Strategic entrepreneurship and competitive advantage of established firms: evidence from the digital TV industry

Although strategic entrepreneurship in established firms is recognized as a vital source of sustainable competitive advantage, this field has no clearly developed research paradigm. This study proposes a conceptual framework to investigate dimensions of strategic entrepreneurship and its function in sustainable competitive advantage of established firms in a modern volatile environment, through the lens of the dynamic capability view. By conducting a systematic literature review of previous research documents and considering conceptual interrelationships between strategic entrepreneurship and dynamic capabilities, we propose categories that comprise dimensions of a firm’s strategic entrepreneurship: environmental sensing, opportunity seizing, strategic flexibility, entrepreneurial orientation and organizational learning. We establish a conceptual framework of strategic entrepreneurship in which entrepreneurs’ managerial capabilities of environmental sensing, opportunity seizing, strategic flexibility and entrepreneurial orientation closely interact with organizational learning, thereby facilitating sustainable performance of established firms. Following empirical studies of established firms in the digital TV manufacturing industry, the proposed conceptual framework suggests that each dimension of strategic entrepreneurship plays a critical role in competitive advantage of firms. In addition, case study results indicate that a firm’s position and evolutionary path form antecedent factors influencing entrepreneurs’ managerial capabilities and organizational learning of established firms.     

A critical appraisal of the social entrepreneurship paradigm in an international setting: a proposed conceptual framework

The concept of entrepreneurship embedded in the backdrop of business has been increasingly applied to the context of addressing social problems and sustainability challenges. Known as ‘social entrepreneurship’ the topic has garnered the heightened attention of researchers in recent years. As a nascent stream of research social entrepreneurship is still in the early stages of development. Recent evidence suggests a growing body of scholarly research in this field; however, its conceptualisation remains obscure as it is predominantly dictated by definitional arguments. Consequently, the literature is still anecdotal in trying to unveil different dimensions of social entrepreneurship and its potential benefits that might help to battle sustainability challenges. To bridge the existing gap in social entrepreneurship research this study adopts an inductive content analysis approach. Accordingly, a sizeable number of prior studies were extracted from five major databases from 1991 to date. Findings from the prior studies were synthesised in a systematic manner to draw valid conclusions. Based on the findings drawn from prior literature the study also proposes a conceptual framework and prompts further empirical research. The implications of the study are two-fold: academic and practical. The academic implication is primarily to contribute to the relatively uncultivated area of social entrepreneurship literature. The practical implications of the study are potentially instrumental for social entrepreneurs and policy-makers who are involved in social wealth creation. Moreover, the practical implication of the study is deemed to be very significant given the rising impetus of sustainability issues, where it is believed that entrepreneurs can play a vital role in this regard.     

International entrepreneurship and the small business

The topic of ‘international entrepreneurship’ is becoming increasingly popular with researchers concerned with examining how international and entrepreneurial activities intersect when people in organizations engage in pro-active brokering and risk-taking behaviour in cross-border contexts. Some caution is needed in over-generalizing the meaning and significance of international entrepreneurship – especially in relation to small businesses. Not all entrepreneurial risk-taking, brokering and opportunity-seeking activities lead to internationalization (as the statistics on small business international activities indicate). This might suggest then that the only truly internationally entrepreneurial firms are those that are ‘born global’. However, their entrepreneurial activities are more ‘spatial’, concerned with what can be constructed again in relation to global markets rather than in relation to the local/regional context in which the business is located. For small firms that internationalize a few years after start-up (late starters), processes of international entrepreneurship are different. For ‘later starters’, international entrepreneurship is distinctive in that it is characterized by extending and modifying entrepreneurial understandings and practices that have been socially constructed in relation to the local and regional context in which the small firm is located.     

Fostering product innovation: Differences between new ventures and established firms

This study combines insights from the entrepreneurship, competency-based view and innovation policy literature to analyze the relationships among different types of public incentives designed to foster innovation and product innovation at both new ventures and incumbent firms. To test our hypotheses, we ran a system of regression models on a cross-national sample comprised of 5238 firms from 29 European countries and found a different pattern for new ventures and incumbents. Our results suggest that support for attendance or participation in trade fairs and networking with other companies are the most effective methods of promoting product innovation for new ventures. However, for incumbent firms, we found that the most effective policies consisted of tax reduction for R&D expenditures and subsidies for acquiring buildings or other infrastructure(s) for innovation activities. This distinction prompts interesting insights related to theory development in research on entrepreneurship and innovation policy.     

Exploring entrepreneurs’ human capital components and effects on learning orientation in early internationalizing firms

This study aims to enhance our understanding of the role of entrepreneurs’ human capital components and the influences on learning orientation in early internationalizing firms. Drawing from the integration of human capital theory, resource-based view theory, learning theory, and on the literature of international entrepreneurship and strategic management, a research model is proposed and consists of five constructs, namely international business skill, international business knowledge, entrepreneurial competence, managerial competence and learning orientation. The empirical analysis was carried out on a sample of 158 early internationalizing firms in a food industry in Thailand. Partial least square technique was conducted to test the structural equation models and hypotheses. This followed by some illustrative case studies as supplementary to the empirical findings. The results confirm our hypotheses and support the proposed research model. This study yielded interesting findings in which an entrepreneur’s skill and knowledge in international business enhance entrepreneurial and managerial competencies. These competencies, in turn, play an important role in influencing a firm’s strategic learning orientation     

国际新企业形成的影响因素研究——基于浙江四家企业的案例分析

作为国际商务研究与创业研究融合的一个新兴领域,对于国际新企业的研究已引起越来越多研究者的关注.但已有研究大多集中在发达国家.本文通过对浙江四家国际新企业进行探索性案例研究发现,由于环境和产业类型的差异,现有文献对于国际新企业成立的动机因素的研究结论不能完全运用于案例企业.笔者认为,国际新企业形成的主要影响因素包括企业生存的需要、企业家的先前经历和本地网络关系、产业的国际化程度、国内市场和政策环境等.     

Pursuing sustainable development through green entrepreneurship: An institutional perspective

Pursuing sustainable development through green entrepreneurship has been advocated, conceptualized, and empirically examined in the recent environmental management and entrepreneurship literature. However, green entrepreneurs are embedded in institutional environments that may discourage them from embracing sustainable development because of the “paradox of embedded agency.” How can a firm overcome the liability of such an agency issue and escape what has become known as a “green prison”? This study proposes that, because international venturing exposes firms to foreign institutions, it provides them with opportunities for institutional learning. Thus, we examine how international venturing influences green entrepreneurship which, in turn, impacts firm performance. Specifically, based on institutional theory, this study develops a firm-level green entrepreneurship framework with three dimensions: green initiatives (a firm's active adoption of green practices), received government green support (benefits that a firm gains from the government by adapting to governmental incentives, programs, and policies related to green practices), and green political influence (a firm's attempts to influence legislation that enacts laws, rules, and regulations related to green practices). The results obtained by analyzing 152 firms that engage in international venturing activities and 151 firms that do not show that international venturing is positively associated with green initiatives and government green support while these two factors further directly enhance firm performance and mediate the effects of international venturing on performance.     

Beyond the “ivory tower”. Comparing academic and non-academic knowledge on social entrepreneurship

The increasing relevance of societal challenges has recently brought social entrepreneurship to the fore due to its capacity to leverage entrepreneurial processes to achieve social value while ensuring profits. In this study, we apply an experimental research method to analyse the concept of social entrepreneurship comprehensively. More specifically, we develop bibliometric analysis and web crawling techniques to gather information related to social entrepreneurship from Scopus and Wikipedia. We conduct a comparative network analysis of social entrepreneurship’s conceptual structure at academic and non-academic levels. This analysis has been performed considering scientific articles’ keywords and Wikipedia webpages’ co-occurrences, enabling us to identify four different thematic clusters in both cases. Moreover, plotting the centrality and density of each cluster on a bi-dimensional matrix, we have sketched a strategic diagram and provided the thematic evolution of this research topic, based on the level of interaction among clusters, and the degree of cohesion of keywords in each cluster. This paper represents one of the first attempts in the entrepreneurship literature to shed light on the conceptual boundaries of a research topic based on the analysis of both a scientific and an open-source knowledge database. Our results reveal similarities and discrepancies between those two different sources of knowledge, and outline avenues for future studies at the intersection between social entrepreneurship and the research domains of digital transformation, performance measurement, entrepreneurial ecosystems, and ethics. We also call for a further conceptualisation of social entrepreneurship in the face of the increasing complexity that characterises grand challenges.

     

Mitigating theoretical and coverage biases in the design of theory-building research: an example from international entrepreneurship

In this paper, we advance a three-stage theory-building framework to assist scholars in addressing theoretical and coverage biases by means of the appropriate design of cross-domain theory-building research. In our discussion, we use an example from research in international entrepreneurship, which has been emerging as a cross-domain area for the entrepreneurship and international business research communities since the mid-1990s. Theoretical bias can stem from the situation where the conceptualisation of a phenomenon whose research is currently emerging and depends upon several of the established disciplines of social science and their sub-domains, is in fact dominated by the theoretical approaches of a single domain. As to the coverage bias, the somewhat novel research domain of international entrepreneurship provides us with a means to illustrate how research in an emerging domain tends to focus on positive growth only and rarely takes appropriately into account companies that fare less well; for instance, accounting for survivor bias would require that scholars carefully acknowledge firms that go out of business for one reason or another. Observations from a longitudinal, multiple-case study research on the de-internationalisation of small high-technology firms is used to exemplify the structure of our framework.     

Location determinants of high-growth firms

County-level location patterns of INC5000 companies provide one map of American entrepreneurship and innovativeness, and understanding the local factors associated with these firms’ emergence is important for stimulating regional economic growth and innovation. We draw on the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship to motivate our regression model, and augment this theory with additional regional features that have been found to be important in the firm location literature. Zero-inflated negative binomial regressions indicate that these firms exist in counties with larger average establishment size, higher educational attainment and more natural amenities. Income growth, a mix of higher paying industries, and more banks per capita are associated with a smaller presence of these types of firms, all else equal. We conclude that the local conditions favouring high-growth firms are likely to be different from those favouring new firms in general, and that these conditions differ significantly in urban and rural areas and by industrial sectors.     

Staffing venture capital firms' international operations

International staffing is relatively unexplored for service firms as much of the literature focuses on manufacturing firms. We draw on the knowledge-based perspective to analyze three key issues related to venture capital firms' international staffing: composition of the international staffing pool; reasons for the deployment of expatriates; and the process through which staff co-ordinate international decision-making, respectively. These research questions are investigated in an exploratory study combining a survey and qualitative interviews. The results suggest that the recruitment of local executives is significantly more important than the deployment of expatriates, and expatriation is significantly more important for transferring knowledge than for other motives suggested in the literature. In VC firms, investment committees play a key role in international decision-making, which allows them to manage challenges that otherwise would require deployment of expatriates. Implications of these results for future IHRM research and for the management of venture capital firms are discussed.     

Entrepreneurship policy and systemic conditions: Evidence-based implications and recommendations for emerging countries

Entrepreneurship policies are now widely spread among the general policy agenda in most of the countries. In particular, emerging countries started to focus on startups and young firms as potential engines of economic growth and structural transformation. Therefore, several governments from these countries are devoting significant efforts to develop their entrepreneurial ecosystems and promote the emergence of new dynamic firms. However, data on entrepreneurship in these countries is scarce leaving policymakers without a clear evidence-based platform for designing their policies and programs. This paper tries to contribute to this task in two manners. First, it presents a systemic conceptual approach to guide the design of entrepreneurship policies that explicitly includes the structural factors acting act as barriers in less developed contexts. Secondly, Based on the information from the IDE (Index of Dynamic Entrepreneurship) this study advances into the characterization of six different configurations of systemic conditions – three of which include emerging countries – analyzing their main strengths and weaknesses. Hence, this article provides a new evidence-based platform to identify and discuss the heterogeneity among ecosystems in emerging countries and suggests several policy recommendations for those governments that want to implement new entrepreneurship policies. At the same time, they introduce to the literature new concepts such as ‘systemic balance’ and ‘dual ecosystems’, which serve to characterize most of the observed configurations of systemic conditions for entrepreneurship in less developed regions. All in all, the results of this study would serve to guide policymakers to formulate their policies in a more contextualized framework.     

Student clubs: experiences in entrepreneurial learning

Student-led clubs that seek to enhance entrepreneurial learning can be found in many universities. Yet, like many areas of extra-curricular activity in entrepreneurship education, their role in supporting learning has not been researched widely. The paper introduces research that addresses this gap and investigates the nature of the learning process student's encounter when they take part in clubs. The study explores the literature on entrepreneurial learning; it examines the different concepts and considers their contribution to understanding student learning experiences. From the literature, a conceptual framework is presented, highlighting the key aspects of entrepreneurial learning relevant for the field research. The methodology is introduced, including a series of qualitative studies and a survey of students. The study focuses on two types of student-led clubs ‘entrepreneurship clubs’ and ‘Enactus clubs’ and provides a comparative analysis. The findings reported show a range of student learning benefits that simulate important aspects of entrepreneurial learning, such as learning by doing, learning through mistakes and learning from entrepreneurs. More nuanced findings are also presented showing differences in learning benefits between club forms and heighten benefits for students taking leadership roles. Ultimately, the paper contributes to research in entrepreneurship by illustrating how student clubs support entrepreneurial learning.     

Cultural differences and entrepreneurial behaviour: an intra-country cross-cultural analysis in Cape Verde

Two recent research trends give rise to the current work: the need to extend the conclusions reached in entrepreneurship studies to other cultural contexts, particularly important given the interest in stimulating the creation of firms in recently industrialised and less developed countries; and the need to go beyond the axiom ‘nation=culture’ in favour of the multiple cultures perspective. With these antecedents, we present the current work, which aims to answer two research questions: (1) are the cultural values associated in the literature with venture creation generalisable to different cultural contexts? (2) are there intra-cultural differences in a country generating differences in the entrepreneurial behaviour of its population? Thus, this work contributes to extending knowledge about entrepreneurship and international cross-cultural management by taking the novel approach of studying the cultural values and the decision to create a venture from the intra-cultural differences perspective. A sample of 448 individuals, obtained in the Republic of Cape Verde and analysed in six territories within this country, allows us to confirm the existence of cultural differences in individualism between regions of the Republic of Cape Verde, as well as their capacity to explain entrepreneurial behaviour in these regions.     

The impact of state legitimacy on entrepreneurial activity

The purpose of this research is to analyze the influence of the state legitimacy on of the different countries’ entrepreneurial activity’s development, the opportunities’ perception and the entrepreneurship’s motivations. This paper is set into the research field which analyze how the institutional environment influence entrepreneurship in different countries. Research framework has been built based on the Institutional Theory. To develop the model we use a set of data extracted from the European Social Survey and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor about 28 European countries and we analyze them through Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling. Results show that state’s legitimacy influences the level of entrepreneurship in the different countries and the perception of the entrepreneurial opportunities and chances. Besides, the research shows that, in the scenario of the most legitimated countries, entrepreneurial activities is related to the need of self-employment. Based on the Institutional Theory, this research provide relevant contributions in the research field about entrepreneurship and countries’ institutions. From a practical point of view, the research shows ideas on how policymakers can improve entrepreneurial activity managing state legitimacy. Furthermore, the results provide new contributions in the research on the influence of the institutional context on the states entrepreneurial activity, providing an analysis and a comparison of the differences between countries, based on institutional theory.

     

Entrepreneurship research in China: internationalization or contextualization?

Entrepreneurship is an emerging research field that has received much scholarly attention in recent decades. Given the global scope of this attention, this article compares entrepreneurship research in China with that in the USA and Europe. Based on publications in Social Science Citation Index and Chinese Social Science Citation Index databases over the past 10 years, we use bibliometric method to analyse entrepreneurship research in different regions. Our analysis shows that, on the one hand, entrepreneurship research in China has much in common with such research in the USA and Europe. In addition to borrowing ideas from Western researchers, Chinese entrepreneurship researchers study similar themes and use similar theoretical foundations. On the other hand, Chinese contextual environment helps preserve the uniqueness of its entrepreneurship research. Researchers deal with several context-specific topics such as guanxi, i.e. networks of interpersonal relationships, and its influence on entrepreneurship. We further discuss ways for Chinese researchers to explore the distinct context and contribute to the global literature.     

Encouraging organizational performance through the influence of technological distinctive competencies on components of corporate entrepreneurship

Firms’ technological distinctive competencies (TDCs) help CEOs to confront their reality based on technological knowledge to achieve and exploit competitive advantage by encouraging the different dimensions of corporate entrepreneurship (innovation, new business venturing, proactiveness and self-renewal). The main purpose of this paper is thus to highlight how companies that strive to improve technological competencies within the firm achieve higher organizational performance through different components of corporate entrepreneurship and their interrelationships. This study seeks to fill this research gap by analyzing theoretically and empirically how TDCs enhance innovation, new business venturing and proactiveness and their interrelationships to achieve self-renewal and thus improve firms’ organizational performance. The methodology used is LISREL analysis. We test the model with data from 201 Spanish organizations. Our research contributes theoretical and empirical arguments on the value of TDCs to the organization, arguments that are especially important because organizations sometimes fail to achieve sustainable competitive advantage due to their limited understanding of the relationships between these strategic variables.     

A comparative analysis of corporate entrepreneurial orientation between selected firms in the Netherlands and the USA

Firms in turbulent or fast-changing environments must continually innovate to remain competitive. This study examined how a firm's strategic management practices influence its entrepreneurial behaviour as compared to an international competitor. Four firms in the Netherlands were each matched with a key competitor in the USA. Several survey measures related to the strategic management process were used along with an instrument related to corporate entrepreneurship practices. Both managers and employees participated in the study. Results revealed significant differences between the Netherlands firms and the US competitors in entrepreneurial orientation. Results also supported these comparative differences along three key dimensions of strategic management as they relate to corporate entrepreneurship. The final set of data revealed a relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and three measures of firm performance. The implications focus upon the key role that culture may play in facilitating corporate entrepreneurship and adaptable organizational practices. Suggestions for further research are also made.     

Entry mode choices in the international new ventures context. A study from different theoretical perspectives

Few studies have investigated the factors that enhance entry mode choice in the context of international new ventures (INVs). In this paper, we hypothesize that the characteristics of INVs’ products or services can explain their preference for equity entry modes. We also hypothesize that the inter-firm networks in which INVs are embedded play a deciding role in their choice of non-equity entry modes. When INVs are in inter-firm networks in which activities are developed to manage them, non-equity entry modes are preferred. We have adopted an effectuation approach to study the influence of different inter-firm network management activities on entry mode choice. In short, we have studied the effect of developing inter-firm network knowledge exchange, coordination, adaptation, conflict resolution and resource sharing management activities. In this paper we attempt to contribute to international entrepreneurship studies by reconciling the most widely accepted approaches to entry mode choice (Transactional Cost Economics, Organizational Capabilities-based and Network perspective) and international new ventures. Our findings show that the technological complexity of INVs’ products/services explain their preference for equity entry modes. Additionally, the development of network management activities among the networked firms determines the INVs’ preference for non-equity entry modes. Our results draw a decision model that differs from the ones derived from previous perspectives, which highlight the role of different characteristics of international new ventures.     

Corporate Entrepreneurship and Family Business: Learning Across Domains

Research at the interface of corporate entrepreneurship (CE) and family firms’ domains has grown steadily based on the premise that family firms’ specific elements uniquely affect CE antecedents, strategies, and outcomes. However, much remains to be uncovered. In this article, we offer a theoretical advancement of a corporate entrepreneurship process model for the case of family firms organized around the categories of ontology (i.e., domain redefinition), epiphany (i.e., new components and mechanisms), and heterogeneity (i.e., family firm variety and contingencies). This development paves the way for an agenda for future research and for possible generalizations to non‐family firms.