Networking among entrepreneurial firms is a widely researched and debated topic amongst academics; however, there are still research gaps. Most research is based on quantitative studies and researchers have called for more qualitative analysis to gain a deeper understanding in what impact networks have on entrepreneurial firms. The purpose with this dissertation is to explore in what way networks are important (or not) for small entrepreneurial firms, and if this changes over the firms’ development. The study has an interpretive philosophy and an exploratory research design. To collect data eight semi-structured interviews, with entrepreneurs in Kristianstad and the nearby area, were completed. The findings of this study are that networks look different for all entrepreneurial firms and the importance of different relationships changes over the firms’ life cycle. Informal relationships (family and friends) are important for the entrepreneur when it comes to encouragement and support, while formal relationships (suppliers, employees, customers and other entrepreneurs) contribute to the success of the firm by providing the entrepreneur with knowledge and advice.  The conclusions, from the collected data, are that all relations are not of equal importance to all entrepreneurs. The importance depends on the entrepreneur’s personality and the industry the entrepreneur operates in. However, we found that the importance of talking to other entrepreneurs has grown and that the most important relationship seems to be with family and friends. The demarcations of this study are that only entrepreneurs in one area of one country were interviewed, also that a qualitative method was used; therefore, we cannot show any statistical proof of the findings.

Although just a minority of all small firms in the UK, high-growth entrepreneurial ventures are becoming widely recognised for their role in job growth and economic prosperity. However, due to their inherently high-risk nature, many of these early-stage firms experience difficulty in securing outside finance from institutional investors, which ultimately limits their growth and economic potential. Fortunately, two investor types, business angels (BAs) and venture capitalists (VCs), do fund a small proportion of these entrepreneurial ventures, although they, especially BAs, often have much more financial capital available for such investments. Since many aspects of BA and VC investment processes remain unknown, it is hoped that a better understanding of how and why these investors fund particular investments may aid in further lessening the entrepreneurial funding problem. This research study, therefore, conducts the first-ever detailed comparison of the investment criteria and procedures of these two financiers across the full investment process. To make the study more robust, a theoretical base is adopted (based on agency theory) to form research hypotheses which propose that BAs and VCs in the UK may use different approaches to limit potential agency risks in their investments (i.e. the risks associated with an entrepreneur's potential misuse of the investor's money). Utilising data from 40 personal interviews and 262 questionnaire responses, this study empirically supports the main hypothesised notion that, although both investors reduce agency risks at all stages of the investment process, BAs place more emphasis on doing so ex-post investment (the incomplete contracts approach), whilst VCs stress doing so more ex-ante investment (the principal-agent approach). In supporting the hypothese, empirical information is gathered about each investment stage and each investor group's heterogeneity. Possible implications of these findings are then discussed in the hope of aiding, no matter how slightly, the funding efficiency of small entrepreneurial firms.

In the context of the globalization of human capital, this thesis examines the role of CEOs with international experience, known as returnee CEOs. The first essay argues that that CEOs’ international expertise is acquired at the opportunity cost of local social capital, such as political and business ties, which is more critical than expertise in transition economies with weak legal institutions. Based on the sample of 2847 CEOs appointments in China, I find that returnee CEOs are associated with inferior performance, lower market reactions to appointment announcements and an adverse regulatory environment. The negative relation disappears when social capital is acquired, regional legal institutions are strong or returnees’ international expertise is in demand. Exploiting an exogenous increase in the supply of returnee talent as a result of new provincial policies, I find the results consistent. The second essay examines the returnee CEOs in newly public entrepreneurial firms that are in transition period. I propose that returnee CEOs possess the tacit knowledge of foreign advanced legal institutions, which can help entrepreneurial firms overcome the formalization challenges they face in getting listed. The results based on 355 newly public Chinese entrepreneurial firms indicate that returnee CEOs, especially those who have returned from countries with advanced legal institutions are associated with superior post-IPO performance. In addition, foreign venture capitals (VCs) are found to strengthen the positive impact of returnee CEOs, especially when both VCs and CEOs are from countries with advanced institutions. In the third essay, I examine returnee CEOs’ managerial decision of listing location. Based on the sample of IPOs of Chinese entrepreneurial firms, I find that returnee CEOs are more likely to undertake foreign IPOs, especially for entrepreneurial firms operating in high-tech industries, until the credibility crisis of US-listed Chinese firms was triggered by Muddy Water Research in 2011. Overall, this thesis provides original evidence on the impact of international experience of CEOs and makes important implication on the benefits realization of brain gains in countries with weak legal institutions.

<div>This dissertation studies how patents are monetized via legal actions without practicing the technology and the implications to firms. In recent years, scholars in other fields have extensively studied patent monetization and litigation regime, given the importance of technological innovation and commercialization to the strategy field, strategy scholars have been underrepresented on the topic of patent litigation and monetization. In this dissertation, I develop a theory on how heterogeneity in firms' business models monetizing resources determine firms' heterogeneity in valuation and acquisition of resources. Using a context of patents, we study two primary business models monetizing patents, namely, the practicing monetization and litigating monetization, which differ fundamentally in their value appropriation mechanisms. On the one hand, the value appropriation mechanism for practicing monetization relies on the value created by the firm's deployment of the patented technology in the product market, and from the restraint of rivalry via excluding competitors from accessing the patented technology. On the other hand, litigating monetization depends on the strength of legal actions and the ability to collect payments from target firms to the patent-owning firm, in forms such as settlement fees and damages awarded by the court. The theorization reclarifies the two types of patent heterogeneity: innovativeness and exclusivity, and theorize that differences in patents' innovativeness and exclusivity lead to differences in the expected profit from practicing and litigating monetization, thus leading to a difference in optimal monetization strategy and firms' different preferences for resource acquisition.</div><div><br></div><div>In Essay 1, we develop the aforementioned theory of patent monetization using formal models to understand the relationships among firms' business models, patent characteristics, and the optimal monetization strategy. We show the situations where litigating monetization can prevail and be the method that maximizes patents' value. We further predict that compared to patents that are practiced to produce products or services, patents monetized in a litigating manner are ones that are relatively less technologically innovative. Then, in Essay 2, I use the patent monetization context to investigate how firms' business models affect their resource acquisition behavior in the factor market, i.e., the market of patents. Exploiting recent institutional changes such as the enactment of the American Invents Act (AIA) that asymmetrically influenced different business models, I show that firms specialize in litigating monetization disproportionately acquire highly cited but old patents and patents that were litigated before. Then Essay 3, rooted in the literature that patents are essential signals from entrepreneurial firms to investors, I examine how disputes in patents in the form of litigations affect entrepreneurial firms' obtaining of external financing. </div><div><br></div>

Combining concepts regarding the make-or-buy decision, such as Williamson’s (1981) ideas on transaction costs in conjunction with theories of supply chain management, the thesis outlines what factors should be of importance to firms when deciding to make or buy certain processes within the supply chain. Using Porter’s (1985) division of the supply chain into 5 sections we analyze the make-or-buy decisions of Catamaran Sports/Adidas sailing, finding that while many decisions taken match the theory-based predictions, a lot of processes are handled the way they are because of external constraints faced by the firm. In the case of Adidas their main reason for taking certain strategic decisions are to maintain their competitive advantage in the market, which they build on a benefit leadership strategy. This has resulted in them often choosing a production method that has a relatively high accounting cost, compared to what could have been achieved, in order to maintain flexibility, reduce lead times and provide a higher level of service.

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Yes / This paper utilizes insights from the knowledge-based view and ambidexterity literature to examine the effects of knowledge integration (KI) on innovation via contextual ambidexterity (CA). The paper also investigates the potential moderating role of human resource (HR) slack on the relationship between KI and CA. Using survey data collected from 245 entrepreneurial firms operating in Ghana, the findings show that KI positively relates to CA, and this relationship is moderated by HR slack. In addition, we observed that CA mediates KI and innovation. The broader theoretical and practical implications of the study are outlined.

[pt] Esta tese busca uma compreensão mais profunda dos diferentes aspectos dos efeitos das instituições do país de origem no processo de internacionalização de empresas empreendedoras maduras. O estudo é composto por uma revisão bibliométrica da literatura sobre empreendedorismo internacional que utiliza a teoria institucional, abrangendo o período de 2008 a 2020, e dois estudos de caso longitudinais aprofundados. Na revisão bibliométrica, foram selecionados 65 artigos. A análise ocorreu em duas etapas. Primeiramente, foi realizada uma análise descritiva para caracterizar os artigos quanto à sua natureza e conteúdo. Em segundo lugar, a técnica de acoplamento bibliográfico, utilizando o software VOS Viewer, foi empregada para identificar tendências teóricas na área. O período de 13 anos foi dividido em três períodos de quatro anos. A parte empírica desta tese consiste em dois estudos de caso. Os dois casos separados chegam a uma compreensão mais profunda dos diferentes aspectos dos efeitos das instituições do país de origem no processo de internacionalização de empresas empreendedoras maduras. / [en] This thesis focuses on a deeper understanding of different aspects of the effects of home country institutions on the firm internationalization process of mature entrepreneurial firms. It is composed by a bibliometric review of the literature on international entrepreneurship that uses institutional theory, covering the period between 2008 and 2020, and two in-depth longitudinal case studies. In the bibliometric review, a total of 65 articles were selected. The analysis proceeded in two steps. First, a descriptive analysis was performed to characterize the papers in terms of their nature and content. Second, the bibliographic coupling technique, using the VOS Viewer software, was employed to identify theoretical trends in the field. The 13-year period was divided into three periods of four years. The empirical part of this thesis consists of two case studies. The two separate cases helped to achieve a deeper understanding of different aspects of the effects of home country institutions on the firm internationalization process of mature entrepreneurial firms.