The Effects of Pre-venture Plan Timing and Perceived Environmental Uncertainty on the Persistence of Emerging Firms

This paper explores the effects of when pre-venture planning occurs (early or late) in the sequence of activities accomplished during the process of new business emergence, and the moderating effects of environmental context (the degree of perceived financial, competitive and operational uncertainty), on the persistence of emerging business startup efforts. Using data from the U.S. Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED), our analyses found a strong main effect for business planning: Nascent entrepreneurs who completed a business plan were 2.6 times more likely to persist in the process of business emergence than those who did not complete a plan. In addition, the likelihood of venture persistence increased when nascent entrepreneurs engaged in planning early in the sequence of start-up activities in perceived uncertain financial and competitive environments, while venture persistence increased when nascent entrepreneurs engaged in planning late in a sequence of activities in perceived certain financial and competitive environments.     

Perceived psychological distance,construal processes,and abstractness of entrepreneurial action

In this paper we develop the concept of abstractness as an underlying theoretical structure of entrepreneurial action, specifically to connect individual perception of psychological distance to entrepreneurial action. We draw on construal level theory to model distance and abstractness, using construal as the mechanism where, in new venture creation, entrepreneurs are expected over time to engage in more abstract action when they perceive greater psychological distance. Based on longitudinal data from 350 entrepreneurs, results from cross-lagged panel analysis indicate that psychological distance shapes the actions of entrepreneurs over time through social distance and hypotheticality. These findings advance entrepreneurial action research, practice, and pedagogy by showing that the apparently implicit relationship between entrepreneurial perception and entrepreneurial action may actually be quite explicit, when abstractness of action is seen as a construal-mechanism-based function of psychological distance.     

Building entrepreneurial tie portfolios through strategic homophily: The role of narrative identity work in venture creation and early growth

In this article, we present the results of a case study of an entrepreneur who successfully founded and grew a venture underpinned by a portfolio of strongly homophilous, dyadic ties. Building on our case, we discuss how the entrepreneur strategically constructed these ties through a form of narrative identity work, explore the shared identity narratives that he used to do so, and highlight the heterogeneous nature of the resulting tie portfolio. We go on to explore the factors that motivated the entrepreneur to purposefully construct an entrepreneurial tie portfolio in this way. Building on our findings, we discuss the nature of narrative identity work and its role in creating homophilous ties, explore the connection between the resulting shared identity narratives and trust, and discuss the central role of values in strategic homophily.     

Reconceptualizing value creation: Exploring the role of goal congruence in the Co-creation process

As companies gradually shift from the exchange view to the resource integration view, the creation of value also shifts from the customer sphere to the joint sphere. As a result, the customer and service provider are responsible for co-creating value through resource integration. However, it raises the question of whether customers are capable of contributing to the co-creation of value. Our study proposes a framework of how goal congruence plays a pivotal role in the resource integration process between all actors in the joint sphere. When the level of goal congruence between customer and service provider actors is high, it stimulates the exchange of valuable resources from all actors, which leads to the actual experience of co-creation resulting in value-in-use and improves service outcomes, i.e., customer satisfaction and loyalty. Data were collected through a field survey from salon-and-spa customers (n = 530) and PLS-SEM was employed to test the hypotheses and further analysis. The results show that goal congruence impacts customer satisfaction and loyalty through value-in-use. Therefore, suggesting service providers to properly socialize their goals will be a good strategy to increase customer capability to co-create value and ultimately enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.     

Interfield Dynamics: Law and the creation of new organisational fields in the nineteenth-century United States

Abstract

This article draws on the concept of ‘strategic action fields’ to examine the interaction of law and organisations in the nineteenth-century United States. Focusing on the emergence of savings banking, it analyses how new legal rules were created to define the actors, actions and relationships that constituted the organisational field. The article develops three conceptual claims about the dynamics of institutional contexts: (a) the configuration of state fields shaped the nature and timing of legal rule making vis-à-vis organisational fields; (b) state actors engaged in ‘inter-field framing’ by applying analogies from the legal field to define social order in the organisational one; and (c) the legal and organisational fields were mutually constituted through these interactions. The article concludes by elaborating on the broader value of the theory of fields in business history.     

跨国公司生产组织变革、技术外溢与我国加工贸易的升级

本文探讨了跨国公司国际生产组织的变革以及与这种变革相适应的国际生产网络中的技术外溢机制与加工贸易升级之间的关系。为了与产品内分工相适应,跨国公司调整其国际生产组织方式,形成了国际生产网络。以跨国公司为主导的国际生产网络中的技术外溢为我国加工企业提升生产能力带来了良机,对我国加工贸易升级具有重要意义。我国的加工贸易企业既要积极参与到国际生产网络之中,又要主动学习和吸收高层级主体向其溢出的先进技术和知识。     

复杂网络理论在对等网络特性分析中的应用

基于现有的复杂网络理论,研究了对等网络的复杂特性,并就对等网络中节点度和节点 间平均最短路径两个特征参数进行算法设计和仿真。仿真结果表明,对等网络中使用复杂网 络理论的特性分析理论结果与实验结果基本一致,能准确反映对等网络的特性。     

Exploring Point of Sale Strategies for Improving Seafood Retailing: The Case of the Australian Oyster Industry

The commodification of many food products, combined with increasing market share of supermarkets, has increased the importance of point of sale (POS) strategies in specialty food retailers such as fishmongers. This study seeks to develop strategies to improve the retailing of seafood in fishmongers, specifically oysters, an underutilized species; although they are eaten by many consumers, purchase frequency is low. A literature review identifies the key drivers and barriers to oyster consumption and the information consumers want at POS. Based on these findings, a retailing strategy is developed and tested in two consumer focus groups with results informing revisions to the recommended retail strategy, importantly including a change in collateral from a production focus to a consumption focus. This study contributes to theory and practice by bringing together the existing literature on drivers and barriers and consumer information requirements about oysters to develop and to test practical retail strategy concepts.     

Exploring the factors of using mobile ticketing applications: Perspectives from innovation resistance theory

This passenger resistance to adopting innovative mobile services has been widely discussed and needs more examination. The present research model used the innovation resistance theory factors, including usage barriers, value barriers, risk barriers, tradition barriers, and image barriers, to verify the antecedents of mobile ticketing application usage. A mobile ticketing app includes making seat reservations, payment, ticket collection, and entry and boarding procedures. Additionally, the model considers the impact of technological anxiety, personal innovation characteristics, informativeness, and word of mouth to identify critical factors in determining resistance barriers and willingness to adopt. A questionnaire was distributed over the Internet, and responses were analyzed using statistical analysis software to test the proposed hypotheses. The analysis results found that the factors of Innovation Resistance Theory negatively affected intention to use the T-Express app. Among these, the tradition barrier is the first key factor. Moreover, the consumer and communication characteristics had significant effects on barrier factors. This research provides useful insights and suggestions for improving mobile ticketing app usage based on the findings.     

Exploring the drivers of customer engagement behaviours in social network brand communities: towards a customer-learning model

Customer learning is regarded as a process that alters either individual cognition or the outcomes of socialisation. Understanding how the learning process works enables a brand firm to identify a customer’s latent needs. Prior studies have primarily focused on effectively positioning brand knowledge in the minds of customers, but that linear learning process does not apply to the interactive and proactive social media setting. Based on the uses and gratifications perspective, this study proposes a customer-learning model and analyses 373 online questionnaires using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The empirical results confirm that learning motivation and collaborative learning are two core components of customer learning that have positive influences on satisfaction, which in turn has a positive influence on customer engagement behaviours (CEBs) and loyalty. In addition, learning motivation is the driver of collaborative learning. Finally, CEBs also have a positive influence on loyalty. This study also concludes that the social network brand community is an informative customer-learning platform that is characterised by interactivity, collaborative learning and co-creation. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.     

Rethinking the bottom of the pyramid: Towards a new marketing mix

The purpose of this study is to re-conceptualize the conventional marketing mix for Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) markets and propose a revised framework by reorganizing the elements based on the customer perspective while retaining the principles of services marketing. Primary data was collected through a questionnaire with a sample size of 400 people from both urban and rural markets in the BoP. Findings indicate that the needs and perspective of the BoP members is distinct from the Middle of the Pyramid (MoP). Managers should consider this point while formulating marketing mix strategies for BoP markets. The present study is the first of its kind to present a revised marketing mix framework for customers in the BoP markets. The framework comprises five Ps, including personalization, product, place, the process of service delivery and price. Thus, a theoretical contribution is made in the context of service marketing and the BoP.     

National culture, networks and ethnic entrepreneurship: A comparison of the Indian and Chinese immigrants in the US

This paper uses a combination of national cultural frameworks and social capital theory to explain the formation and management of entrepreneurial ventures among immigrant communities. The varying rates of venture formation and performance among different ethnic groups points to the role that the different dimensions of culture play in how immigrants use their social networks to start such firms. We use the specific example of the Indian and Chinese communities in the US to demonstrate this effect and explain how businesses created by members of these communities could have potentially different ways of starting and operating that can be directly traced to the differences in cultural orientation of their owners. What emerges can be summarized as: (a) different immigrant communities have different ways of accumulating and using social capital in starting and managing their ethnic ventures; (b) these dissimilarities manifest themselves in variations in the motives for forming these ventures, human resource practices and termination rates; and (c) that these variations can partly be explained by the differences in their respective national cultures.     

Chinese FDI in the French and Australian Wine Industries: Liabilities of Foreignness and Country of Origin Effects

This paper explores the recent evolution of Chinese investment in the wine industries in the Bordeaux region of France and Western Australia (WA). The study identifies variations in the nature of the investments undertaken, which are not always consistent with existing theory. We explore how these differences impact on the liability of foreignness (LOF) experienced (Eden and Miller, 2004; Zaheer, 1995). We find evidence of all three of the categories of hazards identified by Eden and Miller (2004), with unfamiliarity being particularly significant, especially for wholly owned investments. We postulate that differences in context between home and host countries are a key factor explaining both the observed difficulties and the differences in experiences. The findings of our work on LOF, in terms of its nature and mitigating strategies, resonate well with existing theory, although we also find evidence of a Country of Origin (COO) effect, both in terms of Liability of Origin (LOR) and Assets of Foreignness (AOF). The variations in entry mode and LOF, however, are less consistent with existing research and pose questions in relation to the interaction between the home and host contexts, company strategy and LOF.     

粤港澳大湾区新一代人工智能发展评价研究

为全面评价粤港澳大湾区AI发展水平,本文在参考《国家创新能力评价指标体系》《国家创新型城市创新能力评价指标体系》《国家高新区创新能力评价指标体系》《企业创新能力评价指标体系》基础上,以《粤港澳大湾区发展规划纲要》为指引,立足于粤港澳大湾区新一代AI发展特点,从城市、园区、企业、科研机构四个维度构建了AI评价指标体系。通过指标评估分析,总结了粤港澳大湾区AI发展现状及存在问题,从加强区域协同、推进重点载体建设、加强基础研究、探索开源系统、注重人才队伍培养等方面提出了针对性对策建议。     

广东省对外直接投资对其人均GDP水平影响的实证研究

广东省对外直接投资对净出口拉动当地人均GDP起到了促进作用。与其他地区相比,广东省外向型经济特征明显,对外投资的主体是颇具市场活力的民营经济,对外直接投资与出口之间存在互补关系。没有明确证据表明对外直接投资替代了出口。这个结论在OLS、2SLS和SEM三种计量模型中均得到了支持。因此在市场化进程加快的地区,企业自发的对外直接投资对整体经济水平提升会起到积极作用。     

我国区域残疾现患率与人类发展指数相关性研究

根据第二次全国残疾人抽样调查(2006)以及2006年全国统计年鉴等相关数据资源,分别计算反映我国不同区域残疾水平的残疾现患率指标,以及反映我国不同区域社会经济发展水平的人类发展指数指标。探求残疾的罹患与社会经济发展之间的相关关系,证明不同社会经济水平条件下,残疾罹患水平具有区域差异性。在理论和实际两个方面为不同社会经济水平地区的残疾人保障和康复扶助工作提供了指导和政策支持。     

西部人才开发模型及战略分析

知识经济中人才是最重要的资源.西部大开发处在知识经济迅猛发展的历史阶段,人才开发对西部经济发展具有十分重大的战略意义.西部人才开发的核心是人才体制的创新.构建优良的人才环境系统是西部人才开发的目标.只有这样,我国才有可能完成西部大开发的历史重任.     

交通基础设施对“一带一路”沿线国家企业出口的影响——基于世界银行企业调查数据的实证研究

文章基于世界银行2004～2017年45个"一带一路"沿线国家的企业调查数据,利用双重差分模型分析了交通基础设施对企业出口的影响。结果发现:(1)基础设施对企业出口影响显著,基础设施越完善,企业从事出口经营可能性越大,出口比例也会越大。(2)交通基础设施合作可通过降低企业出口障碍、减少企业出口所需时间成本来改善当地出口,提高企业的出口可能性及出口比例。(3)相对于陆路运输,港口建设改善了沿线国家的交通类基础设施,并推动了当地企业的出口。此外,对于外资企业或外国投资占比较大的企业而言,交通基础设施改善对企业出口有更大的促进作用。     

Professional Ethics in a Virtual World: The Impact of the Internet on Traditional Notions of Professionalism

Numerous articles in the popular press together with an examination of websites associated with the medical, legal, engineering, financial, and other professions leave no doubt that the role of professions has been impacted by the Internet. While offering the promise of the democratization of expertise – expertise made available to the public at convenient times and locations and at an affordable cost – the Internet is also driving a reexamination of the concept of professional identity and related claims of expertise and standards of integrity.This paper begins with a presentation of case studies illustrating the ease by which impostors infiltrate the ranks of professionals. Reports of individuals masquerading as professionals via the Internet often reveal that these imposters cause harm to the unwary victims who rely on assertions of professional expertise. Such reports motivated the authors to examine the origins and evolution of the traditional roles of professions and professionals in today’s society, as well as question how, or whether, the standards for professional practice have been adapted to the challenges posed by technology, i.e., do statements of professional ethics provide a ‘guiding light’ for practitioners and their clients in the cyber age? The authors challenge the professions to consider the notion that technology forces a confrontation between the guild-like aspects of a profession that have served, on the one hand, to protect a profession from encroachment and, on the other hand, have purportedly protected the public.The authors conclude by presenting an examination of websites that show recognition of the challenges that the Internet poses to professionalism, as we have known it. Detailed discussion of the websites of two professions illustrates different approaches to responding to these challenges.     

一种改进的重置成本法在旧机动车价格评价体系中的应用

旧机动车属于固定资产机器设备的一类产品,对旧机动车的评估也是以资产评估理论为基础,评估中重置成本法具有更多的优点和更广阔的适用范围,因此本文选择重置成本法作为旧机动车评估的理论依据.将原有的重置成本法公式进行改进,对成新率的综合调整系数采用了英国运筹学家赛特(T.L.Saaty)提出的层次分析法进行确定.文章详细介绍了这一种改进的重置成本法,并通过实例进行了实际应用.