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Purpose Dynamic capabilities yield positive effects to firm-specific advantage formation. Paradoxically, the body of literature on capability diffusion is scarce. The purpose of this study is to focus, thus, on this dearth of literature with an emphasis on exploring the transferability function. Design/methodology/approach An integrative review of literature on the dynamic capabilities view covers the organizational context determining capability sharing, supported by strategic communication and business networking theories for the fashioning of global capabilities’ administration model (GCAM). Findings Individual motivations and formal modelling of capabilities’ transference have been overlooked in previous research. Largely with a top-down orientation, the current paradigm of their diffusion is profoundly shaped by the organizational structure and its global governance practices. Research limitations/implications The GCAM’s architecture, based on transnational administration and hybrid transferability, opens horizons for multinational companies to develop their own capability management systems and is at the same time a new scholarly avenue in the field. Originality/value This study explores an untapped research gap and the formal modelling of a GCAM, while reconciling some of the weaknesses of academic research and industry practices.

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the characteristics of capability exchange within internationalizing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of the Portuguese metallurgic and metal-mechanic sectors.Design/methodology/approachMultiple case research instrumentalizes a (manifest) content analysis based upon qualitative data gathered from the interviewing of the strategic apex of four multinational enterprises, codified in the light of the well-known Weber protocol.FindingsThe results uncover the existence of a multi-diffusional approach with a bi-directional regime of transferability, where reciprocal transference is non-simultaneous. Operational rigidities are asserted to be stifling the diffusion of capabilities across subsidiaries and hindering higher economies of learning.Research limitations/implicationsThe current paradigm of international capabilization of the sector requires substantial enhancements in its design for the benefit of the firm’s international competitiveness, growth and wealth.Originality/valueOrganizational capabilities are a determinant of competitiveness. Hitherto, the phenomena of (capabilities) mobility and transferability are still acknowledged as a clear gap. This study opens, therefore, avenues on international capabilization in relation to the modeling and testing of global dynamic capabilities and its replicability across industries.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of manufacturing flexibility in the relationship between knowledge creation, technological turbulence and performance. In an increasingly competitive and changing environment, firms need to boost their technological and management know-how to adequately develop manufacturing flexibility.Design/methodology/approachThis study analyzes survey data collected from 370 manufacturing firms. Validity and reliability analyses were conducted using SPSS and Amos. The research hypotheses were tested using covariance-based structural equation modelling.FindingsThe main findings show that knowledge creation positively and significantly affects business and operational performances directly, and indirectly, through manufacturing flexibility. Moreover, technological turbulence has a positive and significant effect on it. This finding contributes to understanding why some firms get better outcomes from manufacturing flexibility than others, a disputed issue in the literature.Practical implicationsThis study highlights the need for manufacturing firms to foster cultures of knowledge creation, to better educate and train employees and to develop other instruments of knowledge creation.Originality/valueThis study makes several contributions to manufacturing flexibility literature: (1) establishing a link between technological turbulence and knowledge creation to develop manufacturing flexibility; (2) add empirical evidence on the relation between manufacturing flexibility and performance and (3) contributes to consolidating the mediation role of manufacturing flexibility in the relations between knowledge creation and business performance, as studies focussing on such a role are scarce in the literature.

MNC subsidiaries benefit from managers with entrepreneurial skills for finding superior combinations of MNC and host-country resources. However, such management skills are scarce. We reason that subsidiaries can improve their performance by hiring host-country entrepreneurs as managers since they develop similar skills in start-ups. Our theoretical model integrates mechanisms from entrepreneurial experience into theory on the microfoundations of dynamic capabilities. We test and support our prediction using longitudinal employer–employee data for 5587 foreign MNC subsidiaries in Portugal. Further, we show that performance effects are weaker when a subsidiary’s management is internationally diverse and stronger in dynamic host-country environments.

PurposeShifting demand and ever-shorter production cycles pressure manufacturing flexibility. Although the literature has established the positive effect of the firm's absorptive capacity on manufacturing flexibility, the separate role of the innovation competencies of exploitation and exploration in such a relationship is still under-investigated. In this study, the authors examine how these competencies affect manufacturing flexibility.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use survey data from 370 manufacturing firms and analyze them using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB–SEM).FindingsThe results indicate that absorptive capacity has a strong, positive and direct effect on exploitative and exploratory innovation competencies, proactive and responsive market orientations, and manufacturing flexibility. The authors’ findings also demonstrate that the exploitative innovation competencies mediate the relation between responsive market orientation and manufacturing flexibility. Essentially, these exploitative innovation competencies produce a direct positive effect on manufacturing flexibility while simultaneously being a vehicle for absorptive capacity's indirect effects on it. An exploration innovation strategy does not significantly affect manufacturing flexibility.Originality/valueThis study contributes by combining key strategic features of firms with manufacturing flexibility, while providing new empirical evidence of the mediation of the exploitative innovation competencies in the relation between responsive market orientation and manufacturing flexibility.

A number of recent scientific articles have studied the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm’s performance, though not all came in the scope of international entrepreneurship (IE). Researchers often test mediating or moderating variables that help explain this relationship. The extensive academic findings lead us to a wide range of mediating/moderating variables and to a lack of consensus in this domain. This study is in scope of IE literature, and it aims to provide new and robust insights supported by consistent empirical findings and to adopt this structural-model approach as a reference in the absence of academic consensus. Specifically, the paper examines the contribution of intrapreneurship to both the firm’s international orientation (IO) and performance in light of the IE guidelines. To this end, we examine how the EO of Portuguese exporters influences corporate performance taking into account the meditating effect of their IO on the EO – performance association through structural equation modeling. Results confirm that IO positively and significantly mediates the relationship between EO and corporate performance. EO and IO were also found to have a direct and positive effect on corporate performance. These findings confirm the relevance of intrapreneurship and international commitment to a better organisational performance and gives us empirical support to conclude that effort taken in these domains could enhance the exporters’ performance. Moreover, this study makes an empirical and theoretical contribution to the IE topic and therefore aims to be a reference to the literature in this domain.

This chapter presents an in-depth critical overview of the theoretical and methodological approaches that have been used to assess the impact of Universities on regional competitiveness and development, including short-term/demand-side (economic) perspective and long-term/supply side (endogenous growth, technological transfer and commercialization, and institutional) perspective. It gives special attention to the potential impacts of universities' technology transfer and entrepreneurship activities on regional competitiveness, considering the ongoing transformation process of universities towards a ‘regional engaged entrepreneurial university' model.

Within the framework of the entrepreneurial university (EU), this study aims to test its multidimensional domain and therefore to confirm the positive contribution of EU factors to perceived regional competitiveness in Portugal. Data were collected from ten Portuguese public universities (PPUs) through a self-employed questionnaire. First- and second-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were performed through factor and multiple linear regression analyses. The proposed EU construct was confirmed, thus proving the adequacy of scales for the PPUs context. Overall, the main findings show that EU factors—‘internal processes’, ‘entrepreneurial supporting measures’, ‘international collaboration’, and ‘funding strategy’—make a positive contribution to the perception of regional competitiveness. ‘Entrepreneurial supporting measures’ is the EU factor which has the biggest impact on perceived regional competitiveness and ‘organisational design’ is the only EU factor that does not reveal any impact on it. This contribution demonstrates to policy makers that PPUs are not merely cost centres but knowledge spillovers that can have a positive influence on regional competitiveness.

This chapter focuses on the role played by business incubators in developing and facilitating knowledge transfer, networks, and business support to tenant firms through a sustainable ecosystem. The authors conduct an in-depth qualitative case-study of one tech-based business incubator in Portugal—IPN, created in 1991 by the University of Coimbra—to provide insight on how the incubator's direction/management board and a group of incubatees perceive incubation and its impact. Primary data was collected via participant observation/focus group involving the incubators' CEO and six team members. Semi-structured interviews were carried out among the CEOs and top managers from 11 companies supported by IPN whether as (1) incubates, (2) under acceleration, and (3) graduates. Results show a positive impact of incubation on internationalization and growth for incubatees and companies under acceleration. However, there is a need for new post-incubation follow-up mechanisms and a normative context promoting richer interactions with graduates.

This study attempts to develop an ordered logit regression model to identify the determinants of the geographical distribution of business incubators (BIs) in Portuguese regions in 2015. The results show that Portuguese BIs are more likely to be geographically concentrated in regions where the number of patent applications is higher, usually in the larger regions (particularly in metropolitan areas), and mostly in regions with a university. The study clearly demonstrates the importance of Portuguese universities to the location of BIs. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The role of absorptive capacity (AC) has been widely recognized in the innovation literature. This study examines the predictive role of AC for business performance, and evaluates the mediation of market orientation (responsive-proactive) and innovation competences orientation (exploitation-exploration) in that relationship. It addresses the gap in the literature on the relative importance of innovation competence orientations versus market orientations. The findings show that innovation competence orientations are more important to business performance than market orientations and that innovation competences are better enhanced by AC than by market orientations. AC is not only confirmed as an antecedent of ambidextrous market and innovation competence orientation, but it also helps directly and indirectly to explain business performance. Responsive market orientation and innovation competence orientation mediate the positive relationship between AC and business performance. The intensity and significance of the indirect effects reveal the specific knowledge-transformative roles of market and innovation competences orientations. Firms seem to mitigate uncertainty by adjusting their preferences toward less risky innovation strategies. Managerial implications highlight the relevance of innovation competences orientation versus market orientation. Furthermore, firms seem to use proactive market orientation ineffectively, a finding that signals a structural marketing handicap. info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion

This research aims to untangle the decision-making of Portuguese firms in their selection of overseas host-markets. Herein, a theoretical review will cover both the decision-making and internationalisation theory. Restricted to a target population of SMEs, the empirical testing is focused on the areas of risk-perception and the pace of commitment, and is therefore, a multiple case design comprising a representative sample of the different segments of the sector. The research follows a post-positivistic rationale aligned with its descriptive-evaluative purpose, combining the collection of contrived data and subsequent manipulation in a sequential explanatory mixed methods logic. Quantitative data from documentary analysis, is proceeded by qualitative data from interviews to the strategic apex of the case-firms, coded through content analysis. Results demonstrate that commitment decisions follow distinctive risk-profiles, influenced by a dyad of Ricardian comparative-advantage factors and public policy' practices impacting directly on cross-border establishment decisions.

Creativity as source of growth and development has been target of increase interest by several authors. Using a matched employer-employee data set called Quadros de Pessoal, containing information regarding Portuguese private firms and their employees; this paper aims to shed light about the role of creative workers in Portugal. Empirical findings suggest that creative workers have higher educational levels and also higher salaries, and that they are mostly present in smaller, older multinational firms. Moreover, creative workers have a higher propensity to become entrepreneurs compared to non-creative workers, even considering the individual characteristics such as education and firm's characteristics. This paper applies concepts and methodologies used previously in national and international studies and aims to establish a solid foundation, with empirical data for future research related to the themes of creativity, entrepreneurship and work.

Business incubators (BIs) are important entities in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and, as such, can make a significant contribution to regional development. The aim of this exploratory work is to describe the business incubation activity in Portugal and thus fill the current gap in the literature. Due to the limited data and few institutional sources, we adopt a methodology driven by the challenge of identifying the situation of BIs and new firms within the entrepreneurial setting in Portugal. The study, using data gathered in 2015, reveals the asymmetrical distribution of BIs across Portuguese districts and the mismatch between the number of BIs and the number of new firms. Policy makers can use the district patterns of business incubation activity identified in this research to develop an integrated BI network that addresses the business particularities of Portuguese districts. This framework can lead to new lines of research. These include the study of the wide range of services provided by BIs to tenant firms in Portugal, the analysis of factors influencing the spatial distribution of Portuguese BIs, and the comparative analysis of the performance of specialized and non-specialized BIs in the Portuguese territory.

We investigate the consequences of MNC subsidiary closures for employees who lose their jobs. In particular, we examine the extent to which the human capital that these employees acquired while employed by the MNC influences the wages they receive in their new jobs. We propose an employee displacement model for foreign MNC subsidiaries that integrates insights from the labor economics and international business literatures. We argue that a new employer will pay higher wages when signals indicate that potential employees have valuable, foreign human capital (e.g., the closed subsidiary was highly productive by host-country standards), and lower wages when signals indicate that potential employees have highly MNC-specific human capital (e.g., the employee had a long tenure in the closed subsidiary). We provide empirical evidence based on a sample of 110,133 displaced employees of closed MNC subsidiaries in Portugal. Our data set spans the period from 2005 to 2009. Showing that MNCs create a valuable pool of human capital for host-country firms when they close subsidiaries, our findings have important implications for research and practice.

The impact of the management of packaging waste on the environment, economic growth and job creation is analyzed in this paper. This integrated assessment intends to cover a gap in the literature for this type of studies, using the specific case study of the Portuguese packaging waste management system (SIGRE). The net environmental benefits associated with the management of packaging waste, are calculated using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The results show that, for the categories studied, the impacts associated to SIGRE's various activities are surpassed by the benefits associated to material and energy recovery, with special focus on recycling. For example, in 2011 SIGRE avoided the emission of 116 kt CO2 equiv. – the equivalent carbon emission of the electricity consumption of 124.000 households in Portugal. The economic impact of SIGRE is evaluated through Input–Output Analysis. It was found that SIGRE's activities also have a significant economic impact. For example, their added value are ranked amongst the upper third of the economic activities with highest multiplier effect at national level: this means that for each Euro of value added generated within SIGRE, 1.25 additional € are added to the rest of the economy (multiplier effect of 2.25). Regarding the social impacts of SIGRE, the number of direct jobs associated with the system is estimated to be more than two thousand and three hundred workers. Out of these, 83% are connected to the management of municipal waste packaging (selective collection and sorting), 15% are connected to the management of non-municipal packaging waste and only 2% are connected to the Sociedade Ponto Verde (SPV, green dot society in English) – the management entity responsible for SIGRE. In general terms, the results obtained provide quantitative support to the EEA (2011) suggestion that moving up the waste hierarchy – from landfilling to recycling – creates jobs and boosts the economy.

This paper aims to understand if innovative and non-innovative manufacturing small and medium size enterprises (SME) reveal similar or different goals and strategies. This research uses an AMOS SPSS multigroup analysis with data from the community innovation survey (CIS) 2012 to test goals and strategies' similarities. An independent samples t-test is performed to all variables that do not load in the theoretical model. Results suggest similarities in goals (all enterprises value goals that, eventually, can translate in financial gains). With regard to the strategies, results suggest three similar strategies to all enterprises and five different ones that are more associated to innovative enterprises. Results can be important for managers and policy makers since it was possible to uncover a set of strategies that are more common in 'innovative enterprises'.

This paper contributes to the understanding of how small firms are organized and managed. It tests an entrepreneur-worker matching model in small entrepreneurial firms. The model contemplates the existence of complementarities between workers’ and entrepreneur’s skills. Using a Portuguese longitudinal matched employer–employee dataset for the period 1995–2003, the empirical analysis provides descriptive results consistent with the matching model: skill stratification—entrepreneurs are more skilled than workers; scale effects—more skilled entrepreneurs run larger firms, though limited by the restriction on firm size; and positive sorting—more skilled entrepreneurs matched with more skilled workers. The estimation of wage regressions shows that the higher the level of education and experience of the entrepreneur, the higher the wage premium for workers. Results suggest that workers’ wages reflect the value of the match with entrepreneur’s skills. Thus, entrepreneurial skills have an impact not only on job creation, but also on the quality of jobs created.

The importance of resource combination and reconfiguration for subsidiary success within multinational corporations (MNCs) is central to international business literature. However, an understanding...

This is the author's final version of the article. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11187-009-9254-y. Copyright @ Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. 2009. This study examines differences in the effects of start-up rates on subsequent employment change. Two sources of such differences—types of start-ups and types of regions—are analyzed. We find that differences between knowledge-based and other start-ups dominate differences between highly agglomerated and modestly agglomerated regions. In particular, differences in the effects of new start-ups on subsequent employment growth between highly agglomerated and modestly agglomerated regions are greater for knowledge-based start-ups than for other types of start-ups. The results suggest that, while knowledge-based start-ups are likely to impart greater benefits on future employment than other types of start-ups, these benefits are greater when those start-ups locate in more agglomerated regions. Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology

The aim of this chapter is to examine the determinants of organizational innovation. To study the relationship and influence that the determinants have on organizational innovation the authors use data from CIS 4 for Portugal. The results of the logit model indicate that firm size, geographic scope, patents, process innovation, product innovation, R&D, internal source, market source and institutional source positively affect the propensity to introduce organizational innovation. Furthermore, the services are more likely to introduce organizational innovation than manufacturing firms. The results also support the argument that organizational innovation expands the development of product innovation and process innovation, promotes the increase of productivity and economic growth, and is a driver of competitive advantage.

We investigate how human capital decisions made at entry influence the survival of MNC subsidiaries and how they interact with equity entry mode decisions. Our theoretical reasoning claims that som...

This paper contributes to the understanding of how small firms are organized and managed. We develop and test a simple empirical entrepreneur-worker matching model in small firms where individual skills play a central role. The model contemplates the existence of complementarities between workers’ and entrepreneur’s skills. The empirical analysis provides results consistent with the matching model: entrepreneurs are more skilled than workers and more skilled entrepreneurs manage larger firms; more skilled entrepreneurs hire more skilled workers. The estimation of wage regressions shows that the higher the level of education and experience of the entrepreneur, the higher the wage premium for workers.

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in European Economic Review. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2011 Elsevier B.V. This study uses detailed longitudinal matched employer–employee data to examine the impact of entrepreneurial experience on job assignments, careers, and wages. The results suggest that there are significant differences in career mobility between former business owners and workers who were always wage employees. Former business owners enter firms at higher job levels and progress faster up the hierarchy than wage employees without entrepreneurial experience. The majority of the former business owners find jobs in small firms. The return to business ownership experience is lower than the return to wage employee experience, thus suggesting that the labor market imposes a penalty for business ownership experience. Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

We examine the effects of new business formation in a region on subsequent employment growth in that region, observing in particular the effects of different kinds of start-ups on employment change, and the lag structure of these effects. The study partitions entry rates into entry by large and small firms; foreign-owned and domestic-owned firms; and knowledge-based and other firms. In all cases results suggest that effects on new firm formation on subsequent employment change are different according to the type of entrant. Start-ups that are larger, foreign-owned and/or knowledge-based have considerably stronger effects on industrial re-structuring and employment change, whether due to market selection processes or supply-side spillovers. This finding has important implications for entrepreneurship policies at the regional and national levels.

We investigate the consequences of MNC subsidiary closures for employees who lose their jobs. We ask to what degree the foreign knowledge that they were exposed to is valued in their new job. We argue theoretically that this foreign knowledge is both valuable and not readily available in the host country but is also distant and therefore difficult to absorb. We predict an inverse u-shaped relationship between the exposure to foreign knowledge and the salary in the new job. We empirically support our predictions for a sample of almost 140,000 affected employees in Portugal from 2002 to 2009.

This paper examines the dynamic interrelationship between different measures of entrepreneurship ? business-ownership rates and entry rates ? and unemployment rates for Portugal over the period 1983?2000. On the one hand, unemployment rates may stimulate start-up activity of self-employment. On the other hand, higher start-up rates, or higher self-employment, may facilitate industrial restructuring and renewal, decreasing unemployment in subsequent periods. The overlap between these two effects results in ambiguity about the interrelationship between unemployment and entrepreneurial activity. This paper uses a two-equation Vector Autoregression (VAR) model capable of reconciling these ambiguities and tests it with data from 30 Portuguese regions. The empirical results confirm that the relationship between unemployment and entrepreneurship is ambiguous, regardless of the specific measure used to account for increases in entrepreneurial activity.

We compare the labor market value (wage-wise) of human capital acquired while experiencing entrepreneurship with that of human capital acquired while experiencing wage work. While, overall, former ...