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1 – 10 of over 1000Lauri Haapanen, Pia Hurmelinna-Laukkanen and Kaisu Puumalainen
In this study, the authors explore how sensing and seizing of market opportunities, asset reconfiguration and top management team (TMT) consensus on these elements jointly relate…
Abstract
Purpose
In this study, the authors explore how sensing and seizing of market opportunities, asset reconfiguration and top management team (TMT) consensus on these elements jointly relate to a firm's international expansion. By doing this, the authors contribute to the existing literature by addressing dynamic managerial capabilities at the TMT level instead of considering them as individual executives' traits. The authors use the qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) method to analyze our data from 261 TMT executives in 63 firms. The findings indicate that sensing, seizing and reconfiguration capabilities are highly relevant for internationalization but in different configurations for specific stages and elements of international business. Presence of sensing as a part of configurations is observable, especially in connection to a firm having foreign customers and explicit internationalization strategies, while configurations where seizing and reconfiguration emerge are connected to firms showing continuity in the international markets. The authors’ results also indicate that a lack of TMT consensus in connection to dynamic managerial capabilities is a driving force that allows the firm not to stagnate with regards to internationalization. Yet, lack of TMT consensus combined with low reconfiguration capabilities seems to generate negative results, which suggests that different views are not helpful if the firm is incapable of changing its approaches.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses data gathered with a questionnaire where the executives select either “yes” or “no” in response to statements describing the firm situation with regard different managerial aspects and progress of international growth. The authors analyze these data from 261 TMT executives from 63 firms using the QCA method.
Findings
The findings indicate that sensing, seizing and reconfiguration capabilities are highly relevant for internationalization but to different extents for specific elements of international business; generally, while sensing is needed, in particular, for having foreign customers and internationalization strategies in the first place, seizing and reconfiguration became relevant for continuity in the international markets. Consensus or rather lack of it on these elements also plays a role. It seems that some disagreement is a driving force that allows the firm not to stagnate with regards to internationalization. However, TMT disagreement combined with low reconfiguration capabilities seems to generate negative results, which suggests that different views are not helpful if the firm is incapable of changing its approaches.
Research limitations/implications
The findings contribute to existing knowledge by exploring how managerial capabilities influence firm-level dynamic capabilities from the point of view of the TMT. The authors also add to existing research that has often focused on the relationships between TMT executives' demographic traits and TMT consensus and, further, the (subsequent) firm performance by looking at different configuration rather than linear linkages. Together, these notions further mean that the authors change the point of view on diversity. The authors consider the consensus on existing managerial dynamic capabilities rather than evaluate the functional diversity or the TMT executives' agreement on strategic moves.
Practical implications
All capabilities are important. TMT does not need to agree on everything, as long as they acknowledge where their problem areas are, and they can capture at least some of the relevant trends and opportunities. In fact, having some lack of consensus seems to be a driving force that allows capabilities to be questioned and potentially keeps (false) under-appreciation of existing capabilities from becoming a barrier to international expansion.
Originality/value
Unlike previous studies that have focused on the relationship between the TMT executives' demographic characteristics and firm performance or the relationship of the demographics and TMT strategic consensus at a general level – or studies that have explained international performance with TMT consensus (or with dynamic managerial capabilities), this study brings forth how the dynamic managerial capabilities and the TMT executives' strategic consensus with regard to these capabilities influence the firm's international expansion. Here, the authors consider internationalization widely, looking at whether the firm has foreign customers or international expansion strategy in place, and whether there this activity is sustained and continuous (with repeated trading and long-term international contracts, in particular). To our knowledge, there is no research on TMT strategic consensus that explains how the unanimity among executives on dynamic managerial capabilities connects to the firm's international expansion.
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Yanshuang Mei, Xin Xu and Xupin Zhang
Urban digital transformation has become a key strategy in global countries. This study aims to provide a comprehensive and dynamic exploration of the intrinsic traits associated…
Abstract
Purpose
Urban digital transformation has become a key strategy in global countries. This study aims to provide a comprehensive and dynamic exploration of the intrinsic traits associated with urban digital transformation, in order to yield detailed insights that can contribute to the formulation of well-informed decisions and strategies in the field of urban development initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
Through analysis of parallels between urban digital transformation and gyroscope motion in physics, the study developed the urban digital transformation gyroscope model (UDTGM), which comprises of seven core elements. With the balanced panel dataset from 268 cities at and above the prefecture level in China, we validate the dynamic mechanism of this model.
Findings
The findings of this study underscore that the collaboration among infrastructure development, knowledge-driven forces and economic operations markedly bolsters the urban digital transformation gyroscope’s efficacy.
Practical implications
This research introduces a groundbreaking framework for comprehending urban digital transformation, potentially facilitating its balanced and systemic practical implementation.
Originality/value
This study pioneers the UDTGM theoretically and verifies the dynamic mechanism of this model with real data.
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Ville Eloranta and Taija Turunen
The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the service infusion literature explains competitive advantage through services. The four strategic management theories – competitive…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the service infusion literature explains competitive advantage through services. The four strategic management theories – competitive forces, the resource-based view, dynamic capabilities, and relational view – are applied in the analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review analyzes the links between the service infusion and strategy literature.
Findings
The review reveals that although discussion of service infusion applies strategic management concepts, the stream lacks rigor with respect to construct definition and justification. Additionally, contextual variables are often missing. The result is an over-emphasis of contextually bound measures, such as technology, and focal actors.
Research limitations/implications
The growing trends toward social networks, co-specialization, actor dependency and shared resources encourage service infusion scholars to focus on network-related and relational capabilities, co-opetition, open business models, and relational rent extraction. Furthermore, service infusion research would benefit from considering strategy-based theoretical discussions, constructs, and constraints that would improve the scientific rigor, impact and contribution.
Originality/value
This paper represents a systematic attempt to link the service infusion literature with strategic management theories and thoroughly analyzes the knowledge gaps and possible misconceptions.
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A deteriorating security situation and an increased need for defence equipment calls for new forms of collaboration between Armed Forces and the defence industry. This paper aims…
Abstract
Purpose
A deteriorating security situation and an increased need for defence equipment calls for new forms of collaboration between Armed Forces and the defence industry. This paper aims to investigate the ways in which the accelerating demand for increased security of supply of equipment and supplies to the Armed Forces requires adaptability in the procurement process that is governed by laws on public procurement (PP).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on a review of current literature as well as empirical data obtained through interviews with representatives from the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration and the Swedish defence industry.
Findings
Collaboration with the globalized defence industry requires new approaches, where the PP rules make procurement of a safe supply of defence equipment difficult.
Research limitations/implications
The study's empirical data and findings are based on the Swedish context. In order to draw more general conclusions in a defence context, the study should be expanded to cover more nations.
Practical implications
The findings will enable the defence industry and the procurement authorizations to better understand the requirements of Armed Forces, and how to cooperate under applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
Originality/value
The paper extends the extant body of academic knowledge of the security of supply into the defence sector. It serves as a first step towards articulating a call for new approaches to collaboration in defence supply chains.
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Kaveh Moghaddam, Elzotbek Rustambekov, Thomas Weber and Sara Azarpanah
Transnational entrepreneurship can be considered a new stream of research where migrant entrepreneurship and international business research fields intersect. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Transnational entrepreneurship can be considered a new stream of research where migrant entrepreneurship and international business research fields intersect. The purpose of this paper is to offer a theoretical framework to address the following research question: How do transnational entrepreneurs (TEs) develop their competitive advantage to succeed in a global market?
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the strategic entrepreneurship approach and dynamic capability perspective, this paper suggests a theoretical framework to extend the understanding on how TEs may develop their competitive advantage to succeed in a global market.
Findings
The suggested theoretical framework exhibits how the social ties of TEs affects their firm performance through the mediating effect of a bundle of two organizational processes (opportunity sensing and opportunity seizing) and the moderating effect of institutional distance between countries of origin and residence.
Practical implications
TEs should not solely focus on their ethnic social ties. That is why this paper suggests that ethnic ties in the country of origin and the country of residence (COR) may lead to higher firm performance only if systematically used alongside nonethnic ties in the COR. Furthermore, it is crucial for TEs to understand the importance of dynamic capabilities in developing and sustaining their competitive advantage.
Originality/value
Based on the strategic entrepreneurship approach, this paper suggests a social tie-based model of the dynamic capability to address the theoretical void in the transnational entrepreneurship literature. The linkage between social tie and performance which has been in a black box is examined in terms of how strong and weak social ties may affect different underlying processes of TEs’ dynamic capabilities differently. In contrast to the common conceptualization of institutional distance as a negative moderator in international business literature, institutional distance is theorized as a positive moderator in the suggested theoretical model of transnational entrepreneurship.
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By observing facts of the “reversal of agglomeration” of Chinese enterprises during the period of rapid Internet development and using a new economic geography model combined with…
Abstract
Purpose
By observing facts of the “reversal of agglomeration” of Chinese enterprises during the period of rapid Internet development and using a new economic geography model combined with the data of the real estate sector, this paper deduces the influence of the “reshaping mechanisms” of the Internet on China's economic geography based on the “gravitation mechanism” of the Internet that affects the enterprises and the “amplification mechanism” of the Internet that amplifies the dispersion force of house prices.
Design/methodology/approach
In the empirical aspect, the dynamic spatial panel data model is used to test the micromechanisms of the impact of the Internet on enterprises' choice of location and the instrumental variable method is used to verify the macro effects of the Internet in reshaping economic geography.
Findings
It is found that in the era of the network economy, the Internet has become a source of regional competitive advantage and is extremely attractive to enterprises. The rapidly rising house price has greatly increased the congestion cost and has become the force behind the dispersion of enterprises. China's infrastructure miracle has closed the access gap which gives full play to network externalities and promotes the movement of enterprises from areas with high house prices to areas with low house prices.
Originality/value
The Internet is amplifying the dispersion force of congestion costs manifested as house prices and is reshaping China's economic geography. This paper further proposes policy suggestions such as taking the Internet economy as the new momentum of China's economic development and implementing the strategy of regional coordinated development.
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The purpose of this research is to assess the current level of systems literacy of air force logisticians in Nigeria.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to assess the current level of systems literacy of air force logisticians in Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach
This research undertook an assessment of the knowledge of air force logistics officers on systems thinking with the aid of a qualitative questionnaire. The questionnaire featured questions on the level of literacy and application of systems thinking by air force logisticians in Nigeria.
Findings
The research finds that the majority of the air force logistics officers have very low levels of knowledge and training in systems thinking.
Originality/value
The research is a unique effort to ascertain the level of systems thinking literacy and training in air force logistics in Nigeria. The study presents a baseline and justification for intervention through an improvement of the logistics curricula used in air force training institutions in Nigeria.
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Tim Heubeck and Reinhard Meckl
Managers play a critical role in shaping the development of firms due to the risky and long-term nature of innovation. Although the managerial effect on strategic change has long…
Abstract
Purpose
Managers play a critical role in shaping the development of firms due to the risky and long-term nature of innovation. Although the managerial effect on strategic change has long been factored into organizational theories, scholars still lack a complete understanding of the specific managerial capabilities that drive innovation in today's digital economy. The present study builds on dynamic managerial capabilities theory to close this research gap. The paper proposes managers' dynamic capabilities and their three underlying drivers – managerial human capital, social capital, and cognition – as a direct antecedent to digital firms' innovativeness.
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws on survey data from German Industry 4.0 manufacturing firms, which were analyzed using regression analysis.
Findings
The results confirm managers' dynamic capabilities as facilitators of innovation. In contrast to previous research on nondigital industries, the findings demonstrate that only the complete portfolio of managers' dynamic capabilities promotes innovativeness in digital firms. The study provides evidence for the importance of dynamic managerial capabilities in the digital economy yet contradicts previous research on nondigital industries related to the advantageousness of managers' human capital, social capital, and cognition for innovation.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the literature by being the first to holistically test the effects of dynamic managerial capabilities on innovation in digital firms. The results offer a nuanced account of managers' dynamic capabilities, thereby expanding dynamic managerial capabilities theory to the digital economy.
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Sarah E. Evans and Gregory Steeger
In the present fast-paced and globalized age of war, special operations forces have a comparative advantage over conventional forces because of their small, highly-skilled units…
Abstract
Purpose
In the present fast-paced and globalized age of war, special operations forces have a comparative advantage over conventional forces because of their small, highly-skilled units. Largely because of these characteristics, special operations forces spend a disproportionate amount of time deployed. The amount of time spent deployed affects service member’s quality of life and their level of preparedness for the full spectrum of military operations. In this paper, the authors ask the following question: How many force packages are required to sustain a deployed force package, while maintaining predetermined combat-readiness and quality-of-life standards?
Design/methodology/approach
The authors begin by developing standardized deployment-to-dwell metrics to assess the effects of deployments on service members’ quality of life and combat readiness. Next, they model deployment cycles using continuous time Markov chains and derive closed-form equations that relate the amount of time spent deployed versus at home station, rotation length, transition time and the total force size.
Findings
The expressions yield the total force size required to sustain a deployed capability.
Originality/value
Finally, the authors apply the method to the US Air Force Special Operations Command. This research has important implications for the force-structure logistics of any military force.
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