Purpose: Previous studies on innovation tend to view innovation as consisting of a creative phase of novel and useful ideas, and a non-creative, or at least a less creative phase, as this considered to be the mere implementation and validation of the initially created ideas. In contrast, this paper aims to stress on the significance of the process of validating a new idea as being a creative, learning, exploratory process that shapes the degree of novelty of the innovation as a whole.

Design/methodology/approach: In driving this argument, this study deductively builds on a theoretical pre-understanding derived from extant literature related to management innovation and organizational legitimacy, and inductively draws on information gleaned from three in-depth case studies.

Findings: The study shows that the validation phase in the innovation process is a creative process, rather than just being a set of activities that relate to the mere execution of the created ideas. Viewing the validation process as an exploratory search for new knowledge, this study establishes a relationship between the form of knowledge mobilized, vertically within an organization or horizontally from outside, and the form of legitimation required. Validation based on internally generated knowledge is effective in terms of achieving pragmatic (efficiency-driven) objectives. Inter-organizational knowledge inflows are associated with cognitive legitimacy – a form of legitimacy that leads to changes in the stakeholders’ beliefs about a the product. In contradistinction, horizontal, socio–cultural inflows of knowledge are likely to improve on the product itself, thereby generating more traction for validation.

Research limitations/implications: This research is based on data collected from three firms only.

Practical implications: The idea developed here can provide business organizations a better understanding of the validation process of management innovations. This study suggests that successful innovation often requires managers to be prepared to seek knowledge beyond the confines of their own organizations.

Originality/value: This study contributes in three ways: it submits that there is a dynamic interplay between the moments of creation and validation, which is largely shaped by the novelty of the mobilized knowledge, depending on whether it is internal top–down or external horizontal; relatedly, the effectiveness of validation is shaped by the novelty of the knowledge garnered to justify the initial ideas; and the present paper has extended Suchman’s (1995) framework by linking the effectiveness of the various forms of legitimacy to the source of knowledge mobilized in the validation process.

The extant literature has paid very little attention to the influence of distributors on the adoption of new retail practices in emerging markets. Emerging markets are characterised by small and micro firms that lack resources, technological know-how and modern business knowledge. Due to these challenges, small retail firms often rely upon traditional retail practices, for instance, inventory management, book keeping, customer handling, designing store outlet. But with the internationalization of retail and foreign retail firms entering the emerging markets, customer expectations are also changing, and this is putting stress on small retail firms to change their practices. These changes are often introduced by the distributors, who bring in new methods and practices of doing business and provide the necessary support. Drawing on existing literature on emerging markets and retail research areas this paper develops a tentative framework of retail innovation in emerging market and then uses it to analyse the empirical material gathered from the Indian retail business. 

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how organisational culture affects the internationalisation proclivity of international new ventures (INVs).

Design/methodology/approach - In this paper, a resource advantage (R-A) framework is adopted to examine how organisational culture can be a resource for INVs to leverage efficiently and/or effectively in order to make up for their challenges in internationalisation and create value for their international customers. In doing so, this study makes use of examples of five INVs from India, which have successfully achieved international business prowess and superior performance immediately after their foundation.

Findings - The findings reveal that an organisational culture including continuous learning, creativity and innovation, collaboration and sharing, and customer-centricity as traits have a positive influence on INV internationalisation proclivity. Most importantly, fostering a culture of collaboration and sharing can help INVs address resource limitations and augment opportunity discovery in the international market. Furthermore, INVs can benefit more from the learning advantages of newness by nurturing continuous learning as part of their culture.

Research limitations/implications - A key limitation of this study is that all the firms selected here are from a single country, India, and it may have effects on the way firms leverage these cultural traits.

Practical implications - Founders of INVs should develop organisational arrangements that encourage openness, creativity, and allows employees to contribute freely and fearlessly through new ideas, process innovations, and so on, and firms should recognise such contributions regularly. INVs can adopt policies and develop mechanisms that encourage employees to share knowledge and resources freely with others in the organisation.

Social implications - Growth of INVs is closely linked to job creation and economic progress. Policy makers in emerging economies can benefit from this study by developing infrastructure and creating social conditions that support the survival and growth of INVs. Adopting the findings of this study could possibly help INVs succeed in international markets and avoid failures, and thus save societal resources.

Originality/value - The paper highlights the critical role of organisational culture in INVs' internationalisation thrust. The paper develops testable propositions that delineate both the main effects as well as the other effects of organisational culture on INV internationalisation.

Client-contact employee attrition can negatively affect client-supplier relationships, a problem all the more obvious within the knowledge-intensive service industry in which the untimely loss of employees adversely affects client relationships. From the client's perspective, employee attrition increases uncertainty over the perceived quality of service and results in the loss of valuable tacit knowledge from the provider. Drawing on case study materials, this paper seeks to develop a framework for understanding how firms can successfully manage client relationships despite threats of employee attrition. This paper suggests that relationship transparency based on the active transfer of information, knowledge retention and sharing, the implementation of succession plans, and timely intervention by the management, can reduce clients' perceived uncertainty, thereby fortifying a trusted relationship with their provider. This study offers a transparency-based conceptual framework that contributes to the business-to-business relationship literature within the knowledge-intensive service industry and discusses managerial implications.

International new ventures (INVs) are often characterized as relatively new and small firms, lacking resources, established brand image, and seeking internationalization early in their life. Being new to international markets, they face various challenges such as liability of newness, foreignness or outsider-ship and from limited knowledge to tackle the uncertainties that exist in foreign markets. Therefore, these firms face uphill tasks in their internationalization process, particularly gaining confidence of their potential customers, and finding acceptance to their products and services. Yet, a number of small and new firms chose to go abroad and seek growth. Prior studies suggest that such expansion is possible because of the entrepreneurial competence and the global outlook of the founders. Research also emphasizes the role of personal network of founders in growth of new ventures. Such firms can benefit from their access to network resources and their embeddedness in local technological clusters. Research further suggests that the survival and success of these firms is closely associated to their ability to offer innovative products and services to their clients. Yet, developing innovative products and services and finding customers in foreign markets is a complex process, particularly in the case of knowledge-intensive products and services as this may require proven capabilities and high resources commitments on intensive foreign market activities. To overcome resource and market challenges these firms may rely on their network contacts and relationships with clients. However, the extant literature is not clear whether and how small ventures can benefit from their relationships as it may not be sufficient to guarantee market success and would require serious efforts from the firm to benefit from them. We believe that only in certain conditions these relationships can yield desired benefit and be useful for the growth of small ventures. This may require understanding how relationships and network help small new ventures develop capabilities and overcome lack of product image and create acceptance for it: this is important for these firms as the cost of failure may be too high for a resource constrained small new firm. The aim is to investigate and present a conceptual framework to explain the relationship strategies that small and new firms employ in encountering various challenges they face in their internationalisation process and also present some practical suggestions to aid managerially relevant decisions. Interviews from three knowledge-intensive product/service firms, two start-up firm from India and an international new venture from Sweden, are analysed in order to understand the role of business relationships in the international market survival and growth of new venture firms in knowledge based industries. The selected cases had gone through internationalisation process and managed to survive in the international market. This study highlights the contextual influences on relationship strategies of small and new firms, such as their customer choice, knowledge and capability strategy, reputation building strategy. New venture founders, looking for international market opportunities can benefit from the findings of this study, as they can anticipate some of the challenges in relationship building and develop counter strategies in advance.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine how knowledge-intensive born global firms operating in international markets develop and maintain long-term relationships with their customers that insure their continued growth beyond the initial stage of internationalization.

Methodology/approach: the study adopts a case study approach, focusing on two Indian born-global firms operating with the knowledge-based services sector.

Findings: The study shows that getting to know the customer intimately helps firms to retain customers over long periods of time. Customer-relationship management strategy is in line with the entrepreneurial orientation of the firms under consideration.

Research implications: This paper contributes to scholarly discussion on the internationalisation success of born global firms by integrating insights from international entrepreneurial orientation and the marketing relationship literatures.

Practical implications: The paper presents practical implications for international new venture managers.

Originality/value of paper: The paper advances our understanding of the competitive sustenance of born global firms.

Purpose - The aim of this paper to examine the mechanism through which the capabilities related to internationalization emerge and are acquired as firms internationalize.

Design/methodology/approach - This study draws on existing literature on born global firms and dynamic capabilities to develop a tentative framework and then use that to examine a longitudinal case study of an Indian firm operating within knowledge-intensive services industry. We probe into the role played by these capabilities in the survival and sustained international growth of born global firms.

Findings - The study establishes a link between firm’s ability to develop such capabilities for global service delivery and its growth and survival. It is suggested that dynamic capabilities emerge as the result of a mix of experiential and deliberate learning processes, being in a constant change in rhythm with changes in domestic as well as in international business environments.

Research limitations/implications - This study is based on a single case study from knowledge-intensive service industry in India with its own particular characteristics. Thus, the findings of this study may not be generalised across other emerging markets or industry.

Practical implications - Entrepreneurs and managers of new ventures can benefit from this study, as this study helps them develop a deeper understanding of the different capability requirements for successful internationalisation.

Originality/value - This study contributed to the existing literature on capability evolution in born global firms.