Knowledge spillovers and new ventures’ export orientation

We draw on the knowledge spillover literature to suggest that a country’s proportion of export-oriented new ventures represents an outcome of knowledge spillovers that stem from foreign direct investment (FDI) and international trade (export spillovers) as well as a source of knowledge spillovers (entrepreneurship spillovers). To test the hypotheses, we use macrolevel data from 34 countries during the period 2002–2005. We find that the relationship between FDI and international trade on the one hand and a country’s proportion of export-oriented new ventures on the other differs for higher- and lower-income countries. In addition, a country’s proportion of export-oriented new ventures affects the subsequent emergence of new businesses.

‘Murketing’ and the rhetoric of the new sincerity

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that marketing scholars should be paying a lot more attention to the rhetorical form which the economic historian Philip Mirowski – following the novelist David Foster Wallace – calls murketing. Combining philosophical, historical, economic and fictional resources, the paper first produces a synthetic account of what murketing is. Blurring calculated dishonesty with impassioned sincerity, murketing operationalises a double-truth dialectic which treats consumers as both subjects and objects within the process of their own persuasion. In order to indicate how murketing works, the paper then considers recent examples from murketing practice where allusions are made which are both cynical and gnostic, both conceited and intimate, and both earnest and ironic. The paper closes by indicating how its account of the theory and practice of murketing might inform the future study, consumption and regulation of advertising and marketing communications.     

Opportunity recognition and international new venture creation in university spin-offs—Cases from Denmark and Ireland

Extant research suggests that the founder’s activities and interactions are considered pivotal in driving the opportunity recognition process leading to international new venture emergence. This paper aims to explore the opportunity recognition process and international new venture emergence in the context of university high-technology spin-offs that are internationally market driven from inception. University spin-offs (USOs) are defined as ‘new firms created to exploit commercially some knowledge, technology or research results developed within a university’ (Pirnay et al., Small Bus Econ 21:355–369, 2003). To address this inquiry, this study imports theory from the entrepreneurship literature on organizational emergence, opportunity recognition, effectuation and the principle of individual self-efficacy. Drawing on empirical case data from four case USOs from Denmark and Ireland, this paper finds that the inventor-founders are typically engaged in opportunity recognition processes that are characterized as creative, driven by scientific innovations. It is indicated that the process of USO emergence and continuous development involves activities and interactions similar to typical international new ventures. The scientific knowledge that created opportunities for the emergence of INV-USOs across our cases endorses the view that innovation and internationalization are strongly correlated. Insights are provided on inventor-founders’ entrepreneurial intention demonstrated through activities and interactions in the on-going processes of creating the USO. Findings further highlight that self-efficacy of the inventor-founder(s) and access to specific resources (means at hand) are salient determinants for international new ventures to materialize. The study concludes with a proposed conceptual framework for further research on the creation of INV-university spin-offs. Conclusions and implications are drawn at the end of the article.     

Experience and facilitating conditions as impediments to consumers’ new technology adoption

The recent proliferation of new technologies and impediments to their adoption has made predicting new technology adoption/use complex and challenging. This paper aims to compare the predictive ability of behavioural expectation (BE) and behavioural intention (BI) given such impediments. BE predicts an attempt to perform a targeted behaviour, whereas BI predicts the likelihood of actually performing a targeted behaviour. An online longitudinal experiment was designed to examine the effects of two contrasting sources of impediments to new technology adoption: experience (internal) and facilitating conditions (external). The results confirm the tendency of subjects, who responded to BI measures, to make overestimations when they think they have more control over the (internal) impediments, and to make exaggerated underestimations when they think they have less control over the (external) impediments. Moreover, it is found that subjects who responded to BE measures have a stronger adoption–use correlation compared to subjects who responded to BI measures regardless of the type of impediments encountered. This study offers a basis for marketers to increase the rate of consumers’ adoption/use of new technology such as mobile applications. The research identifies boundary conditions to the predictive ability of BE and BI in the context of mobile applications adoption/use.     

Shanghai Volkswagen launches Gol and sets new criteria for economy class cars

Gol, Shanghai Volkswagen-the first economy class and compact car with two doors has recently shown up in the market. With high ratio of quality and price, Gol poses it in economy class. The newly launched three new models are two-door entrance, two-door basic, and two-door comfort with the prices varying within the range of RMB 75,000 to RMB 98,300. Meanwhile, advanced equipment provides drivers great drive pleasure and super powerful utility functions.     

Founders’ human capital and the performance of UK new technology based firms

This paper investigates the role of entrepreneurs?? general and specific human capital on the performance of UK new technology based firms using a resource based approach to the entrepreneurship theory. The effect of entrepreneurial human capital on the performance of NTBFs is investigated using data derived from a survey of 412 firms operating in both high-tech manufacturing and the services sectors. According to the resource based theory it is found that specific human capital is more important for the performance of NTBFs in relation to general. More specifically individual entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial teams with high levels of formal business education, commercial, managerial or same sector experience are found to have created better performing NTBFs. Finally it is found that the performance of a NTBF can improve through the combination of heterogeneous but complementary skills, including, for example, technical education and commercial experience or managerial technical and managerial commercial experience.     

The coherence of inconsistencies: Attitude–behaviour gaps and new consumption communities

Abstract

Despite the growing success of well-marketed environmentally friendly products, there remains a gap between consumers' positive attitudes towards green issues and products, and their inconsistent and often conflicting consumption behaviour. Indeed, this is a challenge for social marketers seeking to advance the sustainability agenda. Therefore, this study problematises what has been conceptualised as attitude–behaviour gaps (Boulstridge & Carrigan, 2000 Boulstridge, E. and Carrigan, M. 2000. Do consumers really care about corporate responsibility? Highlighting the consumer attitude–behaviour gap. Journal of Communication Management, 4(4): 355–368. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), and explores how groups of consumers have re-construed such practices and their meanings through the formation of New Consumption Communities (Szmigin, Carrigan, & Bekin, 2007 Szmigin, I., Carrigan, M. and Bekin, C. 2007. “New consumption communities and the re-enabling of 21st century consumers”. In Consumer tribes, Edited by: Cova, B., Kozinets, R.V. and Shankar, A. 296–311. Oxford: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann.  [Google Scholar]). Multi-sited ethnographic findings illustrate the social processes through which ethical and green forms of consumption are established and normalised. Findings also stress the importance of normative and habitual reframing through ‘ethical spaces’ (Barnett, Clarke et al., 2005 Barnett, C., Cafaro, P. and Newholm, T. 2005. “Philosophy and ethical consumption”. In The ethical consumer, Edited by: Harrison, R., Newholm, T. and Shaw, D. 11–24. London: Sage. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) in establishing and maintaining increased consistency in participants' consumption meanings, behaviours, and goals. Thus we re-frame attitude–behaviour gaps as coherent inconsistencies, which allows for a move away from solely trying to explain and change individual consumer behaviour, to identifying how suitable upstream and downstream (Verplanken & Wood, 2006 Verplanken, B. and Wood, W. 2006. Interventions to break and create consumer habits. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 25(1): 90–103. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) approaches and policies can be used to facilitate more sustainable forms of consumption.     

A note on government policy and the new ‘intrapreneurship’ in Bulgaria

Conclusion I have attempted in this paper to highlight the recent emergence and rapid growth of a particular type of intrapreneurship in the Bulgarian economy. This intrapreneurship involves the creation of new smaller establishments within existing large-scale industrial firms. These semi-autonomous auxiliary plants are exempt from part of the bureaucracy which constrains the larger addition, they have provided a higher rate of technological advance, a better supply of consumer goods, a greater utilization of labor resources, and a higher return to human capital.Only through the continued development of a small-firm sector can the Bulgarian economy meet the challenge currently posed by its western counterparts. Whether the next step from intrapreneurship to entrepreneurship is taken may hold the key for industrial development in Bulgaria.     

The European Union–West Africa Economic Partnership Agreement: Small impact and new questions

Despite recent modifications, the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and West African (WA) countries is still being criticized for its potential detrimental effects on WA countries. This paper provides updated evidence on the impact of the EPA on these countries. A dynamic multi-country, multi-sector computable general equilibrium trade model with modeling of the dual–dual economy and with a consistent tariff aggregator is used to simulate a series of new scenarios that include updated information on the agreement. We also go beyond estimating macro-level economic effects to analyze the impacts on poverty. The policy simulation results show that the implementation of the EPA between the EU and WA countries would have marginal but positive impacts on Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire and negative impacts on Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo. The impact on poverty indicators in Ghana and Nigeria would be marginal. From the perspective of WA countries, this study supports the view that recent EU concessions are not sufficient and that domestic fiscal reforms are needed in WA countries themselves.     

Entrepreneurship and survival over the business cycle: how do new technology-based firms differ?

We investigate the survival performance of new technology-based firms (NTBFs) over the business cycle and compare them against other entrepreneurial firms. Our data comprise the entire population of entrepreneurial firms entering the Swedish economy from 1991 to 2002, which we follow until 2007. Discrete-time duration models are employed to investigate whether the business cycle impacts differently on the survival likelihood of NTBFs vis-à-vis other entrepreneurial firms. Our main findings are three. First, NTBFs generally experience a lower hazard rate compared to other entrepreneurial firms, which is interpreted as a sign of their high ‘quality.’ Second, all entrepreneurial firms are sensitive to and follow a pro-cyclical pattern of survival likelihood over the business cycle. Three, when comparing NTBFs with the broader group of other entrepreneurial firms, we find that NTBFs are more sensitive to business cycle fluctuations. The above results come with a qualification, though. The sensitivity during the business cycle mainly pertains to self-employed NTBFs. Also, NTBFs’ higher survivability is only linked to not being characterized as self-employed.     

Risky choices in new venture decisions—experimental evidence from Germany and the United States

This article presents a model of entrepreneurial risk-taking behavior in different cultural settings. Young entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship students in Germany and the United States were tested by means of an experimental design to evaluate the underlying model and to identify cultural differences in the decision to start a company. The central research question states: How does the cultural context influence the decision-making and risk-taking behavior of entrepreneurs? The overall result of the international sample indicates that the significant differences between entrepreneurs and nonentrepreneurs in risk-taking behavior are culturally driven. Thus, this study extends earlier US studies that distinguish between risk propensity and risk perception in respect of entrepreneurs’ risk behavior within an international, intercultural sample. Furthermore, the survey researches the influence of the personal traits overconfidence and worry. From a managerial perspective, “would-be entrepreneurs” can use the conducted experiment as an individual diagnostic instrument, making it possible to identify individual anomalies in risk and decision-making behavior and, consequently, contribute to a better understanding of suitable entrepreneurial behavior as well as to reveal discrepancies between self-assessment and actual behavior.     

Does venture opportunity variation matter? Investigating systematic process differences between innovative and imitative new ventures

The central thesis in the article is that the venture creation process is different for innovative versus imitative ventures. This holds up; the pace of the process differs by type of venture as do, in line with theory-based hypotheses, the effects of certain human capital (HC) and social capital (SC) predictors. Importantly, and somewhat unexpectedly, the theoretically derived models using HC, SC, and certain controls are relatively successful explaining progress in the creation process for the minority of innovative ventures, but achieve very limited success for the imitative majority. This may be due to a rationalistic bias in conventional theorizing and suggests that there is need for considerable theoretical development regarding the important phenomenon of new venture creation processes. Another important result is that the building up of instrumental social capital, which we assess comprehensively and as a time variant construct, is important for making progress with both types of ventures, and increasingly, so as the process progresses. This result corroborates with stronger operationalization and more appropriate analysis method what previously published research has only been able to hint at.

The marketing–finance interface: A new integrative review of metrics,methods, and findings and an agenda for future research

The marketing–finance interface is an important research field in marketing, helping demonstrate the accountability of marketing within companies and building a necessary interdisciplinary bridge to finance and accounting research. Since the first comprehensive review article by Srinivasan and Hanssens (2009), the marketing–finance field has broadened considerably, as has research in finance and accounting. This updated systematic review of extant and new research integrates research in marketing, finance, and accounting into an overarching marketing–finance research framework. We discuss new methodological developments and offer solutions to recent technical debates on the event-study method and Tobin's q. Motivated in part by a survey of marketing–finance researchers, the article identifies and synthesizes four key emerging research areas: digital marketing and firm value, tradeoffs between “doing good” and “doing well,” the mechanisms of firm-value effects, and feedback effects. The article closes with a future research agenda for this dynamic research field and offers key conclusions.     

Why do buyers share knowledge with suppliers in new product development? current and alternative supplier antecedents

Purpose: Interfirm knowledge sharing has been well recognized to activate the performance and competitiveness improvement of the firms. Previous research has discussed the impacts of current suppliers on buyer–supplier knowledge sharing, but does not explain how this influence occurs. This study aims to disclose the mechanism by which both current and competing suppliers impact buyer–supplier knowledge sharing in buyers’ new product development activities.

Methodology/approach: This study proposed a conceptual model based on relational exchange theory and developed eight hypotheses. Questionnaire survey was used to collect empirical data from R&D staff of Taiwanese electronics firms. This study distributed 1,475 questionnaires and received 246 eligible questionnaires. Structural equation modeling was used to test and verify appropriateness of the proposed model.

Findings: The findings show that current supplier asset specificity positively and directly influences buyer–supplier knowledge sharing in new product development. The current supplier asset specificity also has indirect positive influence on buyer–supplier knowledge sharing in new product development via the mediating effects of buyer trust, satisfaction, and commitment. However, the attractiveness of alternative suppliers only indirectly and negatively affects buyer–supplier knowledge sharing via the mediating effects of buyer trust, satisfaction, and commitment.

Research limitations/implications: This study surveyed the firms in Taiwanese electronics industry. Nevertheless, new product development activities are executed by electronics firms in numerous countries and firms in various industries. For validating the generalization of this study’s results, future research can investigate firms in other industries and countries to verify the proposed model and hypotheses.

Practical implications: Current suppliers’ asset specificity is found to exert more influence on buyer–supplier knowledge sharing than alternative attractiveness. The findings imply that current suppliers should focus on investing specific assets for buyers other than stress the attractiveness and threat of competing suppliers.

Originality/value/contribution: This study initiates to approach the antecedents and influence mechanism of current buyer–supplier knowledge sharing via both perspectives of current and competing suppliers.     

Towards a new business history?

This article calls for a discussion about business history research. We advocate that the current typical approach in business history – dominantly case study analysis – maintains its prominent position, but the purpose and relevance of this type of research in the scientific method for business history is made more explicit. Moreover, the article proposes the application of additional approaches in business history, which specifically aim to develop theory and test hypotheses. These approaches are well established in the social sciences, but require adaptation to the particular needs of business history. The purpose of this article is to argue that opportunities for scientific explanations in business history are enhanced by engagement with the circle of knowledge creation where theory is confronted with empirical evidence and empirical observations feed back into theory formation.     

Seize the opportunity and embrace a new challenge ——outlook of the 95^th Chinese export commodities Fair

Upon the approval of the ministry of commerce of China, The coming 95 Chinese export commodities Fair in Guangzhou will be expanded to a wonderful and colourful extent along with the appliances of Bazhou and Liuhua exhibition malls.Bazhou exhibition mall were     

Does foreign direct investment stimulate new firm creation? In search of spillovers through industrial and geographical linkages

This paper examines the spillover effects of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) on the entrepreneurial activities of new firm creation through both industrial and geographical linkages. Using a dataset of 44,434 newly created small firms in 234 regions of South Korea in 2000–2004, this study finds that while the spillover impacts of FDI in the low-tech industry are positive and significant across almost all four possible combinations of the intra-/inter-regional and intra-/inter-sectoral channels, the impacts in the high-tech industry are largely intra-sectoral within the host region and across neighboring regions. Moreover, all statistically significant spillover effects follow an inverted ‘U’-shaped curvilinear trend.