Related and unrelated industry variety and the internationalization of start-ups

We study the relationship between industry variety in a start-up's home location and the start-up's internationalization in terms of both the likelihood of and persistence in exporting. Using a unique sample of Swedish start-ups, we find that related industry variety is positively associated with exporting likelihood and persistence, whereas unrelated industry variety is positively associated with exporting likelihood and persistence when the start-ups’ employees possess technological knowledge. We also find that employees’ international experience strengthens the positive relationship between related industry variety and start-ups’ export persistence. We provide auxiliary evidence of the proposed mechanisms through which related and unrelated industry variety affects start-ups

Related and unrelated industry variety and the internationalization of start-ups

We study the relationship between industry variety in a start-up's home location and the start-up's internationalization in terms of both the likelihood of and persistence in exporting. Using a unique sample of Swedish start-ups, we find that related industry variety is positively associated with exporting likelihood and persistence, whereas unrelated industry variety is positively associated with exporting likelihood and persistence when the start-ups’ employees possess technological knowledge. We also find that employees’ international experience strengthens the positive relationship between related industry variety and start-ups’ export persistence. We provide auxiliary evidence of the proposed mechanisms through which related and unrelated industry variety affects start-ups’ internationalization—that is, through their effects on start-ups’ ability to launch novel products in foreign markets. The findings of our study provide policymakers preliminary evidence on th

The impact of digital start-up founders’ higher education on reaching equity investment milestones

This paper builds on human capital theory to assess the importance of formal education among graduate entrepreneurs. Using a sample of 4.953 digital start-ups the paper evaluates the impact of start-up founding teams’ higher education on the probability of securing equity investment and subsequent exit for investors. The main findings are: (1), teams with a founder that has a technical education are less likely to remain self-financed and are more likely to secure equity investment and to exit, but the impact of technical education declines with higher level degrees, (2) teams with a founder that has doctoral level business education are less likely to remain self-financed and have a higher probability of securing equity investment, while undergraduate and postgraduate business education have no significant effect, and (3) teams with a founder that has an undergraduate general education (arts and humanities) are less likely to remain self-financed and are more likely to secure equity investment and exit while postgraduate and doctoral general education have no significant effect on securing equity investment and exit. The findings enhance our understanding of factors that influence digital start-ups achieving equity milestones by showing the heterogeneous influence of different types of higher education, and therefore human capital, on new ventures achieving equity milestones. The results suggest that researchers and policy-makers should extend their consideration of universities entrepreneurial activity to include the development of human capital

Geographic Diversification and the Survival of Born-Globals

The staged internationalization model posits that firms internationalize incrementally over time. However, born-globals are less likely to follow a more gradual model of staged internationalization, and they must decide on the scope of internationalization at their founding to exploit entrepreneurial opportunities on a global scale. Because returns from international expansion must be considered along with the risk of failure, we propose that born-globals’ local industry conditions moderate the relationship between the scope of intraregional diversification (geographic diversification within a region) or interregional diversification (geographic diversification across different regions) and survival. Using a sample of 680 Swedish born-globals founded in 2002, 2003, or 2004 and followed until 2010; data from Swedish Customs; and archival performance data, we find that interregional geographic diversification increases—and that intraregional diversification decreases—the likelihood of failure, which declines further when born-globals undertake intraregional geographic diversification under higher environmental dynamism in the home country industry. Conversely, undertaking interregional geographic diversification even when the home country industry is munificent increases the likelihood of failure (marginally significant). The findings are robust to several alternative specifications

To patent or not to patent: That is the question. Intellectual property protection in family firms

This study examines family firms’ propensity to protect their intellectual property through patents. Building on the mixed gamble logic of the behavioral agency model, we theorize that family ownership has a U-shaped relationship with firm propensity to patent. Specifically, we argue that family firms’ desire to prevent losses of current socioemotional wealth (SEW) inhibits their propensity to patent until a threshold level of family ownership, beyond which the family’s SEW is secured and a greater focus on prospective financial gains attainable through patents is possible. We also suggest that environmental munificence moderates this nonlinear relationship such that a low-munificent environment accentuates the potentially detrimental (beneficial) effects of low-to-medium (medium-to-high) levels of family ownership on patents. We test our hypotheses on a sample of 4,198 small- and medium-sized family firms

Donne, violenza e diritto: la ragione giuridica come rimedio contro la violenza di genere

La nostra storia è attraversata dalla consapevolezza che una volta riconosciuta la violenza come problema fondamentale della società si può scorporare la stessa violenza dall’intero sistema sociale e incorporarla nel sistema del diritto in modo da realizzare l’ordine sociale. Il diritto è assunto come il fondamentale paradigma del non-violento, il paradigma secondo il quale non la forza ma la giustizia deve essere il principio regolatore delle relazioni intersoggettive. L’intervento del legislatore negli ultimi anni è stato diretto alla tutela della donna e al riconoscimento della sua parità. E’ stata costituita la Commissione di Pari opportunità, è stata prevista la figura del Consigliere di parità, sono state promulgate leggi dirette alla diffusione dell’imprenditoria femminile, nonché alla tutela della maternità e paternità. E quando le affermazioni di principio non sono state più sufficienti si è passato alla previsioni di azioni positive. Tutto ciò dimostra il grande interesse del legislatore verso la posizione della donna e il suo ruolo nella società. Ma la società – in riferimento alla posizione della donna - presenta un crescendo di problematiche che, a mano a mano che vengono risolte ne creano delle altre. Dapprima l’uguaglianza poi l’emancipazione ed oggi la violenza. Questo lavoro si propone di offrire un quadro generale sulla posizione della donna all’interno del sistema giuridico al fine di poter individuare quali strumenti il diritto può utilizzare per impedire la violenza contro le donne e garantire il rispetto dei suoi diritti e della sua personalità. Mi piace richiamare una celebre frase di Cesare Beccaria che ben si adatta a quanto detto: <<Si vedrà che le passioni di un secolo sono la base della morale dei secoli futuri, che le passioni forti, figlie del fanatismo e dell’entusiasmo, indebolite e rose dal tempo, diventano a poco a poco la prudenza del secolo e lo strumento utile in mano del forte e dell’accorto>>

Software engineering in start-up companies: An analysis of 88 experience reports

Context: Start-up companies have become an important supplier of innovation and software-intensive products. The flexibility and reactiveness of start-ups enables fast development and launch of innovative products. However, a majority of software start-up companies fail before achieving any success. Among other factors, poor software engineering could be a significant contributor to the challenges experienced by start-ups. However, the state-of-practice of software engineering in start-ups, as well as the utilization of state-of-the-art is largely an unexplored area. Objective: In this study we investigate how software engineering is applied in start-up context with a focus to identify key knowledge areas and opportunities for further research. Method: We perform a multi-vocal exploratory study of 88 start-up experience reports. We develop a custom taxonomy to categorize the reported software engineering practices and their interrelation with business aspects, and apply qualitative data analysis to explore influences and dependencies between the knowledge areas. Results: We identify the most frequently reported software engineering (requirements engineering, software design and quality) and business aspect (vision and strategy development) knowledge areas, and illustrate their relationships. We also present a summary of how relevant software engineering knowledge areas are implemented in start-ups and identify potentially useful practices for adoption in start-ups. Conclusions: The results enable a more focused research on engineering practices in start-ups. We conclude that most engineering challenges in start-ups stem from inadequacies in requirements engineering. Many promising practices to address specific engineering challenges exists, however more research on adaptation of established practices, and validation of new start-up specific practices is needed. © 2018 The Author(s)open access</p