Entrepreneurial alertness and business model innovation in dynamic markets: international performance implications for SMEs

Acknowledgement This research was supported by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Fund. This research was financially supported by Queen Mary University of London.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Entrepreneurial passion and product innovation intensity in new ventures : mediating effects of exploration and exploitation activities

In this paper, we examine the differential effects of entrepreneurial passion (EP) on product innovation intensity through the mediating mechanisms of exploration and exploitation activities. Using time-lagged data from 260 new ventures from Ghana, we examine the direct relationships between the three domains of EP (i.e., inventing, developing and founding) and a new venture’s product innovation intensity (PII). Further, we test the indirect relationships between the three domains of EP and PII through the mediating mechanisms of a new venture’s exploration and exploitation activities. The empirical results provide a fine-grained understanding of the relationship between EP, exploration and exploitation activities and PII. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed

Leveraging foreign diversification to build firm resilience: a conditional process perspective

Foreign diversification is crucial for risk management, but its role in building resilient international firms is underexplored. This research combines the organizational information processing theory with international business literature to examine how and when foreign diversification relates to firm resilience in the context of SME exporters. The study suggests that while foreign diversification may contribute to firm resilience, foreign market scanning mediates this effect under varying supply chain disruption conditions. An analysis of primary data from 272 SME exporters in Ghana reveals that foreign diversification alone does not explain firm resilience. Instead, the results support the arguments that foreign market scanning positively mediates the foreign diversification – firm resilience relationship, and that this indirect relationship is stronger in highly disruptive supply chain environments. Implications of these findings for international business research and practice are discussed

Owner-managers failure experience and business model innovations in B2B firms: The roles of coopetition, managerial persistence, and financial resource slack

YesThis study proposes and tests a model of how and when previous failure experience can impact on subsequent business model innovation of business-to-business (B2B) SMEs. Analysis of survey data from a sample of 182 B2B SMEs in Ghana indicates that failure experience is positively related to business model innovation – and that coopetition capability mediates this failure experience. Further analysis of boundary condition effects reveals that high levels of financial resource slack strengthen the positive relationship between coopetition and business model innovation, while the level of managerial persistence has no effect on failure experience and coopetition relationship. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings

Regional Expansion of Emerging Market SMEs : The Roles of Domestic Market Environmental Uncertainty and International Alliance Partner Diversity

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Examining the drivers and boundary conditions of social innovation: Evidence from MNE subsidiaries in a developing economy

YesAlthough social innovation can help multinational enterprise (MNE) subsidiaries create social value for developing countries, they often encounter significant challenges in successfully implementing social innovation projects. This research applies the knowledge-based perspective to propose and test a theoretical framework to explain why MNE subsidiaries differ in their ability to pursue social innovation successfully in a developing country. The framework contends that MNEs’ relationship learning contributes to social innovation variability under varying levels of subsidiary autonomy and mode of entry. Analysis of primary data collected from 207 subsidiaries of MNEs operating in Ghana shows that relationship learning has a positive relationship with social innovation. Further analysis reveals that subsidiary autonomy enhances the positive association between relationship learning and social innovation, and that this moderating effect is stronger for subsidiaries with equity entry mode as opposed to non-equity entry mode. These insights advance the limited understanding of the antecedents of MNEs’ social innovation in developing countries and offer guidance on how MNE subsidiaries can successfully pursue social innovation interventions in a developing country.The full-text of this article will be released for public view at the end of the twelve month publisher embargo

On the performance of platform-based international new ventures: The roles of non-market strategies and managerial competencies

The implications of non-market strategies have gained considerable attention in recent international business and strategy research. However, an in-depth understanding of these strategies and their underpinning mechanisms in platform-based international new ventures (INVs) remains underexplored. To close this gap, this study investigates the drivers and performance outcomes of non-market strategies embraced by internationalizing platform-based firms. We propose that non-market strategies mediate the relationship between managerial competencies and international performance. We also theorize that perceived domestic institutional voids (PDIVs) would have a full strengthening effect on the proposed model. We tested our conceptualization using a unique sample comprising 181 platform-based INVs whose headquarters are based in an institutionally precarious sub-Saharan African country-Ghana. While the results confirm most of our predictions, counterintuitively, our analysis provides no support for the moderating effect of PDIVs on the relationship between non-market strategies and international performance. Together, these findings offer important theoretical and practical implications for the IB and strategy research, especially for platform-based INVs

Operational Effectiveness in Post-Pandemic Times: Examining the Roles of Digital Technologies, Talent Management, and Employee Engagement in Manufacturing SMEs

This study investigates to what extent the use of digital technologies affects operational effectiveness of emerging market manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) via talent management and employee engagement in pandemic time. It also examines whether these SMEs’ strategic decision-making speed strengthens the impact of use of digital technologies of ISAs on talent management. Based on human resource and operations management literature, the conceptual model is developed and the mediation and moderation effects are empirically tested between use of digital technologies, talent management, employee engagement, operational effectiveness and strategic decision-making speed. The model is tested using a sample of manufacturing SMEs operating in Pakistan. The findings suggest that talent management mediates the relationship between the use of digital technologies and employee engagement, thereby leading to operational effectiveness. We also found that strategic decision-making speed moderates the relationship between use of digital technologies and talent management.© 2022 Taylor & Francis. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Production Planning & Control on 23 Nov 2022, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09537287.2022.2147863fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Vertical Alliances and Innovation: A Systematic Review of the Literature and a Future Research Agenda

For this paper, we conducted a systematic review of 116 articles on vertical alliances and innovation published in 35 leading journals between 2000 and 2021, and provide an integrative and in-depth evaluation of the current state of the vertical alliances and innovation literature. Through such review, this article makes three key contributions to the extant literature. First, it provides an integrative overview of vertical alliances and innovation. Second, it maps the depth and scope of the study of vertical alliances and innovation by highlighting the research methods, geographical coverage, industries, and theoretical perspectives deployed by the extant scholarship. Third, it develops a multi-level framework of the vertical alliances and innovation relationship, and discusses the findings based on research linkages between antecedents, mediators, outcomes, and moderators. This framework led us to identify key research gaps and to highlight additional theoretical approaches that may shed light on this important topic, given the growing importance of technological advancement and networks for innovation.© 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed