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This study examines the effect of cross-border network ties of returnee entrepreneurs on the foreign market diversity of their ventures. The study further investigates how two cross-cultural competencies (global mindset and cultural intelligence) moderate this effect.

A sample of 135 returnee entrepreneurial ventures from China was used to test the hypotheses.

This study finds that returnee entrepreneurs tend to enter into a wide range of culturally different country groups when returnee entrepreneurs have strong cross-border network ties. Moreover, global mindset and cultural intelligence function as complements in strengthening the effect of the cross-border network ties on foreign market diversity.

The authors contribute to both returnee entrepreneurship and foreign market entry literature in two ways. First, by examining the effect of cross-border network ties on foreign market entry, the authors add new and important insights into the role of social networks in the pre-internationalization phase. This is useful in understanding the internationalization process of new ventures founded by returnees, which have not been fully understood in returnee entrepreneurship literature. Second, by examining the moderating roles of global mindset and cultural intelligence, the authors enhance the understanding of the extent to which cross-border networks can be valuable in foreign market entry.

This study analyzes the structure of regional and global alli‐ance networks of multinationals. It examines the network structure of 172 Triad (U.S., Western European, and Japanese) multinationals during 2001‐2003 and how it affects subsequent corporate performance during 2004‐2006. We study a framework of regional/global strategies based on the social network view of relational ties among firms. Thus, we offer a new perspective to the growing literatures on the regional/global strategies and internationalization of alliance networks.

This chapter analyzes the relations among bank mergers, changes in boards and their networks, and changes in the global footprint of merging banks. We examine all mergers involving U.S. banks with foreign branches between 1986 and 2004. We find that while the largest banks have become even larger through mergers, their boards have stayed roughly the same size with the same pattern of connections, leaving banks relatively less central in the intercorporate network. And while global banks previously had more globally oriented boards, this is no longer the case, as the link between board networks and strategy has become more tenuous. Because global banks were particularly prone to merging, the average commercial bank in the U.S. is now far more domestically oriented than firms in most other industries. American banks have thus become more domestic at the same time that the rest of American industry has grown much more global.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a theoretical framework examining how local network ties and global network ties affect firms’ innovation performance via their absorptive capacities.

The conceptual framework is empirically tested in a field study with multi-source data collected from a sample of 297 manufacturing firms located in four. Manufacturing clusters in the south-eastern Yangtze River Delta of China. Hypotheses were tested with the use of path analysis with maximum likelihood robust estimates through the structural equation modelling approach.

The asymmetry between local network ties (LNT) and global network ties (GNT) in terms of influences on firms’ innovation performance is confirmed by empirical tests. LNT not only significantly and positively contribute to firms’ innovation performance directly but also enhance it indirectly via absorptive capability, whereas GNT exhibit only marginal influence on innovation performance. GNT are shown to boost innovation performance (IP) only indirectly via firms’ absorptive capacities. Knowledge heterogeneity and the difference between domestic and multinational firms’ institutional environment are considered to be the main causes of the asymmetric effects.

While the previous literature either focused on the mediating role of firms’ knowledge absorptive capacities or investigated the effects of social networks separately, this study incorporates both mechanisms into a single analytical framework to better account for the interactions between network effects and absorptive capacities. The results challenge some previous studies positing that GNT are stronger determinants than LNT in shaping a local firm’s innovation capacity in emerging economies, and the findings emphasize the importance of absorptive capacity in helping local enterprises to leverage external linkages to enhance firm’s innovation performance.

Global production networks (GPN) propel process and product upgrading of the latecomer firm (LCF), promoting its present operating efficiency on one hand, but, on the other hand, probably hindering the LCF's function and chain upgrading, resulting in the undermining of its future adaptive capability. Previous studies have suggested that ambidexterity is influential to the upgrading of the LCF. However, little is known about how the LCF builds ambidexterity to upgrade in GPN. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the LCF constructs ambidexterity resulting from tie diversity to break through the upgrading dilemma.

This paper intends to fill relevant gaps in the literatures on the LCF and explore the emerging fields of ambidexterity. The authors employ a longitudinal case study by examining how a manufacturer – Haitian Group – originating from China's plastic equipment industry has managed its diverse ties to build ambidexterity over the past 20 years.

The research reveals that: the key to successfully transferring from process and product upgrading to function or chain upgrading in GPN for the LCF is to establish its ambidexterity over time; LCF could achieve ambidexterity through creating diverse ties in GPN, namely develop diverse cooperative partners and patterns in different value functions over time; and the process of the LCF building ambidexterity in GPN is incremental, which needs the previous exploitation as a basis.

Previous studies have paid little attention to how the LCF makes use of tie diversity to build ambidexterity to sustainable upgrading in GPN. This paper fills the gaps and contributes to the theory of upgrading in GPN.

The purpose of this paper is to study the influence mechanism of different levels of social capital (Structure holes–local network attributes and indirect ties–global network attributes) and organizational culture on the creativity of key inventors, and the role of organizational culture between social capital and creativity.

The paper tested the hypotheses with a sample of patent data accumulated from 46 firms in Chinese electronic information and automobile sectors. Negative binomial regression was used to explore the factors influencing the creativity of key inventors.

The paper discovers that structural holes are valuable social capital for the creativity of key inventors and very important in firms with a collective and conservative culture. Moreover, it also locates that key inventor are more creative in firms with an individualistic and competitive culture than those in firms with a collective and conservative culture.

This study emphasizes the influence of social capital on creativity and contributes to R&D management. It highlights structural holes are certainly important to key inventors in a collective and conservative culture, thus contradicting preceding studies that locate structural holes useful solely in an individualistic culture. This finding broadens our knowledge of the benefits of this network structure. Also, this debate challenges several basic views on structural holes currently.

In this chapter we develop a conceptual model describing how global teams do more than accomplish discrete tasks, and create “spillover coordination” effects by influencing the amount of work-related direct contact among team members outside the task boundaries of the team. We theorize that spillover coordination is the result of relational and cognitive social capital developed through team interaction. We also propose that the design of the team and the context in which it operates influence the degree to which social capital develops.

We develop a conceptual model including propositions that can be tested empirically. We suggest avenues for future research.

Our model proposes that teams are a more powerful cross-border integration mechanism than originally thought in existing literature in international management and organizational behavior, since they affect social capital that can benefit the broader MNE beyond scope of the task and after the team disbands. Our approach suggests that MNE managers should be mindful of global team spillover effects and intentional in the way they design global teams if those benefits are to be achieved.

Most research on global teams, and teams in general, does not look past the task and time boundary of the team. We expand the view of team effectiveness to encompass those dimensions.

In this chapter, we draw on social capital and role theories to develop a theoretical model of global leader initiative and reputational effectiveness in spanning structural holes. We define global leaders as those assigned to work locations outside the borders of their home country. Global leaders (by virtue of their global work assignments) occupy structural holes that span geographical boundaries. By definition, this position provides them with special opportunities to use their social capital to span these structural holes. Our model aims to make two key contributions. First, we focus on firm and individual factors that influence the extent to which global leaders proactively use their social capital. Second, we address local, corporate, and personal factors that influence the relationship between spanning behavior and reputational effectiveness. We discuss research implications for testing our propositions and practical implications for applying the model to work organizations, with an emphasis on the benefits of more effectively leveraging the social capital of global leaders.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for analysing the configuration of knowledge networks used by innovative rural small- and medium-sized enterprises, and the nature of the relationships between knowledge transferring actors.

The research is based on semi-structured interviews with rural innovative entrepreneurs and regional key informants. Social network analysis (SNA) was used to identify configuration of relationships, and content analysis to understand the nature of the knowledge relationships.

Higher innovation levels are related to proactive and strong relationships with extra-local actors, usually from the international level, mainly from the Baltic Sea region. The actors, who have a greater role in innovation, are special customers, scientific organisations and non-human actors (e.g. trade fairs). Greater variety in proactive relationships helps achieve higher-level innovations. Reactive and weaker relationships tend to be related to lower innovation levels.

This study contributes to the development of rural innovation research practice through the development of a framework for analysing the configuration of knowledge networks and the nature (activity and strength) of relations between actors. Thus, two different dimensions not used together previously are combined and advanced. In addition, in this paper, the relations that go beyond a region’s borders are also included, compared to earlier studies, where SNA was commonly used only with reference to relations inside a territory. An example from Central and Eastern Europe supplied to the literature on rural innovation networks is of additional value.

Studies of capability building and organisational learning through networked arrangements have been growing in recent years. In high‐technology industries, in particular, small and medium‐sized enterprises overcome problems of resource and information limitations by becoming a part of a knowledge network. This paper seeks to examine innovation networks of the Australian high‐technology small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by focusing on the linkages employed by small businesses to learn, adapt to technological change, and innovate.

To study the innovation networks of high‐technology firms, research was conducted on biotechnology firms within the Sydney region and information and communication technology (ICT) firms within the metropolitan area of Melbourne. A mixed methodology approach for this research was adopted and a combination of quantitative and qualitative data was collected, via the means of a questionnaire and face‐to‐face interviews.

The paper reports a range of findings on the nature and type of networked relationships and offers analysis of the extent of innovation linkages within the biotech clusters in Sydney and ICT cluster within Melbourne.

Limitation of the sample size indicates limited generalisability of final results and findings should be treated with caution.

This research highlights critical factors of innovation success in the context of network linkages. This network analysis may enable more effective decision making on improving innovation processes on competitive capabilities by regional policy makers and firm managers.

The paper reports the analysis and extent of innovation linkages within the biotech cluster in Sydney and ICT cluster the in Melbourne metropolitan area.