The effect of network competence and environmental hostility on the internationalization of SMEs

Research findings suggest that networks offer small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) opportunities to internationalize successfully. However, the role of internal organizational competence in the process of developing and maintaining such networks in hostile external environments has received little attention. The aim of this study is to shed light on the relationship by examining the positive influence that the network competence of SMEs has on their propensity to internationalize, and on their subsequent international performance. Given that the willingness of firms to enter and perform well in markets appears to also depend on environmental hostilities, this external influence on SME internationalization is incorporated into the study. We also examine whether the level of environmental hostility moderates the relationship between network competence and SME internationalization. The empirical part of the study comprises a web survey of 298 Finnish SMEs representing five different industry sectors: metal, food, furniture, software, and knowledge-intensive business services. Confirmatory factor analysis and regression models are used in the analysis. The results indicate that higher levels of network competence are positively related to the propensity of SMEs to internationalize, as well as to their international performance. Conversely, the level of environmental hostility has a negative effect on the performance measure, but not on the internationalization propensity. Additionally, the influence of network competence is not moderated by environmental hostility. The results indicate that internal network competence and external environmental hostility play a role in SME internationalization, and that the positive influence of network competence exists independently of the hostility in the environment.     

Unpacking the impact of innovation ambidexterity on export performance: Microfoundations and infrastructure investment

When designing and managing routines for their innovation activities firms often face a challenge. Either they can concentrate their efforts on one approach i.e. exploring new ideas or exploiting its existing capabilities, or they can try to do both, i.e. becoming ambidextrous. In this paper, we aim to explore first the effect of exploration, exploitation and ambidexterity on export performance and second the moderating role of investment in infrastructure. Using firm-level data from the UK’s innovation survey (CIS) we find that both exploration and exploitation improve export performance. We also find that investment in infrastructure weakens this relationship. Counterintuitively, we find that ambidexterity has a negative effect on export performance, and that it is negatively moderated by investment in infrastructure. We use microfoundations arguments (the routines firms employ and the actions taken by individuals and groups within them to shape their exporting capabilities) to explain how efforts to achieve ambidexterity can improve export performance.     

Technology transfer offices as boundary spanners in the pre-spin-off process: the case of a hybrid model

Over the past decades, universities have increasingly become ambidextrous organizations reconciling scientific and commercial missions. In order to manage this ambidexterity, technology transfer offices (TTOs) were established in most universities. This paper studies a specific, often implemented, but rather understudied type of TTO, namely a hybrid TTO model uniting centralized and decentralized levels. Employing a qualitative research design, we examine how and why the two TTO levels engage in diverse boundary spanning activities to help nascent spin-off companies move through the pre-spin-off process. Our research identifies differences in the types of boundary spanning activities that centralized and decentralized TTOs perform and in the parties they engage with. We find geographical, technological and organizational proximity to be important antecedents of the TTOs’ engagement in external and internal boundary spanning activities. These results have important implications for both academics and practitioners interested in university technology transfer through spin-off creation.     

A resource-advantage perspective on the orchestration of ambidexterity

Strategic resources are key inputs to strategy that can form the basis of superior service performance, yet there is scarce research on the strategic resources used by managers to realise ambidexterity: the simultaneous pursuit of alignment and adaptability. In this article, we draw on a qualitative case study of a leading European airline and examine the resource bundles used by managers in their orchestration of ambidexterity. Adopting a resource-advantage perspective, the study illustrates elements of human, organisational, and informational capital that are mobilised by managers in their incorporation of alignment-oriented and adaptability-oriented activities. By moving beyond a linear association between strategic resources and ambidextrous organisations, we argue that managers' orchestration of ambidexterity is central to how service organisations manage their strategic resources and enhance competitiveness. Overall, we highlight the micro managerial level as an important point of observation to extend current thinking on the ‘how’ of ambidexterity in service organisations.     

Determinants of Web 2.0 technologies for knowledge sharing in SMEs

Web 2.0 technologies are increasingly being used within all knowledge management processes. This paper extends previous studies on the use of internet technologies and knowledge management by analyzing factors affecting knowledge sharing through Web 2.0 technologies within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Drawing upon the technology-organization-environment framework, a model is developed to examine how distinct contextual factors influence the use of Web 2.0 technologies for knowledge sharing. A data set of Spanish SMEs is used to test the conceptual model and hypotheses. Results show that knowledge sharing through Web 2.0 technologies emerges from internal organizational and technological resources rather than from external pressure.     

Does parenting matter in subsidiary innovation in emerging economies? Exploring the role of parent superior competitiveness in affecting subsidiary contextual ambidexterity

Parenting in the multinational enterprises (MNEs) creates a dilemma when parent company manages the subsidiary contextual ambidexterity, in which parent superior competitiveness may nurture subsidiary exploitation while inhibit exploration. This study addresses this dilemma by developing an integrated framework and investigating how parent superior competitiveness affects the subsidiary contextual ambidexterity (innovation initiative and motivation of learning from the parent), which in turn increases subsidiary innovation performance. Furthermore, it is also examined that what tactics subsidiaries should take to resolve the dilemma. Using 296 survey responses from multiple informants of 111 subsidiaries in China, we find that parent superior competitiveness hinders subsidiary innovation initiative, but enhances subsidiary motivation of learning from the parent company. The negative effect of parent superior competitiveness on subsidiary innovation initiative becomes weaker when the strengths of subsidiary external tie and parent-subsidiary communication are enhanced. The positive effect of parent superior competitiveness on subsidiary motivation of learning is strengthened by subsidiary external tie, whereas no significant effect is found of parent-subsidiary communication. In addition, subsidiary innovation initiative contributes to subsidiary innovation performance through knowledge exploration and subsidiary motivation of learning from the parent positively affects innovation performance.     

供应链金融视角下企业网络与企业能力对中小企业融资绩效的影响——一个链式中介模型

研究以供应链金融为研究视角，结合商业生态系统和网络理论，并基于企业动态能力的能量转化机制，探索了中小企业利用企业网络和企业能力来提高自身融资绩效的有效途径。研究指出，中小企业利用健康的企业网络来提高融资绩效需要经过两个过程，即加入健康的企业网络有助于中小企业提高双元能力，进而提高企业在网络中的地位，最终有助于企业融资绩效的提升。基于295个制造行业的中小企业样本数据，研究证明了双元能力和网络嵌入性在网络健康性与中小企业融资绩效中的链式中介作用。     

Competitive Dynamics among Service SMEs

In an effort to further our understanding of competitive dynamics, the three constructs of firm specialization, environmental munificence, and rivalry intensity are examined in relation to financial performance in service-intensive Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Using a sample of physician organizations, direct and interaction relationships are empirically examined using multivariate regression analyses. Findings confirm a three-way interaction that exists among these factors in relationship to overall performance; this supports a more complex, configurations approach to competitive dynamics research, particularly among service-intensive SMEs.     

Interplay between dual dimensions of knowledge sharing within globalized chaebols: The moderating effects of organization size and global environmental munificence

Existing literature exploring ambidexterity based on the organizational and network learning perspectives is sparse. In particular, there are few studies dealing with the characteristics of ambidexterity construct in the context of inter-organizational relationships, and existing studies are limited. To date, studies have suggested only vague and inconclusive conceptualizations and empirical findings. Our research tackles this overlooked area of thought by dismantling the mechanisms of ambidextrous knowledge sharing among group-affiliated companies within the large complex Korean business group known as a chaebol and the impact of those mechanisms on the companies’ global performances. An internationalized chaebol is a cradle of transnational knowledge and resource sharing that functions as a business group–level knowledge reservoir. Conceptually, our research employs two dimensions of ambidextrous knowledge sharing, “balance dimension (BD) of ambidextrous knowledge sharing” and “synergistic dimension (SD) of ambidextrous knowledge sharing,” among group-affiliated companies within a chaebol. In this way, we clarify the conceptual issues regarding the degree to which ambidextrous knowledge sharing affects the extent of explorative relative to exploitative knowledge sharing or affects the combined synergistic extent of both activities. We collect survey data from 337 manufacturing multinational group-affiliated companies that belong to 61 internationally diversified chaebols. We analyze this data using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression with the hierarchical method. Our results show that having a balance between explorative and exploitative knowledge sharing among group-affiliated companies (i.e., BD) within a chaebol increases the global performance of that chaebol’s group-affiliated companies. High synergistic levels of ambidextrous knowledge sharing among group-affiliated companies (i.e., SD) also enhance the group-affiliated companies’ global performance. In addition, our study reveals the moderating effects that organization size and environmental munificence have on the interactions of BD and SD.     

Organizational Ambidexterity and Innovation Performance: The Moderating Effect of Entrepreneurial Orientation

The influence of organizational ambidexterity on innovation and the growth of enterprises has gradually become an important research topic in the field of strategic management and organization theory. This paper builds up a theoretical framework of the relationship between organizational ambidexterity and innovation performance with regards to corporate entrepreneurship orientation. We select 175 companies from high and new technology industries in China’s three large cities, Beijing, Tianjin and Dalian, as samples to carry out an empirical test. We find that the balance and complement of organizational ambidexterity are positively correlated with the innovation performance of enterprises; a corporate entrepreneurial orientation has a significantly moderating effect on the relationship between the balance dimension of organizational ambidexterity and innovation performance, yet it has no significant positive moderating effect on the relationship between the combined dimension of organizational ambidexterity and innovation performance.     

Strategic ambidexterity and performance in international new ventures

We drew on the literature on ambidextrous organizations to propose that international new ventures (INVs) that concurrently pursue paradoxical pairs of strategies—known as the capability of strategic ambidexterity—can achieve superior performance. These paradoxical strategies are: (a) few investments and many countries, and (b) standardization and innovation. Our hypotheses were tested using data from 70 Canadian INVs. This is the first study that attempts to theoretically and empirically link ambidexterity and INV performance. Our findings suggest that INVs that are capable of pursuing and implementing paradoxical strategies achieve superior performance over those lacking such capability. Copyright © 2008 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

E-marketing services and e-marketing performance: the roles of innovation,knowledge complexity and environmental turbulence in influencing the relationship

The business-to-business electronic marketplace (e-marketplace) is becoming critical for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, which e-marketing services determine a firm’s e-marketing performance and how innovation, knowledge complexity and environmental turbulence influence the relationship between e-marketing services and e-marketing performance are under-researched topics in the field. We first empirically tested 176 SMEs from China to evaluate which e-marketing services are significantly related to e-marketing performance and how these services collectively influence the performance. Then, we used an NK model to examine how innovation, knowledge complexity and environmental turbulence mediate/moderate the relationship. The results show that five e-marketing services (e-CRM, e-SCM, e-competitiveness, IS/IT integration and information transparency) can greatly influence e-marketing performance; innovation positively mediates the relationship between e-marketing services and performance; and knowledge complexity and environmental turbulence positively moderate the relationship.     

Knowledge acquisition and corporate entrepreneurship: Insights from Spanish SMEs in the ICT sector

The contingent perspective on the corporate entrepreneurship–performance relationship has focused mainly on the influence of factors either environmental or internal to the organization. Only recently have researchers turned their attention to the relational context and specifically to inter-organizational alliances’ potential to influence this relationship. Our paper analyzes how knowledge acquisition from alliances affects the corporate entrepreneurship–performance relationship in a sample of Spanish SMEs from the Information and Communication Technology sector (ICT). The results obtained show that both corporate entrepreneurship and knowledge acquisition have a positive influence on performance but that the moderating effect of knowledge acquisition on the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and performance is negative and it varies depending on the level of knowledge-based resources of the firm.     

Antecedents of Corporate Entrepreneurship in SMEs: Evidence from an Emerging Economy

Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) research has reached a certain degree of consensus around five core internal antecedents that enable CE, but consensus remains focused on large‐sized firms in Western economies. Using institutional theory, we argue that contextual factors may undermine the viability of internal antecedents in emerging economy contexts. Our qualitative study shows that the organization of the internal environments for CE among service sector Kenyan SMEs is much more interactive and complex than currently presented in the literature. Specifically cultural and contextual factors appear to influence the extent to which the antecedents are able to produce CE activity. Our findings provide a more fine‐grained depiction of the internal environment for CE in emerging economy SMEs.     

International new venture performance: Role of international entrepreneurial culture,ambidextrous innovation,and dynamic marketing capabilities

International new ventures (INVs) contend with environmental dynamism in global markets, compelling firms to enhance their innovation and marketing capabilities. While the INV literature is growing, it is not informative as to how INVs develop and utilize dynamic capabilities to overcome resource-constraints to enhance performance. We utilize the concept of international entrepreneurship culture (IEC) to better understand how INVs advance innovation and dynamic marketing capabilities to succeed in their internationalization activities. Building on the dynamic capabilities view (DCV), we empirically examine the relationships among IEC, ambidextrous innovation, dynamic marketing capabilities, and INV performance under varying levels environmental dynamism. The findings highlight that IEC influences both ambidextrous innovation and dynamic marketing capabilities; and, together, these link to INV performance gains. Furthermore, this research finds support for the mediating effects of ambidextrous innovation and dynamic marketing capabilities in the IEC – INV performance relationship. Additionally, the results indicate an international entrepreneurial culture is of greater significance in developing ambidextrous innovation when environmental dynamism is present. The study context is a sample of 286 high-technology INVs from India, a large and dynamic emerging market.     

Non-R&D SMEs: external knowledge,absorptive capacity and product innovation

The relationship between external knowledge, absorptive capacity (AC) and innovative performance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is investigated empirically. Using data from a survey on firms located in North Norway, we ask whether AC plays a mediating role between different external knowledge inflows and innovative performance. The results are consistent with AC as an important mediator for transforming external knowledge inflows into higher innovative performance if we include all SMEs in the sample. However, this result is not robust when considering the sub-sample of non-R&D SMEs only. External knowledge inflows have a much stronger direct effect on innovation performance for non-R&D firms and leave a weak mediating effect of AC. Our findings suggest that measures of AC should be developed further in order to make AC a more relevant concept for empirical studies of SMEs without in-house R&D.     

The indirect effect of online marketing capabilities on the international performance of e-commerce SMEs

International e-commerce is a strong global trend pushed by a tail wind of bolstering economic policies, changing customer behaviors, and improved logistics and technologies. This study investigates the reasons for performance variations among international e-commerce SMEs. Building on the capabilities perspective and market orientation literature, a research model is developed and tested with linear regression and mediation analysis on an effective sample of 99 Swedish SMEs which use e-commerce as an international sales channel. Our study shows that online marketing capabilities are necessary but not sufficient to increase performance among these companies. Our results show that marketing ambidexterity, reflected by both market-driven and market-driving approaches, is instrumental to leverage the effect of online marketing capabilities.     

Home-owned versus foreign-owned firms in the UK automotive industry: Exploring the microfoundations of ambidextrous production and supply chain positioning

The UK automotive industry is home to a large number of foreign firms, demonstrating the open nature of competition. However, the industry necessitates both exploitative and explorative capabilities. Contingency theory suggests that firms align their internal structure with contextual factors. As such, the aims of this study were to investigate whether it was possible to distinguish home-owned (UK) and foreign-owned firms based upon: a) the microfoundations of ambidextrous production, which are conceptualised as lean and agile routines; and b) the tier at which these firms operate in the automotive supply chain. Survey data were collected from 85 home-owned and 55 foreign-owned firms within the UK Midlands automotive industry. Logistic regression results revealed that home-owned firms were significantly more likely to be implementing explorative (agile) production methods, whereas foreign-owned firms were significantly more likely to be implementing exploitative (lean) production. Home-owned and foreign-owned firms were found to be significantly more likely to be operating upstream and downstream in the automotive supply chain respectively. Thus, the findings support a contingency theory explanation, suggesting that firms align their performance priorities with contextual factors, but we argue that home-owned and foreign-owned firms have evolved to compete based on their different innovative capabilities, which are located at different tiers of the automotive supply chain. On this basis, although neither home-owned nor foreign-owned firms were found to be endogenously ambidextrous, we argue that foreign-owned firms internationalise into the UK automotive sector to exploit the explorative capabilities acquired by home-owned firms operating upstream in automotive supply chains, thus enabling ambidextrous capabilities at an exogenous, industrial level.     

Institutional pressures and international market orientation in SMEs: Insights from the French wine industry

In this research, we examine how external institutional pressures influence international market orientation (IMO) in small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs). We use institutional theory and insights from the international entrepreneurship literature to predict how different formal regulative pressures (from national and international sources) as well as different informal normative pressures (from distributors and end-consumers) influence IMO in SMEs. We test our hypotheses using survey data from 107 small wineries across all of the main wine-producing regions in France. The results provide support to the central assertion that it is outside pressures on decision-making – rather than an endowment of internal resources and capabilities – that influence IMO in SMEs. External regulative sources have the strongest effects with pressures on decision-making from national laws having a negative impact on IMO and those from international laws having a positive impact on IMO. We find partial support for the effect of normative pressures from distributors and end-consumers. Implications for theory and management of internationalization in small firms are discussed.     

Control,innovation and international joint venture performance: The moderating role of internal and external environments

This study aims to analyze how parent control strategies affect the degree of innovation in international joint ventures (IJVs) and how different types of innovation strategies - divided into radical and incremental innovation strategies - influence the performance of IJVs. This study uses the most widely adopted definition and operationalization of control in IJVs by Geringer and Hebert (1989), including the three dimensions: mechanisms, focus, and extent of control. These relationships are further analyzed by integrating internal and external moderating factors and their connections with IJV performance. Our theoretical analysis proposes that various control strategies differently influence an IJV’s innovation activities under various internal environmental moderating factors. These, in turn, differently influence the IJV performance. Furthermore, we suggest that the external environmental factors moderate the relationship between innovation strategies and performance of IJVs.