Dynamic improvisation capabilities as a learning mechanism in early internationalizing firms

Our study addresses an inconsistency in the literature on whether a lack of knowledge in early internationalizing firms is an obstacle or an advantage. We integrate learning, capabilities, and improvisation literature to reveal how case firms from New Zealand and Finland internationalize early under uncertainty and time pressure. We develop a process model and propositions to show how firms develop improvisation capabilities and subsequently rapidly acquire the international business knowledge that can explain early internationalization. Improvisation and the associated rapid learning complement the learning advantage of newness with an alternative explanation for early internationalization.© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

The role of marketing in new ventures: How marketing activities should be organized in firms’ infancy

Although marketing activities are vital for new ventures (NVs) to ensure growth and survival, previous research is silent on how to organize them in firms’ infancy. The entrepreneurship literature focuses on which marketing activities to perform in NVs but not on how to organize these activities, whereas the marketing literature concentrates on how to organize marketing activities in established firms but not in NVs, which face specific opportunities and challenges in their early stage of development. This article aims to tackle this research gap by examining marketing’s role within NVs’ organization. Drawing on in-depth interviews with managers, we identify two key organizational dimensions: marketing’s dispersion (related to the proliferation and, thus, wide anchoring of marketing responsibilities) and marketing’s structuration (related to the manifestation and, thus, deep anchoring of marketing responsibilities). Through a field survey and archival data, we show that marketing’s dispersion enhances NV profitability, while marketing’s structuration decreases it, and that with increasing marketing influence (i.e., power of marketing actors) in NVs and NV maturity (i.e., age and size), this diametrical pattern of effects becomes less pronounced. Overall, the findings provide novel theoretical and practical insights into the organizational design of marketing in firms’ infancy.© The Author(s) 2023. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Digitalization and Early Internationalization- Systematic Literature Review Analyses

Substantial anecdotal evidence has been garnered to make it uncontentious to concede to studies that stress on the influence of digital technology on early internationalization of firms. Having an interest to study how studies on this phenomenon has progressed overtime. The present paper systematically evaluates internationalization literature in which issues of digitalization feature as a component underlying the causes, processes, and outcomes of early internationalization. This enables us to outline the development of major research areas in terms of themes, theoretical and methodological approaches. We contribute by proposing several future research directions

Entrepreneurs’ Social Ties and International Digital Entrepreneurial Marketing in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Internationalization

Digitalization has enabled entrepreneurs to adopt digital tools to create opportunities and reach customers in international markets. Yet, the understanding of international digital entrepreneurial marketing in the global marketplace is limited. Drawing on social network theory, the authors investigate how entrepreneurs’ social ties and firms’ international digital entrepreneurial marketing influence small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) internationalization. Based on multiple case study methodology, the results suggest that entrepreneurs’ bonding and bridging ties facilitate different dimensions of international digital entrepreneurial marketing. That further enhances the intensity and geographic scope of SME internationalization. SME internationalization also reinforces entrepreneurs’ accumulation of social ties. This study contributes to international marketing research by developing the dimensions of the international digital entrepreneurial marketing concept and exploring its important role in SME internationalization.© The Author(s) 2023. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Developing brand identities for international new ventures under uncertainty : Decision-making logics and psychic distance

While many models describe efforts to build brand identity, none specifies the brand identity development for small firms facing uncertainty, such as rapidly internationalizing international new ventures. By examining four such case firms informed by interviews and archival data spanning five years, this study identifies three brand identity development states: unbranded, sporadically branded, and focused branded international new ventures. Brand values, brand personality, and brand relationships are critical brand identity dimensions that manifest in the three states. A related model and propositions help explicate how uncertainty owing to psychic distance moderates the impact of decision-making logics on brand identity development. We show how the role of decision-making logic affects the prominence given to different dimensions of brand identity in the developmental states. Moreover, we reveal the associated change and state mechanism allowing for the rapid advancement of brand identity states in international new ventures.© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).We acknowledge the financial support received from the Foundation for Economic Education, Yksityisyrittäjäin Säätiö (Private Entrepreneurs’ Foundation), and Business Finland.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

How classical and entrepreneurial brand management increases the performance of internationalising SMEs?

Research is limited on how accumulated international experience and decision-making style propel internationalising SMEs toward brand orientation. Our study builds a model of the process on classical and entrepreneurial brand management principles plus the firm's applied experience and decision-making logics. An online survey of 235 internationalising SMEs found that adopted decision-making logic mediated the relationship between cumulative international experience and international brand orientation. We conclude that managers and planners must select the most appropriate approach to international brand management permitted by available international firm-specific experience if they are to achieve strong international brand orientation and superior financial performance.© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Liminality and developmental process of learning advantage of newness of early internationalizing firms

Extant internationalization studies have devoted limited attention to the dynamics of the learning advantage of newness (LAN), which we, in response, investigate through the process approach and the novel lens of the concept of liminality. We conduct a longitudinal multiple-case study of five Finnish internationalizing firms. We inductively derive a process model that shows how the underlying liminal factors, such as international opportunity scaffolding activities, learning from communitas, and rituals, contribute to the development of learning advantage of newness. Originating in anthropology, the liminality perspective offers a novel perspective on LAN of early internationalizing firms. We also provide directions for future research and recommendations for practitioners.© 2023 The Author(s). 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

Візуально-комунікативні характеристики особистісно-професійного іміджу вчителя

У статті представлено візуально-комунікативні характеристики особистісно-професійного іміджу вчителя. Розкрито сутність понять: "візуальна привабливість", "комунікативна привабливість". Охарактеризовано складники візуальної привабливості вчителя. Наведено вимоги до одягу як важливого елемента зовнішнього вигляду вчителя. Комунікативну привабливість педагога розкрито в контексті педагогічного спілкування та засобів його реалізації. Показано роль комунікабельності та комунікативності як рис, що забезпечують ефективність професійно-педагогічної комунікації. Комунікативний імідж учителя визначено як комплекс візуально-комунікативних характеристик та професійно-педагогічних якостей

Remember Gerhard Richter in the Thunderstorm of Beethoven: The Influence of Cross-Sensory Coupling on Memory, Intercultural Communication, and the Verbalization of Paintings and Sounds

This interdisciplinary study focuses on the perception and verbalization of messages conveyed through instrumental music, soundscapes, and contemporary paintings. International young-adult university students learning German participated in a series of experiments conducted at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany. To incorporate globalization and cultural difference into this analysis, the author compared the reactions of Western and Asian participants to auditory and visual stimuli. This paper explores the concepts of mixed media, cross-sensory coupling, and esthetic synesthesia, and throws new light on the contribution of cross-sensory coupling to verbalization and to long-term memory processes, from encoding to retrieval. In addition, the author demonstrates how intercultural communication is based upon universal emotions aroused by contemporary paintings, instrumental music and soundscapes

Sustainable international business model innovations for a globalizing circular economy : a review and synthesis, integrative framework, and opportunities for future research

The global imperative has increased in recent years for international firms to respond to major threats such as unintended environmental, social, and economic problems arising from ecological destruction, population growth, and economic activity. To respond to this confluence that has created an emerging existential crisis, we identify that a globalizing circular economy (CE) is required and subsequently define a new construct: sustainable international business model innovations. In doing so, we introduce circular inputs, sharing platforms, product as a service, product use extension, and resource recovery as business models that contain the potential to reply to these grand challenges. Based on CE principles, the innovations and designs introduced are contrasted with the traditional linear economic model and are presented as actionable standardization/adaptation alternatives for companies responding to differing informal and formal international institutions. Based on the theoretical underpinnings of the resource-based, dynamic capabilities, and international business model innovation perspectives, we introduce an integrative framework that is accompanied by a series of detailed research questions to provide future research opportunities for the domain. This conceptual approach holds that international resource design influences marketing capabilities adaptation which, in turn, impacts international performance and offers a foundation from which to build the literature.© The Author(s) 2023. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed