International Business Ventures Research Articles

TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS IN SPORTS

This article examines the rapidly evolving landscape of international business in sports. It explores the role of globalization, emphasizing sports' expansion into new markets and mega-events' global showcase. Technological advancements, including virtual reality, blockchain, and data analytics, are transforming fan engagement, performance analysis, and sponsorship. Changing consumer preferences for immersive experiences, sustainability, and social responsibility are reshaping business strategies. Additionally, the article discusses how political and geopolitical factors influence sponsorship, event hosting, and athlete endorsements. It aims to highlight the evolution of the most successful international business ventures, offering valuable insights for professionals and stakeholders navigating the dynamic global sports business ecosystem.

Examining Strategies for Overcoming Language Barriers in International Business Communication

In today’s interconnected global economy, effective communication is critical for successful international business ventures. However, language barriers pose significant challenges to effective international business communication. Through a comprehensive review of existing literature, this study explores various approaches, technologies, and techniques that organisations can employ to enhance communicative effectiveness and foster successful business relationships in a multilingual environment. The study examines various literature sources, explores real-life case studies, and presents recommendations for organisations to enhance their intercultural communication practices. This study also investigates various strategies utilised by organisations and professionals to address language-related challenges, highlighting their efficacy, limitations, and implications for effective cross-cultural communication. The findings provide practical insights for businesses seeking to enhance their intercultural communication and succeed in the global marketplace. This research study can significantly contribute to the development of effective communication strategies in international business settings. It also highlights the importance of language proficiency, cultural understanding, technology, translation, and intercultural communication skills in addressing language barriers and promoting successful international business communication.

Cultural Economics and Management

The "Cultural Economics and Management" program represents a groundbreaking interdisciplinary initiative that seamlessly integrates humanities and commerce, offering students a unique educational experience. This program goes beyond traditional boundaries, combining courses in cultural anthropology, literature, and philosophy with economic principles, marketing strategies, and organizational management. Emphasizing the crucial intersection of culture and business, the curriculum equips students with a diverse skill set, blending critical thinking, cultural sensitivity, and business acumen. Graduates are prepared to navigate the complexities of a globalized world, contributing to cultural institutions, international business ventures, and innovative solutions that address both cultural and economic challenges. The program fosters a mindset of adaptability and lifelong learning, ensuring that graduates remain at the forefront of an ever-evolving landscape where the synthesis of culture and commerce is paramount.

MANAGING ECONOMIC SECURITY OF AN INTERNATIONAL VENTURE: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

This article seeks to provide argument that effective performance in modern realia of business and management is impossible without understanding the socio-psychological processes that accompany entrepreneurial endeavours. Further development of market competition in the national economy, its inclusion in the system of global economic relationships, aggravation of internal barriers to successful implementation of economic reforms significantly raise the issue of exploring a psychological aspect of economic security of businesses, and in international ventures, in particular. An emphasis is put that the roots of genesis and evolution of economic psychology refer to radical changes, especially changes occurred in the economic paradigm and attitudes towards ownership for the means of production in the first place, as well as the emergence of new economic actors. Apart from that, pressing globalization trends, changes in political and economic patterns, as well as rapid technological advances in society have greatly affected socio-cultural values of the population. However, even the very speed and extent of global change faced by modern society depends on psychological characteristics inherent in different social groups. Different psychological patterns and perspectives that drive the development of business environment world-wide have created a new background for shaping and launching new economic security strategies for international business entities and ventures. The findings have verified that business economic security directly relates to management's understanding of the needs and the specifics of business structure and their alignment with the personal goals of the leader. Moreover, business operation of economic entities, both in the external and internal environment, encourages them to search for the new pathways and raise awareness of the need for effective interaction between the internal corporate culture and its organizational structure, ensuring and managing economic security and values of international markets. To attain the above objectives, a thorough research on the international business environment is of critical significance. It is argued that deep insights into psychological factors driving drastic change in the politicians’ perceptions of the need to make a shift from a planned socialist paradigm to a market economy, exploring the psychology of transformation of the theoretical concepts from Marxist political economy to Western market theories will facilitate better understanding of the nature of economic security of international ventures.

Political Risk in Emerging Markets: The Case of AfricaJUICE and Maranque Plants in Ethiopia

This comparative case study examines the experiences of two Dutch horticulture ventures in Ethiopia, East Africa. The first, africaJUICE, specialized in tropical fruit exports, while the second, Maranque Plants, specialized in floriculture exports. The two companies professed a commitment to business ethics and corporate social responsibility, and both operated farms in close proximity to each other in the same region in Ethiopia. This region faced political and social unrest in 2016. However, while africaJUICE’s property was torched by rioters, local community elders and stakeholders rushed to protect Maranque Plants’ properties from any attacks. This case study examines the political and economic contexts underlying international business ventures, and illuminates the specific business decisions that may have led to diverging outcomes during the Ethiopian political crisis of 2016. As such, it bears particular relevance to issues of business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and political risk in emerging market investments.

Employees’ Motivation for Creating International Business Venture: The Role of Perceived Competence and Job Satisfaction

This research investigates the determinants of entrepreneurial intention among Vietnamese employees, a crucial segment of potential entrepreneurs yet mostly neglected in previous studies. Given the focus on intention to create an international business venture and the working segment, we expand the entrepreneurial event theory by supplementing perceived competence and job satisfaction as determinants of entrepreneurial intention while testing the mediation of perceived feasibility and perceived desirability in such relationships correspondingly. Three focus groups on 27 Vietnamese employees were conducted to explore the specific relevant competences and develop the conceptual model. Afterwards, data from an empirical survey on 567 Vietnamese employees was analysed using a partial least squares structural equation model to test the hypothesised relationships. The empirical results indicate that perceived competences, viz. administrative competence, communication skills, network building competence, and international business expertise have a positive impact on entrepreneurial intention. The relationships between either administrative competence, network building capacity or international business expertise, and entrepreneurial intention are totally mediated by perceived feasibility. The study also reveals a noteworthy finding about the negative direct effect of overall job satisfaction on entrepreneurial intention and the partial mediating role of perceived desirability in this relationship.

International business and the migrant-owned enterprise

Migrants launch international ventures, targeting their home countries and other international markets. We investigate migrant-own businesses that undertake international business ventures. Leveraging extant literature and case studies, the study highlights international entrepreneurship in such firms by examining the roles of key organizational factors in internationalization and international performance. After identifying and conceptualizing key antecedents to international performance, we develop a model and associated propositions. Study results suggest that migrant entrepreneurs leverage a distinctive mix of resources, orientations, and capabilities that allow them to succeed in diverse international markets. Findings provide valuable knowledge that can enhance the sustainability and international performance of this important and rapidly emerging category of firm. We provide scholarly and managerial implications to advance theory and practice in migrant-owned international enterprises.

Climate risk and private participation projects in infrastructure

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of climate risk on the success vs failure of foreign direct investments (FDIs) in private participation infrastructure (PPI) projects. The authors also consider the extent to which project-level characteristics mitigate such risks.Design/methodology/approachThe authors study a sample from the World Bank covering 18,846 projects in 111 countries from 2004 to 2013. The authors apply logistic regressions to determine the impact of climate risk and mitigating project characteristics on project failure.FindingsThe authors find that higher levels of climate risk at the host country level are associated with higher risk of project failure. The authors also find that the disadvantage of higher climate risk is weakened by two project-level characteristics, namely, the inclusion of host government ownership in the project consortium and the size of the project.Originality/valueThe research contributes to the current debate about the impact of climate risks on international business ventures. The authors demonstrate that climate risk is a locational disadvantage for FDI in PPI projects. The authors establish that the “fittest” projects in locations characterized by higher climate risk tend to be those that involve host government participation in their ownership structure as well as those of larger sizes.

Problematizing Opportunity Pursuit Multidimensional Embeddedness of International Entrepreneurship

International business scholars are increasingly calling for more awareness of the local context in which international entrepreneurs pursue business opportunities. In this paper, we respond to this call, arguing that an entrepreneur’s business network engenders self-sustaining dynamics that bear upon the entrepreneurial opportunity itself. We conclude that the dynamics that we observe can be interpreted as ‘multidimensional embeddedness’. Through a qualitative inquiry, we study how a Korean entrepreneur seeking to establish an agri-business venture in Cambodia embeds himself in the local business environment as a means to create an opportunity structure. We analyze how the international business venture initially thrived but ultimately failed, attributing these outcomes to the entrepreneur’s multidimensional embeddedness in the wider business environment. In so doing, we contribute a critical perspective to entrepreneurship research, widening the prevailing individualistic focus on entrepreneurship by engaging with the societal context within which an opportunity structure develops. We also extend international business studies by explaining how the opportunity structure underlying international ventures impacts upon opportunity pursuit, beyond the entrepreneur’s control.

INTERCULTURAL BUSINESS DISCOURSE: CHARACTERISTICS OF KAZAKH CONTEXT

Many cross-cultural business interactions quite often constitute a source of cultural misinterpretations and misconceptions. Typically each party uses native strategies to communicate across groups. Different cultures also use their own methods to interpret verbal and non-verbal messages. Therefore, developing a deeper understanding of cross-cultural communicational preferences is critical for any successful international business venture, which stems active research interest in this area. This article, in particular, focuses on a comparative analysis of Kazakh business communication style against different established communication patterns across the globe, e.g. a tendency towards following collective cultural patterns within Kazakh community with resulting implications on the importance of space and privacy, relational and collaborative business inclinations, and intuitive communication style preferences. The article also covers the significance of age and preferences. Finally, cultural roots for preferred communication channels, directness, writing clarity and conciseness in Kazakh business discourse are explained. Often it is the historical development of the community that shapes the mentality, styles of spoken and written communication, as well as methods of interpreting messages from other cultures. These trends are demonstrated on the development of modern Kazakh business discourse preferences and traits. Overall, the article shows that it is not only important to be aware of differences in cultural communication conceptions, but even more important to recognize them, place and interpret the message within the right cultural context. This work aims to present a well-rounded overview of Kazakh business discourse preferences, serving as a guideline for cross-cultural business communication as well as an important contributing piece to the field of intercultural studies. Keywords: Business Discourse, Intercultural Communication, Kazakh communication preferences.

Trust-building in international business ventures

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate collaboration and coordination practices in the organisation whose members come from two countries that differ dramatically in generalised trust: Poland and the USA.Design/methodology/approach– A qualitative field study conducted in Silicon Valley-based American-Polish start-up joint venture.Findings– There are three mechanisms can facilitate collaboration in organisations that differ in generalised trust: frequent interaction that may form a basis for knowledge-based trust, professional cultures that provide common platform for communication, and presence of intermediaries that possess understanding and ability to communicate of both cultures.Practical implications– The findings can be applied in the context of offshoring projects in knowledge intensive industries.Originality/value– Research presented in this paper investigates collaboration of parties from low-trust and high-trust cultures within one business venture.

Creating legitimacy across international contexts: The role of storytelling for international new ventures

This paper considers the legitimacy-creating efforts of Better Place, an international new venture (INV) providing infrastructure services linking electrical vehicles and power grid networks. We analyze the debate on Better Place’s attempts to communicate its business idea to constituents in Denmark, Israel, Canada, and Australia using expert interviews as well as content analysis of newspaper articles and other secondary sources. Storytelling, which is found to be central to the legitimacy-creating efforts of international business ventures, interacts with existing discourses in the diverse contexts in which it occurs. Furthermore, our study demonstrates how constituents pick up specific elements as they become attuned to conversations concerning transportation energy use and sustainability. We believe that this study contributes conceptually, methodologically, empirically, and theoretically to the growing literature on INVs and on institutions in international business. For practice, our aim is to improve managers’ awareness and understanding of the importance of storytelling in the market contexts they seek to enter.

Examining the influence of uncertainty on marketing mix strategy elements in emerging business to business export-markets

The degree of adaptation or standardization of the marketing program is critical in international business ventures. However, findings within this important research field and, consequently, implications for practice remain contradictory and confusing. The purpose of this paper is to examine determinants of an international marketing-mix strategy within a specific business-to-business context that includes the effects of uncertainty. Is the degree to which the marketing program is adapted or standardized dependent on the managerial perception of uncertainty? Does a firm's international entrepreneurial ability or the use of networks positively influence the degree of positive assessment of the environment? Data were collected from German companies working in different international business-to-business markets. The results indicate that international entrepreneurship has a greater impact on uncertainty reduction than the use of networks. After having reduced uncertainty, a firm tends to adapt their communication and pricing strategy, whereas the adaptation of the product and distribution strategy in general is not significant.

Critical success factors when going global: Agribusiness co-operative growth

Agricultural co-operatives make a significant contribution to New Zealand's economy, but "going global" involves the realities of conducting business at an international scale with potential for significant risk exposure in both the short and long run. This paper provides a case study analysis detailing the critical success factors for agribusiness co-operatives growing internationally. The paper studies the strategies of three New Zealand agri-co-operatives with international business ventures (Ravensdown, the Dairy Goat Co-operative, and Fonterra). The case data suggests international success is a factor of sufficient access to capital, strong customer relationships, value chain management and maintaining control through competitive advantage. Keywords: Case study, co-operative, critical success factors, international growth, strategy

Industrial Network Membership: reducing psychic distance hazards in internationalization of firms

The network approach to internationalization of firms has been the research focus of many international business scholars. Firms are increasingly involved in international business ventures and arguably need to learn to adapt to the idiosyncratic milieus of foreign markets. This paper proposes a conceptual model suggesting that integration in industrial networks strengthens corporate competitiveness in international markets. Network membership provides access to knowledge and a wider array of physical, technical, reputational and financial resources that facilitate adaptation to the various dimensions – economic, political, legal, cultural – of international business environments. Membership in social and business networks is likely to ease internationalization by reducing the psychic distance perceived by firms.Key words: Networks. Internationalization theories. Psychic distance.

Financial Valuation of Investments in International Construction Markets: Real-Options Approach for Market-Entry Decisions

AbstractThe body of knowledge in decision making about international construction market entry has been primarily focused on identifying risk factors, quantifying risks, and developing risk management strategies for construction firms to be more likely to succeed in international markets (e.g., risk registrars, industry checklists, entry procedures, and quantitative/qualitative risk assessment models). Going international can also be considered as a large-scale investment for a firm because it has all three major characteristics of an investment decision: (1) entering an international market requires a substantial level of initial outlays; (2) this initial capital is not completely recoverable if the firm decides to exit the market; and (3) the success of an international construction business venture is subject to great market uncertainty, which is exogenous to the firm. Traditionally, financial valuation of international construction markets is conducted by net present value (NPV) analysis approach. Alt...

The making of ‘valuable’ carpets in Lhasa

Much of the ethnic art literature investigates how consumers define the value of ethnic cultural commodities and how consumer demand affects production processes. By revealing how Tibetan carpets became valuable in contemporary Lhasa, this article contributes to an emerging literature that critically examines the roles played by ethnic art producers themselves in the politics of value. Further, this article contributes to the Tibetan Cultural Studies literature by tracing the continuities and changes in the Lhasa carpet industry from the early 20th century to the early 21st century. The author’s analysis focuses on three chains of events: (1) the establishment of a carpet workshop by the Tibetan Government; (2) the formation of the first socialist carpet factory; and (3) the entry of international business ventures into the Lhasa carpet industry. She discusses the forms and scale of the struggles over the making of ‘valuable’ carpets, the roles played by Tibetan officials and overseas businessmen in the politics of value under different political–economic regimes, and the ways in which such politics not only presented challenges for Tibetan artisans, but also offered opportunities for empowerment.

Intercultural Communication In Global Business: An Analysis Of Benefits And Challenges

The twenty-first century business environment is expanding and increasingly attracting the interest of countries from developed and developing nations of the world. As countries of the world become increasingly interdependent and interconnected because of global market and diverse consumer needs, it is critically important that participating countries and their organizations understand and appreciate one anothers cultural differences in order to ensure growth and sustainability in international business. Recent studies have traced the failure of some international business ventures to three significant factors: lack of intercultural skills and competence, inability to communicate effectively at a global level, and failure to practice acceptable etiquette in business negotiations. Therefore, businesses from different countries need to appreciate the importance of understanding the cultures and values of their counterparts as well as develop intercultural communication sensitivity and decorum. This paper then is an attempt toward analyzing the significance and role of intercultural communication and etiquette in international business. Recommendations for appropriate practices and acceptable conducts among nations are provided.

Foreign Investment and Ethics: How to Contribute to Social Responsibility by Doing Business in Less-Developed Countries

Do foreign direct investment (FDI) and international business ventures promote positive social and economic development in emerging nations? This question will always prove contentious. First, the impacts differ according to context. Second, the social consequences and spillover effects of knowledge diffusion and technology-sharing may be limited and hard to measure. Third, contributions to enhancing social responsibility and improving living standards in host countries are delayed in effect, causally complex, and also hard to measure. Outcomes often critically depend on collaboration of governments, international institutions, the business world, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Research in this area is challenging and requires interdisciplinary collaboration between economists, financial experts, sociologists, ethicists, and other specialists. This paper explores: (1) the evidence to support the proposition that FDI and international business improve social conditions in less-developed countries, and: (2) how these improvements are linked to strategies of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and ethical business practice. The paper draws insights from development, FDI, poverty alleviation, and bottom-of-the-pyramid (BOP) literature. Applications are demonstrated using examples from poverty-stricken areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper attempts not only to argue theoretically but also to provide practical evidence. The approach is simultaneously descriptive, analytical, and prescriptive in order to address a wide audience. It also highlights issues and trends for further academic research and presents the viewpoint that some limitations lie in the nature of ethics frameworks widely referenced in business and that these often fail to consider the compatibility of ethical constructs with relevant incentives. In this vein, we explore the application of Homann’s framework for advantage and incentive-based ethics.

Cultural Intelligence and Offshore Outsourcing Success: A Framework of Firm‐Level Intercultural Capability*

ABSTRACTThis article discusses the importance of firm‐level cultural intelligence in the context of international business ventures such as offshoring. We identify the recent movement toward global delivery models in offshoring ventures as the strategic imperative for offshoring partners to acquire and develop firm‐level cultural intelligence. Drawing on Earley and Ang's (2003) conceptualization of cultural intelligence and the resource based view of the firm, we develop a conceptual framework of firm‐level cultural intelligence. The framework comprises three dimensions of intercultural capabilities of the firm: managerial, competitive, and structural. We propose items to measure these three dimensions and discuss theoretical and managerial implications.