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This study aims to explore the internationalization trajectory of emerging country digital economy ventures by specifically concentrating on how ambidexterity facilitates international market expansion. Further, this paper examines how these ventures develop dynamic capabilities by using their ambidextrous skills in the entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE).

This study adopts a multiple-case research design where data were gathered from five digital economy ventures in Turkey, serving an international array of customers.

The analyses reveal that, to a large extent, internationalization is enabled by the extensive use of ambidextrous skills in the ecosystem domain. We found evidence for practicing exploration and exploitation while interacting with several ecosystem pillars grouped as founder-related, firm-related and business context-related factors. These interactions portray how ventures sense, seize and transform resources to support their international expansion.

This study extends the current literature on internationalization by discussing the role of ambidexterity as a dynamic capability. The findings also demonstrate the EE as a construct to explain international entrepreneurial activity. Further, the study extends the existing literature by considering the calls for research on dynamic capabilities of international new ventures (INVs). Finally, the findings point to several implications both for practitioners and policymakers.

The purpose of this paper is to study triadic market relations between an international aid agency (IAA), local ventures and the poor communities where they are embedded in order to shift the poverty alleviation discussion to account for the perceptions held by each category of actor, especially those of poor communities. Poverty alleviation is a key commitment of the United Nations, and market-driven approaches are increasingly advocated as a means to reduce poverty, particularly among IAAs. One such strategy is to connect ventures in poor communities with international markets. However, research shows that such approaches have mixed success.

The authors conducted a comparative case study of three ventures embedded in urban and rural poor communities receiving support from an IAA. The authors then analyzed the data to determine the mechanisms that led to discrepancies in the perceptions of poverty alleviation held by each actor involved.

This study suggests three such mechanisms: ‘decoupling markets from poverty’, wherein aiding ventures may paradoxically lead to decoupling them from poor communities; ‘overburden stress’, in which ventures cannot fulfil a poverty alleviation role through their market activities because the expectation to do so overburdens the venture; and ‘value divergence’, in which the actors involved evaluate the impact of these approaches differently.

The authors propose that a key aspect of enabling effective poverty alleviation through market-driven approaches in terms of substantial, long-term contributions is to monitor and support the relations between the actors involved – including the poor communities themselves – and explore how each perceives the efficacy of the approach.

El objetivo de nuestro estudio es integrar las percepciones de tres actores: los organismos internacionales, los emprendimientos en comunidades pobres y las propias comunidades pobres, con el fin de cambiar la discusión sobre la reducción de la pobreza hacia las percepciones de los diferentes actores involucrados en las relaciones de mercado, en particular las de las comunidades pobres. La reducción de la pobreza es un compromiso clave de las Naciones Unidas, y en la actualidad se promueven enfoques de mercado como un medio para reducir la pobreza, especialmente entre los organismos internacionales. Una estrategia consiste en conectar emprendimientos en comunidades pobres con mercados internacionales. Sin embargo, investigaciones previas muestran que estos enfoques de mercado tienen un éxito variado en ciertas ocasiones y en otras no.

Realizamos un estudio de casos comparativo de tres emprendimientos en comunidades pobres urbanas y rurales que reciben apoyo de un organismo internacional. Luego, analizamos nuestros datos para determinar qué mecanismos condujeron a discrepancias en las percepciones de cada actor involucrado con respecto a la reducción de la pobreza.

Nuestro estudio identifica tres mecanismos que explican las discrepancias en las percepciones de los actores involucrados con respecto a los enfoques de mercado para la reducción de la pobreza: ‘desvinculación de los mercados de la pobreza’, en donde el apoyo a los emprendimientos puede llevar paradójicamente a separarlos de las comunidades pobres; ‘estrés de sobrecarga’ que captura situaciones en las que los emprendimientos no pueden cumplir su función de reducción de la pobreza a través de sus actividades en el mercado debido a que la expectativa de hacerlo, aunque implícita, sobrecarga al emprendimiento; y ‘divergencia de valores’ que muestra que los actores involucrados a menudo evalúan de manera diferente el impacto de los enfoques de mercado en la pobreza.

Proponemos que un aspecto clave de la reducción efectiva de la pobreza a través de enfoques de mercado que hagan contribuciones sustanciales y a largo plazo es monitorear las relaciones y la eficacia percibida entre todos los actores involucrados en estos enfoques, incluyendo a las propias comunidades pobres.

El objetivo de nosso estudo é integrar as percepções de três atores: os organismos internacionais, os empreendimentos em comunidades pobres e as próprias comunidades pobres, com o objetivo de mudar a discussão sobre a redução da pobreza para as percepções dos diferentes atores envolvidos nas relações de mercado, particularmente as das comunidades pobres. A redução da pobreza é um compromisso chave das nações unidas, e atualmente abordagens de mercado são promovidas como um meio para reduzir a pobreza, especialmente entre os organismos internacionais. Uma estratégia consiste em conectar empreendimentos em comunidades pobres com mercados internacionais. No entanto, pesquisas anteriores mostram que essas abordagens de mercado têm sucesso variado em algumas ocasiões e em outras não.

Realizamos um estudo de casos comparativo de três empreendimentos em comunidades pobres urbanas e rurais que recebem apoio de um organismo internacional. Em seguida, analisamos nossos dados para determinar quais mecanismos levaram a discrepâncias nas percepções de cada ator envolvido em relação à redução da pobreza.

Nosso estudo identifica três mecanismos que explicam as discrepâncias nas percepções dos atores envolvidos em relação às abordagens de mercado para a redução da pobreza: ‘desvinculação dos mercados da pobreza’, onde o apoio aos empreendimentos pode paradoxalmente separá-los das comunidades pobres; ‘estresse de sobrecarga’ que captura situações em que os empreendimentos não podem cumprir sua função de redução da pobreza por meio de suas atividades no mercado devido à expectativa de fazê-lo, mesmo que implicitamente, sobrecarregando o empreendimento; e ‘divergência de valores’ que mostra que os atores envolvidos frequentemente avaliam de maneira diferente o impacto das abordagens de mercado na pobreza.

Propomos que um aspecto-chave da redução efetiva da pobreza por meio de abordagens de mercado que façam contribuições substanciais e a longo prazo é monitorar as relações e a eficácia percebida entre todos os atores envolvidos nessas abordagens, incluindo as próprias comunidades pobres.

Despite the numerous benefits of adopting international construction joint ventures (ICJVs), effective operation of the joint ventures in Saudi Arabia is impeded by various limitations. Thus, this paper is aimed at determining, analyzing, and prioritizing these major limitations and to propose a strategy that can provide guidance on how best to promote the achievement of efficient joint ventures in international construction in Saudi Arabian construction industry.

Content analysis was augmented by the expert-based assessment process to identify the critical limitations while the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) technique was utilized to analyze and determine the hierarchical structure of the limitations. This is important in order to comprehend and describe the complex relationship between the limitations.

The results identified “selecting unsuitable partner”, “divergent organizational cultures, policies and procedures”, and “poor knowledge of local regulations by foreign partners” as the most critical limitations affecting the efficiency of joint ventures in international construction in Saudi Arabia.

The inclusion of many variables (limitations) increases the complexity of the ISM technique, which compels the researchers to consider reduced number of variables in establishing the ISM structural hierarchy. Other variables that were perceived to be less critical were not included in the development of the ISM structural hierarchy. On the other hand, the structural hierarchy was not validated statistically, and this requires the use of other linear structural relationship techniques like the Structural Equation Modeling to test the validity of the hypothetical ISM structural hierarchy. The proposed strategy to mitigate the limitations presented in this study was not validated, and this requires further study to verify the accuracy of the strategy.

The implications inferred in this study are better performing ICJVs in the execution of mega infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia. The findings and managerial implications of the study are expected to further provide an invaluable guide that can support policymakers and all key stakeholders to establish efficient strategies and suitable measures that can enhance the successful implementation of ICJVs.

The findings of this study provide comprehensive understanding of the limitations affecting the efficiency of ICJVs in Saudi Arabia. This can assist in mitigating the potential impacts of these limitations and to advocate for the achievement of efficient joint ventures in international construction in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, there is a need to further develop a framework that can elucidate on the proposed strategy to promote better performing ICJVs in Saudi Arabia. Also, the further study will seek to investigate the influence of project duration, value, location, or ownership on the performance of the joint ventures in order to generalize the findings to all forms of ICJVs.

This paper aims at extending the debate on family firm internationalization by identifying cycles and waves of their internationalization processes with a specific focus on de-internationalization and re-internationalization.

Building on the Uppsala model and the resource-based view, this study analyzes the cycles and waves of internationalization of 26 German family firms in the Chinese market. Semi-structured interviews with top managers of the selected case firms were conducted, and secondary sources were used to triangulate the collected data.

The findings highlight the heterogeneity of family firm internationalization processes. Indeed, some family firms follow the sequential approach of the Uppsala model, while others choose to de-internationalize and then re-internationalize their activities. Their cycles and waves of internationalization can be explained by internal and external triggers.

This article contributes to the family firm internationalization literature by investigating how family firm characteristics and environmental factors shape internationalization, de-internationalization and re-internationalization paths. The novel findings enrich theoretical assumptions on family firm internationalization and highlight their varying internationalization processes, which can be explained by firm-specific characteristics, notably their unique family resources and socioemotional wealth, and contextual factors.

The purpose of this study is to unfold the role of managerial characteristics in developing the dynamic capabilities necessary to serve foreign customers and compete in export market ventures.

The authors test their proposed model using path analysis with data collected from export managers working in 204 small- and medium-sized Turkish exporters operating in various sectors.

The findings suggest that the positive effect of export managers’ process thinking skills on dynamic capabilities increases when the export managers’ learning and avoid orientations are low and prove orientation is high and export venture experience (duration and scope) increases. In addition, it has been found that export managers’ process thinking skills have an indirect effect on export performance through export venture dynamic capabilities.

This study makes three contributions. First, the authors conceptualize and operationalize dynamic capabilities in the context of exporting. The authors empirically validate export venture dynamic capabilities as a higher-level construct composed of sensing, seizing and reconfiguring elements pertinent to the firm’s export market operations. Second, based on the micro-foundations approach of competitive advantage, the authors study managers’ process thinking skills in exporting firms and how these abilities support dynamic capability development in export ventures. Finally, the authors investigate how the impact of export managers’ process thinking skills on export venture dynamic capabilities is influenced by their goal orientations and certain objective exporter characteristics pertaining to different aspects of export venture experience.

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) strive to expand into new markets either by exploiting their resource base or by gaining access to partner companies that own the required resources. Thus, companies face the compete–cooperate–coopete decision. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of MNEs’ networks of interorganisational alliances, and their interaction with resource ownership, and market attractiveness, on the choice of international expansion modes, whether they are sole venture (competitive) or collaboration agreements (cooperative) or both (coopetitive).

A biprobit model is used to analyse more than 50,000 new international operations by 164 MNEs in a five-year window. A moderation analysis is carried out to reveal the interaction between network centrality, resource ownership and market size.

The results show the extent to which the competitive–collaborative contradictory forces attenuate each other in different market scenarios. This study’s contribution advances the resolution of the resource allocation dilemma by recognising the conditions for the selection of each expansion mode: sole venture, cooperation and coopetition.

Mainstream international business theory claims that firm’s own resources and transaction outcomes are generally sufficient to explain their international expansion decisions, whereas network and social capital theories focus on the role of relationships and network embeddedness. Both perspectives seem to neglect the fact that firms frequently develop both factors simultaneously. This study bridges these perspectives and reveals the interplay between resource ownership, alliance network centrality and market size for MNEs’ expansion mode choice.

This study aims to integrate entrepreneurship theories and acculturation perspectives into a unified lens to understand opportunity development by transnational entrepreneurs (TNEs).

This study uses a conceptual method, considering how acculturation strategies of TNEs influence cross-cultural arbitrage.

We develop six propositions that define how acculturation strategies relate to different levels of cultural embeddedness of transnational entrepreneurs and ultimately influence the process by which the entrepreneur engages in cross-cultural arbitrage.

We are one of the first to integrate the sociology of immigrants with entrepreneurship to better understand how TNEs engage in cross-cultural arbitrage.

While previous studies have focused on identifying management control (MC) mechanisms in international construction joint ventures (ICJVs), the impacts of such MC mechanisms on the performance of ICJVs remain largely unknown. This study aims to investigate the impacts of MC mechanisms on the performance of ICJVs hosted in the developing country of Ghana.

Through a comprehensive review of the literature, a theoretical model was developed, and data were collected through a questionnaire survey with 190 project managers composed of Ghanaians/locals and their foreign partners of ICJVs. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

Results showed that both personnel and support and training control mechanisms have a positive and significant impact on project and company/partner performance. Surprisingly, insignificant and negative impacts exist between both mechanisms and socioenvironmental and company/partner performance from the local partners' view, respectively; the reverse is rather true from the foreign partners' perspective.

This study contributes to the ICJV body of knowledge by analyzing the impacts of MC mechanisms on the ICJVs’ performance, enabling ICJVs frontliners (i.e. top managers) and project managers to better enhance their control structures and the ICJVs’ performance.

This is arguably the first study to take the bipartite perspective rather than the unilateral view of studying the impacts of MC mechanisms on the performance of ICJVs.

Performance has been a significant concern of the international joint ventures (IJVs) literature. This paper aims to empirically capture the impact of firm-level factors on IJVs performance in India. The authors investigate the mediating effects of ambidexterity between the factors and IJVs performance. Additionally, environmental dynamism as a moderator between ambidexterity and IJVs performance is examined.

This study performs structural equation modeling using the data of 501 IJVs between India and G7 nations from 2010 to 2020.

The result reveals the ambidexterity's mediation effects in the relationships between factors (technology transfer and flexibility) and IJVs performance. Furthermore, the findings indicate that a highly dynamic environment moderates the relationship between ambidexterity and the performance of IJVs.

This study has investigated the nexus between technology transfer, flexibility, ambidexterity and IJVs performance in the context of Indian IJVs. It has highlighted the importance of firm-level factors in cross-cultural joint ventures in achieving performance.

The study establishes the impact of firm-level antecedents on IJVs performance in India. The study highlights the importance of ambidexterity and environmental dynamism in order to achieve IJVs performance.