Search results

Observes that the future of mobile communication networks lies not only in how successful people are in deploying technologies (2.5G or 3G with a high degree of coverage and roaming between operators), but also in how well people can create a functioning environment and usage situation for end‐users in which they can get a homogeneous and continuous usage experience, despite the very heterogeneous world in which they, after all, will live. Concepts are advanced that support this observation (network independence, UI/device flexibility, and user experience continuity), and a possible solution is proposed that would take people in that direction (the personal server).

Various economic, strategic and sociopolitical factors drive the decisions related to the location of global supply chain partners. Yet, research on how sociopolitical factors affect these decisions is not that prevalent. We contribute to this line of research by evaluating the changes in global supply base concentration accounted for by three key sociopolitical factors – populism, state fragility and political constraints – that magnify or attenuate the effects of institutional risks, uncertainties and volatility.

Apart from hypothesizing the negative effects of populism and state fragility, political constraints are conjectured to significantly attenuate these negative effects. The proposed hypotheses were motivated using the tenets of institutional economics theory and tested using a comprehensive dataset compiled from six widely used secondary data sources. The panel data spanning 2003–2018 focused on a sample of global US-listed companies with worldwide suppliers.

Our results supported three of the four hypotheses. Specifically, the direct effects of populism and state fragility were found to be significant, suggesting that they reduced the number of suppliers in the country. However, political constraints did not moderate the effect of populism on global supply base concentration, while they negatively moderated the effect of the state fragility index. This result showcases the overpowering effect of populism on a country’s market environment.

Supply chain scholars resoundingly acknowledge the need for more research on the effect of broader sociopolitical factors on global supply chain management. Responding to this call, we evaluate the direct and contingent effects of populism, state fragility and political constraints on global supply base concentration. Our choice of these factors was based on their representation of most of the critical institutional environments prevalent in various countries. One surprising result we found was that populism was found to be pervasive even in countries with strong checks and balances, suggesting its paramount importance to practicing management. Overall, by unraveling the interesting effects of these multidimensional sociopolitical factors, our study makes a valuable contribution to not only theory but also practice.

The impacts of institutions on entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as the effects of technological development, have been subject to various research studies. While this theme inherently remains a focus for political decision-makers, there is very little knowledge on the combined role of institutions, entrepreneurial orientations and innovation capabilities on the technological development of countries. In this study, we examine the impacts of entrepreneurial orientation and the innovative capacity of countries through considering the moderating effect of technological development.

The data used in this study has been collected from various sources, including the World Economic Forum United Nations (UN), World Bank (WB), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) and Scimago. The study focuses on 86 countries that are either at stage 2 or stage 3 of development or in the transition from stage 2 to stage 3.

We have found that corporate governance, property rights and security institutions have a positive influence on a country’s entrepreneurial mindset and its ability to innovate. Additionally, we have noted that technological advancements also play a role in moderating this relationship. These findings have important implications for the theory, practice and public policies in this area.

This study emphasizes the substantial impact of institutional quality on the entrepreneurial mindset and innovation capabilities of businesses. It shows that perceiving institutions as more stable can have a positive effect on both entrepreneurial orientation and innovative capabilities, ultimately improving companies' competitiveness.