3
Refine
Document Type
- Article (78)
Language
- English (78)
Keywords
- Shapley value (5)
- Sharing economy (4)
- Decomposition (3)
- TU game (3)
- Balanced contributions (2)
- Business model design (2)
- Business model innovation (2)
- Contextual factors (2)
- Entrepreneurial ecosystems (2)
- Entrepreneurship (2)
Institute
- Chair of Macroeconomics (14)
- Chair of Economics and Information Systems (8)
- Chair of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer (7)
- Chair of Strategic Entrepreneurship (7)
- Chair of Business Psychology and Leadership (6)
- Chair of Accounting and Auditing (5)
- Chair of Marketing and Retail (5)
- Chair of Marketing Management and Sustainability (3)
- Chair of Financial Management (2)
- Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship (2)
Has Fulltext
- no (78)
Academic scientists who commercialize their research findings via spin-off creation have to transition from the academic sphere to the commercial sphere. Along this spin-off creation process, they face challenges adapting to the conflicting logics of these spheres. We hypothesize that throughout the three phases of this process, the importance of the academic sphere decreases while the importance of the commercial sphere increases. We collected a representative sample of 1,149 scientists from the German state of Thuringia. To test our hypotheses, we apply dominance analysis and estimate the relative importance of the two spheres. In line with our hypotheses, the importance of the academic sphere declines and the importance of the commercial sphere increases at the beginning of the process. Towards the end of the process, we observe a further decline in the relative importance of the academic sphere, but, unexpectedly, also a decline for the commercial sphere. Notably, our results show that the commercial sphere is in general more important than the academic sphere throughout the process. Our results challenge existing conceptualizations that emphasize the importance of the academic sphere, especially at the beginning of the spin-off founding process. The results provide intervention points for policy measures to promote academic spin-offs.
Transform me if you can
(2023)
This study sheds light on the relationships between digital transformation, business model, and process efficiency capabilities, and new product development (NPD) performance by employing a sequential explanatory approach, combining quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, utilizing structural equation modeling based on 430 questionnaire respondents, and a multiple case study design using four cases. The derived framework highlights that digital transformation does not directly lead to NPD performance but that organizations use idiosyncratic higher order (e.g., business model and process efficiency) capabilities that mediate this relationship to strategically cope with change. When assessing, reconfiguring, and integrating, organizations tap into internal and external value, individual, technological, and organizational (VITO) dimensions to transform operational capabilities and resources. Thus, higher order capabilities enable organizations to leverage firm-external opportunities to adjust intrafirm operational capabilities, resources, and competencies, emphasizing a complex hierarchical and contextual interplay. The contributions of the study are twofold: 1) we provide statistical evidence that the business model and process efficiency capabilities are coping mechanisms to master digital transformation and 2) the successful orchestration of VITO dimensions is essential for assessing, reconfiguring, and integrating resources, competencies, and operational capabilities to derive NPD performance.
Europe's energy crisis:
(2023)
This paper provides first empirical evidence on the effect of geopolitical risks in fossil fuel supplier countries on renewable energy diffusion in fossil fuel importing countries and the mediating roles of rising electricity prices and high import dependence. For this end, aggregate measures of geopolitical risk that countries are exposed to through fossil fuel imports are determined. This is done by combining detailed data on bilateral trade patterns for coal, oil, and natural gas of 37 countries in Europe with that on geopolitical risks in supplier countries. Using an instrumental variable approach, the study reveals that geopolitical risks in supplier countries tended to foster renewable energy diffusion in Europe during the period 1991–2021. The effects are especially pronounced for geopolitical risks related to coal and natural gas imports, while the importance of risks related to particular fossil fuels differed for the build-up of the individual renewable energies, i.e. wind, solar, and biomass. Rising electricity prices and high import dependence, particularly for coal, partially amplified the effects on renewable energy diffusion. Despite the high import dependence, natural gas appears to have played in part a role as a bridging technology for energy transition.
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.
Quo vadis?
(2023)
This Special Issue emerged from the ‘Next Generation Forum’ at the 2018 Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting (IPA) Conference in Edinburgh, UK, and its sequel at the 2019 Asia-Pacific Interdisciplinary Research in Accounting (APIRA) Conference in Auckland, New Zealand. These fora were set up because many emerging and a number of senior scholars in the field felt interdisciplinary accounting research (IAR) at risk of losing its momentum, and many of them continue to be concerned today (Alawattage et al., 2021). We start by defining what we mean by IAR and then discuss the most important criticisms that IAR is currently facing. Subsequently, we summarize the contributions of the articles that appear in this Special Issue. We conclude by offering our own, necessarily subjective and personal, vision of a desirable future for IAR.
How can Business Schools create and appropriate value in university-based technological innovation?
(2023)
Discussion in the scholarly literature about partnerships between entrepreneurs and universities for the creation of technological spinouts, and for helping universities to extract more value from their technology-related intellectual property (IP), is lively. However, the literature exhibits a gap in understanding how business schools may participate in the process of technology commercialization by facilitating the creation of intellectual property rights. In this conceptual paper, we seek to fill this gap in three ways. First, we offer some novel conceptual insights by studying the partnership between technical universities and entrepreneurs using a multi-level approach, incorporating a phenomenological research method, through the lenses of several established theoretical perspectives from the domains of economics, social science, and management: the division of labor, motivation, the nature of the firm, organization, and IP. Second, we develop a working hypothesis focused on learning reinforcement through multiple organizational levels that predicts how business schools may play a prominent role in technology commercialization, together with the theoretical conditions under which they may do so. Third, we offer an IP management model under which business schools, as such, may create and appropriate financial value by generating innovation-related IP that may be transferred to enterprises. Our research reveals a misalignment between promising approaches to university-based technological innovation suggested by normative theory and typical approaches associated with extant practice; and it also highlights a strategic issue, which is that the performance of most universities in the domain of technology transfer is disappointing. We suggest a way to address this misalignment, and this strategic issue, which is through the establishment of what we label as "Technology Innovation Laboratories" in business schools-analogous to technical laboratories usually associated with technical universities-that could generate various types of product- or service-related IP. This type of intellectual property-typically different from invention IP, and which we label here as "business IP"-could be exchanged for equity in spinouts or royalties from licensing, similar to the manner in which the invention IP of technical universities is usually commercialized.
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.
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.
This study investigates how sharing ventures address the paradox of doing good versus doing harm in their strategic decision-making. The doing good versus doing harm paradox refers to the difficulty of sharing ventures to balance the aim to benefit society and the environment while minimizing potential adverse effects. Understanding and addressing this paradox is crucial for promoting sustainable and responsible decision-making. Our thematic content analysis of 38 in-depth interviews with founders and senior managers of sharing ventures in four European countries finds that these ventures align along three distinct value focus types in their decisionmaking and use five mechanisms to conceal paradoxes related to balancing social/environmental and economic contradictions. By surfacing the importance of sharing ventures' value focus and resultant mechanisms to deparadoxify, our findings provide insights into organisational paradox and the sharing economy, specifically the purposeful concealment of paradox as a counterintuitive choice for remaining actionable in decision contexts.
Since its inception over two decades ago, the theory of disruptive innovation has sparked heated discussions. Especially because of the increasing importance of societal influences and novel forms of competition and technology, questions about its theoretical value and practical relevance remain. Researchers have focused on firm-internal factors of disruptive innovations to resolve discussions about the validity of the theory. However, the literature lacks an integrated understanding of contextual factors, such as demand, market structure, culture, and regulation, that influence disruptive innovation because of its dispersed, fragmented character across disciplines. Our study addresses this fragmentation and lack of integrated understanding by systematically reviewing 62 articles. The study makes three main contributions. First, we integrate and synthesize the literature on contextual factors of disruptive innovations. Second, we derive a three-phase framework of contextual factors: (1) disruptive susceptibility, (2) emergence and diffusion, and (3) endgame and outcome. Third, we contribute to resolving discussions about the theory's core elements and its predictive value by showing how, depending on the societal, cultural, or market context, the implications of the theory can change. Overall, this article shows how disruptive innovation can start, and be started, by social change. We conclude by suggesting areas for future research.
Which renewable energy (RE) policy instrument is most effective in expanding the international diffusion of RE and what is the role of innovation? We consider rich policy and patent data for 189 countries and territories to investigate these diversely debated questions for wind and solar photovoltaic capacities. This allows us, firstly, to contribute to the limited evidence on the effect of RE innovation on RE diffusion and its interrelated influence with RE support policies. Secondly, we can evaluate the disentangled individual policies' effectiveness in a broad instrument-country context. Thirdly, we control for the inherent endogeneity of policy instruments and innovation. We find that RE innovation, which appears to be largely policy-induced, is among the most promising ways to increase RE capacities. The most effective policy instruments tend to be quotas with certificate trading, tendering, and fiscal instruments that provide specific investment support, i.e. investment tax credits and capital subsidies. Less tangible and projectable measures, such as the most commonly implemented sales-related tax reductions and RE targets, are least effective. While interactions between instruments influence the composition of a well-designed policy mix, there are also differences in the policies' effectiveness and role of innovation depending on the countries' level of development.
Same same but different
(2023)
Venture capital (VC) often involves complex equity contracts with so-called preferential rights affecting the allocation of exit proceeds among different share classes and investors. We structure exit-relevant preferential rights in a two-dimensional framework and develop a contingent claims model that allows for ex-ante valuation of separate shareholdings. The model generates insights on the valuation effects of varying setups in VC financing and indicates considerable mispricing potential of VC investments when applying commonly used heuristics such as the most recent funding round. Applying the model to a sample of ventures indicated an average ’overvaluation’ on a per-share basis of 26.7%, with common stocks and early-stage investments being the most affected. In addition, our analysis provides different implications regarding the effects of preferential right structuring for early and late stage investors.
More and more companies worldwide are appointing a chief sustainability officer (CSO) to anchor the topic of sustainability at the top management level. This study examines how a CSO on the management board influences the quantity and quality of sustainability reports. While quantity is measured by the amount of information disclosed (sustainability disclosure), quality is measured as the decision for external assurance of the sustainability report, using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines as a reporting framework and publishing a combined report. Using a sample of German listed companies for the years 2017–2020, regression analysis is first conducted to analyse the impact of CSOs on sustainability reports. Second, the study shows how a chief executive officer (CEO) and a chief financial officer (CFO) impact sustainability reports when they also serve as CSOs. The results suggest that CSOs improve sustainability disclosure. In addition, a CSO positively impacts the decision for external assurance of the sustainability report but shows no impact on using the GRI guidelines and publishing a combined report. The results also show that a CFO positively influences sustainability disclosure, while a CEO does not. This study contributes to the growing literature on sustainable governance and how having a CSO on the management board impacts sustainability reporting. The study has numerous implications for regulators and practitioners. The most important insight is which management position should be responsible for sustainability to improve reporting and the limitations of that decision.
Building on semi-structured interviews and publicly available documents in the realm of accounting, auditing and capital market regulation in Romania, this paper reviews and reflects on the prerequisites for, and conditions affecting the development of a financial reporting enforcement system (FRES) of Western origin in an emerging economy. It does so by examining institutional factors within and across the key components of the Romanian FRES, namely the engagement of the preparers and auditors of corporate financial reports and their interactions with public oversight bodies. The creation and functioning of the Romanian FRES are driven by the dynamics between Western and local pushes and pulls. Western actors offered support, especially in terms of technical assistance and educational programs, but the Romanian government delayed the implementation of local support mechanisms, such that practices and mindsets did not change initially. Although practices and institutions have evolved since the country joined the European Union in 2007, the pursuit of a functional Western-based FRES remains an on-going process that is highly dependent on both the continuous external provision of adequate resources and the enrolment of national actors in the deployment of these resources.
Managing sustainability
(2022)
Assessing whether a company is sustainable or not is challenging for investors. Forthis reason, it is particularly important how companies integrate and manage sustainability. This paper primarily aims to investigate the effects of implementing environmental, social and governance (ESG) key performance indicators (KPIs) in the internal management system (IMS) on ESG performance. Further, the effect of a consistent use of ESG KPIs in the IMS and the management compensation scheme (MCS) on ESG performance is examined. Using hand-collected data of the largest German-listed companies, this study employs t tests for differences in means and ordinary least square (OLS) regressions to study these associations. The results indicate that the implementation of ESG KPIs in the IMS increases ESG performance. In addition, the performance for environmental and social sub-dimensions is enhanced. No significant influence of a consistent use of ESG KPIs in the IMS and the MCS on ESG performance is observed. The results highlight that implementing ESG KPIs in the IMS is a practical approach to manage sustainability and to increase ESG performance. Our findings have practical and theoretical implications for researchers, regulators and companies considering the integration of sustainability and further communicating transparently and strengthening investor trust.
Previous research reported conflicting results on the effectiveness of economic incentives versus green appeals for promoting pro-environmental behavior and neglected the possibility of combining both as well as country differences. Through online experiments in Germany, the USA and China, we tested a monetary reward for recycling that is only redeemable for eco-friendly products – a “green reward” – in comparison to a standard reward (redeemable for any product) and a green appeal (highlighting environmental impact). In China, green rewards significantly increased recycling intentions via introjected motivation. In the USA, rewards improved intentions mainly via extrinsic motivation. In Germany, green appeals appeared to be the best strategy. Extrinsic rewards are expected to reduce perceived autonomy support, but only did so in the USA. Differences between countries are identified with regard to “crowding-out” of internalized motivation. It appears that under some conditions an environmental purpose can neutralize negative effects of extrinsic incentives.
Modularity in making
(2020)
An increasingly popular form of open innovation in the digital age is ‘making,’ where users innovate across multiple disciplines and make products that meet their needs, using mechanical, electronic, and digital components. These users have at their disposal, a wide solution space for innovation through various modular toolkits enabled by digital-age technologies. This study explores and outlines how these users simplify this wide solution space to innovate and make tangible products. Following a modularity theory perspective, it draws on case studies of users and their innovations: (1) Users with initial prototype product designs based on the Internet of things (IoT) from a maker event and (2) users with established product designs from the online community platform Thingiverse. The studies found that users reused the design in the form of existing off-the-shelf products and utilized digital fabrication and low-cost electronics hardware as a ‘glue’ to create physical and informational interfaces wherever needed, enabling bottom-up modularity. They iteratively refined their innovations, gradually replacing re-used designs with own integrated designs, reducing modularity, and reducing wastage. The study contributes to open innovation and modularity with implications on the design of products and toolkits enabled by the digital age.
This special issue publishes contributions from the operations research (OR) community in the following areas and at the intersections of those areas, namely manufacturing and supply chain digitalization, resilience, and sustainability. The application areas of OR and analytics to digital, resilient, and sustainable manufacturing systems may contain descriptive and diagnostic analyses, predictive simulation and prescriptive optimization, real time control, and adaptive learning. Examples of OR and analytics applications include logistics and supply chain control with real-time data, inventory control and management using sensing data, dynamic resource allocation in Industry 4.0 customized assembly systems, improving forecasting models using big data, machine learning techniques for process control, network visibility and risk control, optimizing systems based on predictive information (e.g., predictive maintenance), combining optimization and machine learning algorithms, and supply chain risk analytics.
This study explores the relationship between an entrepreneur's age and his/her social value creation goals. Building on the lifespan developmental psychology literature and institutional theory, we hypothesize a U-shaped relationship between entrepreneurs’ age and their choice to create social value through their ventures, such that younger and older entrepreneurs create more social value with their businesses while middle age entrepreneurs are relatively more economically and less socially oriented with their ventures. We further hypothesize that the quality of a country’s formal institutions in terms of economic, social, and political freedom steepen the U-shaped relationship between entrepreneurs’ age and their choice to pursue social value creation as supportive institutional environments allow entrepreneurs to follow their age-based preferences. We confirm our predictions using multilevel mixed-effects linear regressions on a sample of over 15,000 entrepreneurs (aged between 18 and 64 years) in 45 countries from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data. The findings are robust to several alternative specifications. Based on our findings, we discuss implications for theory and practice, and we propose future research directions.
Over the last four decades, the field of negotiation has become a fully recognized academic discipline around the world and negotiation courses and competitions have become increasingly popular. Although it is believed that negotiators may be trained and that negotiation is a skill that can be taught and evaluated, the question of how to assess negotiation performance systematically and comprehensively remains largely unanswered. This article proposes a negotiation competency model for evaluating negotiation performance. The model includes a set of selected negotiation competencies together with proficiency levels and their behavioral indicators. Our goal is to help scholars design more effective negotiation courses and fairer negotiation competitions, improve negotiation pedagogy, and train negotiators who are well prepared to handle conflicts in our increasingly complex society.