balance of local and foreign network connections for the development of an innovation are able to bring the product more rapidly into the international marketplace. Furthermore, both innovation complexity and industry clockspeed heighten the importance of geographic network balance to the speed of product internationalization

PKS 0537-286, carrying the information of the environment of SMBHs in the early Universe

We present the results of a multifrequency campaign on the high-redshift (z = 3.1) blazar PKS 0537-286. The source was observed at different epochs from 2006 to 2008 with INTEGRAL and Swift, and nearly simultaneously with ground-based near-IR/optical telescopes. The SEDs are compatible with a model based on synchrotron radiation and external inverse Compton scattering. The campaign gives an insight into the physical environment of the blazar.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&