Who Do Start‐Up Firms Imitate? A Study of New Market Entries in the CLEC Industry

Institutional theory contends firms imitate other firms with ideal traits, whereas the strategic groups literature on imitation suggests firms imitate similar firms. We address this debate by studying 1,067 market entries by founder‐managed start‐ups in the U.S. Competitive Local Exchange Carrier industry from 1996 to 2004. In support of the strategic groups literature, start‐ups imitate entry decisions of and gravitate toward markets that are densely populated by other start‐ups. Though start‐ups avoid markets already densely populated by corporate ventures, they imitate the market entries of corporate ventures. Our discussion of these and other findings provide insights for start‐ups navigating new industries.     

What is overconsumption? – A step towards a common understanding

Overconsumption is a widely used term in science, media and among concerned consumers. What do we mean by this term? This study is based on the assumption that both the public debate on consumption and consumer research could benefit from better understanding how this term is used and from clarifying the definition. The primary aim of this study was to describe how the term ‘overconsumption’ is being used in the contemporary scientific debate in fields related to consumer studies. This was done by studying the use of the term in scientific journal papers between 2010 and 2012 using qualitative content analysis. It is concluded that overconsumption is often described as consumption of hedonic goods by individuals with undesirable personality traits, low moral or belonging to minority groups. Furthermore, overconsumption is described as having detrimental effects both on the individual consumer, the society and the environment; however, direct individual effects are more frequently mentioned in the studies. The term is seldom defined explicitly. This might lead to confusion and misunderstanding between research fields and between different stakeholders. A structured framework for generating clear and useful definitions is suggested in this study, based on the reviewed papers and a theoretical framework from moral philosophy.     

Following the Crowd—Does Crowdfunding Affect Venture Capitalists’ Selection of Entrepreneurial Ventures?

Given the increasing popularity of crowdfunding as a new means to finance entrepreneurial ventures, we assess whether and how crowdfunding campaign‐specific signals that affect campaign success influence venture capitalists’ selection decisions in ventures’ follow‐up funding process. Our study relies on cross‐referencing a proprietary data set of 56,000 crowdfunding campaigns that ran on Kickstarter between 2009 and 2016 with 100,000 investments in the same period from the Crunchbase data set. Drawing on signaling theory and the microfinance literature, our empirical findings reveal that a successful crowdfunding campaign leads to a higher likelihood to receive follow‐up venture capital (VC) financing, and that there exists an inverted U‐shaped relationship between the funding‐ratio and the probability to receive VC funding. Further, we find statistical evidence that an endorsement by the platform provider has a likewise positive impact on the receipt of VC. Contrary to our expectations, word‐of‐mouth volume seems to be a negligible factor when it comes to follow‐up VC financing. Our results support the view that crowdfunding signals are factored into the VC’s funding decision in order to evaluate the potential of entrepreneurial ventures.     

The Gender Pay Gap in EU Countries — New Evidence Based on EU-SES 2014 Data

Intereconomics - Gender differences in wages are a persistent pattern in most European countries. This study analyses the earnings divide between men and women and the driving forces behind it in...     

Who Benefits from Longer Lending Relationships? An Analysis on European SMEs

This paper empirically investigates the impact of lending relationships duration on SMEs financial stability. Our research hypothesis is that the balance between benefits and costs of longer bank‐firm ties may be different depending on the degree of firms' financial health. Using a large sample of European manufacturing SMEs that excludes firms that have defaulted and those with less than ten employees, we find that the overall positive effect of enduring lending relationships tends to progressively increase for more stable firms, being greater when the main bank operates nearby the firm. Our findings, yet, are conditional on firm survival and may not be generalized to the smallest of firms.     

When Do Local Firms Benefit from Inward Foreign Direct Investment? A Longitudinal Study of China's Manufacturing Sector Covering 1998–2007

Using comprehensive panel data on manufacturing firms in China during the 1998–2007 period, this study examines whether and when recipient local firms benefit from foreign direct investment (FDI). Local firms’ productivity improvements by the presence of foreign entrants are estimated, and according to the results, the relationship between FDI and local firms’ productivity shows an inverted U‐shaped pattern, with productivity increasing up to a certain point beyond which a higher level of FDI reduces local firms’ productivity. More importantly, the U‐shaped pattern is found for FDI from both non‐HMT foreign firms and overseas Chinese HMT (Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) firms. In addition, the U‐shaped pattern varies across subnational regions such that the threshold at which an increase in FDI reduces productivity is lower for indigenous firms in coastal regions. This suggests that in China, local firms in inland and rural regions are the top beneficiaries of spillover effects. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

What Makes a Business Ethicist? A Reflection on the Transition from Applied Philosophy to Critical Thinking

Using a sample of 21,030 US firm-year observations that represents more than 3000 individual firms over the 1998–2012 period, we investigate the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and investment efficiency. We provide strong and robust evidence that high CSR involvement decreases investment inefficiency and consequently increases investment efficiency. This result is consistent with our expectations that high CSR firms enjoy low information asymmetry and high stakeholder solidarity (stakeholder theory). Moreover, our findings suggest that CSR components that are directly related to firms’ primary stakeholders (e.g. employee relations, product characteristics, environment, and diversity) are more relevant in reducing investment inefficiency compared with those related to secondary stakeholders (e.g. human rights and community involvement). Finally, additional results show that the effect of CSR on investment efficiency is more pronounced during the subprime crisis. Taken together, our results highlight the important role that CSR plays in shaping firms’ investment behaviour and efficiency.     

Reindustrialisation of Western Economies — Is it Desirable or Feasible?

THE NEXT AMERICAN FRONTIER RENEWING AMERICAN INDUSTRY THE REINDUSTRIALZATION OF AMERICA     

What drives content creation behavior on SNSs? A commitment perspective

We investigate the mind-sets driving users' content creation behavior on social network sites (SNSs) and antecedents of these mind-sets. The results of our survey of 1242 Renren users in China indicated that affective and continuance commitments are the main drivers of users' content creation behaviors on SNSs, while normative commitment has little influence on content creation behaviors. Further, informational support and emotional support from the social support perspective, reputational capital and relational capital from the sunk cost theory, subjective norm and perceived critical mass from the social influence perspective perform well as antecedents of affective, continuance, and normative commitment, respectively.     

What Happens Next? A Qualitative Study of Founder Succession in Social Enterprises

In the organizational context of social enterprises, the viability of the primary social mission is put to the test when the founder leaves the organization. Yet the literature has remained silent on this important stage in the life of a social enterprise. We address this gap by conducting in‐depth case studies in the unexplored setting of India. Based on multiple interviews, field observations and archival data, we develop insights into the significance of “social entrepreneur centrality” in social enterprise founder succession, discuss its consequences, and review the effects of contextual influences. Contributions to social entrepreneurship research and practice are discussed.     

Who bears the burden of international taxation? Evidence from cross-border M&As

Cross-border M&As can trigger additional taxation of the target's income in the form of non-resident dividend withholding taxes and acquirer-country corporate income taxation. This paper finds that this additional international taxation is fully capitalized into lower takeover premiums. In contrast, acquirer excess stock market returns around the bid announcement date do not appear to reflect additional taxation of the target's income. These findings suggest that international taxation is considered to be burdensome and that the incidence of this taxation is primarily on target-firm shareholders.     

What drives consumers to shop on mobile devices? Insights from a Meta-Analysis

The penetration of mobile devices has reshaped consumers’ shopping journeys, drawing the attention of both scholars and practitioners. Over the last two decades, a rich strand of empirical studies across disciplines has been conducted on the factors underlying mobile shopping behavior. We provide and test a comprehensive framework for both the key drivers of consumers’ initial adoption and the continuance intention to use mobile devices for purchasing. To achieve this goal, we conduct a meta-analysis, in which we integrate the findings from the literature and apply a structural equation modeling approach. Our work builds on the existing theories (Technology Acceptance Model, Theory of Planned Behavior, and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology) and offers an extensive understanding of the variables that shape mobile shopping behavior. Based on 207 articles, with 228 studies, 4,354 effect sizes, a total sample size of 68,944 shoppers, our findings show that mobile shopping is influenced by variables that reflect the evolution of technological innovations and the consequent improvement of the functionality and convenience of mobile devices (previous digital experience and ubiquity). Managerially, based on these findings, we provide a future research agenda and the key implications for firms to develop for a successful marketing strategy throughout the mobile customer journey. Companies should focus on both utilitarian and hedonic variables to stimulate the intention to use the mobile for the first time. In addition, to increase continuance intention to use mobile for shopping, they improve customer satisfaction, through enjoyment and the three dimensions of quality of the mobile channel.     

A Multicriteria Selection System Based on Player Performance: Case Study—The Spanish ACB Basketball League

In this paper, we describe an approach to rank sport players based on their efficiency. Although is extremely useful to analyze the performance of team games there is no unanimity on the use of a single index to perform such a ranking. We propose a method to summarize the huge amount of information collected at different aspects of a sport team which is almost daily publicly available. The tool will allow agents involved in a player’s negotiation to show the strengths (and weaknesses) of the player with respect to other players. The approach is based on applying a multicriteria outranking methodology using as alternatives the potential players and as criteria different efficiency indices. A novel automatic parameter tuning approach is detailed that will allow coaches and sports managers to design templates and sports strategies that improve the efficiency of their teams. We report the results performed over the available information on the ACB Basketball League, and we show how it can be easily implemented and interpreted in practice by decision-makers non familiar with the mathematical side of the methodology.     

Who Uses Intermediaries in International Trade? Evidence from Firm‐level Survey Data

The present paper uses data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey conducted in Turkey in 2005 to shed light on the firms that use intermediaries in international trade. It lends robust empirical support to recent theories which suggest that indirect exporters are mostly small firms that are not profitable enough to cover the high fixed costs of building an own distribution network abroad. Manufacturers who develop new products are more likely to use trade intermediaries, as are firms that produce low‐quality goods. In contrast, neither foreign ownership nor credit constraints are correlated with the choice of export mode. Moreover, firms that rely on trade intermediaries to sell their goods abroad also do so to source their foreign inputs, implying that the role of intermediaries in facilitating trade may be larger than previous studies suggest.     

Who Uses Facts Up Front? A Baseline Examination of Who is Using Standardized Front‐of‐Package Nutrition Disclosures

The Facts Up Front front‐of‐package (FOP) nutrition system is currently displayed on packaged foods in the United States. This initiative is being implemented by more than 50 manufacturers, retailers, and wholesalers in the United States on their branded and private‐label packaged food products. The in‐store presence of Facts Up Front is supported by a recently launched consumer education campaign. This study employs a sample of 1,400 female primary household shoppers with children, with oversamples of Hispanic and African American ethnic subgroups, to examine initial awareness and evaluations of Facts Up Front. Results show that Hispanics are more aware of and engaged with Facts Up Front than Caucasians. African Americans report higher levels of engagement and understanding of Facts Up Front vs. Caucasians. Importantly, Hispanic and African American mothers also report using this FOP system to make decisions. Based on these findings, important implications are offered for consumer welfare and public policy.