This study attempts to examine empirically how social institutional factors relate to Internet diffusion in 39 countries. Based on nine-year cross-country data, the analytical results show that the rule of law, educational systems, and industrialization significantly influenced the global...

It is documented in the literature that resource deficiency constitutes a barrier to firms’ internationalization. However, small- and medium-sized firms' (SMEs) perceptual barriers to internationalization have received little attention. By highlighting the importance of managerial perceptions...

Entry mode choice is a critical ingredient of international entry strategies, and has been voluminously examined in the field. The findings, however, are very mixed, especially with respect to transaction-cost-related factors in determining the ownership-based entry mode choice. This study...

Success in business markets demands going beyond satisfactory exchanges with customers. Conventional wisdom therefore dictates that firms must build close customer relationships. Yet, unfortunately, the meaning of a close relationship from the customer's viewpoint can get lost in translation. We...

Firms invest heavily in different types of business-to-business relationship marketing activities in the belief that such programs bolster their bottom line. In this study, we develop and test a conceptual model that links customer-specific relationship marketing investments to short-term,...

Scholars apply the relationship metaphor as a default conceptual lens to understand commercial interactions. Yet whereas the relationship paradigm sheds light on how the socially embedded structure of these interactions impacts their outcomes, the relationship metaphor can also obscure scholarly...

We distinguish between horizontal and vertical joint ventures, and find correspondingly different valuation effects. Horizontal joint ventures create synergistic gains that are shared by the partners. In contrast, vertical joint ventures generate gains only for suppliers. This is similar to the...