yes / This article explores some of the challenges involved in a collaborative mental health partnership, drawing on the reflections of two project members from the Chainama College of Health Sciences in Zambia and the Leeds Metropolitan University in England. The aim of the project was to support the education and training of the mental health workforce in Zambia as services shift from institutional to community-based care. The discussion is located within Gray’s ‘three-pronged dilemma’ and debates concerning the internationalisation agenda in social work and higher education. The conclusion emphasises the benefits and tensions of partnership working between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries.

No / Universities’ internationalisation rhetoric suggests that students studying on internationally diverse campuses will automatically engage positively with one another and develop intercultural competence. This study examined the extent to which a cohort of first year UK and non-UK students studying on an internationally diverse campus developed intercultural competence. The Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI®) and a locally designed survey were used to assess students’ intercultural competence and to explore their intercultural experiences over seven months. Students began almost exclusively in lower (ethnocentric) stages of intercultural development and most showed little progress despite reporting relatively high levels of intercultural contact, friends from other cultures and positive experiences. Findings suggest that even positive intercultural experiences do not necessarily lead to the development of intercultural competence and that university policy and practice may need to be enhanced if producing graduates with higher levels of intercultural competence is to become a realised outcome of internationalisation. / This work was supported in part by funding from the Higher Education Academy Psychology Network (now defunct)

No / This article investigates the relative importance and variability of the country-of-origin effect in employee relations approaches of US subsidiaries within the context of diversity of employee relations patterns in home- and host-country business systems and the influence of important industry forces. It is based on a representative survey of US subsidiaries and indigenous firms in the UK. The cross-sectional comparison with indigenous UK firms confirmed a distinct US country-of-origin imprint in employee relations patterns in US subsidiaries. However, the magnitude of such an effect cautions against assumptions of popular stereotypes and reflects, inter alia, the diversity of employee relations approaches among US parent companies as well as developments in the UK industrial relations landscape over the last decades. The intra-US analysis revealed the importance of both the level and type of industry internationalisation in shaping the strength and nature of the country-of-origin influence. On the basis of the findings, the article highlights lessons to be learned for the study of cross-border policy-transfer issues in MNCs.

No / This paper investigates the international entrepreneurial behaviour of Mittelstand firms (German small and medium sized enterprises). Analysis of a survey of the international marketing strategies of Mittelstand firms revealed three clusters of firms, two that had below and one above average international activities. None of the clusters displayed born global type of internationalisation processes. However, this does not mean that they adopt passive approaches to internationalisation. The results suggest that Mittelstand firms engage in entrepreneurial behaviour that is proactive and innovative but which is cautious, sequential, and risk adverse. The implications of this analysis for future research in the area of international entrepreneurship are considered.

Yes / The leading frameworks of internationalization have contributed significantly to our knowledge of how firms internationalize, but do not fully explain how firms actually create and capture value from customers when internationalizing their activities. Understanding the value creation and capture activities defining their business model(s) is critical for firms moving into less familiar markets, and is particularly relevant for service firms where variability is an inherent feature of the firm/client experience. To address this gap, we take a business model perspective to analyze 144 internationalization events of 10 professional service firms. We find that the case firms adopted four different business models when internationalizing, and that single firms may utilize portfolios of business models. Our findings contribute to both the services internationalization and business model literatures by showing how variability in the internationalization process substantiates the need for business model portfolios.

Yes / EMNEs from Africa are missing in global places and spaces, and Africapitalism is also meagrely represented within the capillaries of international investments, relative to the opportunities offered by globalisation and Africa’s rich natural resource endowment. Using the Penrosian MNE growth theory, we investigate how African firms' managerial competence and entrepreneurial behaviours can be enhanced by engaging foreign executive directors during pre, early and post-internationalisation. We conduct our analysis by using data from 157 companies domiciled in 17 African countries. Our results show that whilst access to liquidity, foreign managerial know-how, and experience are key drivers of early foreign listing of African EMNEs, these factors have less effect on corporate outcomes during the 3rd and 5th year without the moderating effect of foreign executive directors. We contribute to the international business and international entrepreneurship literature by showing that African EMNEs can succeed in global spaces if they leverage the expertise of foreign executive directors as they bring idiosyncratic industry and market knowledge during early internationalisation. EMNEs intending to internationalise must use a polycentric governing board structure to reflect the intended destination country. Our results imply that early listing on the international stock markets is among the key strategies latecomers use to enter a global game they are just learning to play.

Dans un contexte bipolaire Est-Ouest, l’accord de coopération spatiale franco-soviétique conclu lors de la détente demande la réalisation de programmes spatiaux engageant l’action des scientifiques. Cette recherche étudie les interactions entre les politiques publiques et la capacité d’agir des organismes délégués et des réseaux scientifiques en France et en URSS entre 1966 et 1988. L’analyse vise à appréhender la capacité des acteurs à répondre aux objectifs assignés à cette politique de coopération. L’objectif diplomatique vise à « dépasser l’affrontement entre les deux blocs » lancé en 1966 sur le long terme, faisant de la coopération bilatérale un instrument de diplomatie scientifique, et l’objectif visant à matérialiser la relation sous forme de projets spatiaux automatiques et de missions de vols habités. Des réseaux de scientifiques russes et français contribuent à l’internationalisation des sciences, comme le montrent en 1986 le projet VEGA et les missions de vols habités PVH et Aragatz. La manière dont ces objectifs interfèrent avec des facteurs structurels externes met en lumière la capacité des acteurs à établir une gouvernance au moyen d’une communication innovante, formelle et informelle. Dans un contexte de relations internationales parfois tendues, la démonstration de cette aptitude renforce le champ de la diplomatie spatiale. Il s’agira de contribuer à une histoire croisée de la coopération spatiale en France et en URSS. L’ambition est de rendre compte, par l’analyse des interactions des réseaux scientifiques du spatial avec le politique et dans le contexte des relations internationales des Etats, de leur capacité à coopérer en situation concurrentielle. Cette démarche entend contribuer à la relecture d’une séquence de la guerre froide que l’historiographie récente revisite par les circulations Est-Ouest. / In the East-West bipolar context, a Franco-Soviet space cooperation agreement demanding the implementation of space programs involving the work of scientists was concluded in 1966. This thesis examines the interactions between the public politics applied in centralised institutions between 1966 and 1988, and the capacity of delegated bodies and scientific networks in France and the USSR to act in a situation characterized by periods of retraction and détente.The analysis draws on the role of politics of cooperation having two distinct objectives: the superior and long-term political goal of "overcoming the confrontation of the two blocs" launched in 1966, for which bilateral cooperation becomes the instrument of scientific diplomacy, and the objective to materialise the relationship in the form of joint robotic space and human spaceflight projects. The way in which these objectives are influenced by external factors highlights the capability of actors to establish a system of governance through innovative formal and informal communication. In a context of sometimes tense international relations, the demonstration of this aptitude reinforces the field of a space diplomacy. This work will contribute to an intertwined history of space cooperation between France and the USSR. The ambition is to account for their ability to collaborate in a competitive situation by analysing the interactions between scientific networks in space and politics intertwined with international relations between the states.This approach aims to contribute to the re-reading of a sequence of the Cold War that recent historiography revisits through East-West circulations.

This thesis discusses internationalisation strategies of companies in a globalising service industry, the telecommunications industry. Differences in the internationalisation processes between manufacturing and service companies, and companies in network industries in particular, are analysed. The telecommunication industry’s special characteristics are discussed. Special challenges faced by companies in small and open economies (SMOPECs) in their internationalisation are also covered. Broad research questions, and a conceptual framework and specific research propositions are presented. The methodology, a multi-case study, and research procedure are introduced, and the research findings are reported, analysed and discussed. During the last decade there has been continuous debate on how well the traditional internationalisation (process) theories are able to explain the internationalisation of service companies. In addition, several researchers have argued that the facts that service sectors are heterogeneous and have different characteristics causes remarkable variations in the internationalisation processes of different service sectors. The conceptual framework developed in this study to analyse the internationalisation strategies of the case companies, national telecommunication companies (telcos) from SMOPECs, is based on the earlier research in the areas of international business and strategic management. The framework consists of two main parts, internationalisation strategies and factors influencing these strategies. The four internationalisation strategies included in the framework are product strategy, operation strategy, market strategy and organisation strategy. The factors influencing internationalisation strategies have been divided into five main groups: global factors, industry specific factors, home country specific factors, company specific factors and host country specific factors. This cross-border multi-case study includes four case companies: Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) from Singapore, Sonera Oyj (Sonera) from Finland, Telia AB (publ) (Telia) from Sweden, and Telstra Corporation Limited (Telstra) from Australia. The key findings of the study demonstrate that although in some areas the case study companies followed processes suggested by traditional internationalisation (process) theories there were also significant deviations. These deviations are most obvious when analysing market strategies. The findings present several factors behind these deviations. The findings mostly support earlier research on service industries, although there are distinctive characteristics which apply only to the telecommunications industry, or more generally, to network industries. The findings also demonstrate that the special challenges that companies from SMOPECs face in their internationalisation, influence their internationalisation strategies. Interestingly, in addition to these special challenges, the findings suggest that there are areas where these types of companies may have a competitive advantage in relation to their internationalisation. The conceptual framework developed in this study helps to understand the internationalisation process in the telco industry. The framework integrates findings from both international business and strategic management research, recognising the benefits of more generalisable internationalisation models originating from economic and marketing theories, but taking into account environmental circumstances and the influence of managerial actions, emphasised more in strategic management theories. That is, more contingency approach is taken than in some traditional internationalisation models. The conceptual framework and the findings contribute to the existing research on the internationalisation of services particularly, and to international business and strategic management research more generally. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Business School, 2009

In a scope where continuous innovations are seen each day, the cyberspace can be seen as the tech-entrepreneurs’ playground for delivering new solutions to customers. Digital start-ups who interact through the cyberspace operate with little to no restriction despite having limiting resource. In 2008 a man named Satoshi Nakamoto developed a new technology called blockchain. The new breed of firms providing blockchain solutions have been painted to live in a borderless world with little technical restrictions. Exploring the effects that blockchain brings to their internationalisation has brought our attention to study the early internationalisation of blockchain born globals and their business ecosystem. The deductive and qualitative approach gave the results from four different companies that were involved in blockchain technology. By using previous theory on internationalisation and a deductive approach a conceptual synthesis was developed. The synthesis was later applied in the case-companies to observe the results. The findings have shown that the firms implementing blockchain in the core offering has resulted in an accelerated internationalisation. The major factors contributing to this quick internationalisations is the spread of knowledge between buyers and sellers, trough the cyberspace. However, the authors were unable to find a relationship between the accelerated internationalisation and to the extent in which a firm has implemented blockchain in its core offering. The finding has given the authors prominent answers to the research question and has highlighted the complexity of the subject. The, authors conclude the thesis by displaying the importance of cyberspace in the business ecosystem; how it attracts customers and the importance of the company’s business model. Blockchain technology proved to have effects on the process of internationalisation due to superior technological performance, but also its hype.

An increasing number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) expand their businesses into foreign markets. Some SMEs begin to operate abroad soon after their establishment. These so-called born globals demonstrate a more rapid internationalisation compared with other SMEs. This thesis develops a deeper understanding of the internationalisation process of SMEs, by studying how born globals and other SMEs develop foreign market knowledge during the international expansion. The internationalisation process is divided into three phases; the pre-firm internationalisation phase, the initial internationalisation phase and the continued internationalisation phase. Based on a qualitative study of 14 biotech SMEs and a questionnaire survey of 188 SMEs from various industries, new insights on the internationalisation process of SMEs and born globals are presented. By extending the analysis of SMEs’ internationalisation to a phase prior to their establishment and by continuing to follow these firms during their operations in foreign markets, the findings of this thesis show how the knowledge and personal networks of key individuals relate to the firm’s development of foreign market knowledge. The thesis also advances the understanding of how an SME develops foreign market knowledge from its business network relationships. In summary, the result of this thesis shows that a rapid expansion in several foreign markets can hold back an SME’s development of foreign market knowledge and lead to difficulties in developing the firm’s operations in the continued internationalisation phase. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2009. Sammanfattning jämte 6 uppsatser