Social Media Firm Specific Advantages as Enablers of Network Embeddedness of International Entrepreneurial Ventures

Combining internalisation theory and internationalisation networking literature we study how international entrepreneurial ventures use social media to internationalise. Our qualitative study reveals the governance mechanisms and learning that are part of a dynamic process. We explain how firms leverage their own social-media capabilities and bundle them with the capabilities of foreign partners, which they leverage to create new social-media capabilities to grow internationally. Firms leverage social-media capabilities to become embedded within emerging and strategic networks, a position that is central for firms to mitigate threats of opportunism and bounded reliability and to overcome liabilities connected to smallness, newness, and foreignness.     

Network development and firm growth: A resource-based study of B2B Born Globals

Using multiple case studies, we explore how Born Global networks develop as the firm's internal resources grow. Building on networks and entrepreneurship research, we develop a theoretical framework and advance five propositions that link resource development and entrepreneurial orientation to network content, structure, centrality, and management. We also explore the benefits that Born Globals gain from this development. Key findings include: resource accumulation and network development have a strong relationship while network content becomes increasingly strategic; strong entrepreneurial orientation coincides with calculative network management; network benefits are not always advantageous to the firms. This study makes empirical contributions to Born Global and Networks research in the context of Business-to-Business firms, and provides practical implications for Entrepreneurs and Born Global managers.     

A dynamic model of growth phases and survival in international business-to-business new ventures: The moderating effect of decision-making logic

The growth and survival of international new ventures (INVs) has not been the subject of extensive in-depth qualitative study and our understanding of their decision-making is deficient. On the basis of empirical analyses in a small and open economy, a dynamic model was developed that explains the growth phases through which INVs pass as they mature in the high-technology business-to-business field. The model also recognizes rapid advancement, survival crises, and retrenchment. Propositions were devised regarding the impact of opportunities, resources and capabilities, entrepreneurial orientation, and learning on growth phases and survival. A novel finding is that the decision-making logic moderates the impact of these factors. These findings have important implications for industrial marketing scholars and practitioners.     

Determinants of capital budgeting methods and hurdle rates in Nordic firms

We study the determinants for the choice of capital budgeting methods and the setting of hurdle rates (WACCs) in five Nordic countries. Combining survey data with a rich set of determinants, including ownership data, CFO characteristics, and financial data, we find that the use of the Net Present Value method and the sophistication of the capital budgeting are related to firm characteristics, variables proxying for real option features in investments and CFO characteristics (age and education). We also find support for significantly higher hurdle rates than motivated by economic theory. The premium is weakly positively related to managerial short‐term pressure and strongly negatively related to the sophistication level of the firm’s capital budgeting.     

Public and private capital productivity in Russia: a non-parametric investigation

The productivity of public capital has been very popular research topic for US and other OECD countries, while studies using data from transitional countries are almost non-existent. In this paper, we analyze the productivity of public and private capital in Russia with parametric and non-parametric regression methods utilizing a unique regional level panel data from 2003 to 2007. More specifically, we assess public capital’s spillover effects, i.e., the productivity of public capital on private output, as well as the productivity of different capital ownership types on total output. We find that public capital has a clear positive effect on private output. However, our estimates and test statistics show that parametric methods are not able to grasp vast non-linearities and heterogeneity present among Russian regions, while the non-parametric approach can capture these important features of the data better. Furthermore, we find that multicollinearity is an important methodological problem which should be accounted for in analysis concerning capital data. Our results also suggest that the impact of public capital in Russia is heterogeneous in the sense that for some regions its contribution to private output is insignificant or even negative while it has a considerable positive role for most regions. Concerning the capital elasticities of total output, we find that public capital is less productive than private capital and roughly as productive as joint private-public capital.     

International asset pricing models and currency risk: Evidence from Finland 1970–2004

In this paper we investigate whether global, local and currency risks are priced in the Finnish stock market using conditional international asset pricing models. We take the view of a US investor. The estimation is conducted using a modified version of the multivariate GARCH framework of [De Santis, G., Gérard, B., 1998. How big is the premium for currency risk? Journal of Financial Economics 49, 375–412]. For a sample period from 1970 to 2004, we find the world risk to be time-varying. While local risk is not priced for the USA, the local component is significant and time-varying for Finland. Currency risk is priced in the Finnish market, but is not time-varying using the De Santis and Gérard specification. This suggests that the linear specification for the currency risk may not be adequate for non-free floating currencies.     

Consumer-to-consumer e-commerce: outcomes and implications

Abstract

One outcome of the digitised retail environment is the emergence of consumer-to-consumer (C2C) electronic commerce. Existing research has extensively addressed C2C commerce in an offline environment, while relatively little is known about online C2C behaviour. Thus, there is a need to deepen the understanding of how and why consumers engage in C2C e-commerce as well as the implications that C2C e-commerce holds for retailers. To address this gap, a comprehensive survey targeting Finnish consumers was conducted. The survey yielded a total of 2823 respondents who had transacted on C2C e-commerce platforms. The data are used to profile C2C e-commerce with demographics, product categories, customer value and key retail outcomes. This analysis provides a well-grounded basis for discussing the implications of C2C e-commerce for retailers.     

Omni-channel retailing: propositions,examples and solutions

Customers are not passive agents, but intrinsic to the value creation process. Because retailers are the customer’s link to the marketplace they are uniquely placed to develop value co-creation opportunities that give themselves a strategic advantage. Omni-channel retailing is a means to create an advantage by forging deeper customer relationships and potentially developing new markets. Omni-channel retailing can appeal to the heterogeneity in customers’ shopping orientations with the aim of providing a seamless cross-channel experience. However, without a clear strategic purpose, omni-channel initiatives can easily result in unbeneficial – or worse, counterproductive – investments. To address this, the purpose of this paper is to formulate guiding principles to facilitate decision-making with respect to developing an omni-channel marketing strategy. Consequently, two complementary research streams are presented. The first pertains to strategic considerations regarding omni-channel retailing; the second pertains to value co-creation as seen through a service-dominant logic lens. These research streams are then linked to derive five propositions– along with examples and solutions – to assist retailing decision-makers when developing an omni-channel marketing strategy. These propositions underline the importance of viewing channels as value-facilitating resources that should be aligned with the customer’s decision journey.     

Multi-ontology topology of the strategic landscape in three practical cases

This article develops and uses a futures sensemaking and decision-making tool with which to navigate the multi-ontology topology of strategic landscapes. The research approach is design science; i.e., research clearly targeted at developing a means to an end. The tool is described according to an eight-point structure of a design theory proposed by Gregor and Jones (2007), presenting specific testable propositions. The authors show how the tool works in three practical cases by referencing an underlying kernel theory, sensemaking theory.     

Supply chain in tourism destinations: the case of Levi Resort in Finnish Lapland

Tourism destinations in Finnish Lapland provide a suitable base for supply chain management (SCM). Often, the investments in these destinations are directed to wilderness areas without significant initial infrastructure. Thus, the surroundings provide better possibilities to build and direct the experiences of tourists in contrast to city tourism where the surroundings are not especially designed for tourism. In this paper we apply an SCM framework to the Levi Fell resort in northern Finland. By identifying some special characteristics of tourism destinations and region‐based tourism production, we further develop the traditional SCM framework in the context of tourism. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.