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This paper aims to examine the impact of human and social capital of CEOs of internationally active small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Czech Republic on their firms’ approach to technological innovation.

The study sample was drawn from data collected from the population of Czech manufacturing firms. The final sample included 153 SMEs that met the criteria for inclusion in the study. The authors employed robust regression analysis to test their specific hypotheses.

This study found that human capital (in the form of CEOs’ professional background and foreign customer knowledge) and social capital (conceptualized as embeddedness in the international markets) of CEOs in the Czech Republic impacted their firms’ approach to technological innovation. Specifically, firms headed by CEOs with professional background in output functions (R&D and marketing) are more likely to invest in technological innovation. The same was found true for firms led by CEOs who possessed a strong knowledge of international customers and were socially embedded in international markets.

This study makes a twofold contribution to the extant literature. First, it develops and tests the theoretical link between human and social capital and technological innovation among internationally active firms. Second, it highlights factors that positively influence technological innovation in the context of a small Central European economy, a setting that has been generally viewed as unfavorable to such innovation.

Understanding how international business opportunities (IBOs) are recognized and developed is critical to the study of international entrepreneurship.

We draw on entrepreneurial cognition research broadly and the entrepreneurial judgment perspective specifically to develop a model of the recognition and development of IBOs by considering three theoretically important sets of drivers – social networks, international experience and a proactive mindset. We use a sample of 92 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to test the model empirically.

We find robust support. Entrepreneurial judgment surrounding IBOs and uncertain international business environments entails tapping social networks, international experience and a proactive mindset to both recognize third-person opportunities for someone as well as to act upon and develop IBOs as first-person opportunities from which a focal firm can profit.

Conceptually and empirically, we peer inside the black box of IBO entrepreneurial judgment processes by jointly evaluating the abstract recognition of third-person opportunities as well as the concrete actions and interactions that develop the IBOs into first-person opportunities.

The aim of this study is to examine the role of learning in the opportunity discovery, opportunity exploitation and local embeddedness of sustainable ventures in an emerging economy.

We use a partially grounded approach to analyze three case of successful sustainable ventures in the Cali Baja gastro industry.

We find that sustainable entrepreneurs possess general knowledge of natural and communal environment along with compassion for the environment. However, it is the acquisition of a specific business-related knowledge that is the trigger for the formation of the first-person opportunity belief (i.e. confidence in the ability to exploit the sustainable business opportunity personally). Our analysis of also reveals several unique learning processes associated with opportunity exploitation and local embeddedness with a special focus on tradeoffs and compromises that are required given the tension between the sometimes conflicting goals of sustainable enterprises.

Our study adds to the literature on sustainable entrepreneurship by investigating the complex interplay between personal and contextual factors that unfolds over time as entrepreneurs conceive and then exploit a viable business opportunity that simultaneously addresses environmental and social goals.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Firms can prosper in foreign markets through recognition and development of business opportunities. Relevant social ties, past international experience and firm age are factors with considerable scope to determine the success of such ventures.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Integrating network attributes from studies of social networks, business relationships and small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME) internationalization, this study adopts a perceptual view of a firm’s focal “net” of relationships to examine foreign market entry mode choice. This study aims to examine how the interaction between knowledge-intensive service (KIS) firm’s network ties, embeddedness and position is related to choice of mode and subsequently the firm’s perceived insidership status within its focal net.

This research is based on qualitative interviews with 25 small- to medium-sized KIS firms engaged in direct exporting or foreign direct investment (FDI). This study derives an empirically grounded framework of four distinct network patterns of these KIS firms through an iterative process of triangulation between cases and theory.

The four network patterns illustrate the complex interaction between network attributes and entry mode choice by KIS firms. The findings suggest formal ties and centrality in closed network relationships provide the “central controller” firm discretion over their entry mode choice. Resource-intensive FDI by “opportunistic investors” proved essential to securing centrality through formal, institutional ties. Less optimal patterns lacking institutional ties and centrality, however, precluded choice of FDI by “specialized exporters” and “client followers.” The study finds that entry modes are less likely to be influenced by the firm’s embeddedness in open or closed network relationships, but rather by the desire to achieve a more central network position and legitimacy through more formal, less imitable ties.

The findings demonstrate the importance of network structure, a position of centrality, and strength of professional and institutional ties to small KIS firm internationalization. By adopting a more finely grained examination of the interaction between key attributes of the firm’s focal net, this study provides a valuable first step in conceptualizing the complexities associated with networking and adoption of export/investment internationalization modes.

There are a number of implications for the strategic and operational facets of smaller KIS firm internationalization. To avoid excessive network liability for resource-deficient SMEs, practitioners should consider network positioning as a strategic activity, with the costs associated with building and maintaining networks offset against economic- and resource-related returns.

The authors contribute to a better understanding of entry mode choices of KIS by taking a network perspective that accounts for the combined effects of different network attributes. The four network patterns identified extend current theoretical knowledge on the role of networks for entry mode choices of small KIS by highlighting that entry mode choices reflect the particular firm’s focal net and its attempt to achieve insidership status through high centrality and formal ties.

The purpose of this paper is to bridge the gap between entrepreneurial implementation intention and subsequent actions, addressing the isotropic issue under uncertain entrepreneurship.

The authors conducted two rounds surveys, a total of 2,350 individuals are surveyed, and 240 of whom expressed entrepreneurial intention but had yet to start a business comprised the sample.

This research finds that entrepreneurial implementation intention has a significant positive relationship with subsequent actions, affordable loss mediates the effect of implementation intention on subsequent actions, environmental uncertainty negatively moderates the relationship between affordable loss and subsequent actions, and the indirect effect of entrepreneurial implementation intention on entrepreneurial action can be enhanced at the low level of environmental uncertainty.

This study contributes new insights to the literature on Rubicon model of action phases in entrepreneurship field by using affordable loss and uncertainty. It also contributes to the literature on affordable loss by examining how environmental uncertainty conditions the effect of affordable loss on entrepreneurial action. Additionally, the negatively moderating role of environmental uncertainty offers a new possibility to explain entrepreneurial uncertainty.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the firm-level drivers of competitiveness of the Czech small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) using the complex firm-level competitiveness index. The authors explored the relationship between firm competitiveness and firm characteristics such as size, age, industry affiliation and location.

The complex competitiveness index as a proxy for firm competitiveness was calculated from the survey data. In total, 132 complete questionnaires filled in by representatives of randomly selected Czech SMEs were collected in 2018. Additional firm characteristics (size, age, industry affiliation and location) considered as determinants of competitiveness were obtained from the commercial database Albertina and from the Czech Statistical Office. The determinants of competitiveness were tested econometrically by estimation of multivariate regression models.

The authors mainly found a significant relationship between the firm size and competitiveness of the Czech SMEs. The authors have also confirmed that the least competitive enterprises are those operating in the agricultural sector and that regional location plays an important role in the determination of firm competitiveness.

The identification of competitiveness drivers can provide entrepreneurs, managers and policymakers with important implications. It seems beneficial for the Czech SMEs to expand the scope of operations to achieve a larger company size, for example, by focussing on investment activities, direct marketing, improving entrepreneurial skills or by applying an aggressive sales strategy, especially towards markets with lower competition. Politicians may respond to these efforts by setting the appropriate policies that promote SMEs’ competitiveness, for example, through the hard and soft public support for financial and human resources.

Although many studies on competitiveness have been published, there is still a limited number of firm-level studies looking at competitiveness from multiple angles rather than from the study of profitability and productivity. In contrast, the study uses a complex firm-level competitiveness index based on ten competitiveness pillars (technology, human capital, products, domestic market, networks, international markets, online presence, marketing, decision making and strategy) to capture the contribution of different resources and capabilities to firm competitiveness.