Internationalization of an academic invention through successive science-business networks: The case of TAVI

The aim of this paper is to explain how new technology ventures move, grow, and scale. Such ventures internationalize much faster than depicted by the traditional Uppsala model (Johanson and Vahlne, J Int Bus Stud 8:23–32, 1977; Johanson and Vahlne, Mark Rev 7(4), 1990; Johanson and Vahlne, J Int Entrep 1:83–101, 2003; Johanson and Vahlne, Manag Int Rev 46:165–178, 2006; Oviatt and McDougall, J Int Bus Stud 25:45–64, 1994). According to the Uppsala model, the main reason it takes time is that entrepreneurs need to build networks and learn. Many scholars have investigated how they may be able to learn faster and grow networks more effectively. While these explanations contribute to a better understanding of the process, they appear disturbingly insufficient. By means of an in-depth case study, we aim at identifying how learning and network-building constraints may be circumvented. We have investigated the internationalization process of an invention at a Danish university hospital that became a new technology within minimally invasive heart surgery. While the invention took place in the periphery of the international medical network, the venture circulated to the most competent international science-business networks to mobilize resources and competencies. We found that its ability to succeed resulted from its roots in international academic networks and its connecting to core nodes in these as well as in adequate business networks—including, in particular, Venture Capital firms that are in the business of developing and scaling such technology ventures. We also found that the innovation process evolved through phases that called for different resources and capabilities. It thereby offered opportunities for actors, networks, and companies that control such capabilities to move in to take control and pull the venture through the next phase. The process is less like a long distance run, and more like a relay race. This radically reduces the need to learn as the new venture expands and scales.     

The Business Platform: Developing an Instrument to Gauge and to Assist the Development of Young Firms

The research presented here addresses the following problems we perceive in research on the development of young firms. First, we feel there is a lack of holistic yet quantifiable and generalizable ways in which to assess the state of newly started firms. Quantitative research typically relies on additive models that are unable to explain more than half of the outcome variance at the most. Holistic approaches tend to be qualitative and therefore have unknown generalizability. Second, we feel there is a lack of action–oriented assessment models that are firmly anchored in research. Research models typically take a passive prediction position and often build on relationships that give little hands–on advice to managers. Numerous practical tools for assessing and developing firms during their early development can be found in how–to literature, but these typically are not anchored in systematic research and therefore have unknown validity. Hence, what we set out to do in the research presented in this article is to develop a quantifiable, holistic, and research–based instrument for assessing and assisting the development of young firms.     

Survey Evidence on Wage Rigidity and Unemployment: Sweden in the 1990s*

We document the results of a repeat survey, which updates Agell and Lundborg (1995) , on wage rigidity in a sample of 159 Swedish manufacturing firms, conducted during the severe Swedish recession of the 1990s. It is found that not even a prolonged period of very high unemployment and quite low inflation softened workers’ resistance to wage cuts. We discuss possible reasons for this. In addition, we report new evidence on underbidding, efficiency‐wage mechanisms, and unemployment persistence.     

The Austrian Free Enterprise Ethic: A Mengerian Comment on Kirzner (2019)

The Review of Austrian Economics - Kirzner (2019) develops an Austrian perspective to critique Friedman’s universal ethic for profit, specifically for not including a rationale for...     

ON THE ERROR IN THE MONTE CARLO PRICING OF SOME FAMILIAR EUROPEAN PATH-DEPENDENT OPTIONS

This paper studies the relative error in the crude Monte Carlo pricing of some familiar European path-dependent multiasset options. For the crude Monte Carlo method it is well known that the convergence rate   O ( n ^−1/2)  , where n is the number of simulations, is independent of the dimension of the integral. This paper also shows that for a large class of pricing problems in the multiasset Black-Scholes market the constant in   O ( n ^−1/2)  is independent of the dimension. To be more specific, the constant is only dependent on the highest volatility among the underlying assets, time to maturity, and degree of confidence interval.     

Evaluation of community-based injury prevention programmes: methodological issues and challenges

The evaluation of comprehensive community-based injury prevention programmes is complex and poses many methodological challenges. There is little consensus in contemporary literature about the most appropriate methods of evaluating these programmes. This study employed a systematic literature review to examine evaluations of 16 community-based injury prevention programmes with regard to key methodological issues and challenges. Three aspects of the evaluated programmes were analysed: assessed elements (context, structure, process, impact, and outcome); study design; and methodological issues addressed. The results showed that context, structure and process assessments were the most neglected aspects of the evaluation studies. The programmes were typically described with minimal discussion of how the context may have influenced the effectiveness. The process (activities) was described rather than evaluated against appropriate standards of comparisons. Impact evaluations adhered more closely to documented guidelines, but half of the evaluations did not include impact variables. Outcome evaluations focused on injury incidence. Most evaluations employed some qualitative methods, but the vast majority of methods used were quantitative. This study indicated that the quasi-experimental study design has become an accepted norm for the evaluation of community-based injury prevention programmes. Most of the evaluations contained explicit details of the methodology used and of the choices related to the methodology. While threats to internal validity were identified in most studies, problems related to external validity and construct validity were largely overlooked by the evaluators.     

The dynamics of networked power in a concentrated business network

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dynamics of networked power in a concentrated business network. Power is a long standing theme in inter-organizational research, yet there is a paucity of studies about how power emerges and is constructed over time at the network level. The paper adopts process, systems and network theory to interpret a rich single case study from the food industry. Three power mechanisms are identified, gatekeeping, decoupling and resource allocation, which form the basis of a model of networked power dynamics. Empirically tracing the dynamics of networked power highlights the economic contents of interactions. The paper extends current understandings of power as ‘conflict and coercion’ to include influencing, leveraging and strategic maneuvering in the actual performance of networked power.     

The effect of the EEA Agreement on consumer protection interests in Sweden

This article deals primarily with the expected effects of the EEA Agreement on consumer law in Sweden: How EEA law is implemented, what problems have been encountered and will be met; the application of the principle of minimum harmonization; how dormant EC legislation in some instances may possibly impede initiatives to improve consumer protection; and what will happen with the so-called Nordic Model, i.e., the ability to maintain and develop a system for consumer rights by means of agreements between the Consumer Ombudsman and businesses and their trade associations.

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Die Auswirkung der EWR-Vereinbarung auf Verbraucherschutzbemühungen in Schweden

Zusammenfassung Behandelt werden vor allem die erwarteten Effekte der EWR-Vereinbarung auf das schwedische Verbraucherrecht: Wie EWR-Recht eingeführt wird, welche Probleme bereits aufgetaucht sind und welche noch entstehen werden, die Anwendung des Prinzips der geringstmöglichen Harmonisierung, wie latente EG-Gesetzgebung in manchen Fällen Ansätze zur Verbesserung des Verbraucherschutzes behindern können, was mit dem sogenannten Nordischen Modell geschehen wird, vor allen Dingen mit der Fähigkeit, ein System von Verbraucherrechten aufrechtzuerhalten und zu entwickeln über den Weg von Vereinbarungen zwischen dem Verbraucherombudsman einerseits und Herstellern und Handel andererseits.