This article aims to investigate how an entrepreneur's imprinting history influences the creation and international development of new firms. Using a qualitative research design, we investigate the life stories of three entrepreneurs and the international development of their firms. The study shows how imprinting episodes influence the entrepreneur's mindset, start-up motivation and the subsequent international trajectories of their firms. These episodes can occur in childhood, high school, college or in earlier work experience. We find that different international trajectories emerged depending on the imprinting history of the founding entrepreneurs. In contrast to prior research, we show that entrepreneurs can develop a global mindset without international experience and that such mindsets, along with entrepreneurial passion, can be instrumental in supporting a proactive international strategy. Drawing on imprinting theory, we challenge traditional ways of investigating firm internationalisation by focusing on the life stories of entrepreneurs.

Research suggests that accelerated internationalization is accidental and that a firm-specific business model (BM) determines which firms become accelerated internationalizers and which become gradual internationalizers. However, in analysing entrepreneurs adopting different internationalization types (accelerated and gradual) from Finland, New Zealand and Sweden, we find a complex interplay between entrepreneurs’ mindsets and emerging BM practices with respect to their internationalizing firms. These practices enable small international firms to eliminate the time and cost penalties associated with the triple liabilities of accelerated internationalization (i.e., newness, outsidership and smallness). This study contributes to the literature by reconciling the alternative explanations offered in previous research and reveals how entrepreneurs’ global and regional mindsets affect their BM practices, leading to different international trajectories. It further contributes by showing that the entrepreneur’s role may be more important than that of the BM.

PurposeThis study describes how a multinational enterprise (MNE) gains acceptance after rebranding acquired brands from different countries among its internal and external stakeholders and identifies factors that influence this process.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a single case-study approach, including 18 semi-structured in-depth interviews with employees of a firm involved in the rebranding process in six countries. The countries are Sweden, Germany, the United States, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.FindingsThe findings reveal how the MNE integrated brands it acquired in different international markets into one overarching corporate brand. The study shows that in emerging countries, external legitimation (external implementation process, country profiles and customer buy-in) constitutes the most significant challenge. By contrast, in developed countries, internal legitimation (employee buy-in and internal implementation process) is more challenging.Research limitations/implicationsThe study contributes to and extends the rebranding literature by using a legitimation lens to analyze the rebranding process. This lens shows how internal and external stakeholders are both crucial to successful rebranding. The study provides a comprehensive perspective of the process, identifies challenging factors and differentiates between their importance in emerging and developed countries.Originality/valueTo address the dearth of research on how firms legitimize a new brand in different national contexts, the study compares the rebranding process in multiple countries and discusses the factors influencing the rebranding process.

This research had the objective to analyze the influence of network transitions within the life cycle stages of Born Globals (BGs). By developing a framework that consisted of a pre-inception phase, start-up phase, and growth phase, the study proposed to identify which networks were used and which knowledge was acquired within the development of the BGs, in order to analyze the network transitions that influenced its international expansion. By conducting in-depth interviews, the data was collected for the analysis of a comparative case study. Our empirical findings indicate that in the pre-inception phase, technological knowledge from institutional and business networks was pivotal to acquiring internal development making it possible for the companies to progress to the inception phase. Furthermore, international marketing knowledge acquired through business networks contributed to the transition from the inception phase to the growth phase as well as its internationalization. The results imply that high-tech entrepreneurs should consider developing business and institutional networks as an efficient mean for firm development and rapid internationalization.

Purpose - This study aims to explore challenges and opportunities in the digitalization of the business-to-business (B2B) customer journey in different buying situations. It also investigates where in the customer journey digital marketing is most efficient. Design/methodology/approach - This research adopts a single case study approach to examine a B2B company that implemented digitalization in its customer journey in different buying situations. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, complemented by internal documents and information from the company's website and social media, to identify reasons for and against the decision to digitalize the B2B customer journey. Findings - Digitalization can offer firms a cost-effective and value-creating way to interact with customers in a B2B context. The B2B buying situation, however, plays a significant role in decisions on how to implement digitalization. Moreover, in the prepurchase phase, digital marketing is more effective in building awareness; in the purchase phase, personal selling is more effective in addressing customers' needs. Research limitations/implications - The use of a single case study cannot produce results directly generalizable to other contexts. However, the findings are applicable to the digitalization of B2B customer journeys in similar industrial contexts. Practical implications - To successfully implement digitalization in the customer journey, B2B firms should choose digital tools according to different buying situations and phases in the customer journey, segment buyers by their needs rather than individual characteristics and integrate the sales and marketing functions. Originality/value - This study contradicts prior research that claims that digital marketing can be used in a similar way in both B2B and business-to-consumer contexts. It further shows that the relevant demarcation is not between personal sales and digitalization but between automated digital marketing and individualized personal sales, regardless of medium.

This chapter researches the reconfiguration of business models and ecosystems in relation to decoupling and resilience in the context of data-driven technologies via conducting a systematic literature review (SLR). New data-driven technologies have been largely introduced to different sectors. Digitalisation may lead to disruptive changes in any industry, including creating or entering new business models, lowering or changing entry barriers into markets and enabling the breakup of sectorial silos. Although the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated significantly the digitalisation of the healthcare sector, innovation adoption in the sector proceeds slower than in most other industries. This chapter reviews systematically the existing literature on this area and develops a research agenda aiming at answering the pre-set research question: To address the research question, an SLR methodology has been applied to provide insights, critical reflections, managerial implications and research road maps for future research. The chapter identifies the potential benefits of the use of data-driven technology in healthcare at organisational, institutional, ethical and macro-level dimensions. It discusses the adoption of digitalisation and healthcare management practices to enhance data-driven outcomes. Based on the conducted literature review and the bibliometric analysis of articles included in the chapter, an integrative conceptual framework for digital healthcare is suggested.

Digitalization has enabled entrepreneurs to adopt digital tools to create opportunities and reach customers in international markets. Yet, the understanding of international digital entrepreneurial marketing in the global marketplace is limited. Drawing on social network theory, the authors investigate how entrepreneurs' social ties and firms' international digital entrepreneurial marketing influence small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) internationalization. Based on multiple case study methodology, the results suggest that entrepreneurs' bonding and bridging ties facilitate different dimensions of international digital entrepreneurial marketing. That further enhances the intensity and geographic scope of SME internationalization. SME internationalization also reinforces entrepreneurs' accumulation of social ties. This study contributes to international marketing research by developing the dimensions of the international digital entrepreneurial marketing concept and exploring its important role in SME internationalization.

The health sector is very specific and difficult market for firms to access and deal with. The main reasons for this is that the healthcare systems are in continuous change, the co-creation processes in hospitals are complicated involving many different actors which also affects on firms commercialization and internationalization approaches. However, there is a growing demand of health services and the sector is growing also due to the COVID situation, that has been dramatically speeding up the digitalization of the healthcare services in the hospital settings. Approaching international hospital markets is, however, challenging for the start-up companies. On their journey they are facing a resistance, that they have to overcome in many different ways. The aim of this paper is to increase understanding how a start-up can overcome hospital resistance in an international innovation co-creation process. The results of are based on in depth case study in which the data collection was done over the four years of data gathering. The paper highlights how start-up companies can overcome the resistance in the international innovation co-creation in the hospital markets. It shows the importance of different activities, actors, capabilities and international activities in different phases of the international innovation co-creation journey.

Is time perception an idiosyncratic element in the internationalization process of technology-based firms (TBFs)? This question serves as the starting point to explore which factors influence international operations’ internationalization speed and longevity in TBFs. We gathered them into two groups based on the types of service provided and the characteristics of their clients. We analyzed these TBFs´ internationalization processes and the length of time they continued operating abroad, considering survival over time. Using a qualitative approach, we conducted a multiple case study of four internationalized TBFs from Brazil. Our findings suggest that the level of creativity required by clients impacts both the speed of internationalization and the longevity of international operations. Regarding longevity and survival, while TBFs serving creative sectors tend to adapt more easily to culturally similar markets and develop products more quickly, TBFs working traditional sectors tend to exploit local networks revealing exciting nuances about the time perception among TBFs.

We investigate how formal institutional distance (FID) moderates the cultural distance (CD) and financial performance relationships of foreign subsidiaries of firms. Following recent research, we estimate the asymmetric effects of CD by considering its size and direction towards host countries on the opposite poles of each cultural dimension’s scale. We propose that a limited understanding of the formal institutions in the host country, as measured by the magnitude and direction of the FID, can positively moderate the CD–performance relationship. This is mainly because foreign subsidiary firms may be more reliant on their capacity to navigate the less formal (and more implicit) aspects of the host country’s institutional environment, such as their ability to cope with the CD. We use foreign subsidiary data from the Orbis database, which includes 22 developed and 22 developing home countries and over 1400 foreign subsidiaries operating in 10 of Latin America’s largest economies (host countries) from 2012 to 2015 (a period of 3 years). Findings confirm the asymmetric effects of CD; however, by considering the direction of FID, our findings reveal that the more FID is directed towards host countries that are less developed, the more significant the effects of CD on financial performance. These findings contribute to our knowledge of how formal and informal institutional distances interact by showing that the greater the FID towards less developed host countries, the more pronounced the effects of CD.

A percepção do tempo é um elemento idiossincrático do processo de internacionalização de empresas de base tecnológica (EBTs)?Essa pergunta serve como ponto de partida para explorar quais fatores influenciam a velocidade de internacionalização e a longevidade das operações internacionais das EBTs.Agrupamos esses fatores em dois grupos com base nos tipos de serviços fornecidos e nas características de seus clientes.Analisamos os processos de internacionalização dessas EBTs e o tempo que elas continuaram operando no exterior, considerando a sobrevivência ao longo do tempo.Usando uma abordagem qualitativa, realizamos um estudo de caso múltiplo de quatro EBTs internacionalizadas do Brasil.Nossas descobertas sugerem que o nível de criatividade exigido pelos clientes impacta tanto a velocidade da internacionalização quanto a longevidade das operações internacionais.Em relação à longevidade e sobrevivência, enquanto as EBTs que atendem a setores criativos tendem a se adaptar mais facilmente a mercados culturalmente similares e desenvolver produtos mais rapidamente, as EBTs que trabalham em setores tradicionais tendem a explorar redes locais, revelando nuances interessantes sobre a percepção do tempo entre as EBTs.

This study aims to investigate focal firms' business sustainability relationships in connection with their stakeholders in supply chain networks. A questionnaire survey was sent to a sample consisting of large Swedish firms, with 107 usable questionnaires returned. The results reveal which stakeholders are of interest for firms in sustainability efforts. The results are compared with earlier findings from Norway and Spain in a triangular approach. The former is a similar country, while the latter is different to Sweden in several ways. In addition, the study uncovers which stakeholders in the supply chain network should be considered. The study also demonstrates how firms can implement business sustainability in their supply chain networks and shows the extent to which different stakeholders are considered in sustainability efforts. The study contributes to sustainability research and stakeholder theory in supply chain networks. Opposite to earlier findings, this study showed only minor influences from national culture and institutions on firms' sustainable business practices in supply chain networks.

Business models define how businesses create and deliver value to customers and how businesses capture value to create profit. Technological development in information, communication, and transportation, together with lower trade barriers, has made it easier for new firms to start their international activities during the first year of operation or soon afterwards. Such firms are associated with several terms, including 'early internationalising firms', 'global start-ups', 'born global firms', or 'international new ventures'. This chapter starts by defining the international new venture concept and discussing how internationalisation and business models are seen in extant research publications. Building on an exemplary case description, it proposes a framework that combines new venture and business model creation perspectives for the localisation decisions of international new ventures. The business model perspective develops the international new venture literature by providing a more holistic view of international ventures' activities and relationships.

This study investigates the direct and indirect effects between economic, social and environmental dimensions of triple bottom line (TBL), based on a questionnaire survey and cross-industrial sample in Sweden. The analyses apply partial least squares structural equation models. The study tests the direct and indirect effects between economic, social, and environmental dimensions of TBL and offers additional validity and reliability to establish the measurement and structural properties between the dimensions of TBL. The study extends earlier findings by explicitly discussing how the three TBL goals relate to each other and shows how the dynamic capability view can be a fruitful lens to investigate business sustainability. Some differences in sustainability business practices caused by differences in national cultures are identified. Sustainability reporting in a strong uncertainty avoidance (UA) country happens in accordance with regulations and laws. Conversely, for weak UA cultures, reporting and compliance with regulations are ways to build trust with stakeholders. That is, reporting is more transparent and widespread in weak UA countries. The study also provides a foundation to guide companies' actions of business sustainability. The model shows companies how to establish the order of actions undertaken across economic, social, and environmental dimensions. In addition, it clarifies that the economic dimension exerts an effect on the social and environmental dimensions. The model also grasps long-term economic performance by including competitiveness and brand value, while earlier research mainly has focused on more short-term measurements as return on assets.

Some 20 years ago, Shenkar (2001) criticized several of the underlying assumptions of the cultural distance (CD) construct. Despite this, researchers continue to use the same metric which fails to address many of the underlying problems. As a result, CD studies seem to generate results which are often contradictory. Rather than rejecting the distance metaphor, the main objective of this study is to provide a more in-depth measure of CD that addresses the assumptions of linearity, symmetry, equivalence, and discordance. We propose that, while the size of the cultural distance between home and host countries may be relevant for some dimensions, it is incomplete, as it does not account for the distinct characteristics of the cultural dimensions, the direction toward countries with different profiles and the contextual settings of the study. We test our hypotheses on a sample from the Orbis database consisting of foreign subsidiary firms from Latin America, other emerging markets from outside the region, and from developed countries operating in 10 of the largest economies in Latin America. Our dataset includes 4226 firm-year observations and a combination of 168 home and host countries. Latin America provides a suitable context for this study, not only because of the diversity of firms from different contexts operating in the region, but also because the region allows us to investigate the influence of home country history and tradition on firms’ ability to conduct business in different cultural contexts. Our assessment of CD shows in a precise manner that size together with direction might be adequate for describing the effects of some dimensions of CD on firm performance, while for other dimensions, it is clearly a matter of country profile. By combining our metric with different national culture frameworks, future studies would be able to complement and strengthen our findings and conclusions.

In this paper we aim to explore the phenomenon of emergence in uncertain contexts. Specifically, we focus on co-emergence of new firms and sectors. It is an area high importance to practitioners and policy makers, but at the same, less researched and understood. We analyzed, synthesized, and theorized this intersection across 16 inter-disciplinary research contexts. Constant theorizing and iteration identified strong and weak emergence as key properties of emergence that can explain most of the co-emergence between new ventures and sectors. We employed typology construction by reduction to develop the typology of co-emergence by cross-tabulating weak and strong emergence of new sectors and ventures. This led to identification of four types of co-emergence: benign, supervenient, radical and nominal. These four types are the focus of the paper. Implications for academia, practice and polity conclude the paper.

Purpose This study aims to investigate how business-to-business (B2B) companies build brand personality via the products they provide and via their interactions with customers. Design/methodology/approach A multiple case study, which spans 10 years, investigates via interviews, observations, workshops and document analysis how two fast-growing B2B companies selling industrial equipment to manufacturers build brand personality. Findings The studied companies concentrate on different brand personality dimensions depending on the activities in which they engage. By focusing on brand competence in the realm of the actual product and brand warmth in the realm of the augmented product, the companies manage to create a complete and consistent brand personality. Research limitations/implications The research approach provides in-depth knowledge on how the companies build brands for a specific type of B2B product. However, the article’s perspective is limited to that of management and therefore does not take customer reactions into account. Practical implications The study describes how firms can build strong B2B brands by emphasizing competence in product design and R&D and warmth in activities related to sales and customer service. Originality/value The study introduces a conceptually consistent view of brand personality in the form of warm and competent brands to the B2B marketing literature. It builds on and contributes to the emerging research on B2B brand personality. By relating the companies’ brand-building activities to the type of products they sell, this study illustrates how context affects B2B brand building, and by integrating brand personality theory with product levels and marketing philosophy, it extends previous theory on B2B branding.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether mega-sport events influence visitors' destination images and to explore which factors influence their perceptions of and intentions to attend a mega-sport event in certain destinations. We examine visitors' perceptions of the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship in France, the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, and the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar through a structured questionnaire published on the Facebook group Camp Sweden, a community of Swedish football supporters. We find differences among supporters' destination image after they attended the mega-sport football events. The study also shows that positive destination images after visits were based on whether the destinations were able to satisfy important factors for supporters when visiting the destination. Qatar will be challenged to improve its destination image, as supporters do not connect factors important for visiting destinations with their current perceptions of Qatar.

Despite being an important construct, there is an ever-growing concern related to the conceptual and methodological aspects of the Cultural Distance (CD) construct. Critiques suggest that several important properties of CD might have been neglected. While most studies focus on the magnitude (size) of CD, we argue that the construct is incomplete as it does not account for the direction and the specific characteristics of each cultural dimension. Furthermore, although cultures may not be compared in terms of better or worse, when it comes to the implication to foreign subsidiary firms, some cultural characteristics in the host country can be more or less favorable to doing business. We use panel data including foreign subsidiaries from developed countries, emerging markets and Latin America operating in 10 host countries in Latin America totaling 4226 firm-year observations and a combination of 168 home and countries. The asymmetric effects for the direction of CD are highlighted as some cultural characteristics in the host country seem to affect firms in similar ways regardless of cultural similarities between home and host countries. While firms from the region do not seem to be in advantage in dealing with CD, the positive and significant effects for the Power Distance dimension reveals the legitimate use of power attributed to developed country firms operating in Latin America. The asymmetric effects are highlighted as some cultural characteristics in the host countries can be more or less favorable for foreign subsidiary firms to do business. The study highlights important characteristics of CD and points venues for future research.