No abstract

This study focuses on market orientation in family-owned firms. Market orientation is influenced by organizational characteristics and is at the same time a key antecedent of innovation. Since the generation in control largely shapes the family firm’s organization, the authors examine the relationships between the generation in control, market orientation, and innovation. Using regression analysis, the study demonstrates that later generations show a lower level of market-oriented behavior, that the positive relationship between market orientation and innovation is maintained in a family firm sample, and that the generation in control influences innovation through its influence on market orientation.

Research summary This study examines the role of resource orchestration for the exploration and exploitation of opportunities through portfolio entrepreneurship. Adopting a single‐case study approach, we identify eight distinctive resource orchestration subprocesses that we group into three aggregate resource orchestration processes that enable the development and exploitation of a set of resources and capabilities across a portfolio of ventures. Our findings extend the literature on enduring entrepreneurship by building theory on how resource orchestration across a portfolio of ventures facilitates the emergence of synergies when exploring and exploiting opportunities. Managerial summary This study examines the processes through which an entrepreneur structures and rearranges resources and capabilities across multiple firms as he/she grows a portfolio of firms to engage in the exploration and exploitation of market opportunities. Entrepreneurs can obtain insights for building their businesses from the eight processes we identify; these processes allow entrepreneurs to develop synergies as they create and put to use a set of resources and capabilities across their businesses. Through these synergies, entrepreneurs can share, transform, and harmonize resources and capabilities across their firms. This can enable them to continuously and simultaneously explore and exploit market opportunities, which ultimately facilitates the sustainability of their businesses. Copyright © 2016 Strategic Management Society.

The ability to keep up with changing technology is critical for a company's long-term survival. However, companies have to balance the risk of rushing into new areas and potentially cannibalizing their existing business against the risk of missing the emerging market. This paper investigates when incumbents enter into new market niches created by technological innovation. We argue that market conditions and company-specific characteristics do not suffice to explain incumbents' entry timing, but that entry is a contagious process. Our results demonstrate that incumbents are more likely to respond to innovations in their industry when their counterparts do so. In particular, we show that incumbents are affected by the entry of firms that are similar in size and resources. When a highly similar company enters the new market, it raises the probability that the company enters itself beyond levels based solely on the attractiveness of the market.market entry, competition, new product research

The importance of successful innovation for the long-term performance of companies can hardly be exaggerated. However, we need to consider this in a dynamic setting, in which competitors do not remain passive. We find that two thirds of new product launches meet reaction by competitors after their launch. We also empirically demonstrate that the strategic launch decisions that managers take have an effect on future reaction by competitors. Following an extensive review of the literature, a propositional model is developed. In order to test this theoretical model, an ex post facto field study was designed, in which the authors obtained comprehensive information on 509 new industrial products launched in the US, the UK and the Netherlands. Competitive reaction is diagnosed in terms of changes in the marketing instruments of the competitor. A logistic regression model is estimated on the occurrence of competitive reaction with any marketing instrument. We also look at the occurrence of individual marketing instrument reactions. The data show that competitors react primarily by means of price changes. Product assortment and promotional changes are less frequent, whereas distribution policy modifications occur very rarely. The characteristics of the new product launch strategy were found to have a significant impact on both the occurrence and nature of competitive reactions. We claim that the competitive effect of radically new products and incrementally new products greatly differs. The results show that competitors fail to respond to radical innovations and to new products that employ a niche strategy. They do react if a new product can be assessed within an existing product category and thus represent an unambiguous attack. Both innovative and imitative new products meet reaction in this case. The results also demonstrate that competitors are more inclined to react to the introduction of new products that are supported by extensive communication by the innovating firm. The likelihood of reaction is also higher in high growth markets than in low growth markets. The article discusses theoretical and managerial implications of these results, as well as thoughts for future research that may add more insight