Institutional distance and international networking

We focus on how small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adapt to differences in institutional logics (values, beliefs, and rules) in their networking when they enter an institutionally distant market. We address gaps in the literature, relating to the role of institutional logics in SME internationalization, and how institutional distance affects the formation of network ties. We show how the social interaction involved in internationalization is embedded in the institutional logics followed by partnering actors. Specifically, we demonstrate how institutional distance may constrain the networking activities of SMEs and identify practices that may support successful internationalization.     

Internationalisation: A co-evolutionary perspective

Earlier research has identified several organisational and contextual factors relating to the internationalisation of the firm. However, the relations between these factors and their interaction over time have not been clearly understood. This paper seeks to bridge this gap and to provide a contribution to the internationalisation literature by presenting a co-evolutionary approach whereby the internationalisation path of the firm is seen as a product emerging from the co-evolution of internationalisation activities, organisational resources and industry influences. A longitudinal case study of the internationalisation of Orion Diagnostica illustrates the explanatory potential of the co-evolutionary model and captures the complex and interactive nature of the firm's internationalisation over time. The findings of the study also clarify the constraints that enable or compel a firm to internationalise rapidly and show how and why the status of “born globals” may change radically in the further internationalisation development.     

Messaging specifications, properties and gratifications as institutions: How messaging institutions shaped wireless service diffusion in Norway and Japan

We address the following question: why have a large number of mobile services been successful in Japan but received only lukewarm response in Norway despite Norway’s lead in the late 1990s in wireless messaging? Current explanations are not sufficient in explaining this dilemma. We approach mobile service diffusion through the lens of new institutionalism by analyzing how messaging institutions emerged both on supply and demand sides that enabled and constrained mobile service innovation. A tripartite framework of institutional fields consisting of architectural service specifications, service properties, and use gratifications is formulated. Using secondary data we show that mobile service specifications in Japan integrated better interpersonal communication and data services and thereby allowed instrumental and aesthetic properties to align with expressive properties of messaging. In Norway disjoint service specifications caused service properties and gratifications to remain disconnected, which inhibited data service adoption and channeled data service adoption towards simple SMS based messaging solutions. Differences in service specifications and prospective gratifications not only account for differences in overall service diffusion, but offer valuable insights into institutional forces that shape complex mobile service innovation.     

Stakeholder Influences in Organizational Survival*

abstract Although much has been written on declines and turnarounds, virtually no research has examined stakeholders' influence in an existence threatening crisis of an organization. This paper provides a theory and a historical case study that show how the most influential stakeholders can be identified and managed during an organizational survival. The proposed model demonstrates how stakeholders' influence in organizational survival consists of both direct resource dependence‐ and structure‐based forms of power. The case analysis then describes an examination of actual stakeholder influences and changes in them during the decline and turnaround process. Finally, based on the findings of the case analysis and the influence identification, propositions are developed. They relate specific types of behaviours of influential stakeholders to the probability of organizational survival, showing how stakeholder management can be operationalized in an organizational turnaround.     

Living in Agreement with a Contract: The Management of Moral and Viable Firm–Stakeholder Relationships

In a contractual firm–stakeholder relationship the participants are expected to act according to the agreement and for mutual benefit. By acting against the agreement at the expense of the other participant, however, may result in higher individual profits within a short period of time. Building on the unlocked iterated prisoner’s dilemma (PD) setting, Scanlon’s [Scanlon, T.␣M.: 1998, What We Owe to Each Other (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass)] version of contractualism, and the social dilemma literature, this article considers what types of behaviors should be followed by both parties in an established firm–stakeholder relationship in order to reach an outcome that is defensible both in terms of morality and viability. It is argued that a normative foundation, which advises firms and stakeholders to ground their behavior on principles that could not reasonably be rejected by others, forms a basis for moral and viable behavior that can be expressed in the form of a strategic rule that excludes defection and utilizes the option to exit in response to the other participant’s defection. Then, a set of testable propositions is developed that describe how a firm and its stakeholders can further promote moral and viable relationships.Kalle Pajunen received his Ph.D. in strategic management. His current research interests include research methodologies, turnaround processes, stakeholder theory, strategic leadership, and business ethics. His recent articles appear (or are forthcoming) for instance in Advances in Strategic Management, Human Relations, Journal of Management Studies, and Leadership.     

Going public: The role of accounting and shareholder value in making sense of an IPO

This study draws on interviews with corporate executives from four companies that went public and financial analysts involved in evaluating these firms. Top managers in all companies became more focused on short-term financial results than they had been when the companies were private. We contribute to existing research by analyzing, empirically and theoretically, the processes producing this focus. Following an IPO process offered a unique insight into a gradual increase in emphasis on accounting metrics through the outcomes of guided and restricted sensemaking. When preparing for the IPO, guided sensemaking produced an IPO prospectus incorporating quantitative and qualitative commitments. Quantitative commitments were based on accounting metrics, such as earnings per share and profit margin, which provided an important foundation for the financial focus. These commitments became the anchor for subsequent sensegiving and restricted sensemaking when the companies were listed. With the financial analysts as the social anchors, the richer communication in the prospectus was narrowed down to comprise an exclusive focus on the quantitative accounting commitments. The long-term accounting commitments in the prospectus were transformed into short-term targets that must be met when the financial measures served as specific and concrete extracted cues to quickly provide structure to the uncertain situation, gain the financial analysts’ confidence and sustain action. One year after the IPO, the financial focus was taken for granted and managers had accepted the rules of the game.     

A “Black Box” of Stakeholder Thinking

The existence of a firm can be seen as a necessary condition for the existence of stakeholders. However, in the stakeholder literature, the firm has remained a relatively underdeveloped and fuzzy construct. In this essay, we examine how the firm has been conceptualized (explicitly or implicitly) in earlier research and suggest that, at least in stakeholder thinking, the firm can be considered as having an emergent nature. We elaborate this idea by building on the resent philosophical discussions of emergence and, as a result, propose the emergentist stakeholder model of the firm.     

The 3G transition: Changes in the US wireless industry

The transition of the wireless industry from second generation (2G) to third generation (3G) is more than a simple technology upgrade. The industry's service profile will move far beyond telephony and services will converge with the computing and content sectors. This will bring many more players into this already huge industry. Thus the transition to 3G needs to be regarded as a major economic transformation as it requires a major reconfiguration of the existing value networks. Standards have traditionally been essential in the success of wireless services and will play an increasingly critical role in the future.Due to the on-going transition, wireless standardization has changed considerably—reflecting changes in the configuration of the value network. While the number of major air-interface standards has been reduced to just two, the overall number of standards bodies has increased by almost an order of magnitude while the number and scope of interfaces being standardized has grown at a breathtaking pace. This growth reflects the need to support the industry's new coordination requirements at critical interfaces in the value network. At the same time, the importance of the traditional standards development organizations (SDOs) has diminished as more nimble industry consortia have taken over the main responsibilities for standardization. The major standardization battlegrounds have shifted up the protocol stack to the service enabler level. In addition, the manufacture of handsets and other mobile communication devices is transitioning to a more horizontal industry structure. These changes, along with changes in the way value is extracted from new services and their influence on the reconfiguration of the industry are discussed.     

To survive or succeed? An analysis of biotechnology firms

In this paper, we address the question whether there exists differences in the determinants that support survival versus success of small and medium-sized high-tech firms. We examine this question in the context of Finnish biotechnology industry by analyzing the survival of all dedicated biotechnology firms in the period of 1978–2008. We argue and show that the success and survival of firms are not necessarily driven by similar determinants. Specifically, we find that while the role of different types of alliances, focused market scope as well as legitimacy of the industry seem to be important both in ensuring survival and enhancing successful performance, determinants related to sources of financing, clustering, and patenting show differences in terms of how they relate on survival and success.