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Employing grounded theory based on comparative case studios of informal microfinanced businesses in East Africa, we build a theoretical foundation for studying the establishment and evolution of family firms in [...]

The key component to successful innovation and growth is teaming an analytical, or 'left-brain' thinker, with a 'right-brain' partner who excels at imaginative perspectives. This mix of cognitive styles provides creative yet realistic opportunity.

Our longitudinal study of the entire population of internal corporate ventures within a large European electronics manufacturer finds that the conventional focus in the corporate venturing literature to evaluate ventures [...]

The purpose of this paper is to describe a process for sampling specific domain name zones on the World Wide Web. Because of the size of the Web, sampling strategies must be employed in order to effectively model and study the Web business environment. This paper discusses Various efforts employed to sample the Web, which ranged from random generation of Internet Protocol Addresses and domain names, to the process finally employed to create descriptive models of the dot-com domain name zones. The paper suggests that sampling the Web Top Level Domains offers a reasonable alternative for business researchers because it requires only familiarity with the use of the simple Web utilities such as File Transfer Protocols to obtain initial domain name listings., INTRODUCTION The Web is characterized by relentless growth. VeriSign estimates over 1 million domain names are acquired in the dot-com domain each month. But how much of the growth of [...]

A six-part strategy is outlined that enables local businesses to successfully compete against larger multinational corporations. The strategy includes creating customized services or products, developing business models that address primary obstacles, utilizing updated technologies, and investing in talent.

The article deconstructs the concept of high performance, emphasizing the need for a variety of measurements and methodologies to appropriately assess different companies in disparate situations facing different challenges.

This article, reprinted from 1989, emphasizes the importance of stretch targets and ambitious goals, which require the innovative thinking and practices necessary for corporate growth.

The article focuses on the role of customer engagement in fostering corporate financial vitality, specifically those who are emotionally satisfied, rationally satisfied and dissatisfied.

Six rules are provided for conquering the strategy-to-performance gap: keeping the strategy concrete and simple, debating assumptions, maintain a common language, discussing resource management early, identifying priorities, monitoring performance, and rewarding execution capabilities.

Four spans are identified for developing high-performance positions: control, accountability, influence, and support. These cover resources, standardized measurements, intracompany interaction, and incentives. Their roles in improving performance are delineated using several companies as examples.

Tips for generating and implementing breakthrough growth ideas include forgetting, or transcending established corporate culture; borrowing, or leveraging existing assets; and learning, or allowing for mistakes that yield valuable experience.

Siemens AG chief executive officer Heinrich von Pierer discusses how the company evolved from a German-centric firm to an international corporation through innovation, cost reduction, growth and culture change during the post-unification era.

A fictional cross-selling scenario is presented, with different authors providing insight and advice. Discussion focuses on assessing the company's cross-selling environment as a whole, improving communication between client teams and product teams, and increasing management knowledge of technologies and products.

The impact of legitimacy on the growth of a new company is explored.

The author examines the influence of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights over corporate conduct. The author suggests in the long run, companies may find there are advantages to adapting this strategy that may positively affect company reputation and brand association.

One of the major challenges in the development of a new venture is the need for different thinking styles over time. The growing body of research on entrepreneurship has largely ignored the influence of cognition during the evolution of the new venture. In this paper, we develop a conceptual model which shows how cognitive make-up may influence the success of the new venture growth process. This line of inquiry may prove fruitful in explaining why many creative ideas and once successful ventures fail to succeed. Also, matching task demands and thinking styles should increase entrepreneurial satisfaction and the chances of firm success. This model should also aid the entrepreneur in knowing when to step aside and let others proceed with the development of the formal organization. It provides insights into team building and selection processes as organizations change and develop., INTRODUCTION 'Entrepreneurs are typically very creative and action oriented.... When they build a new organization, they often try to avoid hierarchy. Unfortunately, if their initial vision is successful, and their [...]

Most research on corporate entrepreneurship has disproportionately emphasized external or organizational determinants. Although it is necessary to understand these external determinants, the premise of the present paper is that internal behavioral factors can also be equally helpful in understanding corporate entrepreneurship. Internal behavioral factors refer to the roles played by managers and employees in determining corporate entrepreneurship. Hence, two types of internal behavioral factors are identified and discussed: top managers' perception of the need for entrepreneurship and employees' desire to exploit entrepreneurial opportunities. By crossing high and low levels of the two factors, it is shown that the combination of high and low levels of these factors actually result in different types of corporate entrepreneurship., INTRODUCTION Corporate entrepreneurship (C.E.) has become a popular and widely studied phenomenon in the last few years as evidenced by the special issue of Strategic Management Journal (Summer 1990) and [...]

Establishing a cosmopolitan ethical culture for a multinational company requires special effort above and beyond that needed for standard domestic ethics initiatives. This articles discusses some of the perils and prospects involved in international corporate ethics programs, and recommends some key guiding principles. KEYWORDS: cosmopolitan culture, global ethics plan, human rights, moral dissensus, rule formalism, transnational code

This article begins with an explanation of how moral development for organizations has parallels to Kohlberg's categorization of the levels of individual moral development. Then the levels of organizational moral development are integrated into the literature on corporate social performance by relating them to different stakeholder orientations. Finally, the authors propose a model of organizational moral development that emphasizes the role of top management in creating organizational processes that shape the organizational and institutional components of corporate social performance. This article represents one approach to linking the distinct streams of business ethics and business-and-society research into a more complete understanding of how managers and firms address complex ethical and social issues.

Entrepreneurial research all too frequently tends to generalize conclusions across a broad number of industries. While generalities are important and necessary in research, ultimately these conclusions need to be fine tuned as they relate to a specific industry. For example, Vesper (1990) identifies five key ingredients for startup ventures. But which industry is he talking about? Is he referring to a broad range of manufacturing enterprises or perhaps retail outlets or both? The context of his book suggests that he is addressing the whole realm of industry in the startup process. Continued research in this area is critical because 53 percent of all entrepreneurial startups across all industries fail within five years (Bekey, 1988)., INTRODUCTION Vesper's five key ingredients are important if the research uses a 'shot gun' or multi-industry wide approach. But generally it is necessary to use a 'rifle' or 'industry specific' [...]