New IE Articles — March 2022

International Business Review – Volume 31 (Issue 3), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2021.101968

International network formation, home market institutional support and post-entry performance of international new ventures

Donbesuur, F., Zahoor, N., Boso, N.

Effectuation and causation decision-making logics are noted to be major alternative approaches to international network formation. However, knowledge is lacking on how and the conditions under which the two approaches contribute to post-entry performance of international new ventures (INVs). We integrate the theory of effectuation and institutional development logic to explain how effectuation and causation approaches to international network formation individually and jointly contribute to post-entry performance under varying conditions of home market institutional support. We test our proposed framework on primary data from 228 INVs in a sub-Saharan African economy. Results suggest that greater uses of both effectuation and causation approaches to international network formation are associated with stronger post-entry performance. More interestingly, results show that the joint effect of the two international network formation approaches on post-entry performance is amplified under conditions of low home market institutional support. Our findings provide theoretical and managerial insights on the importance of complementing effectual and causal reasoning in international network formation in weak home market institutional environments.

Global Strategy Journal – Volume 11(Issue 4), DOI; https://doi.org/10.1002/gsj.1413

The consequences of short-term institutional change in the rule of law for entrepreneurship

Mickiewicz, T., Stephan, U., Shami, M.

Past research views institutions as stable and slow to change and uses institutional differences to explain cross-national variation in entrepreneurship. This article introduces a new perspective to institutional theory, that of short-term institutional change. Integrating insights from cognitive science allows us to theorize not just about the significance of short-term institutional change but also about why and how deterioration versus improvements in institutions have distinct effects. We test how short-term institutional change impacts entrepreneurship in a cross-country multilevel study. We find that short-term change in the rule of law affects entrepreneurial entry and that institutional deterioration weighs heavier than institutional improvement. We argue and find that changes in the rule of law are more consequential for entrepreneurship compared to changes in business regulations.

Journal of International Management – Volume 28 (Issue 4), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intman.2022.100938

Financial performance and global start-ups: the impact of knowledge management practices

Battisti, E., Alfiero, S., Quaglia, R., Yahiaoui, D.

This paper investigates how knowledge management (KM) practices improve the financial performance of global start-ups (GSs). Using a database of 114 global innovative Italian start-ups, this study is based on the principal component analysis – data envelopment analysis (PCA-DEA) method. In particular, a survey was conducted to investigate KM practices and secondary data was used to evaluate financial performance. This research highlights that the adoption of different knowledge management practices (i.e., acquisition, documentation, creation, transfer and application) has a positive impact on the financial performance of global start-ups. The study contributes to the literature on international entrepreneurship, shedding light on the consequences of KM practices for global start-ups’ financial performance, and provides guidelines for business owners, enabling them to understand better how knowledge management can facilitate the achievement of high levels of financial efficiency.