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The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the extent to which two types of commercial partnerships (business partner and non-business partner) affect the collaborative innovation of firms in emerging economies. Specifically, the roles of two commercial partnerships are investigated. Additionally, the study explores the moderating effect of external technological uncertainty and internal dynamic capabilities on the relationship between two commercial partnerships and on collaborative innovation.

Using a sample of 370 high-tech firms in China, the authors applied the partial least squares structural equation modeling approach to model these relationships.

The findings reveal opportunities and challenges for companies according to two intensities of commercial partnership for collaborative innovation. The partnership contribution to innovation and competiveness is different within the two routes and ranges. The findings indicate that (1) intense commercial relationships with business partners have a stronger positive significant impact on collaborative innovation than those with non-business partners and (2) non-business partners have a weaker positive impact on collaborative innovation at high external technological uncertainty. It was also found that (3) the positive impact of business partners on collaborative innovation is weakened when a firm has high dynamic capabilities, whereas the positive impact of non-business partners is strengthened.

Insight into the roles of two commercial partnerships in achieving collaborative innovation facilitates the advancement of the theoretical understanding of the circumstances under which cooperative innovation can be more effective under different partnerships.

A key strategic question is whether comprehensiveness enables firms to make better strategic decisions in various environments. In the process of innovation, companies must choose different types and quantities of partners, and they must regulate their partners’ innovative behavior by establishing a corresponding network structure and relationship rules. The current study focuses on analysis of how different intensities of commercial partnerships affect collaborative innovation. This research provides a theoretical framework that creates a new classification of commercial relations with regard to collaborative innovation, and it highlights the difference between the two types of partnerships. This study finds that there are many problems in the selection of innovative partners in China’s high-tech companies. Therefore, companies should strengthen their understanding of cooperative innovation, and they should build and manage highly efficient innovation networks. This study helps companies, high-tech industry associations, academia and government to take enhanced, informed actions.

Little attention has been given to the effects of returnee entrepreneurs on external and internal corporate social responsibility (CSR). This study aims to investigate whether returnee entrepreneurs engage in more external or internal CSR and to further explore the contingency effects of foreign market embeddedness and local government endorsement.

This study uses 11,967 startups in China to examine the relationship between returnee entrepreneurs and external and internal CSR. The authors use an ordinary least square regression and propensity scoring matching approach to analyze the data.

The empirical results show that returnee entrepreneurs are more likely to undertake external CSR but less likely to undertake internal CSR. Foreign market embeddedness and local government endorsement have opposite moderating effects on these relationships.

This study has important implications for returnee entrepreneurs’ strategic choice between external and internal CSR and also provides theoretical support for policymakers to make effective and enforceable CSR policies.

This study discusses how returnee entrepreneurs implement external or internal CSR in China, answering the call to distinguish between external and internal CSR. Drawing on a legitimacy perspective, the authors find interesting and seemingly counterintuitive effects of returnees on external and internal CSR, which also necessitates distinguishing between these two types of CSR. In addition, the authors find different moderating roles of foreign market embeddedness and local government endorsement.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of ordinary returnee and foreign employees in firm export performance, whose impacts have been overseen in prior research. This study also explores whether returnee and foreign employees function as substitutes or complements, and simultaneously considers the impacts of contextual factors on the relationship between returnee (foreign) employees and firm export performance.

Using panel data of Beijing’s Zhongguancun Science Park manufacturing firms over a seven-year period, from 2009 to 2015, the paper applies panel Tobit regression to deal with the left-censoring dependent variable.

This paper finds the number of returnee and foreign employees has significantly positive influence in promoting firm export performance; however, substitution effects exist between them. In addition, the positive effects of returnee and foreign employees on firm export performance are conditional. For foreign employees, the presence of corporate president with international background and firm imports will weaken their positive impacts. In terms of returnee employees, their positive influence proves not to be significantly reduced by corporate president’s international background but weakened by firm imports.

Previous research only highlights returnee entrepreneurs’ and top managers’ positive influence on firm export performance. However, with the development of emerging countries, for instance, China in this paper, ordinary returnee and foreign employees are playing more and more critical roles in firms’ internationalization process. This paper responds to the practical needs to focus on ordinary returnee and foreign employees.

Earlier research confirms the positive effect of innovation in shaping growth ambitions of entrepreneurs. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the effect of innovation on growth ambitions of entrepreneurs is contingent on the role of institutions, namely, culture and economic freedom. In other words, the authors’ objective is to provide an institutionally contingent understanding of the role of innovation in shaping growth ambitions of early-stage entrepreneurs.

The authors applied hierarchical linear modeling technique on the data of 100,566 early-stage entrepreneurs in 109 countries that participated in annual surveys of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.

The authors find that the effect of innovation on shaping growth ambitions of early stage entrepreneurs is contingent on the role of culture such that, in secular cultures, innovation benefits growth ambitions more than traditional cultures. Further, the authors found that the effect of innovation on growth expectations is dependent on the level of economic freedom in the country in which the firms operate so that in the countries with higher level of economic freedom, early-stage entrepreneurs expect more growth out of their innovation as compared to their counterparts in the depressed economies.

The results contribute to our understanding of entrepreneurial growth aspirations as a result of the interplay of entrepreneur–firm–environment nexus.

Women Entrepreneurship has received increasing attention over the past decade. In particular, a new area dealing with women entrepreneurs in the developing societies. The aim of this study is how is women entrepreneurship in developing economies? More specifically, we are excavating various questions at the individual and institutional level. The results of this study contribute to understanding the importance of the context on women entrepreneurs’ activities. Additionally, it systematically provides a comprehensive framework at multilevel analyses to cover all aspects of women entrepreneurship in developing countries. Ultimately, knowing women entrepreneurship in developing countries helps policymakers provide a firm ground for self-employment of women.

We investigate the relationship between gender diversity on corporate boards and environmental performances of firms. Our central focus is the extent to which a country's economic status (developed, developing) can shape such a relationship. We find evidence that gender diversity is positively correlated to environmental performances of firms. Interestingly, this correlation is not only stronger in developing countries but also increasing in gender diversity. These findings have considerable importance in terms of policy.

Promotion of gender diversity in developing countries, where abatement costs are the lowest, would improve global environmental quality in a cost-effective way. This is best achieved through building institutions and strengthening them. The benefits of such policy go beyond developing countries frontiers, particularly when global environmental problems (pollution, global warming, ozone layer depletion, loss of biodiversity, etc.) are concerned. These benefits can be a leverage for an efficient implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs) both as gender diversity stands as a goal by itself and also because it facilitates achieving other environmental-related SDGs.

This chapter uses the entrepreneurial experiences of women entrepreneurs in urban China as an empirical case to discuss contextual influences on women's everyday entrepreneurial experience in developing countries. Based on thematic analysis of women's own accounts of their entrepreneurial experiences, four contextual influences emerged: (1) preentrepreneurial work experience, (2) national entrepreneurial development, (3) cultural values, and (4) gendered work ideology. These influences shaped and were shaped by women's entrepreneurial identities, decisions, and actions in situated contexts. To further understand women's negotiations with these influences in developing countries, future research are called for to investigate how women resist dominant structures to carve out entrepreneurial agencies and enact resiliency to build sustainable businesses.

This study aims to investigate the effect of the crisis on entrepreneurial activities and how it can be relieved. Specifically, we explore how the positive effects of the human capital (self-confidence, opportunity alertness, and risk willingness) on startup activities are changed after the global financial crisis. Additionally, we explore how knowing an entrepreneur boosts up these relationships. We applied data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) about prospective women entrepreneurs in China in 2006–2007 (precrisis time) and 2009–2010 (postcrisis time). Results show a sharp drop in effect size of self-confidence and opportunity recognition upon women's entrepreneurial actions; however, the global financial crisis nullified the effect of fear of failure on potential women entrepreneurs' business activities. Furthermore, knowing an entrepreneur has no significant moderating effect. Theoretical and practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Encouraging innovation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is one of the government's main policy initiatives at the local, regional, and national levels in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study's primary purpose is to explore the innovation characteristics, challenges, and factors influencing innovation in the Emirati female-owned nascent, start-up, and established SMEs. A semi-structured interview method was used to explore ten Emirati female entrepreneurs' experiences on innovation and adoption intent, and the data were analyzed using NVIVO software. The analysis reveals that respondents believed in a strong vision, education, and risk-taking attitude as an innovative entrepreneur's essential characteristics. Furthermore, new technology adoption, networking, implementation of new or improved products, processes, marketing, and organizational innovation are considered essential to help entrepreneurs commercialize their innovative business idea. This study's findings will help policymakers and business women's councils identify the specific inhibitors and facilitators linked to innovation. The results will help develop various effective policies to promote innovation among Emirati women-owned SMEs.