1,720,967 research outputs found
The imitation game: building cultural intelligence as a social learning capability to boost SMEs' international performance
No full textPurpose: Drawing on the upper echelons theory and resource-based view, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how SMEs' decision-makers can develop cultural intelligence to improve firms' adaptive capability and performance in foreign markets. The study addresses this need by using social cognitive theory as an appropriate tool to measure cultural intelligence development. Design/methodology/approach: Using a sample of 244 Italian SMEs, data were collected through an online survey and analyzed with structural equation modeling techniques. Findings: The results show that decision-makers of resource-constrained SMEs can rely on modeled behaviors to inform their decisions when dealing with diverse cultural contexts. The findings also reveal that the development of cultural intelligence can foster adaptive strategies and support SMEs in achieving superior performance outcomes in international markets. Research limitations/implications: Other variables can be taken into account to expand the model and recognize new determinants able to affect the link between the constructs. Other learning theories could provide additional interpretations of cultural intelligence development. Practical implications: Social cognitive processes nurture cultural intelligence in helping SMEs' owner-managers become more flexible and adaptive in responding to the requests of local settings. When facing the uncertainties of foreign markets, decision-makers can effectively make inferences from the observation of successful modeled behaviors. This helps owner-managers better coordinate, recombine and allocate resources to address the needs of diverse cultural markets. Originality/value: This study demonstrates that social cognitive theory is a relevant tool to measure cultural intelligence development in small business settings
Yin-Yang balancing: a novel way of managing firms’ entrepreneurial orientation paradoxes
Full text linkPurpose: This paper investigates how to embrace an “either/and” logic, borrowed from the Yin-Yang epistemological system, to provide a different perspective to the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) research and reframe its paradoxes and dilemmas. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts the duality map for paradox management, a tool designed to recognize and measure the threshold as a range within which opposite elements can be properly balanced for a healthy tension, to show that the apparently contradictory poles of the EO construct can co-exist within the same organization depending on specific situations, contexts and time. Findings: By using duality maps as working models, the study shows that, in real life, the apparently contradictory poles of the EO construct co-exist in a healthy tension within the same organization and are managed in a constant process of dynamic balancing over time. Research limitations/implications: The present paper contributes to the EO research by providing a different perspective to the EO concept, thus filling the gap on how to go beyond the traditional polarized (“either/or”) paradigm that has dominated the EO literature since its origins. Originality/value: EO is dominated by a polarized view that sees opposites as sharp dichotomies. However, the complexity and variability of today’s interconnected world are pushing scholars to move from this hegemonic Western perspective by adopting different cultural and philosophical approaches able to balance the inherent duality of the EO concept
Looking for missing outcomes: accounting for intellectual capital and value creation in ecosystems
Full text linkThis article investigates intellectual capital (IC) and value creation at an ecosystem level, which is a topic relatively unexplored within public administration. Yet, public sector organisations are a prime example of how IC transcends the scope of individual entities and contributes to knowledge transfer and value creation into wider society. The research was developed within the first step of an interventionist research project focusing on a public sector agency which supports local authorities in Italy and launched an in-depth review of its processes to assess in how far it was fulfilling its mission. Part of this initiative was to assess whether, how, and to what extent the agency creates value for itself and for its stakeholders. The research develops a framework which visualises the importance of accounting for outcomes which are both internal and external to an organisation. The analysis underlines the need for reporting frameworks to consider the overall value creation, maintenance, and erosion. The analysis moves beyond the outcomes of activities and outputs for a single entity to appreciate their impact on its stakeholders’ IC. Results call for the emergence of defined roles for IC management and for the adoption of an ecosystem perspective in governance, business, and reporting models for the public sector. Public managers should adopt a business case imperative with a particular emphasis on maximising value creation for the whole ecosystem. IC visual maps including key stakeholders can help in such endeavour and improve reporting frameworks
The structure of the chinese banking system and credit access problems for SMEs
No full textThis paper examines the structure and the main characteristics of the
Chinese banking industry. In particular, the paper analyses the problematic aspects
of credit relations of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The SMEs are facing
several problems in accessing the bank loans market, dominated by the political
and contractual weight of state-owned enterprises. However, some recent reforms
have improved the situation, a fundamental condition for additional positive
results. Nevertheless, further and more pervasive modernization efforts are needed
to consolidate these results and to develop the relationships between banks and
SMEs
SMEs: The Path towards International Success
No full textThe role of Italian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the international economic environment has attracted the attention of many scholars due to the distinctive features of these firms. In particular, their development and longevity paths are critical to a better understanding of the main characteristics of the global economy. Although Italian SMEs manage many of the same issues of other companies, they must also face specific problems, mainly related to their status and to the entrepreneurial behaviour of firm owners. Nevertheless, few empirical studies have stressed the importance of human resources and entrepreneurial behaviour for the performance and growth of Italian SMEs, especially in the international environment, where keen competition and difficulties of obtaining the necessary resources are often insurmountable barriers for SMEs.
The main goal of this study is to suggest a “holistic” model to analyze the relations between the internal determinants of the internationalization process of SMEs, by integrating individual-level and firm-level features. The analysis, based on the theories of individual cognitive aspect, international expansion and business strategy, explores the process of internationalization of SMEs from a cognitive perspective. Finally, the present study stresses the central role played by individual expectations and risk perception in understanding the international expansion strategies of SMEs
Values, Beliefs, artifacts and avatars. Cultural issues mediated by Virtual Worlds
No full textAlthough Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) systems are increasingly
used in the e-age, their performance may be undermined by their limits. In par-
ticular, lack of interactivity and inadequate modes of communication makes
CMC unable to deal with intercultural challenges. Virtual Worlds (VWs),
namely graphical representations of an online environment, may be useful tools
to overcome such limitations. However, limited research is conducted on cul-
tural processes that take place in-world. This work aims to shed some light on
these processes and how they may affect business activities and collaborative
practices. Whilst the research is largely theoretical, we hypothesize it may offer
some useful insights to understand pros and cons of VWs as business platforms
Imprenditorialità, Internazionalizzazione e Governance nelle Piccole Imprese: un’Analisi Empirica sulle Determinanti dell’International Performance, in “Corporate governante: governo, controllo e struttura finanziaria
No full textStock Exchange Markets in China: Structure and Main Problems
No full textThe capital market of Mainland China is fragmented into different stock
exchanges, each one with its own peculiarities. After a review of the main literature,
the paper aims at deepening their characteristics, by taking into account their specific
regulation. The current analysis also shows the main statistical data in terms of
size, traded volumes, number of listed companies, types of traded products of the
different stock exchanges. For every phenomenon considered, the study suggests
plausible explanations. The paper also provides further considerations about the
main problems of alignment with the international standards
- …
