Twenty-five years of business systems research and lessons for international business studies

Rana, Mohammad Bakhtiar; Morgan, Glenn

doi:10.1016/j.ibusrev.2018.11.008

Cited by 25 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 172 publications

(172 reference statements)

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“…Additionally, the study extends the NBS approach by empirically analyzing a developing country context in South Asia, which has received scarce attention up till now. Although several recent works have also tried to extend the contextual frontiers of the NBS approach by analyzing different developing contexts (Carney et al, 2017;Rana and Morgan, 2018), they failed to provide detailed information about the components of NBS. Configurational and abstract nature of the NBS delimits the development of robust measures, which, in turn, curbs the capacity to effectively capture causal interactions among various antecedents and outcomes ( Jackson and Deeg, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, most of the literature on NBS revolves around understanding its nature (Rana and Morgan, 2018), making comparisons between different business systems (Yeung, 2000), validating its typologies (Haake, 2002;Witt and Redding, 2013;Hotho, 2014) and particular sense-making process (priming), forming the basis of the firms' intellectual capital (IC). These repositories of actionable templates are then selectively put into motion by additional sense-making mechanisms (triggering and editing) according to the capabilities of each firm, represented by the absorptive capacity construct.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Linking national business system and firm level innovation

Ahmad

Erçek

2019

EJIM

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explain the link between national business system (NBS) and innovation decisions at the firm level by offering sequentially ordered sense-making mechanisms that enable the formation of firm-specific knowledge repositories and knowledge-processing capabilities. Design/methodology/approach This study engages in an extensive scale development effort to collect representative data about the NBS in the Pakistani setting, complemented by relevant validity and reliability tests. The overall theoretical model was tested on 214 firms by means of a structural equation modeling approach, using partial least-squares algorithms. Findings The results statistically supported the role of firm-level knowledge repositories (intellectual capital) and knowledge exploration and exploitation capabilities (absorptive capacity) as sequential mediators in the association of NBS and firm-level innovation. Besides, bridging networks of lateral ties among Pakistani businesses are found to be more effective than bonding networks of vertical ties in encouraging radical innovations. Originality/value This study significantly extends the literature about the NBS approach. It provides specific sense-making mechanisms (i.e. priming, triggering and editing) about how abstract institutional templates constituted at the business system level are translated into firm-level actionable sets by the help of intangible resource repositories and processes that guide knowledge exploration and exploitation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking national business system and firm level innovation

Ahmad

Erçek

2019

EJIM

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“…New organizational institutionalism (Hotho & Pedersen, 2012; Oliver, 1991), especially comparative institutionalism and business systems literatures (Morgan, Campbell, Crouch, Pedersen, & Whitley, 2010; Rana & Morgan, 2019), instead argues that firms not only conform to institutional expectations but also defy them, manipulate them, and, in critical cases, innovate complementary institutions as institutional entrepreneurs. In this role, firms use their agency, resource capability, and strategic vision to produce legitimacy and operational efficiencies, encompassing both conformity and innovation.…”

Section: Theoretical Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We build on a broader view of institution used in comparative institutionalism and comparative business systems literature that encompasses both perspectives: rule following (isomorphism) and rule/practice creating (institutional innovation). We may then explore subsidiaries' legitimation processes and strategic outcomes from a dual perspective (see Rana & Morgan, 2019). Since the boundary between the different disciplinary roots of institutionalism is fuzzy, we avoid debating a dichotomist choice of social or economic views of institutionalism; instead, we use a comprehensive view of institutions so we can examine and explain more deeply how MNEs and CS actors work together to develop different levels of legitimacy using both institutional isomorphism and institutional innovative perspectives.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Levels of legitimacy development in internationalization: Multinational enterprise and civil society interplay in institutional void

Rana

Sørensen

2020

Global Strategy Journal

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Research Summary Typically, studies on subsidiary legitimation take the perspectives of compliance and isomorphism to examine multinational enterprises (MNEs') legitimacy; our study considers both isomorphism and institutional innovation perspectives to examine how subsidiaries, in collaboration with civil society actors, co‐develop various levels (degrees) of legitimacy in an institutional void. The study finds four overlapping levels of legitimacy—“acceptance,” “image,” “endorsement,” and “synergy” (a combination of acceptance and efficiency)—that subsidiaries co‐develop throughout the internationalization process. We bring new insight into legitimation: that an isomorphism perspective of legitimacy alone cannot explain the complexity of subsidiary legitimation in an institutional void because subsidiaries not only earn acceptance by compliance, but also create/co‐create image, endorsement, and synergy as outputs of institutional innovation. We contribute to the global strategic management in emerging economies. Managerial Summary We investigate how MNE‐civil society interplay co‐develops different levels of legitimacy in an institutional void, as opposed to only the “acceptance” level. The study combines both rule‐accepting and rule‐changing perspectives, revealing that MNEs' strategic endeavors yield overlapping, yet increasing, levels of legitimacy—“acceptance,” “image,” “endorsement,” and “synergy”—in internationalization. These levels are not necessarily derived from a firm's strategic initiatives using an isomorphism perspective; instead, the firm appears as an institutional entrepreneur and co‐develops new institutions, which creates synergy (legitimacy + efficiency) for the firm's operation. Although it is difficult to separate the increasing levels of legitimacy, managers can use the insights to design specific strategies for each level of legitimacy and develop partnerships with local actors in legitimation in an institutional void.

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“…Cucculelli and Storai 2015), in this study we embrace a configurational perspective, and integrate in our hypotheses the technological sector of companies' operations. As put forward by the extant literature on sectoral systems of innovation and business systems (See Tylecote and Conesa 1999;Liu and Tylecote 2016;Rana and Morgan 2019), firm governance, inter-firm relationships and industry's technology need to form a coherent bundle to generate positive effects on companies' performance as innovation in different sectors leverage on different types of knowledge (more or less tacit), relationships (more or less long-term oriented) and opportunities for reconfiguration (Geels 2002;Perez 2004). The focus on the technological dimension is therefore needed to avoid significant misinterpretations of the interaction between localization effects and family firms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%