Review of International Business and Strategy

Dow, Douglas

2017 Review of International Business and Strategy

doi: 10.1108/RIBS-02-2017-0012

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to respond to Hennart’s (2014) challenge to the existing born global literature. In his challenge, Hennart proposes a simpler explanation of why some firms internationalize earlier and more aggressively than others. However, such a parsimonious model of born global firms raises the awkward question of whether born global firms are indeed any different from firms that internationalize more gradually.Design/methodology/approachUsing two extensive surveys of Australian exporters, this paper first explores the degree to which a set of six “facilitating factors” that Hennart puts forward are different across born global and non-born global firms. Next, it tests the second aspect of the debate highlighted above – i.e. whether born global firms behave differently from non-born global firms. This is done by testing for differences in the patterns of early market selection for born global and non-born global firms.FindingsSupport is found for both the role of facilitating factors and for the view that born global firms behave differently from non-born global firms. As a result, it is proposed that the Hennart and the RBV-oriented explanations of born global firms need to be viewed as complementary, rather than competing. Each may represent a necessary but not sufficient condition with respect to born global firms.Originality/valueA systematic testing for differences in facilitating factors and market selection patterns across born global and non-born global firms are both issues that have major implications for the born global literature, and yet have been left largely unexplored to date.

Dike, Marcellinus C.; Rose, Elizabeth L.

2017 Review of International Business and Strategy

doi: 10.1108/RIBS-01-2017-0004

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to map the relevant studies pertaining to internationalization in the mobile telecommunications (telecom) sector, with the aims of reflecting and categorizing what has already been studied on this topic, as a means of guiding future research.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use the systematic literature review methodological approach, adopting the “Antecedents-Phenomenon-Consequences” theoretical framework as a guide. Consistent with this framework, they identify and categorize studies in the academic literature that have discussed the cross-border expansion of mobile telecom firms. Their review is based on 50 research publications, selected based on the relevance of their findings and their underlying arguments. The authors then categorized each piece’s findings and arguments into themes and sub-themes.FindingsThe authors find evidence that mobile network operators (MNOs) are driven into international markets by a collection of factors that can broadly be categorized as either firm-specific/country factors or the desire to capture first-mover advantages (FMAs). They also find evidence that the Uppsala stages model does not provide an appropriate explanation of MNOs’ internationalization patterns, with firms tending to skip posited stages. Market size, the regulatory environment and government policies appear to be key influences in MNOs’ choices of foreign investment locations, and despite being a driver of internationalization, FMAs often erode with the entry of competitors. MNOs tend to prefer collaborative entries over greenfield investments, especially in countries in which telecommunications infrastructure is already in place. Finally, there is no consensus with respect to whether internationality is positively associated with financial performance for MNOs.Originality/valueThis review of the literature offers value to both academia and practice, by providing both insights into what has already been studied with respect to the internationalization of mobile telecom firms and a guide for future research.

Lukason, Oliver; Vissak, Tiia

2017 Review of International Business and Strategy

doi: 10.1108/RIBS-03-2017-0020

PurposeThis paper aims to detect failure processes of French exporting firms and study their contingency with export processes.Design/methodology/approachThe sample consisted of 131 bankrupted exporting firms from Bureau van Dijk’s Amadeus database. Factor and cluster analyses of six financial variables from Laitinen’s (1991) model were used to detect failure processes. Export processes were detected with cluster analysis of export share in total turnover. Contingency between failure and export processes was studied with a statistical test.FindingsThree different failure processes existed for exporting firms. Two of these processes, which accounted for 79 per cent of firms, were classified as gradual failure: a step-by-step worsening of financial performance before the bankruptcy was declared. One was a symbiotic process reflecting varying pre-bankruptcy behaviours of different financial variables. Two different types of exporters existed. Most firms (77 per cent) were occasional exporters, while 23 per cent were constantly and more strongly involved in international markets before their bankruptcy was declared. There was no contingency between failure and export processes.Originality/valueThis study is the first one to detect failure processes specifically for exporting firms based on financial variables. In line with previous literature about non-exporting firms, gradual failure processes were most characteristic to exporting firms. The study shows that different types of exporters were not characterized by any unique behaviour of financial variables before their bankruptcy was declared.

Nguyen, Van Cang; Chau, Ngoc Tuan

2017 Review of International Business and Strategy

doi: 10.1108/RIBS-02-2017-0016

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to apply a more accurate competitive advantage construct to study the impact of total quality management on firms’ competitive advantage in the context of the weakening of the competitive advantage of firms that are renowned for the excellent quality management. It also aims to find a better explanation for the source of competitive advantage through mediating constructs.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use iterative methodology by reviewing, analyzing, synthesizing and refining the current state of the literature and propose a research framework which allows for overcoming the limitation encountered in previous empirical research.FindingsThe use of two second-order constructs including the incremental innovation performance and radical innovation performance which enable the researchers to have a better explanation about the mediating role of innovation performance.Practical implicationsThis study is seeking to contribute to the practice of total quality management area of research. Specifically, this study applies two second-order measurement scales of innovation in use, actualize the use of the new measurement scale of competitive advantage and explain clearly the role of total quality management on competitive advantage in the current context.Originality/valueThis is one of the few papers investigating the impact of total quality management on competitive advantage, developing the conceptual model that examines the mediating role of innovation performance.

Bhuian, Shahid; Sharma, Sujeet Kumar

2017 Review of International Business and Strategy

doi: 10.1108/RIBS-03-2017-0022

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the role of religiosity in consumer pro-environmental behavioral intention (CPEBI). Consumer pro-environmental value, knowledge, concern and attitude predict CPEBI; however, previous findings are neither consistent about their predictabilities nor clear about the order of importance of these predictors. Further, while religiosity has the potential to affect values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors, its role in CPEBI research has been neglected.Design/methodology/approachData are collected from a sample of 306 respondents from Oman, an Islamic country with mostly Muslim consumers, and analyzed using a neural network model.FindingsThis study finds that the most important predictors of CPEBI, in order of importance, are attitude, concern, knowledge, religiosity and value. Further, results indicate that religiosity moderates the impacts of, in order of importance, attitude, value, concern and knowledge on CPEBI.Research limitations/implicationsBoth businesses and policy makers can prioritize intervention strategies according to the importance of the predictors and can leverage faith-based messages and programs for promoting CPEBI toward creating a better environment for all.Originality/valueDetermining the predictabilities of psychological factors and their interactions with religiosity to predict CPEBI in Islamic countries is necessary for promoting environmentally friendly products in Islamic countries and for reducing the ecological damage to the environment.

Singh, Harsh Pratap; Kumar, Satish

2017 Review of International Business and Strategy

doi: 10.1108/RIBS-03-2017-0027

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of various factors like profitability, growth opportunity, financial leverage, assets tangibility, operating cash flows, age and size of firm on working capital requirements (WCR) of manufacturing SMEs in India.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses a panel data regression model with fixed and random effect estimations. The data utilized in this study includes financial data of 254 manufacturing SMEs operating in India for the period 2010 to 2014.FindingsThe overall results of the study indicate that operating cash flow, financial leverage, profitability, sales growth and asset tangibility are the key drivers of WCR for Indian manufacturing SMEs. Profitability of firm and sales growth are found to be positively related to WCR. In contrast, asset tangibility, operating cash flow and financial leverage are found to be negatively related to WCR.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper investigates firm-specific factors while ignoring external factors like GDP growth, business indicators and industry type. Further research can be done to assess the effect of these external factors on WCR.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the working capital literature by providing empirical evidence on determining factors of WCR in manufacturing SMEs.

Obeidat, Bader Yousef; Al-Hadidi, Alaa; Tarhini, Ali; Masa’deh, Ra’ed

2017 Review of International Business and Strategy

doi: 10.1108/RIBS-10-2016-0065

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the operational process factors that affect successful strategy implementation in the Middle East.Design/methodology/approachFive operational process factors were studied (resource availability, communication, operational planning, people, control and feedback). Data were collected using a self-administrated questionnaire from employees who implement and/or are responsible for strategy implementation in 17 pharmaceutical companies. In total, 330 questionnaires were distributed, and a total of 259 were responded with a response rate of 78 per cent.FindingsFindings revealed that four of the operational process factors, namely, resource availability, communication, operational planning in addition to control and feedback, strongly affect the success of strategy implementation. Further, resource availability was ascertained to be the most influential factor, followed by control and feedback, then by communication, while people factor showed no effect on the implementation process.Practical implicationsIt is advised that, during the implementation phase, company management should provide staff employees with the necessary training and instructions to link employee performance with the overall reward and compensation system in the organization and to strengthen effective communication and coordination.Originality/valueThis is one of the few studies that cover operational process factors and successful strategy implementation and is the first study to test the model on companies in the pharmaceutical sector in the Middle East.