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In this chapter we aim at examining the influence of early top management teams (TMTs) on the growth performance of university-based spin-off firms, presenting an empirical research on spin-off companies in Italy. The chapter proceeds along the following lines. First we describe the context of analysis, briefly reviewing the literature on TMT and performance. In the second section we outline the hypotheses of our research. The third section describes the sample and the method for the empirical analysis. The fourth section presents and discusses the results. In the last section we highlight the main implications and limitations of our results and suggest further lines of research.

Research on strategy in new ventures has increasingly drawn upon resource-based theory, and thus has emphasized intangible factors that confer sustainable competitive advantage. These include dynamic and combinative capabilities, networks, routines, and knowledge as resources of new ventures. Yet antecedent to every one of these intangible resources is the management of the venture. But research has seldom considered management and the human resources of new ventures as a critical dimension of strategy content. This paper develops such an argument, and explores the performance contribution of human resources as strategy content in a longitudinal study of technology new ventures.

Adopting a dual processing cognitive perspective, this study explores the decision-making processes past the start-up stage that small entrepreneurial businesses employ to grow. The author examines how entrepreneurs evaluate and make decisions on growth opportunities in their business environment. The author uses cognitive style as a theoretical lens to capture differences in information processing, combining interviews and psychometric questionnaires to analyse cognitive styles. The longitudinal mixed methods approach illustrates the richness of the entrepreneur’s decision-making process, which the author tracks over a two-year period. The author determines how intuitive and analytical cognitive styles are used by entrepreneurs and the contribution these styles make to decision-making. The findings show that the two cognitive styles are versatile as entrepreneurs adjust and adapt their cognitive style over time, in keeping with the situational factors of their business environment. The author also finds marked differences between novice and mature entrepreneurs and that experienced entrepreneurs exhibited greater levels of cognitive versatility, which was directly linked to their prior experience. The study has significant implications for future research, which should consider the question how an entrepreneur’s cognitive style is dependent on the business context and their prior experience.

Entrepreneurial firms are vital to economic growth because they bring creative insights and unique capabilities to the marketplace. The content of entrepreneurial firm strategies reflect the unique opportunities that the technological breakthroughs, operational efficiencies, and/or marketing genius of entrepreneurial firms bring into existence. Entrepreneurial firms are at the forefront of creating new classes of products and services, and sometimes even new industries. With them, they often bring new methods of competing. Volume 11 identifies several strategic dilemmas and strategic choices that organizations face in their efforts to be more entrepreneurial. It concludes with a lively debate between well-known scholars regarding the best ways to advance entrepreneurship as a scholarly field.

Many jurisdictions fine illegal cartels using penalty guidelines that presume an arbitrary 10% overcharge. This article surveys more than 700 published economic studies and judicial decisions that contain 2,041 quantitative estimates of overcharges of hard-core cartels. The primary findings are: (1) the median average long-run overcharge for all types of cartels over all time periods is 23.0%; (2) the mean average is at least 49%; (3) overcharges reached their zenith in 1891–1945 and have trended downward ever since; (4) 6% of the cartel episodes are zero; (5) median overcharges of international-membership cartels are 38% higher than those of domestic cartels; (6) convicted cartels are on average 19% more effective at raising prices as unpunished cartels; (7) bid-rigging conduct displays 25% lower markups than price-fixing cartels; (8) contemporary cartels targeted by class actions have higher overcharges; and (9) when cartels operate at peak effectiveness, price changes are 60–80% higher than the whole episode. Historical penalty guidelines aimed at optimally deterring cartels are likely to be too low.

This chapter explores different strategies implemented by three companies using professional (LinkedIn) and non-professional (Facebook) social networking websites (SNWs) as a recruitment tool and investigates the influence of their perceived usability and attractiveness on job seekers’ attraction and their intention to apply.

First, a laboratory experiment involving 171 MBA students compares the effectiveness of three different social recruitment strategies. Second, a survey among 110 job seekers focuses on the most effective strategy in terms of attraction as an employer and the influence of perceived usability and attractiveness of professional SNW pages on job seekers’ intention to pursue the job.

The laboratory experiment confirms the key role of LinkedIn as an e-recruitment practice. The survey shows that the overall company image, the usability of the LinkedIn page and the interaction between the attractiveness of the page and the overall company image positively influence job seekers’ intention to pursue the job.

The research offers insights on job seekers’ reactions to 2.0 Internet-based recruitment. Companies should focus on and invest in professional social medias, paying attention to the usability of their SNWs pages.

Recruitment is a strategic HRM practice to attract talents; however, research lags behind practice and little is known about job seekers’ perceptions and reactions to Internet recruitment. This chapter sheds light on the use of social media for recruitment and identifies two features that contribute to an effective e-recruitment strategy.