Which subfield to enter first?: The role of a firm's pre-entry experiences

In this study, we draw from the organizational experience and market entry literature and investigate if a firm's pre-entry experiences predict which subfield to enter first. We employ a unique data set from the biotechnology industry where two distinct subfields emerged around the same time due to a revolutionary discovery. Among the firms that entered one of the two emerging subfields, we examine the relationship between pre-entry experiences and which subfield a firm enters. Our key finding is that general experience rather than specialized experience increases the likelihood of a firm entering first the subfield with higher level of uncertainty as opposed to the subfield with lower level of uncertainty.     

Servitization of Global Manufacturing Business

This study examines important but understudied issues in the servitization of global manufacturing firms. We begin with a review of the literature that suggests that global manufacturing firms can grow by integrating services into traditional products in a rapidly changing business environment. We fill a gap in the literature by considering exogenous (i.e., country-level and industry-level) and endogenous (i.e., firm-level) antecedents of servitization. We posit that home-country institutional development has a positive effect on global manufacturing firms’ servitization. We also posit that a high level of industry competition is favorably associated with servitization and that a firm’s technological capability and geographic diversification are related to servitization. To test these arguments, we made a comprehensive data set by using the Thomson Reuters database, which provides the financial information of 301 global manufacturing firms in the 2015 Forbes Global 1,000, and by using annual reports published on the websites of the firms.

     

Differential Effects of Strong Corporate Governance on Both Professional and Voluntary Corporate Social Responsibility Activities of the Firm

ABSTRACT

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been of interest in the past decade, but prior studies have not investigated the relationship between strong corporate governance and types of CSR activities. This study introduces the concept of professional CSR activities (which means CSR activities pursued in a formal organizational structure over a long period) and voluntary CSR activities (which means CSR activities pursued tentatively and individually) and how strong corporate governance has differential effects on the two types of CSR activities. Our empirical results show that the stronger the corporate governance is, the more professional CSR activities are encouraged.