Institutions and female entrepreneurship

This paper compares the impact of institutions on men and women’s decisions to establish new business start-ups between 2001 and 2006. We use data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor survey (GEM) which cover at least 2,000 individuals per year in each of up to 55 countries and have merged it with country-level data, from the World Bank, Economist Intelligence Unit, Polity IV and the Heritage Foundation. We find that women are less likely to undertake entrepreneurial activity in countries where the state sector is larger, but the rule of law is not generally found to have gender-specific effects. However, more detailed institutional components of discrimination against women, in particular, restrictions on freedom of movement away from home, make it less likely for women to have high entrepreneurial aspirations in terms of employment growth, even if their entry into entrepreneurial activities, including self-employment, is not affected by this.     

Is good character good enough? The effects of situational variables on the relationship between integrity and counterproductive work behaviors

The literature on integrity testing in personnel selection has reported impressive validities for predicting counterproductive work behaviors (CWB), but has seldom taken into consideration the possible influences of situational variables once job applicants are hired. This study examined the main effects and interaction effects of two situational variables, employee engagement and security control norms, on the relationship between integrity and CWB admissions. Based on data collected from a census sample of job incumbents from a large international retail company, all three variables were found to be moderately related to CWB, incrementally valid when aggregated, and together led to a lower rate of false positives than that yielded by integrity alone. In addition, employee engagement and security control norms each moderated the relationship between integrity and CWB when integrity was low, but did not influence CWB when integrity was high. The implications of these findings on personnel selection methods are discussed.     

Entry and barriers to entry in emerging markets

This note briefly introduces the symposium on entry and entry barriers in emerging markets edited by Nauro Campos and Saul Estrin. The symposium contains four inter-related case studies focusing in depth on the relationship between entry of new firms and institutional arrangements in four major emerging markets: Brazil, China, India and Russia. We find that entry rates are not necessarily low in emerging markets, and that institutional quality is a complex and “fuzzy” notion so that its impact on the entry process is not straightforward.     

Can you standardize international marketing strategy?

The intent of this paper is to examine the possibilities for standardization of marketing elements within a multinational marketing strategy. A majority view among international marketers is that each national is unique, and thus each must be treated as a separate and independent operation. This “localized” strategy view is examined first. A growing number of international marketers however, are finding that by standardizing various elements oftheir marketing strategy across national borders, cost savings and/or increased revenues to be realized can yield greater profits. The second, and major, part of the paper examines the opportunities for and potential benefits of standardization of product, packaging, advertisting, and pricing.     

The Impact of Investment Funds on Corporate Governance in Mass Privatization Schemes: Czech Republic,Poland and Slovenia

MOCT-MOST: Economic Policy in Transitional Economies -     

Institutions and entrepreneurship development in Russia: A comparative perspective

In this paper we use a comparative perspective to explore the ways in which institutions and networks have influenced entrepreneurial development in Russia. We utilize Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data to study the effects of the weak institutional environment in Russia on entrepreneurship, comparing it first with all available GEM country samples and second, in more detail, with Brazil and Poland. Our results suggest that Russia's institutional environment is important in explaining its relatively low levels of entrepreneurship development, where the latter is measured in terms of both number of start-ups and of existing business owners. In addition, Russia's business environment and its consequences for the role of business networks contribute to the relative advantage of entrepreneurial insiders (those already in business) to entrepreneurial outsiders (newcomers) in terms of new business start-ups.     

The role of informal institutions in corporate governance: Brazil,Russia, India,and China compared

This paper argues that the role of informal institutions as well as formal ones is central to understanding the functioning of corporate governance. We focus on the four largest emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, and China—commonly referred to as the BRIC countries. Our analysis is based on the Helmke and Levitsky framework of informal institutions and focuses on two related aspects of corporate governance: firm ownership structures and property rights; and the relationship between firms and external investors. We argue that for China and some states of India, “substitutive” informal institutions, whereby informal institutions substitute for and replace ineffective formal institutions, are critical in creating corporate governance leading to enhanced domestic and foreign investment. In contrast, Russia is characterized by “competing” informal institutions whereby various informal mechanisms of corporate governance associated with corruption and clientelism undermine the functioning of reasonably well set-out formal institutions relating to shareholder rights and relations with investors. Finally Brazil is characterized by “accommodating” informal institutions which get around the effectively enforced but restrictive formal institutions and reconcile varying objectives that are held between actors in formal and informal institutions.     

Which institutions encourage entrepreneurial growth aspirations?

We develop entrepreneurship and institutional theory to explain entrepreneurial growth aspirations across individuals and institutional contexts. Our framework generates hypotheses at the national level about the negative impact of higher levels of corruption, weaker property rights and greater government activity on entrepreneurs' aspirations to increase employment. We further explore whether individual's social networks compensate for weaknesses in national institutions. We use the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor surveys in 42 countries for 2001–2006, applying a multilevel estimation framework to test our ideas. We find that the relationship between growth aspiring entrepreneurs and institutions is complex; they benefit simultaneously from strong government (in the sense of property rights enforcement), and smaller government, but are constrained by corruption. Social networks mediate some but not all institutional deficiencies.