| 1. |
- Kuiken, Andrea
(författare)
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Exploring the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises as a discontinuous process
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Internationalization is an important growth strategy for small and medium-sizedenterprises (SMEs). Yet, it is also a complex process since it involves a large variety of decisions and addressing the diverse nature of and unfamiliarity with foreign markets can especially be challenging for SMEs. Because SMEs have fewer resources they tend to be less equipped for internationalization and become more vulnerable to changes in the external environment. Therefore, continued growth in foreign markets is not easy nor guaranteed and instead, SMEs can de-internationalize and potentially re-internationalize. Thus, internationalization can be described as a discontinuous process.To address the complexities of internationalization as a discontinuous process, this dissertation studies some key antecedents, mediating factors and performance effects associated with the discontinuous internationalization of SMEs. The dissertation comprises two quantitative studies, a qualitative study, and a conceptual essay. The first essay examines family involvement in SMEs as an antecedent of intermittent exporting building on the behavioral agency model and real options reasoning. Utilizing a unique longitudinal dataset of Swedish SMEs in the manufacturing and retail industry, it is found that family firms experience a higher degree of intermittent exporting than non-family firms. This relationship is moderated by the foreign background of the CEO, such that the degree of intermittent exporting reduces when family firms have a CEO with a foreign background.While research has addressed the motivations for de-internationalization, less is known about the de-internationalization process. The second paper studies the de-internationalization process building on two case studies. The findings indicate that attitudinal commitment can be a key mediating factor between motives for de-internationalization and the de-internationalization outcome. Different commitment profiles are identified in relation to the timing of de-internationalization, the effort put into executing the de-internationalization decision and the extent of de-internationalization.The third essay studies the performance effect of exit from exporting, using a longitudinal dataset of Swedish exporting SMEs in the manufacturing industry. This essay relies on the theoretical framework of the internationalization performance literature - which builds on transaction cost theory, resource-based view and learning theory – to hypothesize that exit from exporting can have benefits and costs and that the environmental circumstances influence whether the benefits or costs prevail. The findings show that exit from exporting can be beneficial for SME financial performance if the firm has high levels of available slack and when the firm is active in a dynamic environment.The fourth essay proposes that a focus on the behavioral theory of the firm can provide a basis for understanding the micro-processes in family firms that may affect discontinuities in the internationalization process. Family business internationalization literature has borrowed some aspects of the behavioral theory of the firm, like goal diversity and uncertainty avoidance. However, it has ignored others like problemistic search and learning. Building on the key concepts of quasiresolution of conflict, uncertainty avoidance, problemistic search and learning,future areas for research on family firm internationalization as a discontinuous process are identified in this essay.Overall, the dissertation responds to a call for research on the dynamics in the internationalization process and makes four important contributions to the literatures on SME internationalization, family business and internationalization performance. First, it shows how family control can influence intermittent exporting. Second, it adds to the discussion on de-internationalization of SMEs by highlighting the role of attitudinal commitment in the de-internationalization process. Third, it extends the socioemotional wealth perspective by adding a real options lens to it. Fourth, a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between exit from exporting and performance is provided by proposing that exit from exporting can have costs as well as benefits and showing empirically that under certain circumstances exit from exporting can be beneficial for SME performance.
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| 2. |
- Genedy, Mohamed A.
(författare)
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Beyond the bright side : Investigating dark aspects of independent entrepreneurship, family entrepreneurship, and corporate entrepreneurship
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Entrepreneurship is often perceived as a driving force for employment, innovation, and knowledge creation and is linked to poverty alleviation and economic growth. While entrepreneurship is often seen as a pathway for economic development and societal welfare, it does not consistently deliver the expected outcomes and, in certain instances, may exacerbate poverty, impede development, and present challenges to societal well-being and equality. This paradox within entrepreneurship emphasizes the necessity of exploring the negative (dark) aspects pertaining to entrepreneurship. Neglecting these negative aspects can lead to an incomplete understanding of entrepreneurship. Accordingly, this dissertation challenges the conventional positive view of entrepreneurship by (1) investigating some negative (i.e., dark) aspects of independent entrepreneurship, family entrepreneurship, and corporate entrepreneurship and (2) what might potentially mitigate these negative aspects. This is essential for achieving a balanced and comprehensive understanding of entrepreneurship’s role in the economy and society at large.I draw on the theory of entrepreneurial allocation, which posits that entrepreneurship can be productive, unproductive, or destructive, as the main theoretical perspective of this dissertation. This dissertation includes three empirical papers, each focusing on a distinct type of ownership: owner-manager ownership (independent entrepreneurship), family ownership (family entrepreneurship), and external investor ownership (corporate entrepreneurship). Together, they offer different insights into the potential negative aspects pertaining to entrepreneurship. Each paper draws on different theoretical perspectives and aligns with particular Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).In paper 1, we draw on the scale-up, firm growth, and well-being literature, taking an employee perspective to examine the impact of scaling on employee well-being. Using data from 10,908 employees in new Swedish ventures, we find a positive association between scaling and employee burnout, along with a negative association with job satisfaction. This emphasizes that scaling, often associated with a positive view, can also bring challenges to employee well-being. Meanwhile, we show that employees with managerial roles and prior new venture experience are two groups of employees who are less likely to experience the negative consequences of scaling. Paper 2 investigates how family dynamics (the upbringing environment) within entrepreneurial families can influence offspring career choices. In this paper, we draw on the birth order literature, which adopts an evolutionary theory perspective, to suggest that offspring are exposed to a different upbringing environment due to the unequal distribution of parental resources, potentially affecting their personality and behaviors and thus resulting in unequal career opportunities. In this paper, we use data comprising 205,247 offspring residents in Sweden to show that later-born offspring, though more likely to join the parent’s business, often have a higher tendency to leave compared to their early-born siblings. However, these later-borns can be particularly advantageous in competitive or challenging business situations. In an additional analysis, we show that earlier-born offspring are more inclined toward independent entrepreneurship. Lastly, paper 3 focuses on the negative aspects pertaining to corporate entrepreneurship. Drawing on agency theory, paper 3 shows that institutional investors (e.g., investment banks, insurance companies, etc.), while they are usually viewed positively because of their known sophisticated investment strategies and long-term horizons, induce negative effects and have a potential dark side on corporate entrepreneurs. Specifically, I argue that the extant literature views institutional investors as a homogenous group in terms of their innovation preferences. This oversimplified view overlooks the possible variations within these institutional investors. Following an empirics-first (EF) approach, I segment institutional investors based on their innovation preferences, using portfolio data and historical trading information. This analysis identifies three distinct segments: innovation-friendly, innovation-unfriendly, and innovation-investment-oriented. Using a sample of 6,438 U.S. publicly traded firms, I find that firms predominantly owned by innovation-unfriendly institutional investors experience a decrease in innovation productivity and overall firm value compared to those dominated by innovation-friendly investors. Moreover, I show that firms can strategically position themselves to attract innovation-friendly institutional investors in order to mitigate the negative effects enacted by innovation-unfriendly investors.This dissertation offers several contributions to the field of entrepreneurship. First, it contributes to the potential (social) costs of entrepreneurship by investigating some negative aspects pertaining to independent, family, and corporate entrepreneurship. Second, it adds to the ongoing discussion on how to mitigate these negative aspects. Third, this dissertation contributes to the theory of entrepreneurial allocation by revealing that beyond traditional institutional actors like governments, there are other influential forces, suh as the entrepreneur, entrepreneurial firm, and institutional investors, that can direct entrepreneurial activities towards productive, unproductive, or destructive paths. This dissertation provides implications for policymaking relevant to four specific Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 3 (promoting well-being), SDG 8 (fostering a decent work environment), SDG 10 (addressing inequalities), and SDG 9 (enhancing innovation). It also has implications for practitioners such as entrepreneurs and their followers (i.e., employees).
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| 3. |
- Hashim, Sumaya
(författare)
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Women Entrepreneurship : Masculinity, Legitimacy and Well-being
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overarching research purpose of this dissertation is to understand how women entrepreneurs establish and grow their businesses in a patriarchal society. This research question is addressed through the compilation of four research papers. The first research paper is a literature review that synthesizes current literature on women entrepreneurs in the Gulf States and identifies possible research avenues.The remaining three papers are empirical studies that use Bahrain, one of the Gulf States, as an empirical setting. The first empirical study challenges the assumption of entrepreneurship as a gendered phenomenon and sets out to understand entrepreneurship as a new phenomenon in a context that is male dominated. It draws on masculinity theory to understand the interplay between women entrepreneurs and the different forms of masculinity enacted by men. The second empirical study challenges the persistent traditional representation of the male entrepreneur as the founder and leader of a family business by using legitimacy-as-perception as a theoretical lens to investigate how female-led family ventures gain legitimacy from family and non-family members. The third empirical study challenges the stereotypical view of women entrepreneurs in developing countries by drawing on eudaimonic well-being literature to understand why and how some women start or grow a business after initiating a divorce, while others do not.The dissertation makes several contributions to (women) entrepreneurship and to the different theories that it adopts in various ways. First, the dissertation extends women entrepreneurship literature by showing how women entrepreneurs influence their social context to attain royal awards, deal with different forms of masculinity enacted by men, and rebuild their eudaimonic well-being through their entrepreneurial activities. Second, the dissertation introduces the notion of “Asabiyyah” to explain the unique social makeup that informs the behavior of women entrepreneurs. Third, the dissertation contributes to the theoretical lenses that it adopts, for instance to the legitimacy-as-perception lens by showing the reciprocal nature of legitimacy. It broadens the masculinity theory by bringing attention to “own-business” as an institution where the private and the public spheres overlap and organize gender relations. This dissertation also contributes to the growing literature on eudaimonic well-being by offering an understanding of the interplay between entrepreneurship, engagement in meaningful activities, and eudaimonic well-being, an area that has largely remained a black box. Last but not least the dissertation offers several practical implications to further improve and foster entrepreneurship for women in Bahrain.
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| 4. |
- Kamugisha, Samuel
(författare)
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Strategies of New Firms in the Formative Years of a Developing Economy : The Case of Rwanda
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis explores how new firms navigate the regulatory environment of a developing economy in its formative stage to ensure their continued operations and survival. The study’s context is Rwanda which is a developing economy that is undergoing a process of reconstruction and transformation after devastation by the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.The study seeks to understand the strategies undertaken by new firms to navigate uncertain regulatory environment to ensure their continued operations and survival. The study identifies four strategies undertaken by new firms in response to pressures arising from the changes in the regulatory environment, namely maneuvering, foresight and proactiveness, changing paths and professionalizing.The findings highlight: (1) the unlocking and lock-in effects of the changes in regulatory environment on firms’ strategies, (2) a continuous integration of strategies in a trial-and-error approach to find a tradeoff between the strategies and the pressures arising from the regulatory environment, (3) a learning-by-doing approach which also indicates the strategies undertaken at each stage of development, and (4) a boomerang effect of some of the strategies on the firms’ continued operations and survival.The study extends our understanding of how new firms cope with uncertain institutional environments. The study’s findings and theorization elucidate critical dynamics between the specificities of changes in the regulatory environment, the strategies undertaken by new firms, and the firms’ continued operations and survival. The study will also help entrepreneurs and managers to devise tailored strategies in response to the challenges associated with the specificities of changes in the regulatory environment.
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| 5. |
- Naldi, Lucia, 1974-
(författare)
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Growth through Internationalization : A Knowledge Perspective on SMEs
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Drawing on Penrose’s theory of the growth of the firm, the international business literature, the literature on the knowledge-based view, organizational learning, and absorptive capacity, this dissertation addresses four research questions: 1) What are the effects of downstream international activities (sales and marketing completed abroad) and upstream international activities (purchasing, production, and R&D completed abroad) on the acquisition of market knowledge and technological knowledge? 2) What is the role of prior knowledge in these relationships? 3) What are the effects of the newly acquired knowledge on different growth outcomes? 4) What is the role of processes of knowledge transformation and exploitation in these relationships?Addressing these issues has practical relevance for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). On the one hand, international expansion might provide small and medium-sized firms with additional knowledge, enriching their limited resource base. On the other hand, internationalization might spread the limited resource base of SMEs too thin and create internal coordination problems.Longitudinal survey data from 885 Swedish international SMEs yielded the following results. First, downstream internationalization and upstream internationalization are important sources of new market and technological knowledge for SMEs. Second, while downstream internationalization directly brings new market and technological knowledge, the acquisition of new knowledge from upstream internationalization is enhanced by the firm’s prior endowment of knowledge. Third, knowledge acquired from internationalization contributes to a firm’s growth advantage in international markets and to its further internationalization, and it provides the basis for entrepreneurial actions such as venturing into new markets and reaching new international customers. However, the new knowledge base has no, or very little, effect on SMEs’ growth in domestic markets. Fourth, the relationships between knowledge acquired from internationalization and different growth outcomes are not accentuated by a firm’s knowledge management processes. These processes have only a direct effect on a firm’s growth advantage in international markets, its continued internationalization, and its entrepreneurial growth through the development and commercialization of new products/services in international markets.Overall, the study suggests that internationalization promotes the acquisition of new market knowledge and new technological knowledge, which in turn contribute to the growth of SMEs, especially in international markets.
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