Economic and Business Review (EBR)
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Startup Accelerator Returns: J Curve or L Curve? A Comparative Performance Analysis Between a Venture Accelerator and Early-Stage Venture Capital
No full textThis document analyses the profitability of investments in venture accelerators compared to early-stage venture capital funds. Using a case study of a single fund manager operating both investment types, it tracks the Total Value to Paid-In (TVPI) ratio over 6 years. The early-stage venture capital investments showed a positive trend, exceeding a TVPI of 1, indicating profitability driven by company survival rates, external funding attraction, and growth. Conversely, the accelerator investments underperformed, with a TVPI consistently below 1, suggesting a loss for investors. This raises questions about the long-term viability of the accelerator model, potentially resulting in an L curve rather than the expected J curve of returns. While the accelerator\u27s performance could still improve if the few successful companies significantly outperform the underperforming majority, this reliance on a small number of successes represents an inherently higher risk for investors. Future research should incorporate broader datasets and consider various market dynamics to generalize the findings, utilizing panel data across different geographies and industries
Servicification of Manufacturing in Global Value Chains: How Services Trade and Foreign Direct Investment Shape Export Quality and Volume
No full textThis study examines the role of services trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) in shaping export performance among manufacturing firms participating in global value chains. Using firm-product-destination level panel data for Slovenia (2008-2020), the analysis investigates whether servicification-the growing integration of services into manufacturing-enhances firms\u27 export quality and export volume. The findings reveal that services imports at the destination level significantly enhance export quality, particularly for consumer and intermediate goods, while services exports positively influence export volumes, suggesting strong complementarities between goods and services trade. Outward FDI is a key driver of both higher export quality and volume, while inward FDI has mixed effects, benefiting quality but occasionally reducing export volumes. These results highlight the critical role of services trade and FDI in global value chain upgrading and suggest that policies promoting servicification and strategic international investments can enhance firms\u27 competitiveness in global markets
The Impact of Market and Nonmarket Strategies on Firm Performance in Lithuania
No full textThis study examines the impact of market strategies (global growth, differentiation, and cost leadership) and nonmarket strategies (political engagement and social responsibility) on firm performance in Lithuania. Based on survey data from 114 managers analyzed using partial least squares structural equation (PLS-SEM) modeling, a global growth/differentiation strategy has a positive impact on performance, whereas cost leadership does not. Nonmarket strategies positively influence firm performance, with larger firms benefiting more, ostensibly due to greater resource availability and institutional influence. Firm size moderates the relationship between nonmarket strategies and performance, highlighting the importance of tailoring strategies to an organization\u27s specific characteristics. By focusing on firm size as a moderating factor, this study offers a nuanced understanding of how firms in Lithuania adapt strategies to align with evolving institutional frameworks and market dynamics. Managers in transitional and recently transitioned economies should integrate market and nonmarket strategies effectively while tailoring approaches based on organizational size
Sharing with Crowds: Bibliometric Insights into the Role of Emotions in Crowdfunding
No full textIn this paper, we provide an overview of the existing research on emotions in crowdfunding and integrate it using a bibliometric analysis of publication data from the decade 2013–2023. Our analysis includes a citation and cocitation analysis, a productivity analysis, a co-occurrence analysis, and a topic analysis based on abstracts. We find that the Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice are the most prominent journals publishing research at the intersection of emotions and crowdfunding. The coword analysis shows that current and frequently discussed topics are related to emotions, sentiment analysis, reward-based crowdfunding, machine learning, and blockchain. Furthermore, our results show a significant increase in interdisciplinary approaches that integrate psychological and economic perspectives to better understand backers\u27 behavior. Finally, we point to a gap in the understanding of the long-term effects of emotions on crowdfunding campaigns and suggest a possible direction for future studies
Digital Marketing Strategies to Meet Digital Consumers’ Behavior in the New Era: Challenges, Path, and Interventions to Navigate the Technological and Social Turbulence
No full textThis paper examines how digital marketing is being reshaped by five interrelated tensions: balancing data privacy and personalization; navigating global–local dynamics (including cultural sensitivities and country-of-origin effects); integrating artificial intelligence without losing human connection; ensuring authentic communication to mitigate reputational risks linked to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and ethical storytelling; and responding to shifting consumer preferences, particularly among younger generations. We combine a targeted literature review with semistructured interviews of marketing professionals across industries and seniority levels. Findings portray marketers as “tightrope walkers” who negotiate paradoxes that redefine the function. We propose an integrated framework that synthesizes previously fragmented strands into a coherent structure and reconceptualizes these tensions as structuring logics rather than contextual challenges. We also identify the governance conditions that make them workable in practice—trust-based data ecosystems, context-conditioned glocal capabilities, human-in-the-loop AI, and evidence-bearing ESG communication. Managerially, the framework offers a roadmap to balance agility with coherence, data with empathy, and innovation with trust. Limitations stem from the qualitative, practitioner-focused design; future research should incorporate consumer data, quantitative tests, and cross-industry comparisons to assess boundary conditions and generalizability
The Relationship between Culture, Sustainable Use of Resources, and Financial Performance: An Institutional and Natural-Resource-Based Perspective
No full textModelling a dataset of 5230 globally listed firms through two statistical approaches reflecting the primary principles of Natural-Resource-Based Theory and Institutional Theory, respectively, this study provides evidence that sustainability initiatives developed by firms are being rewarded in the form of improved Corporate Financial Performance (CFP). Culture has a significant influence on both firm sustainability performance, captured in ESG ratings, and CFP and also interacts with other variables, including industry sector and socio-economic development of a firm’s markets. This study is unique in hypothesising and statistically proving that sustainability is a mechanism that activates the potential of culture to produce CFP. Natural-Resource-Based Theory (NRBT) and Institutional Theory (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983) provide complementary explanations for the relationship between the culture of a firm and its CFP being mediated by sustainability, effectively determining firms’ approach to the use of their resources in a sustainable or unsustainable way. Certain relationships between culture, sustainability performance, and CFP, however, are better explained by Institutional Theory than NRBT
A Systematic Literature Review on Overconfidence and Related Biases Influencing Investment Decision Making
No full textIn the current market scenario, it has been observed that biases are among the most significant factors influencing investment decisions. Among these biases, overconfidence is a common phenomenon managers tend to exhibit while making decisions. To understand the role of overconfidence bias in investment decision making, this study thoroughly scrutinizes and consolidates the current research on overconfidence bias. To achieve the objective, this study performs a systematic review of literature utilizing the PRISMA approach and examines 92 journal articles published in the last 20 years. Results suggest that the other two biases—hindsight and confirmation—are related to overconfidence bias. In addition, the review suggests that biases result in three major outcomes. The first, positive, aspect pertains to the promotion of mental well-being and significant allocation to research and development investments. Conversely, the second, negative, aspect involves the manipulation of operating cash flow, which tends to diminish the value of shareholders. Third, there is a preference for internal financing over external financing options. Furthermore, the research also suggests factors that may overcome the influence of the overconfidence bias. This study demonstrates its originality through thematic analysis, which effectively examines multiple dimensions of biases. Moreover, incorporating these research findings can enhance managerial decision-making processes, promote more objective assessments, and ultimately improve the overall quality of investment choices
Transformational Leadership and Work Engagement: The Moderating Role of Intrinsic Motivation
No full textWe examine the moderating role of intrinsic motivation in the relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement. In a sample of 168 tourism and hospitality employees in the quantitative section, Study 1, we found that the highest level of work engagement is identified when the level of intrinsic motivation is highest. Intrinsically motivated employees then exhibit engaged behaviors at work. In Study 2, we opted for a descriptive design to better understand the findings of Study 1, using interviews with three experts and a three-phase coding analysis. We found that increasing intrinsic motivation further promotes engaged work behavior. This article provides insight into the benefit of intrinsic motivation on work engagement and offers practical guidance to tourism and hospitality stakeholders by demonstrating how intrinsic motivation functions as an essential management concept in adapting after the coronavirus pandemic
A Classification Methodology for Assessing Countries in Terms of Tourism Competitiveness
No full textTourism industry is important for national economies, and, in this regard, it is vital to monitor its competitiveness. The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI), developed and reported by the World Economic Forum, serves this purpose by providing a consistent framework, explanatory factors, and corresponding data sets. In this paper we exploit the past data sets of this index, first, to verify that in several countries, competitiveness in tourism and travel industries hardly changes over time. Next, we identify countries that show consistency in travel–tourism competitiveness and separate them into classes of best, worst, intermediate, and ambiguous past performance. Building on such a classification, we apply linear discriminant analysis (LDA) as an alternative to the TTCI computational framework in order to compose the new synthetic index TTCI-LDA, which assesses countries’ competitiveness. The analysis of country scores obtained from this index has revealed that ICT readiness and touristic service infrastructure are important for tourism competitiveness. The score thresholds for the best–worst country cases in each class provide additional useful information for management, benchmarking, and policy decision making
Gender and Age Wage–Productivity Gaps in Intangible and Non-Intangible Work Occupations
No full textThe paper focuses on gender- and age-related wage–productivity gaps in intangible and non-intangible work occupations using the 2017 Slovenian linked employer–employee microdata for privately owned firms. Comparing employees based on age, gender and occupation, our results show that, in general, there are wage gaps in favour of men, with the exception of individuals aged 50 or older who belong to the intangible capital group, where the wages of men and women are almost equal. There are also significant wage gaps in favour of older workers, with the exception of women in non-intangible occupations, where those aged 30–49 and those aged 50+ earn almost the same. Comparing the productivity of workers using value added decomposition method and based on age, gender and occupation, in general we find that gender and age gaps are more pronounced. For example, women tend to be more productive than men, with the exception of men under the age of 30 in non-intangible work occupations. Similarly, older workers tend to be less productive than their younger counterparts, with the exception of women aged 30–49 compared to women under 30 in non-intangible work occupations. Moreover, age-related wage productivity gaps are higher for intangible than for non-intangible worker occupations