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We examine how the entry of gig-economy platforms in developing markets affects informal economy participants. Some advantages of gig-economy platforms such as flexibility and low entry barriers already exist in informal economies. But others such as algorithmic matching, bring greater efficiency to a largely unstructured market, suggesting that informal economy participants should join platforms. However not all do. Why do some informal economy participants choose to compete against gig-economy platforms rather than join them? Drawing and extending on the concept of social capital, we hypothesize that informal economy participants with greater horizontal and vertical social capital will eschew platforms entirely. Horizontal social capital develops between informal participants in the form of relational networks while vertical social capital forms between participants and customers. We examine what happened to Kazakhstan's informal taxi market after Uber and Yandex.Taxi entered the market. We survey 220 drivers to find out why some drivers chose to avoid the platforms entirely. We find support for our arguments suggesting that social capital created in the informal economy can offset the benefits of gig-economy platforms in developing markets, adding to our understanding of how digital technologies transfer to dissimilar contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging technologies have created new business models that some organizations embrace, while others stick with established business models. We examine how this impacts location choice for new entrants. Combining agglomeration and business model research, we show that prior to the introduction of a new technology, new entrants favored locations where firms followed an established business model. However, after the introduction of new technology, this preference diminished, indicating a shift toward new business models. We combine data on the Indian software industry in Bangalore with data on H-1B visas to identify domestic firms using the outsourcing business model. Our empirical results show that locations with a large number of domestic firms using the outsourcing business model attracted entry prior to the introduction of 3G wireless spectrum. However, afterwards, this attraction significantly diminished. Our paper illustrates how business models influence agglomeration and location choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore how the location decisions of domestic entrants change over time in an emerging economy. In these contexts, foreign firms are viewed as having sophisticated technological capabilities and protecting these capabilities from diffusing to domestic firms. Simultaneously domestic firms are attempting to upgrade their capabilities. Over time, domestic firms should absorb some knowledge and improve their capabilities. We argue that in early time periods domestic entrants will prefer locations with foreign firms over locations with domestic incumbents. But in later time periods, this will reverse. We test our arguments using 5,936 domestic software firm entrants during 2000-2014 into Bangalore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geography matters and there are striking differences across regions in the nature and extent of economic activity. While the field of strategic management has been primarily interested in differences in firm profitability and often emphasized on internal drivers of firm competitive advantage such as resources, capabilities, and routines, it is notable that geography has played a pivotal role in the rise of entire industries. In this symposium, we have five papers drawn from various regions namely Milan, Bangalore, Tel Aviv, Detroit, and the various states within the United States. Given their spread across continents, they naturally bring out regional variations to the fore. In addition, given that the papers focus on fashion, software, food, auto, and high tech, the symposium shall also provide an opportunity to scholars to understand and appreciate various nuances in agglomeration studies set in heterogeneous industries and settings, increasing the potential for raising newer and interesting questions within and across the streams of strategy, international business, and entrepreneurship. Why did Milan emerge as the hub of the Italian Fashion Industry? Author: Sandeep Pillai; Department of Management and Technology, Bocconi U. Bangalore as the Software Capital: Dynamic Location Choices Among Domestic Start-Ups. Author: Anna Lamin; Northeastern U. The emergence of Tel Aviv as the Vegan Capital: The Role of Social Movements. Author: Sonal Nayak; Doctoral Student at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore Detroit's emergence as the hub of the early American automobile industry: Was there too little entry Author: Aneesh Datar; NEOMA Business School Economic Downturns and Exploration: New Technological Trajectories in Regions. Author: Amit Kumar; Warwick Business School [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms rely on social reference groups to inform their behavior. Extending this to headquarter attention, we explore how external and internal peers can influence a multinational's (MNE) attention to its subsidiaries. Because MNEs operate in multiple contexts, the selection of relevant social reference groups is complicated. We use the cognitive perspective to propose different categorizations of 'peers'. Using a longitudinal dataset of 213 subsidiaries of 135 MNEs operating in India during 2001-2016, we find that MNEs' headquarter attention is tuned to external peers from the same industry but not home-country. For internal peers, we find two relevant reference groups influence headquarter attention. Thus MNE attention to subsidiaries can occur independent of subsidiary actions and be dependent on an external or internal peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this panel symposium is to generate new insights into the theoretical and empirical challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for scholars interested in agglomeration research. Though the extensive literature on agglomeration has documented the positive externalities, boundary conditions, and moderators of outcomes among clustered firms, there are a variety of theoretical and methodological aspects related to agglomeration literature that remains to be explored. This panel symposium will bring together thought leaders engaged in scholarly work at the frontiers of agglomeration research to reflect on the state of agglomeration research and its implications for management scholars. The scholars will identify questions, mechanisms and phenomena that can guide frontier scholarly work by STR, TIM, and ENT division members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building upon the attention-based view and specifically the cognitive drivers of headquarter (HQ) attention to subsidiaries, we examine when subsidiaries within an emerging market warrant HQ attention. We argue that subsidiaries gain HQ attention not individually but rather when the categories they are associated with earn attention. Specifically, subsidiaries in India receive HQ attention when HQ pays attention to other similar emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, and China as well as on 'growth'. Additionally, a subsidiary gains HQ attention when competitors pay attention to their subsidiaries within the same country. We find support for these arguments using a dataset of 246 subsidiaries of large multinational corporations operating in India during 2000-2016. Finally, we do not find evidence that HQ attention is a signal that subsidiary investments in R&D, marketing or tangible assets have been made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the performance effects of third-party certifications in a weak institutional environment, arguing that in such an environment the informational value of third-party certifications is contingent on industry legitimacy. Firms in weak institutional environments often obtain certifications to appeal to foreign audiences. But these audiences hold negative evaluations of firms from weak institutional settings, judging them as being of poor quality due to their geographic origin. We argue that in the absence of industry legitimation, these negative evaluations greatly diminish the informational value of certifications, such that they do not provide value to the firm. However, as the industry legitimizes, it increases the salience of the industry over the institutional context. Audiences see the industry first, not the weak institutional environment. Here, third-party certifications become a basis for differentiating among firms and thereby help improve firm performance. We use the first decade post-liberalization of the Indian software industry, 1992-2003, to test our hypotheses. Based on a sample of 792 firms, we find support for our arguments suggesting that in weak institutional environments certification alone is not enough for firms to overcome the stigma of their origins; it needs to be accompanied by industry-level processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does reputational signaling help firms in a global industry? Although the direct effects of a reputational signal on firm performance remain elusive, we examine how this signal can enhance the effectiveness of firm strategies and in turn firm performance. We focus on international and product market strategies as these are highly relevant in global industries. Examining the use of a common reputational signal, quality certification, on a unique sample of 792 firms, we find that it enables firms to more effectively target different international markets, across more geographic regions and product segments improving their survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

R&D activity by local and foreign firms is increasing in environments with weak intellectual property rights (IPR). What are the dynamics of R&D investment when firms from multiple industries co-locate in such environments? Given that co-location can result in knowledge spillovers, we argue that local firms can 'free-ride' on nearby foreign and local firms. Furthermore, local firms are expected to free-ride more from other local firms within their industry and from foreign firms from other industries. Relying on fieldwork and analysis of a unique sample of 3,475 R&D lab investment decisions during 2003-2010 in India, we find that local firms free-ride from other local firms both within and across industries. Our results contribute a more nuanced view of knowledge spillovers in environments with weak IPR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We focus on R&D laboratory closure to determine how the innovation activity in a specific area and proximity to other firms influences the location strategies of firms. We use interviews with R&D managers in India to motivate our hypotheses and draw on a unique dataset of R&D laboratories in India during 2003-2010 to empirically examine them. Our results indicate closure is positively affected by concerns over knowledge spillovers to nearby local firms in the same industry and concerns about crowding out of local labor markets to nearby foreign labs in the same industry. However, these effects are not homogeneous but depend on a firm's characteristics. The effects on closure are significant when the focal firm is large or small but not of intermediate size, suggesting that the downsides of agglomeration are not confined to large advanced firms but also detrimentally effect small firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]