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1 – 10 of 326Serge Evraert and Ahmed Riahi‐Belkaoui
Provides a useful summary of research on value added (VA) reporting and shows how income statements can be rearranged to show gross or not (of depreciation) VA. Starts with…
Abstract
Provides a useful summary of research on value added (VA) reporting and shows how income statements can be rearranged to show gross or not (of depreciation) VA. Starts with descriptive research on its use in various countries, enumerates its advantages and limitations and goes on to review empirical research on VA firm performance, the informational content of VA (as against conventional) data in market valuation and its predictive ability. Suggests that VA disclosure should be mandatory in the USA and calls for further research on its usefulness.
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Nicholas Fearnley and Sid Gray
The purpose of this paper is to investigate, following the adoption and implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the European Union (EU), whether…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate, following the adoption and implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the European Union (EU), whether accounting choices continue to be significantly influenced by national institutional factors with particular reference to cultural values, legal systems and equity market development.
Design/methodology/approach
The focus of the paper is on the measurement options available under IFRS with respect to investment property, and a study of factors influencing the accounting choices by 66 European investment property companies as disclosed in their annual reports over the period 2005-2010 is conducted.
Findings
National institutional factors and, most importantly, cultural values remain persistently important in explaining accounting measurement choices relating to investment property following the implementation of IFRS in the EU.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to investment property companies in the EU. Future studies could be carried out to compare the explanatory power and causal factors involved in different industry contexts and across more countries. Alternative measures of culture may also provide alternative insights.
Originality/value
The paper demonstrates that a nation’s culture and accounting tradition likely has a continuing and significant impact on firms’ measurement decisions. Thus, institutional factors are clearly important in explaining accounting measurement choices and indicate the persistence of international accounting differences even in the context of a globally standardized accounting regime.
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Gillian Sullivan Mort and Jay Weerawardena
International entrepreneurship (IE) is a new field of multi‐disciplinary enquiry that has its origins in the research on born globals. Within international marketing the concept…
Abstract
Purpose
International entrepreneurship (IE) is a new field of multi‐disciplinary enquiry that has its origins in the research on born globals. Within international marketing the concept has attracted the attention of researchers examining the factors driving small‐ and medium‐size firm internationalisation. These small, rapidly internationalising, entrepreneurial new ventures have recently both challenged and fascinated scholars and practitioners. While IE researchers are beginning to call for a broadening of the field of IE enquiry, this research continues the focus on the special breed of small firms, the born globals. We do this to deepen our understanding of IE, and focus on networking in born globals to attempt to develop richer insights directed towards establishing more in‐depth understanding and more robust theoretical frameworks.
Design/methodology/approach
Relationships and networking have been important in internationalisation studies for some time, and for small firms in particular are of interest for their role in helping overcome “resource poverty”. Case study method is adopted to examine the generative mechanisms and processes of networking capabilities. Drawing on six exemplar case studies from low‐tech and hi‐tech industry sectors, this research identifies the role and characteristics of the entrepreneurial owner/manager and the development of networking capability over time.
Findings
Fundamental and secondary networking capabilities are identified. How networking capability enables identification and exploitation of market opportunities, facilitates the development of knowledge‐intensive products and firm international market performance in the born global firm is discussed. The issue of network rigidity is also highlighted. A conceptual model is presented, implications discussed and future research directions, in particular the extension of networking capability research to large firms exhibiting IE, are promulgated.
Originality/value
Overall the findings of the study contribute to the development of IE research by identifying the centrality and scope of the impact of networking capabilities in small born global firms arguing that dynamic networking capability characterises IE in this context.
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This study examines the differences in corporate transparency between subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs), and domestic corporations (DCs) in India.
Abstract
This study examines the differences in corporate transparency between subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs), and domestic corporations (DCs) in India.
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Sharon Loane and Jim Bell
The importance of networks in the internationalisation of entrepreneurial firms is widely accepted. However, while the literature tends to focus on the existing networks of firms…
Abstract
Purpose
The importance of networks in the internationalisation of entrepreneurial firms is widely accepted. However, while the literature tends to focus on the existing networks of firms, there is growing evidence that many rapid internationalisers have to build new networks. This cross‐national study investigates the networks of internationalising entrepreneurial firms in Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi‐stage approach and mixed methods were employed. Online sources were used to gather information on 218 internationalising small firms, then an e‐mail instrument was administered to verify data and address information gaps, resulting in 143 usable responses (66 per cent) evenly distributed across locations. A representative sub‐sample of 53 firms was selected for further in‐depth investigation via face‐to‐face interviews with CEOs.
Findings
A high proportion of firms (25 per cent) actively used existing networks to develop their knowledge of international markets and improve their international competitiveness. However, an even larger number (34 per cent) had to build new networks because of the advanced nature of their offering. In‐depth interviews provided rich insights into the nature and scope of the firms' network development activities.
Research limitations/implications
While the sample size is relatively small, the findings are consistent across locations. They suggest that further investigation of network building activities among internationalising entrepreneurial firms is required.
Practical implications
The results have implications on firm strategy, in terms of the strategic nature of network building and the need for systematic approaches. They also are pertinent to public policy in support of internationalisation. In particular, there is a need for support agencies to shift their focus from providing objective knowledge to supporting experiential learning and network development.
Originality/value
The linkage of extant network approaches to the emerging knowledge‐based view (KBV) of internationalisation enhances and advances both perspectives.
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Fredric Kropp, Noel J. Lindsay and Aviv Shoham
This study examines the interrelationships between aspects of entrepreneurial, market, and learning orientations, and international entrepreneurial business venture (IEBV…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the interrelationships between aspects of entrepreneurial, market, and learning orientations, and international entrepreneurial business venture (IEBV) performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 396 entrepreneurs and 143 senior managers from early stage, growth‐oriented firms in the Republic of South Africa. These firms had an international focus in that 20 per cent began exporting from their inception and the remaining 80 per cent either began exporting within three years of inception or planned to export within three years of inception. Given the multidimensional nature of IEBV performance, structural equation modeling (AMOS) was used to test the measurement and substantive models.
Findings
Results indicate that IEBV performance is positively related to the innovativeness component of an entrepreneurial orientation (EO), a market orientation, and a learning orientation. Contrary to expectations, the communications aspect of EO is inversely related to objective performance measures.
Research limitations/implications
By design, only successful IEBVs in South Africa were studied, potentially limiting generalizability.
Practical implications
Financiers can enhance the probability of success by assigning a greater weight to an entrepreneur's creativity.
Originality/value
This is the first examination of the role of all three orientations and multidimensional measures of objective and subjective performance. It examines South Africa, a more dynamic, changing and hostile business environment. Managers and financiers can enhance their probability of success by developing the different orientations.
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John D. Mittelstaedt, William A. Ward and Edward Nowlin
To examine the effects of urbanization and industrial concentration on the propensity of firms to export, and to determine whether these aspects of geography affect smaller firms…
Abstract
Purpose
To examine the effects of urbanization and industrial concentration on the propensity of firms to export, and to determine whether these aspects of geography affect smaller firms differently than larger ones.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on expectations from economic geography and organizational learning theories, logistic regression was used to assess the effects of firm size, urbanization and industrial concentration on the export choices of 43,707 manufacturing firms located in the Southeastern USA.
Findings
Results indicate that geography affects choices to export, and that these choices differ with firm size. The smallest manufacturers (fewer than 20 employees) were most likely to export from urban areas and in concentrated industrial sectors. Industry‐specific differences were also found.
Research limitations/implications
Results from the Southeastern USA are consistent with findings from China, though caution should be used in generalizing from these findings. The findings suggest that both internal and external scale economies must be considered in order to understand the export success of small firms.
Practical implications
These findings suggest that factors external to the firm affect the learning and decision process of smaller firms in very different ways than larger firms. Small firms are more dependent on their geographic environments than larger firms, when engaging the global economy.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to examine the simultaneous effects of internal and external scale economies on the propensity of firms (and particularly small firms) to engage in export activities.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide comparative data from a two‐country study; specifically, into the internationalisation strategies of Canadian and UK high‐tech small and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide comparative data from a two‐country study; specifically, into the internationalisation strategies of Canadian and UK high‐tech small and medium‐sized enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology employed involves 24 in‐depth interviews, 12 in each country.
Findings
These suggest that the differences between the firms in the two countries were limited; more similarities were identifiable. Specifically, strategy formation is not as systematic as some previous studies, notably those that focus on the “stage” models, suggest. Entrepreneurs and management teams recognise and exploit opportunities in different ways, ranging from planned strategy formation through to opportunistic behaviour; as such, no single theory could fully explain international entrepreneurial decisions.
Research limitations/implications
The implication of the findings is to offer support to the literature that has suggested a more holistic view should be undertaken in international entrepreneurship research.
Originality/value
The main aspect of originality outside of the comparative data involves accounting for the role of serendipity in unplanned overseas market ventures, an issue lacking in much of the earlier literature.
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This chapter complements the one that appeared as “History of the AIB Fellows: 1975–2008” in Volume 14 of this series (International Business Scholarship: AIB Fellows on the First…
Abstract
This chapter complements the one that appeared as “History of the AIB Fellows: 1975–2008” in Volume 14 of this series (International Business Scholarship: AIB Fellows on the First 50 Years and Beyond, Jean J. Boddewyn, Editor). It traces what happened under the deanship of Alan Rugman (2011–2014) who took many initiatives reported here while his death in July 2014 generated trenchant, funny, and loving comments from more than half of the AIB Fellows. The lives and contributions of many other major international business scholars who passed away from 2008 to 2014 are also evoked here: Endel Kolde, Lee Nehrt, Howard Perlmutter, Stefan Robock, John Ryans, Vern Terpstra, and Daniel Van Den Bulcke.
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