International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business (19 papers in press)

Regular Issues

• Drivers and Challenges for Knowledge Sharing in an Emerging and Government Driven Industry Cluster in Saudi Arabia  
  by Aliah Zafer, John Burgess, Kantha Dayaram 
  Abstract: Underpinned by the Saudi Arabian governments initiative to reduce the countrys dependency on oil, this paper examines the drivers and challenges that relate to knowledge sharing in an emerging and government driven industry cluster. National and regional level innovation policies identify clustering (an amalgamation of various proximate actors) as a key enabler of competitive and economic achievement. What are not clear are the mechanisms through which actor proximity enhances value to individual cluster members. While knowledge creation has been associated with cluster effectiveness and individual actor capacity to innovate, there is still a lack of clarity on cluster influence on enabling knowledge sharing during the early development stage of a cluster. In addition, contextual cluster investigations within the Middle East, the GCC and Saudi Arabia in particular, are limited. This article contributes towards closing this gap by analysing knowledge sharing in an emerging government driven cluster in a developing economy, Saudi Arabia.
  Keywords: knowledge sharing; Saudi Arabia; emerging cluster; government led development.
  
  
• Professional specialist networks: the key to policy success  
  by Dale Putland, Neal Ryan 
  Abstract: Public policy literature identifies policy networks as a significant contributor to the formulation, implementation and evaluation of government policies. However, policy work involves a broad spectrum of policy actors, operating at different levels and in different parts of government. This paper argues that middle and junior ranking technical officers within agencies, such as land use planners, transport engineers, environmental scientists, health professionals and other professional specialists, have an important role in the development of policy implementation strategies and in the formulation of new policies. While many professional specialists rely heavily on networks to assist in policy work, the use of networks is not universal and varies widely amongst policy actors. This paper uses accounts of professional specialists that were collected during case study research to examine some of the aspects/elements which make policy networks effective within the public service and calls for more research into this previously neglected area aimed at getting the balance between technical content specialists and policy specialists.
  Keywords: Public Policy;Policy Development; Policy Work; Professional Specialists; Networks; Networking;Policy Networks.
  
  
• Monopsony, Powerful Buyers and Small Sellers: Analysis of Malaysian Competition Law and Lessons Learnt from Indonesia  
  by Haniff Ahamat, Nasarudin Abdul Rahman, Milyan Risydan Al-Anshori 
  Abstract: Powerful buyers or intermediaries have become a problem stifling the market presence of micro, small and medium businesses in Malaysia and Indonesia. It may push down prices to the detriment of micro and small sellers particularly in the agricultural sector. The presence of powerful buyers may not necessarily harm farmers and consumers in general. However, the ability of powerful of buyers to assert power in both upstream and downstream markets may allow them to manipulate prices or output. Since the problem arises from the potential use of buyer power by the powerful buyers, it is important to look at whether competition law can address the issue of powerful buyers particularly in Malaysia. The authors chose monopsony, oligopsony and buyer power as the theoretical framework and analyse the relevant principles in the context of Malaysian Competition Act 2010. This paper finds that 2010 Act can only be used indirectly against the conduct of powerful buyers due to the lack of express reference to the term monopsony. As the relevant regulator would rely on the existing prohibitions namely the prohibition of anti-competitive agreement and the prohibition of abuse of dominance, whose rules are more often operationalised on the supply side rather than the demand side, proving anti-competitive conduct of those buyers despite the presence of monopsonistic conditions is difficult. This paper then analyses the main competition legislation of Indonesia namely the Law No 5 of 1999. This paper finds that Indonesian competition law can be directly used but proving legal violation is also difficult prompting similar constraints faced in Malaysia. However, Indonesia has a specific law that protects small sellers from powerful buyers' use of their market power. This differentiates Malaysia from Indonesia, as the buyers can be subject to greater extent of regulation including in their contractual relationships with micro, small and medium enterprises including small sellers.
  Keywords: Competition law; Competition Policy; Socio-Economics of Market Regulation; Promotion of Small Business; Law and Supply Chain Management.
  
  
• Encouraging investment in SMEs through equity-based crowdfunding  
  by Antonella Francesca Cicchiello, Daniele Leone 
  Abstract: This paper examines the role may be played by the national policymakers in developing equity crowdfunding markets through a proper implementation of European Directives on this field. We analyse all directives and communications dealing with crowdfunding issued by the European Commission from 2000 to 2018. Then, we compare and assess their impact on the national legislation of the analysed countries. Results show that countries which have correctly and fully transposed into law the European Directives - without any infringement or delays - by aligning their national regulations with European objectives (e.g. the United Kingdom) are able to avoid destabilizing phenomena of regulatory arbitrage. Countries with delayed and incorrect transposition and/or wrong application of the directives (e.g. France, Italy, and Spain) are currently facing serious destabilizing effects of international financial markets with modest growth of equity crowdfunding markets. This paper draws attention to the ongoing process of Europe-wide equity crowdfunding regulatory convergence.
  Keywords: Equity crowdfunding; SMEs; National policy makers; Regulation; European Directives.
  
  
• Network structure in a Local Innovation System in mature industries. An empirical case study.  
  by Marco Ferretti, Eva Panetti, Adele Parmentola, Annamaria Sabetta 
  Abstract: This paper aims to explore the Local Innovation Systems network structure in mature industries and in an emerging economy, by taking empirical evidence from the Transport and Logistics Innovation System in the Campania Region (South of Italy). The social network analysis conducted on R&D alliances among a heterogeneous sample of organizations revealed that the Campania LIS in Transport and Logistics is characterized by a closed network, where brokering positions are mostly undertaken by academic institutions, which is in line with the studies arguing that a closure structure better sustains the conduct of innovation activities.
  Keywords: local innovation systems; R&D relationships; social network analysis; South of Italy; innovation networks.
  
  
• Political Consumerism in Emerging Markets: The Case of Argentina  
  by Inken Carina Sittler, Vito Bobek, Romana Korez Vide, Gorazd Justinek, Tatjana Horvat 
  Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that trigger behaviour of political consumerism in Argentina. According to our research almost 45 % of surveys respondents are identified as political consumers. The research aims to find out how much better recent Echegeray's (2016) conceptual top-down corporate mobilization model in comparison to his bottom-up model, based on post-materialism and sub-politics, explains political consumerism in Argentina. Besides deductive verification of both models, the paper also explores whether further recent model's extensions, using variables of moral obligation and political media usage, would shed more light into the investigated topic. According to our research the corporate mobilization model better explains behaviour of political consumerism in current Argentina than the post-materialist sub-politicization model. Further extensions of this model proved even higher significance. Political consumption behaviour is explained mainly by high interest in business and politics, which brings important implications for Argentinian companies and government in the forms of socially responsible practices implementation and promotion to the common benefit of Argentinian society.
  Keywords: political consumerism; post-materialism; sub-politics; corporate mobilization; social responsibility; emerging markets; Argentina.
  
  
• The impact of foreign capital on profitability: The case of Portuguese manufacturing SMEs  
  by Luís Pacheco 
  Abstract: The objective of this paper is to empirically examine the relationship between the firms ownership and control structure, in particular the presence of foreign capital, and its profitability. The literature about performance determinants is abundant, however, the relation between profitability and ownership and control structure is much less studied. The performance of the Portuguese economy is still highly dependent of foreign investment inflows directed to the manufacturing sector, a sector mainly comprised of SMEs that are responsible for the majority of job creation, innovation and exports. This paper uses a balanced panel data of 5.722 firms for the period from 2010 to 2017, researching if the presence of foreign capital influences financial performance, and controlling the effects of other variables such as size, age, exports, indebtedness and sector of activity. Finally, possible non-linear effects or moderating and interaction roles between variables are also tested. Our results evidence that, despite foreign firms higher levels of profitability, the degree of foreign ownership and institutional difference generally showed a non-significant relation with profitability. Nevertheless, there seems to exist a non-linear relation between the development level of the country of origin of the share capital and profitability, with the results indicating that firms with share capital originated from more advanced countries attain a higher financial performance.
  Keywords: Ownership structure; Profitability; Foreign investment; SMEs; Manufacturing sector.
  
  

Special Issue on: EURAM-SIG ENT T03_08 Growth Strategies and Internationalisation for SMEs

• MISSION STATEMENTS IN MEDIUM SIZED LISTED FIRMS: A CONTENT ANALYSIS  
  by Lara Penco, Giorgia Profumo, Scarsi Roberta 
  Abstract: Consistent with extant management literature, mission statements are crucial communication instruments for any firms and have been considered as elements of the strategic management process. Despite the considerable attention awarded to this theme, most of the studies are focused on large firms, while the role of mission statements in the strategic management of small and medium sized companies has not been sufficiently highlighted. Considering its central role within the strategic management process, the definition of a good mission statement may indeed be very useful for small and medium enterprises, as it can help to understand and identify the key factors of the strategic growth strategies, in terms of markets, products, innovation and internationalization. The present paper tries to bridge this literature gap aiming at: i) analyzing specific content characteristics of medium sized listed firms mission statements; ii) identifying differences among medium sized firms belonging to different cultural clusters; iii) investigating the stakeholder orientation and the prioritization versus particular stakeholders groups. Applying a content analysis method to a sample of 150 continental European medium sized listed firms, we document that a typical mission statement does not exist. Moreover, the results suggest that it is possible to identify differences in the content and role of the mission statements of firms belonging to diverse cultural clusters and, as regards stakeholder orientation, firms tend to mention few stakeholders groups in their mission statements, with subgroups prioritizing different stakeholders. This contribution presents some valuable research implications mainly useful for researchers and academics, but also professionals and investors could benefit from this knowledge.
  Keywords: mission statement; content analysis; medium sized firms; cultural cluster; stakeholder orientation.
  
  
• Do all entrepreneurs want to make their New Technology Based Firm grow? An approach through expected consequences of growth  
  by Caroline Tarillon 
  Abstract: Because the French government is aware of the high potential of New-Technology based Firms (NTBFs) in terms of supporting economic growth, it has set up specific support measures since many years. However, there still is a strong heterogeneity of their growth trajectories. This research aims to better understand this heterogeneity by analyzing entrepreneurs motives for growth. We study the representations of 253 NTBFs entrepreneurs whose firms have been supported by the French Ministry in charge of Research. We show that it is necessary to better understand the expected consequences that those entrepreneurs anticipate in case of strong growth in order to better understand their motivation to make their business grow.
  Keywords: Growth trajectories; New-Technology Based Firm; Entrepreneurs’ motivation.
  
  
• How Do New Technology Ventures Grow? A Theory of Planned Behavior Based Assessment of Inorganic Growth  
  by Leonard Benning, Tessa Flatten 
  Abstract: Much has been researched on new venture growth in entrepreneurship, yet little is known about how exactly new ventures grow: organically or inorganically? This study pioneers in this field and empirically examines what drives a new venture's choice to pursue acquisitions with survey data from 153 managing-founders of technology ventures. Since any entrepreneurial action emerges at the nexus of the individual and the opportunity, we focus on the individual managing-founder and his intentions. By applying the theory of planned behavior (TPB), we measure the impact of the founder's acquisition intentions and their cognitive antecedents on the firm's acquisition activities as measured by the establishment of specific mergers and acquisitions capabilities (M&A capabilities). Thereby, we show that a new venture's inorganic growth activities are strongly driven by the individual founders and their cognition.
  Keywords: growth; acquisitions; planned behavior.
  
  
• Internationalisation Strategies and Firms Performance. A Co-Evolutionary Study on Italian SMEs  
  by Matteo Cristofaro, Giacomo Caterini 
  Abstract: The hypercompetitive business landscape that SMEs are currently facing is increasingly pushing them to internationalise their businesses. In doing that, entrepreneurs and executives make important strategic choices related to their investments in cost leadership and differentiation strategies to improve, or at least maintain, their current performance. However, despite the great interest of scholars on this theme, there are no studies about the effects of these different courses of action on firms performance, especially considering the concurrent influence of sectorial and macroeconomic trends. This contribution, which looks at the dialectical relationship between firms strategic choices and their environment according to a co-evolutionary perspective, tries to fill this gap presenting evidence from a panel study of 4,098 Italian SMEs over ten years (20082017). Findings show that environmental trends and strategic choices simultaneously influence internationalised SMEs performance and that these firms adapt their strategic choices according to market munificence. Entrepreneurs and executives of SMEs may benefit from the results of this study in order to make better strategic choices when defining their internationalisation strategies.
  Keywords: internationalisation; strategy; decision making; co-evolution; small medium enterprise; SMEs.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJGSB.2020.10020702
   
  
• How cultures facilitate the entrepreneurial thinking-doing link?  
  by Chiara Cannavale, Iman Zohoorian Nadali 
  Abstract: Despite many studies on culture and entrepreneurship, still little is known about the role culture can play in the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and actual behavior. This study adopts cultural entrepreneurial approach to tackle this problem by employing behavioral theories. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) as well as Global Leadership & Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) project data were employed to test the moderating effects of cultural values on the relationship between entrepreneurial intention (EI) and entrepreneurial activities at a country level. The analysis covers the period of 2007 to 2017. OLS regression analyses in R package indicate that behavioral theories still hold, i.e. intentions lead to actions in the field of entrepreneurship. It was also found that future orientation, performance orientation, and gender egalitarianism facilitate the relationship between entrepreneurial intentions and activities. The novel findings as well as the academic and practical implications of the study are discussed in the concluding section.
  Keywords: Entrepreneurial Intention; Entrepreneruirial Activity; Cultural Values.
  
  
• International growth of Italian mid-sized firms: An analysis of post-acquisition performance  
  by Michela Matarazzo, Gabriele Barbaresco, Riccardo Resciniti 
  Abstract: Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to analyse the performance differences (labour productivity, employment and wages) of all the mid-sized firms acquired in the period between 1999 and 2009, compared with purely domestic firms (non-acquired), with two specific research focuses: 1) differences between industrial and financial investor, 2) geographic distance between acquirer and target firm. Design/methodology/approach - We conduct a t-test analysis by using firm-level accounting data from the Italian Mediobanca Research Department database. Findings - Results suggest that the performance of the acquired firms improve. Furthermore, the study show that industrial and European acquirers adopt a cherry picking approach and tend to keep pre-acquisition performance levels unchanged, whereas financial and non-European ones take the opposite approach with the explicit aim to increase post-acquisition performance. Originality/value This study for the first time analyses the performance implications of cross border acquisitions of all the acquired Italian mid-sized firms.
  Keywords: mid-sized firms; growth strategies; cross-border acquisitions; post-acquisition performance; industrial and financial investors; Italy.
  
  

Special Issue on: WWS 2018 Innovation and Sustainability to Compete in the International Arena – What Are the Key Success Drivers in the Wine Industry?

• Economic Sustainability of Quality Wine Districts in the South of Italy. The Case Of Vulture  
  by Biagio Perretti 
  Abstract: The paper presents an analysis of economic performance and long-term sustainability of the quality wine production in the Vulture District, in the South of Italy. This case is considered as it is representative of many Italian quality wine districts that produce a very large variety of high quality wines, and present, in almost all cases, a fragmented structure in small and micro farms. The analysis aims to two objectives. First is the assessing of current financial profitability of micro grape wine farms. Second is the analysing of the feasibility and impact of process innovations and structural adjustments. According to the results of the analysis, a large majority of grape wine farms are currently producing with negative returns on the investment. Financial and economic sustainability could be improved at least for a share of them with the available process innovations, combined with consolidation of the farm structures to reduce land fragmentation. The results are relevant for the design of public policies and private investment strategies.
  Keywords: quality wine districts; economic sustainability; investment analysis; process innovation; South of Italy viticulture.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJGSB.2020.10029808
   
  
• The process of succession and its impact on sustainability: An empirical study within family wineries in Cyprus  
  by Thoukis Georgiou, Demetris Vrontis, Ioanna Papasolomou, Alkis Thrassou 
  Abstract: Undoubtedly, two of the most critical drivers for business competitiveness are innovation and sustainability. Businesses and especially small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are facing many challenges in an increasingly dynamic and volatile marketing environment. In such an environment, innovation and sustainability become strategic tools for competitiveness and future development. Faced with major new challenges in a rapidly evolving world market, SMEs operating in the wine sector and especially those that are family-owned, need to reconsider their strategic options in terms of succession, since their unique nature and characteristics pose challenges for their sustainability. Sixteen in-depth semi-structured face-to-face interviews with representatives from six Cypriot family-owned wineries were carried out with the aim of understanding whether family wineries engage in formal and strategic succession planning in order to sustain their market share and foster innovation and growth. The study revealed that succession is a fundamental factor for the sustainability of the family wineries and in general the growth of the Cyprus wine sector.
  Keywords: succession process; family-owned wineries; sustainability; innovation; successor; incumbent; case study; small and medium sized enterprise; SMEs; Cyprus.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJGSB.2020.10029809
   
  
• DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES IN THE ITALIAN WINE SECTOR  
  by Vladi Finotto, Christine Mauracher 
  Abstract: The diffusion of digital instruments as means to communicate and sell products and services attracted the interest of academics and professionals in recent years. Digital marketing strategies are seen as beneficial in the wine industry, especially for small wineries, given the richness they allow in the communication of products and terroirs, their purported affordability vis-a-vis traditional marketing strategies, and the access they provide to international markets. Consensus on the importance of digital marketing is high, but the reality is sober: many wineries are lagging behind in adopting digital tools. Based on an exploratory study of 113 small and medium sized Italian wineries, the paper identifies organisational factors that influence the use of digital tools in marketing strategies: size, familiarity with various areas of digital marketing, number of employees and longevity of the firm.
  Keywords: digital marketing; digital maturity; Italian wineries; social media; digital marketing strategy; small and medium sized enterprise; SMEs.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJGSB.2020.10029812
   
  

Special Issue on: EURAM 2019 Female Entrepreneurship Myths, Established Knowledge and Future Perspectives

• Differences in the financial approach to entrepreneurship from a gender perspective  
  by Roberto Cervelló-Royo, Ismael Moya-Clemente, Rosario Perelló Marín, Gabriela Ribes Giner 
  Abstract: The economic situation worldwide has led to a global rise in female entrepreneurship. Furthermore, entrepreneurial activity has become very important and is considered fundamental to adopt measures that encourage and correct deficiencies. To this end, the purpose of this work is to study the financing of this venture from a gender perspective by taking a sample of entrepreneurs from a Spanish Mediterranean region. We analysed factors of capital structure, company ownership and funding sources (formal and informal), among other aspects, with a sample of 192 surveyed entrepreneurs. By multivariate analysis techniques, the statistically significant differences that appeared between male and female entrepreneurs were studied. This study is important and might be useful because it provides an overview of the current situation of entrepreneurs and funding sources in not only the studied Mediterranean region, but also in similar Mediterranean and/or Spanish regions.
  Keywords: entrepreneurship; gender; finance; capital structure; company ownership; venture; funding sources; region; entrepreneurial activity.
  
  
• A contextual approach to womens entrepreneurship in Latin America: Impacting research and public policy  
  by Rocío Ruiz-Martínez 
  Abstract: The field of women in entrepreneurship is getting growing attention from public policy and academia. However, the literature has been dominated by models and frameworks that were developed mostly in developed economies with a set of particular characteristics that do not match the Latin American reality. This conceptual paper identifies five contextual conditions to consider while analyzing womens entrepreneurship in Latin America compared to the Northern Hemisphere; 1) high rates of womens entrepreneurship, 2) high rates of informality, 3) Traditional culture and self-expression, 4) low rates of innovation-based ventures, and 5) developing ecosystems. We discuss how these contextual conditions interact with the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis. Finally, both a research agenda and a public agenda are suggested. This article calls for a Latin American research perspective on women entrepreneurs and suggests that promoting women into sustainable entrepreneurship contributes to regional development, impacts economic activity, improves income distribution, reduces poverty and fosters gender equality.
  Keywords: women entrepreneurs; entrepreneurial context; regional development; Latin America and The Caribbean; emerging economies.
  
  
• Entrepreneurship education and gender: The man made entrepreneur  
  by Maria Aggestam, Caroline Wigren-Kristoferson 
  Abstract: As the literature on entrepreneurship education grows, the issue of equality in entrepreneurship education has been raised; i.e., whether students are educated to become entrepreneurs equally. This article provides a critical and thought-provoking analysis of a portfolio of practices that, on the surface, appear to be successful in training entrepreneurs. To this purpose, we initiate a debate on what entrepreneurship education programmes tend to omit. We provide an argument within entrepreneurship scholarship that takes into consideration the diversity and complexity of gender in entrepreneurship. We present an insightful example of what we do in our university classrooms whilst calling for a more encompassing perspective of gender within present-day teaching practice. We acknowledge that academic entrepreneurship education is gendered (Ahl, 2006) and we show how hegemonic masculine-framed foundations of entrepreneurship influence the vocabulary of teaching and learning in Sweden. The paper provides insights into how both teachers and students, unluckily, fail to identify the masculinisation of entrepreneurship education.
  Keywords: Entrepreneurship education; gender; critical study.