AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings - Academy of International ...

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has no significant impact. Furthermore, environmental dynamism is a good thing for Ghanaian innovators –
providing market development and exploitation opportunities – but dynamism poses a challenge for Ghanaian
firms after a point, such that too much dynamism reduces the effectiveness of Ghanaian firms' innovativeness.
For UK businesses, on the other hand, integrated product innovation is increasingly beneficial as markets
become more dynamic. Across both UK and Ghanaian samples, the results also indicate that integrated product
innovation can leverage stronger new product success when firms are more market oriented and when
competition is more hostile. (For more information, please contact: Nathaniel Boso, University of Leeds, United
Kingdom: n.boso@leeds.ac.uk)
Macro-Logistics Decision Factors and Information Measures for Scanning Global (Supply Chain) Environments in
International Location Choice
Aseem Kinra, Copenhagen Business School
The spatial and placial scope of organisations has recently been reemphasised in the context of cross-border
value chains and supply chain management. This scope is usually accompanied by uncertainty to organisations,
especially for the cross-border value chain with geographically dispersed operations and activities, and poses
environmental complexity in the form of risks and costs that organisations need to contend with. With this
background, the purpose of this paper is to report on the most important macro logistics decision factors that
describe environmental complexity for global/cross border logistics operations. The study applies a decisionmaking
oriented approach in order to develop a set of macro-logistics factors that pose international uncertainty
in cross-border flows of goods, information, payment and ownership. Similarly, a list of information measures
that are relevant in scanning against this international uncertainty is also developed. For this purpose, the study
deploys integrated literature reviews and content analyses. Finally, the study employs expert opinions in order
to validate these factors and information measures and to present the findings in the form of a decision
hierarchy. The findings suggest the importance of 17 generic decision factors at the macro-economic (country)
level that pose constraints to international supply chain flows, and describe international uncertainty for firms. A
catalogue of 187 information measures that aid in decisions on each relevant factor is also identified. The
findings may be used by managers in different industry contexts for their scanning and strategic forecasting
needs in relation to international risks. This may be done within the context of decision support systems that aid
in global site location and other supply chain design problems. In contrast to solely utilizing widely-accepted
environmental scanning indexes, managers may then prioritise macro economic factors with respect to their
specific decision-making situations. (For more information, please contact: Aseem Kinra, Copenhagen Business
School, Denmark: aki.om@cbs.dk)
The Impacts of Product Innovativeness on Performance: An Empirical Investigation of Exporters in an Emerging
Economy
Nathaniel Boso, University of Leeds
John W. Cadogan, Loughborough University
Vicky M. Story, University of Nottingham
In a longitudinal study of Ghanaian small business exporters, we develop a model of business success in which
product innovativeness levels have curvilinear relationships with performance, and in which optimal levels of
product innovativeness are determined by financial resources and market turbulence. Results show that the
impact of intensity of product innovativeness on performance is U-shaped; novelty of product innovativeness
has an inverted U-shape relationship with performance; and that the curvilinear relationship between novel
product innovativeness and business success is stronger (and more positive) when there is greater access to
financial resource and more negative when environment turbulence increases. (For more information, please
contact: Nathaniel Boso, University of Leeds, United Kingdom: n.boso@leeds.ac.uk)
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