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Entrepreneurship and the development of new business continue to be the forefront of socioeconomic development in virtually all economies today. Despite evidence of increasing research into entrepreneurial growth, the existing research is limited by the fact that most studies define entrepreneurial growth as a unidimensional construct and operationalize it as “realized” growth relying on financially based measures. Consequently, this article has two objectives: (1) to develop a set of accurate and comprehensive entrepreneurial growth measures; and (2) to test a series of hypotheses regarding precursors of growth intentions‐more specifically, to what extent, infrastructure factors affect entrepreneurial growth intentions. These two questions were examined using Entrepreneurial Profile Questionnaire (EPQ) in the context of Romania.

Results from factor analysis revealed refined patterns of entrepreneurial growth, including resource aggregation, market expansion, and technological improvement. The relationships between infrastructure and entrepreneurial growth were tested using a multiple regression model. Overall, it was posited that infrastructure is positively related to entrepreneurial growth. However, in most of the cases, the opposite proved to be true. These findings suggest that the Romanian entrepreneurs would pursue expansion plans in spite of the obstacles thrown into their path. Perhaps they have already developed strategies about overcoming those obstacles and in that process have developed the strength, ingenuity, and confidence to grow their new business ventures. Perhaps the many years that Romanians were confronted with numerous political and economical obstacles have prepared them to be much more flexible and adaptive.These counter-intuitive findings reflect on the hardiness and perseverance of the Romanian entrepreneurs.

This study aims to understand whether business and political relations help emerging markets' SMEs to overcome the challenges posed by low institutionalization in their national and international expansion. It focuses on the role that these relations play in determining access to government funding and contracts and to market information and business-related knowledge.

The data were collected from 828 SMEs in Brazil and China. The data analysis was developed in two stages: the first stage was based on multivariate regression analyses using the ratio of sales outside the companies' region of origin divided by total sales as a dependent variable and the survey's answers as independent variables; outward sales were taken at two different levels – national and international – to consider: (1) the different stages in the national and international expansion process, and (2) the fragmented nature of domestic markets in both Brazil and China. The second stage was based on a stepwise multiple regression as the relative importance of the variables was not known beforehand and the objective was to rank them according to the managers' perceptions.

Informal institutions, in particular business and political relations, can help to reduce uncertainty and overcome some disadvantages associated with weak institutionalization. They do this by providing access to trusted distribution channels, improving the familiarity with different institutional environments and strengthening the management of supply chains and commercial strategies to serve markets outside their region. Also, SMEs in emerging markets getting access to private sources of funding, market knowledge and government contracts through business and political relations are in a better position to expand nationally and internationally.

The research shows that the domestic environment, in particular one with low levels of institutionalization, impacts negatively the national and international expansion of SMEs and, more importantly, how firms can use business and political relations to overcome the obstacles posed by this environment. The findings also have implications for theory, practice and policymaking.

In this study, the authors identify how formal institutional environments in destination countries matter to franchise chains as they internationalize. The institutional environment of the destination countries of franchise chains is characterized according to three institutional dimensions necessary to attract international investment – public governance, ease of doing business and legal processes – and analyzed in the context of regional and global franchise expansion.

The descriptive quantitative study involved 625 franchise chains from Australia, Brazil, Germany, India, Russia, South Africa and the United States, with a total of 2,939 observations.

Results suggest that franchise chains from emerging markets are guided by the institutional conditions of ease of doing business and the quality of legal processes in global expansion and guided by ease of doing business, quality of legal processes and governance in regional expansion. On the other hand, franchise chains from developed markets are guided by the ease of doing business, quality of legal processes and governance in global expansion and governance and ease of doing business in regional expansion.

The sample included only franchise chains associated with organizations that represent franchises in their countries of origin, and the study does not analyze the effect of institutional distance between countries of origin and destination.

This study identifies the formal institutional characteristics that explain selection and commitment in international markets by franchise chains from different countries. The contribution is in analyzing the phenomenon through the lens of institutional theory and showing, through a global sample, that institutions matter to franchise chains from different types of countries (developed and emerging) and with different strategies for internationalization (global and regional).

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The purpose of this paper is to draw the perspective of dynamic adjustment costs, the author developed hypotheses regarding the relationships between the internationalization of business groups and first, key leaders of business groups who helped found the groups (i.e. founder-key leaders); second, business groups’ group-level decision teams where the majority of positions are held by members of the founding family (i.e. family-dominated decision teams); and third, business groups’ group-level decision teams where strong ties exist among these teams (i.e. strong-tie decision teams) because group-level top managers are simultaneously top managers of group affiliates.

This study used generalized least squares fixed-effects models to test its arguments about longitudinal data pertaining to 173 Taiwanese business groups’ foreign direct investments over a period of five years (2004-2008).

The results show that the presence of a founder-key leader and strong-tie group-level decision teams in a business group can positively affect the internationalization of business groups. However, family-dominated group-level decision teams in a business group can adversely affect the internationalization of business groups.

Using a dynamic managerial-capacities perspective, this study provides alternative explanations regarding the degree of business groups’ internationalization to demonstrate the links among business groups’ key leaders, group-level decision teams, and internationalization.

When deciding whether to expand abroad, managers at a given business group should carefully consider the characteristics of the group's management team because business groups engaging in such expansion are likely to incur dynamic adjustment costs. In this case, the dynamic managerial capacities of a business group play an important role in enabling the group to decrease dynamic adjustment costs. The differences among a group-level key leader's traits, a family-dominated group-level decision team's traits, and a strong-tie group-level decision team's traits will lead to distinct levels of dynamic managerial capacities within the group.

Given the increasing number of business groups entering international markets, this paper rests on the perspective of dynamic managerial capabilities and uses group-level evidence to clarify how the characteristics of key leaders and the characteristics of group-level decision teams in business groups affect the groups’ international expansion.

Entrepreneurship, family business.

MBA, executive MBA

PN Rao Fine Suits, famously known as the “best tailors” for men's suits and groom wear, started with their first shop in 1923 as a small business of a tailoring shop catering to the needs of the British ladies in Bangalore, India, and by 2013, had four showrooms spread across Bangalore and Chennai, with an annual turnover of INR360 million. Over the years, the patrons of PN Rao have grown not only in Bangalore but across the globe, from countries such as the USA, the UK, Germany, Japan, Denmark, Sweden and The Netherlands. The PN group had three business arms: the PN Rao showrooms, Rupasi and PN Rao Creations. This family business has survived nine decades in business, with the third generation of family now actively involved in the operations and expansion of the business. Chandramohan Pishe and Machender Pishe, the second-generation brothers in the business, believe in a conservative growth path for their brand, compared to the third-generation cousins, Naveen Pishe and Ketan Pishe. Naveen and Ketan are aware of the market opportunities and the competition and often look for the differentiator that their brand can offer. They are very enthusiastic about their future expansion plans and would like to open 100 showrooms by 2023, their centennial year. The market indicators are favourable and, if leveraged strategically, do offer opportunities to fulfil their expansion plans. Naveen and Ketan firmly believe in the need of instituting a family constitution as they move forward with their expansion plans. The second generation is not very confident of this idea, however, as they believe the family values to be strong enough to continue in the same fashion.

Understand the challenges of a small business and the importance of re-inventing by leveraging a mix of market opportunities to grow and sustain; to evaluate the need and importance of family constitution at the PN Rao Group to sustain, scale and govern in a manner so as to avoid any kind of future family business conflicts.

teaching notes are available for educators only. please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

The primary learning objectives of the case are described below:1) Understanding the start-up market segment for an innovative product.2) Analyse the market expansion and diversification strategies of a start-up.3) Evaluate the business expansion through introduction of new product variants or through envisaging new distribution channels.

Cronos Ltd. was Iyer's first business endeavour after completing his Master of Business Administration (MBA). Iyer had aspired to be an entrepreneur since he was a youngster. In 2015, a first-generation entrepreneur with full conviction, he entered a market that was tough for a novice to access. Despite several challenges and uncertainties, he persisted and ventured into the company on the edge of extinction with a concept for affordable sanitiser sachets. Strong willpower, but no background, guidance or finances have made him struggle at each stage of his journey. He made this possible as he had understood the need for a specific lower-income segment of customers who could afford to buy the sanitiser sachets for as low as INR1 ($0.013). Until 2021 he was selling through the GT channel in central and western regions of India. He had planned for product extension by introducing three new products in the FMCG sector with manageable finance needs. Meanwhile, he had gotten an offer to enter into the MT channel to compete with big brands in the Gujarat region. Iyer needed substantial funds to expand his business in the MT channel and had to offer equity partnership to the investor, who would invest in the business.

Graduate and post-graduate in the topics of segmentations and market expansion in the marketing management subject.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

The issue of capital structure among property developers in Indonesia becomes interesting as the government speeds up housing development. Examining which theory prevails (trade-off versus pecking order) can be done by looking at several determinants of capital structure. This study aims to argue that examining determinants of capital structure in this context should also incorporate business cycles, as the activities of property developers are cyclical.

Using a total of 183 observations of listed property developers from 2010 to 2019, this study uses the ordinary least squares regression technique. The focus is on determinants of capital structure, which are profitability, tangibility, firm size, ownership and potential growth. The observations are divided into different business cycles (expansion, peak, trough and decline) based on economic growth rates.

The results show that the natures of relationships between capital structure (leverage) and its determinants are different during distinct business cycles. For example, profitability has a significant and positive effect on leverage during peak, but the signs are negative during trough and decline. Trade-off theory provides a better explanation of property developers’ capital structure behaviour during peak while pecking order theory is more relevant during trough. It is more difficult to conclude which of these theories is superior in expansion and sideways.

There have been limited studies that focus on corporate finance issues of property developers in Indonesia, and no particular attention has been given to the role of business cycles.

The purpose of this study is to examine if the international experience of a family firm’s chairman, second-generation managers and other top managers all have impacts of different strengths using information about Chinese family firms’ international expansion.

Matching tactics and dynamic Heckman 2-stage analysis were applied to data on 766 publicly-listed Chinese family businesses covering 2008–2014.

The international experience of the chairman, second-generation family managers and other senior managers all were found to correlate with the proportion of a firm’s revenue earned abroad, as well as with the number of its cross-border mergers and acquisitions. The impact of a chairman’s international experience is stronger than the impact of the other two groups when internationalization is measured in terms of the proportion of revenue earned overseas. The second-generation managers’ international experience is the most influential when internationalization is measured in terms of the number of cross-border mergers and acquisitions.

This paper bridges agency theory with upper echelons theory in the context of the family business. The findings contribute to the scholarly understanding of family business by illuminating the mechanisms through which second-generation managers may influence family firms’ internationalization. They also enrich the knowledge of family firms in China.

This teaching case is well suited for short courses focussed on brand equity or marketing. It explores the following themes:

Premium brand equity: managing the brand in different markets, and the process involved in finding the right partners who care about the brand.

Market entry and penetration: strategies for growing in a market, testing a new market, and identifying the right products for a specific market.

Product expansion: the considerations that need to be made when a company is expanding its brand into new markets.

This teaching case is specifically aimed at postgraduate students completing a management diploma or a professional development course.

This case is about a premium confectionery brand Wedgewood. The company started in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa in 1999, with founder Gilly Walters’ handcrafted nougat aimed at a high-income target market. The retail product went on to be sold in stores nationwide. The company has since diversified its product range and tested markets both locally and abroad, with varying levels of success. In early 2020, Paul Walters, CEO, is considering options for the company. While his brother, Jon Walters, head of production and product development, is keen to increase global exports, Paul is less sure. The brand has been developed over the years and the product line expanded to consist of nougat, energy bars, and biscuits. While considering international markets, Paul must keep tabs on how to align the various brands in the process, and limit any potential damage to the brand equity to a minimum. With the company poised for exponential growth entering new international markets, Paul must consider the best expansion strategy. With business growth will they be able to maintain the core values of the business and the brand? Wedgewood will also need to think about staffing resources that would be required should they take on a massive international expansion.

To analyse how a small family-owned business is able to achieve sustainable growth and expand its footprint

To evaluate which business model creates the best platform for the expansion of a premium niche brand

To create a branding strategy for international brand expansion