International Growth Orientation of Knowledge-Intensive SMES

As a response to the increasing interest in the internationalisation of knowledge-intensive firms, a measure for analysing their international growth orientation was developed. This measure was applied in empirical setting of Finnish information and communication technology companies. The development of the measure as well as the empirical findings are described in detail, and the validity and the reliability of the measure was secured in various ways. The measure seems both viable and valid, and also the findings appear to be logical, and they give a good basis for further research on the topic.     

Business model innovation: Identifying foundations and trajectories

Business model innovation is an emerging hot topic in management research. It has been developing steadily for 20 years and has gained enormous momentum in recent years. A solid basis has been created, and the first literature reviews summarize the topic. However, an analysis of the core literature and the general foundation of business model innovation literature is missing. This gap is closed with this bibliometric. It analyzes 30 core articles referenced in 380 business model innovation publications. From this, a total of four research clusters can be delineated. This foundation of the research area is supplemented with a trend analysis of recent publications, which identifies three trends for the future of this research stream. The analysis highlights that sustainability, dynamic capabilities, and small- and medium-sized enterprises are the most promising trends in business model innovation. Based on the results, we present a general model for business model innovation.     

Organisational capabilities and internationalisation of the small and medium-sized information and communications technology firms

Especially in changing and unpredictable global environments where small knowledge-intensive information and communications technology (ICT) firms often operate, knowledge-based organisational capabilities are seen to contribute most to the performance. In this paper we explore the internationalisation process of small knowledge-intensive firms by studying the effects of a firm’s organisational capabilities on internationalisation and performance. We use a sample of 124 (of which 55 operate internationally) Finnish small and medium-sized firms. International experience is confirmed to be a significant determinant of internationalisation and international performance. In addition, financial capabilities prove to be a significant indicator of the degree of internationalisation: excellent investment expertise, connections with venture capitalists and good financial management are important capabilities for a small firm with high international growth aspirations.     

Evaluating technology disruptiveness in a strategic corporate context: A case study

This study examines how firms interpret new, potentially disruptive technologies in their own strategic context. The study uses a propositional framework for evaluating the amount of radical change in the companies' business models with two middle variables, the disruptiveness potential of a new technology, and the strategic importance of a new technology to a firm. The framework is used in a cross-case analysis of four potentially disruptive technologies or technical operating models: Bluetooth, WLAN, Grid computing and Mobile Peer-to-peer paradigm. The technologies were investigated from the perspective of three mobile operators, a device manufacturer and a software company in the ICT industry.The data was gathered in group-discussion sessions in each company. The results of each case analysis were brought together to evaluate, how firms interpret the potential disruptiveness in terms of changes in product characteristics and added value, technology and market uncertainty, changes in product-market positions, possible competence disruption and changes in value network positions. The results indicate that the perceived disruptiveness in terms of product characteristics does not necessarily translate into strategic importance. In addition, firms did not see the new technologies as a threat in terms of potential competence disruption.     

The effect of network competence and environmental hostility on the internationalization of SMEs

Research findings suggest that networks offer small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) opportunities to internationalize successfully. However, the role of internal organizational competence in the process of developing and maintaining such networks in hostile external environments has received little attention. The aim of this study is to shed light on the relationship by examining the positive influence that the network competence of SMEs has on their propensity to internationalize, and on their subsequent international performance. Given that the willingness of firms to enter and perform well in markets appears to also depend on environmental hostilities, this external influence on SME internationalization is incorporated into the study. We also examine whether the level of environmental hostility moderates the relationship between network competence and SME internationalization. The empirical part of the study comprises a web survey of 298 Finnish SMEs representing five different industry sectors: metal, food, furniture, software, and knowledge-intensive business services. Confirmatory factor analysis and regression models are used in the analysis. The results indicate that higher levels of network competence are positively related to the propensity of SMEs to internationalize, as well as to their international performance. Conversely, the level of environmental hostility has a negative effect on the performance measure, but not on the internationalization propensity. Additionally, the influence of network competence is not moderated by environmental hostility. The results indicate that internal network competence and external environmental hostility play a role in SME internationalization, and that the positive influence of network competence exists independently of the hostility in the environment.     

Home country institutions,social value orientation,and the internationalization of ventures

We examined how home country formal institutions and the venture’s value orientation influenced the venture’s likelihood of internationalization based on a data set that was adapted from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data in the year 2009, covering 7668 individual ventures in 25 countries. Better-developed home country formal institutions are found to have a supportive impact on the venture’s likelihood of internationalization. The supportive impact is also found to be weaker for socially oriented ventures than for profit-oriented ventures. The venture’s social value orientation negatively moderates the home country formal institutions–likelihood of internationalization relationship. The negative moderating effects can be explained as follows: Socially oriented ventures in the better-developed home country institutional environment are less likely to develop coping skills against uncertain and risky institutional environments, which are common in their host countries. Besides the theoretical contributions, this paper also highlights the implications for both business researchers and policy makers.     

Entrepreneurial orientation in work groups – effects of individuals and group characteristics

This study discusses how the perceived entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of individuals, and in particular that of the work group leader impacts the perceived EO of the work group, which in turn improves the work group’s performance. Using a sample of 356 individual employees of five companies operating globally in diverse industries, the results of our structural equation model and multiple linear regression analyses indicate that both the group members and work group leader’s EO decisively encourage the EO of the work group, with a significantly positively effect on its performance. Furthermore, while work group heterogeneity shows a small but significant positive influence, a shared vision in the work group is found to have a clearly positive impact on work group EO. Accordingly, this study has crucial practical implications for work groups and their leaders aspiring to ameliorate work group performance through EO increasing measures with reference to the specific individual and group characteristics. From a theoretical perspective, this research contributes to the academic debate on the EO concept at individual and work group levels.