Purpose The purpose of this study is to compare and validate firms’ internal and external stakeholder considerations in sustainable business practices across business settings. It aims to assess the validity and reliability of a stakeholder framework appearing in previous studies. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a questionnaire survey and a cross-industry sample consisting of the largest firms in corporate Sweden. Multivariate analysis tests the stakeholder framework. Each of the 294 key informants was initially identified and contacted by telephone, generating a response rate of 36.5 per cent. Findings The tested stakeholder framework appears valid and reliable across countries to assess the internal stakeholders of focal firms, as well as their up- and downstream, market and societal stakeholders. This study provides additional empirical support to categorize firms’ stakeholder considerations in sustainable business practices. Research limitations/implications This study validates previous findings in terms of Swedish firms’ considerations of internal and external stakeholders in sustainable business practices in relation to one similar country (Norway) and one different country (Spain). The study also shows how the three countries perceive the focal company and societal stakeholders differently. Practical implications The tested framework sheds light on focal firms’ stakeholder considerations in sustainable business practices and elucidates the extent to which firms’ account for their internal and external stakeholders in sustainable business practices. Originality/value This study contributes to the development of valid and reliable stakeholder theory across contexts and through time. In particular, it contributes to the development of a valid and reliable framework to categorize firms’ stakeholder considerations in sustainable business practices.
Purpose – The purpose is to extend the understanding of the resource base of the industrial firm's greenfield expansion on a foreign country market once a wholly owned subsidiary has been established. Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual framework is developed relying on the resource-based theory of strategy. Resource bases in terms of value-adding activities of four Swedish industrial firms' subsidiaries in the USA are analysed. Four theoretical propositions are formulated regarding consistent associations among the activities and contingencies that are relevant to expansion on a foreign country market. Findings – The propositions show how foreign subsidiaries' value-adding activities are aligned with two contingencies: the corporate strategy manifested by the product/market knowledge transferred from the parent firm that enable local expansion and the subsidiary's knowledge of competition barriers that obstruct local expansion. The value-adding activity may be basic or advanced and may repeat the parent firm's activity. Research limitations/implications – US subsidiaries of four Swedish industrial firms were analysed. The propositions may be turned into hypotheses suitable for tests in statistical studies. A test may include firms from different home countries and subsidiaries on different host country markets. Practical implications – The conceptual framework and the propositions provide a ground for an industrial firm's decision to conduct a strategy of greenfield expansion on a foreign country market once a wholly owned subsidiary has been established. Originality/value – The framework is unique and emphasizes that both knowledge stemming from corporate strategy and knowledge of local competition need to be acknowledged in order to understand firm's greenfield expansion on a foreign country market.
This dissertation is concerned with the concept of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and, more specifically, the question 'Why are firms conducting entrepreneurial actions?' This question rests upon two premises. First, entrepreneurial actions represent an important domain of scientific inquiry. Essentially, this makes the concept of EO, wherein entrepreneurial actions are treated as equivalent to that of the concept of EO (i.e., engaging in innovation, proactively entering new markets, and engaging in risky ventures), relevant for investigation. Second, to adequately answer the question, the concept of EO needs to be reconceptualized. More precisely, I argue that (1) EO represents a form of being; that is, a firm either is or is not 'entrepreneurially oriented', a necessary condition for conducting entrepreneurial actions; however, (2) EO is not the same as entrepreneurial actions; that is, being entrepreneurially oriented is not the same as the actions that are to be explained. This dissertation consists of four appended papers that, together with seven chapters, serve to provide an answer to the question raised above. What the joint retroductive analysis clarifies has to do with the nature of being entrepreneurially oriented. In particular, the nature of EO concerns a practitioner's (a) belief in the existence of an opportunity to actualize profits; (b) belief that there are ways of combining resources in a profitable manner; and (c) social identity embracing such beliefs. As such, the dissertation reconceptualizes EO. Specifically, it constructs the 'actualization approach to entrepreneurial orientation'. It allows scholars to explain (1) why entrepreneurial actions exists, (2) that EO is not what EO does (i.e., innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking) but what it is capable of doing, and (3) that EO is an individual-level (not firm-or unit-level) concept that matters for entrepreneurial actions at various levels. Implications for practitioners and policy makers are discussed.
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