Narrow‐Framing and Risk Preferences in Family and Non‐Family Firms

Building upon prospect theory’s concept of narrow‐framing, we explore family firms’ risk preferences across multiple decisions in corporate entrepreneurship. We argue that family firms’ decisions are less likely to be narrowly framed (more likely to be made as a group rather than in isolation) compared to non‐family firms. Examining the interaction between two risky decisions (internationalization and R&D investment) in two samples of publicly traded firms in the USA and China confirms our hypotheses. Family firms appear more likely than non‐family firms to diversify risk when making multiple decisions concerning corporate entrepreneurship. However, given inferior performance, risk taking across multiple decisions in family firms is positively related.     

Corporate Entrepreneurship and Family Business: Learning Across Domains

Research at the interface of corporate entrepreneurship (CE) and family firms’ domains has grown steadily based on the premise that family firms’ specific elements uniquely affect CE antecedents, strategies, and outcomes. However, much remains to be uncovered. In this article, we offer a theoretical advancement of a corporate entrepreneurship process model for the case of family firms organized around the categories of ontology (i.e., domain redefinition), epiphany (i.e., new components and mechanisms), and heterogeneity (i.e., family firm variety and contingencies). This development paves the way for an agenda for future research and for possible generalizations to non‐family firms.     

The interplay of corporate entrepreneurship,environmental orientation,and performance in clean‐tech firms—A double‐edged sword

Clean‐tech innovations are an important driver in solving global issues such as climate change and for the sustainable development of economies around the world. Whereas a large part of the literature focuses on clean‐tech ventures, less is known on corporate entrepreneurship, that is, entrepreneurial behavior in established firms and its relation to sustainability. This paper extends the sustainable entrepreneurship debate to corporate entrepreneurship, which represents a fruitful avenue to further developing clean technologies. We focus particularly on clean‐tech firms' organizational preparedness for corporate entrepreneurship (OPCE), that is, how well a firm's structures and processes are set for entrepreneurial activities. On the basis of contingency theory, this study investigates how the level of OPCE influences the environmental and financial performance of clean‐tech firms and whether their environmental orientation affects these relationships. Building on data from 103 firms, we find support for a positive effect of OPCE on both environmental and financial performance. Both effects are stronger the higher the external environmental orientation. In contrast, the leverage of internal environmental orientation is not equally positive. Our study reveals that the effect of OPCE on financial performance diminishes for firms that are more strongly driven by an internal than an external environmental orientation.     

The Effect of Family Ownership on Different Dimensions of Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Large US Firms

Previous research has shown that family firms differ from non‐family firms with regard to aggregate measures of corporate social responsibility (CSR). We argue that CSR is a multidimensional concept that comprises several aspects, which range from employee relations to ecological concerns and product issues. Based on an organizational and family identity perspective, we argue that the effect of family ownership can differ across various CSR dimensions. Family firms can be responsible and irresponsible regarding CSR at the same time. We use a dataset of large US firms to test our hypotheses. Our Bayesian regressions show that family ownership is negatively associated with community‐related CSR performance and positively associated with diversity‐, employee‐, environment‐ and product‐related aspects of CSR. The largest positive effect of family ownership on CSR performance exists with regard to product‐related aspects of CSR. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

System‐Spanning Values Work and Entrepreneurial Growth in Family Firms

Culture and values are key drivers of corporate entrepreneurship in early stages of family firm development, but value conflicts often arise over time that progressively inhibit their entrepreneurial efforts. How can family firms reconcile conflicting values to sustain corporate entrepreneurship over time? Our 45‐year longitudinal case study of a large global family firm shows that family business leaders’ practices of invoking and flexibly using family and business values were crucial to achieve sustained entrepreneurial behaviour and growth over an extended period of time. We theorize these efforts as system‐spanning values work enfolding through specific family, business, and temporal mechanisms. By identifying and elucidating three types of values work (i.e., rooting, revitalizing, and spreading), our study advances current understanding of the micro‐foundations underpinning the relationship between values and entrepreneurship in family firms.     

Managing Persistent Tensions on the Frontline: A Configurational Perspective on Ambidexterity

Ambidexterity research has noted that firms’ simultaneous pursuit of exploration and exploitation causes organizational tensions that are difficult to resolve. To make these tensions manageable, scholars have generally suggested that senior managers take the central role in designing organizational solutions, such as the structural separation or contextual integration of the exploratory and exploitative tasks. Yet, in an inductive study of ten corporate innovation initiatives, we find that our informants assigned far less importance to the senior managers’ initial design choices than to the frontline managers’ subsequent configurational practices. Frontline managers used these practices to constantly adapt and align their initiatives’ organizational contexts, which allowed them to cope with persistent exploration‐exploitation tensions in their daily business activities. Based on these empirical insights and drawing on paradox theory, we develop a configurational perspective on ambidexterity, where frontline managers play a more central, proactive, and strategic role than purported by the established design perspective on ambidexterity.     

How effective human resource management promotes corporate entrepreneurship: evidence from China

Strategic human resource management (SHRM) represents a set of HRM practices that are aligned with firm strategies. The relationship between SHRM and organizational performance has been extensively examined; however, whether and how SHRM influences corporate entrepreneurship remains unknown. Based on the resource-based perspective, this study examined a model linking SHRM with corporate entrepreneurship. The importance of HRM people's political skill for a firm's development of devolved management through SHRM implementation was also examined. Data from a survey of 201 Chinese manufacturing firms confirm a significant relationship between SHRM and corporate entrepreneurship and that the relationship is partially mediated by a devolved management style. The relationship between SHRM and devolved management was shown to be stronger for firms with more politically skillful HRM people.     

Influence of technological support,skills and competencies,and learning on corporate entrepreneurship in European technology firms

In the today′s changing environment, firms are hardly competing with each other to achieve a competitive advantage that can differentiate them from others and improve their organizational performance. In this sense, it is crucial to develop corporate entrepreneurship and promote strategic variables that foster it.The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of different technological variables (top management support to technology, technological skills and technological distinctive competencies) and organizational learning on corporate entrepreneurship, and thus analyze the influence of corporate entrepreneurship on organizational performance in the context of technology firms.A sample of 160 European technology firms was selected from the database Amadeus in 2009 with CEOs as our main informants. The hypotheses studied are empirically confirmed by using a hierarchical regression model.     

Shaping the organisational context for corporate entrepreneurship and performance in Iran: the interplay between social context and performance management

Abstract

Prior research highlighted the importance of an organisational context stimulating autonomous behaviour when trying to increase levels of corporate entrepreneurship. From a social exchange perspective, we argue that firms in developing countries need to complement such supportive practices with performance-oriented practices. Our findings indicate that Iranian firms with an organisational context characterised by an interaction of social context and performance management have more engagement in corporate entrepreneurship, and that corporate entrepreneurship mediated the relationship between the organisational context and firm performance. This provides a better understanding of the way firms in developing economies can shape their organisational context to promote corporate entrepreneurship in order to achieve better firm performance.     

CEO Succession Mechanisms,Organizational Context,and Performance: A Socio‐Emotional Wealth Perspective on Family‐Controlled Firms

This article extends the literature on CEO succession and financial performance by addressing corporate owners' mixed motives and desires to protect their interest in being in business. We draw on a Socio‐Emotional Wealth (SEW) perspective to investigate how the choice of one of three succession mechanisms – relay succession, ‘horse races’ among internal CEO candidates, and hiring from outside – may effectively balance trade‐offs between corporate owners' non‐financial SEW motives and the firm's financial performance. We find that implementing one of these succession mechanisms reduces the negative impact that typically characterizes CEO transitions in family firms. We also show that family presence on the board of directors offsets the benefits of having selected these balancing succession mechanisms, in either placing too much emphasis on SEW, or creating negative dynamics that make the chosen succession mechanisms less effective.     

Markets, Culture and Institutions: The Emergence of Large Business Groups in Taiwan, 1950s–1970s

Business groups are a special type of enterprise system existing in almost every market economy. Member firms do not operate as isolated units in the markets but have institutionalized relationships with each other and work coherently as an entity. Groups play a central role in economies in which they operate. For Taiwan, the largest 100 groups produced one third of the GNP in the past 20 years. Why does this organizational form exist in the first place? This paper reviews three relevant theories, market‐centred theories, culturalist perspective, and the institutional approach, and employs the data of 150 Taiwanese groups for the answer. The market‐centred theories and the institutional arguments are examined statistically and the latter is supported by the data. Following this evidence, the Boolean comparison of group firms with non‐group firms confirms that lacking a coherent core in ownership and management makes firms unable to respond to institutional incentives promptly. Finally, the structure of family ownership network in business groups refutes the cultural perspective which argues that the equal inheritance pattern of family property drives entrepreneurs to establish separate firms rather than single hierarchies. While both markets and culture play a distinct part in the story, it is regulatory institutions that lead to group formation.     

Strategic entrepreneurship and competitive advantage of established firms: evidence from the digital TV industry

Although strategic entrepreneurship in established firms is recognized as a vital source of sustainable competitive advantage, this field has no clearly developed research paradigm. This study proposes a conceptual framework to investigate dimensions of strategic entrepreneurship and its function in sustainable competitive advantage of established firms in a modern volatile environment, through the lens of the dynamic capability view. By conducting a systematic literature review of previous research documents and considering conceptual interrelationships between strategic entrepreneurship and dynamic capabilities, we propose categories that comprise dimensions of a firm’s strategic entrepreneurship: environmental sensing, opportunity seizing, strategic flexibility, entrepreneurial orientation and organizational learning. We establish a conceptual framework of strategic entrepreneurship in which entrepreneurs’ managerial capabilities of environmental sensing, opportunity seizing, strategic flexibility and entrepreneurial orientation closely interact with organizational learning, thereby facilitating sustainable performance of established firms. Following empirical studies of established firms in the digital TV manufacturing industry, the proposed conceptual framework suggests that each dimension of strategic entrepreneurship plays a critical role in competitive advantage of firms. In addition, case study results indicate that a firm’s position and evolutionary path form antecedent factors influencing entrepreneurs’ managerial capabilities and organizational learning of established firms.     

A comparative analysis of corporate entrepreneurial orientation between selected firms in the Netherlands and the USA

Firms in turbulent or fast-changing environments must continually innovate to remain competitive. This study examined how a firm's strategic management practices influence its entrepreneurial behaviour as compared to an international competitor. Four firms in the Netherlands were each matched with a key competitor in the USA. Several survey measures related to the strategic management process were used along with an instrument related to corporate entrepreneurship practices. Both managers and employees participated in the study. Results revealed significant differences between the Netherlands firms and the US competitors in entrepreneurial orientation. Results also supported these comparative differences along three key dimensions of strategic management as they relate to corporate entrepreneurship. The final set of data revealed a relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and three measures of firm performance. The implications focus upon the key role that culture may play in facilitating corporate entrepreneurship and adaptable organizational practices. Suggestions for further research are also made.     

‘Carrots for Corporate Sustainability’: Impacts of Incentive Inclusiveness and Variety on Environmental Performance

In this paper we explore the role that managerial incentives play in improving corporate environmental performance, finding that greater inclusiveness of incentive beneficiaries and greater variety of incentive types are important factors in firms' incentive schemes. Drawing on a large dataset of multinational enterprises, our results suggest that including more beneficiaries from different levels within the corporate hierarchy and offering both monetary and non‐monetary rewards are generally more likely to lead to reductions in corporate greenhouse gas emissions. Developing two principles of incentive design, inclusiveness and variety, and the conceptualization of patterns of these in organizations as configurations of incentives, our research contributes substantially to normative advice regarding the relative effectiveness of alternative systems of environmental incentives. Such an understanding of the potential of incentives is critical to informing how firms address complex problems such as sustainability in the context of increasingly extended organizational hierarchies and designs. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Corporate entrepreneurship: a test of external and internal influences on managers’ idea generation,risk taking,and proactiveness

Because upper managers have the responsibility to set the corporate entrepreneurship agenda, their entrepreneurial characteristics matter to a firm's successful implementation of corporate entrepreneurship. This study investigated influences on the idea creation, risk taking, and proactiveness perceptions of upper managers in a random sample of 105 Thai manufacturing firms. Results indicate that these managers' idea generation was influenced by the type of product produced, the size of the company, and the extent of firm support for individual entrepreneurship. Managerial risk taking was associated with firm size and extent of support for personal entrepreneurship. Managerial proactiveness as associated only with the scope of firms' competition, firm size, organizational entrepreneurial climate and support for personal entrepreneurship. Results suggest that firm context can influence the basis for corporate entrepreneurship.     

Do Family Firms Have Better Reputations Than Non‐Family Firms? An Integration of Socioemotional Wealth and Social Identity Theories

We draw from socioemotional wealth and social identity research to develop a theory on reputational differences among family and non‐family firms. We propose that family members identify more strongly with their family firm than non‐family members do with either a family or non‐family firm. Heightened identification motivates family members to pursue a favourable reputation because it allows them to feel good about themselves, thus contributing to their socioemotional wealth. We hypothesize that when the family's name is part of the firm's name, the firm's reputation is higher because family members are particularly motivated for their firm to have a better reputation. Family members also need organizational power to pursue a favourable reputation; thus, we hypothesize that the level of family ownership and family board presence should be associated with more favourable reputations. We find support for our theory in a sample of large firms from eight countries with disparate governance systems and cultures.     

Sustainability and Environmental Behaviour in Family Firms: A Longitudinal Analysis of Environment‐Related Activities,Innovation and Performance

Environmental behaviour plays an important role as concerns the public image and performance of firms, as well as for the achievement of sustainable development in society. This study investigates the behaviour of family firms regarding environment‐related activities, innovation and performance. Opposing goals are found to impact environmental behaviour of family firms, in particular the trade‐off between family firms' risk awareness and their aim of achieving socioeconomic wealth. We find that family firms initially lag regarding environment‐related activities, beneficial product, process and organizational innovations and performance. Yet, family firms catch up and show overall less volatility compared with other firms. Overall, we thus observe a convergence process between family and non‐family firms, which ultimately enables the two types of firm to achieve similar outcomes in terms of environment‐related activities, beneficial innovations and performance. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Corporate entrepreneurship and information technology towards employee retention: a study of New Zealand firms

While the benefits of entrepreneurship towards firm performance are established, the role of information technology (IT) is mixed. The present study of 158 New Zealand firms responds to calls to extend performance measures to include non‐financial outcomes and focuses on employee retention. Direct and substantial relationships between corporate entrepreneurship and employee retention were found. Furthermore, moderating effects were tested from IT dimensions, and high IT objects (hardware software and personnel) had the greatest interaction with an entrepreneurial culture, reporting a 10 per cent higher retention rate than similar entrepreneurial firms with low IT objects. However, IT was not universally positive, with high IT knowledge interacting with entrepreneurial culture, leading to lower employee retention. The study highlights the way some IT dimensions can enhance entrepreneurial capabilities, although cautions the effects of others, highlighting the potential complexities of IT that may repel rather than retain employees.     

Sustainable Corporate Entrepreneurship: Performance and Strategies Toward Innovation

The field of sustainable corporate entrepreneurship is in a nascent stage. By developing a position matrix of companies with respect to their corporate entrepreneurship and sustainability performance, we make conceptual contributions to an integrated perspective on elements supporting a sustainable corporate entrepreneurship process. We propose that such a process without evolving corporate sustainability is misleading. Methodologically, we investigate publicly available index ratings to assess strategies for and qualitative measurement of the sustainable development and innovation performance of eight top‐ranked international companies. Findings show that the strategies of the identified companies correspond well to our typology and allow suggestions of where efforts for corporate sustainability and/or entrepreneurship could be reinforced to gain or maintain a benchmark position. The article will clarify underlying elements of, and help to advance strategies for the implementation of, a sustainable corporate entrepreneurship process. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

The impact of executive diversity on corporate innovation: Evidence from the natural experiment of high‐speed rail in China

We examine the impact of executive diversity on corporate innovation using an exogenous natural experiment: the implementation of high‐speed rail (HSR) in China. The findings suggest that after a city implements HSR, firms increase their executive diversity, resulting in better corporate innovation than firms in non‐HSR cities. Additional analysis suggests that when a firm belongs to a competitive industry, is located in a low marketization region, or operates in a poor transportation region, the impact of HSR on executive diversity and corporate innovation is magnified. Our findings carry implications for other emerging markets.