Business Strategy Types and Innovative Practices

This study empirically examines how a firm\u27s strategic orientation imparts its management of innovative activities. Drawing on the strategic management and innovation literatures, we develop and empirically test hypotheses arguing that a firm\u27s strategic orientation will impact its perception of barriers to innovation, its sources of ideas for innovation, and its targets for innovation. The data, from over 244 firms, generally support the hypotheses. The study\u27s findings suggest that a firm\u27s strategic management and its management of innovation are highly integrated

Are You an Innovator or Adaptor? The Impact of Cognitive Propensity on Venture Expectations and Outcomes

In this study we confirm the often assumed but largely untested belief that entrepreneurs think and behave differently than others. We examine a group of more than 700 nascent entrepreneurs and 400 nonentrepreneurs. We determine the entrepreneurs’ cognitive style propensity for problem solving (Innovator versus Adaptor); we compare their expectations; and, we examine the outcomes (performance and start-up) of their ventures. We find that nascent entrepreneurs are more likely to be overly optimistic Innovators, most people are Adaptors, and one’s cognitive style can indeed play a role in the initial development and outcome for the venture, but not always as expected

Attitudes toward Corporate Responsibilities in Western Europe and in Central And East Europe

This study investigated the attitudes toward social, economic, and environmental corporate responsibilities of 3064 current managers and business students in 8 European countries. Participants in Western European countries had significantly different perspectives on the importance of these corporate responsibilities (CR) than those in Central and East European countries. Within each country, environmental CR is perceived as most important in both CEE and Western European countries. Across countries, Western European respondents accord more importance to social CR and less importance to economic CR. CEE countries are not homogenous, e.g., CR attitudes in the Czech Republic are closer to that of Western Europeans, possibly triggered by the accession to EU. Work experience (managers vs. business students) influences social and environmental orientations more than the economic orientation for only some countries. Generational differences were found as well: Business students attribute more importance to environmental CR and less importance to social CR than managers

Ethical preferences for influencing superiors: A 41-society study

With a 41-society sample of 9990 managers and professionals, we used hierarchical linear modeling to investigate the impact of both macro-level and micro-level predictors on subordinate influence ethics. While we found that both macro-level and micro-level predictors contributed to the model definition, we also found global agreement for a subordinate influence ethics hierarchy. Thus our findings provide evidence that developing a global model of subordinate ethics is possible, and should be based upon multiple criteria and multilevel variables

Societal-level versus individual-level predictions of ethical behavior: a 48-society study of collectivism and individualism

Is the societal-level of analysis sufficient today to understand the values of those in the global workforce? Or are individual-level analyses more appropriate for assessing the influence of values on ethical behaviors across country workforces? Using multi-level analyses for a 48-society sample, we test the utility of both the societal-level and individual-level dimensions of collectivism and individualism values for predicting ethical behaviors of business professionals. Our values-based behavioral analysis indicates that values at the individual-level make a more significant contribution to explaining variance in ethical behaviors than do values at the societal-level. Implicitly, our findings question the soundness of using societal-level values measures. Implications for international business research are discussed

Differences in values, practices, and systems among Hungarian managers and Western expatriates: an organizing framework and typology

For managers of international alliances, the reconciliation of conflicting values, practices, and systems (VPSs) among partners is a critical challenge, which is magnified when partners originate from diverse institutional environments, such as transition and established market economies. Given the rapidly growing prevalence of international alliances in transition economies, differences in VPSs surface when managerial methods introduced by Western companies clash with institutionalized legacies of central planning. This paper examines this process in the context of international cooperative ventures (ICVs) between Hungarian and Western partners. Using data collected from 17 ICVs, and 44 local and expatriate managers during 1997-1999, I test a series of hypotheses and inductively develop a typology that identifies a number of important and often problematic partner differences in managerial VPSs. The study uses multiple theoretical lenses to show how VPSs are variously shaped by institutional, economic, and cultural factors, and provides useful insights into typical challenges faced by ICV managers. I conclude with a discussion of the typology's generalizability to other transition and emerging economies, its implications for theory and practice, and propose future research directions.

Hungarian-Western Partnerships: A Grounded Theoretical Model of Integration Processes and Outcomes

International cooperative ventures (ICVs) are known to be strongly influenced by the parent firms' values, practices, and systems (VPSs). However, less clear is whether and why VPSs actually adopted by an ICV are those of either parent singly, both parents jointly, or neither parent. This question is especially timely in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe, where cooperative activity with Western multinationals is growing rapidly, and where decades-old legacies of communism abound. In this exploratory study, we used a multiple case study methodology to examine 17 Hungarian-Western ICVs. Results show that a majority of the ICVs adopted the VPSs of the Western partner. We develop a theoretical model of integration process and outcomes, and suggest future research directions.© 2002 JIBS. Journal of International Business Studies (2002) 33, 423–455

Country institutional context, social networks, and new venture internationalization speed

Summary This paper examines the role of social networks in the internationalization processes of new ventures in contexts characterized by different levels of institutional development. A country's level of institutional development may have a direct effect on the composition of entrepreneurs' social networks (i.e., prevalence of strong versus weak ties). Furthermore, both strong and weak ties may have direct, positive effects on the speed of new venture internationalization, but the relative strength of these effects likely depends on a country's level of institutional development. Building on these arguments, we develop a theoretical model which specifies the rationale entrepreneurs use to draw on their social networks and drive internationalization; the model also enumerates institutional conditions in which different types of network ties tend to be most prominent and valuable.International entrepreneurship Social networks Internationalization speed Institutional context