Knowledge spillover, knowledge management capabilities, and innovation among returnee entrepreneurial firms in emerging markets: Does entrepreneurial ecosystem matter?

The paper brings an entrepreneurial ecosystem approach to examine the conditions under which returnee entrepreneurs can overcome their liabilities and promote innovation in emerging markets. The existing literature has focused on how returnee entrepreneurial firms can transit knowledge to local firms with the assumption that the former are more innovative than the latter. However, returnee entrepreneurial firms themselves experience difficulties in achieving superior innovation performance as they face liabilities when returning to their home countries. In this paper, we argue that such firms can take advantage of the knowledge spillover in the entrepreneurial ecosystem to promote innovation performance by enhancing their own knowledge management capability. The empirical evidence supports this proposition. Although we proposed that this relationship is likely contingent upon the attributes of entrepreneurial ecosystem, empirical evidence does not support it. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed

The oyster genome reveals stress adaptation and complexity of shell formation

The Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas belongs to one of the most species-rich but genomically poorly explored phyla, the Mollusca. Here we report the sequencing and assembly of the oyster genome using short reads and a fosmid-pooling strategy, along with transcriptomes of development and stress response and the proteome of the shell. The oyster genome is highly polymorphic and rich in repetitive sequences, with some transposable elements still actively shaping variation. Transcriptome studies reveal an extensive set of genes responding to environmental stress. The expansion of genes coding for heat shock protein 70 and inhibitors of apoptosis is probably central to the oyster's adaptation to sessile life in the highly stressful intertidal zone. Our analyses also show that shell formation in molluscs is more complex than currently understood and involves extensive participation of cells and their exosomes. The oyster genome sequence fills a void in our understanding of the Lophotrochozoa. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

A theoretical and empirical exploration of the adoption of employee empowerment practices: evidence from multinational subsidiaries in China

Theoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 185-193Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Why firms adopt empowerment practices and how such practices affect firm performance? A theoretical extension -- Chapter 3. A transaction cost analysis of the determinants and outcomes of empowerment practices: Evidence from multinational subsidiaries in China -- Chapter 4. Employee empowerment practices and knowledge transfer: The role of individual level mechanisms -- Chapter 5. What determines the adoption of employee empowerment practices by MNE subsidiaries in China? An institutional perspective.For many years, employee empowerment practices have been of major interest to both management scholars and practitioners. A large body of literature suggests that employee empowerment practices positively relate to organizational performance. However, insufficient is known about the factors that determine the adoption of empowerment practices by firms. Furthermore, most of the research on employee empowerment practices has been conducted in Western countries. To better understand this phenomenon, this thesis investigates the antecedents and outcomes of employee empowerment practices in MNE subsidiaries operating in China.Data were collected from MNE subsidiaries operating in China and analyses were based on three conceptual models. Drawing on transaction cost economics (TCE), the first model proposed that two employee - employer exchange characteristics, performance ambiguity and human asset specificity, independently and inter actively determine the degree of empowerment practices adopted by firms. It further examined the interactive effect of the employee - employer exchange characteristics and empowerment practices on organizational performance. Based on knowledge - based view (KB V) of the firm, the second model examined how employee empowerment practices influence knowledge transfer through individual level mechanisms with regard to employee perceived empowerment practices, psychological empowerment, knowledge sharing. Underpinned by institutional theory, the last model investigated how the informal institution and the subsidiaries' characteristics affect the degree of empowerment practices adopted in the MNE subsidiaries in China. Results revealed that all the three models were at least partially supported, suggesting each of the three models provided valuable insights to explain the adoption of employee empowerment practices.Overall, this thesis contributes to employee empowerment practices literature by shedding light on the underlying factors that influence the adoption of different degree of empowerment practices. This thesis goes beyond the current literature by initiating a new TCE perspective of employee empowerment practices and illuminating the economic nature of employee empowerment practices. It also extends our knowledge on the individual - level mechanism of how empowerment practices contribute to knowledge - based competitive advantage. Finally, it refines the understanding of contextual factors that specifically influenc e employ ee empowerment practices in MNE subsidiaries in China.1 online resource (vii, 197 pages