International entrepreneurship for SME business growth : a resource and dynamic capability view of the firm : an internet context

This research explores the relationship between international business Internet capabilities and international entrepreneurial characteristics. It has been suggested, that the accumulation of a firms Internet capability can assist international operations, especially when operating in fast changing dynamic environments. However, the international entrepreneurial characteristics which are seen as a precursor to leveraging such capabilities are still vague. Given this finding a conceptual framework is constructed and research issues are then developed in order to focus attention on the relationship between the Internet and a firm’s resource base, dynamic capabilities and international market performance.

The moderating role of entrepreneurial management in the relationship between absorptive capacity and corporate entrepreneurship : an attention-based view

Building on the attention-based view, we argue that companies need a challenging mechanism to focus their absorptive capacity attention on corporate entrepreneurship versus mainstream activities or other purposes. We suggest entrepreneurial management as the attential driver for deploying absorptive capacity towards corporate entrepreneurship. From our analysis of a sample of 331 supplier companies providing products and services to the mining industry of Australia and Iran, we observe that absorptive capacity positively affects corporate entrepreneurship. The data also demonstrate that the effect of absorptive on corporate entrepreneurship increases when firms adopt the entrepreneurial culture and reward systems. However, the entrepreneurial growth and resource orientations negatively moderate the relationship between absorptive capacity and corporate entrepreneurship.

A capability-based view of organisational renewal : Combining opportunity- and advantage-seeking growth in large, established European and North American wood-industry companies

The purpose of this study was to extend understanding of how large firms pursuing sustained and profitable growth manage organisational renewal. A multiple-case study was conducted in 27 North American and European wood-industry companies, of which 11 were chosen for closer study. The study combined the organisational-capabilities approach to strategic management with corporate-entrepreneurship thinking. It charted the further development of an identification and classification system for capabilities comprising three dimensions: (i) the dynamism between firm-specific and industry-significant capabilities, (ii) hierarchies of capabilities and capability portfolios, and (iii) their internal structure. Capability building was analysed in the context of the organisational design, the technological systems and the type of resource-bundling process (creating new vs. entrenching existing capabilities). The thesis describes the current capability portfolios and the organisational changes in the case companies. It also clarifies the mechanisms through which companies can influence the balance between knowledge search and the efficiency of knowledge transfer and integration in their daily business activities, and consequently the diversity of their capability portfolio and the breadth and novelty of their product/service range. The largest wood-industry companies of today must develop a seemingly dual strategic focus: they have to combine leading-edge, innovative solutions with cost-efficient, large-scale production. The use of modern technology in production was no longer a primary source of competitiveness in the case companies, but rather belonged to the portfolio of basic capabilities. Knowledge and information management had become an industry imperative, on a par with cost effectiveness. Yet, during the period of this research, the case companies were better in supporting growth in volume of the existing activity than growth through new economic activities. Customer-driven, incremental innovation was preferred over firm-driven innovation through experimentation. The three main constraints on organisational renewal were the lack of slack resources, the aim for lean, centralised designs, and the inward-bound communication climate.

Perceptions of land-use uncertainty in Queensland's resource-based regions

Some of Queensland's regions are experiencing rapid changes related to the recent and growing capacity to more effectively exploit significant energy sources. These changes have triggered land-use conflicts between the mining sector and other economic sectors, mainly agriculture. These conflicts fuel existing uncertainty surrounding the current and future economic, social and environmental impacts of extractive industries. This paper explores the concept of uncertainty as it applies to planning for resource-based regions through a scoping analysis of regional stakeholders' perceptions of land-use uncertainty. It then investigates solutions to alleviate such an issue.

The essential parameters of a resource-based carrying capacity assessment model : an Australian case study

Carrying capacity assessments model a population’s potential self-sufficiency. A crucial first step in the development of such modelling is to examine the basic resource-based parameters defining the population’s production and consumption habits. These parameters include basic human needs such as food, water, shelter and energy together with climatic, environmental and behavioural characteristics. Each of these parameters imparts land-usage requirements in different ways and varied degrees so their incorporation into carrying capacity modelling also differs. Given that the availability and values of production parameters may differ between locations, no two carrying capacity models are likely to be exactly alike. However, the essential parameters themselves can remain consistent so one example, the Carrying Capacity Dashboard, is offered as a case study to highlight one way in which these parameters are utilised. While examples exist of findings made from carrying capacity assessment modelling, to date, guidelines for replication of such studies in other regions and scales have largely been overlooked. This paper addresses such shortcomings by describing a process for the inclusion and calibration of the most important resource-based parameters in a way that could be repeated elsewhere.

Examining the role of within functional area resource–capability complementarity in achieving customer and product-based performance outcomes

Adopting both the resource-based view and dynamic capability theory this study advances the contention that firms must possess both resources and capabilities at a superior level to achieve superior customer and product performance. To examine this contention this study investigates the individual effect of the complementarity between marketing resources and capability and complementarity between innovation resources and capability on customer and product performance respectively. The results of a survey of 171 B2B manufacturing firms show a significant main effect for complementarity between marketing resources–capability and complementarity between innovation resources–capability on customer and product performance. The findings also show that complementarity marketing resources–capability has a stronger positive relationship with customer performance than with product performance, while complementarity between innovation resources–capability has a stronger positive relationship with product performance than with customer performance.

A resource based game theoretical model for military conflicts

A resource interaction based game theoretical model for military conflicts is presented in this paper. The model includes both the spatial decision capability of adversaries (decision regarding movement and subsequent distribution of resources) as well as their temporal decision capability (decision regarding level of allocation of resources for conflict with adversary’s resources). Attrition is decided at present by simple deterministic models. An additional feature of this model is the inclusion of the possibility of a given resource interacting with several resources of the adversary.The decisions of the adversaries is determined by solving for the equilibrium Nash strategies given that the objectives of the adversaries may not be in direct conflict. Examples are given to show the applicability of these models and solution concepts.