TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose Accentuating the concept of management under uncertainty in the Uppsala internationalization process model, the purpose of this paper is to develop a model for describing how managers act while keeping uncertainty at an acceptable level.Design/methodology/approach The authors perform two empirical studies to underpin the model they construct. First, a survey of 309 chief executive officers and chief financial officers in large, publicly listed international firms in the Nordic region on managerial risk perceptions and, second, a case study of Volvo Car Corporation and its endeavors when developing new car models for the Chinese market on a new platform – a process characterized by unprecedented uncertainty.Findings The proposed model describing managers’ behavior under uncertainty contains elements such as adjusting/proceeding in small steps, reducing uncertainty via learning, building relationships with important parties in the environment to avoid unforeseen changes and re-dos (i.e. starting all over again) and, perhaps most important, acting despite uncertainty.Originality/value The paper highlights a central, though forgotten, concept of the Uppsala internationalization process model, i.e. management under uncertainty, and, thereby, opens a new path for research on how manager behave under the sway of uncertainty.
VL  - 25
IS  - 2
SN  - 1525-383X
DO  - 10.1108/MBR-03-2017-0015
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/MBR-03-2017-0015
AU  - Vahlne Jan-Erik
AU  - Hamberg Mattias
AU  - Schweizer Roger
PY  - 2017
Y1  - 2017/01/01
TI  - Management under uncertainty – the unavoidable risk-taking
T2  - Multinational Business Review
PB  - Emerald Publishing Limited
SP  - 91
EP  - 109
Y2  - 2024/04/20
ER  -