Search results

With the increasing dependence on the Chinese market, Chinese subsidiary managers rather than Western managers in the headquarters take responsibility for the overall success of the multinational company (MNC). This paper aims to argue that Chinese managers need to actively interfere to guarantee the survival of the MNC. Transaction analysis is suggested as a tool to rebalance the relationship.

Based on illustrative material and experience cases, the authors highlight why and how Chinese subsidiary managers have to engage in interference management.

Introducing different strategies within transaction analysis shows how Western managers can deal with Chinese interference management to improve relationships.

With the use of transaction analysis, Western managers can verify their communication strategies and behavior to better relate to Chinese subsidiaries on an “adult” level.

Interference management is based on counterintuitive thought that Chinese subsidiary managers rather than headquarters become responsible for the overall success of the MNC. Transaction analysis is used to uncover hidden assumptions, communication strategies and behavior in headquarters–subsidiary relationships.

Dynamic capabilities (DCs) upgrade operational capabilities. However, DC dimensions of sensing, seizing and reconfiguring may combine in different configurations that result in alternative outcomes, depending on the firm's lifecycle stage. The purpose of this research is to explore configurations of DC dimensions during different stages of firms' lifecycles that result in operational marketing and technological capabilities.

Given the limited understanding of how DC dimensions and operational capabilities interact across a firm's lifecycle, the authors employed a multi-method approach to understand whether different configurations of DC dimensions may lead to operational marketing and technological capabilities and how the firm's lifecycle may condition these configurations. The authors first apply PLS path modelling to assess the validity and reliability of the measures. Then, the authors use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to analyse micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in different growth stages operating in the creative industry within highly competitive and fast-changing environments.

Results show that several configurations of DC dimensions and competitive intensity influence marketing and technological capabilities. Although several configurations include sensing, seizing and reconfiguring, the findings also point to configurations where not all DC dimensions are present.

Improving operational capabilities does not necessarily imply a simultaneous presence of all three DC dimensions. Especially in the growth stage, managers that face resources shortage may only focus on sensing and seizing dimensions when developing marketing capabilities.

This research focuses on configurations of DC dimensions (instead of configurations of different types of DCs) that generate diverse marketing and technological capabilities development paths. The authors provide several equifinal configurations of DC dimensions that lead to operational marketing and technological capabilities. This study contributes to disentangling DCs and their dimensions across different lifecycle stages.

Unlike well-documented market or behavioral uncertainty, patent uncertainty has been significantly under-explored in the field of international entrepreneurship. Drawing on an institution-based view of strategy, this study investigated Netac, a Chinese knowledge-based international new venture (KINV), which was facing uncertainty over patents in China and the US. The aim was to address two questions: (1) how does patent uncertainty emerge in the context of KINVs? And (2) how can KINVs navigate patent hazards by interacting with national patent institutions?

A longitudinal single-case study approach was adopted as the most appropriate method for exploring novel business phenomena and dynamic processes.

Results suggested that a KINV can adopt strategies to build a unique identity and so better conform to the expectations of institutions that ultimately decide on patent validity. Strategies may involve building institutional awareness, amplifying mass media effects, and strategically managing the intellectual property and socio-emotional tensions between China and the US.

This study introduced the notion of patent uncertainty into research around international new ventures, highlighting how this type of uncertainty in the advanced technology sector can affect the end-product and patent licensing opportunities of KINVs. It also explored the institution-based view of company strategy in the internationalization process by emphasizing interactive institutional mechanisms, and the role of an organization’s identity when interacting with institutions. The study enriches the literature on institutional theory and organizational identity, and also suggests solutions for firms dealing with efforts by competitors to invalidate patents.

The authors of this chapter investigate internationalisation strategies of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in China. We highlight the specific challenges that Chinese SMEs encounter when selecting international country markets in terms of distance and entry speed. The authors adopt an ambidexterity perspective that differs from traditional explanations of internationalisation behaviour by highlighting the need to balance seemingly disparate options for international expansion. Three cases provide an illustration of how Chinese companies combine distant with proximate market entries and slow with accelerated entry speed. The authors highlight how these strategies can drive and enhance international aspirations of Chinese SMEs.

Existing research emphasized that Chinese firms gain experience and improve innovation capability through interaction with competitors at home (i.e., inside-out internationalization) and abroad (i.e., outside-in internationalization). However, how Chinese firms transform these experiences into different types of innovation (product vs. process) is largely unknown. The present study (1) analyzes how different internationalization trajectories lead to different types of innovation, (2) establishes how Chinese firms use ambidextrous strategies to combine inside-out and outside-in internationalization, and 3) provides empirical evidence of how ambidextrous strategies might influence performance.

This study uses (1) a case research method to refine the classification of firms’ internationalization strategy types, (2) a qualitative textual analysis of firms’ annual reports to differentiate between product and process innovation and to estimate these firms’ international performance, and (3) an inductive approach to derive testable propositions from the literature review and empirical cases.

This study provides evidence that many Chinese firms follow an inside-out approach to internationalization and primarily focus on process innovation. At the same time, those firms that implement ambidextrous internationalization strategies develop both product and process innovations and appear to exhibit higher performance.

This study’s focus on understanding what drives different types of innovation of Chinese firms is important as these firms often struggle to accomplish the dual tasks of competing both at home and abroad with innovation-driven domestic and foreign rivals. Applying an ambidexterity perspective to the context of internationalization strategy makes it possible to reconcile the need to simultaneously implement both outside-in and inside-out strategies and to achieve higher performance results. Further empirical research is required to confirm and generalize this study’s findings.

Managers are advised to assess which internationalization path would be optimal under a given set of conditions. Further, they should balance their internationalization strategies with respect to innovation types. Foreign multinationals may learn from Chinese firms how to develop ambidextrous internationalization strategies.

This study applies the ambidexterity lens and differentiates between product and process innovation to explore how different types of internationalization strategies affect product vs. process innovation, as well as firm performance. The empirical evidence provided in this paper is based on original data from 30 Chinese companies and two in-depth case studies. This study provides novel insights into how different trajectories could be combined through ambidextrous strategies.

Based on theoretical input from punctuated equilibrium theory and the exploration vs exploitation paradigm, a set of innovation drivers and propositions is developed. The purpose of this paper is to present a starting point for a more comprehensive investigation of companies’ innovation trajectories towards balance.

The paper builds on a thorough analysis of the literature and suggests the notion of “strategic inflection points” (SIPs). These points are supposed to mark the transgression between innovation types as reflected in respective performance enhancements.

The propositions developed in this paper serve as a basis for further understanding and for subsequent empirical research.

Managerial implications relate to the understanding that companies need to balance innovation types in order to increase performance.

This paper discusses a variety of innovation types and suggests the notion of SIPs.

The purpose of this paper is to show that innovation success builds on consistency between a firm's innovation DNA, its innovation strategy framework, and the alignment of operational elements. In order to identify a future innovation strategy, it is vital to check each individual element and develop a roadmap for change.

The literature relating to different innovation strategies and coordination mechanisms is reviewed to identify four different ambidextrous designs in support of implementing innovation. These build on organizational and individual approaches and match them with different types of coordination. Case vignettes are used to illustrate the different designs.

The discussion shows that firms have an innate propensity to adhere to specific types of innovation, which compose their archetypes. While change between archetypes is possible, it only yields success if both innovation strategy and operational elements are consistently readjusted to the new archetype design. Like every change process, this is not an easy undertaking.

This paper addresses the need to examine innovation from a holistic perspective and helps to overcome pitfalls arising from coordination deficits. These pitfalls may relate to an overemphasis on personal qualities, a disconnected or detached approach to other organizational members, or a misperception of reality.

The purpose of the paper is to analyse children's impact on innovation decision making empirically.

This paper is a diary study with 14 parents depicting their experiences with regard to the topic of interest over a period of two weeks.

Children's influence is stronger in earlier stages of the innovation buying process, based on different communication strategies with differing effects on their parents' purchasing behaviour.

This paper helps marketers tailor appropriate marketing and innovation strategies. Special attention is given to the familial dynamics in the innovation decision‐making process. This is to prevent inter‐family conflicts fuelled by the children's requests.

This is one of the first attempts to test Rogers' innovation‐decision process. Moreover, despite its many bonuses, the diary method has rarely been applied in the context of familial purchase decision making.