Abstracts for Session 10

 Entrepreneurship and Family Business: Dynamics and challenges in the European tourism sector

 

 

Title: What are the important factors for decision makers in the entry mode strategy on overseas ventures? An exploratory study on internationalization of independent hotel 

Authors: Ricardo Correia, Jorge Lengler, Mara Franco, and Carmen Freitas

Affiliation: University of Madeira

 

Literature on large multinational enterprises indicates that entry mode decision is influenced by firm-specific and environmental factors. However, the international entrepreneurship literature has recently attributed managers a prominent role in the internationalization decision mainly in small and mid-size family firms. Many studies have addressed how managers perceive factors in small and medium firms (SMEs) can influence international strategies. However, there are still inconclusive results when examining the same factors in the family ownership context. Without neglecting the past entry mode research within its rational and measurable factors of transaction cost economics (TCE) and Agency Theory (AT), this study introduces the stewardship theory (ST) and managers social capability (SC) to address the inconsistencies found in recent studies. Drawing in a mixed-theoretical approach reconciling factors already explored and a new perspective focused on the level of manager’s familiness and firm ownership, this study analyses its influence on entry mode choice of Portuguese hotel firms (PHFs) in foreign markets.  Since the research focuses on understanding and explaining how PHF’s specific characteristics are likely to determine the level of commitment, control and risk perceptions of firm managers, an exploratory approach was adopted. The rational assumption that SMEs choose low resource commitment entry modes due to resource constraints and risk aversion was not verified. This result suggests that the entry mode of family-owned hotels differ from big multinational hotel companies. Several implications can be drawn from the study findings for the corporate sector, pointing to future research in the international entrepreneurship literature.  

 

Keywords: Internationalization, Entry mode, Entrepreneurship, Network, Hotels 

 

 

Title: Business ecosystems of food festivals: What drives exhibitors and vendors at food festivals?

Authors: Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, Anne-Mette Hjalager, Luiza Ossowska, Dorota Janiszewska, and Dariusz Kloskowski

Affiliation: Koszalin University of Technology

 

Celebrating food has become an increasingly visible part of local and regional calendars worldwide. The rise of food festivals represents this trend. Food festivals have gained momentum for various entrepreneurs and producers, including farmers, fishermen, food manufacturers, food accessory producers, chefs, and restaurateurs. Much research is available on the visitors (consumers) at food festivals, but knowledge about the producers/vendors is almost absent. This study aims to bridge this research gap by reviewing and analyzing food producers' entrepreneurial intentions to participate in food festivals and the role and meaning of festival participation in their professional and individual development. The study is inspired by ideas about artisan entrepreneurship. It draws empirically on primary data from 58 in-depth interviews among vendors at three food festivals organized in Poland in the summer of 2020. The results show that food festivals offer creative ways to discover and exploit business opportunities where lifestyle and altruistic values can feasibly coexist with business goals. However, the study also reveals that some food producers/vendors are reluctant to change their product or marketing approaches. In contrast, others want to progress, albeit they face dilemmas of realizing development goals without compromising their production's grassroots nature. This study elaborates on the nature of such challenges and proposes policy recommendations to overcome them.

 

Keywords: food, festivals, producers, vendors, motivation, hospitality, entrepreneurship.

 

 

Title: Knowledge-based factors influencing growth of new hospitality firms:  An application to Iberian and Nordic entrepreneurs

Authors: Desiderio J. García-Almeida, Gunnar Þór Jóhannesson, and Andreas Humpe

Affiliation: University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, University of Iceland, Munich University of Applied Sciences

 

Firm growth is one of the goals of many entrepreneurs in the tourism sector. It is associated with a positive performance and a sign of the potential long-term survival of the firm. Though many factors can exert a significant influence on the growth of new firms in the tourism industry, knowledge-based factors are particularly emphasised in the academic literature as strong drivers of several dimensions of organisational performance. The field of knowledge management outlines several knowledge-based factors that are strategic relevant for new firms. With support from the literature the potential influence of six knowledge-based factors (namely the entrepreneurs’ formal education, their knowledge to start a business, their entrepreneurial network knowledge, their knowledge to identify opportunities, along with their firms’ product and technological knowledge creation) on growth are discussed and six research hypotheses are set. With regard to the empirical approach, data were extracted from the databases of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM project) encompassing a two-year period. 229 new entrepreneurs with new food and beverage firms younger than 42 months from Spain, Portugal and Nordic countries form the final sample. A regression analysis was performed to test the hypotheses of this work. Results show the positive impact of the entrepreneur’s higher education and the introduction of process innovation as determinants of the expected growth in those firms. Moreover, new food and beverage firms in Nordic countries tend to show significant lower rates of expected growth than those of Iberian countries, reflecting different trends and growth opportunities in those markets.    

 

 

Title: Relational food festivals: building space for multidimensional collaboration among food producers

Authors: Dorota Janiszewska, Luiza Ossowska, Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, and Dariusz Kloskowski

Affiliation: Koszalin University of Technology

 

A thriving food festival requires a short food supply chain that creates an opportunity for effective resource mobilization through different networks and partnerships among diverse festival stakeholders. This research aims to deepen our understanding of how food festivals enhance relationship building, which groups of festival stakeholders most often collaborate, and the nature and duration of the relationship created. Theoretically, the study links the network perspective with social capital and entrepreneurship building to shed new light on relationship building in the food festival context. The results clearly show that food festivals are relational platforms where numerous relations occur. However, there is high heterogeneity in revealed relationships that are diverse in terms of their motivation, sequence, intensity, and duration. Furthermore, this study shows participation goals differ not only between stakeholder groups (i.e., between visitors and vendors) but also within groups (among vendors and visitors). The paper concludes with a series of managerial recommendations. 

 

Keywords: partnerships, relationship, food festivals, stakeholders, food producers.