Katrin Muehlfeld

Strategy dynamics in industrial marketing: a business types perspective

Purpose – Industrial marketing covers a broad range of heterogeneous products and services. In response to this heterogeneity, researchers have developed a variety of systematisations of transactions on industrial markets. These systematisations have provided insights for the identification of different types of transaction processes (business types), and for deriving type‐specific marketing recommendations. Based on this literature, the paper considers the consequences of interpreting the typological criteria as variables that can be influenced by the transaction parties, instead of treating them as data.Design/methodology/approach – Transaction cost economics provides the main theoretical foundations. Focusing on seller‐initiated strategy, the paper develops a conceptual framework for shifts between business types that are derived based on differing degrees and horizons of asset specificity.Findings – The paper proposes a conceptual framework and discusses technological and contractual ways of implement...

Entrepreneurs’ Exploratory Perseverance in Learning Settings

We introduce “exploratory perseverance” as a novel construct that captures perseverant behavior in settings in which several alternatives can be explored and evaluated. We suggest that entrepreneurs display exploratory perseverance reflected by a tendency to keep exploring broader sets of alternatives, to adopt a parallel rather than sequential approach to trial-and-error learning, and, after negative experiences with some alternatives, to be more inclined to give them a second chance. The results from an experimental study of 449 individuals participating in the Iowa Gambling Task indicate that more entrepreneurially experienced individuals display greater exploratory perseverance than those with little to no entrepreneurial experience.

The dynamics of pre-market standardization

This paper studies an under-explored phenomenon: standardization arising during the technology development stage from the interplay of incentives to compete and cooperate. We identify circumstances in which a firm will prelaunch its technology (i.e., publish detailed technological specifications) and the rival abandons its own technology to support a common standard in a two-stage two-player game with network effects and licensing and a fixed deadline for technological development. We find that failure to standardize predominantly occurs for technologies with very weak or very strong network effects, and for firms with similar technological capabilities. The outcome can depend on what would be perceived by market participants as a simultaneous prelaunch: a prelaunch on the same day, during the same week, or month, and so on, depending on how time is discretized.

Host country language skills and expatriates’ cross-cultural adjustment in the presence of fear of terror

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between host country (HC) language skills, fear of terror, and cross-cultural adjustment (CCA) of expatriates based in host countries with different terrorist threat levels. Design/methodology/approach Integrating the expatriate adjustment framework by Black et al. (1991) with social identity theory-based literature, this study first, theorizes about the effects of both fear of terror and HC language proficiency on CCA and, second, puts forward the moderating effect of the actual terrorist threat level on the relationship between HC language proficiency and fear of terror. Hypotheses are tested using survey data of 116 expatriates based in host countries with different threat levels. Findings HC language proficiency is positively associated with CCA. Yet, it is also positively associated with fear of terror, which is, in turn, negatively related to CCA. Consequently, the beneficial effect of HC language skills on CCA is reduced in environments where expatriates experience significant fear of terror. While the actual threat level has a direct positive effect on fear of terror, it also positively moderates the relationship between HC language proficiency and fear of terror. Originality/value This study extends prior literature on expatriation to dangerous environments by zooming in on a specific type of risk factor associated with international assignments, i.e., terrorism, and by integrating HC language proficiency and fear of terror as important factors, which may influence CCA in contexts in which expatriates experience significant fear of terror.

Selecting Legal Advisor in M&A’s : Organizational Learning and the Role of Multiplicity of Mental Models

Management scholars have identified a variety of firm characteristics as antecedents to organizational learning. In this study, we conceptualize intraorganizational multiplicity of mental models as a complementary element that facilitates shifting from lower- to higher-level learning. Specifically, we investigate whether multiplicity of mental models—proxied by four measures—helps acquirers to categorically adapt selection rules for legal advisors in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) from domestic toward international settings. In developing our conceptual framework, we integrate resource-based, social network, and organizational learning perspectives. Empirically, we draw on 11,511 acquisition attempts announced from 1998 to 2010 (completion/abandonment assessed as of January 10, 2015, at the latest). The results largely support our theory: First, choosing legal advisors in domestic and international deals calls for different selection rules. While in domestic deals, network-related characteristics are more important drivers of lawyers’ performance relative to their country-specific expertise, the comparative relevance of these attributes is reversed in cross-border deals. Yet, initially, acquirers fail to recognize this. Also, they do not initially adjust their selection criteria appropriately in response to accumulating M&A experience of their own. Only after having attempted a substantial number of cross-border M&As, they reach a turning point at which they rebalance their selection criteria such that they reflect the predominant relevance of country expertise in cross-border settings. Finally, recognition of the need to categorically reassess selection criteria in international deals is significantly facilitated by an acquirer’s multiplicity of mental models.

The Influence of Family Systems on Expatriate Performance and Adjustment in Dangerous Locations

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) increasingly expand their operations to emerging markets of the developing world. Employees being sent on expatriate assignments to lesser developed countries often...

Connections versus Expertise of Legal Advisors, and Acquirers’ Failure to Learn

Drawing on theories of social networks and organizational learning, we theorize about the importance that acquirers attribute to network-related and expertise-related factors in selecting legal advisors in international M&As. We also assess the outcome implications of these network-related and expertise-related factors with respect to two under-explored variables in cross-border acquisition processes: completion likelihood and duration of the public takeover phase. Finally, we investigate whether acquirers learn to rebalance the weights attached to these criteria with increasing M&A experience. An analysis of 12,249 acquisition attempts in the time period 1998–2010 where the acquirer and the target come from a country in one of the regions North America, Western Europe, or East Asia strongly supports our theory. General and country-specific expertise of legal advisors are key drivers of completion likelihood and time to completion, but receive relatively little weight as selection criteria. Network embedd...