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Purpose
Negotiations with venture capitalists (VCs) play a crucial role in the entrepreneurial financing process. Habitual entrepreneurs are generally able to secure more venture capital funding and on better deal terms than novices. This study investigates the disparities in negotiation competencies between habitual and novice entrepreneurs during VC funding negotiations.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a qualitative approach to investigate the variation in negotiation competencies between habitual and novice entrepreneurs, utilizing the negotiation competency model (NCM). The data analysis and interpretation adopted an inductive concept development approach. A total of 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted with seasoned VCs located in Europe, all of whom had actively engaged in funding negotiations with both habitual and novice entrepreneurs.
Findings
The findings revealed substantial disparities between novice and habitual entrepreneurs in VC negotiations. Although not all competencies of the NCM exhibited variances, the results indicate three primary dimensions contributing to these differences: expertise, reputation, and negotiation competence.
Originality/value
This study is groundbreaking as it represents one of the earliest empirical investigations into the entrepreneurial negotiation competencies within VC negotiations. The findings endeavor to narrow the gap between novice and habitual entrepreneurs in VC negotiations by pinpointing the distinct variations between these two groups, which hold significant practical implications. Furthermore, this study expands the conceptual framework of the NCM by identifying supplementary competencies within the realm of VC negotiations.
With scarce research on the intersection of corporate venturing and firm strategy, few companies succeed in using their dedicated corporate venturing units (CVUs) for strategic renewal. This study examines this intersection in so-called interlinked-ambidextrous CVUs. Through relational interlinks with internal and external stakeholders, these organizational entities combine the exploration of new market opportunities with the exploitation of existing core competencies to develop new competitive advantages for their parent companies. That way, they aim to create organizationally consequential new business that can change the competitive positioning of a company. To investigate such strategic corporate venturing, the study collects and analyses qualitative data from interlinked-ambidextrous units in 16 European companies. The resulting key themes and their relationships are mapped onto an exploratory model of strategic corporate venturing that includes organizational context factors as antecedents; process activities, relational mechanisms and dynamic capabilities as enablers; and an ambidextrous orientation as a mediator for the intended strategic renewal task. Embedding these key findings within existing theory provides valuable contributions to the development of the strategic corporate venturing concept and the understanding of interlinked-ambidextrous CVUs. This can help practitioners tackle the strategic renewal challenge through corporate venturing.
Although open innovation (OI) has been characterized as one key driver for business model innovation (BMI), the literature lacks an in-depth understanding of how OI influences the business models (BM) of new ventures. However, such an understanding is crucial for improving the value creation and value capture for technological innovations in inbound OI settings. Based upon a unique dataset of 19 new ventures from 7 countries, which participated in Europe’s largest OI platform, this study finds that OI leads to an expansion in the customer segment, a greater focus in the value proposition, a shorter (but deeper) value chain, and challenges to the revenue model. The paper highlights important theoretical contributions for the BMI and OI literature, and derives tangible managerial guidance for entering OI partnerships.
Entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA) is gaining momentum as a viable alternative to starting a company on one’s own. However, despite its growing practical relevance, scholarly work about ETA is scarce and has not been comprehensively reviewed. To address this gap, we conduct a systematic review of entrepreneurship literature by identifying studies that examine ETA and its outcomes. Our review methodology was developed based on established guidelines for systematic reviews and protocols, which informed our scoping review process and analytical approach. Searches were conducted on three electronic databases, and inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied. For inclusion, studies must examine an entrepreneurial perspective in buying into a company. Quantitative and qualitative data were extracted for thematic analysis and descriptive statistics. ETA is an entrepreneurship model with growing appeal and relevance in practice but limited academic evidence. While there is extensive research on leveraged buyouts and family-external succession, evidence specifically on ETA is still lacking. In particular, knowledge about the entrepreneurial intent that makes ETA unique is absent from the evidence base. As ETA gains momentum, entrepreneurs need to understand the unique properties, the various approaches, and the upsides and eventual downsides of acquiring a business instead of starting one from scratch. The present work may serve as a starting point for future research as we scope existing evidence on the archetype of ETA and identify a definition, available models, and a process archetype.
Despite considerable interest from academics and management professionals in creating sustainable, competitive advantages through business model innovation (BMI), and highly-prominent BMI success stories, the contemporary understanding of how company-internal antecedents can enable systematic BMI remains limited. However, this specific knowledge is necessary if companies are to repeatedly exploit BMI's strategic and financial benefits. Therefore, this paper aims to reveal the internal antecedents by applying an in-depth qualitative research approach to the systematic BMI of all five German automotive manufacturers. The results show that systematic BMI is enabled through: 1) unified orientation; 2) dynamic orchestration; 3) flexible operations; 4) adjacent fields, which are underpinned by 16 distinct second-order themes. These findings significantly enhance the theoretical and managerial understanding of the enabling factors for BMI, and contribute unique empirical insights to the ongoing academic debate - particularly from the perspectives of dynamic capabilities and strategic agility.
As an emerging form of strategic corporate venturing, equity-free corporate-startup-partnership (“Venture Clienting”) aims to enable open innovation for the strategic renewal of established companies. However, empirical research on how to leverage Venture Clienting for strategic renewal is thin. Consequently, the goal of this study is to provide empirical research on organizational characteristics to maximize strategic value contribution from Venture Clienting. To achieve this goal, the study applies a qualitative case-study analysis of semi-structured interviews from eleven managers of Venture Clienting units and comparable subject matter experts. That way, four aggregate dimensions for strategic Venture Clienting are identified for the resulting framework of guiding principles: autonomous entity, ecosystem prominence, problem orientation, and startup autonomy. This provides empirical grounding for strategic Venture Clienting in corporate venturing theory, and helps practitioners in established corporates to better leverage their equity-free corporate-startups partnerships for strategic renewal.
Digitalisation reshapes both the workplace and the forms of communication used within a team. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, rethinking leadership has required transitioning from a physical to an entirely virtual work environment to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, accelerating and increasing the relevance of exclusively virtual communication. In a face-to-face professional work environment, transformational leaders can motivate their followers by example. In addition to publications addressing these face-to-face environments, there is an emerging and growing research interest in virtual teams guided by transformational leaders. Therefore, this study conducts a literature review integrating virtual teams and transformational leadership, identifying team, leadership, and motivation factors in the existing literature. As its main contribution, the paper challenges an established leadership model under exceptional economic circumstances and identifies research gaps within team, leadership, and motivation factors. Knowing that the virtual working environment will influence the future of work, this study paves the way for further research on transformational leaders and their influence on virtual teams.
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to develop an integrative framework of accelerator design to answer the question of what activities accelerators perform and how they function within a structured framework. Research on the functioning of accelerators as a mechanism for startup engagement produced multiple empirical results. However, the comparability of relevant research is strongly limited, currently hindering theoretical developments. Existing accelerator design models often differ and only partially overlap, which leaves extant literature with a fragmented and discordant conceptual understanding.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a meta-synthesis method using qualitative analysis of 36 accelerator design articles, an integrative framework is developed. After identification of relevant literature, a renowned method for extracting, coding and synthesizing data on individual and cross-study level is applied to identify accelerator design constructs. Eventually, identified accelerator design constructs are integrated into a framework resting on the activity system lens of business model design.
Findings
The article reconciles fragmented knowledge on accelerator design and shows how accelerator design can be holistically conceptualized by 32 key activities clustered in eight design dimensions. The framework is complemented by an initial guideline for measurement. The findings further highlight formerly disregarded aspects of governance and community formation from a processual and structural perspective.
Originality/value
This article is the first to present a comprehensive picture of accelerator design integrating multiple empirical findings of prior research into a single coherent framework. This framework offers a shared foundation for future research exploring the delineations, functioning and impact of accelerators. From a practical perspective, the article provides managers of accelerators a guide to design, review and improve programs according to their value creation goals.
While corporate venture capital funds (CVCs) are commonly analyzed as homogenous units, they display significant heterogeneity across various organizational aspects, which affect them and subsequently their portfolio firms. Using a sample of 383 European portfolio firms from the longitudinal VICO dataset, we first investigate the impact of investor type (independent vs corporate) on firm operating efficiency. We show that firms backed by CVCs suffer reductions in productivity. We then account for CVC heterogeneity and find that these significant reductions in operating efficiency only occur for ventures backed by endoisomorphistic CVCs, which resemble more corporate structures. By contrast, firms backed by exoisomorphistic CVCs, which resemble more independent venture capital structures, do not show significant differences in productivity compared to ventures that receive independent venture capital backing.
Digital Transformation (DT) has become a challenge and opportunity for firms competing in dynamic and volatile markets. Especially small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) face difficulties within the digitalization process based on their limited resources and capabilities. It is essential to understand which factors influence this process to enable the success of DT in SMEs. However, there is fragmented research on DT in SMEs. To close this gap this paper aims to identify and categorize the influencing factors of DT in SMEs by building on the Attention Based View (ABV). Therefore, a systematic literature review was conducted with a total of 75 papers published from January 2012 to January 2022. 354 factors were identified. With the help of Gioia-Method a taxonomy was created. The main finding of the research is a taxonomy, which consist of three main categories and 17 sub-categories, which organize the factors identified from the sample. The taxonomy answers the calls in research for a comprehensive and tangible picture on the influencing factors of DT in SME independent from disciplines or industries. For practitioners the taxonomy allows to understand and approach what specific factors influence their digital transformation journey and where to put attention.
The introduction of ChatGPT in November 2022 by OpenAI has stimulated substantial discourse on the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in various domains such as academia, business, and society at large. Although AI has been utilized in numerous areas for several years, the emergence of generative AI (GAI) applications such as ChatGPT, Jasper, or DALL-E are considered a breakthrough for the acceleration of AI technology due to their ease of use, intuitive interface, and performance. With GAI, it is possible to create a variety of content such as texts, images, audio, code, and even videos. This creates a variety of implications for businesses requiring a deeper examination, including an influence on business model innovation (BMI). Therefore, this study provides a BMI perspective on GAI with two primary contributions: (1) The development of six comprehensive propositions outlining the impact of GAI on businesses, and (2) the discussion of three industry examples, specifically software engineering, healthcare, and financial services. This study employs a qualitative content analysis using a scoping review methodology, drawing from a wide-ranging sample of 513 data points. These include academic publications, company reports, and public information such as press releases, news articles, interviews, and podcasts. The study thus contributes to the growing academic discourse in management research concerning AI’s potential impact and offers practical insights into how to utilize this technology to develop new or improve existing business models.
This study explores the concept of massive and rapid business scaling (MRBS) in the context of digital start-ups by identifying 20 factors clustered into seven core drivers. Through inductive qualitative research, the study builds on 53 semi-structured interviews with founders, executives, and advisors, leading to the development of a framework that uncovers seven core drivers of MRBS contributing to the scaling process. These core drivers are as follows: 1) scanning the environment and recognizing opportunities, 2) iteratively adjusting the business model with an asset-light structure, 3) achieving operational excellence through digitization, 4) building an efficient and entrepreneurial workforce combined with leadership and vision, 5) leveraging internal resources to strengthen positioning and expand the market, 6) attracting capital to facilitate growth realization, and 7) cultivating organizational agility and a transformation culture. While core drivers one to five imply a processual nature, the sixth and seventh core drivers serve as a foundation for MRBS. Moreover, this study outlines several areas of tension within the process of MRBS. Therefore, the study provides valuable insights for scholars and practitioners.
There is a plethora of research on organisational design elements of corporate venture capital (CVC) programs. However, the fragmented nature of this vein of corporate venturing research has led to an inconsistent picture regarding the organisational design of CVC programs. The goal of this study is to provide a holistic picture for both scholars and practitioners by integrating empirical research on the design of CVC programs. Therefore, the study employs a systematic literature review approach including a sample of 41 studies published from 1987 to 2023. For a systematic assessment of design elements of CVC programs, an inductive concept development approach is used to illustrate four main design dimensions–personnel, corporate relationship management, investment operating model and portfolio relationship management–which reflect 69 descriptive design elements. While previous studies have mainly looked at individual design dimensions of CVC programs from a strategic perspective, this paper presents comprehensive view on organisational structures of CVC programs by identifying building blocks of CVC design according to chosen objectives and available typologies. By specifying and allocating design dimensions to structural types and objectives of CVC programs, this study may also serve as a foundation for further research on the concepts which prevent high rates of early abandonment of CVCs.
In recent years, research on corporate sustainability integration strategies has witnessed a significant growth in interest. However, contributions remain disjointed and fragmented, preventing the emergence of a cohesive understanding of the current research state. This study uses a systematic review of 126 articles from Web of Science (WoS) and Ebsco to extract a seven-dimensional integrated view of corporate sustainability integration strategies. Our review's contributions are threefold: (1) we enrich the corporate sustainability strategies literature by identifying the focuses and themes of recent publications; (2) we address the research's fragmentation issue by presenting the sustainability implementation strategies in an integrated view with the essential interdependencies shown at different hierarchical levels and across organizational dimensions simultaneously, (3) we present the theoretical and managerial implications and discuss in detail the crucial interdependencies of sustainability integration strategies. The study finishes with a conclusion highlighting potential avenues for future research.
Purpose
Resource cognition – identifying valuable resources and capabilities and assessing their potential for redeployment – is a pivotal management capability for strategic renewal. This study explores how managerial cognition in this activity may be biased, leading to erroneous results.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs an action research approach: A full resource cognition project was conducted together with the top management of a case firm, including the CEO and members of the supervisory board.
Findings
Resource cognition may be distorted by four cognitive biases: The insulation bias – tending to keep one’s perspective insularly to the current business; the novelty bias – tending to exclusively focus on innovation and recent achievements; the status quo bias – tending to view opportunities from the current situation and structural set-up; and the scaffolding bias – tending to adopt concepts and examples indiscriminately to the firm.
Originality/value
Active participation in a resource cognition project provided first-hand and insightful practice-based evidence on resource cognition.
Characteristics of platform providers in collaborative consumption: a derivation of archetypes
(2023)
This study aims to investigate different types of platform providers (PPs) to gain a deeper understanding of the characteristics and underlying logic of this group within collaborative consumption (CC). As CC occurs with three groups of actors (PP, peer service provider and customer) and is predominantly viewed from the customer perspective, this study offers insights from the under-researched PP perspective.
Despite service productivity’s scholarly prominence and practical relevance, past research in marketing has primarily adopted isolated perspectives from which disjointed empirical findings reign supreme. As the acquisition of knowledge about service productivity accelerates, the collective evidence becomes more interdisciplinary but also more fragmented. This study uses a meta-analysis to integrate the substantial empirical record on service productivity. We formulate hypotheses on the moderators of service productivity-determinant relationships and meta-analyze 77 articles, relying on 81 independent samples with a cumulative sample size of 30,238 participants to test our predictions. Our meta-analysis provides empirical evidence that service quality and internal efficiency must be considered jointly, not in isolation, to maximize profitability. Thus, relying on one aspect in isolation is less appropriate for measurement purposes and might not lead to positive outcomes. This important finding should concern service scholars and managers because falling profit margins require service firms to move beyond the traditional manufacturing productivity that separates service quality from internal efficiency and consider service productivity as a profitability concept. In sum, our findings provide a viable model to explain the main service productivity determinants and moderating variables, offering valuable insights for practitioners that aim to deliver cost-efficient service quality and promising future research directions.
Artificial intelligence-enabled business model innovation: competencies and roles of top management
(2023)
Research in artificial intelligence and business model
innovation is flourishing. Nevertheless, the current discussion lacks
an overarching understanding of, and thus has not sufficiently addressed,
the interface between artificial intelligence-enabled business
model innovation and the critical role of top management. Although
a paradigm shift affecting top management is already occurring,
extant management literature is limited, especially in terms of
primary research. Accordingly, this study explores how top management
can encourage and facilitate artificial intelligence-enabled
business model innovation. We utilized an inductive approach and
conducted semistructured interviews with 47 practitioners to develop
a grounded theory. The developed framework consists of five
top management competencies and eight top management roles.
Overall, our study contributes to research in business model innovation
theory, revealing that top management requires a specific
skill set to carry out their roles and fulfill expectations.
Purpose
The article discusses the current relevance of artificial intelligence (AI) in research and how AI improves various research methods. This article focuses on the practical case study of systematic literature reviews (SLRs) to provide a guideline for employing AI in the process.
Design/methodology/approach
Researchers no longer require technical skills to use AI in their research. The recent discussion about using Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT), a chatbot by OpenAI, has reached the academic world and fueled heated debates about the future of academic research. Nevertheless, as the saying goes, AI will not replace our job; a human being using AI will. This editorial aims to provide an overview of the current state of using AI in research, highlighting recent trends and developments in the field.
Findings
The main result is guidelines for the use of AI in the scientific research process. The guidelines were developed for the literature review case but the authors believe the instructions provided can be adjusted to many fields of research, including but not limited to quantitative research, data qualification, research on unstructured data, qualitative data and even on many support functions and repetitive tasks.
Originality/value
AI already has the potential to make researchers’ work faster, more reliable and more convenient. The authors highlight the advantages and limitations of AI in the current time, which should be present in any research utilizing AI. Advantages include objectivity and repeatability in research processes that currently are subject to human error. The most substantial disadvantages lie in the architecture of current general-purpose models, which understanding is essential for using them in research. The authors will describe the most critical shortcomings without going into technical detail and suggest how to work with the shortcomings daily.
Purpose
Recent years have seen a meteoric rise in the study of narcissism in entrepreneurship, although little consolidation has occurred in this area. The purpose of this paper is the development of an integrative framework to harmonise the academic discussion and serve as a structured foundation for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted an artificial intelligence-aided, structured literature review focused on content analysis of concepts and contexts to map out current findings and research gaps in startup narcissism research.
Findings
According to the findings of this study, narcissistic tendencies have the potential to positively influence startup success early on in an entrepreneur's journey, but after a certain point in the process, the influence of narcissism on success becomes predominantly negative.
Research limitations/implications
The research field is currently not very harmonised regarding research measures, research subjects and key research terms. Further research must use a standardised approach to add value to the research body.
Practical implications
Narcissism is a two-sided sword for founders. In the early stages of a company, many of the founder’s tasks can benefit from narcissistic tendencies. In the later stages of a company, that might shift to overwhelmingly negative effects of narcissism.
Originality/value
Methodically, this study is the first one to establish an artificial intelligence component to add value to the results of a review paper to the best of the authors’ knowledge. The results of this study provide a clear framework of entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial activity and entrepreneurial performance to give researchers the opportunity of a more differentiated way of organising work.