A multilevel perspective to the study of export venture performance

Purpose: We present several opportunities that can emerge from using a multilevel approach to study the antecedents of export venture performance, and provide scholars with the conceptual and practical tools for developing multilevel models of export venture success. Design/methodology/approach: Essay. Findings: The paper shows the problems which scholars face if they continue to engage in using single venture data to test models that are inherently multilevel in nature. Research limitations/implications: There may be a need to revisit previous works that utilize samples of single ventures to assess models of export venture performance that are implicitly multilevel. Practical implications: The paper outlines the practical issues that researchers need to consider when conducting multilevel research in the export venture performance field. Originality/value: The paper is the first to focus on the multilevel nature of the export venture performance construct

The form of relationship between firm-level product innovativeness and new product performance in developed and emerging markets

This study investigates whether the relationship between firm-level product innovativeness and new product performance is curvilinear, and whether the nature of this relationship is dependent on organizational and environmental factors in both developed and emerging market contexts. Using primary data from 319 UK and 221 Ghanaian companies, this study shows that in both developed and emerging markets the basic form of the relationship between firm-level product innovativeness and business success is inverted U-shape, but that the strength and/or form of this relationship changes under differing levels of market orientation, access to financial resources, and environmental dynamism. Some commonalities are identified across the two countries: market orientation helps firms leverage their product innovativeness. However, differences are also observed across the samples: in Ghana, access to financial resources enhances the relationship between product innovativeness and new product performance, unlike in the UK, where access to financial resources has no significant impact on this relationship. Furthermore, while UK firms are able to leverage product innovativeness to their advantage in more dynamic environments, Ghanaian firms are not able to benefit in this way, and find that high levels of innovation activity are less useful when markets are more dynamic

Dynamic product proliferation and firm performance implications

Product proliferation is a product strategy whereby a firm increases the number of products it offers to attract and satisfy diverse customer needs, to create barriers to entry, disperse risk, and develop economies of scope. Despite the importance of product proliferation decisions for firm performance, and significant extant research, the performance consequences of product proliferation activities are unclear, with equivocal results emerging in the literature. Adopting a dynamic approach, we specify the conceptual domain of product proliferation and explore different facets (within-niche, new-niche) of product proliferation. In doing so, this research aims to develop a better understanding of the benefits and/or drawbacks of product proliferation activity and develop a model that explicitly considers nonlinear relationships and articulates the impact of potential moderators. The moderators explored include:scopification (a variable that captures how product expansion occurs), which can create managerial complexities, and potentially erode performance outcomes of product proliferation; R&D expenditure (a proxy for firm R&D effort), which could support the development of both new technology (exploration) and better application of the existing technologies (exploitation) and, thus, enhance product proliferation performance outcomes; marketing expenditure (a proxy for marketing efforts), which could support product promotion and increase the performance outcomes of proliferation efforts; product cannibalisation, where sales and market share outcomes are eroded due to the lack of difference between the new and existing products; and intensity of competition (the level of competition in a market), which requires different market research costs and the costs of market research in a low competition market might be lower, and thus enhances the outcomes of proliferation. This research aims to make an academic contribution by describing two key facets of dynamic product proliferation, explaining how these may shape performance, and exploring the potential moderators that determine the performance consequences of product proliferation strategies. As a result, the study will also make a managerial contribution by providing information that managers can feed into the design of product portfolios, that can shape organisational innovation policy, and that can help managers allocate business resources more effectively

An evaluation of nonprofit brand image: towards a better conceptualization and measurement

Nonprofit brand image plays an important role in shaping consumers’ charitable donations and therefore nonprofit organizations must be aware of how consumers perceive them. This research examines nonprofit brand image and reports findings from three empirical studies, which aim to offer a better conceptualization and measurement of the concept. Study 1 investigates the psychometric properties of the Michel and Rieunier’s (2012) nonprofit brand image scales with a sample from the UK, and reports key methodological limitations. Specifically, discriminant and convergent validity tests highlight the need for further research into the dimensionality of the nonprofit brand image measures. Subsequently, studies 2 and 3 offer an improved conceptualization and measurement of nonprofit brand image and validate the scales via the use of 2 separate data sets. The new measures consists of 6 dimensions namely, usefulness, efficiency, affect, dynamism, reliability and ethicality which are significantly related to intentions to donate money and time

Material and efficient cause interpretations of the formative model: resolving misunderstandings and clarifying conceptual language

This paper presents a causal explanation of formative variables that unpacks and clarifies the generally accepted idea that formative indicators are ‘causes’ of the focal formative variable. In doing this, we explore the recent paper by Diamantopoulos and Temme (AMS Review, 3(3), 160-171, 2013) and show that the latter misunderstand the stance of Lee, Cadogan, and Chamberlain (AMS Review, 3(1), 3-17, 2013; see also Cadogan, Lee, and Chamberlain, AMS Review, 3(1), 38-49, 2013). By drawing on the multiple ways that one can interpret the idea of causality within the MIMIC model, we then demonstrate how the continued defense of the MIMIC model as a tool to validate formative indicators and to identify formative variables in structural models is misguided. We also present unambiguous recommendations on how formative variables can be modelled in lieu of the formative MIMIC model

Should charity begin at home? An empirical investigation of consumers’ responses to companies’ varying geographic allocations of donation budgets

In our globalized and interconnected world, companies are increasingly donating substantial amounts to good causes around the globe. Many companies choose to donate “at home” while others give to causes in faraway places where recipients are in dire need of support. Interestingly, past research on corporate donations has neglected the question of whether consumers differentially reward companies for geographically varying allocations of donation budgets. Through a mixed methods approach, this paper remedies this gap by developing and empirically testing a conceptual framework of consumers’ preferences for geographically varying allocations of corporate donation budgets. In a first step, two preliminary field studies (N 1 = 76; N 2 = 80) involving real donations explored customers’ preferences for donation allocations varying in geographical focus. A qualitative focus group study then investigated underlying rationales to inform the research and led to the development of hypotheses. Subsequently a large-scale between-subjects scenario experiment (N = 5770) tested the predictions. Overall, results indicate that, in contrast with current managerial practice, customers prefer companies that split donations equally between domestic and foreign recipients or even donate only abroad

Export strategic orientation–performance relationship: Examination of its enabling and disenabling boundary conditions

This study finds that the form of relationship between export strategies – entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and export market orientation (MO) – and export sales performance is curvilinear and dependent on levels of intra-firm resource coordination capabilities. Findings from primary data drawn from new international ventures reveal that increased changes in combined EO and MO strategies lead to decreases in export sales performance. Results further indicate that when levels of resource coordination flexibility and MO are higher the effect of EO on performance is strengthened. However, when levels of MO increase in magnitude along with higher levels of resource coordination flexibility, the levels of sales performance decrease. A natural conclusion to draw is that new international ventures that develop their MO resources and align these with their intra-firm resource coordination competencies will fully realize the export sales benefits of their EO activities

Ethno-national ties and international business opportunity exploitation: The role of environmental factors

This paper examines the effect of ethnic populations on international opportunity exploitation at a societal, or national, level. Past research shows a relationship between ethnic ties and international opportunity at an individual level; however, little is known about the role of ethnic ties and international opportunity at a national level, which is called ‘ethno-national ties’ in this study. In order to acquire in-depth knowledge of this subject, we studied a population of Chinese who are living outside their home country and applied contingency theory principles to investigate environmental boundary conditions that affect this population. Data collected from Chinese exporters indicate an overall positive effect of ethno-national ties on international opportunity exploitation—an effect that is influenced by three moderating variables: technological turbulence, psychic distance, and export barriers. Technological turbulence and export barriers weaken the effect of ethno-national ties on international opportunity exploitation while psychic distance enhances the effect

The empirical link between export dispersion and export performance: A contingency-based approach

Practitioners and scholars point out that firms are increasingly dispersing their capabilities across organizational functions. However, it is not clear whether all forms of dispersion, of any function, result in the same consequences. This study initiates investigation into the link between the cross-functional dispersion of influence on export marketing decisions (export dispersion) and export performance. Drawing on data from a sample of 225 UK exporters, the findings support the argument that active participation of non-export functions in export-marketing decisions affects export success. However, those performance consequences are dependent on internal and external contingencies. Export dispersion is beneficial for export performance when the export customer environment is more turbulent and, simultaneously, the export technological environment is more stable and the firm has lower levels of export information sharing. In all other scenarios examined in this study, greater levels of concentration of export decision-making (i.e. lower levels of export dispersion) appear to be more beneficial for export performance. Our findings imply that the management of the firm's level of export dispersion is a complex task, whereby the degree of export dispersion pursued needs to match external environmental and internal firm factors

Should export marketing be cross-functional? An investigation of the interface between export and non-export organizational functions

Should export marketing be cross-functional? An investigation of the interface between export and non-export organizational function