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To augment sales revenue, B2B digital start-ups aim to create and sustain commercial relationships with industry incumbents. However, since these incumbents have traditionally struggled with implementing disruptive digital artifacts, most studies have almost exclusively concentrated on their challenges, leaving the digital start-ups' side underexplored. Therefore, this study seeks to understand how digital start-ups navigate digital implementation (DI) hardships to ultimately achieve digital entrepreneurship success.

An abductive explanatory multi-case study of four industries that pose a variety of implementation challenges for B2B digital start-ups (agriculture, insurance, real estate and construction, and healthcare) was conducted using data collected from 40 interviews with Israeli experts and relevant digital data observations.

This study articulates two main observations. (1) Throughout their journeys, digital start-ups have utilized newly created and/or refined dynamic capabilities (DC) to successfully implement their digital artifacts. Simultaneously, successful DI has enabled digital start-ups to create new DC or sustain and evolve current DC. (2) We provide empirical evidence outlining how digital start-ups using continuous learning have combined causation and effectuation logic throughout their DI journeys.

This study answers a call to explore more explicit digital-related drivers (i.e. DI) for digital entrepreneurship success by studying a highly-ranked country on the Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) to achieve this. Moreover, it illustrates how digital start-ups evolve throughout their commercial relationships with industry incumbents, thereby enabling an effective approach for successful DI. Such an approach can be considered very valuable for both practitioners and policymakers. Consequently, it advances digital entrepreneurship as an independent research topic.

This research investigates the distinct characteristics of blockchain technology to safeguard against the deterioration of handover information quality in the post-construction phase. The significance of effective management of handover information is highlighted by global building failures, such as the Grenfell Tower fire in London, UK. Despite existing technological interventions, there remains a paucity of understanding regarding the factors contributing to the decline in the quality of handover information during the post-construction phase.

This study employed a multi-case studies approach across five higher education institutions. It involved conducting semi-structured interviews with 52 asset management professionals, uncovering the underlying reasons for the decline in handover information quality. Building on these insights, the study performed a mapping exercise to align these identified factors with blockchain technology features and information quality dimensions, aiming to evaluate blockchain’s potential in managing quality handover information.

The study findings suggest that blockchain technology offers advantages but has limitations in addressing all the identified quality issues of managing handover information. Due to the lack of an automated process and file-based information exchange, updating handover information still requires an error-prone manual process, leading to potential information loss. Additionally, no solutions are available for encoding drawings for updates and validation.

This study proposes a framework integrating blockchain to enhance the information management process and improve handover information quality.

The aim of this paper is to explore the internationalization of digital platform firms, specifically to investigate the advantages digital platform firms build during the internationalization journey, which helps them overcome the liability of foreignness. More importantly, drawing on network theory and Luo’s framework of new OLI advantages, a new framework of Platform OLI (P-OLI) advantages is developed for digital platform firms.

This study adopts a multi-case method to empirically understand the internationalization phenomenon of digital platform firms in the emerging economy of India, which is a less researched area. Twenty semi-structured interviews from top executives of 12 Indian headquartered digital platform firms were inductively analyzed based on Gioia’s method, and a cross-case examination was conducted to explore the respondent firm’s internationalization journey.

Several novel open resource and linkage advantages were identified for digital platform firms that are not covered by the new OLI advantages proposed by Luo. Furthermore, a new “I” advantage, which is information and knowledge advantage, has evolved from the data. This resulted in enhancing the scope of the new OLI framework and network theory and further enabled us to develop the P-OLI framework, a new framework for digital platform firms that reflects the specific advantages a digital platform firm builds during internationalization.

This is the first study which evaluates the new OLI framework from the perspective of a digital platform firm to develop a novel framework, P-OLI. Further, this study is among the few studies with an Indian digital platform firm focus and relies on primary interview data to study digital platform firms’ internationalization phenomenon.

We call the attention of management scholars to the methodological traps inherent to data collected using self-reported emotional experience in the context of integration after mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In a systematic review, we identified 15 peer-reviewed empirical articles where authors discuss the impact of emotions in post-merger situations based on interview data. We found that the authors of 12 studies appear to have been unaware of the problems of the interview method or implicitly accepted the inherent and unavoidable distortions and biases of self-reported emotions over time. We argue that these distortions and biases represent threats to data validity and reliability. In support of this position, we cite literature suggesting it is difficult for researchers to reconstruct emotions experienced based on interviews conducted a few weeks after the events, so results based on this method may not be valid. The authors of these articles all relied on data collected several months or years after M&A integration events. Then, they sought to assess the impact of emotions at the time of the integration process. As a consequence, conclusions based on these data may be unreliable. We conclude with recommendations for overcoming this potential source of invalid data in post-merger integration (PMI) studies.

Over the years, the impact of the business cycle on firm strategy has been neglected in the area of strategic management and remains one of the most important but least developed research streams in management scholarship. Studies in this area are scattered across time and domains, therefore, there is a need to consolidate this fragmented literature to provide a comprehensive review and thus avenues for further research. This study aims to address this gap.

In this study, the systematic literature review (SLR) method is used to select and examine research articles in the area of firm responses and decisions during recession. This SLR examines 127 studies and carries out a thematic synthesis of the literature.

Based on the SLR and thematic synthesis of the literature, the themes identified in this study include – severity of recession impact (Theme 1); firm specific characteristics (Theme 2); resource adjustment activities (Theme 3); and firm performance (Theme 4), based on these themes and analysis this paper maps and proposes various relationships and linkages in this research domain that can be explored further for the development of scholarship in this field of study.

This paper fulfills the need for a systematic review of the extant literature on firms’ responses during recession. The study synthesizes literature and carries out a thematic analysis from 1980 till the period February 2024 to provide directions to advance this domain of literature.

Resource mobilization and technology adoption by small firms are mainly studied separately, although considering them together is crucial for understanding how resources are accessed and mobilized to address uncertainty. Moreover, the authors know little about how small firms pursue new opportunities in a constantly changing environment. The purpose of this study is to investigate how small firms adopt technologies to engage different stakeholders and facilitate the access and mobilization of key resources in the opportunity co-creation process.

This study applied a qualitative case study method and conducted 14 interviews with co-founders or top managers of five small firms in Iran.

The findings reveal how small firms adopt technologies to access and mobilize social, human, psychological and financial resources in a highly uncertain environment to co-create new opportunities.

First, the study applies a cross-sectional approach. Therefore, it does not capture longitudinal aspects that might impact resource mobilization and technology adoption over time. Second, the selected five case firms represent rather successful firms, each of which adopted different technologies to challenge the established structure of the market. That is, this study did not focus on unsuccessful cases that would enrich the theory further.

This study reveals how small firms adopt new technologies to mobilize resources and co-create opportunities in highly uncertain environments. It reveals that small firms employ technology adoption strategies to utilize operant resources and accelerate operand resource mobilization. Active learning plays a critical role in this process.

This study aims to systematically review the current academic literature on supply chain transparency (SCT) to explore the impact of SCT on firm performance and identify factors that influencing SCT-related practices.

This review follows the six steps and 14 decisions of conducting a systematic literature review (SLR) to comprehensively review 91 identified papers published between 2007 and 2024.

Based on the content analysis of the selected papers, this study summarizes the antecedents, practices, outcomes as well as potential barriers of SCT. We develop a conceptual framework from the descriptive and thematic findings to enrich the relevant aspects of SCT and propose some critical gaps and directions for future research.

This study links SCT with several outcomes of firm performance, with a particular focus on how SCT affects sustainability in terms of its economic, social, and environmental dimensions as well as supply chain resilience. It proposes potential avenues for enriching SCT in future research.

With the popularization of sustainable concepts, how to transform into a sustainable supply chain has received widespread attention in practice. Under this circumstance, this paper aims to propose a theoretical framework of sustainable supply chain transformation (SSCT) from a perspective of resource identification and utilization, investigates resources/capabilities that can be used to promote SSCT and explores how to use resources/capabilities to achieve SSCT effectively.

An inductive multi-case analysis is applied to this paper. Four state-owned/non-state-owned enterprises from the manufacturing sector are selected as the research objectives, which are all leaders in the industry based on the 2022 China TOP 500 Enterprises Ranking. Meanwhile, to guarantee the diversities of enterprises, the four selected enterprises are respectively positioned in upstream and downstream of the supply chain.

A theoretical framework of SSCT is proposed with following research findings: (1) Technology resources, facilities and equipment resources, and business process reengineering capability are the key resources/capabilities to promote SSCT. (2) From the supply chain structure perspective, there exists a leader-participant structure in SSCT. The enterprise with dominant resources/capabilities should actively transfer to a SSCT leader. From the supply chain function perspective, specific sustainability assessment indicators and special teams are two necessary settings for SSCT. From the supply chain lifecycle perspective, SSCT should be promoted in a phased manner and dynamically adjusted in each stage. (3) Digital transformation degree and enterprise ownership play a moderating role in the implementation of strategies.

This paper proposes a conceptual framework of SSCT based on the resource orchestration perspective, which provides decision support for enterprises in practice.

The primary objective of this study aims to intensively explore the environment of Indonesian regulations and laws related to the Islamic banking system and micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) and unveil the restrictive laws and regulatory flaws that potentially hinder the Islamic banking institution and MSME industry in achieving financial inclusion and promoting sustainable growth.

This paper implements a qualitative method by implementing a multi-case study research strategy, both from the Islamic banking institutions and the MSME industries. The data were gathered primarily through an interview approach by adopting purposive uncontrolled quota sampling.

The findings of this paper reveal two essential issues: First, the regulatory imbalances and restrictions could demotivate and hinder the efforts of Islamic banks in providing access to finance for the MSME segment, hence, encumbering the achievement of the financial inclusion agenda from the Islamic banking industry. Second, the flaws in MSME registration and taxation might discourage the formal MSMEs from extending their business license and prevent the informal MSME units from registering their business. This issue would potentially lower their chance of accessing external financing from the formal financial institutions and participating in supportive government programmes due to the absence of proper legality.

Since this paper only observed six Islamic banks and 22 MSME units in urban and rural locations in Indonesia using a case study approach, the empirical findings and case discussions were limited to those respective Islamic banks and MSME participants.

By referring to the recommendations as presented in this paper, two critical policy implications could be expected from adopting the proposed recommendations, among others: By addressing the issues of the regulatory imbalance associated with the Islamic banking industry and introduce the deregulatory policies on profit and loss sharing (PLS) scheme implementation, this approach will motivate the Islamic banking industry in serving the MSME sector better and provide greater access to financial services, particularly in using the PLS financing schemes. By resolving the problems on MSME registration and taxation, this strategy will enhance the sustainability of the formal MSMEs’ operation and encourage the informal ones to register, hence, improving their inclusion into the formal financing services and government assistance programmes.

The present study attempts to address the literature shortcomings and helps to fill the gaps – both theoretical and empirical – by incorporating the multi-case study among Indonesian Islamic banks and MSMEs to extensively explore the Indonesia regulatory environment pertaining to the Islamic banking system (supply-side) and MSMEs (demand-side), and thoroughly investigates and reveals the restrictive laws and regulatory flaws that could potentially hinder the Islamic banking institutions and MSME industries in attaining financial inclusion and contributing to sustainable development.

Prior institutional duality research asserts that ceremonial implementation of organisational practice protects multinational corporations’ subsidiaries. However, the temporal dynamics of the safeguarding function has been under researched. Public sector organisations have also been ignored. This research aims to explore how the safeguarding function is created, maintained and disrupted using the overseas offices (OOs) of a bilateral development agency (BDA) as a case.

A multi-case study, underpinned by neo-institutionalism, was conducted. Data obtained from in-depth remote interviews with 39 informants from the BDA OOs were analysed using the “asking small and large questions” technique, four analytical techniques, cross-case synthesis and theoretical propositions.

A three-phase process was identified. The first phase is the appearance of discrepancies due to institutional duality. The second is the emergence of ceremonial implementation as a solution. In the third phase, “the creation, maintenance and disruption of a safeguarding function” begins. When ceremonial implementation successfully protects the OOs, the safeguarding function is created. The OOs are likely to repeat ceremonial implementation, thus sustaining the function. Meanwhile, when conditions such as management staff change, ceremonial implementation may not take place, and the safeguarding function disappears.

The BDA OOs may not face strong host country regulative pressures because they are donors to aid-recipient countries. Hence, the findings may not directly apply to other public sector organisations.

Development cooperation practitioners should understand that ceremonial implementation is not exclusively harmful.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first institutional duality research that explores the temporal dynamics of safeguarding functions targeting public sector organisations.