International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research (2014, 20, 3, 237-262)
The effect of corruption on entrepreneurship in developed vs non-developed countries
Gil Avnimelech, Yaron Zelekha and Eyal Sharabi
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the relationship between corruption and productive entrepreneurship in general and whether it depends on countries’ specific characteristics in particular. The authors used a unique data set of entrepreneurial activity within 176 countries, collected from the professional networking site LinkedIn. The authors used OLS regression to estimate the level of entrepreneurship. The main independent variable was the CPI score (Transparency International). In addition, two sub-samples were used, 70 less-developed countries and 34 OECD countries, and numerous control variables. The paper makes three important contributions to the field. First, it proposes worldwide empirical evidence that countries with high levels of corruption usually face low levels of productive entrepreneurship. Second, the paper suggests that the negative effect is much more significant in developed countries than in developing countries. Third, the paper explores whether the negative effect of corruption depends on country-specific economic characteristics. While there is significant value in using LinkedIn data in entrepreneurship research, there are limitations to this database. Therefore, significant robustness tests were employed and further research, for instance using longitudinal LinkedIn data, could be valuable. Moreover, using different entrepreneurs’ data sets might increase the validation of the results. Finally, further examination of the influence of corruption on different types of entrepreneurial activities and their interaction with different characteristics of the country is still required. The results stress the need to fight corruption not only in developing countries and suggests significant gains from anti-corruption efforts even and maybe especially in the western developed world.
Journal of Business Research (2014, 67, 5, 916)
Country of origin and network effects on internationalization: A comparative study of SMEs from an emerging and developed economy
Luciano Ciravegna, Luis Lopez and Sumit Kundu
This study examines the internationalization of high technology small and medium enterprises (HTSMEs). It explores how they develop and use networks to penetrate their first foreign market relying on information collected via direct interviews with the CEOs or founders of 58 high technology small firms that operate internationally. It uses mixed methods to discuss the network building mechanisms identified — client-supplier relationships, existing personal contacts, contacts acquired by chance, and contacts acquired through specific strategies. The findings provide the basis for developing propositions for further comparative analyses of the internationalization of HTSMEs based in emerging and developed markets. The study contributes to the literature on networks, internationalization and international entrepreneurship.
Journal of Business Research (2014, 6/7, 5, 908)
Micro-multinational or not? International entrepreneurship, networking and learning effects
Pavlos Dimitratos, José Ernesto Amorós, Maria Soledad Etchebarne and Christian Felzensztein
Micro-multinational enterprises (mMNEs) represent a new breed of smaller firms in the field of international entrepreneurship. This study investigates the effects of the three sets of variables, namely international entrepreneurship (which encompasses innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking propensity), networking and learning on the probability that a firm will become a MNE. Drawing upon a survey of the activities of 116 Chilean internationalized small- and medium-sized firms and utilizing a logistic regression analysis, this study suggests that risk-taking propensity and networking with domestic and international partners increase the likelihood that the firm will become an mMNE. Our findings confirm the predictive validity of the international entrepreneurship and networking perspectives. Because of the positive association between mMNEs and international performance, the suggestions for management of internationalized firms are to nurture a risk-taking propensity and cultivate a networking orientation.
International Marketing Review (2014, 31, 3, 237-258)
Resource scavenging: Another dimension of the internationalisation pattern of high-tech SMEs
Lisa Jane Hewerdine, Maria Rumyantseva and Catherine Welch
There has been growing interest in studying the internationalisation of small and medium-sized high-technology firms. This literature tends to equate “internationalisation” with the “internationalisation of sales”. Yet sales are not the only international activity of high-tech firms. High-tech firms need resources and not just markets. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to an understanding of this resource dimension of the international behaviour of high-tech firms. The empirical basis for the study lies in a multiple case study of six high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The authors selected two firms from each of three high-tech industries: biotechnology (specifically drug development), renewable energy and ICT. The key decision makers in each firms were then interviewed in depth. The authors show that for the case firms in the study, internationalisation can take the form of searching, prospecting or “scavenging” for resources. “Resource-seeking” behaviour occurs because the SMEs do not own, control or have access to sufficient resources to bring their technology to market on their own. The pattern of internationalisation that results from resource scavenging is different to that of traditional “market-seeking” internationalisation. This paper provides evidence of how the resource-acquisition behaviour of high-tech SMEs can be an important element of their internationalisation. Yet existing literature has focused almost exclusively on the market-seeking internationalisation of these firms.