Corporate governance failure and contingent political resources in transition economies: A longitudinal case study

This paper explores the dynamic relationship between politicians and entrepreneurs in the governance of business organizations in transition China. A longitudinal case study of Kelon (1984–2001), a product of politician-entrepreneur alliance in China’s household appliance sector, reveals how certain political resources that once assisted the entrepreneurs in creating competitive advantages in transition economies may turn into political liabilities during the course of institutional transition. Drawing upon the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, the rent appropriation literature, and the agency theory, this paper sheds light on the contingent impacts of political resources on corporate governance and firm performance in transition economies.     

Policies and structures for spinning off new companies from research and development organizations#

This paper develops five alternative structural 'models' for formal efforts aimed at spinning off new companies from universities, government laboratories, and other research and development organizations. In various ways the models combine the roles of the technology originator, the entrepreneur, the R&D organization itself, and the venture investor. The paper also presents the policies and structures of technology commercialization operations from investigations at eight R&D organizations in the United States and the United Kingdom. The data indicate that a R&D organization operating in an environment where venture capital and entrepreneurs are readily available (e.g., MIT and Stanford) can appropriately: (1) exercise a low degree of selectivity in choosing technologies for spin-off creation, and (2) provide a low level of support during the spin-off process. The spin-off process is more difficult in environments where venture capital and entrepreneurs are scarce (e.g., ARCH) and mechanisms for high-selectivity and a high level of support must be in place by the R&D organization to compensate for this scarcity.     

Entrepreneurship in International Business: An Institutional Perspective

International business activities have confronted entrepreneurs with host business environments that are fundamentally different from their home countries. Despite decades of entrepreneurship research, we know very little about these entrepreneurs and their strategic behaviour in establishing and managing transnational operations. This paper develops an institutional perspective on transnational entrepreneurship. This perspective argues that significant variations in institutional structures of home countries explain variations in the entrepreneurial endowments of prospective transnational entrepreneurs. Transnational entrepreneurship is embedded in transnational actor networks that facilitate successful cross-border business operations. This paper goes beyond the theoretical impasse in entrepreneurship and international business studies.     

How entrepreneurs discover opportunities in China: An institutional view

This paper investigates how entrepreneurs in China accumulate and integrate information and knowledge to identify opportunities when facing weak infrastructure and changing institutional settings. By employing institutional theory and an interactive framework of entrepreneurship, this paper proposes a model that incorporates both individual and environmental effects. First the individual characteristics that lead to opportunity recognition are discussed: (1) human capital, (2) social capital, and (3) social skills. Next the model proposes that the relationships between individual characteristics and opportunity recognition are contingent upon: (1) the entrepreneurial environment in which opportunities are discovered, and (2) the personal turbulence experienced by entrepreneurs.     

Foreign‐born academic scientists: entrepreneurial academics or academic entrepreneurs?

Although foreign‐born scholars make up a significant portion of the US professoriate, little is known about how their ‘foreign‐born’ identity directly or indirectly affects their entrepreneurial prowess. This article integrates role identity theory with theoretical arguments from social network and cultural proximity theories to examine whether foreign‐born academic scientists can better be characterized as entrepreneurial academics (strong government grant productivity) or academic entrepreneurs (strong involvement in the creation and commercialization of university‐invented technologies). Our analysis indicates that foreign‐born academic scientists seem more successful in attracting research resources, but are less successful in exploiting their inventions through entrepreneurial activities. They can therefore be best described as entrepreneurial academics. These findings may partially explain the tepid performance of many research‐intensive universities in terms of technology transfer and commercialization. We discuss the policy implications of our findings and provide guidance for academic entrepreneurs.     

The Formation of Fairness Perceptions in the Cooperation between Entrepreneurs and Universities

For entrepreneurs who intend to exploit university‐owned technologies, a cooperative relationship with the university is critical. This study aims to better understand this entrepreneur–university cooperation. A key factor influencing the quality of this cooperation is the fairness perception of the entrepreneur. However, little is known about how these fairness perceptions are formed in this context. Therefore, to increase insight in entrepreneur–university cooperation, this study explores the formation of fairness perceptions by entrepreneurs who cooperate with universities (in so‐called university spin‐offs). This study assesses how the rules these entrepreneurs employ to form fairness perceptions differ from fairness rules that have been established in previous studies on organizational justice. The results show that, in addition to established fairness rules, there are also fairness rules that are more specific to this entrepreneurial setting. These specific rules complement the established fairness rules to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the formation of fairness perceptions by entrepreneurs cooperating with a university. Moreover, this study explores to what extent different entrepreneurs form fairness perceptions differently and finds that both experience and relational capital of the entrepreneurs within the university are two key sources of heterogeneity. Overall, this study contributes to the literature by conceptualizing how entrepreneurs form fairness perceptions in cooperating with universities and how this extends established wisdom in organizational justice theory. Moreover, the rules identified in this study provide clues for entrepreneurs who wish to improve their collaboration with universities, and may also apply to the relationships between entrepreneurs and large corporations and between entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.     

Pioneering Advantages and Entrepreneurs' First‐mover Decisions: An Empirical Investigation for the United States and China

New ventures are often launched for the purpose of pioneering an innovative new product or service in the marketplace. Entrepreneurs or founders of new ventures thus often have to make the decision whether to be the market pioneer or the first mover. While being a first mover potentially is advantageous, it also involves taking risks and facing uncertainties. Entrepreneurs must assess the benefits and risks of pioneering in the first‐mover decision‐making process to realize the potential competitive advantages associated with being a pioneer. Previous research has shown how entrepreneurs perceive potential gains and losses associated with exploring opportunities as the key defining element of entrepreneurial decision‐making. Past studies have also indicated that cultural and business environmental factors affect both perceptions and decision‐making. However, studies to date have insufficiently addressed the relationship between entrepreneurs' perceived pioneering advantages/disadvantages and their first‐mover decisions, with little attention to cross‐national differences. This study includes hypotheses postulating how entrepreneurs' perceived advantages and disadvantages of pioneering affect the number of first‐mover decisions made by entrepreneurs in two different cultural contexts, the United States and China. We collect data from 152 U.S. entrepreneurs and 140 Chinese entrepreneurs over a four‐year period and carry out empirical tests on the hypotheses using Poisson regression models. Our results provide insight on how culture affects perceptions of advantages and disadvantages of pioneering, and how these perceptions impact the likelihood of making a first‐mover decision. We find that a higher level of perceived advantages will drive first‐mover decisions, whereas perceived disadvantages will deter first‐mover decisions. The negative effect of perceived erosion disadvantages on the number of first‐mover decisions was higher for Chinese entrepreneurs, consistent with the high risk‐aversion culture in China. However, this effect was not found for perceived uncertainty disadvantages, suggesting that the risk‐averse characteristics of Chinese entrepreneurs is an oversimplification, and that the Chinese cultural, business, and legal environment helps offset uncertainty disadvantages. We also find an interesting positive moderating effect of perceived advantage on the relationship between perceived disadvantages and the number of first‐mover decisions in China only. That is, if perceived advantages are low, Chinese entrepreneurs are more risk averse than U.S. entrepreneurs; but if perceived advantages are high, Chinese entrepreneurs are more risk‐seeking than U.S. entrepreneurs. This finding again challenges the risk aversion conclusion found by previous studies of Chinese managers.     

Religiosity and psychological contracts in Asian B2B service relationships

The growing significance of Asia in global trade has meant that service organizations within the region need to build robust relationships with customers that may reside in nations with different socio-cultural backgrounds. This paper draws on the theories of social exchange and social capital to examine how Indonesian service providers build B2B relationships with their Asian customers in the region, when the customers are from non-Islamic nations. This study used a survey to collect its primary data. Data from 312 Indonesian firms revealed that Asian cultural-specific concepts of religiosity not only had a positive impact on transactional and relational psychological contracts, but also dampened psychological contract breaches. Only relational psychological contracts had a positive effect on relational capital and relational wellbeing, despite transactional contracts being intrinsic to these relationships. Relational capital helped to reduce psychological contract breaches and improve relationship wellbeing, whereas psychological contract breaches reduced such wellbeing. Our findings significantly extend research on B2B service relationships and offer valuable managerial insights for service decision makers operating in Asia that involves B2B relationships between organizations with specific and different socio-cultural backgrounds.     

Plunging into the sea, again? A study of serial entrepreneurship in China

While it stands to reason that serial entrepreneurs—individuals who have founded more than one new venture—should achieve higher levels of success than novices, to date researchers have found little support for this proposition. Is this rather perplexing result only limited to the developed countries in which most research has been conducted? Or is it indicative of a general phenomenon, and hence requesting the need for new theory? We explore these questions by testing the existing theory in two geographic regions in a rapidly emerging transition economy—China. Data from 440 Chinese entrepreneurial ventures suggest that experienced entrepreneurs are better at developing networks, and at managing organizations than novices, but like their counterparts in developed countries, do not necessarily achieve higher levels of venture performance. Implications for theory, as well as for entrepreneurship in the context of transition economies are addressed.     

Can <Emphasis Type="Italic">guanxi</Emphasis> be a problem? Contexts,ties, and some unfavorable consequences of social capital in China

Social capital is generally believed to enhance the effectiveness of organizations in certain cultural contexts. However, even with substantial social capital in place, China, during its economic transition towards market systems in the past decades, witnessed problems stemming from underdevelopment and organizational dysfunction. To address this paradox, we delineate a unique type of networks-based social capital in China: dense strong-ties accompanied by sparse weak-ties. Drawing on extant literature, a conceptual framework is proposed to reveal the dynamics of the unique social capital set-up in the Chinese context: first, a view of how the country’s social capital system was formed under conditions of resource scarcity, and of how it was further modified by its unique Chinese cultural contexts; and second, an examination of how Chinese social capital led to certain unfavorable societal and organizational consequences—namely, market fragmentation, state intervention, and rent-seeking activities. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

国有企业工作经历、企业家才能与企业成长

人力资本的高效配置和企业家才能的充分发挥关系到经济的可持续发展,制度建设如果能促进资源合理流向具有企业家才能的企业家,就能创造更多就业和社会财富。基于全国1997—2016年的私营企业调查数据,本文考察企业家的国有企业工作经历对企业成长的影响。研究结果显示,企业家的国有企业工作经历使得企业在市场扩张和盈利能力等方面表现更好,带来了更高水平的企业成长。机制讨论表明,企业家行为带有明显的烙印效应,国有企业工作经历为企业家带来了更多的社会资本和更高的公司治理水平,从而促进了企业成长。为了缓解由于选择性偏误等带来的内生性,本文采用倾向得分匹配、处理效应模型、代理变量、双差分模型等方法进行处理,结论仍然稳健。中国经济要向资源配置效率改善型模式转变,企业家才能的发挥至关重要,国有企业改革不仅应注重产权等方面的改革,同时也要充分重视国有企业改革带来的人力资本溢出效应。在不断深化国有企业改革的大背景下,本文从企业家才能培育和人力资本配置效应的角度考察国有企业改革问题,倡导国有企业改革进程中进一步营造企业家才能发挥的空间和制度安排,提高人力资本配置效应,从而促进中国经济健康可持续发展。     

Type of entrepreneur,type of firm,and managerial motivation: Implications for organizational life cycle theory

Miner Sentence Completion Scale measures of managerial motivation for a sample of Oregon entrepreneurs were compared with interview data on entrepreneur and firm type using a system of differentiation derived from the Enterprising Man (Collins, Moore and Unwalla, 1964) research. Certain relationships between aspects of managerial motivation and firm expansion and growth were found. In addition, the overall level of managerial motivation among the entrepreneurs relative to corporate managers was found to be low, and the previously noted association between an opportunistic entrepreneurial type and growthoriented firms was confirmed. These findings are discussed in the context of organizational life cycle theory with special reference to the early stages of transition from entrepreneurial to bureaucratic forms and various typologies of entrepreneurs. It appears that under certain circumstances growth may not require a shift in leadership style, but that in some important respects entrepreneurial and bureaucratic systems are managerially distinct.     

Integrating Cross-Border Knowledge for Transnational New Product Development

Multi‐source knowledge integration, though widely regarded as fundamental for developing new products, remains obscurely understood and a significant challenge for organizations to accomplish. Prior research provides many insights on the approaches by which organizations transfer knowledge; however, how such transferred knowledge gets effectively embodied in products remains uncertain. Also unclear is whether different approaches for knowledge transfer differ in their effectiveness at realizing integration. This study analytically separates the transfer of cross‐border knowledge from its embodiment into products. It examines cross‐border knowledge transfer based on three different approaches: namely, the use of cross‐national teams, cross‐national communication, and cross‐national collaboration in the development of new transnational products. It examines cross‐border knowledge embodiment based on the extent to which new transnational products developed balance standardization with adaptation. The study uses a cross‐sectional survey administered to key members of transnational new product development teams in leading multinational companies across the world. The survey focuses on manufactured products that were developed across several industries: consumer products, consumer durables, and industrial products. Results from 90 new transnational product introductions surveyed reveal that knowledge integration is effective only when knowledge is transferred through cross‐national collaboration, and not when transferred through cross‐national teams and cross‐national communication. As integrating cross‐border knowledge in the development of transnational products involves making difficult trade‐offs for balancing standardization with adaptation, transferring knowledge through cross‐national collaboration stands out as being critical for successful outcomes. Although cross‐national teams and cross‐national communication enhance knowledge flows, they do not result in effective knowledge integration when developing new transnational products. These findings highlight an important point: All knowledge transfer approaches may not necessarily achieve knowledge integration. Hence, it is essential to systematically probe into the interrelationships between knowledge transfer and its effective integration and to identify an underlying set of contingencies that provide insights into when and why some knowledge transfer approaches are better than others at integrating knowledge.     

The Roles Incubator Organizations in Hi-Tech Venture Creation in Korea

In order to examine the roles of incubator organizations (places where entrepreneurs work before they start their ventures), ten high-tech venture founders were interviewed. Based on these interviews, their experience at incubator organizations and subsequent performance were analyzed, and 11 hypotheses regarding the characteristics of incubator organizations were formulated. The hypotheses are: high-tech venture are more likely to succeed if their founders have had the opportunity to prepare a business plan, to develop the prototype of a new product, to be acquainted with other disciplines, to work together as a team, and to acquire various kind of capabilities such as market-specific know-how, entrepreneurial skills and financing know-how at incubator organizations. However, it is hypothesized that the opportunity to acquire technological know-how and traditional managerial skills at incubator organizations are not positively correlated with venture success. The technological know-how and managerial skills could be regarded as a necessary but not sufficient condition for successful ventures. As the first study about Korean incubator organizations, the cases and the discussion of the hypotheses provide insights and implications for future studies.     

The Institutionalization of an Electronic Marketplace in China, 1998–2010

The paper traces the evolution of the electronic marketplace in China from 1998 to 2010. According to an application of actor network theory and institutional theory, the e‐marketplace was co‐constructed and institutionalized by various participating actors in interwoven diffusion and legitimation processes. A content analysis of news articles reveals key actors who helped develop and shape the e‐marketplace: consumers, online vendors, online criminals, technology companies, transaction platforms, entrepreneurs, professional associations, banks, and the government. The analysis of their interrelationships and major events reveals four distinct stages in the institutionalization of the e‐marketplace in China: novelty, incubating, empowering, and growth. Unique problems emerge at each stage, and different types of actors enter the actor network at different phases, playing unique roles in the co‐creation process to establish cultural, normative, and regulatory legitimacy. Many varied agents participated in a transformational process specific to the macro‐socioeconomic and technological environment of China, which featured particular institutional forms. eBay's failure to maintain a first‐mover advantage in China helps illustrate that global companies must understand political, economic, cultural, and institutional environments before considering expansion.     

Entrepreneurial marketing of international high-tech business-to-business new ventures: A decision-making process perspective

Knowledge of how entrepreneurial marketing is conducted in industrial markets is currently rather weak. This study explores the marketing decision-making process of entrepreneurs undertaking entrepreneurial marketing in international new ventures (INVs) operating in high-tech business-to-business markets. A qualitative study conducted with entrepreneurs from four case firms reveals that due to the iterative, incremental, and co-creative nature of the process, marketing decision making in high-tech business-to-business INVs that is more effectual than causal results in more entrepreneurial marketing. A novel finding is that entrepreneurs alternate causal and effectual marketing forms as a result of their ambidextrous entrepreneurialism, and variations in the internal uncertainty, technological uncertainty, and any market turbulence faced by the firm. We develop a dynamic model presenting the alternation between effectual and causal processes, and the feedback loop of entrepreneurial marketing. The research offers implications for the management of organizations operating under conditions of uncertainty on how their decision-making processes can optimize entrepreneurial marketing, how to create new markets, and how to reduce the perceived uncertainty in industrial markets.     

Structural social capital evolution and knowledge transfer: Evidence from an Irish pharmaceutical network

Businesses are becoming increasingly involved in collaboration networks to access external knowledge and sustain innovation. In this context, knowledge and knowledge transfer are considered an important source of innovation and competitive advantage. Social capital theory offers a theoretical approach to explain how individuals, groups, and organizations manage relationships and access knowledge resources. The structural dimension of social capital has stimulated debate regarding optimal network configuration to achieve innovation. The extant literature suggests network structures evolve from a bridging configuration to a bonding configuration without examining the details of how the evolution occurs within the network and its stage-by-stage impact on knowledge transfer. This study explores this relationship by analyzing the evolution of a successful Irish pharmaceutical network involving organizations from industry and academia. This research setting encompasses a rare network configuration in an industry known for its lack of collaboration among competing firms. Findings show that structural holes provide access to a set of complementary and heterogeneous knowledge. However, for such knowledge to be exploited, the network configuration has to evolve from a sparse network (small in size and characterized by weak ties across multiple organizational networks), to a large and cohesive network configuration characterized by high levels of commitment, trust, fine-grained information exchange, and joint problem solving. Mechanisms crucial to this evolution include consistently-scheduled meetings, training to communicate tacit knowledge, wide diffusion of knowledge through an on online portal, and relationship specific investments designed to safeguard intellectual property. Surprisingly, industry members appear to transition to a cohesive network faster than do academic members.     

Determinants of transnational new product development capability: testing the influence of transferring and deploying tacit overseas knowledge

Based on a survey of 90 transnational product introductions, we find that the transnational product development capabilities of organizations significantly depend upon their ability to transfer and deploy tacit knowledge concerning overseas markets. Specifically, we find that organizations which use cross-national teams, teams with members who have prior overseas experience, or teams whose members communicate frequently with overseas managers in order to acquire information about tacit differences among countries have greater transnational product development capabilities. This study contributes to our understanding of how organizations transfer and deploy knowledge across borders for competitive advantage and makes an important contribution to the literature on global strategy. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Entrepreneurial beacons: The Yale endowment,run‐ups,and the growth of venture capital

Research summary : This article investigates the social context of entrepreneurship in organizational sectors. Prior research suggests that firm foundings are driven by collective patterns of activity—such as patterns of prior foundings in a given sector. Building on research on social salience and signals, we consider the influence of singular sector‐level triggers, which we call entrepreneurial beacons. We argue that the actions or outcomes of single, salient organizations attract and motivate entrepreneurs, thus increasing the rate of foundings. We test this logic by examining the impact of the Y ale U niversity endowment's investment choices and of venture‐capital‐backed IPO run‐ups on venture‐capital foundings between 1984 and 2011. We find support for the existence and influence of beacons and outline boundary conditions for their effects . Managerial summary : What leads entrepreneurs to found new companies in nascent sectors? In contrast to prior research, which emphasizes patterns of activity, we argue that entrepreneurial activity can sometimes be driven by the actions of a singular trigger—what we call an entrepreneurial beacon. We examine the influence of two such beacons, Y ale U niversity's endowment investments and exceptional venture‐capital‐backed IPO run‐ups, on the founding of new venture‐capital firms over a 28‐year period. We find that Y ale's increased allocations to the venture‐capital asset‐class has a significant influence on the founding of new venture‐capital firms, while exceptional venture‐capital‐backed IPO run‐ups only influence venture‐capital foundings under certain conditions. Overall, we offer an explanation for heretofore anecdotal accounts of certain organizations or events that appear to have an outsized influence on entrepreneurial activity . Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unveiling dimensions of organizational culture: an exploratory study in Malaysian R&D organizations

Previous literature indicated that research and development (R&D) activities are influenced, to a large extent, by the culture of the organization. While these studies have identified elements of culture that are conducive to R&D, identifying the existing dimensions of organizational culture in Malaysian R&D organizations has not been empirically explored. The measures for this study were originally developed for the sole purpose of capturing cultural aspects in R&D organizations in the Malaysian context. These measures were developed based on the relevant issues discovered from exploratory case studies and nine categories of cultural values identified from the literature. A sample of employees (n = 198) from 45 R&D organizations took part in this study. Factor analysis was adopted to uncover common underlying dimensions (factors) of the organizational culture construct. The findings suggest that the organizational culture construct in R&D organizations may best be represented through a structure of eight factors. The eight factors are teamwork and knowledge sharing, empowerment and recognition, conformity and impediments to R&D, risk‐taking, customer orientation, autonomy, social networking, and organizational design. Despite some methodological issues that arose from this study, this model has the potential to become a management instrument to measure the underlying culture in R&D organizations. R&D managers can deploy this model to establish the baseline level of research culture in their respective units and thus provide the foundation for management initiatives to drive R&D activities. This model can also be used as benchmarking parameters when an R&D organization intends to evaluate various aspects of their organizational culture in relation to others that are considered to be leaders in the industry.