Market entry and international propagation of business cycles

In this paper, pro-cyclical market entry acts as an international transmission mechanism for business cycle shocks. In an imperfectly competitive dynamic equilibrium model, an expansion in one open economy leads to additional business formation in a parallel large open economy through demand spillovers. Business formation causes a decline in markups leading to an expansion in employment, production, and investment in both economies. The modeling of the entry decision is critical. Only when the entry game is modelled as sequential (with incumbents enjoying a first mover advantage) are markups sufficiently elastic to cause international comovement.     

Net exports, consumption volatility and international business cycle models

Conventional two-country RBC models interpret countercyclical net exports as reflecting primarily the dynamics of capital. I show that, quantitatively, theoretical economies rely on counterfactual terms of trade effects: trade fluctuations, on the contrary, are driven by consumption smoothing, thus generating procyclical net trade in goods. I then consider a class of preferences that embeds home production in a reduced form: consumption volatility increases so that countercyclical net exports reflect primarily a strong relation between consumption and imports, as in the data. The major discrepancy between theory and data concerns the variability of international prices.     

Taking international business education programs and pedagogy to new heights: Fundamental questions for educators and students

As the dynamic global business environment continues to force organizations to be agile and adaptive, international business (IB) education pedagogy is transforming. Building on previous literature describing gaps in IB pedagogy, as well as unaddressed stakeholder needs, we first use our institution—the United States Air Force Academy—as an example of IB program development. In examining our program's evolution, we develop five questions that may provide insight regarding more generalizable IB pedagogy trends. To assess this possible generalizability, we explore questions related to the development of our program using self-reported, publically-available websites of the top full-time MBA programs throughout the United States. Our questions focus on the role of foreign languages, study abroad opportunities, integrative courses, capstone/thesis projects, and faculty development. Our exploration indicates that these five questions are important not only for educators developing future programs, but also for students examining potential IB programs. Additionally, our research examines a sixth question focused on the development of competitive positioning and program differentiation in IB programs. We hope to motivate future inquiry into IB pedagogy, which could inform more effective means of improving IB education.     

Firm entry and turnover: the nexus with profitability and growth

The paper presents a new sectoral taxonomy, which classifies industries according to the opportunity and cost of experimentation. Econometric tests show for a sample of 24 countries that in the 1990s ‘entrepreneurial’ industries with a mutable and growing firm population experienced the highest growth in terms of value added and employment, but also the lowest growth of labour productivity. ‘Entrepreneurial’ industries generally earned a better profit-ratio than ‘routinised’ industries with an inertial population. The results are consistent with entrepreneurial theories of market competition, which suggest that entry follows profit opportunities but does not deplete them.      

Reciprocity and informal institutions in international market entry

This article first identifies two gaps in the literature: (1) the need to expand international market entry research beyond contractual modes of “make, buy, and ally;” and (2) the need to address the imbalance in the institution-based view that has paid inadequate attention to informal institutions. To help close the two gaps, we identify reciprocity—the mutually contingent exchange of gratifications that is supported by informal institutions—to be a non-contractual mode of international market entry. We focus on how informal institutions provide some of the conditions, motivations, and precipitating circumstances behind the use of reciprocity.     

The increasing internationalization of the international business classroom: Cultural and generational considerations

This article reviews the dynamic demographics of the international business classroom across five Anglo countries: the U.S.A., the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Figures indicate that business education is becoming increasingly international, and that the countries of origin of international business students are changing. Cultural impacts of this increasing internationalization upon international business pedagogy—as well as issues of generational expectations of the classroom experience—are considered, benefits and challenges of the increased cultural diversity in the classroom are discussed, and practical suggestions for instructors teaching in future international business classrooms are detailed.     

Twenty-five years of business systems research and lessons for international business studies

Since 1992, the national business systems (NBS) approach has been increasingly used to analyse not only firm characteristics, structures and strategies within NBS, but also the nature of international business and its interactions with both national and transnational institutions. In reviewing 25 years of NBS literature, we heed calls in IB journals urging researchers to use NBS notions and findings in IB research. Our systematic review of 96 articles analyses the patterns and contributions of NBS literature, revealing four thematic junctures: (1) comparative business systems, (2) firm internationalisation and the management/organisation inside MNCs, (3) the role of internationalisation in the development of organisational capabilities and innovation and (4) the emergence of transnational communities in and across firms and societies. Themes are described in terms of (a) the research questions (RQ) they focus on, (b) how NBS approach investigates the RQ and what are the major findings, (c) how IB frames and approaches the same RQ, (d) how does the NBS approach extend the perspectives of IB and (e) what are the problems faced by NBS in terms of developing further insights into the RQ. Our review contributes to the recent endeavour of IB research to institutionalism, encouraging a productive dialogue between IB and NBS research.     

Cross-national research and international business: An interdisciplinary path

Comparative cross-national research is among the oldest approaches of scientific inquiry in the social sciences. We investigate the foundations of published works in cross-national research (CNR) in international business (IB), sociology, and psychology with an eye on leveraging their rich traditions for future IB research. Our approach aims to contribute and address repeated calls for taking an interdisciplinary approach in IB. We examined published CNR in 106 scholarly journals and identified 817 articles with 51,738 citations in IB, 477 works with 30,017 citations in sociology, and 835 articles with 54,519 citations in psychology. We use metric multidimensional scaling to examine the co-citation data for each field and identify knowledge and approaches commonplace in sociology and psychology to propose future research paths in IB. In particular multilevel analysis, which is scarcely used in IB, offers the potential of unfolding new dimensions within the field. Based on the emergent results from our MDS solutions, we recommend multiple future paths for CNR, particularly with respect to IB relationships, market entry, and related domains.     

Agility and flexibility in international business research: A comprehensive review and future research directions

This study explores 134 articles on agility and flexibility research published in the top-nine international business (IB) journals. Accordingly, we critically analyze, map and structure flexibility and agility research in IB, and synthesize the findings into an integrative framework. The paper identifies a wide range of definitions of the concept and a lot of work on its conceptualization. However, studies at the individual and institutional levels of analyses are scarce, and the concept is under-theorized, as there is a dearth of real theoretical underpinnings in this research stream. Thus, in addressing this gap, more qualitative and interdisciplinary research is needed.     

Gender in international business journals: A review and conceptualization of MNCs as gendered social spaces

The paper reviews 105 contributions published in journals pertinent to the field of International Business (IB) between 1991 and 2014 and details four main conceptualizations of gender: how women are compared against men, how gender is treated as a control variable and a cultural macro variable, and how gender is 'done' in international organizations. The review reveals that positivist epistemological assumptions dominate the IB field and that the current understanding of gender is limited. To advance the research, the paper develops the notion of MNCs as gendered social spaces and explains why the IB field would benefit from a more nuanced understanding and incorporation of gender relations into its analyses and discussions. The paper outlines theoretical and methodological advances associated with the reconceptualization of MNCs as gendered social spaces.     

Born internationals: Market expansion and business operation mode strategies in the digital media field

This paper examines leading Swedish and Finnish Internet consultancies operating in the digital media service field. These are ‘born international’ firms that internationalise their business at an exceptionally rapid pace. The paper focuses on why and to what extent the market expansion and business operation mode strategies of these companies deviate from the traditional pattern depicted by the Scandinavian process school. The empirical data consisted of interviews with the founder and senior management and secondary data from company and public archives. The research findings show that in fact both the international new venture research and the Scandinavian internationalisation model appear to be valid. The former model was evidenced by the fact that the born internationals indeed deviated from the behaviour of the traditional firms. The latter was exemplified by the fact that the final internationalisation profile, after the withdrawals of firms from unsuccessful markets, was close to what the Scandinavian internationalisation model would call ‘rational’ expansion. Hence, if the investigation period is long enough to account for unsuccessful endeavours and withdrawals, we may then find empirical support for the traditional model as well. To be reliable, the investigation period should cover at least one economic slow down.     

江苏省各地市商业创业环境比较及政策优化

文章以基于GEM的商业创业环境评价指标体系为分析框架,通过对江苏省各地市商业创业环境的定量分析及综合比较,揭示出各地商业创业环境的独有特征,并在此基础上给出了优化商业创业环境的政策建议。     

FDI inflow as an international business operation by MNCs and economic growth: An empirical study on Turkey

The issue of foreign direct investment (FDI) has been affecting the world economy for years and is a considerable subject for both developed and developing countries. FDI is the fixed form of international business operation made across the national borders made mostly by the multi national corporations (MNCs). The positive impact of FDI inflow in a host country is expected to emerge as capital accumulation, technology transfer, know-how acquisition, innovative capacity and economic growth eventually. In this study, it is aimed to address the FDI literature depending on comprehensive international publications and then to analyze the FDI inflow and GDP growth in Turkey with econometric methods.The relation between FDI inflow and GDP growth is analyzed by using the Johansen cointegration test and Granger causality analysis. Afterwards, a regression equation is estimated by using the ordinary least squares method (OLS). Prior to applying the Cointegration test, the stationarity and integration degrees of the series are determined by the augmented Dickey–Fuller test (ADF). Consequently, resting on the results of entire analysis, it is possible to mention that no significant relation is determined between the FDI inflow and GDP growth in Turkey both in the short and long run.     

Divergent diffusion: Understanding the interaction between institutions,firms, networks and knowledge in the international adoption of technology

Why do certain technologies diffuse globally while others spread only within certain areas of the world? I analyze the uneven process of international technology diffusion by focusing on how institutions moderate the impact of firm, network, and knowledge characteristics on the adoption of technology. The study shows that better economic institutions lower transformation costs; that similarities across social institutions minimize transmission costs; and that effective political institutions reduce transaction costs for technology diffusion. The impact of each institution-type on the diffusion process is based on the relative weight of the three different knowledge dimensions embedded in the technology. Complex technologies are most affected by economic institutions; tacit technologies are most dependent on social institutions; and systemic technologies are most influenced by political institutions.     

The emergence, advance and future of international entrepreneurship research — An introduction to the special forum

Since its genesis over twenty years ago, research in International Entrepreneurship has emerged as a field of study, and moved through the process of differentiation, mobilization and legitimacy building. Generally referred to as IE, research in this area is conducted by scholars worldwide and supported by various community structures, conferences and journals. In recognition of IE, this Special Forum was initiated to help clarify its parameters and history of development, the areas of research pertinent to it and critically, directions for future research.     

Firm resources,cultural distance and simultaneous international expansion in the retail sector

Despite the fact that many firms simultaneously expand into multiple new markets, we know very little about why firms choose this type of international expansion instead of sequentially entering new markets. Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV) we argue that in order to engage in simultaneous international expansion firms have to be able to draw on intangible assets, be financially strong, and have international experience that will enable them to reduce and/or shoulder the strains on managerial resources, time compression diseconomies and costs of simultaneously entering multiple new overseas markets. We further expect the strength of these associations to be moderated by the cultural distance between a firm’s home country and newly entered countries. Our analysis of the international expansion of the sales operations of 102 retailers over the period 2003–2012, during which these retailers sequentially or simultaneously entered into a total 836 overseas markets, largely supports our hypotheses. Our study underlines the usefulness of the RBV for understanding simultaneous international expansion as an important phenomenon that has received only scant scholarly attention to date.     

Host country network,industry experience,and international alliance formation: Evidence from the venture capital industry

Integrating resource dependence and social network theories, we investigate how foreign firms’ position in alliance network in host country influences their further allying with firms from the host and home countries. We introduce network centrality as a factor that influences two competing forces in alliance formation: willingness and attractiveness. Furthermore, we argue that foreign firms suffering from a low network centrality may find it easier to enhance their network position if they have industry experience. Our analysis of data on US venture capital firms’ investment in China supports our theoretical framework. Theoretical and managerial implications of our findings are discussed.     

Mapping the evolution,current state of affairs and future research direction of managing cross-border knowledge for innovation

This paper systematically reviews the relationship between cross-border knowledge flows and innovation across several literature strands in international business, management, strategy and innovation. We contribute to the international business literature by documenting, for the first time, the evolving nature of the relationship between cross-border knowledge flows and innovation, across several themes. In particular, our unique reviewing technique allows us to uncover and map in detail how the cross-disciplinary literature strands have explored the topic in the past, how it has developed to our current level of understanding as well as giving insights into where the literature is likely to head and develop in the future. Our numerous findings cover both empirical and conceptual developments, which in turn have their origins partly in other disciplines. Knowing the interrelationships between disciplines on this topic offers us a rare insight into the complex nature of previous and ongoing research from which we draw a number of important implications for theory, practice as well as future avenues for research, through five pivotal areas, to which we contribute.     

The integrated use of social media,digital, and traditional communication tools in the B2B sales process of international SMEs

Social media and digital tools are gradually changing the way firms market themselves. Understanding how these communication tools are used by sales functions within business-to-business (B2B) markets could clarify the dynamics underpinning the sales process in an increasingly technology-mediated world. This paper explores how social media, digital, and traditional sales communication tools are leveraged during the three main phases of the B2B sales process within international SMEs.The article’s grounded-theory approach illustrates that social media can be particularly helpful in engaging international prospects. Digital communication tools seem to be most prevalent in the persuasion phase, whereas more traditional communication tools still prevail in customer relationship management. However, there seem to be some important potential boundary conditions, including relationship culture, location proximity, technology innovation/resources, and strategic importance of the customer that affect the way international SMEs use different communication tools during a sales process. We develop a framework for understanding the B2B sales process flow with sales communication tools included for international SMEs.