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Through the theoretical lens of social practice theory, the aim of this research is to investigate how business-to-business (B2B) high-tech startups build their brands in an omni-digital environment, particularly by focusing on the most important digital touchpoints implemented to interact with stakeholders.

A qualitative analysis was performed by conducting 36 semi-structured interviews with key informants operating in B2B high-tech startups, including founders, CEOs, managing directors, marketing managers and other actors from this sector.

The results reveal the enablers, inhibitors and specific objectives of startups in their brand-building processes across digital touchpoints in an omni-digital environment.

This study offers new theoretical insights into new ventures’ brand management strategies through the development of a theoretical framework in which the enablers, inhibitors and specific objectives of the brand-building process of startups are identified. Although the recent literature has addressed the topic of startup brand building, this is the first study, to the authors’ knowledge, focused on the brand-building process of B2B high-tech startups in an omni-digital environment.

This paper aims to examine how the number of short videos posted and the number of influencers employed, two important strategies in short video marketing, affect consumer behavior and how price discounts moderate the effects of influencer endorsement on consumer browsing and purchasing behavior.

Drawing on the literature on influencer endorsement, this study used an ordinary least square model to empirically examine the two effects of endorsement strategies in increasing product traffic and sales for consumers at a short video app, Douyin (TikTok).

The results show that the number of short video ads produces the classic inverted U-shape for traffic and sales, and both effects were strengthened under a high discount condition. Whereas the number of influencers has a positive effect on traffic but produces an inverted U-shape for sales, both effects were undermined under a high discount condition.

This study is the first to explore the two distinct effects (repetition effect and diffusion effect) of influencer endorsement on browsing and purchasing behavior and theorize about the moderate effects of discounts on these effects.

The purpose of this study is to explore the moderating role of chief executive officer (CEO) duality in the relationship between board subcommittees and audit committees with financial expertise on firm performance in European countries. To extend this research, the sample is divided into two subsamples based on common and civil law, with the latter being divided into the three subgroups of civil French law, civil German law and civil Scandinavian law.

Panel data for 3,448 observations from nine European countries are analyzed for the period 2016–2019. The model is estimated and contrasted with the generalized method of moments.

The main findings of this study show that CEO duality moderates positively the relationship between corporate governance committees and firm performance in Europe. Furthermore, the results indicate that CEO duality moderates positively on the association between corporate governance committees and firm performance in countries located by civil law. The findings also evidence that CEO duality moderates positively on the association between corporate governance and compensation committees and firm performance in countries located by Civil-French. Finally, the findings reveal that CEO duality moderates positively the relationship between audit committees with financial experts and firm performance performance in countries located by Civil-German.

This study has some limitations. First, this study may not have considered some characteristics that could influence firm performance from other empirical and theoretical approaches. Second, this study divided the sample according to La Porta et al. (1997) and Graff’s (2008) approaches, but other classifications from different studies may have led to different outcomes. Finally, this study did not examine the country-level aspects that influenced firm performance, such as culture and institutional characteristics beyond corporate governance, economic and political factors. This is a potential avenue for future research.

Managers can use the findings to make strategic company decisions, and they can help other directors understand the important effects CEO duality has on corporate boards because board subcommittees mitigate the negative effect of CEO duality on firm performance.

This study expands upon the research about the moderating role of CEO duality through the different board subcommittees, thereby presenting it as an instrument that greatly enhances firm performance. In this sense, this moderating role preserved firm performance when the agency theory was previously corroborated, and the independent management of CEO duality was found to negatively impact.