Rodney C. Shrader

How New Ventures Exploit Trade-Offs Among International Risk Factors: Lessons For The Accelerated Internationization Of The 21St Century

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development predicts that the internationalization of businesses will accelerate in the 21st century. Our study examined how the risks of accelerated ...

A Comparison of International and Domestic New Ventures

Differences between international new ventures (INVs) and domestic new ventures (DNVs) were examined using a sample of 214 IPO new ventures (ventures 6 years old or less). INVs were found to be significantly different on the basis of their entrepreneurial team experience, strategy, and industry structure. Specifically, the entrepreneurial team of INVs exhibited higher levels of previous international and industry experience. The strategies of INVs were more aggressive, and they operated in more channels of distribution than did DNVs. INVs competed on the basis of differentiation, placing greater emphasis on product innovation, quality, service, and marketing as strategic weapons. In addition, INVs were more likely than DNVs to operate in industries characterized by a high degree of global integration.

Collaboration and Performance in Foreign Markets: The Case of Young High-Technology Manufacturing Firms

This study employed transaction cost theory to explore factors moderating the relationship between collaboration and performance in foreign markets among a sample of international new ventures. Res...

Defragmenting Definitions of Entrepreneurial Opportunity

We examined 19 years worth of definitions of entrepreneurial opportunity and opportunity‐related processes. We found 56 articles in six entrepreneurship‐focused publications, with a total of 49 conceptual definitions and 32 operational definitions. Among those definitions, we identified 25 distinct conceptual and 12 operational elements of opportunity plus 48 conceptual and 39 operational elements of opportunity‐related processes. We found considerable fragmentation across conceptual and operational elements. However, based on commonalities among conceptual definitions, we developed six composite conceptual definitions of opportunity and eight composite conceptual definitions of opportunity‐related processes, which we hope will help reduce the fragmentation of the entrepreneurial opportunity literature.

Perception of Entrepreneurial Opportunity: A General Framework

Purpose – Previous research has predominantly approached the concept of entrepreneurial opportunities from either one of two perspectives: opportunities exist as objective phenomena in the environment waiting to be discovered by alert entrepreneurs, or opportunities are subjectively perceived and even created by individual entrepreneurs. This paper aims to put forward a framework of opportunity perception which demonstrates that all entrepreneurial opportunities possess both objective and subjective qualities, thus helping reconcile both perspectives.Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual framework is developed, based on previous literature and insights from entrepreneurship, economics, psychology and related disciplines.Findings – Various perspectives presented in previous research can be combined into a coherent framework that summarizes the components of entrepreneurial opportunity perception. Testable propositions are provided for future research.Originality/value – The authors show that elements ...

THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF NEW VENTURES: A RISK MANAGEMENT MODEL

Yves Doz, Jose Santos, and Peter Williamson’s (2001) book about metanational processes emphasizes entrepreneurial behavior and briefly considers what they call metanational upstarts. We extend their exploration in this article through our focus on the rapid internationalization of new ventures. We present a multilevel model of new venture internationalization that highlights the importance of managing risk. The model specifies relationships between the general environment and venture entrepreneurs that are mediated by industry conditions, and relationships between industry conditions and the venture that are mediated by the decisions and actions of entrepreneurs. Complex interactions and simultaneous relationships are described among the entrepreneurs, the venture, and venture internationalization.

Identifying the elements of entrepreneurial opportunity constructs Recognizing what scholars are really examining

There is plenty of debate in the entrepreneurship literature regarding entrepreneurial opportunity. There also has been a lack of construct clarity. These two issues have combined to stifle progress in understanding this important phenomenon. We believe that across these debates there are many underlying commonalities and potential for more clear constructs. In this article, we review how scholars have defined and operationalized entrepreneurial opportunity and opportunity-related processes in order to better understand what they really mean when they say ‘opportunity’. We found a total of 102 definitions and 51 operationalizations from 105 articles published in leading entrepreneurship and management journals. A total of 81 elements were identified across the definitions and operationalizations and compiled into an integrated process model. The model incorporates what seemed to be disparate views into a single unifying model. Comparison between conceptual definitions and operationalizations reveals many elements that are missing either conceptual or empirical attention. The model will help scholars more easily identify and build upon prior research. To that effect, numerous suggestions for future research are discussed and are summarized in a table.

Acquisition as a growth strategy for young IPO firms

Young/small firms are often seen as acquisition targets, but rarely viewed as potential acquirers. However, in this study we found that one-third of the young ventures in our sample pursued aggressive growth though acquisition of their competitors. Furthermore, contrary to conventional wisdom, we found striking evidence that young firms pursuing growth via acquisition significantly outperformed their peers who pursued growth via internal development. Thus, growth via acquisition clearly represents a viable strategic option for young, small firms.

Liabilities, Advantages and Buffers of Newness: How Young Age Makes Internationalization Possible

This article presents a conceptual discussion and a theoretical framework explaining how the liabilities of newness, which are traditionally thought of as disadvantages that young companies face, contribute to early firm internationalization. Through a systematic analysis of the liabilities that international new ventures face, as well as the liabilities and the advantages that a young age provides, we are able to integrate findings from the existing body of diffuse research on newness and internationalization, and develop propositions for future empirical research. Based on previous liabilities of newness and foreignness research, our study provides a novel theoretical model that explains early internationalization over and beyond existing internationalization models.

Rethinking the base of the pyramid: Social responsibility, sustainability and the role of entrepreneurs

How entrepreneurs develop opportunities for sustainable development represents an important question. Current conceptions based on prior knowledge tend to overlook the nature and magnitude of the sustainability problem that the entrepreneur is trying to solve. Using an experimental design, we demonstrate that the moral intensity (MI) of the sustainability issue in question plays an instrumental role in guiding perceptions and inspiring action. MI moderates the relationship between prior knowledge and opportunity intention; participants with prior knowledge intend to pursue an opportunity only to the extent that they faced high level of MI. This finding offers important insights for further theoretical development and empirical research.In this study, we investigate the impact of entrepreneurial pitches and interactions between entrepreneurs and business angels (BAs) on investment outcomes. Instead of an experimental- or survey-based research sample, we use actual pitches to observe the delivery (preparedness, and passion) and content of the pitch and interaction (information on the product/service, market, and entrepreneur). We found that while preparedness has a significant positive influence on angel investing, passion does not. Furthermore, our empirical results show that the degree to which the pitch and interaction convey favorable information about the entrepreneur is positively related to angel investment decisions. Positive content about product characteristics and market attractiveness do not have a significant effect.Water is a critical resource for human organization. In many places of the world there are already severe water challenges set to worsen due to issues such as climate change and increasing urbanization. Despite its importance, the management literature on sustainability has only occasionally focused on the topic of water resources. Furthermore, what is critically missing is an explicit understanding of how local places shape water management practices, and vice versa. To address this gap, our chapter adopts a place-based approach to examine the dynamics of sustainable water management. More specifically, we provide in-depth qualitative insights through a case study of the implementation of a Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) in a socially-deprived inner area of a mid-sized city in England. Based on case findings we integrate the concept of a place-based enterprise (PBE) (Shrivastava & Kennelly, 2013) into Guthey et al. (2014) framework on understanding the determinants of local “place.” In particular, we identify place-based champions as a critical organizational role within PBEs, and the management of sustainable water resources. We end with a call for future research using a place-based lens in order to better understand how local dynamics shape the emergence of sustainable enterprises and studies that identify how local champions help organizations internalize a place-based perspective.Interest in promoting entrepreneurship has become a worldwide phenomenon. Yet, empirical evidence suggests that countries vary significantly in their ability to incubate and create new firms. Sources of these differences across countries are not well understood. In this paper, we examine the cross-country heterogeneity of new venture formation rates by testing two core propositions derived from the Schumpeterian and institutional economic views of entrepreneurship. The Schumpeterian view posits that nations that offer greater technological opportunities for entrepreneurs to exploit are likely to have higher rates of new venture formation. Following the institutional economics perspective, nations with facilitating formal institutions can provide a better incentive structure for entrepreneurs to create new businesses. Our empirical analysis of new venture formation rates for 84 nations during 1996-2005 shows that technological opportunities and formal institutional development contribute substantially to the heterogeneity of new venture formation rates across nations, supporting both theoretical perspectives.