Spinoff's Early Alliance Portfolio Development: A Longitudinal Study in an Alliance-Intensive Industry

Due to high costs and high failure rates of mining projects, companies frequently enter strategic alliances to share risks and pool resources. This need is even more pronounced for new firms due to liabilities of newness and smallness. This thesis is a step toward extending our understanding of the alliance portfolio emergence in newly founded firms. I have studied the parental imprinting influence on the antecedents, dynamics and outcomes of alliance network growth in young spinoff firms. I have conducted longitudinal analysis using a panel data of 10 years by a synthesis of multiple datasets

A robust optimization approach for index tracking problem

Index tracking is an investment approach where the primary objective is to keep portfolio return as close as possible to a target index without purchasing all index components. The main purpose is to minimize the tracking error between the returns of the selected portfolio and a benchmark. In this paper, quadratic as well as linear models are presented for minimizing the tracking error. The uncertainty is considered in the input data using a tractable robust framework that controls the level of conservatism while maintaining linearity. The linearity of the proposed robust optimization models allows a simple implementation of an ordinary optimization software package to find the optimal robust solution. The proposed model of this paper employs Morgan Stanley Capital International Index as the target index and the results are reported for six national indices including Japan, the USA, the UK, Germany, Switzerland and France. The performance of the proposed models is evaluated using several financial criteria e.g. information ratio, market ratio, Sharpe ratio and Treynor ratio. The preliminary results demonstrate that the proposed model lowers the amount of tracking error while raising values of portfolio performance measures

Natural imprinting and vertical integration in the extractive industries

Transaction Cost Economics and the Resource-Based View are two traditional lenses to explain vertical integration decisions. However, these lenses face limitations in considering the persistence of such decisions over time. Drawing on imprinting theory, this chapter provides a theoretical link between the initial natural resource characteristics surrounding a firm’s birth and its choice and persistence of vertical integration. The main argument is that initial natural resource conditions have an imprinting effect on the vertical integration decisions made by firms in the extractive industries. A process through which imprinting happens is explained. We discuss several propositions concerning the kind of influence different initial natural resource characteristics have on firm decisions. Our main contribution is presenting a natural imprinting view that can explain the enduring effect of natural environment characteristics on firms’ ownership structures in the extractive industries

Development of Entrepreneurial Skills in Adolescence and Impact on Economic Transformation: A Systematic Review

With an increased emphasis on entrepreneurial thinking and acting in today's careers, we have witnessed a growing body of research on entrepreneurship education over the last two decades. However, most studies have focused on mature age groups and paid less attention to the early stages of youth and adolescence. The present study systematically reviews the literature on the theoretical foundations, measurement, antecedents, and outcomes of the Development of Entrepreneurial Skills in Adolescence while addressing three core questions. Specifically, this review aims to address the following research questions: 1. What are entrepreneurial mindsets and enterprising behaviours? How and when are they formed during an individual's lifespan? What are their potential impacts on an individual's work and social life, as well as the potential effects on labour market outcomes and social behaviours, especially in developing countries and rural contexts? 2. Can entrepreneurship education programs, especially in developing countries and rural contexts, help foster enterprising behaviours and entrepreneurial alertness in adolescents? If so, why, how, and to what extent? 3. Does entrepreneurship education have the same impact on female and male adolescents in developing perceptions of entrepreneurial competencies and intentions? If not, what are the differences? Based on the review, we develop an agenda for future research, and highlight implications for entrepreneurship education and training. Overall, the reviewed studies suggest that entrepreneurship education programs can effectively develop non-cognitive entrepreneurial skills at an early age, supporting the idea that such skills can be nurtured and cultivated among young students in both underdeveloped and developed contexts. The review identifies the need to: a) Conduct more research utilising a stronger emphasis on relevant theories in entrepreneurship. b) Conduct more research using more rigorous research designs and considerations of causality through experimental studies, especially in rural settings. c) Conduct more research on gender-specific effects of entrepreneurship programs in the respective sociocultural local contexts. d) Have entrepreneurship education program designers and executives pay attention to contextual factors. e) Integrate and investigate the impact of recent topics in entrepreneurship literature, such as digitalisation and new technologies, on entrepreneurship programs designed for early ages and adolescents

Natural imprinting and vertical integration in the extractive industries

Transaction Cost Economics and the Resource-Based View are two traditional lenses to explain vertical integration decisions. However, these lenses face limitations in considering the persistence of such decisions over time. Drawing on imprinting theory, this chapter provides a theoretical link between the initial natural resource characteristics surrounding a firm’s birth and its choice and persistence of vertical integration. The main argument is that initial natural resource conditions have an imprinting effect on the vertical integration decisions made by firms in the extractive industries. A process through which imprinting happens is explained. We discuss several propositions concerning the kind of influence different initial natural resource characteristics have on firm decisions. Our main contribution is presenting a natural imprinting view that can explain the enduring effect of natural environment characteristics on firms’ ownership structures in the extractive industries

Meet the parents: an empirical study of spin-off network development

Entrepreneurship scholars have actively studied issues pertaining to new venture network development. In this study, we revisit the empirical relationship between new venture’s initial alliance at time of founding and its subsequent network growth by conducting a quasi-replication of Milanov and Fernhaber (2009). Further, we extend their research to the parent-offspring context by investigating the imprinting role of parents in spin-off firms’ subsequent network growth. Focusing on a different industry and time period, we use a panel of 481 new firms from 2002 to 2011 in the Australian mining industry. Our replication analysis indicate that the findings of original study may not be generalisable to a different sample and setting. However, we find support for the positive influence of parent’s network centrality on the succeeding network growth of spin-off firms. We highlight the importance of considering the whole network of interorganizational relationships when studying the interplay between focal firm and its direct ties. We propose theoretical and empirical reasons for our results and suggest several approaches for future research

Parental network imprinting in spinoffs: Understanding the underlying mechanisms

Parent’s higher network characteristics have been shown to have a positive imprinting effect on spinoff network growth. However, we do not know much about the underlying mechanisms of the parental network imprinting dynamics. Prior literature has often tested imprinting hypotheses as a black box. In order to open this black box, we tested two competing theoretical explanations against each other; namely organizational learning versus social categorization. We explored a multiple mediation model where spinoff absorptive capacity and network status mediate the relationship between parent network centrality and spinoff network growth. Further, we examined boundary condition of these relationships by investigating the moderating role of knowledge relatedness between parent firm and spinoff. Secondary data from 237 spinoffs in the Australian mining industry over a ten-year period is used for analysis. Our findings suggest that spinoff network status and spinoff’s absorptive capacity mediate the relationship between parental network centrality and spinoff network growth. We also find significant results for the moderated mediation effect of market knowledge relatedness on the obtained significant mediated effect through spinoff network status. Our study extends our understanding of network imprinting dynamics and provides valuable insights for parental influence on spinoff firms’ organizational outcomes

Imprinting effect of initial networks on subsequent network status: A replication and extension study

This article replicates and extends Milanov and Shepherd’s ground- breaking study (Strategic Management Journal, 2013, 34, 727-750) of a positive imprinting relationship between a newcomer’s first partners’ reputation and its future network status over and beyond the current affiliations. Their analysis also showed this effect to be stronger for the newcomers whose initial partners formed a more cohesive network. This is while the predominant view to network emergence in the prior literature focuses on path-dependent mechanisms with immediately preceding network structures contributing to current network positions. The present study utilizes longitudinal data of 257 new mining firms (consisting of 118 de novo and 139 spinoff firms) to test such long-term imprinting effects in a different industry and with a novel focus on the parent-spinoff context. Using Milanov and Shepherd’s model specifications, our results partially parallel theirs: we find a positive effect of the new firm’s first partners’ reputation in both our samples but no significant moderating effect of past cohesion. Moreover, extending Milanov and Shepherd’s study, we find a positive effect of new spinoff firm’s parent’s reputation on its future status. This supports and extends the prior claims about the importance of founding conditions on new firm’s subsequent organizational outcomes beyond the intermediate network conditions.