The contribution of internalisation theory to international business: New realities and unanswered questions

This paper sets out the importance of internalisation theory to international business research and practice. It examines the context against which the theory has been developed, the environmental conditions in which the multinational enterprise has evolved and the phenomena that the theory has explained. It also examines the challenge to the theory of “unanswered questions”. These include governance, location theory, dynamics, networked multinationals, innovation, entrepreneurship and the role of risk and uncertainty.     

Emotional arousal and entrepreneurial outcomes: Combining qualitative methods to elaborate theory

This qualitative study of innovators in the superyacht industry blends longitudinal content analysis with narrative case vignettes to extend nascent theorizing about the antecedents and consequences associated with the arousal of entrepreneurial emotion. The empirically grounded framework induced through our research offers two key theoretical elaborations. First, it extends the existing set of theorized antecedents by highlighting the overlooked roles played by dramatic performances (staged or improvised) and ambient conditions (project, actor and venue considerations). Second, it calls attention to the consequences of emotional arousal for such entrepreneurial outcomes as generating novel solutions to specific problems encountered during the creation process, developing innovative end products, and fostering a general context for innovation.     

Exploring the intention to continue using web-based self-service

The popularization of Internet and the development of cloud computing have not only changed our lifestyles, but have impacted the ways in which enterprises relate with their customers. For example, customers and enterprises can now directly interact through web-based self-services (e.g., Internet banking, online ticketing, online bookstores, and online reservations) that do not require face-to-face interactions. Web-based self-services (WBSS) allow enterprises to proactively initiate contacts with customers and respond to their needs. Customers can also quickly access the services they want online, at any time and place, thus enhancing overall service efficiency. However, a review of the previous literature shows that most related studies have used the Technology Acceptance Model, which examines perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and attitude toward use, in order to investigate user behaviors when operating a WBSS. In contrast, there are few studies that examine the impact of perceived usefulness and perceived quality features on the continued intention to use a WBSS. Therefore, this study applied the questionnaire method and investigated the relationships among users’ perceived usage characteristics, quality characteristics, satisfaction and continued usage intention with regard to WBSS. Based on the results, specific recommendations are provided for enterprises to enhance the intention to continue using WBSS.     

Hands-off? Lessons from high-touch professionals about going virtual

The COVID-19 crisis has fundamentally changed how many businesses operate and connect with their customers. Previously unheard-of government restrictions and sheltering-in-place requirements forced most professional services to transition to remote delivery methods (e.g., email, telephone, video consults, Shopify storefronts). Providers of low-touch services (e.g., lawyers, accountants) naturally lent themselves to remote delivery; however, those that offer high-touch services, particularly those in healthcare (e.g., doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists), experienced a drastic change in working conditions when going virtual. Despite a long history of resistance to virtual delivery, the pandemic created an unprecedented incentive for these high-touch professionals to experiment with underutilized care models such as telehealth: the provision of healthcare services remotely using telecommunications technologies. We examine the rapid adoption of telehealth during COVID-19 through the coming together or convergence of previously unrelated technologies, spaces, and practices. Our analysis reveals opportunities and challenges associated with going hands-off that apply to many other professionals providing high-trust services. Specifically, we offer nine guiding principles for building and protecting cognitive and affective trust in virtual and hybrid delivery models. This is important given the pace of compounding technology convergences that lie ahead for service professionals.     

The role of firm-level and country-level antecedents in explaining emerging versus advanced economy multinationals' R&D internationalization strategies

We examined firm-level and country-level antecedents of R&D internationalization strategies, focusing on differences between enterprises in emerging and advanced economies. Previous research often focuses on the relative importance of home-base-exploiting versus home-base-augmenting knowledge transfer strategies. We suggest that country-level and firm-level effects differ for the two strategies, and hence, we examined each strategy independently. Collecting data in China, India, the United States, and Germany, we demonstrated that firms' relative technological position as a firm-level characteristic can explain differences in home-base-exploiting strategies between emerging and advanced economies. In contrast, home-base-augmenting is more closely related to exploratory institutional environments, a country-level factor. Thus, either firm- or country-level antecedents can gain a dominant role, depending on the strategy implemented.     

A systematic review of the relationship between international diversification and innovation: A firm-level perspective

We conduct a systematic review of the relationship between international diversification (ID) and firm-level innovation (I), considering articles published between 1989 and 2020. The relationship between international diversification and innovation strategies is dynamic and complex, and recent evidence challenges the traditional notion that upgrading firm-specific advantages through technological innovation can be sufficient to guarantee international firm growth and performance. We develop a unified framework that integrates findings from extant ID-I research while also proposing new avenues for further research on topics such as: how firms deal with potentially conflicting ID-I goals, how underlying firm motives shape the interactions between these goals, and how new technologies and institutional dynamism increasingly influence the ID-I relationship. We also discuss how and why the new contexts in which decisions are made, together with the prevalence of relatively newer types of firms (e.g., those associated with global value chains, latest wave of emerging market multinationals, digitalized service MNEs), require a more modern conceptualization of the ID-I relationship.     

关于研究生创新能力培养的几点思考

近些年来,我国的研究生教育发展迅速,招生规模扩大很快,随之而来的研究生的质量培养问题也日益凸显出来。在研究生培养过程中应注重的四个方面:高素质的导师队伍、完善的知识结构、开放自由的实验实践环境和良好的校园文化。     

Entrepreneurship,economic development and institutions

This paper is an introduction to the special issue from the 3rd Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Research Conference held in Washington, D.C., in 2008. The paper has three objectives. First, to discuss the importance of the three stages of economic development, the factor-driven stage, the efficiency-driven stage and the innovation-driven stage. Second, to examine the empirical evidence on the relationship between stages of economic development and entrepreneurship. Third, to present a summary of the papers in the context of the theory.

欧盟轮胎滚动噪声技术法规及检测技术分析

对欧盟轮胎滚动噪声技术法规的主要技术内容进行了研究,阐明了欧盟轮胎滚动噪声的分级及标签、噪声限值等技术要求,分析了轮胎滚动噪声的产生机理、影响因素和轮胎滚动噪声测试方法。建议为应对欧盟技术壁垒,应建设我国自己技术领先的轮胎试验场,开展轮胎滚动噪声性能测试和分析;改进轮胎设计和生产工艺,进一步提升我国轮胎产品性能,促进我国轮胎产品顺利出口。     

Frontline employees׳ attitudes towards self-service technologies: Threats or opportunity for job performance?

Increasing diffusion of self-service technologies (SSTs) on the points of sale impacts on traditional retailing from several perspectives. For instance, SSTs have direct effect on front-line employees. Indeed, they may cause a potential reduction in personal contacts with clients, reduction of workers, modifying the job conditions and so on. To date, the effect of SSTs on the points of sale has been mainly investigated from a consumers׳ perspective, by mainly focusing on consumers׳ acceptance and usage of these systems. The aim of this paper is to make employees׳ point of view clearly emerge, through a qualitative approach focusing on the investigation of employees׳ perception of the consequences of these technologies on job performance. The content analysis based on exploratory in-depth interviews involves 250 frontline employees. Authors examine the success of technology from employee׳s standpoint by evaluating their attitude and considering the impact on their job performance perception. In this way, the analysis allows defining new variables which are not previously investigated, such as the perception of speed for task completion, which emerged as the most important factor for employees׳ self-evaluation. Hence, this study offers support for evaluating job performance considering the specific case of SSTs in the frontline employees as initial insights rather than definitive understandings.