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We investigate the effect of distance – political, economic, cultural and spatial, on developed-economy multinational enterprises’ (MNEs’) ownership decisions in cross-border (CB) acquisitions. We start with the premise that distance discourages full and majority ownership in CB acquisitions, and further investigate the moderating role of distance-reducing factors. We examine how the relationship between distance and acquisition ownership decision is moderated by firm-specific characteristics, such as firm size, general international experience, and specific host country experience. Our data sample consists of 1,041 CB acquisitions under taken by Finnish MNEs in 58 countries during the time period 1990–2010. We find substantial support for all our hypotheses and conclude that the negative effects of distance on CB acquisition equity stake are positively moderated by the three firm-specific resources but their individual importance is conditional on the host country type (developed or emerging).

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to examine methodological trends in emerging market strategy research and to provide a comprehensive review of methods of assessing group variation in comparative studies.

Methodology/approach – This comprises a systematic review of the methodology of emerging market research over the past 10 years, followed by methodological best practices for comparative studies involving emerging and mature markets, with exemplars from the past research.

Findings – Despite previous calls for more comparative studies in emerging market research, most of the literature is reporting on single-country studies. There is some confusion in terminology and the methods used in this area of strategy research. Increased attention to the “East” calls for a reevaluation of methods utilized in comparative studies. The methods described in this chapter present best practices for comparative research.

Social implications – More comparative studies would substantially expand our understanding of the differences between the emerging and developed markets, and the potential impact of emerging markets on global economy. Rigorous research methods extend validity and generalizability of the studies.

Originality/value – This chapter is the first study to date to analyze the methodological trends of the entire field of emerging market research over the span of 10 years and to provide systematic methodological recommendations tailored to analyzing variation in comparative studies.

This research analyzes and tests the impact of some resource‐based determinants on sourcing decisions in an IS domain.

By applying the insights provided by the resource‐based view of the firm, some hypotheses to explain sourcing decisions regarding the implementation of an information system was developed. These hypotheses are tested in a specific functional area – human resources – using binomial logistic models. Primary data was collected through a survey of large Spanish firms.

Results confirm that HRIS implementation capabilities, and not the mere set of technical skills, play a major role in sourcing decisions. However, only when a specific level of both experience in that function and relationship between client and provider teams is reached will these capabilities allow the firm to outperform competitors and become a key determinant of the governance mode. Support for the influence of the strategic contribution of the HRIS was also found.

Unlike prior research, which stopped with the theoretical application of a resource‐based perspective to explain IS sourcing decisions, the author takes things a step further and operationalizes its insights. By using the IS function as the unit of analysis, a theoretically derived multidimensional measure of IS implementation capability was developed. Moreover, timing issues was considered when measuring this concept.

The purpose of this paper is to explore to what extent different obstacles (financial, knowledge, market, and perception) affect the propensity of Mexican family firms to engage in innovation activity. Second, it examines whether the perception of these obstacles differs between two subgroups of family firms, considering levels of ownership and family management control.

Information was gathered through a CIS methodology-based questionnaire applied to 161 CEOs of Mexican family firms. Binomial logistic regressions were performed identifying obstacles that were truly relevant for the family firm subgroups in the sample.

For subgroup 1, knowledge and market factors were significant and negatively related to the propensity to engage in innovation activities; for subgroup 2, only market factors were relevant. The results also show how the tenure of the CEO, the number of generations involved, and the family involvement in management and non-management positions affect the results obtained.

Implications for family business scholars embrace the assessment criteria of different family business definitions. While the implications for managers and policy makers include the recognition of the factors that affect innovation in Mexican family firms in order to design and implement adequate strategies to overcome them.

This study addresses some of the raised demands in the literature. First, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first attempt to explore the factors hampering innovation in family firms in Latin America. Second, this study was undertaken in response to the call for exploring variations in innovation behavior across different family business types in regards to ownership and family management control. Moreover, this study responds to the call to analyze financial and non-financial factors separately and to expand the geographical areas, sectors, and sizes of family firms, more specifically in Latin America.

En este trabajo se explora hasta qué punto los diferentes obstáculos (financieros, de conocimiento, de mercado y de percepción) afectan a la propensión de las empresas familiares en México para participar en actividades de innovación. En segundo lugar, se examina si la percepción de estos obstáculos se diferencia entre los dos subgrupos de empresas familiares, considerando los niveles de propiedad y el control de la gestión familiar.

La información se obtuvo a través de un cuestionario basado en la metodología CIS aplicado a 161 CEOs de empresas familiares mexicanas. Se llevaron a cabo regresiones logísticas binomiales para la identificación de los obstáculos verdaderamente relevantes para los subgrupos de empresas familiares en la muestra.

Para el subgrupo 1, los factores de conocimiento y de mercado fueron significativos y negativamente relacionados con la propensión a participar en actividades de innovación; para el subgrupo 2, sólo los factores de mercado fueron relevantes. Los resultados también muestran como la permanencia del director general, el número de generaciones que participan, y la participación de la familia en puestos directivos y no directivos afectan los resultados obtenidos.

Implicaciones para los investigadores en empresas familiares incluyen los criterios de evaluación de diferentes definiciones de empresa familiar. Mientras que las implicaciones para gerentes y responsables políticos incluyen el reconocimiento de los factores que afectan a la innovación en las empresas familiares mexicanas con el fin de diseñar e implementar estrategias adecuadas para superarlas.

Este estudio aborda algunas de las demandas planteadas en la literatura. En primer lugar, en la medida del conocimiento de los autores, se trata del primer intento por explorar los factores que dificultan la innovación en empresas familiares en Latinoamérica. En segundo lugar, este estudio se llevó a cabo en respuesta a la llamada para explorar variaciones en el comportamiento innovador entre diferentes tipos de empresas familiares considerando los niveles propiedad y el control de la gestión familiar. Por otra parte, este estudio responde al llamado para analizar los factores financieros y no financieros por separado y para expandir a otras áreas, sectores geográficos y tamaños de empresas familiares, más específicamente en América Latina.

Due to product diversity, traditional quality signals in the hotel industry such as star ratings and brand affiliation do not work well in the accommodation booking process on the sharing economy platform. From a suppliers’ perspective, this study aims to apply the signaling theory to the booking of Airbnb listings and explore the influence of quality signals on the odds of an Airbnb listing being booked.

A binomial logistic model is used to describe the influences of different attributes on the market demand. Because of the large sample size, sequential Bayesian updating method is utilized in hospitality and tourism field for the first attempt.

Results show that, in addition to host-specific information such as “Superhost” and identity verification, attributes including price, extra charges, region competitiveness and house rules are all effective signals in Airbnb. The signaling impact is more effective for the listings without any review comments.

This study contributes to the literature by incorporating the signaling theory in the analysis of booking probability of Airbnb accommodation. The research findings are valuable to hosts in improving their booking rates and revenue. In addition, government and industrial management organizations can have more efficient strategy and policy planning.

According to an emerging research trend, which seeks to apply the concept of intellectual capital (IC) to the field of entrepreneurship, the purpose of this paper is to test whether IC can affect the start-up expectations of aspiring entrepreneurs.

Binary logistic regression models, based on empirical data derived from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor website and referring to Italy over the years 2005-2010, are used to test the influence of IC (comprising human, structural and relational capital) on start-up expectations.

Binary logistic regression models reveal robust results. Human, structural and relational capitals affect start-up expectations in Italy. Only in 2010 did structural capital fail to do so.

This study has three main limitations. The first concerns the need for further research to confirm the influence of IC on start-up expectations. The second concerns in-depth, more exhaustive analyses that cannot be carried out due to the use of second- hand data. The third deals with the reference only to Italy, over a limited time-span (2005-2010).

To the best knowledge of the author, this is one of the first empirical studies that investigate whether IC can affect start-up expectations. Results revealed by the regression models might steer other scholars’ interest toward this research path (linking IC and entrepreneurship) that has not yet been properly considered.

The purpose of this paper is to study the colorectal cancer (CRC) screening practices of Latinos in the USA, a traditionally disadvantaged group regarding health, while operating within the theoretical lens of segmented acculturation. Differential acculturation experiences influence migrant health and healthcare access, including CRC screening.

Latinos are categorized into subgroups and are referenced against non-Latino whites and non-Latino blacks. Descriptive statistics and binomial logistic regression models are used to analyze the data from the 2008 and 2010–2014 National Health Interview Survey.

Latinos and respondents born outside of the non-territorial USA exhibit disparities in CRC screening participation. Screening discrepancies are not uniform across Latino subgroups, reflecting the importance of a segmented acculturation theoretical lens.

A discrepancy exists in CRC screening utilization among the largest minority population in the USA. These inconsistencies among US Latinos must be addressed directly to avoid serious health consequences in a large and growing population.

Interventions should be tailored to address the unique situational contexts of Latino subgroups suffering the health disparities. These distinct contexts are only elucidated through the use of a theoretical lens of segmented acculturation in studies of Latino health, which explicitly considers the historical and contemporary social forces acting upon the subgroups. This study extends beyond individual-level exposures to provide a more holistic view of the health behaviors and outcomes among Latino subgroups in the USA. Insight gained from this study is invaluable to improving the health of these traditionally disadvantaged groups.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the effects of knowledge spillovers on innovation and collaboration among firms located in science and technology parks (STPs). To do so, whether knowledge spillovers imply a greater degree of innovation in its various forms – product, process, organisational and commercial – and greater inter‐organisational collaboration on research and development (R&D) is analysed. Explicitly, this article examines these effects by identifying and distinguishing between firms located on and off STPs.

This paper adopts a quantitative approach. After reviewing the literature, the study tests the hypotheses empirically using a sample of 784 firms, and performing several logistic binomial regressions to analyse the impact of each type of knowledge spillover on each type of innovation and on the likelihood of firms establishing inter‐organisational collaborative R&D agreements.

The results show that knowledge spillovers have a positive impact on firm propensity to innovate and on the probability of firms engaging in inter‐organisational R&D collaboration. Furthermore, firm location within an STP is found to influence the intensity of the effect of spillovers on innovation and on R&D cooperation. Thus, the magnitude of the effects of spillovers differs according to the type of the spillover.

Given the special features of spillovers and the scarce evidence available analysing the relationship between spillovers, innovation and cooperation and the location on STPs, this work contributes significant empirical evidence to the existing literature.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors associated with franchisors going public using signaling theory. Listing on the stock market is a sign that the business concept has reached a threshold level of acceptance and success. To increase the relevance of this study to practitioners, the authors focus on franchising-specific controllable variables.

This study uses a sample of 2,134 franchisors from US drawn from a survey by Entrepreneur magazine during the years 2015–2016. Binominal logistic regression models are used for analysis of the data.

Findings indicate that time to franchise, international operations, franchise association affiliation, disclosure and extent of top management commitment are factors positively related to the likelihood of a franchisor being publicly listed.

Study findings are based on a sample of franchisors from North America, where financial markets are well developed, and due caution should be exercised before generalizations are made to other contexts. A major implication of this study is that signaling theory may provide an important supplement to the already well-entrenched resource-scarcity and agency theoretic explanations in franchising research.

While signaling theory is growing in importance in the franchising literature, this study is the first to uncover the relationship between company signals and initial public offering.

This paper aims to clarify the fit of competitive strategies and firm-specific advantages (FSAs) with country-specific advantages (CSAs) in explaining manufacturing location choices at product category level in the European automotive industry.

Seven hypotheses are formulated and tested using binomial logistic regression with data from 148 passenger car models (i.e. product category level) that are sold in Europe and manufactured in countries that offer CSAs of either cost advantages or differentiation advantages. The first four hypotheses test manufacturing location choices of product categories pursuing cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy, focus strategy and hybrid strategy. The other three hypotheses test whether FSAs of R&D capability, marketing capability and operations capability will impact on the manufacturing location choice. The tests control for the type of passenger cars as well as the manufacturer’s region of origin.

While pursuing cost leadership strategy leads to manufacturing in countries that offer cost advantages, pursuing differentiation strategy as well as strong R&D capability and marketing capability result in manufacturing in countries that offer differentiation advantages. Focus strategy, hybrid strategy and operations capability do not have an impact on the manufacturing location choice at product category level.

Conducting empirical research at product category level is subject to limitations in the choices of FSAs due to lack of availability of data.

Managers should assess the competitive strategies and FSAs of their product categories and then decide about manufacturing locations based on their fit with host country CSAs. Policymakers should understand the CSAs of their countries and target to attract manufacturing FDI from product categories with matching competitive strategies and FSAs.

The research contributes to discussions in explaining manufacturing location choices. Its originality lies in being the first study to test the fit of competitive strategies and FSAs of product categories with CSAs.