Business model innovation: How the international retailers rebuild their core business logic in a new host country

Although research into the business model has received increasing attention, few studies have so far been conducted on business model innovation in an international context. The purpose of the study is to identify different patterns of business model innovation which enables international retailers to rebuild their core business logic in new host countries. On the basis of comparing and contrasting the business model changes of 15 international retailers from various home countries to one single host country (China), our study provides an in-depth understanding of business model innovation in the context of international business. By looking at the firms’ capabilities in rebuilding their core logic in the setting of a host country, we reveal six routes of retail business model innovation. Utilizing the lens of organizational learning theory and internationalization, we identify three patterns of resource deployment by international companies in the process of developing business model innovations. Our study, therefore, provides insights and guidance for multinational companies in general, international retailers in particular, as for how to successfully adapt their business model from home country to host country.     

A unified systems perspective of family firm performance

Theory and practice indicate that in family-influenced firms, the interaction of the family unit, the business entity, and individual family members create unique systemic conditions and constituencies that impact the performance outcomes of the family business social system. Habbershon and Williams [Fam. Bus. Rev. 12 (1999) 1] have suggested that these unique systemic family influences can be captured through an analysis of the resources and capabilities of the organization. In this paper, we pursue their line of thinking and more specifically examine the systemic relationship of resources and capabilities as a source of advantage or constraint to the performance outcomes for family-influenced firms. The idiosyncratic firm level bundle of resources and capabilities resulting from the systems interactions are referred to as the “familiness” of the firm. Wealth-creating performance for family-influenced firms is a function of the “distinctive familiness” generated by the family business system. The performance model focuses on a particular subset of family-influenced firms whose performance goal is transgenerational wealth and wealth creation potential. We refer to those families that meet this premise as “enterprising families.” We develop a unified systems model of performance that links the resources and capabilities generated in the enterprising families system with their potential for transgenerational wealth creation.     

快递企业服务制造业物流的合作收益分配研究——基于修正的Raiffa解模型分析

服务制造业物流是中国快递企业现阶段扩展高附加值增值业务、实现高质量发展的重要内容。基于边际贡献和市场地位因素，文章提出了快递服务制造业直销物流的价值链“Z型曲线”，采用基于市场地位的“Z因子”扩展了传统的基于边际贡献的Raiffa解模型，并应用该扩展模型分析了快递企业服务制造业直销物流的合作收益分配问题。结论发现，应用扩展的Raiffa解模型计算快递服务制造业直销物流收益分配更加符合现实，且更具有操作性。基于行业调研数据，文章应用算例对该模型进行了验证。     

Entrepreneurship and strategic thinking in business ecosystems

Success in business ecosystems that include well-established companies and new ventures requires collaboration and competition, a task that demands strategic thinking to leverage a firm's resources and capabilities. Strategic thinking and the entrepreneurial activities in an ecosystem influence one another in a cycle that perpetuates and even sparks innovation. These interactions vary significantly across four types of business ecosystems—Orchestra, Creative Bazaar, Jam Central, and MOD Station—and determine the success and failures of new ventures and established companies. The nature and effect of the dynamic interactions in a business ecosystem can have profound implications for organizational success.     

环境不确定性下农产品电子商务能力对企业绩效影响的实证研究

农产品电子商务是拓展农产品销售渠道、促进农业产业兴旺的重要力量。然而农产品电子商务企业亏损经营、甚至倒闭正成为该行业面临的巨大挑战。如何在复杂的市场环境下顺利开展农产品电子商务并获得企业绩效,亟需引起产业界和学术界的重视。基于动态能力理论,文章从组织敏捷性视角构建了环境不确定性下农产品电子商务能力对企业绩效的影响模型,讨论农产品电子商务能力对企业绩效的作用机制。实证结果表明,组织敏捷性对农产品电子商务能力和企业绩效之间的关系存在中介作用;环境不确定性的三个维度环境敌意、环境动态性和环境复杂性均阻碍了组织敏捷性对企业绩效的积极影响,但对农产品电子商务能力与组织敏捷性之间的关系没有显著调节作用。因此在环境不确定性下企业应合理配置自身的农产品电子商务能力,以此来提高组织敏捷性并获取竞争优势。     

Market attractiveness,resource-based capabilities,venture strategies,and venture performance

This research seeks to identify variables that should be related to venture performance. It is hypothesized that both market attractiveness and resource-based capabilities are directly related to new venture performance. In addition, specific resource-based capabilities are hypothesized to be directly related to the competitive strategies chosen by a firm. Finally, the “fit” between strategies and resource-based capabilities is hypothesized to be related to venture performance.The sample consisted of all manufacturing businesses (SIC codes 20–39) started or reorganized in the corporate form between 1980 and 1991 in nine counties in northwestern Pennsylvania, as identified by a major marketing research service. Of the 800 companies surveyed, completed questionnaires were returned for 155, representing a 19% response rate. The 155 responding companies had a median age of 5 years with a median of 15 employees. The major products of companies in the sample included flour, lumber, household and office furniture, plastic containers, tools and dies, ready mixed concrete, pipe fittings, measuring devices, paint and varnish, machine tools, electroplate, carbon and graphite composite products, plastic laminated products, circuit boards, electronic components, and parts for internal combustion engines.In general, the results confirm the validity of the measures of environmental and organizational characteristics as we have adapted them for new ventures. As hypothesized, perceived market attractiveness and the overall abundance of resource-based capabilities were significantly related to venture performance. Also, in two of three cases, the evidence suggests that specific resource-based capabilities are related to the firm's stated competitive strategies. Finally, although the relationship between “fit” and performance is not supported in all cases, the performance of the emerging manufacturing ventures included in this sample appears to be enhanced when resource-based capabilities are supportive of a cost leadership strategy and when firms seeking to differentiate based on product and service quality have the resource-based capabilities to support that strategy. The results of this emerging research stream will make an important contribution to our understanding of the factors that impact firm performance. For scholars the results provide additional information needed to develop comprehensive new venture performance models. A clear understanding of the factors that have a strong influence on venture performance will enable practitioners to better identify viable business opportunities and academicians to provide potential business founders with tools to help them recognize opportunity. In addition, the identification of appropriate levels of abstraction will provide building blocks for future research that seeks to integrate environmental and firm-level constructs.     

A global approach to the analysis of user behavior in mobile payment systems in the new electronic environment

Mobile devices and social media have led to a profound revolution of modern society, obliging many companies to reorient their sales systems towards more successful commercial formats (mobile commerce and social commerce). The mobile payment, for instance, as an emerging and supplementary service to these new commercial formats, is now undergoing the adoption process. Mobile payment has long been discussed, but it has not yet reached the usage levels expected by the different mass market players (financial institutions, telephone operators, etc.) in Western societies. The purpose of this paper is to analyze users’ acceptance of mobile payment systems on social networks. In order to explain acceptance, we have integrated trust and perceived risk into the traditional TAM model. To complete this study, we have established the decisive factors of this payment system by analyzing user’s gender, age and experience level. The study was conducted through an online survey among a national panel composed by 2.012 social network users. The results of this research support previous studies and provide alternatives for companies to consolidate this new business model by means of the new technical developments.     

Aspects of University Research and Technology Transfer to Private Industry

University research in the U.S.A. is based on a tight relationship between University and economic activity. In Europe and South America, although less commonly than in the U.S.A., there's already a large amount of experiences related to the creation of "on campus" or "spin off" companies based on the results and knowledge obtained from research in University departments and R&D centres financed with public funds. The virtual base of this results in communication technologies enables private use and the appropriation of the benefits by their authors. European model, historically widely separated from private companies, has produced high quality basic research, but it has failed to obtain profit from technological development. Research funds happen to be basically public. Europe heads for economic, politic and military union. Common economic space and the growing up of the new markets, which we can foresee to be extended to other countries, will promote business opportunities and the relationship University-Industry. University institutions and faculties should think about their current ethic convictions to create a new Industry-University model in the context of a global economy.     

What happens to international new ventures beyond start-up: An exploratory study

Since its inception, research in international entrepreneurship has focused mainly on how and why international new ventures internationalize early on. To date, there has been hardly any research regarding the issue of continuing corporate growth in such ventures beyond their start-up phase or initial internationalization. Theoretically, we ground our study within the dynamic capabilities view of the firm and through an inductive theory building research explore how and whether international new ventures made-it beyond the start-up phase, aiming to generate early theoretical constructs to guide international entrepreneurship research in this substantive area. Grounded in data, we develop the following constructs related to made-it points: strategic experimentation, tensions in organizational gestalt, and legitimacy lies. To get to a made-it point, entrepreneurs experiment with their venture at several levels: organizational, business model, and operational. These experimentation efforts are fueled by tensions that exist in the organizational gestalt, such as ownership structure, business proposition to the market, and product development process. To legitimate themselves and their venture in the stakeholders’ eyes, entrepreneurs may tell legitimacy lies. We maintain that international new ventures do not reach a made-it point if they only manage to develop substantive capabilities to produce desired outputs at various levels within the venture but fail to create dynamic capabilities to change and reconfigure existing substantive capabilities.     

Characteristics of a Logistics-Based Business Model

In companies where excellence in logistics is decisive for the outperformance of competitors and logistics has an outspoken role for the strategy of the firm, there is present what we refer to here as a “logistics-based business model.” Based on a multiple case study of three Nordic retail companies, the purpose of this article is to explore the characteristics of such a logistics-based business model. As such, this research helps to provide structure to logistics-based business models and identifies a way forward for companies for whom logistics and distribution are a major concern for the overall strategy of the firm.     

Green Business Strategies of Exporting Manufacturing Firms: Antecedents,Practices, and Outcomes

This research investigates the drivers that lead exporting manufacturing companies to adopt environmentally friendly actions, exploring green business practices/strategies they conducted and examining the outcomes which resulted from companies' green business activities. This exploratory study particularly focuses on green business strategies of Turkish manufacturing exporters. Thirty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted with executive managers from 22 companies and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results of the study reveal two internal (i.e., capabilities and resources) and four external stimulating forces (i.e., stakeholder pressures, institutional-based, network-based, and external factors) that encourage companies to implement green business operations, which were also classified under six functional themes. This study emphasizes several noteworthy outcomes (i.e., export competitive advantage and export performance). In doing so, the findings of this study provide a holistic insight into green business strategies within the exporting context by outlining both theoretical and managerial implications.     

Service Business Development in Small- to Medium-Sized Equipment Manufacturers

Purpose: This article explores service business development by small- and medium-sized equipment manufacturers (SMEMs). It focuses on underlying dynamic and operational capabilities in service business development.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The research design is based on case study research with nine companies from Germany, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Findings: The findings are twofold. First, the authors elaborate the phases and capabilities necessary for service business development. Second, they argue that these phases and capabilities depend on sales channels (direct sales versus indirect sales through distributors) and customer structures (a limited number of strategic customers versus many end-customers). SMEMs selling directly to a limited number of strategic customers develop organizational capabilities through four phases: (1) consolidation of service offerings, (2) job enlargements in organizational functions, (3) job enlargement in the key account teams, and (4) orchestration of partners to widen the solutions offered to customers. SMEMs selling indirectly through distributors to many customers develop organizational capabilities through the following four phases: (1) rearranging collaboration with distributors, (2) enlarging the service competencies of distributors, (3) modifying distributors into subsidiaries, and (4) enlarging jobs in the sales function of the subsidiaries.

Research Limitations/Implications: The research limitations are due mainly to the intrinsic nature of qualitative research.

Practical Implications: Managers can obtain guidance for service business development from the phases and capabilities described in the paper.

Originality/Value: The study offers a comprehensive framework for assisting researchers in conceptualizing service business development and operationalizing capabilities. The results provide testable propositions that can be used to guide future research.     

模式与本土化 2009年度中国最佳商业模式获奖案例

商业模式中的模式一词所包含的根源性和普适性的意思,容易给人们造成一种误解,那就是一个美妙的商业模式,可以放之四海而皆准地使用在不同的国家和市场环境里,尤其是在这个日趋全球化的世界里。     

Market orientation and design orientation: a management model

Market orientation and design orientation as strategic concepts have a proven impact on business results, but the direct relationship between these concepts has not yet been analysed. This research attempts to prove the relationship by studying the managerial implication of design orientation as it relates to market orientation. After analysing 28 case studies of Spanish companies well-known for their business excellence and their design orientation, a management model is proposed. The model is a management tool that offers companies a scheme for auto-diagnosis and a review of best-in-class design practices that have shown to improve business results.     

Business process innovation in the supply chain – a case study of implementing vendor managed inventory

A growing number of international companies operate in a standard business systems environment. This suggests that standard business system solutions, e.g. from SAP R/3, might be adopted rather than introducing new problem specific systems solutions for new business requirements. This could be a cost efficient alternative in a situation when supply chain sophistication and integration demands from customers are increasing. In the Nordic countries vendor managed inventory (VMI) is an example of a new way of doing business that can give pioneers a competitive edge. The vendor in this case is the first supplier to go into a full-scale VMI relationship with the wholesaler – and has, through this, substantially reduced delivery costs to the retail trade. The case VMI implementation demonstrates that it is possible to arrive at a simple but efficient solution in a standard systems environment. The case shows how VMI can be implemented in a SAP R/3 environment based on the EDIFACT inventory report.     

The Effects of Learning on Relationship Value in a Business Network Context

ABSTRACT

In today's intense global competition, a firm's ability to learn from its networks of business relationships is an important source of sustainable competitive advantage. Learning in a network of relationships involves a constellation of resource linkages among business partners tied together by interconnected resources. This has the potential of increasing the relationship value of a firm in terms of knowledge created through interactions among firms in the business network. Prior research has not yet examined the effects of learning in and through relationships in a business network context. Interdependence of firms in business networks gives rise to learning effects of adaptation and coordination that can have implications for relationship value. An empirical study of 215 business relationships from a network of nine high-technology companies in the United Kingdom shows that learning in and through relationships as a result of interactions and resource interdependencies in networks of relationships has a positive effect on a firm's relationship value. Furthermore, an understanding of the network context through interactions among firms facilitates learning and development of the firm's learning capabilities that enhance relationship value.     

Aligning regional and business strategies: Looking inside the Basque Country entrepreneurial innovation ecosystem

The current socio‐economic scenarios have generated several challenges for any organization. Regional authorities have designed policies that combine supply–demand needs and innovative entrepreneurship programs. The alignment between regional and business strategies has become critical to ensure the necessary resources, skills and capabilities in the region. This article analyses the alignment of regional strategies (entrepreneurial innovation ecosystems) and business strategies (development of new entrepreneurial innovations). By adopting mixed theoretical approaches, we proposed a conceptual model to understand the role of institutional strategies on the definition of business strategies. Given the nature of this study, our methodological design combines a case study approach and an action research approach. Our results provide insights into the positive outcomes generated when regional strategies and business strategies are aligned.     

Japanese Professional Business Services: A Proposed Analytical Typology

This paper explores certain characteristics of Japanese professional business services (PBS). The aim is to develop an analytical typology consisting of the three dimensions – organizational linkage, service market, and competitive situation – for analysing the obtained empirical data. This typology has been developed in order to increase the understanding of how Japanese companies operate within this sector and also to examine the reasons behind the fact that Japanese business services seem to be marginalized in an international context. This typology could serve as a theoretical frame for comparing Japanese companies with western companies in future research. This research is based on empirical material collected in Japan in the spring of 2001, covering research institutes, general trading houses and insurance companies. Using the constructed analytical typology, the findings reveal that strong organizational linkages have generated a business service market where diversification of service supply within companies is common. However, there are strong indications of a changing business environment with increased competition and further specialization among business service firms. Furthermore, the findings indicate that Japanese companies have difficulties competing with highly-specialized and reputable western business service firms.     

Corporate venturing: the origins of Unilever's pregnancy test

Large established corporations face many challenges to develop and sustain dynamic capabilities in innovation and the creation of new businesses because of constraints arising from technological and resource lock-ins, and routine and cultural rigidities. From the 1960s large corporations became increasingly aware of such problems. Heavy research spending was not translated into successful new business creation. The formation of autonomous entrepreneurial units within large corporations was one response. The origins of Unilever's home pregnancy test, Clearblue, which was launched in 1985, is used as a case study to examine the viability of one version of this strategy. Unilever was able to translate its extensive knowledge base in immunology into a successful branded product in medical diagnostics by creating a separate corporate entity, Unipath, with a distinctive culture, shielded from the mainstream Unilever organisation, yet able to draw on corporate capabilities in marketing, and financial resources. Yet the very distinctiveness of Unipath orphaned it within Unilever, and the business was divested in 2001.