Analyzing data on utility patents from 1975 to 2002 in the careers of 35,400 collaborative inventors, this study examines the influence of brokered versus cohesive collaborative social structures on an individual's creativity. We test the hypothesis that brokerage—direct ties to collaborators who themselves do not have direct ties to each other—leads to greater collaborative creativity. We then test interaction hypotheses on the marginal benefits of cohesion, when collaborators have independent ties between themselves that do not include the individual. We identify the moderators of brokerage and argue for contingent benefits, based on the interaction of structure with the attributes, career experiences, and extended networks of individuals and their collaborators. Using a social definition of creative success, we also trace the development of creative ideas from their generation through future use by others. We test the hypothesis that brokered ideas are less likely to be used in future creative efforts. The results illustrate how collaborative brokerage can aid in the generation of an idea but then hamper its diffusion and use by others.

With emphasis on a venture’s institutional environment and its stage of development, the authors develop theory to explain how the quality of a nation’s legal system and the level of political hazards affect venture capital (VC) investment strategies in developing countries. The data set consists of 433 VC investment transaction rounds occurring in 13 Latin American countries over the period 1995 to 2003. Different from previous research on the likelihood of investment occurrence, the authors consider the size of an investment transaction as a dependent variable. The authors find a negative relationship between investment size and the political hazards risk and that larger investments are associated with ventures operating in lower quality legal systems. The authors also propose the moderating role of these institutional dimensions in the relationship between a venture’s stage of development and investment size. Findings indicate that in lower quality legal systems, conventional VC-staging strategies are not apparent, where middle and later stage ventures receive the largest investments, but with improvements to the legal system, increasingly larger investments go to early stage ventures. Regarding the stage interaction with political hazards, the authors find that the positive relationship between the venture’s stage of development and investment size weakens as the level of political hazards increases, and when political hazards are high, conventional VC-staging similarly does not occur. In uncovering the unique impact of these institutional dimensions with respect to developing country entrepreneurship, these findings shed light on the acute challenges faced by developing country ventures seeking VC funding at varying stages of development.

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PurposeThis paper aims to provide insights into the internationalization strategic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic by higher education institutions (HEIs) in Latin America.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on information from eight leading Latin American private universities. The data were obtained from official sources such as institutional communications and university administrators.FindingsThe authors identify two main issues that HEIs should consider while responding to the pandemic. First, greater attention and resource allocation to the universities' main local stakeholders can affect traditional internationalization activities. Second, a focus on revitalizing foreign partnerships and strengthening “virtual internationalization” can help maintain and eventually increase international presence.Research limitations/implicationsWhile this study analyses how these Latin American HEIs responded during the initial stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, it is important to conduct follow-up studies to shed light on how HEIs are adapting to the COVID-19 crisis as it continues to unfold.Originality/valueThis study is based on unique information gathered from leading private, not-for-profit HEIs in Latin America, which, contrary to state-owned HEIs or other private institutions in developed economies, have exhibited different means and conditions to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. Finally, the authors contribute to the literature on the internationalization of HEIs by discussing the role of a significant disruptive event on the internationalization of higher education and, particularly, business schools.

Integrating social network theory with the literature on national distance, we examine how the investment strategy followed by a private equity (PE) firm in an emerging market is affected by the interplay between two important types of national distances-institutional and geographic-and the firm's centrality in the regional syndication network. Covering over 5,000 investment transactions, we use a dataset of more than 500 PE firms based in both developed and emerging markets targeting three emerging market regions-Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe-from 1996 to 2011. The results show that, depending on the level of centrality of PE firms in regional syndication networks, institutional and geographic distances can have differing effects-both in magnitude and direction-on their investment strategies in emerging markets. Moreover, these effects are contingent on whether the PE firm is from a developed market or an emerging market. We conclude that different types of national distances can operate in dissimilar ways depending on (1) firm-level factors defined at the regional levelsuch as centrality in the regional syndication network-and (2) the developed market or emerging market nature of the PE firm.