AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings - Academy of International ...

SUNDAY
Understanding Location and Decision Making: A Context and Cognitions Perspective
James Nebus, Suffolk University
Kah Hin Chai, National University of Singapore
We develop a context based theory of location from a cognitive perspective. Context encompasses multiple
dimensions of location, and decouples location from a particular level of analysis. We argue that current IB
models of location and decision making suffer from the lack of a decision maker. When interacting with
context, human decision makers introduce both positive and negative effects. Their biases in perception and
cognitive limitations impede assessing context, which is ambiguous and uncertain. Instead of distance, our
theory's antecedents are employees' context awareness and understanding. We explain five types of MNE
context traps, unforeseen pitfalls due to context misjudgements. (For more information, please contact: James
Nebus, Suffolk University, USA: jnebus@suffolk.edu)
Diversity and Founder Power in Global Start-Up Teams: Implications for Strategic Consensus
Patricio Raul Mori, Florida International University
Drawing on Attribution Theory, this paper argues that conditions at founding affect strategic consensus, and its
evolution in Global Start ups. High Founder Power and Low Functional Diversity are hypothesized to produce a
high level of Strategic consensus in Global Start up founding teams. Time is hypothesized to moderate the
relationship between Functional Diversity and Strategic Consensus and also the relationship between Founder
Power and Strategic Consensus as follows: for initial stages in the business cycle (Low amount of time from the
Global Startup Initiation), the relationship between the Functional Diversity and Strategic Consensus of the
Global Start Up Team is negative; however, for later stages in the business cycle (High amount of time from
the Global Startup Initiation) the relationship between the Functional Diversity and Strategic Consensus in the
Global Start up Team is positive. This moderation can give insights about contradictory findings on metaanalytic
studies regarding a U and inverted U shape relationship between functional diversity and performance.
Relative Experience and Relative Educational level of the most Powerful Founder in the Team are proposed as
moderators of the relationship between Founder Power and Consensus. A model for Strategic Consensus in
Global Start ups is proposed. (For more information, please contact: Patricio Raul Mori, Florida International
University, USA: pmori001@fiu.edu)
Firm Search for External Knowledge: How Institutions Matter for Innovation Performance
Wolfgang Sofka, Tilburg University
Christoph Grimpe, Copenhagen Business School
The innovation performance of modern firms is increasingly determined by their ability to search and absorb
external knowledge. However, after a certain threshold firms "oversearch" their environment and innovation
performance declines. In this paper, we argue that prior literature has largely ignored the institutional context
that provides or denies access to external knowledge at the country level. Combining institutional and
knowledge search theory, we suggest that the market orientation of the institutional environment and the
magnitude of institutional change influence when firms begin to experience the negative performance effects of
oversearch. Based on a comprehensive sample of almost 8,000 firms from ten European countries, we find that
institutions matter considerably for firms' search activity. Higher market orientation of institutions increases the
effectiveness of firms' search for external knowledge while higher magnitudes of institutional change decrease
it. Our results provide important insights for management on how to adapt search strategies to the institutional
context. (For more information, please contact: Wolfgang Sofka, Tilburg University, Netherlands:
w.e.j.sofka@uvt.nl)
AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings
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