Sustainability of nonprofit organizations: An empirical investigation

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) contribute to society through their social value creation. They operate in an increasingly turbulent context where building sustainable organizations has emerged as a critical need. Past authors have discussed this important issue in a fragmented manner. Using multiple case studies of socially entrepreneurial NPOs, this paper examines how the need for building a sustainable organization has impacted on the strategy focus of the nonprofit organization. The findings suggest that in response to an increased competitive environment, NPOs have been forced to adopt an organizational sustainability focus in both strategic and operational levels of management. The study makes a strong contribution to current debate in social entrepreneurship and to a broader agenda concerned with developing sustainable organizations. Whilst the findings have important implications for theory and current practice, the paper concludes with suggestions for future research at the interstices of these areas.     

Building international entrepreneurial virtual networks in cyberspace

We examine how software international entrepreneurs in Iceland use online social network sites to develop and harness their network relationships. To study these relationships, we use a combination of participant observation on LinkedIn and open ended face-to-face interviews. The framework for this study is based on resource-based view, networks and international entrepreneurship theories. We found that entrepreneurs with the largest networks use the online social network to demonstrate their network strength and to identify opportunities to bridge relationships. Our contribution illustrates how entrepreneurs acquire resources to internationalize through online social capital formation.     

The economics of sustainability in the context of climate change: An overview

The emerging field of sustainable business has its roots in both science and economics—in particular the fields of environmental science and the economics of sustainability. This article provides an overview to the latter field with application to environmental damage due to climate change. The aim is to provide an economic context for the papers in this special issue. The article outlines four essential elements in what has become a vast literature in the economics of sustainability in the context of climate change. First is the dilemma in valuing the distant future which concerns the vexed issue of discounting outcomes that are expected to occur over a very long time horizon. The second is the related characteristics of uncertainty and irreversibility that create an option value in taking action. The third element is the peculiarities of natural capital (arising from the natural environment) compared with reproducible capital (things we make that are used to produce goods and services). The post-neoclassical notions of social capital and knowledge capital are also briefly mentioned. The fourth element is how to manage the global “commons”, the prime example of which is the climate. This article is written for the general business reader with an understanding of basic economic concepts and therefore avoids mathematics. References to more technical treatments are provided.     

Social networks and marketing cooperation in entrepreneurial clusters: An international comparative study

This research examines factors that influence the development of marketing cooperation among cluster-based firms in different regions in the world. Theorists have consistently demonstrated the role and importance of economic externalities, such as knowledge spillovers, within industrial clusters. Less research attention has been paid to the investigation of marketing-based externalities, though it has been suggested that these may also accrue from geographical agglomeration. The study focus is on the development of joint marketing activities between firms operating in a single industry sector, located in close proximity. The results suggest that social networking is important in facilitating inter-firm cooperation in marketing activities. The study also explores whether the levels of inter-firm cooperation differs between countries with distinctly different levels of social collectivism. Interestingly, this study finds few significant differences in marketing cooperation among cluster-based firms from Scotland and Chile.     

Intrafirm causal ambiguity in an international context

This paper examined the incidence of intrafirm causal ambiguity in the management's perception concerning the critical drivers of their firms’ performance. Building on insights from the resource-based view we developed and tested hypotheses that examine (1) linkage ambiguity as a discrepancy between perceived and measured resource–performance linkages, (2) characteristic ambiguity for resources and capabilities with a high degree of complexity and tacitness, and (3) the negative association between linkage ambiguity and performance. The observations based on the explicit perceptions of 356 surveyed managers were contrasted with the empirical findings of the resource/performance relationship derived by structural equation modelling from the same data sample. The findings validate the presence of linkage ambiguity particularly in the case of resources and capabilities with higher degree of characteristic ambiguity. The findings also provide empirical evidence in support of the advocacy for a negative relationship between intrafirm causal ambiguity and performance. The paper discusses the potential reasons for the disparities between empirical findings and management's perceptions of the key determinants of export success and makes recommendations for future research.     

An entrepreneurial cognition perspective on the internationalization of SMEs

Drawing from entrepreneurship, cognition, and international business theory, this paper develops a model integrating individual-level and firm-level characteristics to provide an entrepreneurial cognition perspective on the internationalization of small and medium size ventures. The model is tested on a sample of Spanish ventures using structural equation modeling techniques (partial least squares). Support is found for the central role of cognition and risk perception of CEOs in explaining the implementation of international expansion strategies for their firms.     

The impact of social norms on entrepreneurial action: Evidence from the environmental entrepreneurship context

Using insights from institutional theory, sociology, and entrepreneurship we develop and test a model of the relationship between centralized and decentralized institutions on entrepreneurial activity. We suggest that both decentralized institutions that are socially determined as well as centralized institutions that are designed by governmental authorities are important in promoting firm foundings in the environmental context. In a sample of the U.S. solar energy sector we find that state-sponsored incentives, environmental consumption norms, and norms of family interdependence are related to new firm entry in this sector. Our findings also suggest that the efficacy of state-level policies in the sponsoring of entrepreneurial growth is dependent upon the social norms that prevail in the entrepreneur's environment. We expand entrepreneurship theory and the study of institutions and the natural environment by demonstrating the integral role that social norms play in influencing the creation of new firms and by illustrating the potential effect social norms have on the effect of policy that seeks to encourage environmentally responsible economic activity.     

Price as a signal of quality: Canada in the international context

Studies have shown that price is very poorly correlated with quality. This paper discusses the methodological criticisms of the earlier work, concluding that the original results remain robust. Examination of 91 sets of Canadian products containing 1020 items reinforces the conclusions of earlier work for the United States and Japan. These international studies contradict the conventional wisdom that price is an adequate signal of quality. We also test the hypotheses that price is a better signal of quality (a) after product tests have been published, and (b) for higher priced items which presumably justify larger investments in search. Canadian data do not support either hypothesis. Some theoretical explanations are outlined and a conclusion briefly presents implications for policy.

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Der Preis als Qualitätsindikator: Kanadische und internationale Befunde

Zusammenfassung Zahlreiche Untersuchungsergebnisse haben gezeigt, daß Preis und Qualität in einem nur sehr dürftigen Zusammenhang stehen. Diese Befunde sind unter methodischem Gesichtspunkt kritisiert worden, der vorliegende Beitrag versucht jedoch zu zeigen, daß die Befunde robust sind und der Kritik standhalten können. Eine Untersuchung der Autoren anhand von 91 kanadischen Warentests mit 1,020 Artikeln bestätigt darüberhinaus die früheren Ergebnisse aus den Vereinigten Staaten und Japan. Insgesamt widersprechen diese internationalen Untersuchungen der herkömmlichen Ansicht, daß der Preis eines Gutes ein angemessener Qualitätsindikator sei.Darüber hinaus prüft die Studie der Autoren die Hypothese, daß der Preis ein besserer Qualitätsindikator ist, (a) nachdem Warentests durchgeführt und die Ergebnisse publiziert wurden, und (b) wenn es sich um teurere Produkte handelt, die vermutlich einen höheren Suchaufwand rechtfertigen. Beide Hypothesen werden durch kanadische Daten nicht gestützt. Abschließend werden einige verbraucherpolitische Implikationen dieser Befunde behandelt.The authors are grateful to referees for important assistance.

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Richard W. Bodell is Assistant Professor and Robert R. Kerton is Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1. Richard W. Schuster is an economist with the Economics Department of the Bank of Nova Scotia in Toronto.     

综合实力的象征--中国在国际经济组织中的地位与作用

中国在世界经济中的地位与作用,不仅体现在中国在世界市场上的竞争力,也体现为中国对国际经济制度制定的参与或影响力度.当今具有世界影响的国际经济组织主要有:国际货币基金组织(IMF),世界贸易组织(WTO),世界银行(WB).此外,还有一些具有较大影响的区域性组织,如亚太经济合作组织(APEC)和经济合作组织(OECD)等.这些全球性组织和区域性组织确立了世界经济中金融、贸易与发展三大领域的秩序,已经或将继续对有关国家(地区)的经济发展产生重大影响.     

An entrepreneurial process perspective on succession in family firms

We review and analyze previous literature on succession in family firms from an entrepreneurial process perspective. Through a three-step cluster analysis of 117 published articles on succession in family firms published between 1974 and 2010, we find several themes within which succession can be understood from an entrepreneurial process perspective where both the entry of new owners and exit of old owners are associated with the pursuit of new business opportunities. We identify gaps within each cluster and develop a set of research questions that may guide future research on succession as an entrepreneurial process. Since succession involves implications for individuals, families and firms, we suggest researchers should adopt a multilevel perspective as they seek answers to these research questions. Our review and analysis also underlines the need to focus on ownership transition rather than only management succession, and the importance of carefully defining both succession and family firm.     

The role of local embeddedness and non-local knowledge in entrepreneurial activity

The article investigates whether the history of individuals’ spatial relocation has an impact on their propensity to perform an entrepreneurial entry and post-entry performance of firms they start. By looking at entrepreneurs in the IT services sector in Swedish non-core regions between 1991 and 2010, the article investigates the interaction between individuals’ embeddedness in local networks and their exposure to external knowledge accumulation opportunities across different geographical settings, as well as its impact on their entrepreneurial activities. The results of the analysis suggest that individuals with broad spatial relocation histories are more likely to start IT firms in non-core regions, which, in turn, may be expected to survive longer. It is, therefore, claimed that non-local knowledge accumulated through spatial relocation is an important complement to embeddedness in local networks in non-core regions. This complementarity is further related to the evolution of the IT services sector over time.     

Exploring country-level institutional arrangements on the rate and type of entrepreneurial activity

This study introduces a novel multidimensional measure of the entrepreneurial environment that reveals how differences in institutional arrangements influence both the rate and the type of entrepreneurial activity in a country. Drawing from institutional theory, the measure examines the regulatory, normative, and cognitive dimensions of entrepreneurial activity, and introduces a novel conducive dimension that measures a country's capability to support high-impact entrepreneurship. Our findings suggest that differences in institutional arrangements are associated with variance in both the rate and type of entrepreneurial activity across countries. For the formation of innovative, high-growth new ventures, the regulative environment matters very little. For high-impact entrepreneurship an institutional environment filled with new opportunities created by knowledge spillovers and the capital necessary for high-impact entrepreneurship matter most.     

Performance of international joint ventures from developing and developed countries: An empirical study in a developing country context

In response to the need for research on International Joint Ventures (IJVs) from developing countries, this paper examines the multivariate determinants of performance of 59 IJVs from both developing and developed countries in a developing country context. Resource complementarity, cooperation, joint venture experience, technology and export-orientation were found to be significant determinants of performance of joint ventures. While the determinants varied for IIVs from developing and developed countries, there were no significant differences in their performance levels. The empirical findings and their implications, including limitations and areas for further research are discussed.     

SMEs international growth: The moderating role of experience on entrepreneurial and learning orientations

New and small firms operating in the high-tech environments need strong entrepreneurial (EO) and learning (LO) orientations to enhance international growth. Yet, the relationship between these two key strategic dimensions and foreign growth can be contingent to the entrepreneur’s individual characteristics. Bringing together elements from strategic management, organization and entrepreneurship literatures, we employ a dynamic temporal perspective considering two levels of analysis, the firm and the entrepreneur, and we apply a fixed effects pooled time-series regression on a sample of 170 firms in two periods of time (2005 and 2015). Our findings indicate that SMEs that possess greater EO and LO have higher international growth. However, previous entrepreneurial and industry-specific managerial experience of the founder/CEO positively exert their effect on these relationships. Our results have important theoretical and practical implications for entrepreneurs and policy makers operating in highly innovative sectors.     

Neither bad apple nor bad barrel: how the societal context impacts unethical behavior in organizations

Every time another corporate scandal captures media headlines, the ‘bad apple vs. bad barrel’ discussion starts anew. Yet this debate overlooks the influence of the broader societal context on organizational behavior. In this article, we argue that misbehaviors of organizations (the ‘barrels’) and their members (the ‘apples’) cannot be addressed properly without a clear understanding of their broader context (the ‘larder’). Whereas previously, a strong societal framework dampened the practical application of the Homo economicus concept (business actors as perfectly rational and egocentric utility‐maximizing agents without any moral concern), specialization, individualization and globalization led to a business world disembedded from broader societal norms. This emancipated business world promotes a literal interpretation of Homo economicus among business organizations and their members. Consequently, we argue that the first step toward ‘healthier’ apples and barrels is to sanitize the larder, that is, adapt the framework in which organizations and their members evolve.