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1 – 10 of over 2000Nicholas Roberts and Inchan Kim
Although digital platforms have become important to organizations and society, little is known about how platforms evolve over time. This is particularly true for early-stage…
Abstract
Purpose
Although digital platforms have become important to organizations and society, little is known about how platforms evolve over time. This is particularly true for early-stage platforms provided by entrepreneurial firms competing in nascent markets. This study aims to investigate the relationship between a platform provider's mission and the evolution of its digital platform.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted an exploratory, multi-case study of startups in the emerging health/fitness wearables market over the period 2007 to 2016.
Findings
This study emerged two organizational mission constructs – consistency and specificity – and two evolutionary dynamics of digital platforms – unity and evolution rate. It also considered unity and evolution rate in terms of features created by the platform provider and features connected by external parties. This study found relationships between aspects of mission consistency and platform unity and identified relationships between aspects of mission specificity and platform evolution rates.
Originality/value
This study formalized findings into a set of theoretical propositions, thereby enriching the understanding of the relationship between organizational mission and digital platform evolution in nascent markets. This study provides new constructs and relationships that can be tested and refined in future research.
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Dianne H.B. Welsh, Orlando Llanos-Contreras and Melany Rebeca Hebles
This article explains the causal mechanism supporting sustainable longevity by analysing the last three generations of one of the oldest family firms in Latin America.
Abstract
Purpose
This article explains the causal mechanism supporting sustainable longevity by analysing the last three generations of one of the oldest family firms in Latin America.
Design/methodology/approach
An explanatory single-case qualitative research based on critical realism explores why and how this family firm has been able to maintain its multigenerational longevity.
Findings
Los Lingues's evolutionary strategy, driven by transgenerational entrepreneurship under effectuation, has supported this family firm's sustainable longevity. Its effectual logic emerged mainly from the richness of the firm's historical resources embedded in its identity, knowledge and social capital and priority to preserve socioemotional wealth.
Originality/value
This study integrates socioemotional wealth and effectuation theory to explain a family firm's ability to survive through generations and sustain longevity. The study demonstrates the relevance of effectual logic in the entrepreneurial dynamics of a multigenerational family firm. Effectual logic drives the firm evolution and adaptation for sustainable longevity.
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Svitlana Ostapenko, Ana Paula Africano and Raquel Meneses
This study aims to systematise the links between firms’ strategies (corporate and business) and the cluster dynamics (through the cluster life cycle [CLC] perspective) and propose…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to systematise the links between firms’ strategies (corporate and business) and the cluster dynamics (through the cluster life cycle [CLC] perspective) and propose an integrative framework bridging firms’ strategic behaviour and cluster dynamics (CLC).
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology used is an integrative literature review, which provides a distinctive form of research.
Findings
The study identifies several links between firms’ strategies (corporate and business) and the cluster dynamics (CLC), namely: (1) firms’ strategies as a triggering factor of cluster evolution; (2) firms’ strategies and path's decline; (3) firms’ strategies and cluster’s renewal; (4) resilience strategies and the cluster life cycle; and (5) cluster’s features and firms’ strategies.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to developing strategic management theory and cluster theory by bridging firms' strategies and cluster dynamics (CLC). It proposes a new conceptualisation of the impact of cluster dynamics on firms' strategic choices – firstly, it proposes a specific approach to identify the CLC; and secondly, it develops an integrative framework model that relates firms' strategies and each stage of the CLC. These are theoretical tools relevant for further advancements in this area of research, as they can be applied in studies of different clusters for validation, something that was not done.
Practical implications
The integrative framework is expected to be helpful to company managers, allowing them to design better strategies that account for dynamic cluster environments.
Originality/value
This study aims to fill this gap in the literature by systematising the links between firms' strategies (corporate and business) and the cluster dynamics (CLC).
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Chi Zhang, Kun He, Wenjie Zhang, Ting Jin and Yibin Ao
To further promote application of BIM technology in construction of prefabricated buildings, influencing factors and evolution laws of willingness to apply BIM technology are…
Abstract
Purpose
To further promote application of BIM technology in construction of prefabricated buildings, influencing factors and evolution laws of willingness to apply BIM technology are explored from the perspective of willingness of participants.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, a tripartite game model involving the design firm, component manufacturer and construction firm is constructed and a system dynamics method is used to explore the influencing factors and game evolution path of three parties' application of BIM technology, from three perspectives, cost, benefit and risk.
Findings
The government should formulate measures for promoting the application of BIM according to different BIM application willingness of the parties. When pursuing deeper BIM application, the design firm should pay attention to reducing the speculative benefits of the component manufacturer and the construction firm. The design firm and the component manufacturer should pay attention to balancing the cost and benefit of the design firm while enhancing collaborative efforts. When the component manufacturer and the construction firm cooperate closely, it is necessary to pay attention to balanced distribution of interests of both parties and lower the risk of BIM application.
Originality/value
This study fills a research gap by comprehensively investigating the influencing factors and game evolution paths of willingness of the three parties to apply BIM technology to prefabricated buildings. The research helps to effectively improve the building quality and construction efficiency, and is expected to contribute to the sustainability of built environment in the context of circular economy in China.
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Svitlana Magalhães de Sousa Ostapenko, Ana Paula Africano and Raquel Meneses
This study aims to further develop the CLC stage/path’s identification model that distinguishes between path’s emergence (emergence stage), path’s development (growth stage)…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to further develop the CLC stage/path’s identification model that distinguishes between path’s emergence (emergence stage), path’s development (growth stage), path’s sustainment (maturity stage), path’s decline (decline stage) and path’s transformation (renewal stage), and by applying it, define the current stage/path of the Demarcated Douro Region (DDR) cluster. The Port wine industry, which is the dominant industry of the DDR cluster, is at the maturity/decline stage – is the same for the cluster itself?
Design/methodology/approach
It is a case study with a longitudinal perspective based on the analysis of the dynamics of the parameters of cluster evolution using available secondary sources (cluster identity/brand; number of firms; number of employees; network; innovation; policies and regulations; and external markets – exports), especially addressing the past decade, that represent the stage of maturity/decline of the cluster’s dominant Port wine industry.
Findings
The conclusion is that since the 1990s the Demarcated Douro Region has gone through a “path transformation” where during the following 20 years new “anchors” for the cluster were gradually introduced, such as Doc Douro Wines, new forms of consumption of Port wine, tourism and olive oil. Since 2010 the cluster has entered a growth stage/(new) path’s development, where these “anchors” are in steady growth. The Douro brand is becoming more internationally recognized and established, the number of firms and employees is increasing, the network is restructuring with the creation of cluster-specific official institutions, innovation is especially reflected with increasing heterogeneity through diversification of the clusters into new activities and regulations and policies are supportive for expansion – all these parameters are indicating the rise of the new cycle for the cluster. Thus, the DDR cluster represents an attractive business environment and requires attention from regional policymakers to support the cluster’s development. Especially institutions have been highlighted as internal factors driving clusters growth, European integration as an external factor and firms’ strategies of diversification and internationalization as an appropriate de-locking mechanism for new path’s development.
Research limitations/implications
This research contributes to the CLC theory by further developing and applying a CLC stage/path identification model. It provides a better understanding of the dynamics of the DDR cluster that diverge from its dominant industry life cycle, which is relevant for regional policies and firms’ strategies. This study has its limitations. It provides an exploratory application of the theoretical framework proposed, and consequently, no general conclusions are possible yet. More empirical studies with different clusters in different stages are necessary to test the framework.
Practical implications
These findings are useful to policymakers when designing their policies for cluster development but also for clusters’ entities and actors when making their strategic decisions as it allows based on the verification of the established parameter of CLC to identify its current stage/path of development.
Originality/value
The paper presents a theoretically grounded model for CLC identification and for the first time to the best of the authors’ knowledge applies it to a cluster case – the DDR cluster. This case applies the proposed model and illustrates its usefulness. The model provides the tools for a better understanding of cluster dynamics.
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Qingyu Zhang, Xiude Chen and Mei Cao
Previous studies demonstrate that market-oriented reform has contributed significantly to China's economic growth from the efficiency-based economic view. But some argue that…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous studies demonstrate that market-oriented reform has contributed significantly to China's economic growth from the efficiency-based economic view. But some argue that state-owned firms have access to policy information, scarce resources, and government support, and thus state-owned firms might foster innovation. This study tries to find out either market force or state ownership helps improve firms' R&D efficiency.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data from China's high-tech industry, we employed the fixed-effect stochastic frontier model and the spatial panel Han-Philips linear dynamic regression model to investigate the relationship between market-oriented reform and the dynamic evolution of R&D efficiency in both temporal and spatial dimensions. Moreover, we examined whether the relationship is affected in a state-owned economy and an industry protection environment.
Findings
The results indicate the following: (1) the R&D efficiency of China's high-tech industry has improved steadily and has converged gradually across its regions during the market-oriented reform; (2) the marketization degree is positively correlated with R&D efficiency and its regional convergence; (3) the state-owned economy and industry protection have significantly weakened the ability of market forces to shape R&D efficiency — i.e. they reduce, rather than enhance, R&D efficiency.
Originality/value
This investigation helps understand the drivers of R&D efficiency in transition economies, and the findings are also helpful in defining the boundaries and constraints of market forces.
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Garima Kumari and Yatish Joshi
The past years have seen more studies exploring corporate sustainability performance (CSP) and firm performance nexus, but there has been a lack of analysis using bibliometric…
Abstract
Purpose
The past years have seen more studies exploring corporate sustainability performance (CSP) and firm performance nexus, but there has been a lack of analysis using bibliometric studies. This study aims to provide a structure for the CSP-firm performance relationship to gain valuable insights for further research.
Design/methodology/approach
Bibliometric analysis was carried on 462 articles from the Scopus database spanning 1987–2022 using VOSviewer and R software Bibliometrix.
Findings
The study overviews the most notable articles, authors, journals, countries and institutions. Four main clusters are identified to determine research themes using bibliographic coupling (documents). Additionally, co-occurrence analysis (keywords) reveals three themes indicating current and future research trends.
Originality/value
The study presents an overview of the evolution of research on CSP-firm performance nexus. This work consolidates bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review on CSP and firm performance, covering all significant work on the topic and presenting the field's knowledge map and future research directions.
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Supeng Zheng, Yusen Xu, Haifen Lin and Yunqi Chen
Owing to dual constraints including liability of foreignness and liability of origin when emerging multinationals internationalize, they inevitably face the challenge of overseas…
Abstract
Purpose
Owing to dual constraints including liability of foreignness and liability of origin when emerging multinationals internationalize, they inevitably face the challenge of overseas legitimation. However, few studies have explored how latecomers cross the threshold of legitimacy in the dynamic context of transnational operation. The purpose of this paper is to unravel the evolution process, triggers and specific strategies of overseas legitimacy threshold crossing of emerging multinationals.
Design/methodology/approach
Through the longitudinal case study of Haier Group and Goldwind Sci & Tech Co., Ltd, this study investigates the periodical characteristics of overseas legitimacy threshold crossings and the co-evolution among critical factors influencing the legitimation process in the host country.
Findings
First, it summarizes that the legitimacy threshold in the host country experiences a sequential process from pragmatic legitimacy to normative legitimacy, and finally cognitive legitimacy. It is an inevitable choice for emerging multinational enterprises to realize and sustain legitimation from passive adaptation to active creation. Second, it reveals that the triggers for crossing the threshold of overseas legitimacy include periodically dynamic factors – international network linkage and resource system reconfiguration, as well as cross-stage spiral interaction effects. Third, it determines the specific strategies for crossing the threshold of overseas legitimacy, namely, replacement, upgrading and reconstruction of organizational identity, and reveals the important role of insisting on the country-of-origin Facebook in promoting the legitimation.
Research limitations/implications
This study enriches the legitimacy threshold crossing literature from an evolutional perspective, especially the traditional static legitimacy research. This study also reveals the key impacting factors – international network linkage and resource system reconfiguration – and their evolution process interacted with the legitimation process.
Practical implications
The emerging multinationals should break the stereotypes from developed markets in that only creating new cognitive patterns through active legitimate strategies can they truly cross the legitimacy threshold in the host country. The emerging multinationals also need to retain their own home country legitimacy traits – Facebook and balance the relation between the image of the home country and the image of host country.
Originality/value
This paper investigates the process of overseas legitimacy threshold crossing for emerging multinationals in a dynamic context of transnational operation, particularly with respect to the evolutionary role played by international network linkage and resource system reconfiguration.
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The advent of technology has propelled audit firms to incorporate AI-based audit services, bringing the relationship between audit clients and firms into sharper focus…
Abstract
Purpose
The advent of technology has propelled audit firms to incorporate AI-based audit services, bringing the relationship between audit clients and firms into sharper focus. Nonetheless, the understanding of how AI-based audit services affect this relationship remains sparse. This study strives to probe how an audit client's satisfaction with AI-based audit services influences their trust in audit firms. Identifying the variables affecting this trust, the research aspires to gain a deeper comprehension of the implications of AI-based audit services on the auditor-client relationship, ultimately aiming to boost client satisfaction and cultivate trust.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual framework has been devised, grounded in the client-company relationship model, to delineate the relationship between perceived quality, perceived value, attitude and satisfaction with AI-based audit services and their subsequent impact on trust in audit firms. The research entailed an empirical investigation employing Facebook ads, gathering 288 valid responses for evaluation. The structural equation method, utilized in conjunction with SPSS and Amos statistical applications, verified the reliability and overarching structure of the scales employed to measure these elements. A hybrid multi-analytical technique of structural equation modeling and artificial neural networks (SEM-ANN) was deployed to empirically validate the collated data.
Findings
The research unveiled a significant and positive relationship between perceived value and client satisfaction, trust and attitude towards AI-based audit services, along with the link between perceived quality and client satisfaction. The findings suggest that a favorable attitude and perceived quality of AI-based audit services could enhance satisfaction, subsequently augmenting perceived value and client trust. By focusing on the delivery of superior-quality services that fulfill clients' value expectations, firms may amplify client satisfaction and trust.
Research limitations/implications
Further inquiries are required to appraise the influence of advanced technology adoption within audit firms on client trust-building mechanisms. Moreover, an understanding of why the impact of perceived quality on perceived value proves ineffectual in the context of audit client trust-building warrants further exploration. In interpreting the findings of this study, one should consider the inherent limitations of the empirical analysis, inclusive of the utilization of Facebook ads as a data-gathering tool.
Practical implications
The research yielded insightful theoretical and practical implications that can bolster audit clients' trust in audit firms amid technological advancements within the audit landscape. The results imply that audit firms should contemplate implementing trust-building mechanisms by creating value and influencing clients' stance towards AI-based audit services to establish trust, particularly when vying with competing firms. As technological evolutions impinge on trustworthiness, audit firms must prioritize clients' perceived value and satisfaction.
Originality/value
To the researcher's best knowledge, no previous study has scrutinized the impact of satisfaction with AI-based audit services on cultivating audit client trust in audit firms, in contrast to past research that has focused on the auditors' trust in the audit client. To bridge these gaps, this study employs a comprehensive and integrative theoretical model.
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Massimo Sargiacomo, Luana Gliosca and Martin Quinn
This study aims to explore the evolution of corporate governance through a 100-year-old Italian Barilla pasta family business from its founding to 1971. The study builds on prior…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the evolution of corporate governance through a 100-year-old Italian Barilla pasta family business from its founding to 1971. The study builds on prior research which has applied the three-circle model of family business systems in a historic context.
Design/methodology/approach
Using legal records, five phases in the history of Barilla are noted. Annual reports and other sources have allowed for some more insights into business events and developments. Then, drawing on the three-circle model of family business, the corporate governance regime is mapped to the model and the family actors.
Findings
The findings here support extant literature in that the systems in the three-circle model are found to overlap more in a historic setting. Challenges with the three-circle model are also noted, specifically, when corporate governance is considered across a century of an organisation’s history.
Originality/value
This study supports prior use of three-circle model of a family business in an historic context, providing further evidence the model is not static over time. Contrary to the original three-circle model, this study suggests that family actors can potentially occupy more than one location in the model if the non-human actor of corporate governance and its effect on human actors is also considered.
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