Purpose Drawing on the resource-based and dynamic capabilities framework, the study examines the influence of market and technology orientation on digital technological opportunism to understand SMEs' future focus and organizational performance given the digital transformation landscape for international expansion. Design/methodology/approach Partial-least-square structural equation modeling was employed to examine the hypothesized relationships using cross-sectional survey data from 322 senior and middle-level executives. Findings The findings highlight the fact that market and technology orientation capabilities positively influence SMEs’ digital technological opportunism, which is shown to positively influence organizational performance by developing a future focus on digital marketing strategy development in the internationalization process. Originality/value The research provides valuable insights into integrating market and technology orientation with digital technological opportunism in SMEs to develop future focus and achieve organizational performance for international expansion.

Digital transformation is reshaping the competitive landscape by forcing incumbent firms to rethink their strategies, organizational structures, and business models. While a substantial body of literature has explored digital transformation in specific sectors, focusing on various factors and organizational mechanisms, there remains a lack of a comprehensive and cohesive understanding of how incumbent firms actively lead or respond to these transformations. As a result, the concept remains somewhat fragmented and underdeveloped. This review addresses this gap by conducting a systematic review of 68 peer‐reviewed articles across five major academic domains: entrepreneurship, general management, innovation, organization studies, and strategy. Our review identifies pathways of leading versus responding to digital transformation as well as the internal and external consequences and antecedents that enable or constrain digital transformation. We also offer a research agenda aimed at deepening our theoretical and managerial understanding of how incumbent firms navigate digital transformation, providing novel directions for future studies.

Research SummaryVenture capital firms (VCs) sometimes continue to hold significant equity stakes in entrepreneurial ventures after venture IPO. The information economics view suggests that retaining equity signals VC commitment and venture quality. This study conceptualizes retaining equity as holding an exchange option, the option to exchange VCs' own valuation of IPO ventures for the market's valuation. Holding this option allows VCs to benefit from the ventures' upside potential. Since exit amounts to giving up the option, the option value represents an opportunity cost of exit. VCs may delay exit if this option is sufficiently valuable. The study examines two key conditions that interact to increase the value of this option: uncertainty and positive private information. This study contributes to research on VC exit and real options.Managerial SummaryWhen do VCs retain equity rather than exit after venture IPO? Researchers have addressed the impact of signaling, cash constraints, human capital constraints, blockholding, VC fund performance, portfolio diversification and institutional features. We identify a previously unrecognized driver: to retain the opportunity to benefit from an IPO venture's upside potential that is yet to be fully recognized or realized. We submit that VCs' incentive to retain equity increases with uncertainty in the venture's industry, and VCs' positive private information as indicated by venture patent applications and positive market surprises in the venture's industry. We find largely supportive evidence for the positive joint effect of uncertainty and private information on the decision to retain equity within the first year or even two years after IPO lockup expiration.

The Medici effect: multidisciplinary insights for entrepreneurship researchIn the 15th century, the Medici family in Italy sponsored artists, philosophers, scientists and financiers from various fields (Hibbard, 1974).The most prominent role of the Medici family was to gather people together to share intellect from each discipline (Padgett and Ansell, 1993).Eventually, people in this network led the historical period of innovation known as the Renaissance.Those included Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei, Raffaello Sanzio, Donatello and Sandro Botticelli."The Medici effect" represents a practical illustration of promoting innovation through collaboration across different knowledge domains and the sharing of diverse perspectives and experiences (Johansson, 2004).The Medici effect suggests innovation flourishes when ideas and concepts from diverse disciplines, fields and cultures intersect (Johansson, 2017).The importance of sharing different perspectives and promoting interdisciplinary thinking was certainly not an invention of the Medici family.We find evidence of its effectiveness long before the Medici emerged and long after their influence faded through the centuries.We can travel around two thousand years to the past and observe the Romans combining civil engineering, hydraulics, materials science and geography to develop the aqueduct system.This crucial and value-creating invention has continued its progress as these domains develop and new domains appear.More recently, we can see how the smartphone relied on technological developments from diverse fields such as telecommunications, computer science, materials science, geospatial technology, electronics engineering and consumer behavior to produce one of the most influential products of the 21st century.We can certainly bring the Medici effect to a closer scholarly application.If we turn our attention to social science research, some of our established theoretical frameworks reflect successful combinations of different fields of knowledge.For example, agency theory has strong foundational roots in economics, relying on concepts such as information asymmetry, incentive alignment or utility maximization (Fama and Jensen, 1983;Jensen and Meckling, 1976).We have seen its application in finance as we understand relationships between shareholders and managers in public firms (Eisenhardt, 1989); in corporate governance as we study dynamics in the boardroom, the design of contracts and monitoring mechanisms (Dalton et al., 1998) or in psychology as we study human motivations, cognitive biases and deviations from profit-maximizing behavior (Bazerman and Moore, 2012).Nevertheless, how does our field of entrepreneurship stand on this front?Have we been successful in replicating the Medici effect?The answer to this question may show mixed results.On the one hand, we have seen the application of established frameworks such as resource-based view, social networks, human capital or institutional theory to entrepreneurship settings (Lee et al., 2023).Some influential frameworks, arguably more specific to

Digital literacy has become increasingly important for individuals to participate in regular economic activities, including employment, consumption, and investment. This paper quantitatively defines digital literacy with recently released household survey data in China and describes the digital divide across regions and ages. We further show that digital literacy increases risky asset ownership in the financial market among the middle-aged and elderly population. In this sense, this paper identifies a novel factor that affects financial investment. These findings imply that the digital divide may lead to the asset divide and wealth inequality. Family and social assistance to improve the digital literacy of disadvantaged population groups may increase financial inclusion as well.

This study estimates the effects of the rapid expansion of digital infrastructure on rural employment and income. We use a triple-difference framework and exploit the geographic variation of the recent universal telecommunication service in China. Empirical results reveal increased broadband adoption after the implementation of the program with governmental subsidy. The universal telecommunication service led to an increase in rural residents' income and their employment in the non-agricultural sector, especially salaried work. The findings suggest that digital infrastructure promotes the transformation of the rural economy in emerging markets.

Industry platforms shape the interactions among participating firms, especially between the platform owner and its complementors. However, little research has examined how such dynamics would influence the initial participation by complementors. Based on the coopetition perspective, we develop hypotheses about the relationship between platform owner's value appropriation potential and complementor participation, at platform initiation. Using a comprehensive dataset of open source software (OSS) platform initiations, this study empirically examines how the resource profiles of platform owner firms may affect complementor participation in the platform. We find that when the platform owner has higher percentage of sales from complementary market segments, the number of complementors for the platform is lower. Furthermore, the platform owner's sales growth positively moderates this relationship. The findings shed new lights on how the value creation and value appropriation dynamics between the platform owner and its complementors may shape the outcome of industry platform launching.

What determines the effectiveness of government entrepreneurship policies on the regional development of entrepreneurial activities in China? Using panel data analysis, this study develops a comprehensive framework that examines the effects of various factors, including government efficiency and government support for business, finance and technology, on facilitating the creation of new ventures. Based on provincial data collected between 2009 and 2014, we find that the level of infrastructure development, government incubators and venture capital-guided funds have positive and significant effects on entrepreneurial activities. The findings of our study suggest that local government efficiency is a fundamental precondition for entrepreneurship policies to effectively boost the regional economy.

An organization's informal advice network comprises of relations through which individuals share resources such as information, assistance, and guidance. While centrality and brokerage in this network have been found to exert substantial influence on individuals' careers, it remains less clear who are more likely to occupy these positions. This paper focuses on individuals' disposition to experience negative emotions (NA) and their emotional intelligence (EI) in understanding network positions. Using whole-network data of 417 master students in a Chinese business school, we found that students' self-reported NA interacted with two ability measures of emotional intelligence in predicting their network centrality and brokerage. Specifically, students high on both NA and EI had the smallest and most constrained position in the advice network. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Human capital has been identified a driver of performance of individuals, firms, and enterprises. However, less is known about how human capital of key individuals would interact with others’ human capital, particularly in the entrepreneurial context where the entrepreneur’s human capital needs to be amplified into a successful venture. We focus on multi-disciplinarity of academic scientists and suggest such attribute of human capital contribute to more entrepreneurial engagements. Multidisciplinarity would influence human capital of the invention team. Finally, knowledge diversity of collaborating firms would positively interact with multi-disciplinarity. Hypotheses were tested using a sample from a major research university.

CSR in China is still in its early development stage today. There are great variances and fluctuations in CSR adoption among Chinese firms. State-owned enterprises (SOE) are taking a leading role in CSR practices, while private and foreign enterprises are lagging behind. Overall, there is still a huge gap between China and developed countries in terms of firm awareness and involvement in CSR initiatives. There has been a proliferation of CSR research in the past decade, including those in the Chinese context. The recent CSR literature has witnessed shifting foci in several dimensions: (1) from “why CSR?” to “how to do CSR?”; (2) from the external drivers of CSR to the internal firm strategies for CSR; (3) from the outcomes of CSR to the processes of CSR implementation; (4) from domestic practices to international norms. Fundamentally, this shift is about engaging firms to take on a more proactive role in CSR adoption. Accordingly, this chapter aims to address the research question: how to facilitate Chinese firms to proactively adopt modern CSR practices, in order to gain international competitiveness? To achieve this objective, we adopt the Awareness-Motivation-Capability (AMC) model (Chen et al., Academy of Management Journal, 50, 101, 2007) to systematically discuss how to facilitate Chinese firms to take proactive actions in CSR. The awareness dimension requires education of firm managers as well as consumers about the necessity of CSR. The motivation dimension involves discussion of the long-term sustainability and competitive benefits from CSR strategies. Finally, the capability dimension involves concrete advices on how to build up CSR-related competences through resource allocation and integration. In summary, this article aims to educate Chinese firms about the why and how of CSR adoption, as well as to advise them on the necessary internal capability building in CSR implementation, in order to meet the challenges of international competition.

Extending the literature in path dependence we study the role that prior domestic M&A experience plays in the firms first cross-border M&A. Using 333 listed Chinese firms we use organizational learning to explain what firm and market characteristics may impact the path dependencies related to the chosen ownership level for the newly acquired firm. We find that domestic M&A performance, management stability, international experience, target-to-target similarity, and culture impact the likelihood of the firm having a similar ownership structure from its domestic M&A activities to its first cross-border M&A. Implications for path dependency and managers are discussed.

This study is based on behavioral theories and has the purpose of determining the predictors and contingencies of strategic decision making within the strategic tripod framework and CEO age effect. Furthermore, we focus on the effect of the interaction of these aspects on strategic decisions. Multiple theories and concepts are applied in this paper, such as the institution-, industry-, and resource-based view, upper echelons theory, socio-emotional wealth, empathy, and so on. Specifically, we focus on why Chinese real estate firms decide to enter the aged housing market. By conducting an empirical study using panel data from 134 listed Chinese real estate companies, we make the following conclusions: Institutional pressure and competitor numbers positively affect, whereas slack harms, the likelihood of entry. Ceteris paribus, the resource effect is strongest when the institutional effect is the most significant. When facing institutional pressure, a firm with a CEO older than 50 is significantly more likely to enter the aged housing market than firms with a CEO that is younger.Relieving institutional pressure and avoiding cutthroat competition are helpful in making strategic decisions but not for digesting slack resources. The CEO makes strategic decisions by replying to institutional pressure but likely not from engagements in resource or competitive affairs.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese firms’ long-term value creation derived from cross-border mergers and acquisitions (CBMAs).Design/methodology/approach– The authors collected a sample of 140 CBMAs conducted by Chinese firms listed in Shenzhen and Shanghai stock markets between 1997 and 2010. Long-horizon event study methodology was used to test hypotheses.Findings– The authors find Chinese firms gain long-term value from CBMAs. In particular, the authors find that Chinese firms tend to gain more value from targets from developed countries, and Chinese state-owned firms are more capable of gaining value from CBMAs than Chinese private firms.Originality/value– Given Chinese firms are increasingly acquiring targets outside of China in recent years, it is still unclear about whether Chinese firms gain value from these very expensive cross-border deals. This is one of the first studies that address the question: What are the long-term performance outcomes of Chinese CBMAs in recent years?

This study examines the relationship between interdisciplinary research teams’ composition and the success rate of their research proposals, based on proposal data of a top US research university. The results suggest that, on the one hand, there is no significant impact of the number of academic domains on proposal success rate. On the other hand, the number of academic affiliations by proposal team members has a negative impact on proposal success rate. The participation of senior professors has a significantly positive effect on proposal success rate, while the participation of assistant professors has adverse effect. This study indicates that interdisciplinary research teams need to avoid the tendency of blindly expanding their disciplinary scope. Instead, they should emphasize the team’s experience level and domain focus when making research proposals.

Based on the past experiences of developed countries, public policies may determine whether a country’s industrial technology can leap forward during key stages of overall technology development.Thus, it is an important topic to understand the impact of public policies on firm and industry development, and their potential impact on related stakeholders.This paper proposes a typology of public policies.Based on relevant policy information and industrial innovation data of high technology industries in Guangdong province between 2003 and 2011, this paper conducts an empirical study of the relationship between public policy and firm innovation investment and performance.Results show that, on one hand, environmental and market structure policies have significant impacts on firm investment in innovation.On the other hand, the favorable treatment of public policy on state-owned enterprises may cause negative impact on firm innovation performance.

Increasing research has focused on understanding whether anger expression contributes to effective leadership, and findings have shown both positive and negative effects of leader’s anger expression. To reconcile the conflicting results, we proposed and examined one contextual factor—whether leader’s anger concerns matters of followers’ integrity or competence—that may determine the different effects of leader’s anger expression. Results of an experimental study revealed that a leader was perceived to be less trustworthy and ethical when the leader expressed anger in response to follower’s competence-based violation. However, a leader was perceived to be more trustworthy and ethical when the leader expressed anger in response to follower’s integrity-based violation. Perceived appropriateness of leader’s anger expression mediated the above relationship. Theoretical and managerial implications were discussed.

One salient issue that U.S. IT firms face in their global expansion is various degrees of property rights protection in host countries. U.S. IT firms often prefer acquiring targets in countries with stronger property rights protection. In this study we are interested in how property rights regimes in host countries affect U.S. IT firms' post-acquisition performance. We found that firms can gain more value from acquiring targets in countries with weaker property rights protection. Host countries with weaker property rights protection are in greater demand for IT technologies to transform to the digital era and thus provide rich business opportunities for U.S. IT firms. Furthermore, we found that acquirers also differ in their capabilities in extracting profits in host countries with various levels of property rights protection. We examine acquirer size and host country acquisition experience are the moderators. Our theory receives strong empirical support from multilevel analyses of a sample of U.S. IT firms' international acquisitions between 1995 and 2004.