Global alliance networks: A comparison of biotech SMEs in Sweden and Australia

The role of networks in business operations is widely recognized. We discuss social network theory, identify its main constituents, and outline a methodology and procedure that enable the identification and valuation of informal networks in an international business-to-business environment. Research is carried on informal Internet networks among firms in the biotechnology industry from Sweden and Australia. We use the methodology to recognize salient nodes, determine prominence and identify structural holes that allow the unveiling of brokerage opportunities that lie latent in networks. Global firms and suppliers of industrial products that are or can position themselves effectively in a social network are in a position to leverage considerable value.     

Local User-Producer Interaction in Innovation and Export Performance of Firms

This paper studies the effects of local market attributes on local firms’ exports of innovations. Our starting point are three common hypotheses. First, innovations are a major determinant for the export performance of firms. Second, user–producer interaction is an important factor for successful innovations. Third, user–producer interaction is most efficient in close proximity. Taken together this would mean that intense local user–producer interaction increases exports. This reasoning contradicts a main proposition in international management that overt local responsiveness may be hampering export chances of a firm. In order to generate global innovations, an international firm should look at the world market instead, for instance by identifying the global common denominator of national preferences. Yet, many local innovations have become globally successful. This paper investigates the question to what extent local demand is capable of inducing innovations that are export effective. We utilize data from the German innovation survey of 4,786 firms in the manufacturing and service industries. In this survey firms were asked about the sources of their innovation and their export activities. We find evidence that the export orientation and the domestic demand structure stimulate export success.     

Rediscovering Deep Time: Sustainability and the Need to Re‐Engage With Multiple Dimensions of Time in Leadership Studies

The current article makes the case that increasing our comfort with and responsiveness to extended timescales—both the far future and past—is essential to leadership against the backdrop of wicked challenges that shape the current and future leadership landscape. We offer a loose structure of four dimensions of time—present, near, distant, and deep time—to help advance this work. We frequently fail in thinking about the broader impact of our leadership work for generations to come and to ground that work in our extended, collective history. In order to think about lasting leadership, and particularly when utilizing a framework of sustainability and peace, it is essential that we critically examine our relationship with time and better incorporate it into our leadership theory, practice, development, and education. We need to further develop our ability to relate to and make sound decisions based on an informed consideration of the futures we wish to create and the deep histories that have led us to where we are now.     

Relationship development in Greenfield expansions

This paper investigates conceptually how new Greenfield subsidiaries develop relationships over time. We focus our analysis on the earliest start-up stage of new Greenfield subsidiaries, and on the dynamics of relationships development with five different groups of actors within the MNC and the local environment of the new Greenfield. We argue that relationship strength, or the intensity of interaction and resource exchange, depends on the new Greenfield's degree of dependence or interdependence within these relationships and develop propositions based on institutional theory, resource dependency theory and network approaches. In the concluding sections we suggest directions for future work to enhance understanding of the dynamics of relationship management in new Greenfield expansions.     

Cultural distance or cultural positions? Analysing the effect of culture on the HQ–subsidiary relationship

We develop a model of cultural positions in relationships that should be considered in addition to the more conventional cultural distance. We empirically analyse relationships between headquarters and foreign subsidiaries in multinational corporations and how high or low acceptance of power differences at both sides of the relationship is associated with headquarters influence on subsidiary competence development. ANCOVA analyses of 1529 subsidiaries in six European countries, headquartered in 28 countries, provide new insights. We find that relationships with low cultural distance, differ significantly in terms of headquarters influence depending on whether headquarters and subsidiaries agree on accepting or rejecting power differences. Similarly, relationships with high cultural distance differ depending on whether it is headquarters or the subsidiary that is from a high-power-distance culture: we find that headquarters influence is particularly dependent on great acceptance of power differences by the subsidiary.     

Country Distance (COD): Development and Validation of a New Objective Measure

We propose a multidimensional and objective measure, country distance (COD), as a comprehensive measure of distance between countries. Although the literature has called for a measure like this, in particular to support international decision‐making by small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), the research carried out so far has relied on measures of limited focus. We use partial least squares to develop the COD index and investigate the relative importance of its three dimensions: socioeconomic development, physical, and cultural and historical distance. We externally validate the measure in an analysis of the international market selection decisions of a sample of SMEs and country‐level export flows.