Actor legitimation in emerging markets:a network-embedded process

Abstract This study examines the legitimation of actors in international networks of emerging markets. Based on a network view of markets and literature on organizational legitimacy, we conceptualize actor legitimation as a process intertwined with the dynamics of international networks. We then draw on analyses of 78 legitimation episodes from interviews with actors involved in peacebuilding in Myanmar/Burma. We contribute to literature by defining the sources and targets of legitimation and by determining the related immediate network dynamics. Moreover, we depict actor legitimation processes regarding their network embeddedness in terms of salience, temporality, and longer term network architecture

Concealing paradoxes in decision-making during hospital hybridization:a systems theoretical analysis

Abstract Purpose: While previous health-care-related hybridity research has focused on macro- and micro-level investigations, this paper aims to study hybridization at the organizational level, with a specific focus on decision-making. The authors investigate how new politico-economic expectations toward a university hospital as a hybrid organization become internalized via organizational decision-making, resulting in the establishment of a new business collaboration and innovation-oriented unit. Design/methodology/approach: The authors employed a social systems theoretical framework to explore organizational decision-making processes involved in the establishment of the new hybrid hospital unit. Drawing on 15 interviews and nine organizational documents, the authors describe and analyze three decision-making cycles using the concepts of complexity, decision and justification. Findings: The findings reveal the challenging nature of decision-making during hybridization, as decisions regarding unprecedented organizational structures and activities cannot be justified by traditional decision premises. The authors show that decision-makers use a combination of novel justification strategies, namely, justification by problems, by examples and by obligations, to legitimize decisions oriented at non-traditional activities. Further, the analysis reveals how expectations of several societal systems, i.e. health care, education, science, law, economy and politics, are considered in decision-making taking place in hybrid organizations. Originality/value: The study draws attention to the complexity of decision-making in a hybrid context and highlights the role of justification strategies in partially reducing complexity by concealing the paradoxical nature of decision-making and ensuring the credibility of resulting decisions. Also, the study presents a move beyond the dualism inherent in many previous hybridity studies by illustrating the involvement of several societal systems in hybridization

Opportunity beliefs in internationalization:a microhistorical approach

Abstract We propose the concept of opportunity belief as a means of understanding individuals as the interpreters of their contexts over the internationalization process of a firm. To illustrate the concept, we conducted a microhistorical analysis on one of the largest forest industry MNEs with an internationalization history of more than 150 years. Historical archival data and rich secondary material provided access to the reasonings of individuals over the firm’s internationalization. This allowed depiction of different types of opportunity beliefs as the drivers of internationalization actions within particular historical contexts. We portray opportunity belief as a complementary lens to current internationalization models focusing primarily on firm-level development

Institutional innovation in university-based experimental spaces:the case of Oulu Game Lab

Abstract This article explores preconditions and developmental dynamics of institutional innovation in higher education organizations as an outcome of a collaborative educational initiative — a university-based experimental space. Such collaborative learning configurations are often designed to stimulate local economic development after a downturn in regional industrial landscapes. The experimental space studied here had a twofold mission: providing re-skilling and re-education opportunities for unemployed ICT professionals and equipping them with business and employment bonds with regional game industry companies. To imbue a static outcome of institutional innovation with dynamic features, and to further develop the concept of Triple Helix spaces, we incorporated three sequential forms of institutional work in our analysis: boundary work, distancing work, and anchoring work

International entrepreneurship beyond individuals and firms:on the systemic nature of international opportunities

Abstract The present study approaches opportunities in international entrepreneurship from a systemic perspective. Based on research on the collectiveness of opportunities in international entrepreneurship and the concepts of activity and object from activity theory, we develop a systemic conceptualization of opportunity-oriented international entrepreneurship. Through an empirical study in Finland and Israel, we depict six collective opportunity beliefs, considered from the viewpoints of society, international venture, and outcome expectations. Furthermore, we induce three modalities for international opportunity as the object of collective activity and model systemic opportunity shaping as the core activity of international entrepreneurship

The concept of international opportunity in international entrepreneurship:a review and a research agenda

Abstract Recent research in the field of international entrepreneurship (IE) has emphasized the concept of international opportunity. The entrepreneurial behaviors focused on international opportunities have been found to be critical in IE. International opportunities, however, are often depicted in rather abstract and unspecified ways, and the research suffers from narrow theoretical discussion in relation to the concept of opportunity. To address these issues, the authors draw from entrepreneurship research and present alternative conceptualizations of opportunities as a basis for more in-depth study of international opportunities in IE. To further articulate a future research agenda, the authors review the state of knowledge on opportunities in the IE field by content-analyzing articles published between 1989 and 2012. All the analyzed articles incorporate the concept of opportunity into their studies. It is found that, although the IE research has investigated many relevant elements, it is rather limited in the articulation of the conceptual features of international opportunities and opportunity-focused behaviors. Building on these observations, the authors propose a definition of international opportunity and research questions and strategies to advance IE research on international opportunities

Living with transformations of international opportunities:drivers of business model change in global value chains

Abstract This study addresses the question of how organizations, as parts of global value chains, may respond to, and in some situations initiate, transformations of international opportunities and how that is related to the business model change. It examines the forms of international opportunities and argues that different sources of transformation affect the viability of these opportunities, thereby driving the ways in which organizations live with these transformations. These, in turn, connect to the changes in the firms’ business models through 1) transformation intensifying, 2) transformation utilizing, 3) shifting, and 4) exit activities. It suggests that patterns can be detected regarding the alignment of the present manifestation of the international opportunity, the transformation type that influences it, and the ways in which these situations are met. The chapter develops a framework that advances understanding the connectedness of opportunities, business models, and global value chains in the era of discontinuities

Resolving the start-up identity crisis:strategizing in a network context

Abstract The objective of the present study is to examine the strategizing of start-ups in a network context. The paper depicts start-up strategizing as an intertwined activity of identification and boundary-drawing. The questions of network identity and network boundaries become salient in times of disengagement by a primary customer or when there is a need for significant redirection of the business during what is referred to as a network identity crisis. The study emphasizes the viewpoint of an entrepreneur as strategist and builds on the concept of network identity to stress the socially structured individual cognition of who the organization is in light of its network connections. We study strategizing in four start-ups with different identity crises. By applying a grounded theory approach and Gioia methodology, the paper models the dynamics of restart strategizing in terms of its internal and external triggers and the choices when managing three identity-related contradictions. Furthermore, we characterize four alternative restart strategies connected to the identities and boundaries perceived by the entrepreneurs. By embracing the way start-up’s identity and its strategy evolve interdependently in relation to the network dynamics, the model contributes to our understanding of those strategizing activities whereby restart can occur

Strategic practices of subsidiary positioning in business networks

Abstract Purpose: The present study examines subsidiary positioning within the dynamic business networks in the context of multinational companies (MNCs). The research question of the study is: How does the positioning of a subsidiary emerge through strategic practices in the dynamic business networks of an MNC? Design/methodology/approach: The study relies on the IMP view on strategy with a focus on market positioning activity and the strategy-as-practice approach. Positioning is seen as a question of strategic practices in the interactive spheres of the subsidiaries. In the empirical part of the study, we examine the practices of a forest machine industry multinational through longitudinal interview and archival data on three of its sales subsidiaries in Sweden, Russia, and the USA. Findings: The study defines core tensions in subsidiary interactive spheres and the related strategic practices that shape the positioning of the subsidiaries. The study models the practice-based network positioning of MNC subsidiaries as a dynamic play of relationship tensions. Originality/value: Prior research has focused either on the internal organizing of the MNCs or embeddedness of subsidiaries in their local environment. Less attention has been paid to the practices of positioning through which the subsidiaries deal with the inevitable tensions at the intersection of the internal and external networks

One family firm, four families:developing management models of a family values-based MNC

Abstract The present study approaches the internationalisation of family MNCs through the concept of a management model to examine the enactment of family values in the practice of MNC units. The study relies on the MNCs-as-network-organisations perspective, according to which an MNC is a complex web of interdependent relationships with subsidiaries embedded in their own local networks and individuals operating within them. The management model draws attention to choices about how work gets done at the firm level. We adopt a micro-level approach in an attempt to define the practices that carry the values from the historical development path of a family firm to the management models of its subsidiaries. The empirical part of the study presents an examination of a family-owned multinational and three of its subsidiaries in Sweden, Russia and the USA. The findings illustrate the family values of the MNC as a nexus that guides the operations and sets the direction of the firm in the long term, but they take different manifestations in the management models of the subsidiaries