Entrepreneurial ecosystems

International business fundamentally is about creating an ecosystem environment conducive to entrepreneurship. This means fostering actions and behavior that provide a systemic interaction with multiple entities. In this editorial for the special journal issue, the historical background and origins of the entrepreneurial ecosystem concept is discussed with the view to connected different strands of literature. This provides an optimal way to understand the way entrepreneurship develops through an ecosystem logic. The theoretical perspectives for understanding entrepreneurial ecosystems are discussed that lead to a discussion on each of the articles included in the special journal issue. Themes emerging from these articles are then stated that include a focus on value co‐creation, stakeholder collaboration and entrepreneurial networks. This enables a holistic way to understand the linkages international business has with entrepreneurial ecosystems.     

大数据视域下的企业孵化生态建设

论文以生态系统理论讨论分析企业孵化生态,有助于解决当前可持续创业中的问题。目前企业孵化生态建设主要有科技研究、市场开发和商业应用三大部分。这些企业孵化生态组成部分不仅使企业孵化的功能逐渐完善,在网络平台上也已具备了基本的信息技术服务。市场开发和商业应用已经汇聚了人财物的产供销价值链,逐渐向多元化、多模式、多机制的发展方向过度,为打造出全过程、多层次、立体化的企业孵化生态系统提供建设性方案。     

企业孵化器国际研究的知识图谱分析

以Web of Science核心合集中收录的1990-2019年710篇企业孵化器相关文献为研究对象,基于CiteSpace可视化分析工具,绘制知识图谱。通过文献的时空分布,文献共被引分析,关键词共现网络分析等了解企业孵化器国际研究的概况、知识基础和研究热点。结果显示,企业孵化器国际研究发文量在近3年出现爆发式增长；知识基础大致可以分为两类：企业孵化器的作用和发展研究,对企业孵化器绩效的评估。研究热点主要集中在四个方面：企业孵化器绩效评价,企业孵化器绩效的影响因素分析,孵化网络与资源流动,孵化器对中小企业成长的影响。并提出对企业孵化器研究的未来展望。     

关于新经济形势下我国工商管理的现状分析

随着我国市场经济机制改革范围与规模的不断扩大,工商管理部门的各项管理工作内容发生了一定的变化,随之产生了许多的问题。新经济形势下,工商管理部门应该从我国市场经济发展现状出发,探寻更有效地解决对策,进一步完善工商管理手段。论文主要对我国新经济形势下工商管理的现状进行分析,并对其中存在的一些问题进行思考,分析解决对策,希望能够改善我国工商管理部门的管理效果。     

营商环境优化能够提升全球价值链分工地位吗*

本文基于世界银行发布的历年营商环境报告相关数据，从OECD ICIO提供的基础数据测算结果的基本事实出发，理论阐释了营商环境对攀升全球价值链的影响及可能机制。以此为理论先导，进一步利用跨国面板数据的计量检验发现：第一，营商环境优化的确对价值链分工地位具有显著正向作用；第二，上述正向作用不仅来自营商环境优化直接效应，而且还通过价值链迁移、创新活动激发、贸易条件改善等中介作用形成间接效应。据此，打造国际一流营商环境对促进中国攀升全球价值链具有重要支撑作用。     

Assessing the Reliability of Self‐reported Income Information in Informal Small Business Lending through a Bogus Pipeline Experiment

Coping with asymmetric information plays a major role in successful small business lending. Our purpose is to determine if small business applicants report their income information correctly when requesting a loan. We use a randomised controlled trial bogus pipeline experiment, established during a typical cash‐flow analysis of a bank for small businesses in the Philippines. The bogus pipeline approach is commonly applied in social science and aims to increase the rate of truth telling by informing participants that answers will be verified by a lie detector. The experimental data, which include 243 observations of credit clients that are mainly from the agricultural and food value chain, served to identify asymmetric information. Additionally, debtors’ repayment behaviour for approved loans was observed by the bank. Our results indicate that loan applicants of the treatment group report lower incomes, an effect which is most pronounced in lower income quantile. Our analyses also reveal higher loan delinquencies in the control group.     

Macroeconomic Uncertainty in South Africa

This paper develops a new index of economic uncertainty for South Africa for the period 1990–2014. The index is constructed from three sources: (1 ) Disagreement among professional forecasters, (2 ) a count of international and local newspaper articles discussing economic uncertainty in South Africa and (3 ) mentions of uncertainty in the quarterly economic review of the South African Reserve Bank. The index shows high levels of uncertainty around the period of democratic transition in 1992–1994, the large depreciation of the currency in 2001 and the financial crisis of 2008. The uncertainty index is a leading indicator of a recession. An unanticipated increase in the index is associated with a fall in GDP, investment, industrial production and private sector employment. Contrary to evidence for the U.S.A and the U.K., uncertainty shocks are inflationary. These results are robust to controlling for global uncertainty shocks, consumer confidence and financial shocks.     

Promotion and Prevention Contracts in Industry Level Firm to Firm Dyad

ABSTRACT

Purpose

This article aims to introduce and distinguish two features of contract design – prevention and promotion contracts – and compares their effects on opportunism within the distributor–supplier relationship. It also examines the moderating role of ex post contract enforcement strategies.     

Female franchisees; a lost opportunity for franchising sector growth?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate why female franchisees are under-represented in franchise ownership. A qualitative approach was adopted using a collective, instrumental case study of 30 female franchisees. A number of different types of influences were identified in the literature and then elucidated and assessed. It was found that push and pull factors, work–family life balance, franchising sector characteristics and external influences act as variable incentives and disincentives among female franchisees’ selection of the franchise business model with different levels of risk-taking propensity. The marketing efforts of franchises would be more effective if the way in which the identified influences that impinge on the selection of the franchise business model informed the prospecting of potential female franchisees. A further need is identified for franchises to adjust their recruitment programmes to reflect the variable effect of incentives and disincentives at different levels of capital investment. Limited research specifically examines the selection of the franchise business model by female franchisees with various levels of risk-taking propensity and identifies the nature of influences that act as incentives and/or disincentives on that selection decision.     

US small retail businesses’ perception of competition: Looking through a lens of fear,confidence, or cooperation

The U.S. retail industry has undergone dramatic changes, leading to the closing of brick-and-mortar retail stores on a large scale. Understanding perceived market competition among small retail businesses may help explain why certain businesses survive or fail in the altered retail environment. This study investigates small retail businesses' perceptions of competition within/outside the community, underlying reasons for their perceptions, and variations in perceptions by different business characteristics. Contrary to common expectations, we found that more than half of businesses interviewed were optimistic in the face of competition. Our data reveal two salient underlying reasons for pessimism and five for optimism. These perceptions tended to differ by operational locality (urban clusters vs. urban areas), business revenues, and innovativeness. Based on the findings, we developed propositions and a framework of small businesses' perceived competition and sustainable competitive advantage. We discussed theoretical and practical implications for small retail businesses’ sustainable growth in the challenging retail environment.