Search Results (35)

This study explores the internationalization of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), emphasizing the critical role of competent managerial abilities. Specifically, it investigates the sustainable role of managerial capabilities in directly facilitating SMEs’ entry into international markets, or whether these capabilities first assist in risk management and resource utilization, supporting international expansion. We propose that SMEs with skilled and capable managers are better equipped to manage internal risks and leverage available resources, thereby enhancing their internationalization efforts. Drawing on empirical data from 191 Chinese SMEs, our findings support the proposed model, revealing that managerial capabilities contribute to internationalization indirectly—this relationship is fully mediated by risk management and resource utilization. This study recommends that SMEs prioritize building a sustainable management team capable of navigating internal challenges to successfully pursue international growth. Our research contributes to the resource-based view and the Uppsala model of internationalization by contextualizing the role of managerial capabilities, risk management, and resource utilization in the internationalization processes of SMEs. Full article

This entry proposes an integrative approach to assessing market power in airport retail environments that highlights the impact of strategic and operational factors on the performance of the enterprise in a regulated and restrictive commercial environment. Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), this entry discerns and quantifies important factors determining market power using weights that include price flexibility, consumer conduct, brand value, technological uptake rate, and barriers to entry. To support this qualitative analysis, this entry combines a quantitative countervailing power model (CP_A/E) and a market penetration model (MP_E/A) to determine the levels of retailer penetration in airport authorities and passenger markets. The integration of these models makes it possible to perform a multivariate analysis of market domination, geographical interdependence, and bargaining power. The findings highlight the configurational complexity in strategic positioning in terms of organizational size, dependence levels, and digital preparedness and provide actionable information for airport managers, concession planners, and policymakers determined to maximize lease deals and improve commercial performance in the face of changing risk profiles. Full article

This paper investigates the key drivers influencing the internationalization of agricultural small and medium-sized enterprises (agri-SMEs) in Latin America, with a particular emphasis on the role of social and ethnic networks. Focusing on Argentina, Brazil, and Chile—three of the region’s largest agricultural economies—this study examines how familial and cultural connections between descendants of European immigrants and European entrepreneurs facilitate the global expansion of agri-SMEs. Using a cross-sectional quantitative analysis, data from agri-SME managers reveal the importance of these networks in reducing market entry barriers by providing insider knowledge of foreign markets, regulatory conditions, and potential business partnerships. The findings demonstrate that ethnic networks significantly reduce market entry barriers, providing Latin American agri-SMEs access to essential insider knowledge on foreign markets and local regulations, thereby facilitating internationalization. Additionally, agri-SMEs that leverage these networks are better positioned to meet growing global demands for sustainable, traceable food products, gaining a competitive advantage in international markets. The strength and frequency of interactions within ethnic networks are positively correlated with the degree of internationalization, highlighting the importance of social capital in overcoming operational challenges. This paper contributes to the literature by highlighting the underexplored role of ethnic networks in shaping the international marketing strategies of agricultural firms and their capacity to adapt to evolving consumer behaviors. The study offers practical insights for supporting the global integration of agri-SMEs in Latin America, addressing both operational challenges and the increasing need for sustainable food production practices. Full article

Enterprise development is a multifaceted and strategic endeavor that serves as the cornerstone of an organization’s long-term success and sustainability. It represents not merely growth or expansion but a comprehensive transformation that enhances a company’s capabilities, market presence, and internal processes. This development is driven by a deliberate and systematic effort to improve performance across all areas of business activity, aligning with stakeholders’ aspirations and organizational goals. In this context, enterprise development encompasses the strategic management of the organization’s trajectory through effective planning, execution, and evaluation of development initiatives. It demands an adaptive and responsive approach to the rapidly evolving business environment, where challenges and opportunities arise constantly. This requires leveraging modern management practices and analytical tools to integrate various components of the company’s operations, including human resources, finances, technology, and marketing, fostering a cohesive and dynamic growth strategy. The essence of enterprise development lies in the organization’s ability to remain agile—capable of swiftly responding to market changes while proactively seeking and capitalizing on new opportunities. This involves not only addressing external competitive pressures but also mitigating internal risks, ensuring that the enterprise is well-positioned to navigate and thrive in complex environments. The issues related to the phenomenon of enterprise development refer to the geographical area of the so-called Global North. The aim of this entry is to explore and critically analyze contemporary strategies and models that facilitate effective management and acceleration of enterprise growth, providing a framework for organizations aiming to achieve excellence and innovation in the modern economic landscape. Full article

Fund investment, as a type of financial investment in the capital market, is designed to attract more social capital towards the green environmental protection sector and foster a harmonious relationship between economic development, social advancement, and ecological conservation. Therefore, as a significant policy instrument, will implementing the green credit policy impact the investment preferences of fund investors? How does it influence their participation in the market? This study utilizes microdata from Chinese Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share-listed companies from 2004 to 2020 to establish a DID model based on the Green Credit Guidelines introduced in 2012. The research delves into the effects of the green credit policy on fund investment and its underlying mechanisms. The green credit policy was found to favor the entry of fund investment, and the results are still valid after a series of robustness tests. The attraction effect of the green credit policy on investors is more evident in non-state-owned enterprises, small and micro enterprises, and non-green industries. Green credit policy can positively influence investor entry through the financing constraint effect and productivity effect. The study theoretically supplements the literature in the field of evaluating the effect of the green credit policy, and practically provides practical guidance and inspiration for strengthening the synergy of the government, banks, and enterprises in implementing green credit policy, promoting industrial transformation, and upgrading, and realizing high-quality economic development. Full article

Excessive growth or improper disposal of construction waste can lead to negative consequences such as environmental destruction and waste of resources. The policy practice of construction waste reduction and resource utilization is facing challenging issues. Construction enterprises (also constructors of construction waste) and building material manufacturers (also recyclers of construction waste) play significant roles in the system of construction waste recycling and resource utilization. However, they are often absent or out of position in most cases. Therefore, this study constructs an evolutionary game model and conducts numerical simulation analysis, aiming to clarify the interactive relationship between their interests and government policy implementation, promote the formation of a cooperative system for construction waste management, and facilitate the achievement of ultimate governance objectives. The research results show that: (1) Current collaboration in construction waste management has fallen into a dilemma of relying solely on government efforts, resulting in inefficient or ineffective policy implementation. (2) The government can change the current situation and achieve better policy outcomes by taking measures such as increasing the income of recycled construction waste products, increasing fines for violations, and lowering industry entry barriers. (3) Different optimization measures vary in the speed at which they promote the evolutionary game system to evolve into a stable and ideal strategic combination. In comparison, increasing the market price of recycled products and increasing their sales volume are more effective optimization strategies. The process and conclusions of this study provide valuable reference and inspiration for the government to formulate construction waste management policies and optimize their policy implementation plans. Full article

Cross-border e-commerce, as a new form of trade driven by digital technology, provides an opportunity to enhance the entrepreneurial vitality of cities. With the help of the comprehensive pilot area for cross-border e-commerce, also called a “quasi-natural” experiment, and using 2010–2020 panel data and Chinese business enterprise registration data for 278 cities in China, this paper examined the impact of cross-border e-commerce on enterprise vitality. The study found that the pilot policy in the comprehensive pilot area promoted the entrepreneurial vitality to increase by about 13.3%, and it remained stable after a series of tests. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the pilot policies in the comprehensive pilot areas have a stronger effect on the promotion of enterprise vitality in the eastern and western regions. At the same time, the pilot policy has expanded the scope of enterprise subjects and plays a more prominent enterprise incentive effect in small and medium-sized cities, cities with low innovation, and small and medium-sized registered enterprises. In addition, the pilot policy stimulates the entrepreneurial vitality of the service industry, but has no significant impact on agriculture and manufacturing. In terms of the influence mechanism, the comprehensive pilot area mainly affects the entrepreneurial vitality by means of optimizing the business environment, reducing the entry cost, promoting the synergistic agglomeration of manufacturing and producer services, and stimulating market demand. The further spatial spillover effect found that the comprehensive pilot area not only improves the entrepreneurial vitality of the pilot cities, but also radiates the enterprise development of neighboring and surrounding cities with similar economic development. Full article

Online gaming constitutes an indispensable facet of China’s digital economy, catalyzing consumer discussions on social media platforms. This study employs a comprehensive natural language processing framework, encompassing topic mining, multi-label classification, and sentiment analysis, to evaluate consumers’ psychological perceptions of the risks associated with online games through social media comments. This study identifies 11 distinct perceived risk topics, including “Excessive Temptation”, “Entry Regulation”, and “Culture Implantation”. Numerous comments encompass multiple topics, each infused with diverse emotional inclinations, thus unveiling disparate consumer perspectives. These findings underscore the critical significance of addressing potential perceived risks and mitigating negative consumer emotions for enterprises operating within online gaming. Such measures are pivotal to maintaining a brand image, business reputation, and enduring growth. Furthermore, this study extends valuable insights to regulatory bodies, contributing to enhancing administrative efficiency, safeguarding consumer rights, and fostering a robust and sustainable trajectory within China’s online gaming market. Full article

We view the development of industries with various market competition levels as a dynamic process and investigate the game between a new entrant and the original market with variable market competition degrees under the premise of considering the entry and exit of companies in the industry. Based on this, we explore the prerequisites for the new firm to enter the initial market and construct a recursive formula for the optimal output of individual firms entering the market one at a time, as well as the conditions for the new firm to enter the market in the three scenarios of the original market being mixed strategy, low-carbon type, and traditional type, respectively, and the optimal decision-making behavior once entering the market. We create diversified carbon tax rates for various cost bands of low-carbon production patterns in order to modify the original traditional market and allow the new enterprise to enter the market using a low-carbon production strategy. We anticipate that our study will serve as a theoretical guide for accomplishing a low-carbon shift in production patterns. Full article

Regulation has long been a counterpart of innovation in the health care industry, and recent cases have demonstrated that appropriately designed regulations can both coexist with and promote innovation. This study is the first study to explore how the regulatory environment affected the innovation process during the transition of the regulations for functional foods in Japan by examining quantitatively the impact of the foods with function claims (FFC) system on industry, companies, and products. Based on a dataset of Japanese dietary supplement manufacturing companies (n = 169) and their products (n = 731) in 2019, we found that companies that have newly entered the FFC system are smaller in scale than existing companies (p < 0.01, Wilcoxon rank sum test). We also found that companies with FFC products have larger revenue growth (p = 0.01). A multiple regression analysis revealed that FFC product sales increased with in-house clinical testing (coefficient: 26.8, p < 0.0001), diverse active ingredients (coefficient: 7.6, p < 0.001), and the claim of new functions (coefficient: 10.2, p < 0.05). These results suggested that the FFC system facilitated the market entry of small and mid-size enterprises and promoted the creation of high-value products through innovative company efforts. Full article

Different types of entrepreneurial activities are more or less conducive to socio-economic development. Among others, opportunity entrepreneurs are found to have a greater impact on economic growth, innovation, and employment compared to necessity entrepreneurs (pushed by the risk of being unemployed). In this context, the main goal of the study is to find the answer to the following research question: Which business sectors in European countries are sensitive to the unemployment push effect and thus more prone to necessity entrepreneurship? The paper provides further insight into the unemployment push hypothesis by investigating this issue in the group of 20 European countries across 11 business sectors (NACE Rev. 2 classification): manufacturing, construction, and services of business economies (nine sectors). The issue is examined by analyzing Eurostat and World Bank data for 2004–2020 using the panel vector autoregression (p-VAR) approach. The results confirm the unemployment push effect only in wholesaling, retailing, and repair services. The effect, however, seems to be triggered by entry behaviors in the Central Eastern European countries, which are more active in creating new businesses and more prone to necessity entrepreneurship. In addition, the interplay between unemployment and new enterprise dynamics in wholesaling, retailing, and repair services seems to be relatively more robust to existing heterogeneity within entrepreneurs, countries, and estimation techniques. The implications of the results could assist policymakers responsible for active labor market instruments promoting entrepreneurial attitudes. Full article

With the advent of the smart economy, Chinese digital platform companies have begun the process of digital innovation. The sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic in early 2020 has added a strong impulse to the acceleration of this process, highlighting the unique characteristics of the platform economy in resource allocation. Although digital platforms have already entered people’s daily lives, the profit mechanism of digital platforms remains a black box to be cracked for the industry. The main contribution of this paper is to propose a framework model for the profit mechanism of digital platforms, which to a certain extent solves the problems essential to the digital realm faced by many traditional enterprises in the Internet age—knowing that the profit theory of traditional monopolies is not suitable for the rapidly changing internet economy, but that most of the time people still must use it. In this new profit framework, we first use the symbiotic logic of value sharing to explain the underlying logic of platform profitability; secondly, from the perspective of resource complementarity, we find that the key to digital platform companies’ profitability lies in the symbiotic synergy between platform companies and massive userbases; lastly, our study finds that the profit condition of platform enterprises is digital capability, not system possession. This article will analyze the bottom layer of the digital economy and, by identifying the various drawbacks of the traditional industrial economic monopoly theory, propose three key factors for the profitability of platform companies in the digital age: flexible strategy, digital capabilities, and symbiotic synergy capabilities. On this basis, a theoretical model of the profit of a digital platform is constructed. Research shows that the hybrid structure of digital platforms and the need for external diversification together lead to a platform’s resilience strategy. The realization process of the platform’s strategic flexibility and the process of consumers obtaining the residual value will lead to an explosion in network effects, causing the platform and users to complete value co-creation and realize value sharing. The implementation of a flexible platform strategy also promotes the further development of a differentiation strategy and a more-refined division of labor for manufacturers, lowers the barriers-to-entry in the industry, and enables the platform and the manufacturers to realize value co-creation. On the one hand, platform enterprises can obtain greater market performance; on the other hand, users’ personalized needs can be more satisfied. Full article

In the post-COVID-19 era, the founding rates of micro enterprises and startups will increase due to the low youth employment rates and increased retirement of baby boomers. Therefore, the portion of small enterprises among all enterprises is expected to grow. The rapid change in consumption patterns due to the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the entry of small enterprises into the online advertising market. However, advertising costs spent in running the businesses are taking up a large portion of their sales budgets due to intense competition and various advertising platforms. This study examines the decision-making system to optimize advertising expenditures considering the difference in advertising costs depending on various media types and keywords based on limited advertising budgets for stable management of small enterprises. To this end, this study modeled the advertising system of small enterprise A (Company A) with system dynamics and used the Java-based simulation software AnyLogic. Through simulation modeling, we conducted optimization analysis of two scenarios, maximum buyers and minimum advertising costs, in the post-COVID-19 era. Based on the results, this study forecast the conditions for optimization of decision-making in each advertising platform. Full article

Nowadays there is a growing demand for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to improve their level of digitalisation. This situation becomes even more critical in cases when SMEs act in the role of a subcontractor of large enterprises who demand the utilisation of certain digital operations. This paper aims to identify the essential Industry 4.0 attributes for the requirements of SMEs that enterprises can purchase to deploy an adequate solution with a view of increasing their competitiveness in the market. By analysing research articles and statistical data from the worldwide Web of Science database, we identify the major Industry 4.0 attributes for SME: Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud Computing, Simulation and Cybersecurity. Based on the review results and a survey by the European Commission, we propose devices primarily designed to implement AI tasks in industrial environments that meet the essential attributes for SMEs and have low entry costs. The subject of IoT is thoroughly addressed. Its subsets and the relationship between Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) are introduced and described. The characteristics of the listed devices as related to usability in the identified attributes are verified. Therefore, the description of the devices is provided with respect to their usability in SMEs. The main purpose of this paper is to identify attributes for SMEs and to develop strategic plans for the digitalisation requirements, particularly in the development of Artificial Intelligence as part of the implementation of the IoT pillar. Full article

The Uppsala model explains the traditional internationalisation process of multinational enterprises (MNEs), which gradually begin to internationalise from countries with smaller psychic distances. However, in the turbulent global economy, an increasing number of MNEs from emerging markets (EMNEs) adopts a more radical and aggressive approach, strategically using international expansion as a springboard to enter an overseas market and radiate surrounding countries and regions. By combining the springboard perspective and the Uppsala model, we analyse a series of processes from EMNE’s first entry into an overseas market to the successful localisation and expansion of international business. This radical model of international expansion has not been thoroughly studied. This empirical study aims to address this research gap by using a qualitative method and an in-depth case study. This paper conducted a semi-structured interview with 16 expatriates, executives, and middle-level managers from the case company in 2016. As one of the few single case studies that systematically studies the internationalisation process of EMNEs and provides first-hand empirical evidence, it contributes to practice and provides a contextual reference for EMNEs. Full article