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The purpose of this paper is to analyze to what extent and in what ways signaling theory has been explored within the field of international marketing. This paper systematically reviews the use of signaling theory in the field of international marketing. Communication is a core aspect of the international marketing process. Research in this field has explored effective and unique ways of improving the communication flow to reduce the asymmetry of information between international consumers and the firm. This notion is adopted, enhanced and strengthened by signaling theory. Signaling theory has recently received the attention of international marketing scholars.

The systematic review methodology was applied for the purpose of identifying the relevant studies. We extracted academic articles over the last 23 years from the domain of international marketing that directly contribute to signaling theory based on 57 journal articles extracted through the systematic review process.

Based on systematic research the results reveal that the topic has grown and continues to expand within the broader international marketing field. We offer a theoretical conceptual framework to better understand signaling theory in the context of international marketing.

The authors map and critically evaluate the use of signaling theory in international marketing. Relevance of signaling theory in international marketing is growing and authors present an integrative framework that organizes the existing literature, and provides scholars to further expand on emerging themes of the domain. The paper offers some useful future research directions.

Through the subject of business network dynamics, this study aims to examine how business network relationships impact company entry market and development within fast growing economies as China. The paper looks at business network relationships in a fast-growing economy and provides an understanding of the relational perspectives in internationalisation of three luxury fashion companies and their entry models affected by the China context-related variables.

The methodology is following a qualitative approach, based on multiple case-studies research, proposing three cases of companies entering the Chinese market in the luxury and fashion industry.

The research analyses the local business network paths and how they affect the entry strategy through the socio-cultural and political players. The paper adds knowledge to studies in market entry and business networks, in the fast-growing economies area, with its new norms and values.

This study tries to analyse how business networks and related relationships “with Chinese characteristics” affect the market entry strategy in the internationalisation path from the perspective of the luxury fashion industry sector. In so doing it tries to provide an original further development of business network models within the new Chinese context.

Emotions are widely acknowledged decision-making drivers, taking the front seat when managers lack objective information. Existing evidence indicates that negative emotions often lead to the decision to retrench. Contrary to these insights, our research aims to show that negative emotions can sometimes push top managers to withdraw from retrenching marketing activities. By drawing on the affect-as-information approach, this study aims to examine the direct and conditional effects of top managers’ negative emotions on small and medium-sized enteprises (SMEs’) intention to retrench marketing activities during the recent economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study uses a descriptive research design and surveys a sample of 155 chief executive officers from business-to-business (B2B) SMEs in Croatia. The authors empirically test the conceptual framework with hierarchical regression.

Based on the sample of 155 top managers of SMEs operating in B2B industries, negative emotions positively drive marketing retrenchment. However, additional insights reveal that this relationship is conditioned by crisis severity and SMEs' strategic orientations (exploration and exploitation). The relationship between negative emotions and marketing retrenchment weakens for SMEs severely hampered by the crisis and for SMEs following the exploitative orientation. In contrast, this relationship becomes stronger for SMEs whose business customers have been severely hampered and for SMEs following exploratory orientation.

This research advances the body of knowledge by demonstrating that, depending on the severity of the crisis and the strategic orientation of the SME, top managers may interpret negative emotions quite differently, which eventually has lasting consequences on marketing retrenchment during crises. Therefore, by focusing on emotional microfoundations and unique crisis- and firm-level contingencies, this study goes beyond existing theoretical discussions that contrast marketing retrenchment vs investment and offers a different understanding of why and when SMEs retrench their marketing activities during crises.

This paper aims to explore the challenges and opportunities faced by buying centers in small and medium enterprises (SME) manufacturing companies in view of recent technological changes and the virtualization of communication.

This study uses a qualitative approach with multiple case studies to portray complex realities within the buying centers in the manufacturing SME context. The authors selected five Italian companies to portray the diverse characteristics, practices and policies of relevant stakeholders before reaching saturation with the issues explored.

The authors find that interactions among buying center members are more effective with greater collaboration and exchange (as opposed to competition and a struggle for power). Virtual/hybrid relations require greater intra-group cooperation, whereas diverse backgrounds and collaborative interactions help the flexibility and performance of the buying center. Greater use of technology produces certainty and automation, but it may also cause overload and biases that can be solved with the ability to analyze and clear responsibility for decisions.

The authors studied only five Italian companies in this study. Future research in other countries with diverse cultural and socio-economic conditions and methods would help extend this research.

The findings would improve the understanding of the challenges of adopting new purchase process technologies that would help automate routine tasks, produce useful data and support decision-making.

Unlike prior studies, this study uses an exploratory design to study the evolution of buying centers in SMEs to seek deeper insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by SMEs because of the growing use of emerging technologies.

There has been limited research that has explored the connection between digital supply chain (DSC) and SC innovation and SC dynamic capabilities. This paper aims to examine the mediating effect of SC innovation on the relationship between DSC and SC dynamic capabilities.

The research model and hypotheses were tested, employing (Statistical Package of Social Sciences) SPSS 25.0 and (Analysis of Moment Structures) AMOS 24.0 on data drawn from the Chinese manufacturing enterprises.

The study reveals that DSC has a significant positive effect on SC innovation and SC dynamic capabilities. SC innovation also has a significant positive effect on SC dynamic capabilities. Besides, the authors' research illustrates that SC innovation partially mediates the relationship between DSC and SC dynamic capabilities.

Since the results are derived from the data collected from China, it may not, therefore, be generalized to other settings. Moreover, future research could consider other contextual variables such as “environmental uncertainty” and “Government's Reward-Penalty Mechanism,” which may influence SC dynamic capabilities.

The study provides practical insights for senior executives and managers in the manufacturing industry. Managers should emphasize the investment of advanced digital technologies and tools (DTTs) and improvement of SC visibility and collaboration. In the digital age, companies should pay attention to the introduction of advanced technologies, tools and processes and focus on cultivating an innovative spirit to promote SC dynamic capabilities, thereby enhancing competitive advantages.

The paper illustrates that DSC is of great significance to improving SC dynamic capabilities. This study reveals compelling insights for firms to enhance SC innovation and dynamic capabilities by using DSC as an enabler.

In recent years, organizational agility (OA) has garnered significant attention from the academic community. Despite a substantial rise in the academic literature on OA, the nuanced understanding of OA among academicians, practitioners and policymakers is limited. To address this research gap, the current study attempts to synthesize the academic literature on organizational literature, understand the evolution of OA literature and state the potential research gaps that may open multiple research avenues.

The current study critically evaluates academic literature published in peer-reviewed journals using the bibliometric approach to map the intellectual structure of identified 224 articles on published literature on OA between 2001 and 2022.

The findings outline OA's evolutionary trend, most prolific authors, journals, affiliations and countries. Further, network analysis is deployed to unearth prominent OA themes. After that, four key themes of OA from each cluster have been identified and evaluated.

The study is based on the literature drawn from the SCOPUS database. Although the SCOPUS database is one of the largest databases, the authors believe that the SCOPUS does not contain some publications that might have offered some different insights. Secondly, the bibliometric analysis does not offer the opportunity to provide critical insights into published literature, which is one of the main limitations of bibliometric-based studies. However, despite some of these limitations, the authors believe that the study is a useful guide for scholars, practitioners and policymakers who do not have much information related to OA literature.

This article provides a pioneering review of the OA literature using bibliometrics and network analysis. The results and potential directions for further research may assist researchers in increasing the relevance of OA in the current uncertain and ambiguous environment.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the modalities for the curtailment of expropriation of investment in the course of implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement and to ensure that the African capital markets contribute robustly to economic growth.

The paper relies on the doctrinal approach to assess the state of play and the prospects for the future.

The paper found that African capital markets are fragmented and continue to suffer from poor investor protection which lowers market confidence.

The paper offers new insights on the regulatory approaches to foster investor protection in light of the emergence of the AfCFTA, regulation of executive compensation and need for harmonization of best practices across African markets.

Little is known about the role causation plays in establishing the necessary conditions for micro and small enterprises (MSEs) to face the first stages of a major crisis. Our study aims to investigate how causation affects their ability to be successful at the onset of widespread calamities.

We examined how 191 Brazilian MSEs utilized causation in managing different aspects of their operating cycle before the COVID-19 pandemic using a combinatory methodology.

Causation is more important than usually supposed for MSEs when facing widespread crises.

Our study did not explore the specific interactions between the intensified use of causation practices and other factors within MSEs that may lead to superior outcomes. The limitations of our data prevented a fully assessment of sales fluctuations of firms and how they responded to the latter stages of the COVID-19 crisis.

Our findings underscore the significance of causation in helping MSEs navigate future crises, emphasizing the enduring value of time-tested management practices. MSE owners and managers should ensure the presence of causation-oriented practices, as these forms the foundation for well-established management principles. This strong foundation equips MSEs to effectively employ effectuation strategies when it is needed.

Small enterprises are the backbone of every economy and play a vital role in economic recovery. Our findings offer valuable insights that can help these enterprises effectively navigate major crises and contribute to economic recovery.

This study is among the first to answer to the call for more research that isolates and investigates granular elements of causation. Additionally, our study is original in that we address the need to consider the temporal dimension of causality.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increasingly implement digitalization in uncertain business environments. However, a dearth exists in the entrepreneurship literature for understanding the decision-making logic of digitalization as a management issue. Drawing on the effectuation theory, this study aims to explore the relationships between effectuation dimensions and SMEs’ digitalization.

Using quantitative data collected from 345 Chinese SMEs through questionnaires, the authors conducted the principal component analysis and hierarchical linear regression analysis.

The results highlight significant positive relationships between the four effectuation elements – experimentation, affordable loss, flexibility and precommitment – and SMEs’ digitalization. Moreover, this research considers the environmental conditions as moderators and reveals that environmental dynamism and complexity associated with high uncertainty negatively moderate the effects of effectuation on SMEs’ digitalization.

SMEs embarking on digitalization should constantly experiment to determine optimal strategies while contemplating their affordable losses. Flexibility should also be maintained to discard unproductive tactics and redirect to other viable options. Additionally, precommitments can reduce the risk that SMEs encounter in digitalization process. While the effectuation principles consolidate the likelihood of a successful digitalization, this research recommends that entrepreneurs should carefully consider their possible application in uncertain environments.

This study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by theoretically clarifying the decision-making mechanism of digitalization and extends the application of effectuation to this context by illuminating the influences of effectuation principles on SMEs’ digital transformation. The identification of negative moderating effects of environmental uncertainty also augments an academic criticism about uncertainty creating the conditions for effectuation.

Given the contradictory findings of standardization/adaptation of marketing strategy in explaining export performance in the extant research, this study aims to examine the contingent effects of managerial ties and born global orientation in the standardized advertising-export performance conceptualization.

The study used two-respondent method in the survey research by a sample of 155 exporting firms operating in the industrial marketing based in Australia and New Zealand and applied hierarchical regression analysis to test the hypotheses.

The findings demonstrate that standardized advertising has a significant effect on export performance and this relationship is positively moderated by business ties. Such effect is particularly enhanced for born global firms (than nonborn global firms). However, political ties negatively influence the impact of standardized advertising on performance and such effect is stronger for born global firms.

A broader perspective of contingent variables should be included to examine the underlying relationship between standardized advertising and export performance in capturing the dynamism in international marketing contexts, such as institutional frameworks or sociocultural environments in host countries.

Standardized advertising is critical for born global firms’ export performance as it can increase efficiency and speed up internationalization processes. Such positive impact of standardized advertising on export performance is further enhanced if born global firms allocate resources to develop strong business ties with host country partners instead of building political ties with host country governments, because smooth business networking can facilitate standardized advertising on industrial marketing, yet justifiable political relations require intricate negotiations that often prolong internationalization progress.

This study incorporates managerial ties and born global orientation as contingent factors in fixing the theoretic interlock between standardization advertising strategy and export firm performance.